I stayed in the trunk as instructed. Only venturing out to use the other cave as a loo, I even moved the food into the trunk as I was sure I saw something move in the water... did they have rats here?
One morning when I woke I couldn't open the lid, I began to panic but the sway of the trunk made me realise what day it was... hunting. I tried to forced myself to stop panicking, stop feeling like I was in a coffin and breathe. I either passed out trying or fell asleep again... I wasn't quite sure.
I missed Lee's lion snore. The heaviness of his breathing. The beat of his heart. His legs flung over me as we slept. I began to wonder if I died in here would he remarry and how quickly. Would he wait a few years like he had with Suri and raise our daughter? Would he give up our children to marry someone else who insisted he have no baggage when they marry like he had with Stephanie? I tied myself in knots worrying over nothing and going insane as I lay there. Why were the last few days the longest?
Eventually the lid popped open and I was free. I jumped out and stretched my legs, desperate for the loo when a portal appeared.
"Oh my god, ahhhhhhh!" I screamed and jumped around clapping as I ran towards it like Husain Bolt.
I was here, home! I looked around the bathroom I had arrived in. Noticing the toilet, the smell of soap, and the marble of the shower. I rushed to the toilet unable to hold it anymore, marvelling at the feeling of toilet seat on my backside, who would have thought that luxury... oh my god toilet paper! Wow, it was like feathers in my hand, I even gave it a sniff, I had missed toilet roll. I peeled my clothes off, whilst sat on the loo trying to get rid of everything I have consumed in that realm. Not that I had eaten since Lee left, water was the only thing to pass my lips... water, oh my god... water out of a tap, not a bag full of river water used as a bath by god knows what.
I finished with the loo and rushed to guzzle water from the tap in the sink. It was cold, fresh and a bit bleachy but still bliss. I caught my reflection in the mirror. Amazonian meets Rastafarian. Shit, I could not see my kids like this. Turning the shower on I raced under it, the warm feeling of the shower was orgasmic as I stood there letting the stink wash away. I couldn't find any of my lady razors so used Lee's to thin out the rainforest growing all over my body. Arms, legs and Hoohar were all hairy enough to risk blocking the plug hole and so was the amount of hair I was losing whilst washing and conditioning. It took several attempts to get the knots out and even then I gave up and decided just to cut them out later with some scissors.
I felt human again as I stepped out and grabbed a towel to wrap around my hair. Another towel to wrap around myself, as I used Lee's toothbrush because mine was missing. I rushed out of the bathroom in to the bedroom to get dressed. I was still surprised Suri hadn't heard me shower and come rushing in. I opened the wardrobes and couldn't find a single item of my clothing. I pulled on a pair of Lee's boxers, a vest, sweatpants and a hoodie, before pulling a comb through my hair as I rushing down the hall barefoot with excitement.
No one was home! There I was bolting through a portal, scrubbing myself to death and rushing down to see a family who weren't even in. I had to laugh. In fact I laughed hysterically about it for several minutes as I pressed on the TV and flicked to the music channel... music, god how I missed music.
I opened the fridge and took out some bacon, eggs, orange juice, whilst shoving bread and butter in my mouth like it was candyfloss and I couldn't get enough... God I was going to eat my own weight in food if someone didn't stop me. The bacon sizzled in the pan as I impatiently guzzled the juice and made myself some tea, comparing what was best, the taste of tea or the smell of bacon... I couldn't decide. The bacon and eggs were barely on my plate before I polished them off and considered making more but heard the door. They were back... ahhhh!
"So I said to her, you need to tell me when this event is as we can't just drop everything..." Lee's mother stopped dead in her tracks as she saw me sat in the kitchen grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Who the hell are you?" she said the phone still to her ear. "Are you one of Lee's bimbos, I have told him not them bring them home."
"Haha, yeah right," I rushed over and gave her a hug and kiss on the cheek. "I missed you too. Where are the kids?" I bobbed about trying to see if they were coming in from the car.
Her expression turned hostile. I'd seen that before, back in the early days of my marriage to Lee.
"What?" I asked wondering what the hell had happened now. "Where are Lee and the kids?"
"What are you doing in my house?" she looked at the mess behind me. "What have you done to my kitchen?"
"I will wash it up in a minute." Why was she not welcoming me home?
"Get out of my house! Right now... OUT!"
She glared, her spelling glare. I ran into the back garden. Preparing to lose my teeth or tongue for wrecking the kitchen... and could lose my life if she saw the state of the bathroom.
I heard Lee's father voice join her as she ranted about a stranger in the garden. Stranger?
"It's not a stranger, it's me. I'm back," I risked venturing near the door.
"Who are you? And why are you in our home alone?" Lee's father didn't seem to recognise me. Did I look that different, sure I had lost a shit load of weight but I wasn't that different.
"It's me Mae, I am back from the Hell hole. I've just come through a portal in the bathroom. Where are Lee and the kids? Are they at cubs?"
"What are you talking about? Do you have an ID on you?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"I am going to kill Lee. Get him home now and get rid of her," his mother ranted. "She stinks."
I gasped, that was rude. I had showered.
"Lee, did you leave one of your lady friends in the house today?" his father asked into his phone.
"LEE!" I shouted excited. "I'm back!" Both of my arms punching in the air like Rocky.
"Well she has wet hair, wearing your clothes and has eaten half the house. Either come home now or your mother will bury her in the garden and you with her."
I tutted. "It's me, Mae, Lee's wife, your daughter in law..."
"Oh and she is a lunatic, add that to the list and use the quick route, your mother is getting twitchy."
"LEE, HOME, NOW!" his mother yelled.
I was confused, the rush of food, sugar, euphoria of being home were crashing my senses so much I was struggling to comprehend what was going on. I was high as a kite on 'freedom'. I ran around the garden reciting Braveheart at the top of my lungs and caught Lee's father laughing as his wife gave him a shove.
A portal opened in the kitchen and in walked Lee... in human form. I screamed with excitement and ran over fling my arms around his neck, legs around his waist as I kissed him, smoothering his face in kisses.
"Well you sure showed her a good night," his father quipped as Lee peeled me off.
"I don't even know her," Lee replied pushing me out at arms length, like a leper.
"Right that is it," with a wave of his mothers arm I was back out in the garden and pinned to the floor with a sickening thud. All the euphoria was knocked out of me.
"Be gentle, she is human," Lee said as he they appeared above me. All looking down like I was a science project about to be dissected.
"Lee, what are you doing? Let me up, it isn't funny anymore." I struggled to get loose.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"What the hell do you think it is?" I snapped.
"She said it was Mae," his father replied.
"Mae, how did you get here?" Lee asked.
"I was in the hell hole, the portal appeared like you said it would. I walked through to the bathroom. I got cleaned up and came downstairs but everyone was out. Where are the kids?"
"What kids?"
"Our kids, you moron. Where are our children? Are they at cubs?"
"Oh great another Grayson whacko," his mother sighed. "Get her out of here and tighten security on this place before they all start seeping through the cracks."
"What the hell are you on about?" I was so confused.
"Let her up and I'll find out where she lives and drop her off," Lee offered.
"I live here, you fool. What are you on about?"
"Maybe we need to take her to the physc ward to get her assessed. She looks a little unhinged, confused," his father added.
My head began to swim, it was all too much. "Uncle!" I called. He would tell them to stop. Maybe this was a bad dream and I wasn't home I was just dreaming I was and would wake up in the trunk. Yeah, that is what it was, a crazy dream. "Uncle, Sebastian, Conrad, Bowdie, anybody if you can hear me I could really use your assistance."
"If she is human how does she know those names?" Lee asked.
"Who cares, get rid of her," his mother snapped.
"How does she know about portals, hell holes, and cubs?" Lee added.
"She is a freak, get her out of here."
"Mother, please. Give me a second. Mae, you say you came through a portal to the bathroom?"
I nodded.
His father went off to check. Great I was in trouble now. I left it in a right mess.
"Where do you live?" Lee asked as he waited on his fathers return.
"Here with you," I replied confused as to why he was asking. My head was spinning.
"Mother, stop pressurising her," Lee snapped.
"What, I want to the truth," she shrugged.
"I will get it without you prizing it from her lips, that is dangerous for a human."
"I am not a human. I am in transition."
"You are human."
"I was human, but now I am in transition."
He shook his head.
"Well she has definitely been in a hell hole, she stinks and so does half the house. Especially your bedroom and bathroom," his father replied as he rushed back.
Lee rolled his eyes in annoyance that I had wrecked our room.
"Sorry," I replied.
"Listen to me," Lee growled leaning closer. "What are you doing here and who sent you?"
"I live here, we are married..."
"Stop the bullshit. Mother, get me the truth," he signalled to his mother.
She looked stunned.
"That was the truth. Well so far as she knows it," she replied, leaning in for a closer look.
"Of course it is the truth. My name is Mae Grayson, we are married with four children and..."
"Four children," Lee laughed and shook his head.
"Ok two, technically but we are raising Glen's twins as our own so..."
"Don't you dare speak my son's name!" his mother shrieked.
"Why not, he was my brother in law. He married my sister..."
"My son is dead! Dead!" she burst into tears. I'd never seen her sob so hard. Her hold over me broke as her husband offered her comfort.
"Mae, you said your name was Mae," Lee asked. I nodded. "Mae, the sister of April?"
I nodded, feeling the immediate sting of tears as I wasn't really her sister any more, she was dead too.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he whispered before looking back to his mother. "My brother loved your sister deeply. We share your loss," his hand reaching out to comfort his mother.
"I really don't know what is going on. Why don't you all know who I am? I should be coming home to a celebration not this."
"I think you may have been spelled into believing a past which is not yours. We will attempt to set it right and have you back on your life path. Where did you live before you think you moved here?"
"I don't think I moved here. I moved here."
"Just try to give me the answers to the questions I ask. Not the answer you think."
"That doesn't even make sense."
"Just 'yes' or 'no' answers then."
"Your name is Mae Day?"
"Yes."
"Your sister is April Day?"
"No, my sister was April Grayson. She is dead."
"Just yes or no, please."
"Don't try to cross examine me, Lee. You are the brother of Glen, he married my sister. They were expecting twins, they died. I was given the twins to raise, they turned out to be cubs..."
"My brother didn't have any children."
"Yes he did, a girl and a boy. They were cut from my sister just before she died as her injuries were fatal. There was no one around like Uncle to heal her and he blames himself to this day for failing to save them."
"How does she know Uncle?" his father asked.
"I was taken to him when your nut job fiancée tried to hurt Suri."
"Suri?" Lee asked raising his eyebrow.
"Yes, Suri. Your daughter with Bowdie's sister through your first marriage."
"I didn't have any children in my first marriage. My wife died in the arms of another man."
"She was having an affair but you still had child together. She died in child birth."
"Like your sister? What a coincidence."
"Your wife had a brain aneurism. My sister was crush by a truck and had her children cut from her. Not the same thing." I was getting pissed off now.
"And these children, where are they?"
"How should I know? You..." terror filled my heart. "Are you telling me you don't know where the children are?"
"I don't know who they are, let alone where they are."
I scrambled to my feet, panic coursing through my veins as I raced into the house and up the stairs to the children's rooms. Lee not far behind. Banging open the doors, there were no cots, toys or children... no trace. I began calling their names, opening cupboards to see if they were hiding and if was Suri playing a trick.
Nothing. Lee tried to stop me as I raced to the kitchen pulling open the cupboards. No bottles, kids sippy cups, dinner sets with their favourite characters on. No blended food in the fridge or freezer. No smiley face potato shapes or Dinosaur meat shapes that Bay loved.
"Mae, Mae, please calm down," Lee pleaded.
I couldn't breathe... rushing to the garden to look for the play area. It was gone, no toys, bikes, swings, slides, climbing frames or sand pits.
"UNCLE! UNCLE! Quick, please hurry I need you. SEBASTIAN! CONRAD!"
"Mae calm down, let me try and help you. What are you looking for?" Lee asked. "Are you hungry, I can make you..."
"Hungry, Lee our kids are missing...missing! And you want to know if I'm hungry. UNCLE! Where are you?"
"Mae, I know this..."
"Stop starting every sentence with my name! When was the last time you saw the children, think Lee, think!" My mind was whirling.
"I have no idea who you are on about. Dad, I think we need to sedate her," he called to his father.
"Don't even think about it! Get Uncle on the phone now," I insisted.
He shook his head.
"Lee!" I was furious he wasn't reacting the same as me.
"We don't have any children, it is a spell Mae. Someone is messing with you. Let me help you," he reached out to touch me.
"Help me by finding the children. Suri, Bay, Willow, Lilly Mae and Leona, you have to remember them. Leona is a new born she can't be out there alone, she can't turn into a cub and run or try to climb a tree. She is our baby, Lee. Our child. You need to find her. Please just call out for Suri, call her to you, please. She will come."
He shook his head.
I rushed back to the house, grabbing the phone and began dialling Uncle's number when everything just stopped.