Songbird
It was unusually cold for this time of year. It was too early in the fall for this. The girl barely felt the shock blanket around her shoulders as she watched paramedics surround the shattered car. She couldn't see the crushed and bloodied bodies inside. She did not cry. She was numb. She felt as if she had been desensitized for all eternity. Another car pulled up and a woman in a pencil skirt and suit with noisy heels stepped out of it. She made her way over to the small girl.
"What is your name?" she asked,
"Lily" the girl replied,not once shifting her gaze to the woman.
"And how old are you?"
"I'll be fifteen in October. And I know I can't see it but don't look so surprised either, I know how I look but I really am fourteen."
She still kept her gaze fixed on the car. The woman squatted down to her level.
" Alright Lily, I believe you. But, you need to come with me now." she had a thick British accent but, Lily had no problem deciphering it, unlike her mother can't. Couldn't. She was quietly escorted to the car. She sat on the left side just like she had in the other car, and every other car she had ever traveled in. The one thing that was different was that this was England, the driver sat in front of her now. Lily sat in the back thinking how backwards the car was. Saying nothing. Seeing nothing. And soon thinking nothing while staring out the window as the streetlights floated by. Lighting up her face so she'd occasionally see its reflection in her window. They stopped at a large building. It was too dark to read the words above the door. When the woman opened the door there was a desk like a check in at a hotel. Nobody was behind it. She followed the woman to the left and through a door into a room crammed wall to wall with beds of children. All ages, shapes, sizes, hair colors. For the first time in the past few hours she actually felt something. Surprise then that slowly faded into fatigue. She was lead to the one empty bed left. In a corner, by a window. She felt asleep in an instant.
