Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Humanity was rather left in shambles after the disaster that unfolded years ago. Mysterious beings setting off a nuke in the US with no real motive other than chaos, it left the people living in fear and trauma, all for a one-off oddity that caused calamity. You've never been one to dive into the lore of these unexplainable events because frankly, you never really cared to know about things to have nothing that affects your daily life...until recently. Recently the rain has made you feel very uneasy, to put it simply. It almost feels as though something is watching from a distance when the precipitation is heavy enough to cause large puddles to form on the road.
"Gosh, I need to snap out of it....there's nothing out there trying to get me!" You say to yourself as you furiously rub your face that's buried into your hands.
You peer over at the clock in the library and you decide it's time to put a stop to your vigorous reading session that has been going on several hours too long.
After packing the last of your now stolen books in your ragged backpack, your anxiety begins to soar upward as you hear the subtle pitter-patter of water droplets falling from the sky. "Oh no...come on, seriously!?" You exclaim out loud to no one in particular as you frantically make your way to the library exit to hopefully beat the rain before it gets too much worse.
You stared into the now foggy skies filled with rain, crashing into ground making simple pitter-patters sound like a room filled of multiple voices talking at the same time. It messed with your brain a bit, you felt claustrophobic at the moment, thinking that the rain is closing in on you though you were completely safe physically. That's until the line was crossed as you spotted a seemingly dark figure in the rain, a humanoid one at that. You felt your body freeze and shiver in absolute coldness as goosebumps filled your skin in a heartbeat. You stared at the figure as the pitter-patters of the rain gotten louder to you as you focused on the fear you're gaining from the sight of the figure in the rain, you began to think it was loudly whispering your name, piercing through all the loud noises in your head. You tried to the break free from your anxiety attack as the voices gotten louder and louder until you snapped out of it, looking back up to now be surprised by a completely different sight. A extremely pale girl in a black bunny onesie, surprisingly bright pale pink eyes, and blood that could easily be seen through her skin. But the most interesting fact is, that her nose seemed to be bleeding recently. You couldn't stand to see the sight of an innocent-looking soul standing outside in such harsh conditions. So you decided to put on a mask you put on to conceal your identity before rushing into the harsh pelting rain towards the standing girl. You came up to her to notice her rather now scared, but it wasn't due to your mask. It was something you couldn't know, not yet. You offered your hand for her to glare at you in a menacing tone as it seemed she was resentful of you for something.
So you had to get the bottom of this. "What's wrong? Why are you...mad...?"
"Bad people." She primitively says in a blunt tone.
"What...?"
"Bad." She said before gripping your hand tightly, hurting you.
"Ow! What's your deal?!" You yelled before taking off your mask.
That's until the girl stared at you, now with a unsure face. It seems she noticed her mistake and she let go of your hand. You felt your recovering hand before now looking at her pink eyes, ignoring the heavy rain soaking the both of you. You then softly grabbed her hand before running back into the library. You then rushed to a couch to sit and calm down from what just happened. You shivered heavily as you felt the air conditioning hit your wet skin through your onesie. The water that soaked through the one side of the onesie was chilling, to say the least. You notice the cold, untrusting look of the girl. She didn't trust you one bit still, she didn't trust anyone. But you could still see hope in her eyes, the eyes of someone who knew that they had been saved from something horrible.
You decided to try small talking. "What were doing in the rain? Who are you?" Silence. "Are you okay?" Silence. "My name is Jay, you can call me Jay-Jay." Pure, unaltered silence.
The silence still in tact, staring at you in pure hatred. "Human, hatred." She cryptically said. "You hate."
"W-What...? I don't hate you, I just met you." You try to get through her.
"Mind powers, you hate, you kill." She kept saying in a blunt, passive aggressive tone.
"What do you mean-" You interrupted as you notice a flashing lamp behind you on a table.
You turned back to the girl to notice she seemed to be concentrating on the lamp, causing it to flash more and more. That's until her nose bled and she soon fatigued, falling on the couch with a grunt. She laid there on the couch, breathing heavily, as if she had been running for a long time. You instantly crawled to her aid for her to weakly swat your hand away from her. She tried to get up, but fell back onto the couch. So you decided to try and grab her hand.
"Your nose is bleeding." You said to her with a soft tone, but she didn't answer you.
She was too weak to try and retaliate your hospitality. You sat her up as she kept glaring at you with the same untrustful look. You found a roll of paper towels around the library before going back to the girl and trying to clean the blood of her nose. She flinched and tried to get away from you in a weak state as you wiped the blood away, she was like a baby not wanting to eat her vegetables. She then seemed to calm down as she was too exhausted to fight you anymore. You wiped the blood away as she laid back to rest.
"Listen, my name is Jay. If you need help, you can come to my aid. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to manipulate you. I want to generally take care of you." You tried to introduce yourself.
She seemed to stay quiet as she seemed to be thinking about what you just said. That's until you notice something on her neck, a necklace. It said "Lucy" on it. It seemed she was owned or was taken care by someone before you found her.
"Your name is Lucy...?"
She seemed to instantly fear you knowing her name so suddenly and she weakly back up on the couch.
"Woah, woah! Chill out...I just read the necklace on your onesie..." You said to her with a soothing tone.
You tried to get closer to soothe her, but she seemed more fearful and more prepared to attack. That's until she looked down and noticed the necklace herself, that's when she remembered her previous caretaker before all of this. It was an old woman who gave her this necklace, she soon died from old age, leaving Lucy all by herself. Lucy was always on her own, she found multiple places to stay with, multiple people, and they always lead to her having to run away and keep going. Now she found herself in your presence. She started to tear up with snot included as she began to whimper in pure depression. You decided to give her a reassuring smile before softly grabbing her hand as she began to cry.
"I'll help you get home, just calm down." You said to her.
She seemed to calm down, but the sadness in her eyes was still there as she looked at you with a broken heart.
"My house isn't too far, I can take care of you there. Sadly, my Mom is on a business trip and she hasn't came back in a while...But, I still keep the house in good condition, I live on my own currently." You try to cheer her up.
"I see..." She said in a broken voice.
"You can stay with me if you want, I don't judge..." You grabbed her hand tighter. "I'll give you anything you need. I promise. I can be your friend. And friends. Don't. LIE."
She looked at you with a broken smile. "You're...Different." She whispered.
"Yeah, I'm different. I'm not like other people." You said. "I defy the system, I live with my own rules. I'm my own person. And you should be your own person too." You said to her.
She nodded slowly, before her eyes widened in realization. "I'm...Free." She said in a voice full of exhilaration as she began to jump up from the couch.
You were taken aback as she tightly hugged you in a sense of hope.
"Friends..." You said to her.
"Friends..." She replied with a smile.
The two of you embraced for what seemed like hours as you felt your heart swelling with love. Lucy never knew the concept of love, she only saw you as a friend. But, maybe in the future that would change. The two of you embraced as the rain fell down from the sky heavily.
"Let's wait for the rain to calm down, then we can go to my house. I promise with my life." You said to her in a serious tone.
"I...Agree..." She replied with a smile.
You never felt this way with a girl before. You grabbed a book from your backpack before reading it. After a couple of minutes, you noticed Lucy get a bit closer as she tried to see what you're reading. It seemed to excite her as she sat up.
"This is a book about nature. I like to read it when I want to relax." You told her.
Then, the both of you read about nature. You two didn't even notice the rain slowly go away as you two were reading. The whole time, you noticed her looking at you, smiling and nodding. After the rain had stopped, Lucy got up from the couch and walked towards the front door. You followed her before leading her down the sidewalk of the humid streets of the US towards your house. You checked under the mat in front of the door and you unlocked the door before opening the door for her. She walked in as she looked around in amazement.
"It's...Nice..." She said to you as she walked further in.
You followed her as she explored your house. She seemingly walked in a unsure way, kind of like a ballerina. She seemed to be looking at every little thing, kind of like she was examining everything with care. You wondered if she was afraid of something, but that didn't seem to be the case.
"I hope you enjoy your new home, Lucy." You said with a geniuine smile.
"Thanks..." She replied with a small smile.
She seemed distant, almost like she was in her own world.
"I'll make you something to eat, how about that?" You said to her.
"Okay..." She said softly.
You made her something to eat, and you sat down next to her as she sat down at the kitchen table. She stared at the food, like she hasn't seen food in years and is only figuring out the concept. That's until she finally took a bite, then she basically devoured the food.
"I...Like this..." Lucy said as she stuffed another forkful of food into her mouth.
"Yeah, it's good. Food is one of the most important things in life, you know." You giggled a bit at her antics.
She nodded and chewed thoughtfully.
"Lucy?" You asked.
She looked at you.
"Why are people after such a nice person as yourself?"
She looked down as she bit her lip.
"I...Don't know." She replied.
"Lucy, you're a nice person. Don't you think that people deserve better?"
"Bad people...Mind powers...Experiments..." She seemingly pieced together for you.
"Bad people deserve what they get, Lucy. I don't want the bad people to get you. If you really need to know, bad people deserve what they get. They deserve nothing as in that."
"Red cloud. Burden." She cryptically said.
"Wait what? Red cloud? You mean the Red Rose Nuke? It gave you these mind powers?"
Lucy nodded as her eyes were full of determination. "I hate red cloud." She primitively said.
"So do I, but unfortunately this is the only way."
She looked down.
"We should probably get on some new clothes, these feel weird after getting soaked in rain...Let me go get some pajamas for the both of us." You said before getting up.