A young Floris, barely more than a child, sat curled up on the cold pavement, crying with her knees hugged tight to her chest. Her breath fogged in the air, her cheeks red from the cold and the sting of betrayal.
The front door behind her slammed shut.
She'd been thrown out.
Tears ran silently down her face as she trembled, alone in the night.
"Hey," a voice called.
Floris flinched.
A girl about her age stood in the distance, her silhouette flickering in the moonlight. "Are you okay?" she asked, stepping closer.
"Leave me alone," Floris sobbed, burying her face.
"It's freezing out here," the girl said, walking over and grabbing her wrist gently. "You'll freeze to death, dummy. Come on."
Before Floris could resist, she was dragged into a nearby abandoned house, its broken windows rattling in the wind. Dust swirled in the air, but there was a strange warmth in the girl's presence.
Inside, the girl lit a small flame in a metal tin and poured some tea from a scratched thermos.
Floris sat, shaking.
"What do you want from me?" she asked, voice barely audible.
The girl rolled her eyes. "Stop asking me stuff like that," she said. She handed the cup of tea to her. "Just drink… or you'll catch a cold."
Floris hesitated, then gently took the cup, warming her fingers.
"Thank you…" she whispered, sipping slowly.
The girl sat beside her, legs crossed, watching the steam rise from the tin.
"What were you doing out there?" she asked.
Floris wiped her nose. "My mother threw me out."
The girl's smile faltered. "That's awful." Then, reaching over, she held Floris's hands in her own. "Well… I ain't got no family either."
She grinned. "So that makes two of us."
Floris blinked. "If you don't mind my asking… what's your name?"
"Who me? Hehe. I'm Rindel!" she declared proudly, puffing out her chest.
"Well… I'm Floris," she said shyly.
That night, they both lay on a tattered mat beneath the collapsed ceiling. Floris curled up, still trembling. Rindel, watching her, tore off a piece of cloth from an old curtain and tucked it over Floris.
(You're my friend now… A friend!) Rindel thought excitedly.
But even as Floris slept, she whimpered soft sobs escaping unconsciously.
Rindel sat quietly beside her.
Eyes open. Listening. Planning.
Inside a sleek hunter HQ lit by pale white lights, two agents conversed.
"Heard there's a monster loose in the southern region," said a female hunter, her blue hair tied tight behind her head.
"Disappearing bodies," replied her dark-haired partner. "No trace. No signs. Just… vanished."
"We investigate tomorrow then."
"Fine by me."
Rindel panted as she approached Floris' home.
Inside, Floris' mother screamed into the phone, her voice thick with regret.
"What do you mean you can't find my daughter?!"
"We're sorry, ma'am," said the rescue officer on the other end. "High chance is… she's dead."
The call ended.
The phone hit the floor.
"No…" she whimpered, collapsing. She crawled to a shelf and found a baby photo of her and Floris. Her trembling hands lifted it.
Tears spilled onto the picture.
"My baby… Forgive me…"
From the window, Rindel watched.
Her eyes filled with cold rage.
(That's the woman… who hurt my friend.)
The lights cut out.
The back door creaked open.
"Who's there?" the mother called out, grabbing a flashlight. She pointed it toward the door. No one.
She stepped outside to shut it
And when she turned
"AHHHHHH—!"
Darkness
The pale morning light trickled through the cracks in the broken house.
Rindel sat on the floor, calm and still.
In one hand, she held a human head.
"Floris," she whispered. "Wake up."
Floris stirred, eyes opening slowly. "Huh…?"
"I fixed the problem," Rindel said softly, smiling.
Floris blinked.
Her gaze dropped.
She froze. Her mother's lifeless head rested in Rindel's lap.
"NO!" she screamed, scrambling backward.
She tripped on a cabinet. Her head struck the corner.
CRASH.
A rain of skulls and bones spilled from the cabinet.
Floris choked in horror, gasping, crawling back as the room twisted into shadow.
"Please… don't go," Rindel said, stepping toward her.
The door shut by itself. The lights died.
The floor turned black.
"I really like you," Rindel said gently, her smile sweet but wrong. "And I don't want to have to kill you…"
She tilted her head.
"Like my other friends."
Floris panicked.
And the darkness devoured her.