Things were good after finding the soul of that little girl.
Although, communicating with her didn't go so smoothly. She cried when I tried to talk to her and ran to her parents for an explanation they couldn't give.
Gradually, I tried again; each time with the same results, until they decided to give her 'monster spray' one night when she had been tucked into bed for the night.
With her soul calling to me, my body took shape. And that obviously frightened her because the girl thought she was seeing things.
It was a slender body covered in pitch black skin that looked like the night sky. A long tail had sprouted from me that was always curling in curiosity or smacking something over, which it did when I stood opposite the bed the little girl was tucked into.
Two little nubs sat between my long ears where my horns would eventually take shape. They were the first things the little fingers carefully explored when she crawled to the end of her bed.
The girl whimpered when she saw me there and snatched up the spray. I looked down at the nozzle before she squeezed the trigger and squirted the liquid into my face.
I staggered back when it blinded me. She crawled to the end of her bed to keep squirting me, ending her attack with another pathetic sprinkle on my face as her spray ran out.
I licked my fingers and scowled at the girl whose eyes widened.
"It's water" I huffed.
She threw the bottle at my head that bounced off and clattered to the floor beside me.
Instead of screaming and hiding, she was a curious thing who leant over and giggled when my tail curled up again. She reached both her hands towards me to grab both my soaked cheeks to squish them together.
"You have pretty eyes" she whispered and looked into them "like little stars."
Stars.
I smiled back at her and grabbed her hands to pull them from my skin. Her fingers grabbed mine now to flip them over, and i felt her fingers gently trace the lines in my palms to make me shiver.
"Lavender" I tested the name I had heard her parents call out to her many times "that is your name, right?"
She nodded enthusiastically and leant forward so she was only inches from my face that flushed. I felt a wave of coldness shiver up my spine from having her so close.
"You are real, aren't you?" she frowned at me "you sure feel real. What's your name?"
I pondered what it could be. Her parents didn't call me a name since they didn't even believe I existed. And Lavender never called me anything before since she was always too scared to see me when I followed her.
"I... don't think I have one."
She sat back and frowned at me again. Her eyes scanned her bedroom desperately then led her from her bed to wander over to her shelf of toys pressed against the wall beside her door. A nightlight there circled a galaxy across her walls and along the roof, tinkling with soothing music.
I didn't know what she was doing. Suddenly, she was lost in a place so familiar to her.
Perhaps she had lost something?
"Book!" she exclaimed excitedly and held it up "let's name you book!"
"Book?" I replied with a tilt of my head "hmm, no."
She pouted back at me when she placed it back. Her legs rushed over to where her toy box was beside her bed to rummage through it noisily.
"Lavender" I tried to shush her "you'll wake everyone up!"
"No I won't... Ducky" she replied and held up the toy.
I shook my head, smirking.
"Stars!" she exclaimed, climbing onto her bed to point up at them "your name can be Star!"
I climbed up with her and stared up at the swirling lights with a grin.
That did sound like a nice name.
"No, wait!" she squealed and bent down to swipe up one of the toys she slept with, pressing a bear into my chest "Teddy!"
I looked down at its black button eyes gazing blankly back at me. The fur was soft under my touch and grazed along my fingers that smoothed across its stomach.
"You both have the same colour eyes" she smiled as she took the bear to hold it up beside my head for comparison "and little ears too!"
"Little?" I felt them flick upwards before I grabbed them to check, even though I knew nothing about them had changed.
She saw my frown and laughed at it. Her hand wrapped around one arm of the bear, and mine followed to grab the other, before I was yanked from my position.
Lavender jumped around in a circle on her bed in glee. My legs eventually caught up and I leapt with her to laugh out.
"Teddy bear!" she called out with a laugh "Teddy bear! Teddy bear!"
I laughed at the name and felt my heart swell with pure happiness.
I had a name! I was Teddy!
"Teddy bear!" I laughed with her.
We circled, jumping higher and higher until it felt like we were soaring through the air for a fraction before falling back to the soft blankets beneath our feet again. Lavender's long hair bounced up and down with her, and my short hair bristled by the air rushing through it.
The bedroom door opened suddenly and my head instantly turned to it in fear. I melted from my place on the bed to hide within the shadows underneath it.
Light flooded the room and Lavender's father stood there sleepily. I saw his blue pyjama pants shuffle to the bed and heard the springs above me squeak when Lavender's weight was lifted from it.
"What on earth are you doing up at this time?" he yawned.
"Playing with Teddy!" she exclaimed, the bed squeaking again before her head flipped down into view to grin at me. Her hair fell around her face like a curtain she pushed from her blue eyes.
"Teddy time is over" Dad let out a chuckle "it's sleep time now."
Lavender was pulled from my sight and placed back into bed. She let out a defeated groan that made me giggle.
"Goodnight, Sprig" he breathed, and I heard a kiss be planted on Lavender "goodnight, Teddy."
My breath caught in my throat when I looked up at the springs above me in excitement. My ears flipped up to touch them as happiness filled me again.
"Goodnight, Dad" Lavender replied in a high voice before they both giggled.
I watched Dad linger at the door before turning out the lights and leaving. With darkness surrounding us again, I slipped out to climb back onto the bed.
Lavender smiled at me from under the blankets that she peeled back and patted.
I slid in beside her so we could both watch the galaxy slowly spin around the room.
It was calming to see such beauty reflect off all the surfaces. And with the soft pillow under my head, it was like being nestled beside Lavender's warm soul again.
"Goodnight, Sprig" I smiled, turning to face Lavender who did the same.
"Goodnight, Teddy" she whispered in the same strange voice while waving the arm of the bear she cuddled.
I giggled at her humour and felt myself drifting away under the spinning stars bathing us in their soft light.
Lavender's eyes grew heavy too before her head rested against mine as we slept peacefully together.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
