The Little Broken Girl

The sun crept slowly from its bed in the tranquil emerald mountains, rising lazily over the great city of Millora. Various birds began to sing in chorus outside the cities concrete confinement; serenading the new day and its promise of sunshine. But even on this glorious day the little broken girl could not bring herself to be joyous or even merely happy. She looked from the window to watch her elder sister walk aimlessly around the room.

“Please go away.” The little broken girl whispered shutting her eyes tightly against her sister’s glare and her terrible icy eyes. It didn’t help. A cold chill swept through the little broken girls bones, sending shivers down her little broken spine. Her sister hissed at her wrecked form,

“Ugly… you’re ugly and dumb, incorrigible! A waste of space, you’re disgusting like the filth under a homeless man’s nails. And you are just as useless, an annoyance. You should have died, this day three years ago! Because of you mum and dad had to go away. They loved you and you killed them!”

“No! I didn’t!” The little broken girl desperately cried out. She just wanted her sister to understand, and to love her again.

“Shut up!” The sister growled savagely gripping the little broken girl’s hair, she cried out grasping at her sisters hand. Oh how the big sister hated that little broken girl.

“Stop! Pease stop! I’m sorry!” The Little broken girl wailed, frantically clutching at her big sisters arm. The big sister was furious, why should she stop, it wasn’t her fault their mum and dad had died!

“It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t… If you–” She let go of the little broken girls hair and stormed from her room slamming the door with tears in her eyes. The little broken girl covered her eyes with her hands and sobbed.

“It wasn’t my fault.” she whispered at her door.

Below the window of the broken girl with the broken family a young man sat staring at his hands; such thin hands. Placing them out of view he watched the Forget-Me-Not flowers sway gently amidst the uncut grass and began talking to himself,

“I am only homeless because you made me so, big sister.” His dirty ash blonde hair lifted in the breeze and he turned his clear blue eyes to the cloudless sky. “You have become cruel so unlike yourself.” A tear fell from his eye slipping down his gaunt face. He felt a sudden peaceful feeling slide over him and the brother began to smile to himself at the serenity of the garden. “We’ll meet again and we’ll be a true family when we do.” The young man whispered closing his eyes as he fell into a perpetual asleep.

“What’s a perpetual sleep Bailey?” I looked up from the book and into my little sisters large blue eyes, her face identical to the Little broken girls in the book.

“It means that he fell asleep forever.”

“The brother died!?” Gasped my little sister, I sighed and closed the book.

“Yes, because he didn’t have enough to eat. The big sister put him out on the streets because he wasn’t of any use to her. He was being lazy and not helping out. Remember the part in to story when the Big sister was being mean to the little broken girl and he defended her and told the big sister it was her fault the mum and dad died in the car crash and not the little broken girls fault?” she nodded tears clouding her eyes and I hugged her to me.

“Our brother won’t die will he?” I shook my head.

“No Alyssa, he won’t.”

“Mum and dad died in a car crash to though! The book is real, isn’t it? That’s why we read it every day?” I tried to think how to explain the parallel world that humans had discovered in 2999 and how the books fell through the rip in the sky. “The book shows us how to be grateful for the things we have. It shows us what our lives would be like if we lived in the other world.” Her large blue eyes widened.

“You would hurt me like that? You hate me?” she tried to push away from me but I held her to my chest.

“No! We don’t live that life. We live on earth not Nyaz and we live in the city of Brisbane not Millora. I won’t hurt you Alyssa. I wouldn’t do that!”

“Bai-” she wheezed.

“Oh.” I released her a bit and she sucked in a deep breath. Then we grinned at each other like idiots, Alyssa frowned.

“He won’t die?” I smiled at her gently.

“No.”

“Okay Bailey.” We held hands and walked from our room into Jaden’s bedroom.

“Jaden! You won’t die! Isn’t it great news! We read the book and the brother died. But Bailey explained and I think she meant that Nyaz is opposite to Earth.” I watched as Alyssa chatted adamantly to Jaden about how he was going to live.

“Hey Jay? How are you felling?” Jaden smiled at me gentle opening his mouth to speak. He suddenly doubled over coughing; I patted his back as Alyssa pulled his oxygen tank closer. He gratefully unhooked the breathing apparatus and sucked down the clean air.

“I’m good, I feel a little bit better today even.”

“That’s great!” Alyssa said throwing herself into the arms of Jaden

“Careful Alyssa” I admonished her.

“Sorry Jayden”

“Your right Lyssa.” He hugged her tightly.

“Can I sleep with you tonight Jayden?” Alyssa pleaded, pulling out the puppy dog eyes.

“Of course you can!” Alyssa snuggled down beside Jaden and I kissed them both on the cheek. I walked back to my own room, picking the book up from the floor, jumping up to settle in my bed. The blankets were heavy and soft around me: a soft dowry of feather filled pillows nestled under my head. I snuggled in closer lifting the book up and reading the next chapter, dread building in my stomach at every word.

The little broken girl placed the heavy bound book underneath her bed and sighed. That was the last chapter her big sister had read to her before the accident at her school science lab had given her brain damage and caused her to become cruel believing that the car accident was the little broken girls fault. The little broken girl missed her big sister who was now lost in the pages of a story book.