Hazel didn't mean to find out his secret. It had been completely by accident but what good were intentions in the face of the truth? She had given herself to a demon, body and soul. Now she had to live with the consequences…
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"Take Hazel and run!"
Her father's desperate final words bounced around the inside of Hazel's skull, along with her mother's terrified scream as the knife pierced his flesh. The dull thud of her mother tripping as the killer grabbed her ankle was soon added to the cacophony inside her head.
How many times had she relived their final moments? It haunted her each night in her dreams but it was too much to ask for it to happen in chronological order. No, everything always meshed together as if it was all happening at once.
The next part of the memory blended in with what came before. Her mother's tortured cries intermingled with her insistence that Hazel leave her behind and save herself.
But how was a four-year-old supposed to leave her mother like that? She hadn't wanted to go even though her mother slapped her away as she tried to get closer and help.
"Go!" her mother yelled harshly right as the killer stabbed her once again. She made a horrible, animalistic grunt due to the force of the knife.
"Take Hazel and run!" Thud. Screams. "Go!" Grunt.
It went on and on like a horrible symphony in her head. Each part was its own instrument and they were all playing at once in a swelling crescendo.
Three years had passed since their deaths. How long would she have to keep reliving this? Hazel woke up with a scream, making the nurse come running like usual. When Nurse Moore saw that she wasn't physically hurt she sighed and shook her head.
"Every single night," she muttered before putting on a weary smile and pretending to be kind. "What's wrong, sweetie?"
There was no point in asking. Hazel hadn't spoken a single word since the police found her sobbing and clinging to her mother's body. For some reason, the killer left her alive.
The nurse rolled her eyes and tucked Hazel under the covers a bit harshly. She may be mute but she wasn't stupid. She knew that nurse didn't care about her one bit. No one had cared about her since the police took her away.
Her only family left was an uncle who shipped her off to a long-term mental ward for unstable children the second he realized she wasn't going to speak again. Her trust in other humans had already run completely dry at seven years old.
Once the nurse was gone, Hazel sat up. Why stay here when the nightmare would inevitably come back? Sometimes she was able to get away with sneaking outside to look at the moon.
It was calming somehow. The moon had been her only friend ever since she came here.
She crept down the hall as quietly as she could, not wanting any of the night guards to catch her. It wasn't likely they would notice she was missing otherwise. Nobody checked on her unless she screamed.
When Hazel finally reached the door, she pushed it open as softly as possible and shut it silently behind her. She was free.
The warm summer breeze blew through her tangled blonde hair and she took in a deep breath. The hospital halls were so stuffy. Being outside was much better.
Hazel found a small patch of grass and laid down on it, staring up at the nearly full moon. Anything was better than being asleep right now.
The people at the hospital gave her sleeping pills every night but they didn't work. They knocked her out but couldn't keep her asleep or stop the nightmares. Honestly, it would be better to not take them at all.
She couldn't even protest against it. If she lashed out and knocked over the little cup with the pills inside, she would be forcibly held down as they were shoved down her throat. Taking them by herself was much less unpleasant.
More than anything Hazel wanted to run away but where would she go? Nobody wanted her. And a little mute girl definitely could not get by on her own.
She had never even properly learned how to read or write, having come here before starting kindergarten. Hazel's mother had taught her the alphabet and a few basic sight words but that was the extent of her reading ability.
Since she couldn't express herself through writing, Hazel had to point at things to communicate. It was extremely frustrating because no one ever knew what she actually meant.
She sighed and blinked a few times. Her eyelids were so heavy but she could not allow herself to fall back asleep. If the nightmare came back out here and someone heard her scream, they would tighten security so she could never look at the moon again.
"Whatcha doing?" a voice sounded from behind.
Hazel immediately shot up and covered her head with her arms for protection.
"Whoa, don't freak out! I'm not gonna hurt you."
She cautiously peered out from the space between her arms. A boy not much older than she was had plopped down and was sitting cross-legged on the grass next to her.
His crooked grin was missing a few teeth and his hair was shaved so close to his head it could have been any color. His eyes glowed like topaz in the darkness.
"Are you a patient here too? I'm Billy. What's your name?"
Hazel couldn't respond but at the very least she could lower her arms. She stared at him unblinkingly and he frowned.
"Can you talk?"
She shook her head and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "There has to be some way you can tell me your name…maybe we could play twenty questions. All you have to do is nod or shake your head."
No one had ever done anything like this before. The doctors and nurses knew her name because it was on her file but no one else had ever asked. Usually, she was addressed as "hey, you."
"Is your name gender neutral?" Hazel shook her head. She had never heard of a boy with her name.
"Does it start with A, B, C, D, E, F, or G?"
He was so close. One more letter and he would have gotten it. She knew her letters so she drew an H on his hand.
"Oh! H! Hmm…I'm not sure what else to ask. Maybe I'll start listing names. Hannah? Holly? Helen? Heather?" Billy asked as his face screwed up in concentration.
Hazel shook her head each time. Her name wasn't terribly common; he would never guess it. Unless she could give him a hint?
She tapped next to her eyes and then pointed at him. She had asked what her name meant once. Her mother said she had been named after a plant but that hazel was also an eye color.
She had been curious about that. Her mother simply laughed and told her that her father's eyes were hazel. Billy's eyes were fairly similar.
"Eyes? Me? My eyes?" He appeared thoroughly stumped for a moment and Hazel was about to give up when he cried out triumphantly. "I got it! Your name is Hazel!"