:CONTEST ENTRY: ''They Are Not ALIVE''

It was a summer Midnight in San Rengo, with the evening temperature hot, and its denizens, even hotter. It was in the ever-busy Nightlife District where we paint the scene of a fairly young green male, walking among the crowd of night owls, clearly annoyed. A few curious glances made their way to the man by a few locals, likely due to him being a new face in town...and the fact he was most likely the only one in the district with a child being dragged beside him.

"Dis sum bullshit...got all dese fucken bitches bumpin inna me, can't find dis bitch I'm supposa meet, don't know dis place...'nd I gotta watch Noah, fuck..."

Letting go of the young child's hand, the man began looking for something in his pockets as he continued to walk off through the crowd. The child, named Noah, was quickly lost among the people, being bumped and knocked around, even losing one of his shoes in the process.

"Moma...? Moma...?! Where are you, Moma?!"

The little boy frantically looked around at all the adults passing him by, not paying him any mind. Eventually, he was shoved onto the sidewalk at the front of a packed night club, it's dark red neon sign flashing the cursive-written words "Syn's Spirits" into the darkness. Loud music from a live band radiated from within the club's walls, almost shaking the whole building. The clubs doors never stayed closed for very long, as constant swarms of people began to flood the place. Unfortunately for Noah, he found himself swept into the club by one of these many patron waves. The club's interior was quite large, with a clear haunted mansion theme, with the main floor looking like the mansion's foyer, complete with a stage, bar, dance floor, and seating arrangements for the guests. It's dark red and grey/black vintage decor gave it the classic "spooky haunted mansion" motif. Noah, scared and confused at the unfamiliar setting, slowly waddled his way through the area, receiving a few confused double-takes, courtesy of a few drunken club-goers. The band on stage, named "Shōmetsu", was finishing up one of the last songs of the night, then after receiving many applause and a few drunken cat calls, the members walked off stage for a rest, the club quickly filled with music once again as the club's DJ took over.

"Hey, little man...what's a baby like you doing in here?"

One drunken male patron clumsily made his way over to Noah, an unnerving grin on his face. The young child looked up in a bit of fear, slowly backing up from the man. The man, however, only grinned wider, slowly walking after the boy, reaching out his hand to grab him.

"Awww c'mon, don't be like that! I'm not gonna hurt you...come on, boy, maybe we could play together..."

Shōmetsu's lead singer, a dark brown and cream female chihuahua, sat at the bar, holding a glass of frozen cherry daiquiri in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. Her dark violent eyes slowly scanning the floor, until she was forced into a double-take and locked eyes onto the man harassing the sole child in the club.

"Wait, what the fuck...?"

Her expression turned from confusion to anger once the man's hand gripped tightly onto the child's forearm. She quickly downed the drink in her hand and turned head to the bartender.

"Sorry about this, Viva, tell Syn I'll pay to replace the glass when I'm done."

With the bartender's thumbs up, she quickly jumped off from her seat and stomped over to the drunken man, quickly taking a hit off her cigarette before extinguishing it on the man's right cheek, giving him a round, black burn mark. The man yelped at the burn, letting go of Noah's arm in the process, and tried to take a swing at the singer. She quickly dodged the clumsy hit and brought her glass down onto the man's head, giving him a good sized gash and knocking him out. Once the man was out of the way, the woman quickly picked up the terrified child and quickly went off out the back of the club.

"Sorry ya had to see that, sweetie, but that was a very bad man, and I didn't want him to hurt ya..."

The woman gently wiped the tears that formed in Noah's eyes, giving him a soft smile.

"My name's Amaya, but you can call me JayCee, if you'd like...do you have a name, honey?"

The little boy nodded slightly, sniffling a few times before speaking.

"I-I Noah..."

JayCee smiled softly at him, rubbing his back to try and comfort him.

"Noah...that's a nice name. Hey, whatcha doin' in a place like this? This isn't a place for little guys like you...did your mommy or daddy bring you in here...?"

Noah let out a soft whimper, shaking his head no.

"N-No...I lost my moma..."

JayCee gave a soft frown, lowering her ears a bit.

"Awww, you lost your momma, li'l man...? Don't worry, listen, I'll help ya find her, 'kay? C'mon, let's get outta here, and you tell me what she looks like, alrighty?"

With that, Jay quickly left the club with Noah in her arms, much to the confusion and slight annoyance of her bandmates. Jay quickly began her search for the lost boy's mother, after stopping by a local diner to feed herself and Noah, and receiving a slightly confusing description of "her". It was about 3:00am when she began to slow down, not having much luck in finding any women matching the child's description. She slowly sat down near the entrance to an alleyway, Noah ending up in her lap. She gave a small sigh and rubbed her eyes before slowly looking down at a tired Noah.

"I'm really sorry, li'l buddy...but, it looks like we haven't had much luck in findin' ya momma...it's gettin' really late, and ya gotta be gettin' really sleepy...maybe I could take you to my friend, Candie, and maybe have ya stay there for the night...she lives in the protected area of the city, and has two kids around the same age as you, I think you'd like 'em...maybe she'd let ya have one of her son Ronny's sneakers, to replace the one ya lost...hm...yeah, that's probably a good idea...and I'll swing to the police department and put out a missing child report...maybe your mom will see it an--"

"Dere youse are!"

Both JayCee and Noah quickly raised their heads and looked in the direction of the voice, appearing from within the alleyway. The sounds of footsteps coming closer, until the familiar green male stepped into the light.

JayCee quickly stood up, taking a few steps away, holding Noah close to her, eyes not moving away from the taller man.

"What the--who are you?"

Noah's eyes grew wide and a big smile was plastered onto his face.

"MOMA!!"

JayCee quickly gained a really confused expression, quickly looking at Noah for a few seconds, then back at the man. Her eyes scanned over the man's appearance, frowning as she remembered Noah's description of his "mother". Bright green hair and fur, pale skin, multiple scars on his arms, one blue eye and one...swirly red eye...?

"Wait a second...are you the...mother...of his boy...?"

"Why da fuck else ya think he called me dat for? Das my son, bitch, give 'im back!"

JayCee raised an eyebrow at the man, then slowly gave a wide grin, clearly trying hard to hold back a laugh. The green man shot her a bit of an annoyed glare.

"Da fuck youse laughin' at?"

With that, JayCee let out a bit of a laugh or two, but quickly regained her composure, smiling at the man while rubbing the back of her head.

"A'ight, sorry bruh, I just...man, and here I was lookin' for a WOMAN. I didn't think I'd be finding out that this li'l guy's "momma" was a dude..."

The man gave a harsher frown, clearly not enjoying getting laughed at.

"A'ight youse got yer laughs. Now gimme back Noah, bitch!"

JayCee slowly lost her smile, exchanging it with a slightly annoyed glare.

"How on a sec...before anything, I wanna say that you should be more careful with ya baby. I found 'im in the club that I was singin' at, and he almost got taken by some drunken fool. This ain't the place to be taking a kid, anyway."

"Look, I had ta watch ma kid today, 'nd I had a job ta do, so I had ta take 'im."

"Bruh, pause...babysitter. You could've gotten someone to watch 'im. Ya don't take a kid into the Nightlife District, they got no business bein' here, it's all clubs, bars, and lounges, nothin' kid-friendly about this place."

With a growl, the man crossed his arms.

"Da name's Psycho, bitch, learn it. Jus' gimme back ma boy 'nd fuck off."

"Wow, "Psycho", chill...you swear in front of your baby, man? Yo, not cool...besides, how do I know you're not jus' gonna lose 'im here again? Look, people call me JayCee, my real name is Amaya, I'm well-known around here, you can ask anyone, if you're still gonna be out here..."workin'" or whatever...let me watch 'im for ya. I won't even change ya for nothin', bruh. I live in the protected area of the city, so he'll be perfectly safe, I'll give you my address an' everythin'. Please, dude, think about ya kid, man...be thankful that ya even managed to see 'im again, there've been a lot of kids that've gotten taken like this, it's one of the reasons why kids aren't allowed here anymore in the first place. As a parent, ya should want 'im safe...I dunno about you...but I would feel like that..."

Unfortunately for JayCee, her speech fell on deaf ears, as Psycho's attention clearly was anywhere else but on her words. It was when she stopped talking when he finally returned his attention to her.

"Youse 'bout done now? I want ma kid now, 'nd I'm goin' home."

With an exasperated sigh, JayCee glanced at a dozing Noah, gently rubbing his back.

"Alright fine...if you're goin' home...but um...before you go...could I just..."

Psycho slowly raised an eyebrow, then rolled his eyes.

"Could ya jus whut? Da fuck youse bout ta say?"

JayCee very slightly tightened her hug on Noah, smiling softly at him, then glancing at Psycho.

"Could I just...hold him for a little while longer...? I know it sounds weird, but...he kinda reminds me of one of my kids..."

"Den why don't youse jus go 'nd hold 'em?"

JayCee's smile slowly faded away, a saddened expression quickly making itself known. She slowly glanced down, giving a soft sigh, then at Noah, as if studying his sweet face. She stayed silent for a moment or two, then looked off into space before answering.

"Well...I would love to, I really...honestly would...only one problem...I can't...no matter how bad I want to..."

Noah gave a soft frown, looking up at JayCee and tilting his head.

"Why...?"

JayCee slowly turned her attention to Noah, then Psycho, silently staring. Slowly, the atmosphere around her slowly seemed to get heavy, a slight distortion in the air. She slowly closed her eyes, allowing a single tear to run down her cheek, before opening them back up...along with a secondary pair of eyes, in the same position her eyebrows were. A haunting glow radiated from here, as the area around her darkened until only certain parts of her face were visible. An icy blue heart-shaped glow quickly became evident from within her chest. Behind her...6 child-sized shadows could be seen, each with their own pair of glowing eyes. As JayCee held Noah, his face was slowly made visible from within the darkness, in a similar fashion to both JayCee and the shadow children. Psycho, witnessing it all, seemed to be in a stunned silence.

JayCee turned her gaze over to him, slowly opening her mouth to speak, her shark-like teeth visible. She spoke in a sorrowful tone.

"It's because...none of them are still alive right now..."