Lullaby And Goodnight

"Wow, what happened to that scrawny boy I once knew?" Loz laughed, looking through a few photos I had brought. I shrugged and laughed at her. So much she had changed since our adolescence. She was taller, much taller, and much more toned. Her hair was still jet black and her blue eyes still sparkled under the rim of heavy black eyeliner. Her tight, paint drown top was stained multi-colored and she jeans she wore were still too baggy. She put the photos away and turned back to me and Frank, a questioning look shining through her eyes.

"Who you on the run from?" Her orbs burned a hole into my soul and tried to read the emotions I held. I tried to move my gaze, but her eyes locked me in place.

"The fuzz. I beat the shit out of an old bully.The police were after me. Since Frank was a witness, he wanted to run too." I nodded over to him where he was having a lengthy and highly important conversation with one of Loz's dogs. She nodded and said we could stay here until it was safe to return to America. Lucky for us, the tour around America was over.

"So tell me, what's been happening with my baby cousin since I last saw her?" I smiled, sipping the soda she'd given us.

"Not that much. A few weeks after you left when I was 14, I met Sam. Loved him, made him my world, you know? The works. He was my first in almost everything, including...you know. Rhyland, often told me he was no good for me, but I always shrugged it off, I loved him, I thought he loved me too. Then almost 11 months into our relationship, he ignored everyone for three weeks, before going on-line and insulting the hell out of me. I got upset but fought back. I was dumb enough to believe he was just messing around. He said he had better people to talk to than me and Rhyland. Then I said if he wasn't happy he could end it. He never answered me but I haven't spoke to him since, even though we were in the same school. I still don't know if it's over but it's a bit late now. I've moved on since then. I went on to doing art and history in school, went to Leeds College Of Art and am perfectly happy there. I gave up on relationships but I'm perfectly happy with the kids I teach part time at Corpus and coming home to Bubble and Muddy." She smiled widely towards the dogs. Yet, her eyes held such pain and bad memories. I already hated this Sam kid.

Bubble and Muddy were different breeds and sexes. Bubble was a chocolate and white English Springer Spaniel and she loved everybody, where as Muddy was a German White Shepherd who was observant before making friends, also the one who was having the conversation with Frank.

I hugged Loz and told her I'd missed her, which was kinda true, I missed the fun nights of old British games.

"Hey! Who's up for a game of child hunt?" Loz smirked mischievously. I grinned at the memory of last time. Frank looked up from his oh so important talk and looked at us curiously, even though the question still lingered, I still caught the way the sun showered over one side of Frank's face.

I nodded vigourously and dragged Frank up with us. He looked nervous when we dragged him into the ever darkening streets. Though lucky for us, we were all wearing black anyway. Our black, or in Loz's case Pink, converse padded softly against the shadowed pavements as we made our way towards the woods. We hid amoung the bushes and trees, until the sun had dissapeared and thrust the world into twilight for that split second before darkness consumed us.

Once the sun had died totally, and Frank had cuddled close, whimpering in fear, we set out on our game of child hunt. Frank stayed close to me as we stalked into the streets. It was quite and my heart beat in anticipation before reaching my destination, Frank still by my side. He still had no idea what Child Hunt was. I waited a few mintes before looking around and whispering to Frank.

"Right. Child Hunt is where we go to different locations, like were here and Loz is outside the old Library. We wait here alone for a while, then after five minutes, we run, any direction and as fast as we can, we can hide, run, climb anything, but we have to stay in this area obviously. If you see someone you don't know you have to run to them and scream as you run behind them, for fear mainly. If you see either me or Loz, you have to chase us and catch us then bring us back to this point okay? Ready? You gotta do this alone, I wont chase you yet. Now run!" Frank ran and so did I. As fast as my feet would carry me. I ran into the trees in the woods. I felt fifteen again, playing games, carefree. At that point, even Rachael wasn't on my mind. Only one things was. Run, and I did. I tripped and fell countless times due to the woods been totally black making it impossible to see at night in here. High above me, there was a gap in the canopy of trees, allowing a stream of moonlight to flood through.

The moon lit up a perfectly climbable tree. So I did just that. I climbed into the leaves and hid, watching the streets beyond the trees. A few times I saw one of the others racing past, but neither of them entered the woods. It's safe to say I jumped a mile as a rustle in the bushes behind me, causing me to spin around and look down at the shadowy figure. It was a young girl. Well aroud my age. Her skinny body faced away from me, gazing into the darkness laid out before her. She had fairly long black hair. I whispered to her, wanting to make sure she was okay but only then did the shock of my life occur. The hollow, painfilled eyes were Rachael's. I couldn't even scream, it came out as just a whimper. I backed up until I was perched at the top branch. Her dead moans rang out through the trees as the body staggered towards me. I was just finding my voice again when I felt a hand grab my leg. I screamed and looked down quickly. Frank was looking up at me with huge eyes. I pulled him up with me in a blind panic and looked back. Nothing was there.

I whimpered and looked all around, but there was no sign of anyone or anything. I was still trembling and hugged my knees into my chest. Frank placed his hand on my shoulder and looked at me concerned. I looked at him, my face as pale as the moonlight on us and my eyes as big and wide as they get. Frank's hand touched my cheek gently.

"Your boiling Gerard, and your shaking like a leaf, what's happened?" He was whispering and looking at me with genuine concern.

His hand touched my face gently, and I screamed as something cold and clammy gripped my ankle.