Found Tonight ||Family Bond

18) The Place Where The Lost Things Go

(Fannys POV)

I'm in my old house, on the floor. I probably had another dizzy spell, with me being sick and haven't eaten in a few days. I was home alone. I heard the door slam tightly. I flinched, knowing that he was back.

"FRANCES! WHERE ARE YOU!?" I scampered off to the closet with the little strength I had and hid. I could smell the beer on him from where I hid. Mary wasn't home, she was at book club. I grabbed Stella tight and bit my lip so I wouldn't make noise. His footsteps grew louder. "Where the fuck are you, cow?" He sneered.

A draft blew in through the vent, it tickled my nose. I sneezed. Then, the sickness showed through. I went into a coughing fit.

He heard.

I heard him run over and saw him rip open the door with ferocity, making the back of it slam against the wall as it opened. He grabbed me by the hair and forced me out, he let go and I fell to his feet. "Where were you?" "I-I-I was just cleaning." I lied. I began to hack and cough again, he slapped my face. "STOP THAT!" I nodded, fighting back the painful coughs. He sneered again and left. I shakily got up and stumbled towards the couch. I sat down in a certain way so my new and old injures wouldn't hurt as much.

After a few minutes, he pushed me off the couch and i fell to the floor, yelping slightly. "Get off, your hogging my seat. One more fucking move, lets see what happens, you little shit." I went to the kitchen, holding my cough in painfully. I grabbed the water pitcher and poured some water, but spilled it slightly.

Just my luck.

He got up and roared. "WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAY?!" He yanked my hair and grabbed my arm, twisting them so I couldn't move. He pinned me to the ground and delivered several blows to my back and head. I cried out for help, I cried for him to stop, he didn't.

"Fucking shits like you can't act right. And I'm gonna teach ya."

I yelped as I felt him slap me, leaving a shiner. I felt shaking.

"FANNY! WAKE UP!"

(Elizas POV)

I was sleeping on the inflatable mattress on the floor of Usnavi and Vanessas apartment, when I heard mumbling. It sounded like 'No....please..." over and over again. I then heard crying, and a loud yelp. Instinctively, I got up. Alexander began to stir. "Hmm?" "I got it, go back to sleep." "Mmmmmph." He groaned as he turned over. I looked for the source. Philip and Theo are asleep on the couch, everyone else has either a sofa chair or a cot, Lizzys asleep in the car booster seat next to Angie, where could it be from?

I heard another yelp, and I ran towards the sound of it. It sounded like it came from Fanny, who was sleeping on a cot near the hallway. I quietly ran to her. She was shaking, tears streaming down her face, and whimpering. I shook her. "Fanny. Wake up. Its just a nightmare, sweetie." She didn't wake up. I shook her harder. "Fanny! Wake up!"

She jolted awake and shot straight up in her cot, yelping and moving away from me. "Don't! I'm sorry! What did I do?! I'll fix it!" She was still sobbing. "No, no, its okay." I whispered. "Shhhh....it was just a nightmare." She looked at me like she was waiting to be punished. She probably was. "Oh......come here." I held out my arms and she rushed into them, clutching to my shirt and sobbing into my shoulder. I held her tight to me, letting her know she was safe.

"What happened in the dream?" I asked. "I was back in my old house.....he....he began hitting me.....and he didn't stop." She shook again. "Will I ever be normal?"

I gasped softly. "What makes you say that?!" "I can't read right, I look like a cow, nobody wants me. I'm just the factory reject. The one to be tossed away and used for cruel experiments." I began to slightly rock her while she held on tight to me. "You are NOT a reject. You have a disorder. Theres a difference. And you weren't tossed away. Your mother loved you very much. So much that she gave her life to give life to you. Not every mother does that. You don't look like a cow, you can't fit in when you were made to stand out from the crowd. If everyone looked the same, it would be a dreary world, huh?"

"But why did she leave?" She whispered in a raspy voice, used up from all the sobbing. "Shes not gone, shes just.....shes in the place where lost things go." "What?"

Its a metaphor I use with Alexander. He had and has trouble controlling his nightmares and panic attacks after his mother died, so I said she wasn't gone, just in the place where lost things go. It helped a lot for him, knowing his mother isn't truly gone. Heck, I even used it for myself when my mother died a year ago.

She leaned against me. I thought of the song I use for Alexander for his night terrors. "Do you ever lie awake at night? Just between the dark and the morning light......Searching for the things you used to know.....Looking for the place where the lost things go......"

She yawned and put my arm around her. "Do you ever dream or reminisce? Wondering where to find what you truly miss......Well maybe all those things that you love so....are waiting in the place where the lost things go......Memories you've shared, gone for good you feared.....They're all around you still, though they've disappeared......Nothing's really left, or lost without a trace.....Nothing's gone forever, only out of place~"

She tried to fight against the drowsiness by keeping her eyes open, but was failing. I began to rock her slightly again. "Its okay to fall asleep." I whispered.

"So maybe now the dish and my best spoon are playing hide and seek just behind the moon......Waiting there until it's time to show, spring is like that now.....Far beneath the snow......Hiding in the place where the lost things go.....time to close your eyes, so sleep can come around.....For when you dream you'll find all that's lost is found......Maybe on the moon, or maybe somewhere new.......Maybe all you're missing lives inside of you~"

She laughed a bit in her sleep. I gently adjusted her so she was laying down, and pulled the blanket on her.

"So when you need her touch, and loving gaze....'Gone but not forgotten' is the perfect phrase.....Smiling from a star that she makes glow......Trust she's always there, watching as you grow, find her in the place where the lost things go~"

I heard light snores from her. I smiled and kissed her forehead. Some part of me knew I wouldn't live up to her actual mother, but I'm gonna try. I went over to the mattress and laid down next to Alexander. "She had a bad dream?" He muttered. "Yeah...." "You sung her our song, huh? I heard it." "Yeah. She needed it." He turned over to face me. "Hopefully all of them are getting along in that place. Watching us." "I hope so, too." He kissed my forehead and pulled me closer.

"Night, Mary Poppins." He said, cheeky.

"Oh, shut up."