Cynthia sat in the car, scarfing down french fries.
"Remember to breathe, ok?" Kella was amused at the teenage girl's voracious appetite. It almost caused her to smile, but she caught herself before Cynthia looked up at her.
Her eyes were large. Larger than most children. She had a slight droop to her face, and she spoke with a lisp.
"I breathe, Kella."
Now it was harder for Kella to hold back the smile, but she hid it right before Cynthia pushed the greasy box of fried potatoes under her nose.
"Want?"
Kella gently pushed the fries away. "No."
"Thank you."
"What?"
"No, thank you. You're 'posed to say 'No, Thank you'. Susie always tells me." All her S's were lisped, so it sounded like Thuthie - but Kella knew exactly who she spoke about.
Chided by this little round-faced girl, Kella now couldn't hold back a snicker. "You're right. No, thank you. I apologize."
"Ok."
People often would underestimate a child with her challenges, but Kella knew better. Sometimes their minds would capture details that others would miss. They saw the world with different eyes, clearer than most actually. Kella thought back to why Susan had come to her. It was Cynthia. Her mind wasn't able to wrap around the need for silence here. She was always speaking, always getting warnings. Up until a few days ago, they had never issued an Interrogation - but at the first one, Susan broke.
It amazed Kella that Susan had withstood her own world of torture silently for so long, but she supposed everyone was different. Some suppressed while others resisted.
And Kella? Well - she killed.
She was going to have to proceed gently.
"Are you almost finished with your fries, Cynthia? I have some things I want to ask you."
Cynthia shook the last of her fries into her mouth from an upturned box. She chewed until she had made mush of the treat in her mouth, swallowed loudly, leaned back in the chair and burped. "Mmm, good. Thanks, Kella."
"You're welcome. Can I ask you some questions now?"
The teenager immediately turned in the chair, looking very serious. "Yep. And then we go see Susan?"
Kella didn't move a muscle. She didn't flinch or reveal any emotional discomfort. "No, Susan went away, remember? She wants you to stay with me for a while."
"Oh. yeah. We can get Susan tomorrow."
Turning her head away, Kella sighed. Of all of the.... she waited a moment, then turned back.
"Susan told me you had a bad day. Can you tell me what happened?"
Cynthia leaned over, poking Kella's nose with each word. "Stranger. Danger." Then she sat back and closed her eyes.
"You can keep your eyes closed if you like, Cynthia. What did the stranger do?"
Sighing in frustration, Cynthia crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I did NOT want to put it in my mouth. It was NOT a lollipop."
That was enough. Susan had suspected, and now Kella knew.
"Good girl, Cynthia."
The girl looked over at Kella with tears in her eyes. "They said I'm bad."
"No. They are bad."
Cynthia bounced her head up and down, and broke into an infectious giggle that was sure to encourage any other person to giggle along. Kella, however, was still infuriated that those pigs had tried to molest a little girl.
"And then what happened?"
"I screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeamed." Cynthia squealed like a siren.
"Keep going."
"I screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed.."
Kella broke into the tiniest smile. Almost imperceptible. She could just imagine this little banshee screaming continuously - alarming anyone in the building that some crime was being committed!
"Alright," she was going to have to just skip to the end,"and then did you see the men who came in?"
"No. I closed my eyes."
Kella swore under her breath.
"But I heard them. One was sly. One talked like a cowboy. One held me with a doll arm. And then the baddest guy. I saw him. And that was NOT a lollipop. He had a dragon under his shirt."
Four. Not five. Susan had remembered wrong.
"Good job, Cynthia! You are a very smart girl! Well I can tell you that Sly won't be hurting you anymore. He went away forever." Kella had taken care of Inspector Slythe and his arrogant smirk.
"Good job, Kella. You're a smart girl too."
"Thank you. And the other three, you won't have to worry about them either. Bad guys go away for a long time."
"Yeah, Kella. They ARE bad. So bad. And next time, I'm gonna bite that fake lollipop off!"
Throwing back her head, Kella burst into laughter. What was it about this girl? She looked over at Cynthia's precious face, chomping away like some rabid critter, and laughed all over again - thinking about what a surprise that would have been for the unsuspecting Inspector.
When Kella had composed herself, she looked out the windshield and reached her hand over, gently placing it on top of Cynthia's pudgy little hand.
"There will never be a next time. I promise you that, Cynthia."
I loved writing this story. But as always, I most enjoy wondering what the reader will speculate as it continues. It was originally meant to be a stand-alone piece, but I decided to write more, spin it, flip it, and gently shove the reader down the rabbit hole. Hope you'll enjoy the fall. 😏 More tomorrow.
Missed previous chapters?
| Ch 01 | Ch 2 | Ch 03 |
|---|---|---|
| Ch 04 | Ch 05 | Ch 06 |
| Ch 07 | Ch 08 | Ch 09 |
| Ch 10 |
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