“Hello there.”
Clear blue sky, a gentle breeze blowing through the suburbs, the smell of freshly cut grass and a confused little girl staring up at me, sitting in her own little corner far far away from the other children. Mousey little thing with long blond hair in a pony-tail, wearing a plain white shirt with some logo, pink skirt and blue pants underneath. She looked just as anxious as I was feeling.
“… Mumumeesezicantalktostrangers.”
“Sorry?”
“My mummy says I can’t talk to strangers.”
I squatted and looked right into her eyes. She looked at her shoes.
“Well, my name is Christopher and I’m a friend of your mummy, actually.”
She turned her head slightly.
“… Really?”
“Michelle Bain, tall, messy brown hair, big nose, baggy eyes?”
“… Yeah.”
“So what’s your name?”
“E-Emily.”
“Emily Bain. You want to get some ice cream?”
“… But, my teacher…”
“It’s right around the corner. We’ll be back in five minutes.”
I held her hand in mine as we made our way to the mall right next to the school. The ice cream man handed us both soft serve with sprinkles, her favourite. She mumbled thank you. He laughed and complimented me for raising such a polite young girl.
We finished our ice cream sitting outside and I even got to wipe her nose off, all white and sprinkled. She giggled really hard at that. Instead of heading back, I took us to the toy store across the ice cream place.
“Come on, you can pick anything you want.”
“Ehhh, I, ummm…”
“Don’t worry about it, OK?”
“O-OK…”
After much badgering she finally picked out a Freddy plushie, you know, one of those evil robots from that Five Nights At Freddy game? I don’t get it myself.
Just as we were heading back to school through the parking lot, a woman in the distance spotted us and sprinted our way. Middle-aged woman, brown pixie cut, glasses, kind of cute. Far out in the distance I could see smoke rising.
“Emily, where were you?! We were looking all over for you!”
“I’m sorry”, I interjected, “I took her out for some ice cream.”
She gave me the stink eye. “And you are…”
“Christopher, family friend.”
“Ah, I see… Well, we really must get going now. It’s an emergency, so good bye.”
As the teacher dragged her back, Emily looked to me and waved and I waved right back. Poor thing didn’t even realize what was in store for her.
It’s quite strange, really. A freak incident in our little town. Faulty wiring, huge fire, single mother, knocked out cold and perished. No other family in the picture. Such a shame. But Emily recognized me when I came to visit her at the police station and I had a clean sheet and a stable income, so soon she was mine for the grabbing.
Today is her birthday, actually. Just me, her and a few uncles. She doesn’t like crowds, you see. We all doted on her, spoiled her rich, ate some cake and had a couple of beers.
Yet I can’t sleep.
I entered her bedroom and sat right next to her. Sound asleep.
I pulled her shirt up. The scars are still there, right on her back.
I kidnapped a child and I have no regrets.