[ Little girl, little girl
Don’t lie to me
Tell me where did you sleep last night ]
Long days on the streets had worn out the small neon Conduit. Stringy dark pink hair rested just below her shoulders and her deep brown eyes felt heavy from the lack of sleep. Her back was against a cold wall, knees against her chest and small arms wrapped around them to keep them there. Her forehead rested on her knee caps as she begged for sleep to come. Sleeping for the rest of her life seemed like a pretty good idea to her. It’d take away the with drawl pain she felt whenever the drugs ran out. She could have sworn her stash should have lasted longer than what it did. Something was weird about it, and she had her suspicions.
The past few days had been tense between her and Brent. Words had hardly been muttered to each other. Drugs was all that preoccupied their minds nowadays. Neither of them could think clearly anymore. They got thinner as the weeks went by, quieter, and more on edge. It took all her motivation to get herself on her feet just to get more drugs or find something to eat. As a child, she never imagined her life like this. She’d always been taught to ‘just say no’ but why do that when the drugs can put you to sleep for hours and make you forget just how shitty your life has been? Abigail had nothing else to live for anymore. This was better then getting captured by the D.U.P. who had been trailing her since she and Brent ran away.
[ In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
We shiver the whole night through ]
The Conduit lifted her head slowly and placed a hand on the sleeve of her jacket. On her arm were visible track marks from where she had injected herself with what she called heaven. She just wanted one more high to last her through the night. Where had the rest of her stash gone to, though? Abigail wasn’t stupid, she knew she had more. A day didn’t go by where she stopped keeping track of all her things. Living on the streets had molded her to become protective of her belongings. Take your eyes off them for one moment and everything you kept near and dear to you could be gone forever because of some greedy bastard. No, she knew better than to take her eyes off her stash. Someone must have been pretty sneaky to steal right out from under her nose. Someone who knew where she hid it and what she was doing throughout the day when she wasn’t near it.
Brent.
Her older brother, who had saved her from getting turned over to the D.U.P., walked into the alleyway that they had been staying in since they arrived in Seattle. A gate was the only way of keeping other people out of there and only the siblings had ways of getting in. Of course he was the one to stole her stash, the greedy bastard! He always took her for a stupid kid. Always treating her like she couldn’t take care of herself. Abigail gritted her teeth as she watched him opened up a brown paper bag. Did he really think he could get away with taking her stash? Dammit, he had his own. Why would he steal from his own kid sister?
Clumsily, Abigail got to her feet. She pushed her hair behind her ears as she stomped over to him. “The hell did ya get that?” she asked, her tone aggressive and demanding.
Brent looked over at her, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “From the dealers. Duh.”
“Don’t fuckin’ lie t'me. That’s my stash! I had more this mornin’ and now ’m suddenly out. You stole it.” He was much taller than her, so a small girl like him pointing a petite finger in his direction didn’t seem so threatening. Easily he could simply push her out of the way, demand that she was crazy for thinking such a thing. She was the one with the powers, though. She was the one with the advantage.
The brother rolled his eyes. “Are you stupid? Abigail, you ran out this morning. Remember? Why do you think I met with the dealers?” He let out a sigh and shook his head slowly.
“I’m not stupid!” Abigail reached for the bag, but Brent quickly yanked it away from her. “Give it here!” When he held it above his head so she couldn’t reach, she placed both hands on his shoulders and shoved him as hard as she could. He stumbled, his back hitting the wall.
“What the hell?!” Brent yelled. Clumsily, he tried to regain his balance as he pushed off from the wall. His own eyes were red from coming down from his eyes. He dropped the paper bag and when she went for it, he pushed her back. “I didn’t steal anythin’, Abigail!”
She didn’t believe that for a goddamn minute. Her small hand curled up into a fist and she snapped it forward, only for him to grab it with ease. She threw another, but he only got another grasp on her wrist. Rage built upside her as he held her wrists, his strength not allowing her to yank herself out of his grasp. “Fuck off!” the younger sibling yelled as neon burst from her hands and shot forward. The sudden force was enough to knock the small Conduit onto her back. Ever since her powers activated, she never had a blast that powerful before. Usually she only neon sprinted or shot small blasts to scare dealers when they were holding out on her and Brent. Never had she felt this powerful with her powers.
“Jesus,” Abigail breathed as she rolled onto her side. Her dark pink head turned to see Brent on his back, the shot of neon fading away from his chest. Deep brown hues looked at the wall. A small neon light was in the center of the destroyed wall. “Brent?” she muttered, crawling over to him. “Dude, this ain’t funny. Get up.” There was no response from him, even when she began shaking him. “Brent, c'mon… ’m sorry. Just get your ass up and we’ll talk 'bout this.”
The fact that his chest wasn’t moving began to scare her.
“Brent!” Shaking hands placed themselves on either side of his face. “C'mon, wake up. I hardly laid a…” Eyes looked at the puncture wound that went straight through his heart. “scratch on ya. Oh god, no…” Did… did she really kill her own brother? The only person who cared about her… the one who saved her from being locked up. “Brent… Please, don’t do this. Don’t fuckin’ do this.”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at his unresponsive body. A part of her expected him to begin laughing and tell her that was her lesson for thinking he stole from her. That didn’t happen, though. Instead, he stayed… dead even as she continued to shake him. Violent sobs shuddered through her small body as she begged for him to wake up and not leave her alone. She wouldn’t survive on her own. Dammit, she needed her brother. She’d always need him, no matter what.
“I don’t wanna be alone. Don’t leave me, Brent. I’m sorry… I’m sorry.” All she could do was repeat apologies, as if that would do something. “I didn’t mean to… Don’t leave me. Please!”
Abigail began to feel sick. She crawled away from his body and stared down at her shaking, glowing hands. Eyes locked on the brown paper bag. Those fucking dealers had brainwashed to to think that using would help her. That they’d only make her feel good. They made her do this; become a damn monster. And she had been stupid enough to believe them.
[ You’ve caused me to weep
You’ve caused me to mourn
You’ve caused me to lose my home ]
Now she was all alone. The only person who cared about her - the one who protected her - was gone. All because she was too addicted to the drugs to think clearly. All she because she had turned into a monster.
Forgive me, Brent.
[ In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
We shiver when the cold winds blow ]