The Little Girl

A Story by Kenny N

For a contest about a short film

She used to be a friend of mine...that little strawberry blonde girl. Come to think of it, we were inseperable for years. But now it's been years since the last time I even thought of her. Mom always said they just moved away one day and I think I remember the moving trucks, but it was so long ago now. It was so abrupt. No letters, no phone calls, no nothing; just gone. Something always felt wrong after she left...like I would never see her again. But sometimes I see her in my mind. Still that same little girl I knew back then. Sometimes I feel her near me, tugging on my sleeve, begging to play outside. I hear her giggle, and her little voice that was always hoarse from screaming and laughing. I heard a story once, of a little strawberry blonde girl that had gone missing in the woods. Her sister went to find her, but she too disappeared in those very same woods. I never thought much of it, but perhaps this is where my little friend went...did she get lost in the woods? Or worse...?

There she is; my long lost friend. She's bigger now, but I still recognize her face...and her voice hasn't aged a day. She's singing to me, calling me to her like a siren calls a ship. Wait, what is she doing?! Why is she carrying that...has she lost her mind?! Why is she so close to me with that thing? I want to move, I want to call back, but I am stuck...suddenly paralyzed and stuck where I lay. Her voice is growing softer now. She's disappearing again; leaving me just like all those years ago. Or perhaps I am leaving her? It's too dark and cold to tell. I hear nothing now, not even my own heartbeat. Just emptiness.