The phone rang at the Buckingham household around five o'clock in the evening. Stevie, Lindsey, Lily, and Matthew were getting ready to eat, but Matthew offered to duck out and answer. He silently hoped that it wasn't the facility calling with bad news about Sophie. He didn't want anyone to be hurt.
"Hello," he said, quietly holding the landline up to his ear.
"Matthew? It—its Sophie." Matthew couldn't really believe his ears. She sounded weak, like Stevie and Lindsey had described her after coming home from the meeting.
"Hey, kid," he said with a smile, trying not to give her away to the rest of the house. Everyone would come rushing over if they knew who he was talking to. "What's up," he asked, when she didn't continue. There was another moment of hesitant silence on the other end of the phone before Sophie spoke up, again.
"I just...wanted to check in. How's Lil?"
"She's good. Very good. I don't know if you heard, but you're gonna have a little niece in a few months." He laughed at her gasp on the other end of the phone. "Are you serious! Oh my God, another girl in the family. I hope you and Dad are ready."
"Yeah, I'm only slightly nervous," Matthew joked. "That's good. Uh..is Mom there?" Matthew peered into the kitchen to see everyone getting ready to sit down for dinner. "Yeah, one second, I'll call her in."
He set down the receiver on the side table. "Stevie, the phone's for you."
Stevie excused herself from the the table and hurried to take the phone form Matthew. She really had no idea who would be calling. "Hello?"
Sophie froze up on the other end of the phone. "Mom? Its Sophie."
Stevie froze, too. She knew her daughter like the back of her hand, but she'd never expected to get that call. She did her very best not to cry to Sophie over the phone. "Hey, sweet girl. Are you feeling a little better," she asked. Sophie could hear the smile from the other end of the phone, and a smile crept to her own face. Her mother had that effect. She could make people smile, just by smiling, herself.
"Yeah, I am. I...uh...I was just calling to..." She trailed off, trying to keep herself composed. "I just wanted to say that I love you, Mom. I know I've been distant, and doing what I did has to feel like the ultimate betrayal to you. I just...I really love you, Mom. And I miss you, and I miss being your little girl."
She couldn't keep the tears away any longer. Neither of them could, even though it felt like through this ordeal, they'd each cried enough for a lifetime.
"I love you, too, Soph. More than you could ever know."
"I messed up. I know I really hurt you. I hurt everyone, but especially you."
Stevie could never point the blame at her daughter like that. She could never tell her that her heart was broken. She didn't want her to worry on anything but recovering. "Honey, these past weeks have undeniably been the hardest of my life. Losing you, Soph, that would have been the greatest pain I've ever felt."
Sophie buried her head in her hands, feeling a migraine coming on. This was undeniably the hardest time in her life as well. "But I know you by heart, and you are inside and out, my little girl. You and I are two in the same, and I've always known it. Us gemini's have chaotic minds," Stevie added, hearing Sophie laugh a little from the other end. "I know better than anyone that it hurts to hit bottom because everything in your mind got the best of you. But baby, you'll get stronger, and soon you'll be stronger than you could've ever imagined."
Somehow, when Stevie said that they were basically the same person, it didn't bother Sophie. She wasn't saying it like 'We're the same, so we made the same mistake.' She meant that they operated on the same wavelength, and had the same way of thinking. They also had the same weaknesses.
Sophie had been through so much that nobody knew about, and with a mind that was constantly running rampant with thoughts, both good and bad, rational and irrational, she'd woken up one day, and decided that she wanted to block them all out, whatever means necessary. She just wished at that point that she'd chosen some other means of dealing with her problems. The problem was, though she regretted it, she still wanted the help of her blow.
"Remember when I was little, and I'd get scared that there were monsters in my closet, and you'd take me down to the kitchen and we'd make hot chocolate. Then you'd get into bed with me, and rub my back and sing to me until I fell asleep."
There was a tearful pause on the other end of the phone. "Yeah, baby, I remember."
"I wish that could happen right now."
"I know, angel. I do, too."
~2003
"Mommy!"
The little six year-old had been going at it for a few minutes, screaming and crying for her mother. She'd woken the entire house up, and some people (Mick and John) were not happy about it, as they were sharing the house to work on Say You Will.
"I'll be right back," Stevie whispered to Lindsey, slowly getting out of bed. She ducked into the next bedroom over from theirs, which was serving as Sophie's during record production. There, her little girl was sitting up in bed, hot tears streaming down her red face. The poor thing was so worked up, she was sweating and shaking.
"Sweet girl, what is it," Stevie asked, rushing to her side. The child could barely speak, but pointed to the closet. "What is it, honey? Is there something in the closet?" Sophie nodded, letting out a sob that somewhat included a shriek. Stevie walked over to the walk-in closet on the other side of the room, which was only masked by a thin veil. It was a beautiful setup in the daytime, but at night, it was even a little daunting to the adults.
Stevie pulled back the curtain, and turned on the light. There was nothing. "There are monsters in there, Mommy!" Although nothing was there, Sophie's active imagination never left a dull moment for her. She could always make up something to be excited about, or afraid of. Stevie knew better than to tell her that they simply didn't exist. To Sophie, they were as real as could be. "Sweetie, I don't see any. What did they look like," she asked, humoring her daughter, by looking around in the closet.
"One of them...it has a big head like a football, and he has green eyes and walks like this," Sophie said, scrambling out of bed, and hobbling on one leg. "And, and he's missing a lot of teeth! And he has a friend. She's this old lady with no hair, and she wears a...a doctor outfit. She's got a cut on her neck, and you can see...see all her veins."
Stevie really felt so bad for her daughter. She'd never known anyone who could think of such terrible things that could keep them up for days on end. It was Sophie's strength and her greatest weakness.
"They sound really scary, Soph," Stevie said, walking back to her, but keeping the closet light on. She kneeled down in front of Sophie, and stroked her hair. "I think they went away, though." Sophie sniffled and looked from her mother to the closet.
"Mommy, you'll never let the monsters hurt me, right?" The fear and pain on her daughter's face saddened her. "Of course, sweet girl. I'll never let anything hurt you." ~
"Mom? You still there?"
Stevie pushed the memory out of her head for a moment, wondering if she'd missed anything that Sophie and said. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm still here. What were you saying?"
"I was just saying that I've gotta go to a session. But I love you. Tell Dad and Lil that I love them, too."
"Okay, Soph, I love you, too."
With that, the line went dead, and Stevie was left to wonder if she'd really kept her promise.
I HOPE Y'ALL ARE STILL LIKING IT SO FAR! THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! :)
