'I think she sees me'
A little three year old girl was sitting in an empty room in front of a wall. She held onto her tiny fingers as she looked up at the giant, white wall that towered before her. She wasn't bothered by the height and neither was she afraid of being alone in such a giant room. Strangely enough, she seemed intrigued by the wall. She made no sound, no movement. Her brown orbs were fixed onto one spot of the wall. The expression plastered on her face showed curiosity.
"Brittany, sweetie, where are you?" a male voice asked. A few seconds later, the male that the voice belonged to walked into the room and spotted his daughter sitting before the wall. His eyebrows furrowed and hesitated to approach her. Her tiny back was facing towards him, her dusty blue camisole being the only color in the room. The father didn't know whether to interrupt the girl's trance or not. He first thought it was cute, but it quickly worried him after standing there and watching her continuously stare for a minute after his arrival.
"What are you doing here sweetheart?" he asked, breaking the long silence. He waited for a response, a babble, any sort of noise from the child. But nothing came from the child. The little girl continued to stare.
"Brittany?"
Now afraid, the father took a step towards the girl, but the girl seemed to have snapped out of her trance. She turned her head to look at him, her face now with a blank expression. He let out a sigh of relief and walked over to his daughter, her arms raised for him to pick her up. He smiled at her and picked her up gently, looking at her and then towards the spot she was looking at. It was just an empty white wall.
"What were you looking at sweetie?" he asked her, trying to sound as friendly as possible. The girl gave him a confused glance and looked over his head to look at the wall again.
"Daddy, you don't see the man in the wall?"
---
"She...she just stared at it. But that's not the only thing. Marissa, she asked me if I saw a man in the wall!" the father exclaimed to his wife. The two were in the apartment kitchen, discussing of the little girl's sudden experience in the empty house that was for sale. The mother rolled her eyes, letting out a scoff at the meantime.
"Jerald, she's just a little girl. Children her age tend to imagine things. Its nothing to be worried about," she said with a convincing and relaxed tone in her voice.
Jerald stayed silent and pondered, placing a hand on his chin and staring at the tile floor. He then nodded slowly and looked at her.
"Yeah...you're right. Besides, we shouldn't let that stop us from buying that lovely house. It's big enough for the four of us and it has a big back yard," he smiled, imagining of the yet-to-be fun times in the future.
Because of the two children of the family were growing quickly, the parents decided it was time to move out of their tiny one bedroom apartment and graduate to a decent house with a back and front yard. Today was their first day of house hunting and out of all, Marissa fell in love with the plain white house they visited last. It was perfect for a family of four. Three bedrooms, one bathroom, a decent kitchen and living room. To add it all, the back yard had enough room to play a small game of baseball or soccer.
The price was a little edgy, but it was within range. But since it was only the first day, the two decided to explore more houses before settling down on the ideal house.
---
'...'
The little girl was back a day later. She was bored standing with her parents in the living room as they talked to the man who owned the house. She glanced over to her younger brother, wanting to play with him, but he was still clinging onto his mother's hand. He was only a year and a half younger so he wouldnt understand. She glanced at the walls and realized that she didn't see any man in them. She remembered about the strange man and felt her tiny feet carry her to the room with the man in the wall. She entered the room quietly, and surely enough, she spotted the figure from before sitting in the wall.
Brittany slowly walked up to the wall in a trance like state and slowly sat down before it. Minutes passed as silence filled the room. It was broken when someone called out for the girl's name.
"Brittany?" Jerald's voice sounded from the hall. Soon, the frail figure walked into the room again. Once again, she didn't acknowledge her father.
"Not again...uh...Brittany, sweetie," he tried to grab her attention, but to no avail, she didn't make any sign. He didn't know what to do. He stood there hesitating whether to approach her or not. He didn't like how she sat there and just stared. He tried to relieve his mind by thinking what his wife, Marissa, told him. He decided to just pick the child up and hopefully restrain her from going back. He slowly approached his daughter and crouched down. Jerald wrapped his hands around the body to pick her up.
Immediately, she started to squirm and kick, not wanting to go. "I don't wanna go!" she yelled. He winced as she managed to kick his hand, making him drop her.
'Oh no!'
Britt cried as she hit her head against the carpet floor, a louder wail erupting from her lips. The father growled at the pain in his hand. "Brittany Echo Radke!" Jerald shouted in anger. He stopped as he heard his wife come in and the two started to argue and yell with each other.
Meanwhile, the little girl continued to cry, fresh new tears streaming down her cheeks from the fight she was watching. All her three years of living, she has never seen her parents fight. She was afraid of the yells, but she was more afraid of seeing a physical fight happen. As she sat up, something suddenly touched her back. She stopped crying and turned her head to look behind her. There before her eyes was a young man with blond hair and light blue eyes. He wore glasses and a plain white hoodie with black jeans. What made it a shock to her was that he had actually emerged from the wall.
"Ah...don't cry," he said quietly with a frown. Britt forced her head to look up at the giant and watched as he crouched down. He then placed his index finger on her cheek, wiping away her tears. She stayed silent the entire time, her brown eyes staring into his blue.
"Beautiful, little girls shouldn't cry. Don't worry," the man said, moving his pale finger to the back of her head. "It's just a slight bump, it'll get better," he paused and glanced at the arguing parents. A thin line was pressed onto his lips. "Your parents won't fight for long, they're just having a bit of a disagreement is all. Just keep your head up, and try talking to your parents. Go ahead, you can do it."
Britt stared at him with awe. He gave her a shy smile and fixed his glasses, uncomfortable from the stare the girl was giving him. She smiled back shortly and slowly nodded to his advice. He rose up to his feet and backed a few feet into the wall. The girl glanced back at her parents, hesitant to approach. It seemed that they were ending their argument. She looked back to the mysterious man to see him motioning his hand to the adults. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She then slowly walked towards her parents.
"M-Mommy, D-Daddy" she began.
Marissa and Jerald were still arguing, not noticing their daughter trying to grab their attention. The two had angry glares and were saying words that Britt didn't understand. She was scared to go near, but she wanted to break the fight up. She lifted up a tiny hand and started to tug on her father's shirt. Jerald looked down at the tiny body, stopping mid-sentence, with a look of surprise on his face. Marissa had a stern look, but it softened when she spotted her daughter.
"Oh sweetie. Me and Mommy were just discussing about some things," he said, trying a convincing smile.
Britt simply nodded and looked up to her mother.
"We'll be living here now Brittany. This will be your room, ok?" she lowered her tone. Brittany smiled with excitement while Jerald made a frown. He glanced at the wall his daughter liked to stare at. He doesn't know what she sees in that wall, but he had a sinking feeling that things were to come. Bad things.
