⚠️Allusions towards rape and murder⚠️

It was the afternoon, and Harrison Elementary School was bustling with activity. Parents were picking up their young children, other students were rushing onto the buses, and teachers chatted while they stood monitoring the students.

Holly wasn’t part of any of this, no, the little second grader sat on a bench, right by the bike stand outside of the campus, and waited. Her hearing aids turned down to block out the noise of the roaring bus engines and the shouts of the crowd.

The little girl, dark skin and braids, was quite patient when waiting for her mother. Sometimes, it would be dark when her mother would remember her and bring her back home. On those days, Holly stayed with the principal until she came.

Today, though, Holly knew her mother was going to pick her up. Grayson told her so, and today was Holly’s birthday. Her mother said that they were going to watch a movie of her choice.

So, Holly was extra patient that day. Grayson sat next to her as the two of them watched cars roll by and out of the driveway. She could always hear Grayson, hearing aids on or not. He lived inside her head.

“Mommy will be here soon, right Grayson?” Holly turned to her shadowy friend for reassurance.

_Yes. She will; how could she forget you on your birthday?_

_——_

**_There’s a child there

Bring her here

With care

Bring her to me

Warm body and all

So that I may be full

Fuller than all_**

_——_

Holly was done being patient. Her mother had forgotten about her again. The girl’s face and eyes grew hot, and she was on the verge of tears.

“No!” She exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut. “I will not cry. If Mommy won’t pick me up, then I will just walk home!”

Grayson shook his head. _That is not a good idea, Holly._

Holly ignored him and shifted her bookbag on her back. She ran to the sidewalk across the street, Grayson followed behind her.

The girl remembered the way. All she had to do was go straight until she saw her neighborhood sign. Then she would be home!

_Holly, we should go back._

Holly spinned on the balls of her feet to face Grayson head on. “I’m the birthday girl,” she said, as her reasoning, “You have to do whatever I want to do.”

Grayson fell silent. _I suppose so. _He looked up to the sky._ But we should make it before 5, alright?”_

“We will!” Holly said cheerfully, turning the knob up on her hearing aids. She ran off suddenly then, and stopped at the crosswalk.

Grayson groaned. _Look both ways, will you?_

——

**_There she goes

Across the road

In the woods

Were the wind blows

Will she find us

Will she go

Down the path

Hidden in the grove?_**

——

_Holly_, Grayson warned, his shadowy figure glancing around at the tall, thick pined trees surrounding them, _where are we going?_

“It’s just a short cut, Grayson, remember, we went this way on one of our school trips—oh! I don’t remember this being here.”

_Holly…._

The girl stared in awe at the perfectly manicured grove in front of her. It had a dirt trail in the middle of it and the cared-for trees were controlled with a white, tall fence that were made of metal.

It was beautiful, but the chirps of the wildlife living in those trees were not. Holly turned her hearing aids fully off again and started down the path in front of her.

_Holly!_

“It’s okay, Grayson,” she smiled as she walked, “it’s my birthday, and it’s not like Mommy’s gonna get me a present, anyways.”

Grayson, once again silent, followed her deeper into the forest. He, and Holly, observed their surroundings so they could remember their way back.

Holly marked a few trees with a black marker from her bookbag as she passed. Not the ones behind the fences, that would be rude; they were too pretty to do that to.

Holly hummed herself a little song, not noticing the tall figure behind her.

——

**_Here she comes!

Here she comes!

Down the path

To us

Soon we shall know

Her taste

And the beauty of

Her blood

Quicker!

COME QUICKER!

For we await

Our meal

_**

——

Holly stopped when a pretty looking cabin was at the end of the path.

“Should I knock, Grayson?”

_No_, he answered quickly, _you know that._

“I know,” she responded, “but I want to. Just wait and let me turn my hearing aids back—“

_Thwack!_ A hard material slammed into Holly’s head, causing her body to collapse onto the dirt ground. Her body was splayed out, Grayson was gone, and the pursuer grabbed onto Holly’s limp legs. They dragged her to their cabin to do what they had intended to do from the start.

——

“There’s black marker on some of the trees, Ms. Pey, it seems that she might have went this way,” mumured an officer.

Ms. Pey did not answer back. Her face was crumpled and tears brought black streaks onto her cheeks as it ran through her thick mascara. “I should have been there,” she whimpered, “I should have been early.”

“HEY! OVER HERE! I FOUND SOMETHING!”

The officers, leaving a shaking Ms. Pey momentarily behind, raced towards their unit. It was a creek.

A creek with a bloodied bookbag in the deepest part of it.

A creek with twisted, broken hearing aids on its bank.

A creek with the equally soiled, ripped clothes and underclothes of the second grade girl.

But the one thing the creek did not have…

Was Holly Pey.

***

(So, this is based off a tale you should know and a short film I saw a long while ago. I forgot what it was called, but it was about a child who decided to walk home after she didn’t see the message her mother texted her because she turned down her hearing aids. She had the same fate as Holly Pey. Anyways, what tale do you think it is, and what do you think Grayson is?

Thanks for reading, and have a great day! 😊)