Friend Like Me

France
Winter
Age : 7


"Hey you! Stop!" Karma kept running, her long brown hair flowing behind her in the wind. The burly man yelled at her from the door of his shop, but he did not leave the warmth for some beggar girl. Especially not in this snow storm.

Indeed, the last heir of the House of Black looked nothing like what most would expect, her clothes were filthy and worn, and her hair was long and unruly. Today, though, her face was spread in a smile, despite the cold. In her small seven year old hands hung a rare steak, which she tossed to her tiny black kitten, Nightmare. The kitty pounced on it, gobbling it up faster than Karma had ever seen her do before.

"Nightie!" She said happily, catching the small black bundle of fur as it launched itself at her. Cuddling the kitten close, she continued to wander, hunching her shoulders against the harsh wind. Shivering now, she pushed her way into the nearest building, which, to her delight, ended up being a library. Shaking her head so that the water flew everywhere, she moved further into the building, stopping as she realized that the entire place was dark.

She glanced down at the kitten in her arms, who looked up at her with golden eyes to big for its face. With a meow, Nightmare purred and nuzzled her human's chin with the crown of her head.

"Don't think we're 'sposed to be here, Nightie."

Alec hated shopping. In his six year old brain, it was stupid, a waste of time, and feminine- but he didn't know that word, so he just called it girly. He loved exploring, though, so his little brain found it completely okay to just wander off the mall as his mother was shopping with his little three year old sister. It wasn't the first time he'd done that.

Not even caring about the snowstorm, he went outside and ran, falling in the snow and making snowballs and snow-angels.

He soon got tired, though, of playing alone and decided to find someone to play with. The snowstorm had gotten bigger now, and he couldn't see where the mall was, so the boy went into the library.

Not a very big fan of libraries, but Alec knew there were usually kids there. Not bothering with the darkness, he moved further and further into the building until he saw a girl, perhaps a bit older than him.

Throwing a snowball at her, he yelled, "Hey! Wanna play with me?"

Karma was looking up at the impossibly high shelves of books, wondering what kind of monsters you needed to be to reach that high up a shelf, when the cold wetness of the snowball hit her in the back of the head. Her hold on Nightmare tightened, and she spun around, narrowing her eyes at the boy. She pulled some of the snow off herself and threw it back at him, aiming for his face.

"I want to play!" She said, all traces of anger gone now that she had a possible playmate in sight. "What do you want to play?" She wandered over to him, noting that they were the same height, but not knowing enough about other children to tell if they were the same age or not. Nightmare still hung from her arms, looking disgruntled at being handled so roughly, but obviously used to it. The kitten meowed at they boy, then began to purr. Karma took this as a good sign. Nightie was never wrong about people. Not once.

Alec tried to dodge the snow that was thrown his way, but his reflexes weren't that good yet, and the coldness hit him in the face. He frowned, wiping the snow from him, "That's not fair! You can't throw it in the face!"

"Yay!" he exclaimed and shrugged as the girl walked over, "I don't know, you can choose this time."

"What's his name?" he asked, pointing at the kitten.

Karma paused, her hold on her kitten becoming protective. "Nightie's a girl!" She said, holding the cat up for his observation. Nightmare's big golden eyes observed the boy with a slightly disapproving look, and she meowed again, propelling Karma to pull her closer again.

"I dunno. Whaddu you wanna play?" She asked, wandering past the boy and pushing open the big library door again. She glanced out into the strengthening blizzard, barely able to see past the library steps. "I don't think we should go outside."

Alec shrugged and looked at the cat, "I can't tell. Hi Nightie!"

"Snowball fight!" he yelled, his eyes lighting up, "Do you want to?" He walked towards her and looked outside, seeing all white. "But it's way more fun! It'll be harder to find each other, and that makes it much more cool!"

"What's your name?" the six year old asked, frowning and turning to his new friend.

"Snow ball fight!" Karma echoed happily. She placed Nightie down on the ground, careful to let the kitten go after her paws were down.

"I'm Car-Muh. Car-muh Blah-uck." She nodded, grinning. "What's your name?"

Alec grabbed the girl's arm and led her outside, feeling the snow falling in his face. "Alec Blanchard. Not Alexander, like my granny calls me," he said, pouting. "Karma is a cool name. Why did you get called Karma? My mommy says she called me Alec because of this old book she liked."

"Okay, so what are the rules for the snowball fight?" he asked her, changing the subject, and sat down in the snow, "Every fight needs rules!"