Nemiah

2004- January

she mad it to the city. she held a bag in one hand and the knife she found in the other.

she had run away, she had been given the chance, and she took it. 

it turned out that gods did listen. 

she wandered the streets. it was dark outside, and the street lamps flickered. a police officer stopped her. he asked her her name. he was tall, just like her father. 

she didn't answer him. he asked her where she lived. she didn't reply. 

he took her hand. she flinched. he noticed. he began walking her to a police station. it was gray.

her house was gray. 

she wrenched her hand away. she started running. he chased after her. 

no. no. no. 

she would not be caught again. she would not be taken back again. she would not be hurt again. she would not let it happen. 

he was getting closer. she cut her leg on a low branch on a bush. it hurt. she had hurt before. she scrambled back up to her feet. she had to move. move. move. 

he was right behind her. he was reaching out to grab her hand.

she was being slammed against the wall all over again. she felt his hand on her wrist. she was being pushed again. he tried to lead her down the street. he was grabbing her arm and throwing her down the stairs. 

help. help. help. help. no. no. no. 

there was a bulge inside her dress. she reached down into a deep pocket. she felt something. it felt right. 

there was red all over the ground again. she remembered another tall man on the ground, covered in the same red as the officer. 

that man was her father. somebody had killed him.

she didn't remember who. 

she looked inside her pockets where she had first found the knife. there was a bar of chocolate there too. it was mushy and sort of melted, barely holding itself together. 

as she looked down at the melting bar, a single name rose up inside her soul.

Nemiah. 

yes, that had to be it. that was the killer of her father. she would find her, she decided. just to talk to her. to see who she was. 

she had a plan now. she started walking away from the dead man on the floor in the alley. 

why there was a dead man on the floor in the alley, she didn't know. all she knew was Nemiah. she looked in her pockets. she found a knife, which she kept, and a melted chocolate bar. 

she shrugged, and threw the bar on the ground. it landed, smushed at last on the concrete besides the dead man. she turned her heel and began to walk away.

the chocolate melted completely on the ground.