Witless

A/N: This takes place in an orphanage (if you're confused :D)

Nicolette wasn't supposed to be up this late at night. The fact that she was surprised almost everyone, as Nicolette always seemed to follow the rules.

The silver light of the moon shone through the window, giving her a shiny halo on top her wavy hair. Though it only reached her chin, her dark hair would always gather dirt or dust or whatever rubbish was lying around, because although Nicolette, in fact, was a goody-two-shoes (as the other kids always declared), she seemed to be always scouting out for a new adventure.

"Thistle?" She said softly into the dark room, rubbing the fabric of her nightgown between her fingers. The lack of light made her uneasy. "Thistle, where are you? Can we go now?"

A tiny hand tapped her shoulder from behind, making her squeal with surprise.

"Be quiet!" Snapped Thistle, her voice low but no less irritated. "Yeesh, you big baby. Nothing's going to gobble you up in the dark. If there was truly something here, don't you think it would have gone into the light already?"

"Not if it's a bat," remarked Nicolette. "Or a vampire. Or a vampire bat."

"A vampire bat? Since when do those exist?"

"Since now."

"You have any proof, you big ol' baby?"

"Do you have any proof that they don't exist?" Asked Nicolette, pouting slightly. She was a year older than Thistle, yet the gap-toothed girl somehow always ended proving her wrong.

Thistle snorted. "That didn't even make sense!" She grabbed Nicolette's hand, dragging her to the door. "Now come on. We're taking forever!"

The old wood of the halls creaked and complained under their weight, making Thistle glance worriedly out of the corner of her eye. She bit her lip, leading them to the big oak door that housed all the older boys. With only a moment of hesitance, her pale hand gripped the metal knob, turning it in such a way that it refused to squeak. The door swung open silently, bumping softly with the wall.

"Took you long enough," whispered Thomas. His brown eyes seemed almost black, sparkling impishly.

Thistle grinned, her gap prominent in the low light. She tugged at one of her blond braids, leaning forward with anticipation. "What are we doing doing tonight, huh, Thomas?"

Thomas glanced at the two other boys sitting beside him on the wooden bed. He leaned forward, making sure not to wake the other boys sleeping blissfully in their beds. "Hide and seek," he said, his voice sparking with excitement.

Nicolette glanced uneasily around the room. She found the lump that was supposed to be her brother and inched closer to him, reaching out her hand. She was quickly pulled back.

"Don't wake him up!" Whispered Den, leaning down to reach her ear. She had not realized he had left Thomas's side.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, twiddling with her dark hair. She looked back up at Thomas. "Huh? Hide and seek? How in the world are we supposed to see?"

"We won't," replied Thomas. "That's the fun part."

"But what if we run into the monsters? The vampire bats? The men hiding in the the mirrors?"

Thistle rolled her eyes. "Such things don't exist, Nicolette."

"But--"

"You don't have to play if you don't want to," Thomas stated. "No one is forcing you to do anything."

Nicolette frowned, picking at a loose thread on the seam of her nightgown. "No, no that's all right. I'll play." Her stomach tumbled at the thought of wandering around in the darkness for the rest of the night, yet she was determined to comply anyway.

Thomas smiled. "All right. Everyone has to hide in separate rooms, but be careful! If you get caught, none of us are responsible to what happens to you," he said quietly. "I'll count first."

Nicolette ran off, her footfalls soft on the wooden floors. Her stomach churned and twisted with panic, yet she pushed it away. She gently pushed open the door that contained all the important papers and vaults, the room that all the children were forbidden to enter. She had always wondered what it was like, always thought that it must contain forbidden papers and forms, secrets all the kids didn't want each other to know. A repairman had come to fix something a few days before, and had been ordered to keep the door shut behind him at all times. The mysterious room both intrigued and mystified all the kids, and coming in the room herself gave Nicolette a sense of wonder she had never felt before.

She smiled, feeling proud of herself for wondering this far in the dark, even daring to enter a forbidden room. Thomas would never think to enter here!

Nicolette scanned the room, setting her eyes on the large metal vault that resided in the wall. A pile of tools sat beside it on a plastic chair, and she remembered how she had been told everything was fixed, that the kind man who gave them all candy and entered the forbidden room was finally done.

She let out a tiny breath, placing the tools to the ground and dragging the chair to the opening of the vault. The door swung open, revealing a dark but otherwise empty space just big enough to let her crawl inside and hide.

Nicolette bit her lip, hesitating at first, but then boosting herself up into the vault. She dragged her knees to her chest and softly shut the door so only a sliver of window light shone in, and shifted herself to make more comfortable in the tight space, accidentally bumping it with her shoulder. It jerked forward for just a second, and then swung back and closed with a barely audible 'click'.

Nicolette paused at first, alarmed at the sudden lack of light. She remembered the monsters that always came out when you least expected it, but then shook the thoughts from her head. There wasn't enough room for the monsters to come in. She was just by herself, that much was for sure.

She pushed the door, her lip quivering when it didn't open. She pushed harder, beating against the surface. Her eyes began to swell with panicked tears.

She whimpered, thinking of all the times where she had crawled into a ball at night, afraid of the ghouls that she was sure were out to get her. She remembered how scared she was, but before now, she had not truly known what terror was like.

Nicolette dug her nails into her hands, regretting that she had not woken her brother up. He would have stopped her from doing something so stupid, wouldn't he have?

Surely she would die here, she thought to herself. Not a soul would dare venture into this room, nobody would be as stupid as her to break into a room that everyone was prohibited to enter. If only she had just thought a bit more, she stressed.

She raised her shaking fist in the darkness and thumped against the cold metal, using the strength that she could muster. A sharp pain sparked into her hand, making her grunt with discomfort. Nicolette raised her both fists this time, and beat the hard surface, making the sides rattle with protest, and a slight sliver of satisfaction traveled through her. Maybe, just maybe, someone would hear her.

~~~~

Alistair shifted in his bed, worry the only thing his system seemed capable of comprehending. He was used to his little sister doing stupid things, though this was the first time she had not come running back, sometimes seeking his help or worried to go farther alone. The thought of her going alone in the dark was absolutely ridiculous, he knew how her over-active imagination made her afraid of the night.

Though it had been quite awhile, and Nicolette had, in fact, not come creeping into his room and woken him up, and it gave him anxiety to think that she had done something foolish, because idiots did idiotic things.

He had had heard Thistle whispering her usual blubber to Nicolette, watched Thomas and Den huddle with them and anxiously glance over their shoulders. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were up to something, and hearing Nicolette creep into the room herself confirmed his questions.

Alistair sat up in his bed and stretched his legs, quietly creeping to the door. He tiptoed down the dark halls, making sure not to make a slightest sound. He knew Nicolette would hide somewhere with light, because Nicolette had convinced herself that within the night there were monsters hidden, watching and waiting to gobble you up.

He licked his dry lips, scanning the old faded doors lining the walls. He gaze strayed on the old oak door that held all the boring papers, the one everyone seemed to be fascinated with, especially his witless little sister. It was not completely closed, giving view of shadows of window light that cast itself over the wooden floor. He nudged it slightly with his shoulder, letting it squeak open. Alistair  was sure this was an ideal place that Nicolette would hide, and he stepped inside with a tired sigh.

"Nick?" He whispered. "Nicolette? Where are you?"

Alistair  paused for a second, catching a slight beat he had failed to notice before.

Thump, thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

Alistair's eyebrows drew together with confusion, and he looked around the room, feeling for vibrations in the floor and in the walls. It was faint, but the rhythm thrummed, never skipping a beat.

Thump, thump, thump.

His eyes were drawn to the vault in the corner, the vault that had a plastic chair just tall enough for a small girl to hop into and climb inside. His eyes widened a bit, and he tentatively tip toed over and laid both hand on the cold surface. Thump, thump, thump. The metal thrummed under his fingertips, a heartbeat that refused to seize.

Alistair stepped back from the wall, panic seizing his stomach. Somebody, likely Nicolette, had locked themselves in the vault.

He stepped back from the room, racing through the black hallways. Being quiet didn't matter anymore, because he intended to wake the very person he was trying to hide from before.

Alistair pounded on Ms. Connor's door. She was a stern woman with an angry face and a bad temper, but she took care of them, and her heart was gentler than more than most people realized. In any other situation, he would've quietly knocked, but he had no idea how long Nicolette had been trapped inside the box, how much oxygen she had left.

"Ms. Connors!" He shouted, his voice desperate. "Ms. Connors!"

The door slammed open, and Ms. Connors face was crinkled with anger. "Goodness gracious, boy. Have you--"

"It's an emergency!" He said, glancing back through the hallway. Several kids had come to peek out the doors, curious about the boy who dared to wake the old lady up. "Nicolette's locked up in the vault!"

~~~~

Nicolette's hands were raw and bruised, and she felt drops of blood trickle down her pale palms. She paused for a second, slouching against the cold metal. Her eyes drooped, and she rubbed her arms, attempting to warm herself up. Maybe nobody would ever hear her, she pondered. Maybe she would die here, and in a couple years when they open the vault again they would find her bones, and they'd remember Nicolette, the girl who went missing in the night.

Nicolette let her eyes droop. She was sleepy, and though being cramped up into a tiny box wasn't the coziest place around, she was too tired to keep her eyes open, so she let herself close them.

There was a slight click, and she thought she felt light on the back of her eyelids, but then she remembered that this was a dream, that she was still locked up in the vault. Or maybe she was dead?

Nicolette opened her eyes and Alistair stared down at her, a worried expression on his face. She dismissed her ideas, because when you died, you didn't know that you are dead, and when you're dreaming, you don't know that you were asleep.

Alistair had told her countless times that he hated when she hugged him, clung to him, gave him a kiss on the cheek. But just this once she allowed herself to reach out of the metal prison and wrap her arms around his neck, and to her surprise, the older boy hugged her back.

Ms. Connor's switched on the lamp, a frightened look on her face. Nicolette peered gratefully at the lamp, never happier for light before. And for once in Nicolette's life, she didn't let her mind wander off, thinking about what creatures lurked in dark corners or whether or not she had seen someone behind her in the mirror the day before, but she let herself think about how warm her big brother's arms were and how beautiful the light truly was.

THE END.