<i>Previously published as &#39;Laika&#39;s Void&#39; by Noct Moll.</i><br /><br /><b>The loving hug. The gentle touch. The tender pat.</b><br /><b>They sound nice, for those who don&#39;t kill or get killed.</b><br /><br />Laika is nine years old and her hands have never touched anything.<br />&quot;Touched,&quot; as in felt the friction, heat, or coolness of another person or object.<br />Because, you see, her hands make matter vanish. It only takes less than a second. Way before she feels a thing, that which is touched disappears,&nbsp;<i>poof.</i><br />Even the milk cartons that the nuns install around her wrists to serve as shields. Even the air molecules that her fingers brush against. And sometimes, yes, even living organisms.<br />Laika might be the loneliest girl on Earth. She lives with the void.