Chapter Two: Escape

Chapter two: Escape

Little Sarah stared at the door maybe a moment too long. A lump forming in her throat and her legs going numb like lead. All of these things in her mind and in her soul begged her not to go. Begged her not to leave the house, to lock the doors, to run up to mommy and Daddy to keep safe.

But, Alice smiled up at her, with dark eyes and a sewn shut mouth. Whispering promises of enjoyment into the silence. Sarah swallowed that lump. So the door of promise was opened.

Cold winds bursting inside and tangling their long, bony fingers around the child. She shuddered against the caress of the wind. Her grip holding even tighter against the worn fabric of the evil little doll. She closed her large eyes briefly. Opening them only when the cold completely wrapped itself around her goose bumped skin. Her little nightgown fluttered partly. When she turned back, no mommy or Daddy was there, ordering her to return. There was no older sister or brother. (For every family had to have three children, it was restriction) This made Sarah feel, something new.

It knotted in her stomach with its unfamiliar ache. Little did she know that was the sense of excitement. She was doing something no girl or boy would ever dare to do. But she didn't know that, either. 

Only after a moment she was skipping out in the cobble streets. Her bare feet freezing the second they touched the cold stone ground and sent jolts of pain up her little legs. Swinging her gray doll to and fro from her arm. A giggle escaped her lips. Thinking that the children were close.

The moon was watching over her, though she was in the shadow of the towering, two floor buildings that all families had. Exactly four rooms. All looking perfectly identical. She continued skipping. Peeking her head out into the amused gaze of the moon only to disappear a second later back into the shadows in a fit of giggles. This was a game, she believed. That the other children already knew she was out and were trying to find her. 

A new spirit of playfulness came up her throat and through her lungs. Dashing out into the massive moon's red gaze once again. Alice short in hand. 

She ran down the streets with a unusual grin on her face. This excitement was entirely new. Playing was something she did alone, but now she had the moon.

The moon merely watched with interest as the girl darted in and out of the shadows, believing other children were hot on her trail. Her giggles always gave her away to the ears of silence. The wind was laughing too. 

She heard it briefly, like she did not too long ago. But the voices on the wind were only growing louder. This led to her belief she was truly close on stumbling on another child.

She chased after the dancing sound, always a little away from her grasp. Her feet slapping against the freezing cobble and the Blood Moon studying her. Alice smiled up at the giant figure in the sky. As though they knew each other, from long ago.

Finally the laughter grew louder. To where she could hear all the voices. She squealed with glee. Yes! She was going to play with the other children! Yet the other children were not from other families. They were from completely different ones. That was something that she never suspected. 

She saw shadows dancing across the cobble. That caused her to frown. There were no feet who owned these shadows? This thought made the little girl frown. Until the sound of something landing on the crate not too far off from her left made a loud crash. 

This caused poor Sarah to yelp in surprise. Whirling on the balls of her small feet to stare with wide, scared eyes at this new...

Child?

Author's Note

I know that there are people viewing this writing (I think) But, please, at least consider a review?