Lost Innocence

He was looking at the imp...

He should have been looking at a shitty imp...

To the imp, not to his best friend.

Ru's best friend...

They played hide and seek for a while. Over there, a few moments ago, in this room.

"I..."

"You're a murderer!"

"No..."

"You're a murderer, Lirui!"

"A six-year-old murderer, unbelievable."

"It was obvious you would do this, psychopath kid!"

Who knew it would turn out like this?

"But he was a demon," Ru whispered innocently.

"You're the demon, Lirui Xiaolian."

"You evil!"

"He's a very dangerous psycho."

"I am not psychotic. I am a musician with strong intuition. It was a demon, not a human, and certainly not my friend."

Although Ru claimed otherwise, all medical reports said he was unconscious when he fatally injured the boy.

Sometimes he thought, "Is someone or something trying to protect me?"

Lirui Xiaolian, or Ru for short, was locked up in a juvenile detention center and sent for treatment. Fortunately, he was lucky. Ru was thin, and his scissors were small in size. His friend was only one year older. Somehow he survived, for now.

"I told you, he turned into a demon, doctor. The demons must have already possessed my friend. How many times do I have to tell you? Demons are real."

The doctor nodded calmly, "Lirui, I'm here to help you. This means we must deal with our beliefs that do not align with reality. Demons can be a projection of our minds. We must confront them and develop a healthier view of reality."

Ru, holding fast to what he believed, said, "But I've seen it, Doctor! The imps were real, and someone must have taken my friend. I must protect him."

"Together we can confront these demons. We can clarify the line between reality and dreams. I am ready to take this journey with you, Lirui," the doctor said sympathetically.

Ru nodded slowly and said, "Okay." What else could he say? His life was over before it had even begun. But he was too young to see it.

He soon found the best treatment with his doctor, and it turned out to be music. Ru was making peace with his demons through the piano.

"Our new dad who made peace with the demons, tzz! We failed again, girls," said the girl with the glasses, very upset about what had happened to their new father.

"Poor Daddy," said the girl with the lollipop, she had been crying for days. So much so that she had given up candy, and the ants were grateful to her.

"Our father will never get out of juvie. If he does, he will be tried in adult court and sent to prison," said the rider girl.

The chubby warrior covered her mouth with cupped hands. "Don't jinx it! Our daddy is very talented this time. His music will save him, just watch."

"This kid the best seed ever. Almost the same as Dad. But remember, music couldn't save our Daddy," the queen-crowned girl said.

"Okay, then here's what we're going to do," said the girl with glasses. "We'll heal his friend."

"Oh, that's a good idea! Let's do it now," the lollipop-less girl said eagerly. Then she suddenly stopped and bowed her head. "But we have no healing powers."

"We do, actually," the queen-crowned girl said, showing the others the evil smile formed on her face: "It's just that our healing power requires some sacrifice, that's all."

"Oh, no. Please, let's not do this," said the one with the glasses, quickly realizing the trouble they were about to get into.

"We will do it because we have to," the queen-crowned girl said decidedly, adding, "If we don't, the child will die and our dad will spend the rest of his life in prison like our real dad. But if we do, our dad will survive, grow up, and free our real dad from prison. And remember, this is how Planet Earth can be saved."

Only the girl with the glasses knew what to do. The others, impressed by the words of the crowned girl, had already given their consent.

"But," the girl with the glasses asked in a low voice as she prepared to emerge from among the flowers, "Which one of us?"

The crowned girl turned to her smiled, and said, "I give you the honor of choosing the stupidest."

The glasses girl who was called Four Eyes grinned and pointed to one of them. The one he pointed to without hesitation was the Clockmaker.

"Uh, what happened?" asked the Clockmaker, unaware of what was happening to her. She could not understand why the Queen was embracing her so tenderly.

The answer was, "Nothing."

Their story continued with the passage of ten girls, led by the Four Eyes and the Queen, to the planet Earth.

The girls emerged from a dozen snowdrops that had broken through the ice on a cold winter's night. As they flew across the lake, they were pushed and tossed by the wind that came to their aid. Each one fell in a different place. Aware of the situation, the queen stepped in front of a stray dog. The dog growled at first, but the scarlet light emanating from the girl's aura quickly calmed it. A moment later, it was under the girl's spell.

The Queen's first and last command to the dog was: "Submit to my wishes, doggy."

Performing a similar trick, Four Eyes enchanted a crow and she climbed onto its back.

"Fly and take to the skies!"

Finding each other and the other girls was not difficult for the Queen and Four Eyes. One's dog sniffed, and the other's crow watched. Half of the ten girls continued their journey with Four Eyes and half with the Queen. The girls traveled through deserted streets and back roads, arriving at the hospital just before dawn. They flew with the snowflakes and entered the building through the half-open window.

They roamed around, seeking the injured boy while evading humans, cameras, and toys - some toys could conceal talismans to shield children from dark beings. The girls crawled into soda cans and rolled around in them, walked along the bottom of flower pots, got into the pockets of health workers on duty, and got into medical carts. Finally, thanks to a nurse, they made it into the intensive care unit where the child was being held.

And they targeted the cameras that monitored the room. They changed the direction of some cameras and covered some with paper cups.

"The question is, which child is in which room," whispered the Lollipopless.

"Not in this room, not in the next room," Four Eyes said, reading all the names on the patient list from behind the lenses of her glasses that could see through walls.

"Well then?" asked the Rider.

"We're going to the third room," said the Queen.

"Are we going to turn off the cameras again?" asked the Lollipopless.

"Yes," said the Queen. And once again, her command was obeyed.

Fortunately, in the fourth room, Four Eyes said, "He's here."

The girls were relieved.

"The question is, which child," whispered the Lollipopless.

"How many children are black, are you blind," said the Warrior.

"Two," the Lollipopless said defensively.

"The blue-eyed one, if eyes have been carved yet," Four Eyes said, flying to one of the children's beds.

"Check their eyes," The Queen said, landing on the pillow, continuing: "Here we go, girls."

"Begin what?" asked Crazy Girl with a sewing ring on her head.

"The ritual, of course," said Four Eyes.

The Queen pointed her finger at the Clockmaker and commanded: "Hold her!"