death

Written for muse_playground

"What about the kid?"

"Leave him. He won't be able to tell them who we are."

"What if he does?"

The little boy was snatched up and shaken violently by the man who'd just murdered his father. His eyes were wide with fear and confusion as he stared into the face of a monster.

"If you say anything, we kill you and we kill your mother," the man grunted at the child. "You understand?"

Terrified, the boy quickly nodded but didn't struggle. He would do anything to protect his mother from the fate that had befallen his father.

The man dropped the boy to the sand. "Good." He looked at his companion, the boy seemingly forgotten now. "Let's go."

Waiting until the men were out of sight, the little boy started sobbing as he scrambled over to where his father was lying face down on the ground. Blood was flowing into the sand from a wound to his head, and the little boy started screaming and calling out for his father to wake up. His hand was too small to stop the bleeding when he pressed it to the wound, but still he tried to help him.

"Dad! Daddy! Wake up! Please!!" He shook him, he hit him, and he shouted at him until his throat hurt. In the fear and panic, it never occurred to him to run and find help. The blow to the head was fatal and his father was dead the moment it landed, so even if the boy had run, it would have been impossible to save the man.

He's dead. He's dead. He's--

"No..." the boy wailed, pulling on the back of his father's shirt. "NO!!"

The police found the boy and his dead father on their patrol just before sunset. When they asked the child what had happened, he had looked up at them, his face dirty, smeared with sand and blood, and simply shook his head. He'd been warned.

kitten

Written for deviant_muses

Since Shy's boss, Mr. Steiffer, let him live in his guest house rent free, Shy had agreed to do simple chores to keep up the yard and do whatever maintenance was called for around both houses. He didn't mind it most of the time, and actually found it felt good to be useful and earn his keep. It seemed a bit odd to him that he didn't have to pay to live there, but it would at least afford him the opportunity to save up some money and eventually get a place of his own. A bit of weeding and painting was a great trade off for that chance. Still, he hated all of the other little things that went along with living alone.

Grocery shopping. Shy was not a fan. But since he'd started living on his own, he didn't really have much choice. It was either face the dreaded aisles and fellow consumers or starve. Back home, he'd lived with his mother and she had been the one responsible for taking care of everything for the house. He never realised just how good he had it.

Lucky for him, he'd found a small market near his house. It wasn't as intimidating as the monstrous chain store into which he'd first ventured upon arriving in the city, but it wasn't as charming as the stands and markets back home that his mother favoured, either. He'd decided it was a fair compromise, though, and being within walking distance of his home made it all the more appealing.

Today, as he headed toward the entrance, list in hand, he was distracted by an attractive young woman standing next to a small cardboard box with "Free Kittens To Good Homes" written on the front. He wandered over to her and gave her a little smile.

"May I look?"

"Uh huh," she said, looking rather bored to be saddled with her chore. "You want one?"

"I'm not sure," Shy said, crouching down next to the box and looking at the assorted bundles of fur. He tentatively reached inside to pet a black and white kitten, laughing when it mewed and blinked up at him. "They're very cute."

"Yeah. Adorable." The girl sighed and shifted her weight to her other foot. "You want one?"

"I..." Shy had been about to say he didn't think so. He'd never had a pet and he wasn't sure he should take on the responsibility of one. The closest he'd ever come had been feeding the strays that would come around the house when he was a kid.

But then he saw a tiny ball of orange fur curled up in the corner of the box. It was partially covered by the old baby blanket that had been placed inside, and was being ignored by the other kittens. A pair of the biggest, sweetest eyes Shy had ever seen was looking up at him, watching him carefully.

"Hello, you," he said softly, reaching out slowly to carefully touch its fur. "How come you're all alone?"

The young woman glanced down and snorted. "That's the runt. No one's gonna take that one."

Shy frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"'Cuz the other ones are prettier."

"You're not very good at going for the hard sell, are you?" Shy said, looking up at the girl.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Look, take one or not. I don't care. They're going to a shelter if I can't get rid of them today."

Shy quickly looked back down at the little orange kitten. He knew the girl was right. Most people would look at it and dismiss it as awkward or even a little ugly. It would probably never be adopted by people who only ever wanted something perfect.

"I'll take that one," he said without thinking. "Give me a few minutes to go inside to buy some stuff and I'll come back out for it."

The girl wrinkled her nose. "The ugly one? Really?"

"Really," Shy said, rising to his feet. "Don't let anyone take it."

"Don't worry. No one will. Figures you'd want it, though."

Shy winced a little when the girl stared at the scars on his face as she said it. "Yeah, maybe it does," he said softly and turned to go inside to do his shopping.

help me out, yeah?

I put up a public post here: http://community.livejournal.com/theatrical_fen/1280421.html

http://community.livejournal.com/tm_green_room/91260.html

I've got a new girl and it's about her.

Editing this entry now:

All righty then. I'm getting some good suggestions, so I'm going to list them here. This way I can see all the names and watch the little thing and decide what's best for her.

NAMES:

Peaches
Alice
Rat
Muffy
Kátta
Neko
Kitty
Jackie
Ciati
Danni
Agali
Pandora
Tadpole
Nymphette
Dolce
Latara
Luufi
Allayloo
Pipsqueak
Marmalade
Layla
Delilah
Apricot
Sunny
Pekoe
Gingersnap
Cameo
Tigger
Turner
Kit Kat
Vita