CVRRICVLVM

Alone

Shout out to BaguetteLauncher, ThatCrazyLeftTwix, and Illness_of_mind1 for help with the title of this book.

Rue was supposed to be in bed. Although the black haired and blue eyed girl had comfortable pajamas, cozy blankets, and a soft pillow, she could not fall asleep. She left her bed to get a drink of water. When she got water from the sink in the kitchen she decided to rest on the couch while she drank. Rue found the unpretentious couch comfortable, almost more comfortable than the normal bed she was supposed to sleep on. She couldn't stop thinking about what might happen tomorrow. She had even been thinking about it while she was getting ready for bed.  The conversation flashed through her mind again.

"First day of school, tomorrow!" her elder sister, who called herself Eclair after her very favorite dessert, crooned while the girls were brushing their teeth. 

"Great," Rue replied after spitting the foam in her mouth into the sink. "What are you excited about again?"

"What are you not excited about again?" Eclair countered. Rue sighed.

"Tomorrow, we're going to be stuck in a giant school that probably has high standards for students that we could never measure up to."

"You can't think like that Sis, we haven't even met the people there yet. Eventually school will be like a second home, we'll have friends to hang out with and everything."

"It's not going to be that easy. I skipped a whole grade to go to a class of thirteen to fourteen year olds, real teenagers, and I'm only twelve! What if nobody likes me?"

"Yes it will be, they will like you. You'll see." Eclair was upon Rue in moments. She enveloped Rue in a hug that pressed her own messy dark blonde hair against Rue's face.

"Nighty night Rue!" Eclair purred. Rue hugged her and said good night back.

Rue could remember their conversation vividly and the talk didn't change her feelings about tomorrow. In a building full of people they would be alone. Rue and Eclair would have no friends to be there for them if they needed help.  They would certainly become lost. Then it would be like they were in the dark and they had to feel their way through or else be at the mercy of some unknown entity in the shadows.  The pitch black space Rue sat in threatened to envelop her. 

After freeing herself from her depressed trance, she heard something. Her brain told her that it was just noises of the empty house. She didn't listen. Unconsciously, she stopped breathing and started to curl up. That's when it clicked, what she heard was breathing and it couldn't have come from her. On impulse she decided to hide behind the pillows on the couch. There was a chance they would provide adequate cover if she stayed still. Shaking in anticipation, Rue closed her eyes and hoped it would soon be over. 

"Wakey Wakey sleepyhead!" Rue woke from the spell that had overtaken her during the night. She tried to reorient herself so she could figure out what was happening now. She quickly found the source of the noise that had woke her up, her sister. Eclair plopped Rue's baseball cap onto her face and chattered about getting breakfast, before it was too late. Eclair was not a monster, but she did have the ferocity of a monster.