Little Bloom

“We are running out of time,” The little girl Bloom hugged her doll tighter. A loud ticking noise filled the house, along with shouts of men. The whole house seemed to be quivering. 

Little Bloom sat in the corner, with her doll in her arms. Each thump on the wood shook her. 

“Shh…” She put a finger to her lips and whispered to the doll. “We are not leaving without mother. She will be here soon.”

“Huh? What’s that?” Little Bloom lent one ear to her doll. “Where is she? Um… I don’t know, actually. We should look for her.”

Little Bloom waited until the men went away. They did, but the slow ticking noise was not gone. It had picked up pace. She stood up and moved to the window. It was all dark beyond the windows. Shadows moved in the distance. The only sources of light were the tiny orange fires in the distance. 

“Isn’t t-that Hayde’s house?” Little Bloom’s eyes widened. “Is it… covered in f-fire?”

A powerful beam of white light hit her. 

“There!” A man’s voice came. “There is a girl in the house right there!”

Fear seized her. Little Bloom ran from the window, opened the door, and out in the hallway. Her mother had promised her that she was coming back and they would get away. Where was she now?

Little Bloom ran down the hall into her mother’s room. She was not there. The room was in chaos. Covers and books everywhere. Drawers and cupboards were open. From below, the ticking sound rose to her ears, now with shorter and shorter breaks. 

Near the staircase was a small pink flower, identical to the one her mother wore. Filled with a surge of power, driven by the urge to see her mother again, she ran down the stairs. Right when she reached the bottom step, the door opened and an old man she had never seen stepped in. He grabbed her arm and pulled her. 

“Come with me, girl!“ ṣThe man spoke in a harsh voice.

Little Bloom screamed. She hit him with the doll repeatedly. The man only got annoyed and pulled her harder. 

Little Bloom hit the floor and her mouth filled with a metallic liquid taste. She still resisted, screaming and flailing. Just as when she was at the doorway, she stuck her hand and grabbed it. The man pulled harder. 

The moment he turned, little but fierce Bloom lunged at him and sunk her teeth in his wrist. 

“Arg—!!” He cried and let her go. Little Bloom ran back into the house. She slipped between the couch and the wall and lay down, trying to keep herself from shaking. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she clamped her mouth shut. Her heart pounded in her chest, but the ticking sound was even faster.

Her doll was at the door. 

“Don’t go in there, father, leave the girl be!” Another, younger man said. Little Bloom pressed her ears to the floor to drown out the noise. There, under the couch, she saw a hand with ten black bangles on the wrist. 

Bloom scrambled out of her hiding place. She ran in front of the couch. There was her mother, lying on the wooden floor of the house. Her eyes were frozen in time, blood pooled under her head, and her face was ashen.

Bloom’s knees gave out. 

“Mother?” She whispered.

The ticking sound turned constant and sharp. The bomb exploded. Little Bloom, her mother, and her doll, all of them went up in flames.