No More Strangers

Name: Johnnie "Cluck" McCluscky
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Race: Ghoul
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 210#
Eye Color: Red
Hair Color: Black
Skin Color: Paper-white, with red cheeks and lips
Personality: Crude and audacious, but friendly.
Cause Of Death: Fire
Reason For Not Moving On: Has a promise to keep
Other: Laughs at his own jokes

Name: Elsie Demmond
Age: 9
Gender: Female
Race: Banshee
Height: 3'11
Weight: 49#
Eye Color: white
Hair Color: blonde (faded)
Skin Color: pale pale pale
Personality: quiet, easily fightened and upset.
Cause Of Death: smothered by her step-father in a hostage situation
Reason For Not Moving On: she doesn't quite understand/she can't find her 'special' (her cross which was her grandma's but her step-father took before he killed her claiming there is no god)

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Elise woke up cold. Drowsily, she forced her eyes open only to see a blur. She closed them and waited a moment before opening them again to observe herself in a place that wasn't her house. Startled, she sat up, her hands clutching at her shirt tightly as a sort of security that she was whole.

Where was she?

She remembered being at home; her father had insisted on playing princess with her, to be the dragon that guarded the princess from the knights. She had gotten sleepy so her father had tucked her in to her bed and that was the last thing she remembered.

Slowly, she raised her hand to her head, only to feel the plastic crown attached to the plastic headband. She let her hand drop back to her shirt as she looked around again, scooting back to the dingy wall of the alley she was in. Her eyes were rapidly filling with tears and she was scared. Nothing was familiar. She wanted to be home, she wanted her daddy.

She started to blubber, softly at first but quickly growing louder.

Lynette heard the sound of a crying child coming from the open window of her grungy apartment. She looked up from her desk, where she was balancing her checkbook, and stared at the window in confusion. "A keed?" she asked aloud, in her French accent. "That's strange. You don't usually see keeds in Purgatory. Wonder what she's cryeeng abou-" she began, then suddenly stopped. An idea hit her, and she raced out the door, throwing on her coat as she went.

She ran down the stairs as gracefully as she could in such a hurry, her dainty black flats clicking on each step. She stopped for a moment at the bottom of the stairs to rest, then hurried out the door and into the adjacent alleyway.

"Oh, ma petite cherie! Do not cry, leetle one! Eet ees alright! Have yoo only just arrived here?"

Elsie cowered back against the wall. She nodded slowly rubbing her eyes on a fist.

She looked up at the newcomer in fright; she was covered in stitches and her skin wasn't the right color. What kind of Monster was she? She was frightening none the less, a horrible monster that may just eat a little kid like her.

"I-I wanna go home" She whimpered. "I want my daddy!" Her eyes filled with tears again and she rubbed at them, sobbing noisily. "I Wah-ant My Dah-addy!"

Lynette kneeled on the ground next to the crying girl and shushed her. "Shhh, honey, shhh. Eet's goingk to be alright. Shhh." She reached out a hand to stroke the poor child's hair. "Your papa ees not in zis place, leetle one. But I can take you to zomeone who vill take good care of you. You don't 'ave to be afraid."

Elsie cringed away from Lynette's touch. "B-b-but you're a st-st-stranger!" She blubbered, tears rolling down her cheeks. "D-Daddy said not ta g-go wif st-strangers!"

"My name ees Lynette, ma chere. If you tell me your name, zen ve vill not be strangers anymore." She smiled at her cleverness and waited to see the girl's reaction.

With quivering lips, Elsie stammered out her name. She rubbed her first across her eyes again, the tears still falling from her eyes persistently. "I-I want to go home!"

"I know, ma chere, and I vish that you could. But eet ees seemply not possible." Lynette said, petting the child's hair. "Come, leetle one. Let me 'elp you feel more at 'ome."

Elsie sniffled again and scoot closer to Lynette. She felt much safer now that she knew her name, but she was still scared to leave the safety of the secluded allyway. "Will y-you carry me?" She whimpered with a small hiccup, looking up at her with tear-filled eyes.

"Of courze I vill, darlink," Lynette replied, easily lifting the small girl into her arms. "I am going to take you to a friend of mine, okay ma chere?"

Elsie gave a small whimper but nodded, wrapping her arms around Lynette's neck. "Will they be nice?" She asked

"Monsieur Cluck is verrry nice, ma chere."

"mon-monster what?" Elsie asked in confusion. "I-I don't understand"

Lynette laughed and patted her head reassuringly. "Non, non, ma chere. Monsiuer. Eet means... ah, 'mister,'" she said, taking a moment to find the correct word. "You weel like Cluck. He ees a funny man."

She carried the little girl out of the alleyway, following her usual route to Cluck's house. They ran into a few people along the way, each with varying levels of monstrous appearances; after they'd passed a few, Lynette told her, "don't be afraid, leetle one. We all look like zat 'ere. Even you."

Even with the reassurances, Elsie still hid her face in Lynette's shoulder. After a short while she started yawning, and was all but sleeping when they arrived at their destination. Her head was laying lightly on Lynette's shoulder with her eyes half closed and her knuckle loosely in her mouth.

Lynette knocked lightly on the door of the small house that she'd approached, smiling rather cruelly to herself and waited until the door was opened; she could hear the clicks of the many locks as Cluck opened the door.

"Whaddaya want, Lynette? You got any idea what time it is?"

Cluck stood in the doorway, hands on his slim hips. He was tall, with red eyes and unruly black hair, and he had strange spots of red on his cheeks, like a clown. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans that nearly fell off his hips, and a bright green Hawaiian shirt that was left open, showing his chest. He gave Lynette a long, hard look for waking him up before he noticed the girl asleep on her shoulder.

"....what's this?"

" 'er name ees Elsie. She ees new 'ere. I trust you vill 'take good care of 'er,' Monsieur Cluck?"

He stared at her speechless for a minute, before facepalming and sighing heavily. "Lynette, the hell kinda guy you think I am, huh? Unlike you, I got morals. Give that child here 'fore you sell her off to some freak. I swear, I oughta beat the shit outta you." He took Elsie gently out of Lynette's arms and cuddled her to his chest, glaring at the zombie with an offended look on his face. He grimaced at her, showing his fangs. "Get outta here, ya weirdo."

Elsie mumbled softly and nuzzled closer to Cluck's chest. Her knuckle was more securely in her mouth now that she was actually asleep, and her plastic crown was threatening to fall off. She mumbled a soft 'daddy' in her sleep.

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Elsie woke up in a bed. It made sense to her, after all people sleep in beds, until she realized, for the second time that day, that she woke up in a place where she didn't know where she was at. She looked around with big eyes, more curious than scared this time.

Someone had taken her crown off, it was hanging on the bed post, and her bright yellow rain boots were setting by the door. She didn't see anyone though, not even the lady who had brought her out of the ally.

Carefully and silently slipping out of the bed like only a nine year old could, Elsie made her way over to the door and peaked her head out to survey the rest of her surroundings.

Cluck was sitting in his study just down the hall, whistling a tune to himself as he sat reading a comic book. He had his bare feet propped on his desk and was leaning precariously back in his chair. He was so engrossed in his comic that he'd temporarily forgotten the little girl sleeping just a few doors down.

Elsie crept down the hall and peaked in the doorway she heard the whistling from. All she could see was the back of a head, so she moved out a little further to try and see what the person looked like. She stepped on a floorboard that creaked loudly and startled herself.

Cluck blinked in surprise and stopped whistling. He waited a second to see if he heard anything else, then shut his comic and turned around. "That you there, kiddo?"

Elsie ran back into the room, her footsteps loud in the silence. She scrambled under the bed as far as she could manage, but both her feet stuck out, the bright socks making them very apparent.

Cluck listened to her footsteps padding down the hall with a big, cheesy grin. God how he loved kids. He walked casually down the hall, whistling a merry tune, and stopped at her door. He had to chuckle at the pair of bright socks sticking out from beneath the bed, because it was just too damn cute for words.

"Well, hello there, sleepin' beauty!"

Elsie curled her toes and wriggled her feet under the bed, still trying to hide. First and foremost, she was in a stranger's house, and that was bad. She wasn't ever s'posted to go with strangers. Her daddy would be so mad at her when he found out.

Elsie wriggled until she could lift the edge of the blanket and peer out from under the bed.

"Hey there, sugar. The name's Cluck. Lynette brought you by earlier, but you were asleep so she didn't get a chance to say bye."