Hey, it's me SLY (my initials) and I'm writing this chapter.
Also, there is drinking and driving in this one so sorry about that.
Now let's get to it :P
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I tossed my empty bottles in the trash, squeezed through my front door, and headed for my drive way. My boss was doing his yearly reviews and I was worried about losing my job. I needed a bit of Budweiser to loosen up before talking to him. Not a big deal, not enough to put a dent in my liver.
When I got into my car and pulled the stick shift into reverse, the backup camera popped on, showing me the area behind my bumper. A little girl was playing in the street, purple chalk balancing in her hand.
It wasn't unusual to see kids littering the block. I live on a dead end with a elementary school on the tip of it, so toddlers and pre-teens were always riding their bikes up ramps and playing hockey in the middle of the road.
I beeped my horn, signaling for the little girl to get out of the way, she didn't even look up at me, kept on coloring. Moving her purple dusted hands up and down, up and down.
I unrolled my window and craned my head out of it. I couldn't see around the car, I couldn't see her, but I yelled out anyway. "Hey, could you move for a minute? I need to back out." When I glanced back at the camera, she was still in place. The damn kid won't budge.
I withheld a groan and got out of my car with the intention of tapping her on the shoulder, helping her to her feet, and ushering her to the grass.
When I reached the street, no one was there. There wasn't even any chalk marks on the ground. Bizarre. I didn't dwell on it. Maybe I had a little more to drink the. I thought. So, I chugged a bottle of water and put it in the cup holder. I backed out of my driveway and drove to work.
I saw the little girl again a week later when I was leaving a parking lot. My older sister had just broken up with her (girlfriend or boyfriend. It's up to you.), so we ordered a few drinks along with our food. Started with a Heineken, and ended with a Long Island iced tea.
After I kissed my sister good bye and tried to pull out of the parking space. The little girl was there, again. Sitting on her knees with a hand ball, rolling it back and forth on the pavement.
Who the hell was that? A neighbors kid? She looked a little like the woman across the street. Blonde, pale, and freckled.
I got out of my car to talk to her. To see it I could give her a ride home, because what the hell was a six year old doing outside of a strip mall at midnight.
When I walked to the spot she should've been, she wasn't there. She wasn't walking towards the mall, she wasn't in a car, she wasn't in my car. She wasn't underneath my car. I even opened up my trunk to check for her, to make sure she didn't climb inside. Nothing.
I didn't care how much I had to drink, I refused to believe that I was making her up. It must have been more then a hallucination.
It must have been Nikki...
Nikki was a young girl my father had killed when he was in his early 30's and I was in my early teens. She was selling cupcakes and lemonade from a stand when he "accidentally" back into her lawn and crushed her chest. Her lungs collapsed and both arms broken. She survived for a few minutes, but died in the ambulance.
I still have the news clippings from the "accident" in my bedroom drawer. To remind myself that I shouldn't become him. That I should cut back on my drinking.
On the way home, I swore I had it all figured out. The litter girl must have been the little girl my father had killed. She wanted revenge. My father had passed away earlier in the year, so she targeted me instead.
Or maybe... Maybe she didn't want me to become like him either. I'd only seen her on nights that I drank. It made sense. Maybe she was a warning, a reminder.
When I got home, I shuffled through the palates In my drawers, I found the "accident" newspaper clippings to test my theory. Except, I didnt see a pale girl with blonde hair. I saw a dark-skinned (sorry!), big boned, brunette girl.
So she wasn't the kid my father had killed. She want a ghost. Then what the hell was she?
Maybe she was real. Maybe she was just a sneaky kid that wanted to prank me, or maybe she was some kind of projection from the future. The image of the girl I was going to kill if I didn't take it easy. If I didn't stop drinking.
It sounded like some sci-fi nonsense, like a badly written nightmare, but if convicted me to stop.
No beer, no wine, no shots, not even any weed. My sober streak lasted for three weeks straight. And then there was a party.
I didn't intend on drinking. But I didn't intend on seeing my ex' either. As soon as we locked eyes, I headed for the fridge, and grabbed a cherry wine cooler. Then followed it up with several hello shots of the same flavor.
When it was time to leave, I checked my entire car, just to be safe. Looked in the trunk, top of the car, and underneath the wheels. And saw a tuff of hair.
I dropped to the ground d and crawled under as deeply as I could. I grabbed the yellow strands and pulled out a over sized doll.
It had x's over the eyes, drawn in purple chalk. Half of twits body was covered in a tight black dress, similar to the one I was wearing. There was a star drawn on the ankle in black sharpie. It kind of looked like my tattoo.
The little girl must have done this. It must have been her. I couldn't see her, but I could picture her laughing at me. Sitting behind the wheel, watching me from the backup camera.
I could picture her next moves. Shifting the gear from neutral into reverse. Slamming on the petal. Running me over and watching my chest burst.
And that's when I realized.
She wasn't the girl my father had killed.
She wasn't the girl I was going to kill.
She was the girl who was going to kill me.
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Word count: 1113
Ok well this was my first chapter I hoped you enjoyed it. I'm sorry about the drinking and driving and the description of some thing.
Alright see you next time
*Bows and tips fedora*
