The Origins

Lexi

A week later...

Mark woke up in the lounge, an empty plate by his side. He got up and went to his room to look for his wife. She wasn't there. He went to Geraldine's room. Lexi sat on the bed holding Gerry's teddy in her arms.

"Lexi?"

"It's my birthday, don't you know." Lexi said, repeating the last words she heard her daughter say,  well at least she thought it was her daughter. She had repeated them for the past week.

"Ginger is going to take me, I mistreated Ellie." she said before Mark walked away.

"What?"

"I am going to die."

"No honey,  I'll make sure you won't. Who told you that?"

"It's my birthday, don't you know." she said again.

Mark closed the door and went to Ellie's room.

"I'm so sorry Ginger, I couldn't take care of her, I couldn't protect her." he cried as if waiting for a reply. He could not go to work leaving his wife in the state she was in. He too was broken but was trying to be strong for Lexi. He told Lexi he was going out and drove to Ginger's house. He walked in and knocked on the door, perhaps hoping someone would answer this time. No one did.

"Ginger, I'm sorry I couldn't protect her!" he cried.

Mark cried and cried by the door. He felt a hand by his shoulder and turned to check who it was.

"Go home, your wife needs you. " a faint voice whispered into his ear. There was no-one behind him. Mark quickly ran to his car and drove home. He got there and called out to Lexi. He went straight to his daughter's room. Mark hesitated to open Gerry's room but eventually did. He finally found her. She was hanging from the ceiling, a bed sheet around her neck. Not knowing what to do, Mark took a pair of scissors and cut her down, but she was already dead. He held her close to his face and cried.

"Why did you have to do it. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." he cried pulling her lifeless body close to his.

Suddenly, Lexi's hair changed from black to reddish-brown. Her eyes opened, they were black, like windows into hell. Mark quickly stood up and pushed Lexi away.

"We are taking her to mother because she mistreated mother's daughter." she said,  her voice sounding like many children's voices. 

Mark stood there, frozen with fear. Lexi stood up and disappeared before his eyes.

***********************************

Mark went back to Ginger's house. He burst through the door into the house.

"Ginger! Where are you?"  he screamed, "I need them back, please." he begged.

Mark ran around the yard calling out Ginger's name. He got into the house and broke the window in Ginger's room out of rage. A loud, glass-cracking scream escaped from his throat. Mark quickly clasped his mouth.

"What in the world...?"

He shuffled backwards shaking uncontrollably. In front of him were children. Many children. He looked around and realized he was surrounded.

"Mother Ginger wants you to leave." the children said in unison.

"Leave and never return. Leave!"

Mark looked around and saw them again, the black eyes. All the children around him had them. He could not find his way to the door.

"Leave! " the children kept saying.

The many voices invaded his brain, almost driving him to insanity. He fell to the ground, his hands covering his ears. Mark looked up and saw the children moving closer together then suddenly fusing into one woman. He stood up and saw Ginger. She looked perfectly normal.

"Mark, go home your wife needs you." she said with a smile. She put her hand over his head and suddenly disappeared. Mark was confused and scared. He got back into his car and began to drive home. As he was driving he felt a hand on his shoulder. Mark looked beside him and saw Ellie smiling at him. Mark turned to look behind him and saw five pairs of black eyes staring at him, Gerry sitting in the middle. His heart in his mouth, Mark let go of the driving wheel and suddenly swayed out of the road, straight into a tree.

**********************************

"He's still breathing, he's still breath--..."

"Just hold on sir, we're almost ther--... "

Many faces kept appearing above Mark. He could feel that he was moving. He could hear them speak to him but the last words kept fading as he was slowly becoming unconscious.

"He's in,  he's in."

"Ready... One, two,  three--"

Suddenly everything went black, he was unconscious. 

Hours later...

"How are you feeling sir? " asked a young doctor.

"What--what happened?"

"You were involved in a car accident. Luckily for you this young man found you and called an ambulance." he said with his hand on a man's shoulder.

"Where's my little girl?" asked Mark.

The man looked at Mark, confusion written on his face, "Sir, there was no little girl. You were alone in the car."

Mark attempted to sit up but failed, "But--Ellie..."

"Sir, you have to stay in bed. You broke a few ribs and lost a lot of blood."

Mark was too weak to argue with the two men. He lay in bed and the man and the doctor left. He decided to sleep for a while. 

"Leave!"

Mark could hear voices in his head. They kept telling him to leave. Suddenly he heard Ginger's voice telling him that his wife needed him.

Mark managed to stand up and walk to the door, stumbling a few times. The doctor rushed in.

"Sir, where are you going, you can't even walk yet."

"Let me leave!"

The male nurses rushed to help the doctor carry Mark back to his hospital bed.

"No, let me go, let me go. Lexi needs me. Gerry needs me!"

The nurses continued to put him in bed and the doctor sedated him.

"That should keep him calm."

Mark was unconscious for a long while. He suddenly opened his eyes. He heard a slow knock at the window.

Knock , knock

Mark looked at the window and saw the shadow of a child. He buried his face in the sheets. The knocking continued and it got louder and louder. Mark screamed and the doctor rushed in.

"The children are coming for me,  they want me to leave." he screamed to doctor Durham.

The doctor tried his best to keep him calm, telling him he was probably still in shock.

Days went by and Mark was still in hospital. He was moved to another hospital a month later. A mental hospital. It was discovered that he was developing a mental illness. He was paranoid and his brain cells were slowly deteriorating. All he spoke about were the black-eyed children. Of course, no-one believed him. Mark had attempted to commit suicide three times, always blaming the voices in his head. He showed symptoms of Borderline personality disorder  but it was not confirmed. He was broken...