The man said in a low monotone voice. His wide build nearly took up the entire couch that he was sitting on, and the couch alone barely fit in the apartment.
The apartments entrance came from an alley between two of the oldest buildings in the city. One side was occupied by an old Italian deli ran by a Mexican. The other side was an underground strip club. Imagine the fancies that regular that place? As you push open a screen door your in the living room, where the disgusting slob sat on his fat ass.
The Little Girl pulled her bag from her shoulder and dumped the contents on the floor in front of him.
As he rose up from the couch, the Little Girl took two extra steps backwards away from the loot she just handed over. Gold watches, jewelery, money, credit cards, driver's licenses, wallets, cell phones.... The purse had to weigh a ton.
"Good job, baby girl!"
His wide smile still had no welcoming signs about it. She remained just a couple of steps away from the door. He noticed the edgy vibe coming from the girl and puckered his face as he stood up.
"Relax."
He snapped his fingers and pointed to the loot on the floor and one of the men standing about gathered it up.
"You did good. That's some impressive work."
The Little Girl said nothing.
"That was a compliment, bitch. You should mind your manners and say, 'Thank-you'... Unless you'd like to show your gratitude another way."
The Little Girl clenched her fists and a tear dropped from her one eye.
"Thank-you."
The Little Girl whispered.
"That's more like it."
His footsteps thundered across the floor as he walked over to her. He reached out and his thick black hand rubbed the back of her neck and shoulder.
"You're a sweet girl, Clementine. I can't wait to see what you can do when you get a little bigger and a little more experienced."
She tried wiggling her was out of his grasp, but cannot. He makes sure she cannot. He releases her with a slight shove and then jokingly pushes the baseball cap down over her eyes.
"Go see your mama."
The door slowly creaks open and the Little Girl peaks her head in the room.
"Mama?"
The woman lied half naked and motionless on the bed, sunk into the dressings and mattress. Lying face up and her eyes closed tightly, she was left agape and breathed extremely heavy. Her skin was pulled tight against her bones and patches of hair were missing from her skull. She looked peaceful in the dimly lit room, all provided by a single burning candle on the bedside.
The Little Girl stepped in front of the door and closed it behind her. She watched as the woman continued to lie motionless besides her chest puffing up and down.
"Mama?"
Still nothing.
The Little Girl sniffled a bit and fought back the urge to cry. She closed her eyes and took a step forward. She reached out to the bed and touched the woman's foot. She calls out to her again, this time a little louder.
"MMAM-"
Half a syllable escaped her mouth before the woman sprung up from the bed with a loud gasp. The Little Girl stumbled back and landed on the floor. The woman moaned and groaned as she her head bopped up and down and left to right.
"Clementine..."
The Little Girl continued to sit on the floor. The woman's head finally stopped swooping around and laid to rest on her chest. When she called out to the Little Girl she could barely push the words out of her raspy throat. She coughed a long painful cough and unknowingly spit a massive amount of flemn across the room and on the foot of the bed. Her eyes finally opened and were so dialated they looked black. The two stared back at each other for a moment.
"Clementine."
Her voice sounded sweet now. Still a little rough, but sweet.
"Come here, baby."
She began nodding off as the Little Girl picked herself up from the floor and walked over.
"Are you still tired, Mama?"
The woman's eyes closed and her head hung in the air.
"Mama?"
She snaps out of it and scowls at the Little Girl.
"Clementine, mama doesn't want bothered right now... Go play, baby."
Little does the woman know it's 2 A.M. She pushes on the Little Girl, but only pushes herself back down onto the bed. She passes out instantly.
The Little Girl fails to block the crying any longer and let's quite a few drop. She pushes her back against the door and sits down on the floor with her head rested on her knees. She cries for a few minutes until she hears a deep voice and thundering steps coming from outside the room. She runs to the open window across the room and climbs out onto a small ledge. She shuffles across it until she reaches the fire escape and lifts herself up onto a landing. She hears a door slam and bellowing coming from the window she just escaped from. She waits in the dark for the moment it stopped and climbed safely down to the street below.
The Doctor sits behind his large desk in his office. He's feet are propped up as he pulls smoke from the butt end of a fine cigar. The room is already clouded with smoke and a red glow. The fireplace in the far side of the room is burning and blazing as it always has.
You'd think it would get boring just sitting around all day smoking cigars, but believe it or not, the Doctor gets many visitors. In fact, he's expecting one right now.
Hello, my friends!
Hello, Peter. The time is finally upon us. Here's a chance to back up every foul word you've said towards the Doctor in the past year. Can you back them up? Are the the King you claim to be? Are you the best?
Hardly.
Time and time again I've sat back and watched you falter and fumble through a thousand opportunities. Whether they were title shots or just a chance to redeem yourself from what ever stupid scenario you buried yourself in that week. You always seem on the ropes, Peter. You're always defending yourself from SOMETHING. And it's never any good, either. I could go on and on about ways to help you grow into a great superstar here. I could name a thousand things that could assist you on your way to fame. All while knowing it's going to go in one ear and out the other in an instance. Your thought process and memory is shot and it's hurting you in the ring. I almost thought you were kidding when you were going over our last encounter... Perhaps you're just THAT hardcore that you would forget the details to a traumatizing situation like having your ear ripped from your head. Or maybe, it was the trauma itself that made you forget.
That makes a bit more sense, I suppose. You're not stupid. Here all this time I thought you were just an idiot.
I suppose that even the Doctor learns a lesson from time to time. After all, it IS my duty to see these types of things. You hear that, Peter? It's my duty. Are you aware how disappointed I was when I seen that you went to Doctor Phil for your counseling? You have a perfectly good Doctor right in front of you and you put yourself in front of THAT? Surely you weren't looking to TRULY seek help. It looked more like a publicity stunt, to be honest. Bringing up your family's sick past and exploiting it.... All that was, Peter, was another autograph signing wasn't it? Another little something to add to the ego of Peter Gilmour?
Honestly, your little session with Doctor Phil was a waste of time, Peter. You are focusing on the wrong, wrong, wrong thing right now. Look around you, Peter. You live your nightmare every single day! I see the XWF World constantly closing it's walls in around you. A constant target to anyone passing by. Doesn't that get old, Peter? Doesn't it SUCK being the ass end of every single joke in the XWF? People come from different federations to fight you, and not out of respect either. They come here to embarrass you, my friend. They come here to beat you and put an end to your pathetic life as a professional wrestler. What do you do? Put up your dukes and back into a corner! I know what they say, 'A good defense is a great offense." Well, that doesn't seem to have panned out well for you. As I said before, I used to look at you as someone holding the pieces together around here. Everyone wanted to beat Peter Gilmour!
Yes.
And nearly everyone has beaten Peter Gilmour. What a horrible, horrible surprise it was. But regardless, I still need my fill of Peter Gilmour. My wall of achievement and successes may as well be blank without your name up there, Peter. I'm not sure, but if I'm the first to ever give you a little bit of kudos for just your PRESENCE here, then here you go. Take it. Chop it and up and swallow it. The XWF is definitely the place for us Peter. You made a home here long before I did and when I arrived, like a good dog you lied in the corner and watched me take over. I took your crown. I took your, so desired, spotlight. And now, I'm taking your claims of being the best and proving to you once and for all that you stand no chance against me. The Universal Title on the line is just a technicality, Peter. I wanted to face you, otherwise, there's no way you would be competing for this title. It was perfect, Peter. You're chasing rabbits, my friend. I left a trail and you followed it directly into the rabbit hole. Where now you're in an unfamiliar and dangerous world at risk of getting your head chopped off. If you had a time in this place, it's long over with. You're just an old XWF veteran that still hangs out here when someone needs to take a piss or someone needs a little boost of confidence.
It's been a long time since I've come out and given my patients any type of advice concerning their mental health. After spending a week anticipating a meeting with Mister Gilmour, may I suggest that if any of you are feeling down or in the dumps in anyway. Turn to the XWF's very own toilet, Peter Gilmour to unload your shit. He's become quite accustomed to it.
The Doctor smiles as the walls across the room split and begin tearing apart.
Now. If you'll excuse me, I'm expecting company. The drop was about seven feet from the ladder. It wasn't too far, but quite a fall for a little girl. She let go of the bottom rung and fell straight to the ground and landed on her butt. She landed with a thud and an "Ooof!" as she hit the torn up pavement below.
She picked herself up from the ground and looked up to the window she climbed out of. She sniffled for a moment, then turned her back and walked way. She stuffed her tiny hands into the hoodie pockets in front of her and walked quickly out of the alleyway.
She shuffled out into the open street. There was still a substantial amount of traffic on the street, regardless of the hour. Foot traffic and vehicle traffic. People carrying on their lives as if it was the middle of the day. She kept her head down and very tense as she walked, ignoring every passerby whether they acknowledged her or not. It's comforting to know that at least a few people showed concern seeinga little girl walking alone in the streets in the middle of the night. They didn't care enough to pursue, however.
The Little Girl stopped for a moment as she seemed to catch something out of the corner of her eye. She looks up and catches a small, fuzzy bunny-rabbit hopping past and into a dark alley. It stops for a moment and winks at her before it trots into the darkness. Intrigued and curious what a fuzzy little bunny-rabbit is doing in a place like this, she follows it.
As grown up as she's had to be day in and day out for so long, sometimes forced, the child came out of her at that moment.
"Bunny?"
She playfully sung out to the creature.
"Hello, Bunny?"
Again.
She crept through the alley trying not to spook it if she came to close without seeing it. Suddenly, she hears a rustling in the garbage just to the right of her. Springing out from behind a few garbage cans, the bunny-rabbit scampers past the little girl and into an open doorway. She smiled and quickly chased behind it.
Once she entered the building the Little Girl stopped in her tracks. She couldn't see a thing in front of her. All she seen was a pit dark hallway. She squinted, stood on her tippy-toes, and ducked trying to enhance her vision in the darkness. Unknowingly, behind her the door to the building slowly crept shut and sealed. It made a loud slam sound as it closed which scared her and caused her to immediately try and escape. She pulled and pulled on the door hand, but was unable to pull it open. She heard a loud bang coming that echoed down the hallway, and decided she had no other choice but to follow it.
The Little Girl was never afraid of the dark. She always knew much more fearful things. Like the things that came out and the things that happened in the dark. She had no idea where she was at the moment... but was pretty sure she was alone and the monster under the bed was just that, still under her bed. She followed the hallway slowly, using her hand to guide her along the wall. She found another door and immediately pried on the handle to open it.
It opened in and she nearly fell into the next room. She caught herself and pulled herself back standing again and allowed the door to shut behind her. As the door closed the fluorescent lighting above her head flickered causing a strobe light visual. The corridor she stood in was completely white. The floors, walls, the ceiling. Everything. She thought of the time she sat in the hospital when her mother was sick once. It was bright and white, much like this. It smelled funny too. Not like a hospital, more like a coal factory... Or a campfire. Or sulphur, but she doesn't know what that is. She looked down the long hallway and seen the fuzzy white bunny-rabbit move just a little bit. It blended right in with the room and she didn't even notice it at first. It hopped a few times until it reached the end of the corridor. Two doors split apart from each other and opened up into an elevator. The bunny-rabbit took a few more hops into the elevator.
"Bunny wait!"
The Little Girl wailed and it echoed down the corridor as the doors to elevator sealed shut. She began to run with every step making a loud clap, which made a chorus of claps as the sound echoed over and over again. She huffed and puffed as she sprinted as quickly as her little legs could take her. After what seemed like an endless dash, she was standing in front of the two large doors.
The didn't look this big from down there, the Little Girl thought to herself. She pressed the big silver button to the right of the doors and her the elevator start in motion. At least it seemed to! It began to hum, only she felt the odd sinking sensation you would while ON the elevator. She loses balance a bit as the sensation is so great it feels like the room she's standing on is falling. Finally, it slams and the elevator dings as the two doors split open.
Inside was not what the Little Girl expected. The smell grew worse, she tried to ignore it as she stepped inside.
Hello, my dear! Please, come in!
She hesitates as the surprising voice of an old man scares her as it's shouted out to her from across a small office.
Don't be shy! Please! Come in!
He smiles as the Little Girl slowly begins to step towards him into the office. A red haze flows through the air and burns her eyes a bit. They've already been a bit teared up before hand, so they become a bit irritated and itchy now.
The man walks out from behind the desk and approaches the small girl. He places one knee on the ground and smiles miles wide.
Hello, Clementine.
The Little Girl appears shocked that the old man knows her name.
"Who are you?"
She asks with as much confidence and strength as she can muster.
A friend, my dear. A friend, indeed!
That didn't do much convincing for the girl. As much shit as she's put up with for so long, she's not very naive at all.
Tell me, what brings you to my office this evening? It looked as if you were after something?
The shyness doesn't prevail this time, and the Little Girl speaks to the old man.
"I was chasing a bunny-rabbit."
A bunny-rabbit, you say? What was a bunny-rabbit doing in here?
"I seen it outside and I followed it in here. It went into the elevator."
The Little Girl looks behind her and there is no elevator. Just a wall.
What elevator, my dear?
"But? How did I get in here then?"
The old man chuckles at the Little Girl then picks himself up from the ground. He marches to the center of the room where a small stuffed bunny-rabbit sits with it's back to a large object under a black curtain.
Could... This? Could this be what you were after, my dear?
The old man points down to the stuffed animal on the ground and the girls eyes light up. She runs over to it and picks it up. A smile reaches from ear to ear as she holds it up in the air and gives it a huge hug.
I'm not sure where that came from, but you could have it, if you like.
The Little Girl smiled at the old man and nodded her head happily.
"Can I, really?"
But, of course! Tell me, Miss Clementine, is there something else that brings you here?
The old man reaches down to touch the girl on her shoulder, but she pulls her body away uncomfortably.
Oh, I see. Hm.
The smile has disappeared from the poor girl's face. She sits on the floor rocking back and forth while holding tightly onto her new friend.
Well, it just so happens, you've came to the right place, my dear. I have something else for you.
Her large, brown eyes peer up with pure innocence.
Oh, yes. I have something for you, indeed. Maybe something, to give you a little more confidence. A bit more strength, maybe.
The Little Girl looks confused at the old man as she watches him approach the object under the black curtain. He stands beside it and turns around to face the little girl.
Come closer, my dear.
The Little Girl picks herself up and walks towards the man as he pulls the black curtain away from the object.
It's a large standing mirror.
The Little Girl looks at her own reflection, then up to the old man.
I want you to look deep into your reflection, Clementine. I want you to see the beautiful little girl that's left inside you, and let her out! No more of this sad show you've been displaying here. Just look how pretty you are.
The Little Girl frowns at the old man's words and looks disappointed in her gift. She fulfills the old man's request, however, and stares deep into the mirror. She stares so much that it nearly becomes hypnotizing to her. She sees through the mirror a flicker of flame ignite the shoulder of her hoodie and immediately turns her head to it.
Nothing there.
She fires her head back up to the mirror and it's gone from there as well. Was she seeing things now? She steps closer to the mirror until she's nearly nose-to-nose with her reflection.
Suddenly, it blinks without her. Her heart jumps up to her chest as she realized this and falls back until she's grabbed by the collar from the little girl in the mirror. The Little Girl is then pulled hard into the mirror as she shrieks for help, but her voice gets zipped shut as she disappears. A few moments later, the Little Girl steps back through the mirror. She stands in front of the old man, laughs and smiles aloud at him. She reaches down and picks up her stuffed bunny-rabbit and gives it a hug.
Now, I think it's time to head home, Miss Clementine. We have much to do, but first, I believe you have a few things that must be put to rest first. Am I right?
The Little Girl smiles at the old man and giggles a bit more.
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