The two children Sound of God demanded were actually bargaining chips Old Man God had held in the past.
One was a little Black boy, somewhat monkey-like, skinny as a rake, but lively and talkative—the sort of energetic kid who got killed first in so many Hollywood horror movies.
The other was a chubby little white girl. Her glasses were thicker than the bottom of a beer bottle, and she was very old-fashioned. She seemed like she did not belong in a public middle school at all, more like some rigid old nun who had graduated from a church school.
The two of them had been Elaine's friends back when she was still human. They were the only two friends she had in human society.
It was easy enough to imagine why. Malnourished, raised by her mother alone since childhood, never knowing who her father was, and fond of Gothic clothing—wearing that black school uniform every day as though she were going to someone's funeral.
An Elaine like that had been considered a freak by many people at school. No one had wanted to play with her.
And ever since she was young, she had felt different from everyone else. She could not explain why, but she had always carried that strange feeling in her heart. It made her deeply inferior, just like most poor people.
In her entire middle-school class, only those two could be considered her friends, and they had been quite close.
The little Black guy hung out with a group of big, strong Black boys, and he had essentially looked out for Elaine at school, keeping mean girls from bullying her. The chubby girl, meanwhile, had an exceptionally gentle heart. She often shared her food with Elaine and kept her company when they talked.
So when