Only Time Will Tell

"...Mommy?"

The first thing Evia noticed was that it was dark, and there was nothing around her. The silence was deafening. The last thing she remembered was a bang, a scream, a flash, and then nothing. She began to panic. Where was her mommy? Was she dead?

But she couldn't be dead, she reasoned. She was thinking, feeling, seeing. She was stuck in a dark, scary place alone, and she thanked her lucky stars for that.

It took the little girl a moment or two to become aware of her surroundings, and once she had, she was able to calm down just a little bit. She had no idea how she got there, but for the moment, it seemed as though she was relatively safe.

It soon became apparent, however, that she was not alone.

Evia heard a noise behind her, and she whirled around to face her potential attacker. She'd learned by this point that you should never, ever turn your back to danger unless you're running as fast as you can. Here, however, there was nowhere to run. Who or whatever was behind her, she was trapped here with them.

It ended up being a little girl, around Evia's current perceived age. However, this didn't come as a relief to her. She refused to let her guard down for a second. After all, how could she know that this girl was nice? How could she be sure that she wasn't going to hurt her, just like everyone else did?

The two girls eyed each other suspiciously, neither one willing to speak, or even to move. It was a stalemate. That is, until the strange little girl deigned to speak. "Who are you?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" Her voice was filled with a venom that surprised Evia; not because she had expected kindness, but because it was a tone that she knew all too well, all too personally. It was a tone that she herself used. It was a tone of mistrust, but also of so much more. In this stranger's voice, in the mere nine words she spoke, Evia found a sort of kinship welling up inside of her. This was the tone of a child who did not know trust. This was the tone of a child who had been betrayed countless times by those close to her. This was the tone of a child who was broken.

And in that very moment, Evia was hit hard. Not with physical blows, as she had come to expect when interacting with other people, but with a feeling. With a sudden, deep need that she barely understood. An urge she had never felt before. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to protect this girl. She wanted to keep her safe from whatever had caused her to feel this pain, from whatever taught her to use that tone. It was a silly, confusing, maddening thing, which she barely understood in the slightest, but she needed to make this girl happy, and in that moment, she resolved that she would meet this goal, no matter what she had to do. In that moment, no matter how childish or misguided, Evia Novakova had fallen in love.

The girl was still looking at her expectantly, she noticed. Evia didn't know what to say. She wasn't quite sure she liked this sudden feeling. She wasn't sure what it meant. She almost felt like she could trust this girl, but... "Evia," she said finally, voice slightly choked as she stumbled over her words. "I'm Evia Novakova...” Evia breathed in shakily, trying to steady herself, and continued. “I… don’t know where I am, or how I got here. I just… Do you know where my mommy is? I-I was with her, a-and then… then there was… I don’t remember, but I’m here, a-and…” She began to cry, but she didn’t want the other person to know that. Still, the girl seemed to soften slightly, as if she could easily see the tears in the other girl’s eyes.

“I’m Skylar,” the stranger said. She looked as though she wanted to comfort the other girl, reaching toward her slightly before apparently deciding against it. “You’re… in my head, I think.”

“I don’t believe you,” Evia said immediately, starting to feel angry. She was lost and scared and this girl was trying to play jokes on her! It wasn’t fair! “I can’t be in your head; you’re right here!”

“I’m not lying!” Skylar said indignantly, starting to sound angry herself. “I don’t know how it works, but it’s true. I’m not a liar!” It seemed as though being called a liar upset her more than anything else. Evia made a mental note to never do it again.

“But it doesn’t make sense,” the lost girl griped.

“I know,” Skylar responded, sounding as though she was exasperated; Evia couldn’t tell if it was at her, or the impossibility of their circumstance.
Evia took a long look at the other girl. She had long, brown hair and a more rounded face, and such pretty blue eyes and slightly crooked teeth that, on a child that young, looked positively adorable. She had long eyelashes and looked well-fed, but very tired; more tired, indeed, than any girl her age should look. Evia herself was kind of gangly for her age, with shorter black hair and slate grey eyes. Her face was longer, but still had the baby fat that made it difficult to tell. Her teeth weren’t particularly crooked, but her small fangs poked out when she smiled. She always thought they looked goofy. Mommy said they were cute. Evia pretended to believe her.

“I… should probably leave,” Evia said suddenly. She had to go find her mommy. Maybe she could convince mommy to come back. Maybe the bad man they lived with was gone, and they could go back to travelling together. Maybe they could bring this girl with them.

She looked around for a door, and finally found one. It looked old and unused; positively frightening. Taking a deep breath, she reached towards it and tried to pull it open. It was stuck. With a grunt, she pulled as hard as her little arms could possibly pull. It took a minute, but finally the door inched open, and Evia peeked outside. All she could see was darkness, and she was suddenly gripped with fear. She couldn’t go out there. Who knew what would be waiting in the darkness? Who knew what would get her? Quickly, she dragged the door shut, and tears began to well up in her eyes. “I’ll never see mommy again…” she whispered.

The other girl walked up to her with a pitying look. “I’m sure your mommy will find you,” she said. “If you get lost, you’re supposed to stay in one place until you get help.” Evia nodded. “Come on,” Skylar added, holding out a hand. “I can show you where to sleep… it can be fun in here, maybe? I mean, it's better than going off alone...”

Evia didn’t say a word.