Hello Dolly...

Reveire

Cecilia had been laughing with her husband, at their naivety. Jordan was poking fun at her "skills" with machines. She laughed. She only knew how to work a toaster, a microwave, and her phone; she wasn't afraid to admit it. Her husband was the mechanical one. If she didn't get something, he was there to fix it, and make an effort to explain it to her in simpleton terms. Not that she always got it, but he was sweet for trying. She suspected, he secretly liked her not knowing things, just so he could explain it to her, over and over.

She turned her head to kiss him, and noticed Nicky staring off strangely. His face was blank. He showed no emotions. She tried to see what he was staring at, there was nothing. The area was open with no living person in sight. With a closer look she did notice a doll that lay on the ground. She looked back at her nephew who had gone absolutely pale-faced. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. Her gaze darted back to the area. Nothing was moving, not even wild animals. The doll was motionless, had he seen a fox? Maybe it had spooked him, hiding in the shadows. She motioned her husband's attention to Nicky, then slowly walked toward him. He didn't even seem to comprehend that she was there. His eyes were focused and alert on the doll. What was he seeing? Inching up to him, she crouched down to look at him, eye to eye. He didn't even blink. It was as if she wasn't even there.

"Nicky?" She cautiously stretched her arm out to him. Placing her hand on his should she said his name louder. "Nicky?"

He didn't move. Just stared straight ahead. She looked up at her husband, fearful. Had seeing his sister been hard on him? She had said something into his ear earlier. She assumed it'd been words of love and comfort. Had she been wrong? Maybe the day was just getting to him. It had been a horrible, emotionally battering few weeks. The things the boy had gone through, no kid should. She didn't want to think, that Mandy had upset him; he had been just fine leaving. Maybe he was tired, even more then he himself knew?

Jordan's eyes, showed the same feelings she didn't voice. Their attention was drawn back to Nicky, he'd moved. The action had been slight. She didn't want to spook him. She softened her voice into a near whisper.

"Nicky? Baby, are you okay?"

Nicky blinked. She thought he was coming back to them. She let out a sigh if relief and smiled at her husband. He, still looking at their nephew, smiled back. She looked at Nicky, as soon as her eyes met his, his pupils rolled back in his head, and he started falling backwards. She grabbed at his arm, Jordan was the one to catch him, before he hit the ground.

********

Nicky woke up within a few minutes. His head was pounding and his heart was beating fast. He stared up at his Aunt who had a look of overwhelming worry on her face. His Uncle was no different; he was holding him rubbing his back soothingly. His Aunt leaned forward and caught his cheeks in her hands. She looked desperately into his eyes. He felt tired and so hungry.

"Are you okay honey?"

Nicky rubbed his forehead. He tried to remember the last few minutes, but pulled up a blank. A tiny part of him felt scared, he realized he didn't want to recall. It felt safer not recollecting. His Aunt rubbed a tear away, that had snuck out.

He looked up at her, eyes pleading. "I'm hungry. Can we get hamburgers now?"

His Uncle started laughing. It felt like a wonderful distraction from the night. "Ha! He must be starved. He hasn't eaten for a minute Babe."

Cecilia looked at her husband.

"Are you sure?" She looked at Nicky, "Does your head hurt at all Nicky?"

Nicky shook his head. Uncle Jordan helped him to hi feet, dusted off the dirt and patted him on his back. "Sure sport we can go get some burgers now. I know your cousins are bitchin-"

"Language!" His Aunt snapped out smiling.

"Sorry, I meant in a panic about dinner. Let's get us some nice take-out food. Full of carbs and all the bad stuff doctors worn older men, to stay away from."

Nicky laughed as his Aunt grabbed his hand. She took him around, to the other side of the car and opened the door. Nicky pulled himself in. His Aunt buckled him in. She was about to pull out, then stopped. She stared Nicky for a second, then she leaned over to him. She rubbed his shoulder affectionately.

"What did you see?"

Nicky felt cold, like someone had turned down the heat in his body. He gazed at his Aunt. "I can't remember. I don't want to remember. Can we go please?"

In a sudden feeling, of motherly concern, Cecilia felt they needed to leave, to get as far away from the hospital as possible. She smiled warmly at Nicky and kissed his forehead. "Okay hunny. If you remember anything and want to talk, just know I have an open ear."

His Uncle started chanting to some old song he didn't recognize, his Aunt got in, and the car started up. As they drove away, Cecilia looked out her window toward the hospital. Her protective instincts were on high alert. She wished with all her heart, that her niece was in the car with them. She pictured her, in the back seat chatting, almost happily with her brother.

In a perfect world, she thought, Mandy wouldn't be in her back seat. She would be driving around, maybe heading home, after a day with her family. She imagined Mandy's smiling face, as she sat comfortably between her twin brothers. The small family happy and together. Everyone's laughter echoed realistically in Cecilia's ears. She knew that would never happen again, not in this life time. And it tore at her soul.

Pulling herself back from the reverie, she blinked, focusing on the world beyond her window. She felt prickles creeping over her arms, like tiny spiders crawling all over her body. She felt vomit bubbling in her gut, feeling like a volcanic eruption waiting to erupt. Something was off, like when you fell asleep in the car, and your body falls forward. You wake up freaked out, because you feel like your falling. Your expecting to see the earth rushing up to you, in a death stare down. The only difference was even as she was awake, that falling feeling didn't go away.

Some one was watching her. She didn't know how she knew, or why. She just did, and there was not a person in sight. Looking around every where, there was simply know one around. Where was this evil stare down coming from, she wondered. She felt her husband's hand slide into her own, they squeezed then pulled away. It was a gesture of comfort she appreciated, but it didn't have the same effect as it always did. At a loss summing it up to hunger and exhaustion, she looked in the passenger side mirror. She was shocked to see, that the ragged doll from before, stood in the middle of the road waving.

The teeth that showed glinting and nearly glowing, was a thing of nightmares.

{Hello readers! Sorry it took so long, I thought I had already published it (my bad) but here it is! I feel so bad! I hope I'm forgiven now that it's out. I'm working on the next chapter now so that will be out hopefully really soon😁😁 Oh and the picture is from the website www.strange-little-girls.co.uk}