she was just

a child

KIMI'S SPARKLING EYES peeled open as she felt a warm beam on shine her face. Her eyes squinted as what came into view was a wooden ceiling in a familiar shade of dark brown, only her vision was slightly fringed.

She forced her body upwards, laying her half closed eyes on the fuzzy pink blanket with embroidered flowers on it.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes, looking further in the warm room to an open pink suitcase filled with neatly packed clothes, and a dusty brown jeans matched with a baby pink golf shirt, hanging on her headboard.

At that, her brown eyes widened and she shrieked, abruptly stopping in the middle of her stretching, slowly began to tremble as she realized--

"--Hey! sleepyhead! What's gotten into ya, get up!" The sound of hallow glass hit the wooden door, followed by a familiar drawn out voice that called. Goosebumps grew all over and chills down her spine as her heart began to race.

"No...no...no" Kimi's little voice weakly whispered in the pool back in reality. Papa grew impressed to hear the girls frustration affect her physical body.

"Uhh...Brenner?" A quavering voice of one of the scientists called out to the man carrying a towel around his waist. Noticing the visual representation of Kimi's brain activity drawing compressed waves.

Ripples appeared in the pool from the monitors, catching Brenner's attention, as he squinted his eyes in thought.

Kimi almost felt sick to her stomach. She sharply inhaled and exhaled, so fretful of the fact that she was reliving the last time her parents were under one roof not trying to kill each other - yet.

It was her fathers lakeside cabin that she was in. That was all she remembered, trying her best, but failing to recall the events of that period. But she knew it wasn't good.

"Kimi. Kimi. Listen to me, I need you to slowly breathe in...and out" Brenner approached the mic that stood before him, tapping on it, in hopes that he could hear her.

"...Breathe in...and out" she heard an echo of a familiar voice as she wrapped her head under the blankets, silently panicking, tears running down from her face.

"You must focus, listen, remember..." papa whispered to the girl, who quieted down

"...You have to face this. Breathe, June." Papa's voice that felt like a conscience thankfully soothed her.

"Breathe Kimi...just breathe..." her voice shook as she slowly inhaled and exhaled, eyes closed as she whispered, counting to and from ten.

As she reached ten, she peaked out from her duvet, gasping as the lights of her room harshly flickered, eventually leaving her in darkness. And then--

She sharply inhaled, her large eyes staring up at...the ceiling again?--

"--Hey! sleepyhead! What's gotten into ya, get up!" she heard the familiar voice speak once again, with the same sound of glass that hit the door, and the exact same delivery.

Kimi slowly closed her eyes shut, reminiscing what her mind didn't want her to. The memory shot her like a spark as she heard herself yell-

"I'm up I'm up!" She hooked her feet to the fluffy slippers laying on her bedside

"...Okay, we're good!" The scientist exhaled as he informed the crew, Brenner glancing back up to the Sony monitors of the girl. Nodding in approval as he viewed the regulated brain activity.

THE STRONG SCENT OF freshly fried bacon flooded her nostrils as she playfully descended the stairs.

She peaked into the living room as she roughly wiped her red face, where she spotted a Christmas tree, soon hearing the sound of sports commentators yelling on the TV.

Her eyebrows furrowed as her experience became ever more bizarre. Soon wondering what the exact date of this day was.

"Uh-- You're still in your pajamas silly!" Nina, surrounded by a cloud of smoke, brought out, chuckling as her daughter awkwardly walked into the rustic kitchen.

Kimi looked down at her baby pink nightgown, fiddling with the ruffles of the dress. She stammered, not knowing what to say to her charismatic mother, jumping to sit on the high stool.

"Cmon! Hope you're hungry, it's your favorite" mama smiled, dragging a plate to her daughter as she grew excited to see the plate with waffles, maple syrup, topped with juicy bacon, with fruits on the side. The proud mother puffed the cigarette, smiling at her daughters excited face.

"Thanks mom" she spat, immediately digging into her breakfast, her mother chuckling at how messy of an eater she was.

As she slowly enjoyed the lifelong dream of a breakfast, her eyes couldn't help but wonder around the kitchen once again, with a strong sense of nostalgia - but not much of the nice kind.

Nervously, she quickly shut her eyes as her mother turned to the kitchen sink, trying to pick up what she might've said to her mother after that.

"Where's 'Kari?" Kimika asked, mouth stuffed with the waffles right before--

"--MEE-MAW-MEE-MAW CRRR. ARE YOU READY FOR THE EXTRAVAGANZA - OF THE NIGHT?!" little Dakari barged into the kitchen backdoor, marching with firefighter toys in his mud stained hands.

"Right on queue!" the impressed mother commented, puffing on her cigarette right as--

"BLEHH!," Kari began dramatically coughing, the two ladies showing concern, before rolling their eyes, "THE SMOKE, ITS TOO MUCH, EVEN FOR A NOBLE FIREFIGHTER LIKE ME" He forcefully pressured his throat, sounding like a dying old man.

Mom and Kimi giggled at the extravagant performance, the little boy standing up to tippy-toe and peak over the graphite counter, eyeing his sisters breakfast.

"No no no, Don't even think about it" Kimi peered at Dakari, who attempted to grab a waffle

"C'mon! just one!" he whined, giving her puppy eyes as he waved his hand around as his little giggle echoed the kitchen

"Nah-uh! This is my first meal today, now get those diseased hands away from me, disgusting!" her little voice uttered as she softly pushed her brothers hand from her plate, looking to his other hand, where he squeezed a stack of grey paper. Her eyes widened, then squinted, curious.

"Yeah Kari, im gonna have to agree with your sister on this one. Take the fruit instead" Nina intervened, shaking her head as the boy pulled a disappointed sulking face.

She waited for her brother to vulnerably lean closer to grab the fruit, grabbing the paper that he held.

Kari playfully his tongue out at his sister as she grabbed it from him, her obviously returning the gesture as she jumped off the high stool--

"Hey! What did i say about doing that?" mom flatly rebuked as they guiltily giggled, running out of the kitchen to the wooden stairs. Nina chuckled as she cleared the table of its contents.

Kimi stopped chasing her brother as he reached the stairs, looking down to the stack of paper she held.

Kimi flapped the paper outwards, just like her dad would, heading to sit behind a bricked wall to do her searching in piece.

She was deeply invested in the reading of boring articles talking about the economy.

No, not really.

She was actually looking for the date of that day, it taking unreasonably long because of how little the font they print the news in was, to stuff as much propaganda as possible onto one paper.

NEXT YEARS FIFA WORLD CUP WILL BE THE TURNING POINT OF THE CENTURY she read, furrowing her eyebrows, tracing her fingers down the paper to read.

31 December 1957. New Years Eve.

"Holy shit" the eleven, well, nine year old whispered

Suddenly from behind her, irregular footsteps approached the kitchen, followed by a heavy clunk sound that hit the counter. She abruptly stopped, tiptoeing behind down the stairs.

"Whiskey?" Nina passive aggressively asked as Carl drank from a half empty glass of the classic Imperial Whiskey.

From the silence, Kimi knew she wasn't the only one with crushed spirits in seeing her alcoholic father. Speaking to him was like walking on eggshells.

Mom cleared her throat as dad, in his drunkenness, danced to no music as he went closer to mom.

"Care to dance with me, darling?" His unsteady Irish voice asked the brown eyed woman, his toxic breath forcing mom to lean back as she tried to keep her cool.

"It's 4pm, and you're drunk in front of my kids" mom disappointedly spat as she leaned her arm on the counter, peering at the tipsy one.

Kimi quietly stood up, rolling her eyes as she remembered that her past self was so deeply curious to spy over the brick wall, distinguishing her sluggish father pushing and laughed, as Nina rolled her eyes, trying to walk away from his clingyness.

"Nina, come on! It's New Years, live a little" he followed the curly haired woman as she resisted

"Live a little? Like everything is magically okay? Like you aren't..." mom paused with her wiping of the table, taking a deep breath as she did so

"Aren't what?" Carl pushed as he voice deepened, piercing into the almond eyes of Nina

It hurt to watch as her anxiety levels shot through the roof, but her body was too frozen to run away, or do anything for that matter.

"Like you aren't trying to take my kids-- my daughter away from me?" mom finally spat in a lower voice, Kimi quietly gasping as she uttered the words

"Im just - helping them. I've seen it-- those aren't normal kids, Nina. Those are aliens as we know it" Nina rolled her eyes as he spoke, "They are dangerous, Nina, its only a matter of time before they realise their power - and...kill us all" Carl uttered as Nina chuckled, her tongue poking through her cheeks

"Right, thats enough Whiskey for today--" Nina attempted to grab the 1/3 drink left of the bottle as he whined and resisted, yelling --

"Carl, thats enough!" She stood her ground, looking up to Carl's demanding eyes as his smile quickly faded, she almost felt physically cold.

Kimi began pulling on the ruffles of her dress, flinching as she heard a--

Clink! The bottle of whiskey hit the counter, breaking in half, mom and dad looking down to the big mess.

"Whoops! Missed a spot there, dear" Carl's unnerving laughter echoed the room, Kimi furrowing her brows at her clumsy dad, losing interest in the spectating when--

Bang! Thud!

Kimi jumped, gasping as she trembled, moving further back as she watched her father ruthlessly pin her mother to the cold fridge, shaking the contents on it. He brought picked up a piece of the broken glass from the ground, whispering something in her ear as she quietly winced, terrified.

Kimika's shaky hand grabbed tighter onto the ruffles of her gown as the tears welled up in her eyes, trying to remain silent as she whimpered.

She slowly turned away to try gather her petrified self, her heartbroken, scared little self, hearing the shifting glass.

She looked back as she stammered, observing as her mother was quiet, trembling but almost knowing the drill, her daughter timidly watching as her heart raced.

Do something, Kimi.

But the timorous girl slowly moved back from where she stood, the suspense of her father staring into her mothers fearful eyes was unbearable.

Right before dad could do the unthinkable, with his hand pushing the glass against moms skin, beginning to pierce into it, Kimika's doggy slippers got caught in the thick rug that lay behind her, tripping her.

At that, the lights of the whole house so lightly twinkled, but that was more than enough to capture ones attention.

Ah, shit.

She quickly gasped as she made the distracting sound, Carl sharply turning to his side, squinting his eyes, waiting, almost afraid that he might've been seen in the middle of this act.

It was at that moment that she'd wished the world would swallow her whole, or even better, to be rid of this abnormality that straight up outed her.

"Kimi, darlin', that you?...way to speak of the devil! Yeah?" dads daunting tone reached the eardrums of the little girl, the girl grabbing her stomach, feeling sick as a dog, whimpering in silence as she dizzily looked around her, "I just want to talk" he slowly walked away from the curly haired woman who panted in relief, but with a new concern.

Kimi turned to the dark back door with the wind from outside that called her, looking back upstairs as she remembered her brother had summoned her. What could she do?

Her only option was to run, run the hell out of there.

Her face heated up as she struggled to quietly open the back door, whimpering as it finally opened, quietly rushing down the outdoor wooden stairs.

Everything in her body told her to run, tears sliding to her ears from the wind that howled and cried with her.

Her curls blew in her steamed face, her throat continuing to close up as she entered the greenery of the outside.
She turned to her left, then right, trying to remember a route to where she wanted to be.

Brenner's head shifted as the computers beeped and whined, looking at the violent waves being drawn on the brain activity recorder, he furrowed his eyebrows as he looked back to the girl seemed to have no reaction.

The encounter ruthlessly replayed in her head like a scratched vinyl, sounding louder each time it flunked. How dare her mind betray her at a time like this.

So much for retrieving lost memories. She thought, as she desperately searched for a familiar landmark of the damaged pylon. Her thoughts growing ever louder as she whimpered in agony.

The blazing afternoon sun was no help in cooling down the steamed face, but the view of the pink bubblegum sky that stained the fluffy white clouds, was too phenomenal to ignore.

Spotting the pylon, her head shifted forward into the bushy shortcut to where she wanted to go, panting as she used her arms to cut her way through the thick green leaves, grunting in annoyance as the leaves slapped her face, the leaves surrendered, shifting out of the girls way.

She finally broke from the endless horrible maze of branches, slowing down her run to deeply exhaling as was greeted by large pale rocks that led the pathway to what stood before her.

It was a large beautiful skyline-silver body of water, surrounded by the pale rocks and pine trees that reflected the pink sunset.

She thought she'd immediately feel better after distracting herself with the mysterious lake, but it only flooded more memories of the times her fathers treatment to mom was unluckily overlooked.

She was only a child. She is only a child.

She grunted and whimpered as everything grew louder in her head. The wind, the pine trees, the birds, the memory, everything was ever more enhanced.

She felt a force, or aura come over her, excusing it for the hot tears that ran down her red face.

Whimpering in agony as her head ached and ached. Slowly bringing her hands towards her face, sliding across to cover her ears from her overwhelmed swelling energy. She could feel it all over her.

She was scared, but she was angry too.

She sharply panted in annoyance of the held back energy she felt and was so baffled by. It felt like a powerful sneeze that pleaded to come out. This 'sneeze' was right at her whole body. And then, and then

Kimi burst out with an aching scream that longingly echoed the earth, one that turned to a quiet sob.

As she lifted her eyes, taking a step backwards, the pine trees surrounding the lake all tilted backwards as in a hurricane, scaring the chirping birds away, giving off its leaves into the dark lake.

She scoured down, widening her eyes as the dark water was sent off roaring large ripples, turning into a strong wave, stealing the land of the other end of the ground.

She looked to her right, where a row of pale rocks stood in the distance, before hearing a deep roaring sound, the rocks slowly descending and tipping over.

The three rocks hit the dusky body of water that turned white as they thundered with a colossal splash into the deep water.

The splash grew nearly as high as the tall trees, the girl shutting her eyes as the water showered back down, not failing to sprinkle her and her pink pajamas with the aftermath.

Kimi slowly approached the bed of the lake, grasping at the bubbles that rose up as the rocks further sunk into the water, her jaw fully dropping to the ground.

The howling wind had finally calmed down, and returned to its tranquility.

And instantaneously, it was dead silent.

She looked down to her hands in horror, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked back up, quavering at the blown trees. She was frozen.

Kimi stared with her astounded eyes staring straight forrward, before fiddling with her nose that was suddenly itchy, unmindfully rubbing it with her bare hand.

But she abrubtly stopped, feeling a wet sensation that caught her off guard. Her eyes slowly traced down, them widening as saw, red smudged and smeared all over her index finger.

She picked at the second itch, with the deep red substance, staring back at her.

The monitors beeped and complained at the sleeping girls increased activity, before it began to slow down, and regulate once again.

Brenner squinted his eyes as he leaned closer to the monitor of the girl, furrowing his eyebrows as he spotted a drop of blood that peaked from Kimi's little nose, mystified.

▉ a / n

this took way too much time out of my studying breaks x it's literally 3000+ words

fun fact i started this chapter on 7 June lol!!

this is kinda intense for a second chapter BUT LETS GO

comment comment comment!! my motivation depends on this lol

vote for justice for Nina, Kari and Kimi !!

▉ dedications

saanvinarang_01 multifandommmwhore -lostgardens vamptengu euphoreallia

( @pinkalientea 2022 )