The Lost Daughter

Chapter 16: More Than Meets The Eye

Oakville, May 1965

Charlotte woke up, still confused by what happened. She forgot all about the poisoned food and all that, but was relieved to have saved Mary- and herself, too. She remembered the original late afternoon when three men broke in the barn and held both of them hostage.

Charlotte being wise and almost sensitive, she kneeled down and begged for mercy. They held Mary, and herself, too. They tied them up and searched all over the house for money. Of course, they couldn't find the secret vault and just untied them and ran off.

No emergency calls or arrests were made after that, but bigger security was featured in the barn. To their relief, the three men did get arrested after being caught in a neighbour's property. Turns out, the whole of Oakville were experiencing break-ins and robberies, but no murder occurred that evening.

Still, it felt really weird and creepy. Turns out, the robbers were part of the satanic cult. They were put in jail and kicked out the cult ever since. To this day, they all died due to natural causes. One man died from a heart stroke a few years back, but the other mens' cause of death or their death date was unknown to the public. Nobody knows what happened, or if they're even dead at all.

"Boo!"

Charlotte turned around to see Holly standing there, looking up at her, almost like a glare. The two made eye contact, and it soon grew silent after that. It grew so silent that you couldn't even hear a pin fall.

"Mother, I'm afraid to tell you this..." Holly finally muttered. "I'm afraid I know too much information now and everyone should ought to know that it."

"What?" Charlotte gulped, looking away from the young girl. "What do you mean by that?"

"I can...I can read minds," Holly replied. "I have a special power. I can read everyone's mind, and I lived a past life. You see this birthmark here, between my eyes?" She pointed at the lightning-shaped scar between her right eye.

"Yes, why?" she asked, glancing at the birthmark. It was the same scar Mary had, but although it was kind of hidden, so nobody could tell she had a scar. Some noticed, but others didn't.

"I'm Mary Wormwood, your daughter," Holly added. "I have always been reunited with you, mother. But you never believe me that I'm your daughter. I am! I am! I am!!"

Holly sort of went crazy after that, and laughed manically. Her hands were in a grip, with her fingers separating in a weird form. She kept laughing like a maniac until the other caretakers came. They came and held Holly down on the floor, and she was acting crazy, wiggling and squirming around on the floor.

"Holy moly! What's going on?" Bailey asked, with concern in her eyes.

"I don't know. Holly went from quiet to crazy," Charlotte guessed. "I'm not sure what happened."

"Maybe it's something possessing her, like a demon. I think it's trying to contact her from hell." one of the caretakers, Jacob, said. "Should we...?"

"Yes! Call the priest, perform an exorcism and she'll be back to normal! We need to get this demon out of her!" Charlotte exclaimed, grabbing the telephone and dialling the number.

But Bailey snatched the telephone away from her hands. "Nah, let's not do that. An exorcism seems way too risky and dangerous, even for a girl her age. I think we should just let her relax. She might be able to fight those demons anyway."

Charlotte sighed in utter defeat. "Yeah, good point. Sorry for panicking. I shouldn't have overreacted," she apologized.

"It's fine. I would've panicked too if we were ever in a situation like this," Bailey replied.

Charlotte was relieved but turned panicked after a thought inside her mind. "Did she-did she have a seizure? Does she have epilepsy?!"

Bailey sighed and tried to cool Charlotte down. She pat her back. "I'm not her mother nor a psychic nor a doctor, Char. I don't know her real parents, either. I'm not sure if she has a disorder or condition. She could have just went insane."

"You can't automatically be insane, Bailey! If she has epilepsy, she can control it." Charlotte shouted.

"That's saying she doesn't have epilepsy! She doesn't show any symptoms, either! I'm sure if she can control what's going on, she can! She's a strong child, Char. You just have to trust her," Bailey explained calmly, looking back at Holly. "It's like- you don't even trust the child you found, the child you took in the orphanage, the child you took care of, the child who calls you mother, the child who can trust and depend on you!"

Charlotte was shocked and gasped. Bailey was right! She found Holly in danger, all alone and in so much agony that she was heavily bruised. Holly trusted and depended on her, and loved her like a mother. She felt guilty. The past choices she made, and especially that one choice...

Lead to serious consequences once everyone found out...

She wanted to get it fresh off her mind, but she couldn't. Mary's death made a huge impact on her and caused her to be a "cold, emotionless" young woman who never loved again.

Her true self? She's full of misery, solitude and grief ever since that loss. She grew up to be a "kindred spirit" who always loved, trusted and deeply cared for those around her. Her husband died in WWII shortly after Mary was born, and Charlotte was miserable, but still took care of Mary and gave her lots of love, even if she didn't have a husband, or soon-to-be-father. After Mary died, she was alone and that caused her to be filled with remorse.

At least Mary was in a better place and with her father up in heaven.

Charlotte remembered and cherished all the memories with Mary when she was alive. She wanted to be able to hold her.

She wanted to-

Suddenly, the power goes out.

"Shoot! What are we going to do? The power's out, and Holly is still going crazy," Bailey said, panicking a little bit. Bailey was laid-back and chill, so there was no chance she would panic.

"I think we should call someone..." Mr. Fano muttered.

"Who?" they all asked at the same time.

"Daphne, her aunt."

"What?!"