Scary Nothings, Pretty Colors

Lorelei was six when her brothers locked her out of the estate.

They'd been playing like normal when, out of nowhere, Asher gave a weird look to Oliver. It was that smile he got whenever he was about to pull a prank on Lorelei. Knowing what was coming, and not wanting to repeat the Chocolate Cake Incident, Lorelei ran away from them. After turning a few corners, and hearing Asher's and Oliver's footsteps stop following her, she finally stopped.

Looking around, she saw her favorite brother Ezra. Well, his actual name was Kian Ezra, but she called him Ezra because he was her favoritest. He never tried to prank her, and he'd been the one to get Lorelei out of trouble from the Chocolate Cake Incident.

"Lorie?" Ezra asked. "What's wrong?"

"Lorelei!" Oliver said in a sing-songy voice. "Where'd you run off to?"

"Hide me!" Lorelei pleaded with him but, when she looked at him, she knew he wouldn't help her with this part.

He never did.

She went back to running, turning one corner to the next until she ended up outside. It was really dark, but maybe if she waited long enough, they would go away. Nervously, she pulled on her ribbon of choice for the day, which was red. She sang her favorite lullaby that Sabine had taught her, Little Angel, a bunch to pass the time.

Lorelei went back to the door of the estate but, when she pushed on it, it wouldn't open. She pushed again, using all the strength in her little twig arms, but it didn't work. She tried the other doors, too, and none of the doors worked.

This must have been the prank they were planning on her the whole time. While she was hiding from them, they must have put something inside to stop them from opening. Since it was so late at night, and Lorelei was supposed to be in bed already, they probably wouldn't even find her until morning!

The outside felt really big, now. She heard a loud sound and ran back to her hiding spot in the back. She was going to stay there all night, but she heard another sound that sounded really close, so she started running.

Was it a wolf out to get her? Did her home have wolves? Was it a coyote? Saby had told her that those were super scary. Lorelei ran faster. She ran until her legs wouldn't let her run anymore before she finally stopped.

Looking around, Lorelei started to get really scared. All she saw were trees. That meant she was in the Gloom Forest. Except, every time she'd been there before, someone was always there to help her leave.

There was no one there with her now.

The trees were laughing at her. She could see it on their faces in the dark. The air was getting colder, like it was telling her that she wasn't going to be okay if she stayed. She looked behind her, but couldn't see which path she had come from. Sabine had told her that, if you went far enough into this forest, you would eventually come out the other side, since it was so small. With that in mind, and with no way to know which way to go to get home, she went forward.

The darkness was going to jump out and hurt her. It was going to grab her and never let go, she just knew it. It was all closing in on her. She walked faster, trying to get to the end of the forest, having no real idea just how long that would take. She heard an animal yell really loudly.

Then she saw light.

The light was a big symbol that went above the trees. Even though Lorelei was small, it was so big that she still saw it. It was a pretty rainbow that had little gems of even more colors. Little flecks of colored dust came off of it. Encouraged, Lorelei tried to go towards it.

Suddenly, the scary trees let her go, and she saw the prettiest lake ever. The colored dust reflected off the clear blue water. There were pretty flowers around the edges. Little fireflies danced around it like they were happy to see the other colors, too. The moon looked down and gave all its light to the pretty lake. Even the trees had stopped laughing at Lorelei to see it.

There was a little patch of land in the middle of the lake and, on it, Lorelei saw something glittery, yet also black. The pretty colors looked like they were trying to get to the black thing. Curious, Lorelei went across the lake, which turned out to be more of a pond, given how shallow it was, and went to see the black thing.

It was a bird.

The feathers looked really shiny, and little flecks of color were falling off of it. There was a yellow ribbon tied to its leg. The leg looked wrong, like it was broken. Maybe the big sound and the symbol were the bird's way of calling for help. She touched the bird, but it didn't move. She held her hand on it, waiting to feel its chest go up and down.

It was a dead bird.

"Poor little thing," Lorelei said. "You're all alone in here."

"Don't worry, I'm alone here, too." She picked up the bird, hoping it could hear her from beyond. "We can be alone together, Mr. Raven."

She took the bird across the lake-pond and looked for a place to bury it. After a bit of looking, she saw an area with a hole. Maybe another animal had dug the hole before. Kneeling down, Lorelei dug the hole out more with one hand before putting Mr. Raven inside.

"There you go," she said with a smile. "Now you can sleep."

She remembered Sabine telling her that graves had little stones at the top out of respect for whoever it was. Looking around, she couldn't find stones. Instead, she grabbed sticks and flowers. She made them stick together in a floral crown, just like Saby had taught her. Taking her red ribbon out of her pocket, she used it to keep the crown together.

"Saby told me that you're supposed to say goodbye at a funeral, but I don't know what to say to a bird," Lorelei said. "I hope you feel free now. Birds like to be free, right? That's why they're outside all the time. It's hard to be free when everyone's telling you what to do. They tell me how I need to dress, how I eat, and even how I talk. It's not very free for me, so you gotta be free for both of us."

"Maybe one day, when I'm older and bigger, I can be free, too. I'll travel somewhere pretty like the Traveler's Birds do. Are you a Traveler's Bird, Mr. Raven? I can't really tell." Lorelei shook her head. "If I went traveling, I'd want to go somewhere bright. I learned today that the darkness wants to hurt me, and I don't want to get hurt, so I want to be somewhere that always has lights. Even better, I want that to be a place where I can be free! If I go far enough, maybe they won't tell me to change so much." While she talked, she had sat down in front of the grave. She told the bird lots of things, and spoke until her voice was getting tired. She yawned, the late hour finally getting to her.

Getting up, Lorelei looked for a way to cover the hole for the bird. Though she couldn't use the dirt to cover it, since she had no way of pushing it all in, she grabbed twigs and leaves. After placing them onto the hole, she laid down near the hole. As exhaustion pulled at her tiny body, she sung Sabine's lullaby for the poor little bird.

Pretty little angel
Come and take your rest
Though your time is over
You did your very best

Dry your pretty tears, now
Swallow all your fears, now
You've got a new journey ahead

The past is in the past, now
No use looking back, so
Now it's time to go to bed

That was where they found her the next morning: curled up near a makeshift grave, sleeping soundly.