Under Her Cursed Scythe

'Concentrate! Concentrate, Alivia!' She shook her head, attempting to block out thoughts of Joshua and to focus on completing her task as swiftly as possible. However, before she could return to her mission, she heard a tiny voice calling her and felt someone pulling the edge of her clothes.

"Miss." the voice addressed.

'Damn it!' Alivia thought the moment she heard the voice and immediately looked down to find the little girl staring straight at her.

She was too distracted by her thoughts and by the sight of the Polaris Star in which she was not aware that the little girl had noticed her existence for quite a while already. 'Stupid Star! Stupid story! Look what you've done to me!'

How Alivia missed the days when she was ruthless. Pushing and paralyzing her victims with not a single emotion held in her eyes. But would she want to go back to those days? This, she wasn't entirely sure.

"Please, Miss…Teddy and I are lost…My parents live in the hotel opposite to this park but I don't know how to get out of here…"

A sob broke in her voice as soon as she remembered her current situation. "And…and I'm scared. Can you…can you help me to find them?" she entreated.

"Er…um…" Alivia hesitated at first but when she saw the little girl's sad puppy eyes , like her father, she could neither resist them nor reject her right away. " Okay, okay…just follow me." she sighed and began to walk towards the direction of the exit of the park.

"Thank you…", the little girl immediately wiped her nose and tears, and beamed. "See, Teddy? Mommy was right. Miracles do exist!" she excitedly told her Teddy Bear and followed closely behind Alivia.

'I'm your miracle?' Alivia mocked in her mind. 'Oh you're so wrong, sister. You will regret for believing in me...I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill you any second now! I'm gonna-'

"May I hold your hand?" the little girl interrupted Alivia's stream of thoughts and inquired after a brief moment of silent walking.

"No." Alivia firmly refused her request.

But when the little girl's puppy eyes showed up again and the skin on Alivia's right wrist prickled at the chilly glistening gold that constructed the hexagon on the leather bracelet, Alivia's countenance softened.

"Ummmm...hang on ! Just hold on for a second, okay? " she quickly put on her glove and then presented her hand, "Here…you can hold my hand now."

The little girl smiled sweetly at Alivia to show her gratitude and merrily held the hand presented while they proceeded with their journey.

'Why…why her?' She attentively observed the little girl beside her who was humming a song.

The girl had a pair of amber gold eyes framed with long eyelashes, her hair was of sunshine flowers and was tied in plaits. When one looked closer, one could also spot a tiny weeny star-shaped mole beneath the corner of her left eye. She was wearing a skater dress without drawings or other colours on it, just pure bright yellow as though reflecting the aura of her gleeful mood and innocent mind. The light skirt flew out above her knees and her shoes which were slightly-heeled, making soft clicking sounds while she was skipping and hopping along the road. The little girl looked so bright, so lovely, and in Alivia's opinion, was nothing like her who looked so gloomy, miserable and crestfallen with her dark-coloured clothes, rumpled, dirty hair and muddy grey eyes.

'Oh for crying out loud, just reap her! She's your half-sister. The last thing you want is for her to be alive! What are you waiting for?' In her mind, Alivia had scolded herself million times but still, she was not able to do it. Something inside of her kept on pulling her away from those ugly, vile thoughts.

"You know…" the little girl stopped singing and began to rattle on ceaselessly, "My daddy said I would have had a big sister if he had been more careful. He said she was kidnapped in this town when she was around my age and was never been found. So he comes to this town every year, hoping to meet her again." she said.

'Me, being abducted!? That's the best story father could tell of me? I thought he could come up with better lies.' Alivia thought, laughing at herself for having high hopes for this cold-hearted man whom she once called father.

"I really want a big sister. If she's still alive, I'm sure she will be very nice to me and she will be caring and loving and… "

'I doubt that.' Alivia responded inside her mind and rolled her eyes.

"Do you think she would like tea parties? I have a rabbit called Robert. He's the best rabbit in the world. Me and Robert have tea parties every Sunday. We have different themes for each tea party. Last week, we had spooky tea party… before that, we had…"