Giggling, cheerful children playing.
“We will hide, Veronica you seek.” whispered the little boy Nathan, he shorter than the other two girls. Veronica and Olivia almost towered over the young one. His hair, only resembling that of a crow. The feathers, charcoal, but with just the right lighting reflected a rainbow of blueish-purple hues. The little girl Olivia, just as tall as Veronica, hair of a pretty auburn that many girls admired.
Pale faces with smiles as bright as the largest star.
Hunched over into a huddle formation; Veronica with her friends from the neighborhood. Darkness fell, the sun was getting all nestled in its bed. The moon was rising to be the night-owl that it is.
The kids were already supposed to be home for the night, being there was school the next day. Their games kept them distracted, time was meaningless, their impulses to carry on with their play was too overpowering for their young minds to overcome. It was easy for them to get carried away, lost in the scene, moments of happiness, pretend, their imagination running wild. Loaded with color and structure, ready to be used and in turn, a sense of fulfillment, joy, and perhaps a higher form of satisfaction; breaking the rules.
“I was the seeker just before,” she replied, making a face. The expression showing she didn't want to count again. “No you did not, I just did.” said Nathan, his tone sounding annoyed as it was rather easy for Veronica to bother him. Simple things she would do would get on his nerves, not that she meant to. The young girl was unaware, behaving as normal as she could.
Thinking she is in fact, normal.
“Fine, I guess, but after this, I have to get home. My brother will be worried,” she said softly, the children trying to play quietly as in not to attract the attention of any adults that would make them prematurely finish their game of Hide n Seek. “Great...” Nathan spouts out and he and Olivia ran off in different directions. Fading away into the darkness, all Veronica could see before long was a possible glimpse of white socks.
She sighed and turned around to face a tree, her mittens covered her face and blocked her vision. “1...2...3...” she counted a bit faster. “4..5..6..” and a little faster. “7.8.9.10. ready or not, here I come.” she yelled and quickly did a one-eighty, ready to run off as fast as she could and look in the spots they always would hide in.
Gasp...
Frozen...
She couldn't move, her head tilted up towards the sky. A black blanket with orbs of lights was the background of the portrait. A tall, dark figure; was it the boogeyman? Veronica was scared, her eyes filled with tears but they never fell to her cheeks. She was unable to blink, her jaw dropped, her mouth wide open. Her small frame began to tremble with fear. “Don't hurt me... Mummy!” she cried for her mother. Of course, she would be unable to hear Veronica as she was a bit of a way from home.
Stepping back, her posterior pressed against rough tree bark. The trunk was blocking her from moving any further away. One single tear found its way and trickled down her pale face. The being was attentive to this emotion and bent down, hovering over her like a giant. Like she was in some kind of fairy-tale and this creature wanted a friend. The little girl crouched down as the darkness hazed over her head. Coming closer and closer. She began to hyperventilate, shaking her head back and forth. “No, no... leave me alone.” she barely was able to whimper out the words she was having a panic attack.
The dark gray figure stretched its limb down, slowly, Veronica watched closely, quivering with fright her small hands gripped the tree behind her. Little pink painted nails dug into the texture, scratching up her nail-beds. The darkness reached, picking a flower and tried to give it to her. She looked at the tiny weed, it wasn't a beautiful red rose but it had meaning behind it. Perhaps it wasn't going to hurt her at all, maybe it just wanted a friend and she made it sad with her reaction.
“Um...” she sniffled, trying to calm herself down. “Th... thank you.” she said carefully, and cautiously extended her hand to retrieve the little gift. Veronica stopped shaking and crying and smiled just a little up at the object. “Will you be my friend?” she asked, head hung all the way back as she gazed up into the darkness.
Sitting down Indian style on the ground, she rested against the tree. Twirling the flowers steam between her thumb and forefingers. It seemed like only minutes had gone by but it had been over an hour. Veronica's older brother Jared that was at home waiting for her would definitely be pretty upset. Maybe he wouldn't be so mad once he met her new best friend.
“Veronica!” hollered Olivia as she came running up in a rush. “V... what are you doing? You never came to find us, we waited a long time. Nathan already went home or would get on punishment.” she said, a brow rising, her noticing Veronica's strange vibe. “Okay, meet my new friend first Olivia.” she replied with a big smile, her hues directed to the right of her as if someone was sitting there. Olivia just rolled her eyes, used to hearing weird nonsense come out of Veronica's mouth. “Yeah, nice to meet you. Come on V... now!” she scolded and grabbed Veronica by the hand and yanked her up from the ground. “Let's go...” Olivia chimed, hand in hand they began to skip off towards home. Veronica looked back behind them, more than once, over and over, but, nothing was there, just darkness, just...
Gray.
