she was resentful. She hated all and the tiniest thing could tip her off. Maybe I should start at the beginning.
There was a nice little town. Yellow sidewalks and a tan cement center with tiny little shops lined around it. One shop led into a large underground metro station with grand shops. Grand couldn't even begin to describe it. From the tiny center above, and the little door way, you would've never imagined there was so much space down here. Stairs led atleast two stories down, and on each side of the tunnle there were shops with tall window fronts. Each window had white printed names spread out in fancy old fonts. The only thing about this underground mall was that it only had green fluorescent lights covering every inch of the place, giving it a gloomy tint. Everything was either in a green tint or a black shadow.
As you went through the underground palace, there was a narrow passage with only bricks and wooden fancy doors. This area led out to the metro station itself.There was a little old lady in rags who sat on the doorsteps next to a wooden door halfway in. No one minded her, and tried to avoid her actually. She was a cranky old lady who snapped at anyone who spoke to her.
Somedays you could see her up next to the aquarium. Other days, she'd be seen up in the rafters, tieing something to the iron bars holding the whole place together. No one saw her face, but they alknew they didn't want to. There was something that just felt wrong about her.
Sarah came into the tunnel one day. She was in awe at he grandious architecture down there, and went back everyday to look around. She took pictures here and there. Unfortunately, no one told her about the old lady's aquarium and the rafters, and Sarah was just dying to know everything about the place. her boyfriend always came with her, preferring to watch her enjoy herfels rather than watch the underground life.
One day, she went up to the rafters and asked her boyfriend to watch the door so no one would catch her up there. The old lady saw. She quickly made her way towards him.
"So you.....believe in......and what about?"
They chatted for a bit, the boyfriend growing more and more uncomfortable, but all the while aware that he still needed to watch for Sarah. Then the old lady said, "Are you sure you should be protecting her? There's a reason no one is supposed to go up there. Are you completely justified in watching over her?"
"Umm... what..are you ...talking about?"
"The girl in the rafters. You're watching the door for her. You know, she shouldn't be poking around places she doesn't know about. Especially, MY place."
"Oh, th-that's you're place? Oh, i'll i'll call her down now."
"No, that's not neccessary. You know what this is?" She asked, and she held out the thing her hands had been fiddling with. It was oval shaped, with something purple and blue inside. The thing was wrapped with layers of dirty white fine string, sort of like rough silk. she still had a piec of the string pulled loosely from the bottom of the oval and she was still spinning it. As she turned the thing around, her though he recognized a tiny face under the mass. As it spun around again, he saw it move. And as he focused on each spin, he knew what he saw and it took the breath right out of him. It was his tiny face ontop of a bulky body gaping for him to run. it's eyes were full of fear and anxiety. He himself, watching the tiny him under the layers of hard silk, couldn't move. He was paraylyzed. The old lady was smiling a crooked smile, with an evil glint in her eye. She then said a few words and suddenly, he was rigid. He fell, squiriming on the floor, not doing much since he couldn't bend a bone in his body.
"You and your girlfriend angered me. Up there? that's where my babies sleep. She distrurbed them. Now you'll be just like my little ones so that you'll know what it feels like when someone disturbs you!" she squeezed the little bundle once. He felt that squeeze take the breath out of him and then it was gone. the invisible binds faded and he could move against. But he was disoriented, breathing hard, and there was still something wrong with him.
"Now I've kept a little piece of you to remember you by. You misbehave and, "she squeezed the bundle firmly. He nodded desperately and she released. As he regained his balance, he watched her disappear up the stairs. Then the wooden door slammed in his face and he snapped out of the spell. Sarah came back all cheery and accomplished.
The old lady continued her ways for a few years and gathered many, who left without memory of the incident. However, like Sarah's boyfriend, they all left behind a little part of them that'll never get out.
One day, a great flood came in. She needed to save the souls she'd collected! "SAVE MY BABIES!!" she cried, but no one helped. She tried again and no one even glanced at her. She got angry. Her anger took over her helpless self. the old lady stormed up to the rafters, cut down the crate of her little bundles and watched them being swept away with the current. Everyone of them silently cried for help but no one minded them in the beginning. Then they noticed how strnage it was that the little bundles were there. They picked up a few and realized they were little people, and as their eyes followed the trail of bundles, they saw the old lady cutting down more and more bundled souls. This caused a real panic.
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