The Others

Chapter 5: The Child

Emma's POV

Since this morning Sydney has been in my room, I didn't mind but it's just a shock that Sydney actually cried. Whatever happened it was so bad that even SHE cried, I didn't want to find out. Abby hasn't been back all day since what happened in the bathroom. It was usual for her to not always be inside. Lily was being weird. She kept herself locked up in her room. Lily used to always follow Abby around before we moved. I guess this house was changing everyone.

I was just taking family photos out of the last box we had to unpack. I planned on hanging them up along the stairs. When I picked up one of the last pictures we had of mom I smiled. Her red waxy hair was out. She had a big smile on her face as she held Lily, still only a baby. It's been four years since mom died. Since then I've gone from my first year to my last year of high school. I still don't miss her any less than I did before.

I started putting the nails in the wall over the steps. When I heard Lily's door open and her light foot steps to the balcony. I looked up to find her with her doll, Rosy, staring down at me.

"Can I go outside?" Lily asked. She was in overalls, a pink pika dot shirt, and white tennis shoes. Her light brown hair was braided into two pigtails.

"Sure but don't go far from the house ok?" I tell her and continue putting nails in the wall. Lily stood at the balcony for a while waiting until I reached the top of the steps.

"Is it cause Abby isn't with me?" She asked hugging her doll.

"Yes," I answered going back down the steps to get the pictures. "There isn't anyone to watch you if you're out by yourself. I'll come join you when I'm finished here."

I turned around coming back up and she was gone. I heard her door slam. Is She mad? I decided to ignore it for now until after I'm done with the pictures. When I finished hanging them up I went into the kitchen to get a drink.

I leaned against the counter as I drunk a glass of water I got from the drain. There was a clatter of sounds that came from the stairs. I went to check it out. All the family pictures I hung up had came off their hooks and were scattered across the steps.

"The hell?" I said under my breath. I picked them all up and sat them aside for now.

"Emma what was that?" Dad had called as he came out of his room.

"All the pictures I hung up just came off," I say not believing it myself. It happened to fast. For one person to be able to do this is impossible.

"I'll hang them up later then," dad said. I then noticed he was dressed in a white buttoned up shirt, light old jeans he had since he was in his twenties, and shaved his beard that had just come in. Dad even cut his black hair so it wouldn't cover his neck. His sideburns were a little grey.

"Are we expecting people?" I asked him. He was always in a t-shirt around us and would only really dress up, even if it's just a little, when we expect guest.

"Oh yes! For dinner some new neighbors are coming over. I got to know them when I was planning our move and invited them for dinner once we had finished moving in," he explained knowing what I was going to ask.

"Then I'll let Abby know to come back. You can tell Sydney and I'll help Lily get ready," we nodded and he went to my room to wake Sydney and I went downstairs to get my phone. I called Abby and her phone just rung three times then went to voicemail. I looked at it then tried calling her again. She picked up this time.

"Hey Abby you should come back now. Dad invited some neighbors over to have dinner."

"............"

"Abby?"

"Elmo's dead," Abby said through her crying.

"He's dead? How? Abby come back and we can-" Abby cut me off.

"Can what? Talk?! None of that changes the fact Elmo is dead!!! You can't fix everything!!!" She hung up.

"Abby!!" I called her back again and it went straight to voicemail. Abby doesn't deal well with death. When mom died she had ran off into the woods and we hadn't seen her for days.

"Abby's gone?" I turned and saw Lily in the doorway with her doll.

"I'm going to look for Abby. Tell dad ok?" I told Lily as I walked out the kitchen back door and ran into the woods. It should be easy to find her. The dogs went with her and they're always loud.

"Abby! Mozart! Shaggy! Spot!" If Abby didn't respond, I knew the dogs would. I ran jumping over rocks and ducking under trees. I repeated to myself all my turns in my head as I ran. I stopped when I heard sounds of crying.

"Abby?" I called with no response. I didn't even hear the dogs. The crying got louder and I can tell it was a girl crying. I followed the sound and around the about three feet from where I once stood I say a girl hugging her knees crying. She had long wet black hair. Her hands were just as pale as the rest of her and her bare feet were bluish pale. Her fingers were blackish. I kneeled in front of her.

"Little girl," I said in a caring voice. She kept crying not responding to me. "Why don't you come with me?"

"He hurt me," her little voice cried and she hugged her knees more.

"Who hurt you?" I asked now concerned but she continued to ignore me until her crying stopped all together.

"I'll hurt you," she said and it sounded like multiple voices. She looked up and smiled at me. I screamed and scrabbled away from her. Her eyes! They were gorged out of their socket! I even saw a centipede crawl out of her left eye and into her ear.

"W-what the hell are you?!" I screamed and got up as she reached out to me.

"Play with me," she said with her multiple voices and a creepy smile on her face. She grabbed my ankle. Her tiny hands were freezing cold and I kicked her face to make her release me. I ran from her and she just laughed. I kept running and voices echoed. The little girls giggling was one of the voices. The others were the moans of pain from random voices. I then lost my footing and fell down a steep hill and into something. I looked up and found out that something, well someone, was Abby.

"Ow," she said rubbing her back and getting up. I knocked her over when I fell. I looked around some more and saw the dogs now still on top of the hill. How come I didn't see them before? I looked back at Abby.

"What happened to you?!" I yelled now seeing the state she was in. Her legs were all scratched up front and back. Her back, left arm, and hands were covered in red and I hoped it wasn't blood.

"I fell too... And landed in... Elmo's guts..." Abby said this in a quid voice. I barely heard it.

"Abby-," I said while getting up but felt a sharp pain on my ankle and fell back down. I pulled down my suck and a little hand print in the shape of a bruise occupied the spot. I remember the girl grabbing me there.

"Are you ok?" Abby looked exactly worried as she looked at it, "who did that to you?"

"Don't worry about just help me up and we can go back. I can't get back without you now so if you run off I might as well stay the night here," I tell her knowing she wouldn't leave me like this. She helped me up and supported me as we began up the hill. It was hard but the dogs cheered us on with their barks and exciting tail wagging.

We were quiet the whole way back. She didn't say how Elmo died and I didn't ask. We went through the front door and a woman screamed at the sight of us. They were in the living room. Guess they didn't want to eat without us. She had blonde hair with streaks of gray in it. She was very dressed up for a casual dinner. This lady wore to much lipstick in my opinion but this isn't the time to think about the way someone else looks. Abby looked like she just killed someone and I looked like I was just in a fight.

"What happened to you two?" Dad looked worried. His eyebrows were scrunched together and eyes were wide as he approached us.

"Elmo died," I simply say. I felt Abby wince at my words. She just helped me upstairs after the dogs ran up the steps leaving mud behind them. I bet we left mud behind us as we went upstairs too.