So, here we go, from request here is the second installment of: lilmonkey13’s attempts at something creepy.
Hope you enjoy!
Sometimes Our Minds Work Against Us…
Chapter Seventeen: Millie and her friend
Standing there looking at the little bundle of black and brown curls all tucked in with a blanket pulled up tight around her I couldn’t help but smile. She had slept through the night, the entire night! Hazel was still fast asleep in bed but I couldn’t help but smile at her and the little five-year-old under her protecting arm. I give each of the curly brunette girls a kiss on the forehead and smile as they look up at me.
“Good-morning sleepy heads,” I coo at them. Hazel smiles up at me and pulls me down by the shirt collar, “Why don’t I smell coffee yet Fay?” I roll my eyes and give her another kiss, “It is brewing okay?” She smiles and let’s go of my shirt her golden eyes closing ever so slightly. Millie smiles up at me rolling out from under her mother’s arm to stand and give me a hug. Her pretty golden brown eyes are warm and inviting, “Pick me up daddy!” I grab her by the armpits and lift her up in her purple SPQR shirt and pajama bottoms. She holds tight to my neck and I feel her smiling into my shoulder.
“WAFFLE TIME,” I say as we run down the stairs. She laughs and giggles excitedly as I get the fryer and batter ready. I hear Hazel finally get out of bed and she lazily walks down the stairs, she walks into the kitchen and is rubbing her eyes yawning. I smile big at her and she just laughs at me walking over to the coffee pot and pouring her a big heavy cup full.
“Millie, will you pretty please place out all the plates?” She giggles and nods grabbing four plates, four forks, four knives, four napkins and four placemats. She goes around the small wooden table and sets out the max number of seats available and smiles at her accomplishment. She runs over and grabs the high rising stack of waffles and puts them on the lazy Sussan in the middle of the table.
She then grabs Hazel and I and pulls us both to the middle seats at the table, and she takes her seat at the head of the table. She gets herself waffles and puts butter and syrup all by herself and smiles at us, we get ours ready also and while we are eating she looks down at the end of the table and frowns at the empty, yet set, seat.
“Georgia, you have to eat or you’ll starve to death again.” She then goes back to eating her waffles. Hazel and I stare at each other for a good moment then at the ‘empty’ seat and then back at Millie.
“Sweetie, what did you say?” Hazel questions, I look at Millie, who sits quietly eating her waffles not paying attention to us, and back at the seat. Whose plate remains empty but I worry will soon be all made up just like Hazel and mine.
Millie looks up at Hazel and smiles, “Georgia came down today, said she wanted to have breakfast with us, but now she won’t eat…” She frowns at the end of the sentence as if she is annoyed at the fact that Georgia won’t eat.
“Yes, but sweetie who is Georgia?” Hazel continues. Millie doesn’t look up for a second then goes back to eating. Hazel questions Millie for another ten minutes but once Millie has eaten her full she goes and puts her plate up and goes to get ready for school, never answering one of Hazel’s questions.
By this point Hazel is freaking out. She wants to call Nico and have him check this out, she wants to question Millie more, she is crying because she thinks there is something wrong with her little girl but finally I grab her by the arms and make her stop pacing. “Hazel, she has an imaginary friend, its normal. There is nothing to worry about.”
“I didn’t have an imaginary friend, Nico didn’t have an imaginary friend, Leo, Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Reyna they all said they didn’t have imaginary friends but told me that it was completely normal. I’m sorry when nine different people all say that they didn’t have something when they were kids I’m pretty sure that IT’S NOT NORMAL!” She throws her hands up and screams. I grab her and sit her down, “I had an imaginary friend.”
She frowns, “But, you’ve never said that you did…” She mumbles now with a confused look on her face.
“Well, I didn’t think it was important, and besides all of them—they were dealing with to much stuff as a kid to have imaginary friends. Plus, most kids don’t even remember the ones that they did have! So its not that they didn’t have them it’s that they don’t remember them. So, don’t. Freak. Out.” She slowly exhales and smiles. “Right it’s nothing to worry about. Nico was in the Lotus hotel, Leo was a run away, Piper was troubled with parent problems, Jason was at New Rome training, Percy was blowing up schools, Annabeth was running away from monsters, and Reyna was at Circe’s island. They were all to busy as kids for imaginary friends. Yes they were all to busy, besides nothing seemed to wrong with that right? Right? I’m just freaking out, just overreacting.” She continues to mumble comforting words to herself and finally smiles. “Okay, done being crazy I’ll go help her get ready.” I laugh a little and give her a kiss, “Okay, I have to go, work; I’ll see you at three?” She nods and I give her another kiss on the forehead.
Grabbing my brief case I head out to get to work, hopefully today, on time.
**Hazel**
I stare as Millie sits and plays with her dolls quietly and laughs as she makes them do silly things. She is dressed and ready for her first day of school, but I can’t bring myself to pull her away from her game.
Silently I sneak to my room and change into more appropriate cloths than just Frank’s jersey and pajama bottoms. I’m brushing out my hair when I hear someone step into the room.
“Georgia says hello.” I hear a monotone voice from behind say.
I turn so fast I get hit with my own hair, seeing my daughter holding her doll in her school uniform I breathe deeply and clutch my shirt that’s right over my heart as I hear it hammer inside my ribs. Slowly I let go of my shirt and kneel down to Millie. Holding her shoulders I look into her eyes, but they are dull and almost glazed over. She tilts her head and her somber face grows a childlike smile. “Mommy, we have to go or we’ll be late!” She says bouncing on her heals. I force a smile and try to wipe the worry from my mind.
It’s completely normal. Those reassuring words rings in my head as I drive all the way to Millie’s school in San Francisco, as I walk her from the car to the front door, when the teacher takes her hand and Millie waves goodbye and all the way back home to get ready for work.
Changing from my comfy jeans and blouse I pull on the gray business suit that I’ve become used to, along with the clicking black heels and bun I must wear with them.
I quickly go into Millie’s room and pick up her toys that she has left out and notice one that I didn’t recognize. A small stuffed rabbit, its patch work fabric and missing ear was strange to see, and made me feel terrible at the same time. I glance at my watch and see that it’s almost nine and that if I don’t hurry I’ll miss the first meeting.
Dropping the stuffed toy back on the floor I walk quickly down the stairs to the kitchen grab my keys and purse and head out the front door.
**Frank**
I wait in my car till I hear the school bell ring across campus, then I can’t wait anymore I climb out of the car and lean against the door to make sure that Millie sees me. The children come pouring out and stream after stream of kids come but with no sign of Millie. I frown and begin to worry that she had missed me in the confusion, I take a quick look around and do a three sixty to check and see if I had missed her, no Millie.
I jog towards the school my heavy business shoes and suit keeping me from full out running, I touch my back and the bow is there along with its quiver I almost go to pull it out and have it ready to shoot when I see a woman and Millie walking down the hall. Millie has one hand clutched into a fist and placed at her hip while the other has one finger up covering her lips, almost in a shushing motion. I stare and quickly walk towards them the bizarre situation confusing me.
“Hi, I’m Millie’s dad, who are you?” I ask the woman who stand straight as one of my arrows with her polyester pants and ruffled matching shirt you would have thought she had just stepped out of the seventies.
“Hi, nice to meet you Mr. Zhang, I’m Matilda’s teacher, Miss Bailey.” She holds out her hand for me to shake but I glance at it then at her and keep my hand at my side.
“Why was Millie not released with the other students? I was worried sick.” I demand of her.
“She and I had to have a talk,” Miss Bailey begins, I cut her off, “On the FIRST day?!”
I glance down at Millie but she won’t meet my eyes. “Yes, Mr. Zhang, we did have to have a talk, on the first day. Now here is a note for you and your wife, please go over it with her or if you are separated please have her lawyer send it to her. We need, both of your signatures.” Her smug smile makes me want to strangle her. We had gotten those looks before, Hazel being mixed and me being Chinese, oh yeah we’ve gotten those looks. That look of what our marriage is wrong or just certainty that we are no longer together. I take Millie by the armpits and pick her up placing her on my hip, I take the form from Miss Bailey and smile, “We’ll talk about it tonight before bed, and maybe you’ll get to see a second Zhang soon.” I smile at her recoil at my words and carry Millie out of the school.
While driving back home Millie keeps her fist on her hip and index finger across her lips like a staple they remain shut. “How was your day Millie?” I ask, glancing at the rearview mirror I don’t see her move or even look like she is thinking about my question she just stares blankly forward.
We get home from the silent car ride and I un-strap her from her car seat, she grabs her pink and gold book bag and runs inside. I grab my brief case out of the trunk and head to the door myself. Millie bounces up and down at the stoop ready to get inside.
When I unlock the door she runs up the steps, quickly taking off her shoes and then runs up stairs to her bedroom slamming her door shut.
“That was not a good intro to school.” Rubbing my temples I open the letter.
Dear Mr. Zhang and Ms. Levesque,
Your daughter Matilda was being a disruption in class today and wouldn’t be quiet. She claims that she was telling Georgia to be quiet though we have no Georgia in the class. We had to inform her to be quiet many times and eventually had to remove her from class because she was distracting the other students. Please sign this form, both of you, and deliver it first hand with Matilda tomorrow morning. Thank you for understanding and punishing your child as you see fit. ~Miss Bailey
I almost choke at the ‘punishing your child as you see fit’ part. This woman had to gawl to think that we would reprimand our child physically?! She was talking to her imaginary friend, what was so odd about that? She had to be sent out of the room!? What is wrong with this school, it’s like they haven’t ever meet a child!
I pace around the room and sip tea that Percy and Annabeth had sent, it tasted terrible but it was better for me than coffee, and kept me more alert.
I hear Hazel’s car pull into the drive and I smile. She steps in and immediately undoes her bun. Her flying mass of curls bounces into a tumbleweed framing her head and I smile at her as she sighs. Flipping the mass over she shakes her head scratching it and is practically moaning at the feeling. I laugh a little and she flips her hair back. She gives me a kiss on the cheek and then pulls off her heels dropping her down back to the floor. She sighs happily again and heads up the stairs to change.
She’s not up there for a few seconds when she comes rushing down the stairs again screaming for me. “Frank! Frank! Where is Millie!?”
I jump up and run past her up the stairs feet slamming and sound like breaking the stairs in my wake. I first go into her room and see nothing, her bed is made and empty her toys are picked up her closet is empty and there is no where else for her to hide. I run to the bathroom, the office, and Hazel and I’s room, no Millie. Hazel stands in front of the stairs fanning her face and look at her stricken, “Where is she?” I ask pulling at my hair I pace the hall calling out to her.
“What do you mean ‘where is she’?! YOU were supposed to be watching her!” Hazel shouts jabbing her finger in my chest.
I feel my anger rush to my head and can almost hear Mars shouting, “You’re going to let her talk to you like this?!” But I shove it down, I take a deep breathe.
“Yes, I know, and I wasn’t. I was downstairs and I should have had her stay down there with me.” I take another breathe trying to calm down some more, “Will you please focus and see if you can feel her.”
She nods and closes her eyes, she stands still for a moment then opens them and walks straight into Millie’s room. Going to the wall next to her closet she bangs on it, and strangely it sounds hallow.
“Millie!?” Hazel screams into the wall.
What we hear back wasn’t what we were thinking would happen, “Hello Hazel,” The wall almost morphs into a small wooden door, and out crawls Millie, but it’s not Millie.
“It has been so very long, Hazel, how good to see you again.” The eerie voice, which sounds like a child but an old child, says through my daughter.
“Who, Millie, Millie what’s wrong with you?” Hazel demands stooping down to Millie’s height and looking her in the eye.
“Oh, do you not remember me Hazel? You gave me a topaz when my family moved out west to San Francisco, very exciting really. We had no family out here, but I had the topaz and Mr. Bunny so I thought everything would be fine. However, everything was not fine. Mama died, Papa died, grandmother and grandfather all died; they wanted to send me away, but I hid. I was quite sneaky you know. I hid in the back of this wall and no one ever found me. That was till Millie found me, she was nice to me, but you, you were unkind. You killed my family, and me. So do you still not remember Hazel I am Georgia, the girl you killed.”
She turns her head to left slightly and her face becomes a ghoulish smile. “And I am going to kill your family too.”
With that she lunged. Hazel had no time to react; Millie is ripping her hair and skin and trying to cut her throat with something sharp and blue. I grab Millie and pull her off of Hazel. She is cutting and thrashing me but I don’t move to let her go. I grab the necklace, holding Millie with one arm, and rip it off from around my daughter’s neck. I let it fall to the floor and hold Millie as she slowly goes limp begins to cry.
“Mommy are you okay?” Millie asks.
Hazel touches her arms and chest that were bleeding and the small chunks of hair that had been removed from her head. She looks at Millie and shakes; she is frightened of her own daughter.
“Mommy, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have listened to Georgia, I’m so sorry!” She jumps out of my arms and holds onto her mother quietly crying and apologizing. Slowly Hazel removes Millie from her and goes and picks up the necklace and a stuffed rabbit I hadn’t noticed.
She looks at the door and slams it shut. “I need to call Nico, I won’t be back till dinner or maybe a little after, take her to camp and have dinner there. I’ll be back soonish I promise.” With that Hazel quickly walks down the stairs and I hear her leave in her car. I pick up Millie and we quickly walk to my car, and get in. She stays quiet the entire ride and when we get to Camp Jupiter she just holds onto my hand and waits to see what happens next.