Puppet Strings

Prologue

The night sky was aglow, the pale crescent moon shining like a silvery claw in the twilight. It was not quiet at night; the city did not sleep, and in the distance Alluna could see the glow of city lights, hear the sound of city noises. She didn't like it. Night was supposed to be time for peace, but peace had long since been demolished. The most she could do to escape the noise was travel as far away from downtown as her little time would permit. Though February nights permitted longer time before dawn, the moon wouldn't stay forever. And it wasn't like Alluna enjoyed walking in the freezing cold for hours on end.

But finally, she had found what she was searching for; an old, shabby, apartment complex with a metal fire escape around the exterior and no security cameras in sight. Rare for Mufastu, with all it's modern technology in the growing age of hero society.

And now she stood upon the roof, her crystallized breaths forming in the air before her. With no watch in sight, Alluna's internal clock determined that it was sometime between three and five in the morning, nearly twelve hours after the incident.

She wondered if that made her a coward; running after the slightest trouble. Except this trouble wasn't slight, and at the age of nine, Alluna had experienced more than an average child. Much more. No, she wasn't a coward, she was just ridding the world of one more pest. And maybe, she was just tired.

Silvery moonlight sprinkled across her alabaster hair, lighting her face aglow. The contrast of the pale girl shone across the night sky; an angel in the darkness.

But she was no angel.

Alluna fingered her scarf, covering her mouth and nose with the worn fabric. Her face was red from the cold, but walking in the frigid weather had caused a numbness to overcome her features.

She took a deep breath, then gazed up into the sky, soaking in her favorite sights. She bent down, taking off her too-small shoes, undoing the faded blue Velcro straps. The cold of the concrete floors beneath her feet seeped into her toes, pinpricks of pain in the numbness. Alluna places her shoes neatly across the corner of the roof, toes pointed forward.

Then she looked down. From the ground, she had counted thirteen stories. It didn't look tall from the bottom up, but standing at the edge of the roof, toes peeking off, made her heart pound. She didn't necessarily have a fear of heights — in fact, she found it thrilling as a younger child — but her breath couldn't help but labor and her hands couldn't help but twitch.

Why am I hesitating? she wondered. I have nothing to live for. They're all dead and gone and it's all my fault.

She swallowed.

I'm too young to get a job, too young to live alone. And nobody to go to. No friends, no family. That's honestly kind of sad.

The ground parallel to her toes showed a deserted alleyway, with black bags of trash and a lone flickering street lamp.

Alluna's toes curled around the edge. How would she go about it? Step off? Fall back? Do a flip? No, that reminded her too much of him.

And that was how she made her decision; turning around, red scarf in her hand, she fell back.

An outlined, silvery silhouette against the night sky, against her favorite scenery.

A child that had been failed by the world.

Her final words, a whispered thought to the twilight:

"I don't want to die."

~~~

606 words