Declan awoke with a sob, tears streaming down his cheeks. He sat up quickly amidst the palpable sadness he felt, though was most confused. He had met Maya's family with success, even warmth. His recent mission last night had been successful, thanks in large part to Maya, Cadence and the large vampire Nikolai. He had even danced with Maya afterwards, and she had agreed to go out with him on multiple dates. So, why was he sad? He had less to be sad about today than he had ever had in his lie. He reached up to wipe his eyes, the tears continuing to flow freely as the weight of the entire world descended upon his shoulders, and he was helpess to do a thing about it. That was when he saw her.
"Mama's gonna make all of your nightmares come true...."
Whether it was a coincidence in timing, or his actions with Maya, the letting her in to his life and heart, his gift had altered. He was now blessed (or cursed) with the ability to not just hear and speak with the masses of the spirit world, but to see them as well. She sat in the far corner of his small studio apartment, her knees drawn up, hugging them as her head laid down upon her knees, quietly sobbing. She reminded Declan rather immediately of Shirley Temple. The nice lace accented dress, the small white socks topped with matching lace, and shining white patent leather shoes, though they seemed scuffed and worn as did her clothing upon further inspection. Her hair, tied in ribbons, had become slightly undone and unkempt.
"Hey." Declan whispered softly, a glance about his small apartment before his gaze focused upon the little girl again. "Why are we crying?" he asked, using the term 'we' since he had at least managed to deduce the fact that it was her genuine and unabashed sadness and despair that had washed through him like a windstorm through the desert.
"She'll hear you." the girl said quietly, followed by a sniffle as she lifted her head to look up towards Declan. It was a struggle for him to not allow the startlement he felt to find its way onto his features as he noted the smeared, running lipstick on her lips, the sunken, dark rimmed eyes, one ringed in an angry purple bruise, matching the long bruise that ran the length of her cheek. If he hadn't have been empathetically experiencing her sadness before, he would certainly be feeling it now. His heart bled for her.
"Who will? It's just us." Declan said quietly as he lifted from the bed, stepping towards her in his boxer briefs and wife beater. In truth, he could not guarantee it was just the two of them, for he could never be sure. But the coast seemed clear for the moment. "Would you...like to watch some cartoons?" he asked, reaching up to scratch the back of his head, his other hand sliding over to hit the power button on his small Wal-mart brand 13 inch flatscreen. He flipped through a few of the channels until he saw Yu-gi-oh or Pokemon or Beyblades or whatever the hell the newest retail toy based cartoon craze was at the moment. They all looked alike to him anyway.
"My mother." The girl said with another sniffle, shaking her head at the offer of cartoons, but looking wide-eyed over at the telly anyway, scooting forward to place herself at a better angle for viewing. "She's angry again. I just wanted to play with the puppy. It's been so long since I got to play with a puppy, and it was so lonely looking and said." The girl began to weep openly again, reaching up to cover her eyes with the heels of both hands.
"Is she...here?" Declan asked, looking slowly around the apartment over his fortune telling studio once more, a slight furrow to his brow. "And I bet she wasn't as mad as all that. Maybe we can go outside and find a puppy, yeah? Or maybe a nice wee kitten. I have seen a few roaming about. I bet your mother would be ok with that." Declan said with a smile, and could not have been more wrong.
"Mama's gonna put all of her fears into you...."
The room suddenly erupted in a burst of energy and noise, as if someone had tossed open the shutters during a hurricane. "What did I tell you about talking to strangers!?" the new appearing figure screamed shrilly enough to where Declan felt her voice reverberate within his very bones. He believed in Banshees, he had simply never seen one. He imagined they couldn't be much worse than that. "We do not talk to strangers!" she cried again, her ethereal looking hands grasped the child by her shoulders, shaking her back and forth, the girl's neck snapping back and forth quickly and violently. The child screamed and sobbed helplessly, unable to even form words from the rapid back and forth movement of her head, her ribbon tied curls coming a bit more lose. Again and again, the woman's back hand struck across the already bruised cheek. The woman was dressed as any stereotypical school marm. High neck plain black dress, seemingly designed more to intimidate than show off anything resembling femininity. Her hair done in a high, tight bun atop her head, two long thin strands hung down before either ear. Were she not in the process of violently assaulting a child, Declan might even consider her attractive.
"Wait, wait!" he called out, the anger from the newest guest of his apartment finding its way into his being, tinted with the underlying fear and despair of the child. He was forced to take several deep breaths in order to bring himself into any semblance of control and calmness. "I don't mind her talking to me. There's no harm in it, I assure you! We were just watching a bit of telly. Please. Stop this." he pleaded, his chest begining to heave, his gaze remained upon the woman, not wishing to see the growing marks upon the child's face just yet. Not while he still had some sort of mental control over his emotions.
"Just you stay away from her!" The woman said, her head snapping upwards to pierce Declan with the fiery rage of her eyes. Her jaw was clenched, her chin jutted forward, her words hissed out like escaped steam. "You're all the same. All of you! Well you won't be hurting her, and you certainly won't be hurting me anymore!" she cried out in rage as she rushed towards Declan, her hands reaching for him, though passing through his chest, the unnatural coldness of her touch felt deep within, and he would not be surprised if his heart was not now encased in ice. Declan's eyes flew wide, his lips parted in a gasping moan of pain.
"Mama's gonna keep you right here under her wing..."
Declan dropped to his knees, barely able to breathe, one fist pressed against the rug covered floor to brace himself upwards as he struggled to draw in a much needed breath. He looked up helplessly as the woman returned to the child, pulling her up violently by her ear. Declan's gaze met that of the little girl, and his already palpitating heart was filled with absolute genuine fear and desperation. The woman lifted the child into her arms, cradling her to her chest as she whispered quietly into her ear, stroking her hand down the back of her head. "He won't hurt us anymore, my angel." the woman whispered. "You're safe here with mama." Again, the child's gaze met Declan's, her eyes ringed with terror, her head slowly shook back and forth. "I'm sorry, mama. I'm sorry." she whispered, her nose constricted with another drawn in sniffle, a fat tear rolled slowly down the dark purple expanse of her damaged cheek.
"No, no...mama's sorry. I don't like hurting you. I only want to..." but before she could finish, Declan looked almost exasperated at the emerging of yet another figure. He would not have been surprised to look out of his window to the street below and see the presence of a ghostly cross town bus. Christ. This one was a man. A tightly tailored three piece suit topped with a bowler over muttonchop sideburns, his eyes boring into the pair of females.
"What did I tell you about coddling her, you bloated daughter of a whore." he growled, lunging forward, his hands extended with curled, talon-like fingers for the woman's throat. "You will make her weak. Like you are weak! Crying all the time, both of you crying all the time. Enough!" his fingers closed around her throat, the child pressed between them with a startled yelp, the woman sinking to her knees as she clawed at the man's arms.
"She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing..."
It took Declan a long moment to realize he was staring at the scene as if it was playing on a movie screen, still upon his knees, his mouth slightly agape. "All of you just stop!" Declan cried out with an angry lilt in his voice. The two sets of adult eyes turned to him, frozen in their tableu, his hands around her throat, hers digging into his arms, her mouth agape, his teeth gritted, both now staring at Declan.
"Who's this, then." The man said, releasing his hands from the woman's throat, moving towards Declan as the woman coughed quietly, the child cradled tighter to her chest. The girl scrambled out of her mother's arms, moving to hide behind her long skirt. "Who are you? And what are you doing here? You'd best answer me, or by thunder, I'll box your ears." the man said, shoving the cuffs of his jacket higher on both wrists.
"Now just you hold on!" Declan said, pushing up to his feet. "You're the one who barged in here with your oh so polite and refined manners, so maybe you should tell me just who you are, yeah?" Declan was once more feeling anger, though it seemed to be mostly his own, rather than residual. This was no way to start the day. He hadnt even had his tea yet.
"Mama's gonna keep baby cozy and warm..."
As the child peeked out from behind her mother's skirt, the mother leveled her gaze on Declan. When had he become the bad guy? Everyone rushing in, beating on eachother. He had simply offered cartoons and a trip down to the alley to see the local kitten population. "He can't take his eyes off of me. Look at him." She hissed with a smug expression on her proud face. "Take care of him." she said with a narrowed gaze, her arms crossed over her chest, her spidery fingers drumming a slow rhythm upon her upper arm.
Wait, what? Declan looked back and forth between the two. What in the nine levels of hell was this? He must have taken the red pill, because this was becoming more insane at an alarming rate. Declan was formulating plans and ideas as his gaze shifted from one to the other as they approached him. He drew deep, steady breaths, preparing himself to erect a shield to end all shields, and hope they would tire and move on before his energy was sapped. He lifted his hand, two fingers pressed to his temple as he tried to use his breathing exercises like Daniella had shown him when suddenly, both the man and the woman stopped their advancement, a look of wide eyed horror on their face. They both dropped to their knees, then fell forward, the child standing behind them with her hands upraised, fingers curled. Declan watched as the two prone figures dissolved, then vanished with a short flash of light, and the smell of brimstone in the air.
"Ooooh, babe, ooooh babe, ooooh babe, of course mama's gonna help build the wall..."
"They weren't very good." The girl said, her gaze lifted to Declan, another sniffle given, her hands lowered, though one swiped across her cheek beneath her eye. "That always happens." she said, turning to walk towards the door. "Come on, Mister." she said, looking over her shoulder.
"Where...where are we going?" Declan asked, still puzzling over what just happened, his foot prodded at the spot where the two spirits had disipated, a small tendril of translucent smoke wafting up from the center.
"You're going to show me the kitty. And then we're going to find me a new mommy. He was right, that one really was just a bloated whore. But that's ok. She's where all of the other bad mommy's go. She shouldn't have gotten so angry. I dont like killing my mother, but I don't usually have to kill the daddy too. But, mama says I have to keep trying until I fine the right ones." she said with a giggle, passing through the door out into the hall.
Declan stood in the apartment, looking to the door, then back down once more, his hand again lifted to scratch at the back of his head. "The right ones... for what?" he asked, though she was gone from sight.
-- Edited by DECLAN on Friday 29th of July 2011 05:48:18 PM
-- Edited by DECLAN on Friday 29th of July 2011 05:53:41 PM
