[beginnings]

[lucifermourning.livejournal.com]

She had to wait until Becky fell asleep. Properly asleep, so she wouldn't see. It took a while, listening to the rise and fall of her breathing, but eventually Scarlet could wake up.

She was meticulous. Her bag was packed, everything stolen piece by piece over the months and hidden under the porch. Food, clean underwear. She didn't both with spare clothes though. She'd need to get new ones anyway, quick, or people would notice her in her long skirts.

As she crept outside, the mud squelched under her feet. But the moon was full, and she could see the way. She liked the quiet of the yard as she moved through the shadows.

Carefully, she pulled the doors open. The cows were sleepy as she opened their pens. She made sure everything was unlocked before leading them, one by one, out through the yard and into the field, then went back for the horses. They looked around, sleepy-eyed, and started wandering off.

Quick and quiet, back through the yard, into the house. Scarlet wiped the mud off her feet before returning to her own room and shaking Jane awake.

"Jane...Jane..." she whispered.

"Hmm...?" her sister answered sleepily.

"I...I heard noises...and...when I looked outside...I think some of the animals have got out..." Scarlet let her lower lip tremble, her eyes wide with fear.

Jane's reaction was exactly as expected. Decisively, she ordered her little sister to wake the rest of their siblings, and their mother, but to make sure not to disturb Papa. Scarlet nodded and followed the instructions exactly.

By the time everyone was awake and rushing about, it wasn't hard to hide unnoticed in the kitchen cupboard.

The house was oddly quiet, with just the distant sounds of people giving orders and chasing animals in the field. The floorboards creaked as she moved down the hall, but she knew how to avoid the worst ones.

It was surprisingly easy. Papa was fast asleep, so when she climbed on top of him he only just woke up long enough to register her face before she got the knife into his throat. He looked like he was trying to speak, but blood kept spilling out as he gurgled. She stuck the knife in his chest a couple times too, just to be sure.

Then she climbed down from the bed, and took the cash from under the floorboard where he kept it, because you can't trust banks.

Back to her room, clean clothes (hiding the old ones - the longer they thought she was kidnapped, the better), then the bag from under the porch.

By the time everyone came back inside, exhausted after hours of rounding up the animals, Scarlet was buying her ticket for the northbound bus, humming to herself quietly as she watched the dawn break over the cornfields.

She was fourteen years old.