Dream Child

Chapter Seven

In the last couple of weeks, nothing much had happened supernaturally in the house and Eric was still worried about her, espically in those moments when Amanda would gaze down the hall to their daughter's room.

He wasn't so sure what to believe about his wife's claim to having seen their daughter, much less trying to kill her mother. It was unfathomable to think their child would come back from the afterlife to try to murder the woman that she clung to in life.

However, how do you explain the puddle of water that was on the floor, and her wet hair and clothes. It could have been possible that she washed her hair in the sink and then came into the bedroom, but that doesn't explain how there was no other water evident anywhere else.

Driving home from work, Eric was once more focused on the thought that Amanda was on the verge of going through a breakdown with the stress of them having another child, and he was worried that if they lost this pregnancy she would lose it completely and he would have no other choice but get her admitted back into the hospital she was in after they lost her.

Gripping the wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white, he feared the emptiness that Amanda got in her eyes when she was locked in her head, tormented by guilt and what if's. At those times, Eric didn't exist and she shrouded herself in her own personal hell in her heart and mind. No amount of touching, coaxing or talking would rouse her from her state of mind until she was ready to leave it.

She was four months pregnant and rounding up to the fifth month, and in two weeks they had an appointment to see what the sex of the baby was. So far, she had been going to her doctor for check-up's, but the revealing of the baby hadn't been done yet.

He was also being weighed down by the stress from work about taking a job in another state and leaving the house that they had raised their daughter in. The house where she was first brought home all pink and squeaky; Jenny had always been vocal from the start, but not in a way that was overwhelming. As an infant, she would mew and grunt and therefore had earned the nickname Squeaky from him. This home was where she made her first roll to her side, her first crawl, steps, words; her first everything.

Taking the step to move away from that house was to leave behind a house filled with memories of Jenny; her smile, laughter, questions, art, essence... her everything...

But, to leave would enable Amanda to let go of the crushing weight of guilt when she looked into the backyard and envisioned that particular place where she laid with her daughter, to see the fence that led to the woods where her short life was ended. Take Amanda from Jenny's bedroom that was exactly as she left it, not a thing had been moved or put away. He knew it wasn't right to keep it as a shrine, but he himself couldn't bear to place his daughter's items in a box and give them away.

Since the occurrence in Jenny's room, Amanda had not ventured into her room and had barely been able to stand being alone in the house. She had taken to walking in the mornings after he left, and then she went to town to visit friends and kill time until he came home in the afternoon. He had begun to cut his hours in the day to be home by 3 so that she could be at home and not out and about. He was worried about her being too active when she was a high-risk pregnancy. But, she refused to stay at home alone and had talked about volunteering at the nursing home.

Eric swung into the driveway and saw Amanda sitting on the stoop waiting for him.

She was so beautiful.

The sun shimmered down on her locks of sandy hair, and her legs were stretched out on the porch, her back against the post. Her curls curved around her face, the look of absolute engrossment on her face as she read a book. Her skin had been kissed by the sun in the last couple weeks as she had spent more and more time outside, her legs a bronze color, her face kissed with freckles that came out when she spent time in the sun.

He parked and she looked up and through the windsheild at him and smiled. She got up off the porch and made her way down the stairs to him and he slid out of the car and into her arms.

"I've thought about it Eric, I think that you should take the position. We need a new start, let go of the memories that are holding onto us here. Jenny will always be in our hearts and memories, we don't need a house to remind us of her", she said into his neck.

Leaning back he looked down at her, "Are you sure?"

She nodded, "I'm sure. "

He hugged her closer to him and together they walked into the house.