Stuffed

Chapter 3

Again Mr. White returned to his work early in the morning, his sleep had been mildly disturbed. The journal he was reading, she made mention that the stuffed animals talked to her. It was an uneasy thought that lingered because he'd actually been starting to believe it himself. However Maurice knew better, there was no way that it could be possible. Even though at his comforts to himself, he still had a doubt in his mind at his own logic.

Squeezing into his office he plopped a to-go coffee he bought onto the table. The cup was still warm, and the scent wafted through his office allowing him ease into the setting. He pulled out his office chair and studied Isabelle's file. The girl had been making exceptional progress, becoming less introverted and able to control anger. It's been over a week, and as promised he wanted to take her out to hopefully make even more progress. In order to do this though he needed to fill out the forum which he pulled out promptly and began to fill out.

Once he had finished the document he piled out of his office again. To his dismay as he traveled he was tripping over his own weight, perhaps he had been too tired? Turning a sharp corner her promptly landed at the service desk, an average women with brown hair approached him. Putting the paper onto the counter he smiled weakly at her, she returned his smile with a cold glare with her dark brown eyes.

Taking grasp of his document she read it with wide eyes, "It's a little soon for a permission forum isn't it?"

Mr. White took a deep breath, "Isabelle has been making a lot of progress, and she cannot improve further without being able to make these first steps."

"You know to be fair we've all heard things about Isabelle. I haven't even been in the same room with her but the rumors do spread fast" The women gabbed showing some curiosity in her voice.

Maurice raised a brow, "What have you heard?"

"Mostly that she's not curable... If you really believe you can help her then I won't stop you" She shrugged and explained, "Some crackpots here even told me that she's evil. Can you believe that, I just think they're spooked because of the stupid story about her parents? Everyone knows there weren't even fingerprints on that case! It could have been anyone."

"Well she had a pretty good motive, she was abused" The man claimed solemnly.

She gazed at him while putting the file in the inbox for the managers, "I don't think she did it, she was too small. Let alone kill that many people. It had to be dozens."

He swallowed in a gut fear, "You're absolutely right."

"Well of course, do you wanna know what I heard?" The women leans in closer and begins to whisper, "In the case they found animal tracks the size of bear prints."

"B-bear prints?... What about a cougar, or a lion of some sort?" Mr. White stuttered his blood going cold.

She raised a brow, "I believe they dismissed it though because there was no evidence supporting that an animal attack could be so large. I think they found even deer tracks oddly enough" Stopping for a moment she cocks her head, "What do I know though, it was probably just some animals rummaging through the trash. I'm going to get in trouble for yacking I'll see you later huh?"

Mr. White nodded with a blank stare unable to come up with a response. Immediately his brain pained, what if the tracks were the stuffed animals? That couldn't be right though they were tiny, there is no way. Maurice decided that he was just being paranoid even though his hands shook nervously. Plodding back to his office he slammed the door behind him and slumped into the chair. The coffee scent aided his nerves slightly and he snagged a tiny sip from the cup. A warm liquid burned down his throat, he breathed deeply trying to relax.

Peering down at the desk in front of him he saw her file once more. The vanilla color gleamed in his eyes and he got the urge to find out more about this case. Flipping open the file there were his notes, but he wondered where the previous files had gone. A cold air hit him at that moment as he gazed towards the filing cabinet he had here. It was more than likely her old files and notes from other psychologists were inside there somewhere, but he wasn't supposed to snoop in old files.

In his silence he continued to anxiously glare at the silvery cabinet, he longed to dig through it. Attempting to avoid his curiosity he tapped nervously on the desk with a pen, the clicking echoed through the quiet room. The pen flew out of hand and hit the side of the wall, he must have been tapping too fast and he hadn't even realized. Neglecting the pick up the pen he tossed himself towards the file cabinet giving into his curiosity.

He tore through the files searching for her name, they were all old cases on the bottom drawer. Soon he came by a file that had been labeled Isabelle Johnson. Tearing the file free he tossed it onto the desk and hastily plopped back into his office chair. Sitting for a moment he battled in his head if he should really be snooping around. With a head shake he flipped open the file to reveal some average notes, the more he kept flipping however the stranger it got.

Strangely enough he read on the last note, the person who worked with her heard the same lion sound he did. He went pale suddenly, it was not his delusion after all. A spine crawling sickness developed into his bones, could he have been killed? Proceeding to examine the file he seen a picture from the camera that was placed in that room. It was a snap of a large and empowered shadow blurring on the wall as she slept. Did security bother to even watch the cameras? How much did he truly miss?

Too scared to continue he closed it, his heart pounding through his chest. Maurice comforted himself with the search for a logical reasoning, it could have been a coincidence, or just a smudge on the camera. Sipping the last drop of his coffee he neatly returned the file as if it hadn't been moved. It was nearly time to see her, and he had so many questions he wanted to ask. Not wanting to waste another second, and fearing his life in the loneliness of the office he sprinted out of the room.

He speed walked towards her holding room, he was panicked but tried his best to hide it. Reaching the door he unlocked it quickly but only slowly opened the door. Inside Izzy was sitting at the table with a smile across her face. A shudder rolled down his back as he entered, the girls eyes seemed to appear questioning at his demeanor.

Plopping into the chair at the table he heaved, "I placed in a forum to try and get out soon."

Izzy gazed at him with worried ice eyes, "Are you okay? You look sick."

"I'm fine, I just haven't slept very much last night" Mr. White answered as quick as he could, "I-I have a question?"

"Sure" The girl stared into his soul meaningfully.

Maurice gulped in nervously, "T-The stuffed animals. You said that they talked..."

"Well of course!" She responded as if it wasn't a big deal, "I told you we were friends, you read my journal right?"

"It's just... I was thinking Izzy..." The man sighed and continued to explain, "Is that as big as they get?"

Isabelle cocked her head in confusion, "Why are you so scared, they're nice?"

"Isabelle, please show me" Maurice glared deep into her, he needed to know if he was crazy or not.

Izzy gazed at Patchi who had been sitting on the table very close to her. Its bright orange button eyes put Maurice on an edge, he was terrified for no reason. Yet the thought of it now seemed much less friendly as it previously seemed. A thought of Raina, the one that was in his house entered his mind. How could he have let that into his house?

She cowered under her hair, "They don't talk to people they don't trust."

His gut stirred sickly, "Well, what do they think of me?"

"Raina told me that you're lonely, that you live in a big house all by yourself. She thinks you're a good person" Izzy claimed in a nervous manner, "Patchi... He doesn't like you. He thinks you're just going to hurt me like the others did. Buster thinks you're good too, but the rest are undecided."

Maurice could feel his body shivering with utter fear, she knew what his house looked like. No person could guess exactly how his house looked without seeing it, or even the fact that he had lived with no one else. Deepening his gaze he touched gazes with Patchi, he could swear it was watching him and it made him want to cry.

"They agreed that they would talk to you if you brought them home, and then directly back to me" Izzy declared peering in Maurice's eyes, "All of them but Patchi, Patchi stays with me always."

"T-Take them home?" He stuttered imagining if they turned in his sleep.

She nodded rapidly, "That's what they told me anyway..."

"They won't hurt me... Will they?" Maurice asked unprofessionally.

Isabelle smiled sweetly at him and he felt eased, "No, they only hurt people who hurt me."

Mr. White clicked in his head, if they were really existent they must have killed her parents. This girl would be falsely accused of murder, and probably didn't have schizophrenia. All this time she could have been free, if only people knew what really happened. His own logic fell apart in his head, he didn't know what to believe anymore.

"I will do it then..." Maurice sighed.

Izzy grinned wildly, "That's awesome! No one else has ever been this nice to me!"

With a boiling stomach he gave a nervous smirk, "Yeah..."

"Oh also... I guess I'll tell you about another story" She pondered, "I know, the day we saved the baby bird!"

Maurice swiftly took out a pen and paper getting ready to write. Now more than ever he believed her, he truly wanted to understand this time. She opened her mouth and his pen hit the paper, it began.

******

We walked through the empty forest surrounded by the essence of Fall. Leaves covered the ground as my boots crunched through them, it was a fun sound to hear. I continued my walk to my usual spot in the middle of the clearing and placed the box of stuffed animals onto the soft soil. Opening the box the first to pop out was Patchi, his rich sown smile spread adorably with a little black button nose. Hopping down onto the soil it stuck to his little green paws, but he didn't seem to mind.

He began to help out the others, I observed them happily as they all piled out. I finally had some friends of my own, they sat across of me with glistening button eyes of different colors. Squeaker stirred excitedly in the soil and began to roll getting her fabric full of dirt. I giggled lightly while the other stuffed animals watched her in her moment of joy. Raum however being the noble and quiet one took a few steps back to avoid getting filthy.

"I'm glad I have you all as friends" I squealed in excitement flopping into the soil.

Betty pulled at my arm, "Sweet heart your parents will be so angry if you get your only coat filled with mud!"

Floppy being adorable stumbled over to my side with big eyes, "We're more glad that you found us, we were alone for so long."

"I know, but I'm just worried for you sweet pea come on out of the dirt!" Betty tugged more frantically this time.

I glanced into Betty's pink button eyes still in the mud, "What do they know anyway? They love this jacket more than me!"

"Oh I could just hurt them! They never make time for you!" Buster raved while raking his fabric claws through the dirt.

"No Buster, they're just busy. They do love me" I protested softly getting out of the mud.

Patchi crawled onto my legs snuggling close to my shoulder. Meanwhile I watched Raum perking his ears, his white buttons glinting from the sun. Following this Floppy lifted an ear, and then Patchi who raised his head in alarm. Obviously not being able to hear what they were I glanced around awkwardly wondering what the matter was.

"I hear chirping, it sounds like it's suffering" Raum stirred in a worried way.

Patchi clung deeper to me, "Let's go find it. Floppy can I count on your nose to lead us?"

"Yes you can!" The puppy replied sticking his snout in the air.

I put Patchi on the ground as I lifted to my feet, following the little stuffed puppy to where his nose led him. We plodded through a thick mud, my boots kicking it back as I crunched through the leaves. Floppy stopped as he stared with large maroon button eyes, ahead of him was a young crow, its body stuck in a chained fence. It cawed unpleasantly as its parents wondered how to free it. The birds body twisted and bucked attempting to worm free but was stuck good.

Patchi cocked his head, "That poor thing... We need to help it!"

"How, birds are protective even if their baby is in danger. What if it attacks us?" I wondered gazing down at his patchy green body.

Squeaker ran in with speed, "I'll pull him out!"

Racing towards the fence she attempted to pull it out, but the bird was stuck good and the parents seemed to get nervous of her. Unable to allow Squeaker to get harmed I rushed ahead and began to help her, with the rest around us keeping the parents back. With a little effort and time we pulled the bird free. It chirped loudly as I lowered it slowly to the ground, it was so beautiful. The parents were thrilled and ran to the birds side. We watched them fly off into the bright blue sky, knowing we did the right thing.