Author's Note: All the character's and locations belong to me, as does the idea for this story. The song: "London Bridge is Falling Down" does not belong to me.

Cries in the Night

Prologue

"Mommy?" the little girl said as she padded down the hall to her parents' room, "Daddy?"

Ten-year-old Natalie Troy had just woken up from a nightmare and was in need of some comfort and reassurance. She had dreamt of terrible things; of blood and monsters. The horrible dream haunted her and feeling terrified at what could be lurking in the shadows of the hallway, her pace increased rapidly.

She reached her parents' door and opened it. Her eyes glanced around the dark room and she got a funny feeling.

"Mommy? Daddy?" she called out attentively.

Natalie turned on the light, like she usually did, but this time the sight that greeted her was different. It took her about five minutes to actually understand what she was really seeing. And it was then she screamed, loud and long, and stayed frozen in the doorway.

The little girl's parents' lay across the floor of the room, not moving. Their insides were scattered on the floor, their blood soaked into the white carpet. Murder was not the word for what happened to her mother and father. Slaughter was more appropriate.

When the girl stopped screaming, her eyes went wide, as a realization of something hadn't registered until then.

"Dominique." She whispered, turning her back on the haunting sight of her parents' and ran down the hall.

She opened up a door on the right side of the hall and turned on the light as she stepped into the room. On the floor, lay her four-year-old sister, Dominique. Natalie saw her chest raise slowly, an indication of life, and rushed to her side.

"'Nique?" she whispered.

The smaller girl's eyes opened a crack and looked at her through pain filled eyes.

"It hurts." The little girl wheezed.

The older girl noticed a stab wound in her lower abdominal region and swallowed as a lump formed in her throat as she realized her sister was going to die and she couldn't do anything about it. Tears that burned filled her eyes and blurred her vision.

"Don't cry." Dominique scolded softly, "I'll be fine."

"I love you." Natalie choked out.

"I loves you too." Murmured her sister.

Then she fell silent and the older girl knew she was gone. She was now alone. She felt numb as shock took over her. Natalie gathered Dominique into her arms and rocked back and forth, singing softly to herself, the tune slow.

"London Bridge is falling down, on the ground, all around, London Bridge is falling down… falling down…"