Pretty Baby

There is a long, low-lit, carpeted hallway lined with doors. At the end is a kitchen. In its’ deep blue/cyan-hued walls sits a little girl—roughly three years old. Her small body takes up only little space. She’s perched at the edge of a painted-white wooden chair, in front of an old, round beige linoleum table. Her head hangs down, facing the floor. Dark locks drape across her hunched back and neck and cover her face. Her arms lay beside her legs as they dangle off the edge of her chair. The lights flicker above her head, the laminate table-top in front of which she sits. She looks up suddenly toward the door. Her mouth hangs open slightly, her eyes dark, yet curious - with the slightest look of worry, and a shiver of excitement, as if half-expecting to see something both beautiful and frightening coming towards her from the end of the hall. The silence is, however, deafening. She looks back towards her hands. She brings them together and rubs them - they are curiously rough for her age… and yet, this movement feels like comfort. She pulls herself from the chair to the floor landing on both feet at once, and pads lightly towards the doorway, and down the hallway. She arrives in front of the second door on her left. She pushes the door open lightly with her left hand, peering into her room. Everything feels familiar—warm and calm. The pile of pillows that cascades from the headboard down halfway across the bed, the quilted blanket tucked into each corner of her mattress, a ceramic night light glowing yellow-orange, covered with cut-out stars of all different sizes, and a big moon carved into it. The soft, cream shag carpet on the floor invites footsteps. She moves gently across the floor toward her bedside table. She looks up at the lamp — it’s on, and feels like home. She drags the covers back out of the mattress and crawls into bed. She pulls them back up towards her face and looks back towards the door. The light stays on in the night, and helps stop her from seeing dark shapes in the doorway of her room. She continues to watch with heavy eyelids, and then suddenly — she is asleep.