Chloe locked the door, to make sure no one would see the borrower, and went back downstairs. The four friends forced her to sit in the armchair and blindfolded her with a scarf.
"If you can guess what we're putting in your hand within thirty seconds, we'll drink, otherwise you'll drink," Ginny explained, while Matth sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.
"What a dumb game," he muttered and everyone shut him up immediately. Chloe sighed and nodded. So the first hour passed, and unfortunately Ginny didn't say that when you drank, you had to drink half a glass of whiskey.
"I have cookies!" Vanessa exclaimed, handing the cookies in the shape of Santa Claus to everyone. All of them were quite drunk, and they started talking about this and that, laughing like idiots. The only sober one was Matth, who had to drive everyone home after.
Mary had remained there and was waiting impatiently, she decided to go down and check the situation, she didn't trust those humans. When she reached the living room she could very well hear the laughter coming from it, she approached curiously and looked at the scene from her socket.
All sat on the sofa with glasses in hand, talking animatedly to each other. "Oh oh oh, gift moment, I'll give it," Ginny hopped, the brightest of them all, and retrieved a gift box. Chloe shook her head.
"You didn't have to ... can I open it even if it's Christmas Eve?" the brunette asked pleadingly, and everyone shrugged their shoulders willingly. Chloe unwrapped the gift, a bright red Christmas sweater, and a bracelet with snowflake charms.
"They're beautiful! Thanks, you're the best," she said, beaming as Mary had never seen her do. The borrower widened her eyes, leaning on her grip and watching how happy the human was. Happy to be with other humans, with such beautiful gifts, and thought maybe the idea of the bracelet didn't make much sense now.
In short, the human would have burst out laughing in her face, it wasn't much. She wasn't much. She sat down on the ground, absently rubbing her broken leg, listening to more laughter in the living room. Laughter also from Chloe, who had completely forgotten about her promise, and kept talking to her friends well into the afternoon.
Mary felt a few tears roll down her face. She was sad because, despite everything they had been through, she enjoyed being with Chloe. But now that she could spend Christmas with someone who made her feel comfortable, Mary was alone.
She was left behind. Again.
The little girl went back to the bedroom, trying to keep herself from crying.
"Alright, I think it's time to go home," Matth said holding the door open as he watched the other three go out still thrilled. The boy sighed and after giving her one last hug, everyone left Chloe alone.
"Ah and tomorrow night we'll come again, you can't say no!" Jasper exclaimed, holding on to Matth to keep himself from falling. "I'll bring tequila!" Ginny yelled with a big smile as she greeted Chloe as she walked backward.
The human put a hand to her face, chuckling amused, before greeting them and closing the door. She sighed looking at the time and walked into the living room to clean up the mess they had left.
When she found herself alone she thought about the borrower, and jumped up, starting to run up the stairs. She opened the door and looked at the bed, but Mary was not there. "Mary?" she called her more than once, the borrower took a while to recover and get out of the socket and then climb onto the bedside table.
The blonde said nothing, she simply held on to the crutch, putting the grapple back with her eyes down. "Oh thank goodness, I thought you were gone," the human said quickly, sitting on the ground, leaning her back to the bed.
"You were the only one gone," the borrower muttered, the disappointment was making her angry and she was trying to hide insecurities as much as she could.
Chloe frowned, immediately looking up, surprised by the tone the borrower had used. "There was no way to send them away," the girl said nonchalantly and sighed running a hand through her hair. Mary nodded absently, feeling the irritation to the bone.
"You can also just say you didn't want to send them away," she reiterated, and the human looked at her confused. She was drunk, and she wasn't exactly herself when she drank.
"If that were the case, was it a problem? They came to see me thinking I would spend the eve alone, they were being kind," she tried to explain, a little annoyed because of the borrower's tone.
Mary looked up, glaring at her. "So without them, you would have had a sad eve..." she noted, and Chloe nodded. "Yes- I mean no! The thing is that- urgh!" the brunette brought her hands to her face and she sighed deeply, feeling confused. She didn't know how to explain her thoughts.
"Well, I'm sorry I make your days sad!" Mary said immediately and Chloe shook her head. "That was not what I meant to say!" she said, raising slightly her voice, trying to make Mary shut up for a bit, her headache was starting to kill her.
Mary felt a sharp pain in her chest, her lip quivered slightly as she held her breath. "What did you mean to say? That you lied all along because you felt some kind of pity?" the anger in her voice was clear.
They had never talked to each other like that, Mary was panicking, thinking that the human was faking her affection all along, and Chloe was just drunk and starting to feel sick.
"I didn't feel pity-" the whisper the brunette gave was interrupted by the borrower who spoke again, her voice still filled with emotions. "Then why do you keep me around?" Mary's face was red with anger, she needed to calm down if she didn't want to screw things up. Unfortunately, she already did.
"You said I make your days sad so why would you still-" the borrower couldn't finish her words that suddenly the ground under her feet shook violently.
"Shut up!" Chloe yelled, her fist hit the nightstand as she got closer and she looked with anger at the borrower. Mary immediately widened her eyes and tried to back away.
What was she thinking? Yelling at a human?
She needed to fix it. She opened her mouth and she had to swallow a lump in her throat before speaking. "Chloe, I'm s-" she didn't even finish talking that the hand on the nightstand moved.
"Just shut up!" Chloe said again, and her tone was so loud that Mary fell to the ground, placing her hands on her hurting ears. The scream was accompanied by a fast and blind gesture of Chloe's hand.
The brunette just wanted that little voice to stop talking, she knew she was the one that did a mistake, but she needed a moment to breathe and calm her headache.
Everything changed when she heard a pained scream coming from the floor. The blonde had fallen after being pushed away from the hand. She tried to hold onto the blanket of the bed, but at last, she hit her back.
Her blue eyes started to fill with tears and her heart was going crazy. She tried to stand up as the human turned around. Her gaze was different, the brown eyes were worriedly searching for her.
"Mary?" The human's voice was full of guilt and regret, as she searched for the borrower, who backed away immediately. She had to run away, so she tried to stand up on her own and she reached the wall.
"Mary, please" Chloe stood up and at that moment the blonde knew she had to hurry. Her leg wasn't healed yet, which would take weeks, but she needed to ignore the pain to save herself. She got to the air vent that was already opened and she climbed up, before yelping when a shadow fell over her.
Chloe spotted the little girl with the corner of her eye and she knelt immediately in front of the vent. "Wait, please don't go" the human pleaded, tears in her eyes as Mary started to back away quickly.
Chloe usually smelled of pinecones and the wind, but now the only thing she could smell was the burning and horrible one of the alcohol. Her little body shook in fear and her eyes started to let out tears. She ran away.
Chloe wanted to try stopping her, but her stomach had other plans and she ran to the bathroom to throw up.
Mary limped through the vents as tears kept running down her cheeks. She needed to get to her house and then go away, she couldn't stay there. A part of her knew that Chloe didn't mean to hurt her, another one was yelling that if the human caught her again, she will be dead.
She reached her house, still ignoring the terrible pain that she felt in her leg. She took everything she could carry in her satchel, with tears of anger and fear streaming down her face.
She glanced at the bracelet she had made, it was simple, nothing to do with the shiny and probably much more precious one that her friends had given her.
"Stupid, stupid!" she repeated several times as she headed for the exit that would take her outside. She wiped her face, looking out. She looked back at the dark corridor that led into the house. She took a deep breath before turning and starting to walk across the meadow that would then lead her to the forest.
Chloe needed to take some moments to feel better, she regretted drinking. But mostly, she regretted treating Mary like that. She had hurt her, she had yelled at her, she had acted horribly.
She washed her face and went back to her room. She saw immediately the crutch on the nightstand. The little girl will get herself hurt if she walked without it.
After taking something for the headache, she bit her lower lip. "Mary?" she looked at the vent, figuring the borrower would be there, but she heard nothing.
"Mary?" she called her again, louder. No reply. She began calling her around the house, over and over again. The concern grew more and more, she hoped that the borrower was simply ignoring her, that she was still there.
"Mary I'm sorry, I didn't mean those things. I didn't want to hurt you," she repeated several times and sat down on the ground sighing. "Please tell me you're still here .." she murmured in a trembling voice and listened to the next silence.
After a while she decided to look for her in the basement, she had told her her shelter was there, so she had to be able to hear her perfectly.
"I know you're angry and scared, you have every right, but I was wrong," she said, looking around. She crouched down and looked for something, anything.
She thought about how the borrower must have gotten into the mousetrap the first time, surely the opening was on the floor. She scanned the lower part of the walls and finally found something.
A small opening that the girl knew very well carried behind the electrical panel. she went up the stairs a little and opened the panel looking at it intently.
When she noticed a trap door, under piles of cartons, her eyes widened. she moved the boxes, and taking a deep breath opened the hatch. There was a wooden panel covering something, nothing else.
She moved her hands tentatively and raised the panel. Chloe gasped in surprise, there was a series of small rooms, made in a very rudimentary way and with Christmas lights that illuminated them. she had found it, but there was not even a shadow of Mary.
"Mary .." she said with a trembling voice, as she brought her hand closer and touched what most resembled a bed. The borrower's room was empty, abandoned, but one thing caught the human's attention.
Chloe gently took what appeared to be a bracelet in her hands.
She turned it over in her fingers in surprise. She looked at the carved wood pendants, what made her paralyze was the pendant with her name written on it. Chloe felt her eyes water, the borrower was gone, she yelled at her, she hurt her.
The human quickly repositioned everything, slipped on the bracelet, and stood up with tears in her eyes. she ran to put on her coat and left the house.
"Mary!" she shouted, hoping to see the borrower. She cursed herself mentally for not asking where her parents had gone, she also cursed herself for being so mean to her.
Mary was walking with difficulty, she had been in the forest for a while, and her leg hurt. She was shivering from the cold and hugged herself, breathing rapidly.
She thought she was being a bit stupid, it would soon get dark, the temperatures would drop, and on top of that, she hadn't taken anything to eat for the trip. She was practically going to die.
She jumped, hearing a distant, familiar cry. It was Chloe, she was shouting her name. The borrower paused, thinking about what had happened.
The human had treated her very badly, but the choice to leave wasn't the best. Maybe she should go back and get more food before going. She didn't think Chloe would hurt her, but she realized how much unpredictable she could be.
The borrower was still hesitating, she didn't have the strength to keep moving away, but she could try to get back. Thus she began to walk again, or rather to crawl her feet, towards the house that she could still see.
The borrower, however, felt everything become more blurred, and eventually fell forward, letting out a strangled moan. Maybe she could rest for a while before she went home.
Yes, she could, it was so painful to keep walking. Resting her eyes for a while wouldn't hurt anyone. And she was so cold, so tired.
She heard loud noises and the ground shaking beneath her. She opened her eyes, and when she noticed a giant figure heading in her direction, she inevitably let out a scream of fear.
It wasn't Chloe, and the borrower was terrified. She was weak, and probably would have died of cold. But being touched and held in a tight grip still scared her.
The figure crouched, and the borrower sobbed Chloe's name as she felt them touch her. In the end, not even the adrenaline could keep her awake, Mary fainted feeling her body being grabbed by a giant hand.
18/07/2021