Born to Die
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I deserve an award for waking up to odd situations, I really do.
That's what I thought, as I stared at the little girl standing in front of me.
She probably wasn't more than 6 or 7 years old, but she looked as angry as an angry old lady. She had an angry little face and angry little arms which were both crossed. In anger.
"Who are you and what are you doing in Leo's bed?" she asked acidly.
She had a sweet, full voice, with a little lisp - she sounded like the spoilt baby of an overindulgent family.
"I- wait, who's Leo?"
"Leo, my big brother Leo. Mom told me you are his friend but I don't believe her, you don't look like a friend. You don't even know his name."
"I-I am a friend, sweetheart," I replied hesitantly, shifting uneasily in the bed.
"You have no clothes on. Friends shouldn't be naked," she stated matter-of-factly. She walked over to the curtains and pulled them open. Harsh sunlight streamed through the tall French windows. I blinked stupidly.
"Why are you in Leo's bed?" she asked again, angrily. "This is his bed, not yours, you can't be clothes-less in Leo's bed!"
This is terrible, I thought. How do I get out of this?
"I was outside last night, you see," I started, saying whatever came to mind. "And it was raining outside and your brother saw me, and he's such a nice and helpful man he decided to bring me home... And give me his own bed to sleep in. Because I was tired. And sick, very sick," I added quickly.
"Why don't you have clothes on?"
"The clothes were wet. I let them out to dry."
"You could have taken some pajamas."
Is everyone in this family this tenacious? I thought, annoyed.
"I like sleeping in the nude," I replied desperately. What else could I say?
"I heard you shouting last night."
"I had nightmares. Very sick, remember?"
Internally I was dying of embarrassment. Why didn't Liam stop me from screaming?
She walked back and forth for a while, as though looking around for new questions to throw back at me. I decided to divert her.
"Do you get nightmares? Did my shouting frighten you?"
"Sometimes," she said, contemplating.
"What do you do, do you go to mommy?"
"Mommy's room is too far in the dark."
"Oh no," I said, getting up. I carefully pulled up the cover with me, so I didn't expose anything. "Then what do you do? Sit here, tell me about it," I said, patting beside me.
She eyed me warily, then decided I'm alright. "I go to Alex's room. He stays awake all night playing games on his computer, so I sleep in his bed."
"So it's okay to be in someone else's bed, right?"
"But Alex is my brother, it's okay if I do it," she said, turning to look angrily at me.
Oops, shouldn't had let the conversation go there.
"When I got nightmares, I used to go to my mom and she'd sing me songs," I started. "Even now when I feel scared, I sing."
"You get scared too? I thought old people don't get scared," she mused. She rested her head against the headboard, lying on her side, to face me.
"They're lying to you, pretending to be cool. Everyone gets scared once in a while."
"Leo's not scared of anything," she stated confidently.
"I don't doubt it, but everyone's not the same, right?"
"Can you sing?"
"Yes."
"Can you sing something now?"
"I'm like a jukebox. You have to ask me to sing something. I suck at thinking up things to sing."
"Sing a song from the princess movies!" she demanded, excitedly.
"Hmm okay. I'll try."
I started singing. She fell in, nuzzling into my side, and I gently laid a hand across her, to run my hand across her golden hair.
"Your hair is like Rapunzel's," I complimented.
"Your hair's like mom's before she had to cut it," she replied back. "Sing me another song, please?"
I don't think I had any choice. And I was actually feeling very comfortable. I felt a kind of calmness, that I never experienced before...
"Bambi? What are you doing there?"
We both looked towards the door to see Liam standing there. He looked worried for a moment, then laughed.
"Bambi, are you bothering Kim? Don't be so annoying," he teased, coming closer.
"Oh no Leo, I just thought you were here. I found her," she explained sweetly.
"Oh you did, did you? Kim does get lost sometimes you see, ending up in the wrong bed," he said as he ruffled her hair.
She smiled back at him, all teeth and sunshine, and Liam bent down to kiss her forehead.
This was so odd... He was a totally different person...
"She said you saved her from the rain and gave her a place to sleep, you're a such a nice person Leo!"
"Of course I am," he replied, as he gave me a quick side glance. I glared back, pointedly.
"She can sing too, did you know that?" quipped Bambi, sitting up.
"I didn't... Wow, Bambi, are you good friends with her already?" He walked to the other side of the bed, and tucked himself inside the blanket.