Damaged Beyond Repair by Kashmira Kamat (KittyKash) (best short books to read TXT) 📗

I shrugged. "You should never use it, okay?"

"Why?"

Ask me why the sky is blue and I'd answer. "Because it's a bad word, you're too little to understand."

She climbed on the little red stool just beside her; her head hardly surpassed my shoulders. She tilted her little head, "How about now? I'm tall. Tell me."

That got a good laugh out of me; a group of teenagers stared at me suspiciously. That was the cutest thing I'd ever heard, even cuter than Claire's little hamster. I picked the girl up and set her down.

"You don't have to learn about such things, pretend you didn't hear anything, okay?" I lowered myself to her level, "Who did you come here with?"

"My mom." She answered.

"Where is she?"

She pointed in one particular direction; I turned towards the way she'd pointed in. I didn't see anyone who'd look at least mildly similar. I turned to face the girl again. "I don't see your mom."

She lowered her hand, confusion weaving through her expressions. She scanned her vicinity and declared with a straight face. "I'm..I'm lost."

I rubbed my temples. This was going to be tough. What if she started to wail uncontrollably? I wasn't so good with five year old kids. I cupped her face and willed her to look at me. "Don't cry, okay? I'll look for your mother."

Her brows furrowed, "I'm not crying." She folded her arms. "Can we go play now?"

Really? She just learned she was lost and she wasn't even crying. Who is this girl?

"Do you know your mom's or your dad's phone number?"

"96756..." she started and stopped all at once. "I forgot."

I gritted my teeth. "I'm going to have to take you to the main reception, your mom's going to be worried." I bet she was the one crying and looking for her.

She raised one finger. "One game."

"Okay, fine." under my breath I said, 'piece of work'.

Her soft little fingers got hold of my hand as she pulled me towards a bottle knock out booth. The winner received a large hello kitty plush toy. I watched as she stared at the stuffed animals in awe which could possibly be the same size as her.

"Do you want that?"

She pressed her lips together, gaze downcast, she nodded shyly. I picked her up and set her on the counter. A timid boy with springy red hair tucked inside a cap smiled at us gleefully, pointing at the little girl, he asked. "Your sister?"

I shrugged. "No."

He smiled nervously, handing me five balls. "Knock down three and the Hello Kitty is yours."

"You wanna try one?" I asked her.

Her fingers could barely wrap around the large ball, she heaved it with force. The bottle moved, circled and settled back again. She wiggled her nose.

I knocked down three in the remaining turns. The guy had obviously not expected it since those bottles were heavy. He had no idea how much practice I had in knocking down and breaking stuff, crystal antiques at that. He pulled down a hello kitty plush reluctantly and handed over to the girl.

She hugged the stuffed toy close, glanced up and passed me a warm heart melting smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

It was the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen.

"Listen, its fine that you came up to me and we talked and had fun but, next time, don't leave your mother and wander like that." I told her, the seriousness of the situation began to settle in. I continued in a whisper, "There are bad people, lurking around who might take you away."

Her lower lip quickened. "But, you didn't offer me candy."

"Bad people don't always offer candy; they might just steal you."

Her fingers drew circular patterns over the stuffed toy. "What will happen?"

Great! Now, I was scaring the kid.

"Just don't, okay? it's not safe."

She nodded. I picked her up and set her down on her feet. Her little fingers wound around mine. I stared at her hand and smiled, "Let's go find your mother."

****

"I have a lost child."

The woman on the reception glanced up and saw the kid clinging to my side. The name tag read 'Lisa.' She was a big woman, with a big mole on her face.

"What was the exact time you found her?"

"About an hour ago." I told her. "We were trying to look for her mother."

"What's your name, kid?"

I realized I hadn't asked her name, what was I thinking?

She pouted, looked at me for approval. I squeezed her hand and nodded. "Tell your name."

"Alana."

"Did you say Anna?" The woman asked.

"Alana."

"Okay." She said and asked for other details, then turned to the man who made announcements. 

"Calling attention. A lost girl named Alana has been found in the gaming parlour, aged five. She's wearing a blue dress, blue cap and blue matching shoes. Parents are requested to report to the main reception. Calling attention..."

"Your mom will be here in sometime." I assured her. She was staring at the floor, her sailor cap covering her face.

She looked up, her striking eyes levelled with mine, there were tears glistening. "I don't wanna go home."

I pulled her up in my arms; my thumbs traced the tears away. "Why, baby?"

She hiccupped. "Mommy doesn't love meeee......"

My arm was gonna need some serious massaging when I got home. She was heavier than I had imagined.

"Shhh...it's okay." I rubbed her back. "I'm sure your mom loves you. You're just imagining."

I swallowed. I was one to give her that explanation. She and I had things in common. My parents didn't care either.

She stopped crying after a few minutes, so I set her back down, handing her the toy. After about fifteen minutes, a tear stained woman strode over to the reception desk frantically. Lisa pointed at us, hurdled in a corner. The woman made a run towards us. "Alana, baby, where did you go?"