Fantasy and feelings...

Georgie

TW: rape, swearing

"Eleanor my dear, have you seen mummy's keys?"

There we go again. Our things always went missing whenever we came to stay with Granny. Granny wasn't much help since she's gone senile and her memory failed her. None of us knew what to do.

Mummy eventually ended up taking the bus and I was left alone with Granny. I took a seat next to her bed, bored and frustrated.

"Oh Granny, all of our stuff is going missing and it takes so long to find them, even if we were certain about where we left them in the first place. I don't know what's going on."

My Granny, who was bedridden and unable to talk, suddenly sat up in bed, healthy and peppy as ever! I had never seen her this energetic since.... I don't remember...

"I used to have the same problem. My keys, my buttons, my spoons, almost everything had gone missing at one point. But whenever I lost something, I would yell out 'Georgie Georgie, take my things, they're nice to play, you see. But when you're done, you've had your fun, please bring them back to me' and I would always find them again very quickly..."

Granny had always been superstitious but I was not about to call her out on this, she's too old and I'm too lazy to explain it to her. I thought it was rubbish.

Until the day I lost my notebook. It was my favourite one, one of the last few things Granny gave me before she went senile. I was not happy at all. I searched the hall, the rooms, the little garden on the balcony and still, nothing...

I felt very silly doing this but screw it, what do I have to lose? I cupped my hands to my mouth and yelled out "Georgie Georgie, take my things, they're nice to play, you see. But when you're done, you've had your fun, please bring them back to me.."

I went back to my room and sure enough, there was my notebook, on my desk. I was prepared to swear it wasn't there. I checked twice. But suddenly, poof! My book appears there as if I put it there and forgot about it.
........

Granny passed away a week after our little 'chat'. I was absolutely devastated... I thought she was getting better. She had willed the house to my mum, and I moved into it when I left for university. Almost a decade of disuse and  abandonment did not make it easy to live in it. But it was Granny's house, I think it would be happy that someone Granny loved so dearly had chosen to take care of it and stay.

The problems that happened when I stayed her many years ago still remained till today. My keys, my wallet, my dream catcher, the fairy on top the Christmas tree, they would always go missing. But whenever I said out loud "Georgie Georgie, take my things, they're nice to play, you see. But when you're done, you've had your fun, please bring them back to me", they would always turn back up instantly.

One day, I heard a knock coming from the door. There was a man standing in front of my house.

"Excuse me miss, I am your neighbour from downstairs. I think that there's something wrong with your pipes, they're leaking into my house."

Well, that couldn't be. Granny's pipes were very old so I had spent a fortune on some repairmen to change and fix all the pipes in my house. There should not be any leaks.

I assured him through my doorcam that my pipes were fine and that they couldn't be the problem.

He insisted that it was my pipes that were leaking water into his house and asked to be let in. I left the door to get my keys but as usual, they were missing.

"Georgie Georgie, take my things, they're nice to play, you see. But when you're done, you've had your fun, please bring them back to me.."

I looked in the key bowl but strangely, my keys didn't appear. I yelled out again, but my keys were as elusive as the Abominable Snowman. My search grew frantic, as the man's knocks grew louder.

Soon, it had escalated to him banging on the door and shouting that my pipes were ruining his house and that I was being a bitch for letting him stand outside when my shitty pipes were causing trouble.

I didn't like this, not one bit. Trying to mask my own fear and panic, I yelled back that I would call the police and then open the door when they arrived to mediate. Hearing that, he bolted back downstairs. And just as his footsteps grew soft and distant, there they were. My keys, in the door lock, the place I checked dozens of times to no avail...
..........
A few days later, that man's face appeared in the paper. He was a wanted serial rapist, with victims as young as 3. I felt my knees go weak. I crashed into the floor, trembling. What would've happened to me if I had found my keys? What would my poor mother have felt, seeing her only daughter gone?

That thing, whatever it was...it saved me... I had to know. I never got to ask Granny but now I just have to find out. I scoured the National Archives, looked through the census, the electoral rolls until I found a family. The Wright family. They had 2 children; a daughter and a son, George...

George Wright...Georgie Wright... He was real...Georgie wasn't something out of Granny's imagination, he was real! I scoured whatever records I could find until I came across an online obituary.

In Loving Memory of
George Harrison Wright
(21.4.2005-17.9.2010)
Who was taken from us far too soon...

You're my best friend
My sunshine
My little Angel
I hope I go to heaven
So you'll have a friend one day
I love you so much, Georgie
I'll miss you forever...

- Ellie

Deeply missed by
Father: Albert Wilson Wright
Mother: Charlotte Wright
Sister: Eleanor May Wright

Eleanor... that's my name. His sister and I have the same name. My best guess is that Georgie died very young and his spirit lingered on in his house.

I think his sister must've been a bit older than him and loved him very much. And I just knew he thought the world of her...his big sister. My vision blurred as the first teardrops begin to fall...

"Georgie Georgie, I brought some toys, they're fun to play, you'll see. And they are yours, to play and keep, a gift to you from me..."

I placed the toy cars and blocks on my coffee table before leaving for work. And sure enough, they were gone when I returned...

Nowadays, I am a little superstitious and a lot wiser. I call my mum more often and visit her a lot. My things don't go missing as often as they did before. Now I hear the sound of toy cars screeching and blocks being knocked over.

And now whenever my keys or anything of mine goes missing, I try not to use Granny's's magic spell immediately. I just let it be for a bit...Georgie's just a curious and playful little boy. We'll get along just fine... his Eleanor isn't here, so this Eleanor will do her best to keep him happy....