The white-clad girl skipped into the darkened playground. Not a soul was in sight... it was the dead of the night, after all. That was quite alright, though. Right now, she wanted to have fun. And fun she was going to have.

She hopped onto one of the swings; her dress fluttered in the breeze. Strangly, the girl didn't seem to feel the cold, but simply giggled, and pushed off against the ground. Her blonde hair swayed in tune with the swing, as it slowly picked up momentum.

The giggles of the girl drifted through the night air, as did the squeeking of the swing.

A soft patting of tiny steps heralds the approach of another little girl. This one red-haired, looking like a street urchin with her own clothing obscured under an over-sized green jacket. Her legs were tired after walking so far, but she had to keep going.

I'm a murderer, she thought. She was vaguely aware that when murderers get caught, they go to jail or worse. She didn't know where she remembered hearing this from, but jail sounded like something bad. The girl didn't know her own name, or even if she had one, and she didn't know how she killed that man back in the apartment, but one thought kept bouncing around in her mind, and this she was sure of in a way that transcended understanding: she needed to go far away. She had taken the man's jacket to ward off the cold. Checking the pockets, she found his wallet. The driver's license gave him the name "Brendan McCarthy," and the picture brought forth vague shadows of terrible memories that made her want to put it back immediately.

The girl came to a playground. It and the surrounding blocks were dark, vacant, and silent, except for a single swing set, which contained a giggling blond girl. The red-headed girl began to cross through the playground; though she didn't much want to be noticed by the blond, it was faster to move through the playground than around it.

The blonde girl giggled, as she hit a high on the swings (in the literal sense of the word). This was fun! Just then, she noticed someone moving into the playground.

Who was it?

The girl slowed the swing, so as to get a better look. A red-haired girl, not much older than herself, from the looks of it... those clothings tugged at her memory. They seemed... sad.

Well, one couldn't have that. Besides, this looked like a potential playmate!

The blonde came to a stop, then hopped up and skipped over to the other girl. She stopped right in front of her, a bright smile on her face, and her blue eyes shining with curiosity.

"Hi! Where are you going?"

"Hi! Where are you going?"

The red-head stopped and gave her a bewildered look. Her mission to go away still foremost in her mind, she finally began to speak while attempting to walk by her. "I'm going away. Far away. In that direction" she said, pointing at the brightly lit towers of Manhattan. "Who are you?"

She decided that she was perfectly okay with talking to the other girl, but the urgency of her flight was important above all else at the moment.

"I'm going away. Far away. In that direction."

The blonde girl glanced behind her, noting the manifold glows of light in the distance. Then she looked back at the other girl.

"Who are you?"

She smiled widely. "I'm Jess!" she chirped. "Who are you? And why are you going away?"

"Who are you? And why are you going away?"

The girl walked right by Jess and gestured for her to follow along. "I don't really know who I am," she stated matter-of-factly. Then, after a few seconds, "You can name me if you want."

A siren rang out in the distance. She thought that it sounded like a police siren. How do I know what a police siren sounds like? she asked herself. A few seconds later she made the connection between sirens, police cars, and jail. These concepts seemed to come almost out of thin air, as if somebody had just put them into her head. She noticed that the sirens seemed to be coming closer; the car must be going in the direction of that first apartment building. The first place she remembered being in; the scene of the murder. She ran to hide behind a slide. "Hide!" she whispered to Jess urgently.

Jess tilted her head slightly. "You don't really know?" she echoed. Then her smile returned in full force. "Oh! I get to name you!" The police siren was drawing nearer, but she seemed oblivious, tapping her finger on her chin, even as she skipped alongside the other girl. "Let's see... How about-"

The girl had broken off abruptly, and had now run behind a slide. Jess looked curiously at the girl, then towards the sound of the siren.

"Ooo! Hide and seek!" With a giggle, the girl skipped behind one of the poles of the swing set... which didn't look like it would offer much of a hiding place at all. Jess didn't seem the least bothered, however, as she peered blatently from behind the pole. In the next moment, the police cruiser appeared, moving past the playground.

And then it moved on, seeming not to pay the white-clad girl any mind, and continued on its way.

"Ooo! Hide and seek!"

The yet unnamed child came out from behind the slide, looking somewhat anxious. After the siren died down, she gestured for Jess to keep following along. "That was close," she said to herself under her breath, which she realized that she had been holding. The two children were near the edge of the playground; the red-head began to quickly look both ways along the street to see whether or not a car was coming.

"Can you keep a secret?" she asked hesitantly. She felt like she needed to tell somebody about what she had done, even if it might cause trouble for her later along. It was almost as if talking about it would relieve some sort of pressure building up inside of her.

The girl seemed to be anxious about something, Jess noted. She opened her mouth, to begin asking her about what was bothering her, when the girl beat her to the punch.

"Can you keep a secret?"

The blonde smiled widely. "Sure I can!" she chirped. "Pinky promise!" She held out her little finger as she said that.

"Sure I can! Pinky promise!"

The red-head stared at the blond's outstretched finger for a few moments before she recalled what this meant. Jess was offering her a pinky swear. This was the most sacred of all agreements on the face of this earth, though nobody knew exactly why. As the two girls shook pinkies, she began to feel a great sense of relief, such that she could allow herself to relinquish her secret. "Now, this is a scary thing to hear, but don't scream or nothing," she began. After a brief pause, she blurted out "I think I mighta killed someone. I dunno how... One minute he was just standing there, and I was scared but I dunno why, and then..." She sobbed as she began to cross the street. A dull thump emanated from her as she did so, and light gust of wind seemed to shoot away from her in all directions. The nameless girl didn't seem to notice this strange effect.

"And then, and then I ran away. I dunno anything before that" she continued, now more able to control her sobs."Not who I am, where I live, what my name is, nothing. I just don't know nothing." She continued to walk the entire time.

The blonde girl's hair and dress fluttered in the brief breeze that the redhead had generated. She didn't seem to notice, but her blue eyes welled with sympathy. The other girl was clearly hurting.

She wrapped her arms around the older girl, pulling her into a hug. "It will come to you," she said softly. "Maybe you were mistaken. Maybe he just went away. But everything's alright now."

After a moment, she started to hum, softly. The soothing tune washed over the other girl, even as Jess gently stroked her back. The girl was hurt. She would stop her hurting. It was as simple as that.

"It will come to you. Maybe you were mistaken. Maybe he just went away. But everything's alright now."

As Jess began to hum, the nameless girl immediately began to feel extraordinarily calm. All of her worries seemed to just melt away as Jess hugged her. She shifted her arms to return the embrace as they both continued to walk onwards toward Manhattan.

This continued for a while. As the pair approached the island of illuminated towers, the streets were less deserted and dark. Fear of being noticed should have distressed her, but nothing short of an act of God could distress her in the state she was in.

At one point, she noticed that Jess was only wearing a thin little dress, relatively little compared to the heavy layers that she herself had on. Out of curiosity more than worry (as nothing could worry her now), she asked, "Aren't you cold? I have a jacket and I'm kinda chilly."

Jess continued to hum, as the pair walked along the streets. There were a few people milling about on the streets, but none seemed to pay the two girls any mind, and neither did any of the few cars that passed by slow down. They were getting close to the bridge now.

"Aren't you cold? I have a jacket and I'm kinda chilly."

The blonde-haired girl paused in her humming, and looked over at the other girl. She smiled, and shook her head.

"Nope! It's lovely weather out, don't you think?" Then she resumed humming.

"Nope! It's lovely weather out, don't you think?"

The nameless girl involuntarily raised an eyebrow. "Lovely," she echoed half-questioningly, soon able to see the very breath she used to utter her reply. Their embrace broke for a brief moment as the red-head, now even more aware of the cold, withdrew her arms from her sleeves in an attempt to keep them warmer.

As they finished crossing the bridge into Manhattan, she began to remember that it isn't normal to see other kids her age outside at this time of day. "What are you doing out here this late, anyway?"

"Lovely."

"Mmmhmm!" Jess smiled widely, then continued humming, hardly missing a beat. Though the other girl had withdrawn her arms from the embrace, she kept her arms around her.

The pair made their way slowly across the bridge. Save for the occasional car, it was deserted - and chilly, as the breeze occasionally swept across the structure. Jess had to reach up her hand from time to time to brush her golden hair from her face, but she never stopped humming, and she never stopped smiling either.

It was when they had just reached the other side of the river that the redhead spoke again.

"What are you doing out here this late, anyway?"

The blonde girl paused in her humming and put a finger to her chin, as if she was only now pondering the question. After a moment, she shrugged.

"I'm not really sure. But does it matter? If I wasn't out here, I wouldn't have made a new friend." She turned to smile at the other girl. "So it all works out!"