Let me ask you. How do you define innocence? A young child perhaps? Free from impurity, corruption, or guilt? When a mother and father can’t fulfill their roles, their child’s fate becomes inevitable.

Darcy’s family just managed to scrape by. The house creaked with every footstep and the roof was desperate for repair. The stench of cigarettes and beer cans was a familiarity. If it weren’t for the constant droning of the television, you could hear the pitter-patter of the faulty sinks. Her mother worked too much for Darcy’s liking, but she was told it helped keep the roof over their heads. So she was left to endure the time alone with her father.

Darcy’s safe haven was Mom. And she didn’t feel safe often. Why was it that Dad failed to make her feel the same way? Darcy fiddled with her loose front tooth, worried that she’d lose it forever. Darcy observed her Dad kicked back on the couch watching TV. Fear and anxiety gripped her throat.

“Dad, could you help me wh-” He took one look at her and slammed his beer on the coffee table.
“Why are you frowning sweetheart?”
“I.. what?”
“Smile girl! Girls are prettier when they smile.”
Darcy looked down at her feet and shifted uncomfortably.
“Now say what you want, but with a smile this time, girl.” He said
“M-my tooth. It’s loose.” She pointed hurriedly. The sheer anger on his face brought Darcy to tears. “I said SMILE!” His voice boomed with rage.

Before his raised hand could meet Darcy’s face, she ran to her room. She fell to the floor and tucked her head into her knees. In a fit of tears, Darcy put her fingers around her loose tooth and pulled. “Ah!” she cried. The taste of iron filled her mouth. Something unknowing was bubbling inside her as she savored the blood. As if numb to the pain, she pulled her tooth and yanked it out clean.

Moments later Darcy hears the hurried footsteps of her mother, “Mom!” The door opened and Darcy faced her distraught mother. “Darcy we have to leave now! I-I’m so sorry I’ve been caught up with the money-, the bills… You’re not safe-” Darcy outstretched her arm to hold her. But in a blink of an eye, a gunshot fires. Darcy’s mother collapses. The terrified look remained in her eyes as her life drained away.

“HAH! Serves your mother right.” Her father walked slowly to the doorframe of Darcy’s room, laughing sadistically. “She was going to ruin this family! I had to do this Darcy baby, don’t worry,” he said as he put his handgun away.

The thing bubbling inside of Darcy began to surface. As he lifted his eyes to look at his daughter, he realized that her form had changed completely. She snarled at the murderer as the bones in her body lengthened and her skin thinned. Her claws dug into her eye sockets and blood poured down her hands. “WHAT TH-” The Girl’s inhuman pace caught the murderer by chokehold and did not hesitate to stab its claws into him. The screams of the man delighted her so much that she grinned ear to ear as his body struggled pathetically. The Girl retracted her claws from his organs and dropped the body down like trash. Her smile never faltered again.