Erupting from her slumber, an unfamiliar white ceiling greeted the young girl who was slick with sweat; clearly flagging the presence of a nightmare.
Staring at the ceiling above her, Chloe recalled what she could from her last moments of consciousness causing a series of unpleasant memories to come flooding back.
The crimson liquid that desperately clung to her body before being washed away by the thunderous rain, a disfigured body which laid perfectly still and a damaged vehicle that was located a few metres away from both adorning the scene.
Peering down towards her body, the girl panicked as she couldn’t see the left side of the room, or her body for that matter. Lifting a shaking hand towards her left eye, a soft material greeted her fingertips, covering her eye completely.
Although, the feeling of her left eye had yet to depart from her senses leading her to conclude that she hadn’t lost it.
She sat still for a minute or so, before resuming her scan of the surroundings, finding the room to be mostly empty apart from some cheap looking tables, a few pieces of machinery and an IV drip that sat beside her.
A tube was connected to her wrist, feeding some sort of liquid into her veins, eliciting a discomforting feeling in the girl upon viewing the sight.
There were two other “people” in the empty room.
The former had vibrant orange hair which cascaded around their figure. Seeming to be in her mid-forties, they sat asleep in what looked to be an uncomfortable position.
Their untidy appearance would have led anyone to rightfully conclude that they had arrived here as soon as possible.
The latter an unfamiliar figure sitting in the corner of the room, motionlessly staring at the girl. The girl made sure not to look at the figure for too long, its patchy visage making her feel uneasy.
Chloe Barker had been dealt a poor hand of cards in life, cursed with a weak constitution since birth which had resulted in regular mandatory hospital check-ups.
It was January when the accident occurred, the main culprit of why the skies had been so dark at only 7pm in the afternoon.
Chloe and her father, Mikhail, had gone to the hospital closest to them by foot and being the only arduous exercise Chloe received from her day-to-day life, the hospital’s doctors endorsed the small treck by foot over to the nearby hospital over the use of a vehicle.
The check-up had concluded smoothly, consisting of a few rudimentary tests being performed on Chloe to gain data about the state of her weak body.
Usually, Mikhail would take her out to the convenience store to get some ice-cream, but as it was early January, it had been a cold night and thus he had ordained that it would be better to return to their house as soon as possible to reduce the risk of Chloe contracting a cold.
Chloe’s illness was debilitating, not only for her but also for her family’s finances.
The surgeries that the young girl required, and had gone through so far, were very costly for the middle-class family of three, burdening them with loans which they had to take out.
The common cold might as well be a deadly illness to her, of which she had not the best of chances to fight off, hence why she had to have so many check-ups.
Mikhail offered to give his daughter a piggyback but was promptly refused by the strong-willed girl who wished to engage in physical exercise in the hope of helping improve the condition of her body.
Settling for just holding Chloe’s hand, they quickly embarked on their venture back to their abode, of which neither would make it to their destination unscathed.
The sky above turned cloudy, rain clouds started to appear, prompting Mikhail to pick up their pace to arrive home before the downpour started.
Alas a few drops of rain splashed onto the dense concrete below their feet, catching Mikhail’s attention who had reached a junction, only to be halted by a traffic light turning red as soon as they had reached the intersection, as if it were condemning the pair to their soggy fate.
He peered down at Chloe whilst inwardly letting out a sigh of relief, ′Thankfully I made her wear a coat and some gloves...’.
The small child smiled back at him in response to his gaze, prompting Mikhail to let out a large grin.
The Barkers lived in a city, a large, humongous metropolis which was filled to the brim with ginormous metal monstrosities which put even the biggest medieval fortresses to shame in size.
Their surroundings were that of a large junction, split by a road and some evenly spaced white stripes indicating that this was indeed a crossing.
The white stripes had been worn down by the many years of use and external weather resulting in them being only half as visible as when they had first been applied to the road.
The tall metallic traffic light glared at Mikhail with a hostile red gleam, reflecting of his glasses, causing him to wince as it flickered on and off.
There was obviously some damage sustained by the light resulting in it not working as intended. Mikhail’s worsening mood was uplifted when saw the pedestrian lights snap from red to green, signifying that it was their turn to cross.
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Looking down to his daughter, he spoke in a gentle voice, “Lets cross now Chlo!“.
‘Chlo’ was the nickname that Mikhail chose to call his daughter, finding it an appropriately cute nickname for the little girl. They hastily began to cross the intersection; rain having turned into what seemed to feel like a tropical storm whilst they had been waiting for the light to turn.
Two yellowish beams of light suddenly appeared in Mikhail’s peripheral vision.
A truck, the source of the unsettling yellow light, was tumbling forward at a speed unbefitting of the distance between them and the intersection.
A fierce roar from the metal beast signalled the vehicle acceleration as Mikhail hastily pulled Chloe ahead, bursting into a sprint towards the end of the road.
Chloe had yet to understand the severity of the situation, the speed at which Mikhail suddenly started to tug her along making her quickly become short of breath.
She peered up towards his frightened exterior, deciding to not ask any questions focusing solely on keeping up with her father.
Perhaps the only time she’d saw him like this was when she overheard a fight between her parents. Thankfully, they seldom fought.
Whilst pondering about why her father was acting the way he was, she was abruptly shoved forwards, causing her to look back towards her father with a puzzled expression.
Rain clung to the edge of his messy black hair, causing it to cling to his forehead. Orange orbs stood trained upon a small figure before them, a small smile equipped upon his countenance. A stubbly chin, which used to always be cleanly shaven, completed his look.
There her father stood, a metre or so away from the metal vehicle. Time seemed to slow for a few seconds as the van slowly inched forwards, making its way towards the man.
Black fog seemed to be hugging his figure, seeping out of all his orifices and obscuring his bright orange orbs.
The black mouth opened and closed, words attempting to come out but falling upon deaf ears.
Instantly covering his whole face, a countenance with no mouth replaced Mikhail’s and blocked out his last words to the girl.
Mikhail still had full contact with the small girl as time resumed to its normal pace, resulting in Chloe being roughly flung a metre or so before landing on the ground after a thud had sounded out.
Chloe felt her head contact the cruel concrete below her as a nauseating crunch filled her ears.
Her vision trembled and stirred, disorientating her as a thumping pressure erupted within her mind.
Attempting to push up her body from the floor, her weakened physique rendered her helpless.
A series of thumps and cracks entered her ears once more before coming to a dull stop filled Chloe’s ears.
Mikhail’s body had been flung forwards, the impact also sending the damaged vehicle’s driver off the acceleration pedal and out his windshield.
In a drunken stupor, the vehicle operator hadn’t managed to see the two under the dimly lit lamps which were dotted around the junction.
Chloe, who writhed in pain on the concrete, attempted to look around to spot her father, only to find a large truck with a dented front, paired with a broken front light and two people covered in a pool of a red liquid a few meters away.
The rain wetted her stained orange hair, obscuring her view, as if to protect her from the sight in front of her.
She laid motionless as she stared at the body of her father, the pool of blood around his body slowly making its way towards her under the aid of the rain as she noticed a pair of glasses sitting beside the body which seemed very familiar.
It then all came together, tears beginning to stream down her face as she screamt for help, a black figure synthising from Michael’s limp body.
“Something like this... It’s too cruel... How could... this happen?” she croaked out, feeling her head become light as blood started to drip down her forehead.
Chloe laid on the concrete, staring at the motionless body of her father which had been dyed in crimson, a disturbing figure crouched above his body relentlessly staring back at the girl.
And then she closed her eyes and wished it all away.
A small wet figure laid flat upon the ground, rain mercilessly pelting down from the heavens above resulting in a roaring crescendo of sound enveloping the girl.
Her vision distorting to and fro as she motionlessly rested on a slab of cold hard concrete.
Head feeling as if something was constricting it continuously, the girl’s thoughts became a jumbled mess, desperately grasping at whatever information she could find about what just had occurred.
A flurry of black spots had appeared in her vision, cagily blocking her view from a pile of crimson laying dead still in front of her.
Two figures had been splayed across the road. The former was surrounded by streaks of crimson covering every crevice of its surroundings, jaw disfigured, and chest broken in.
The latter was less injured, laying five or so metres away from the car with some crimson glass embedded within its body and some blood leaking from its forehead.
It was certainly not a sight for the weak of heart.
Widening the eyes of the child who had to bear witness to abhorred sight, fear and worry enveloping their small orbs.
A queasy feeling assaulted the girl, a combination of the mix of warmth from the blood dripping down her forehead and the frosty rain which pelted upon her frail body along with the sight laid barren before her.
Tiny tears merged with the rain that thundered down upon her, diluting foreign blood, aiding it in reaching the girl from the mangled body, staining her clothes and clinging to her skin.
Everything was still. Too still. As if the world and time itself had stopped, apart from the rain which poured faster than ever.
Just then, something started to move, attracting the small girl’s attention.
A series of small jerks, followed by a large black head poking out from the dismantled body further confused Chloe.
Its hairless top was anything but smooth, for dents and what seemed to be splotchy pieces of flesh desperately clung to its disorderly frame.
Struggling to push itself up, a pair of beady black orbs glanced at its unfamiliar surroundings with what seemed to be a glimmer of fear.
That was until its eyes met Chloe’s small body, eyes rising as it slowly approached the child, a stumble here and there inhibiting its progress.
A small grey truck, sporting a broken front light, resulted in the yellowish light of the car diffracting throughout the rain, highlighting the two bodies and the black figure slumping towards the child.
‘Who is that? B... bright... my head... If only I could cover my eyes... but my arms... I can’t...’distressfully groaned the child, as she futility attempted to command her body.
The front of the car had a large dent covered in blood, the windshield had been shattered, glass embedded with blood adorning another person who laid on the dashboard of the vehicle, unconscious.
A song played in the background, slowly growing louder as sound returned from an unwanted captor back to the girl.
The van’s radio display, from which a cheerful song was coming from, had been stained with blood. The speakers waned every few seconds before loudening once again with renewed vigour.
The sickeningly sweet voice of the vocalist made its way towards the small girl, slowly lulling her to sleep as her eyes slowly clamped shut, under the aid of a fatigued and confused mind.
Before her eyelids completely closed, the black figure reached the child, it’s body hanging over the injured Chloe.
“Y..ou.r F..athe.r is dea..d. Wh..o’s fa..ult Is i..t? T..he... dri..ver? No. No, no, NO~!”the voice giggled, its eyes creasing upwards in joy as it saw the terrified expression splayed upon Chloe’s face.
“It’s y..ou~~!”it jeered as Chloe’s eyes forcefully closed shut for the second time.