The Doll Girl [discontinued and horribly cringey]

Chapter Twelve: Shadows

Brook sighed. "Out. I was out."

Marilyn stared at her. "Where? With who?"

"I was at the park with Mia."

"Really? That's weird, because Mia just dropped by and asked where you were. Care to explain?"

"Oh. Silly me. That must've been a couple of days ago, I hung out at the playground with Mia. Today I was with Elsie. And, uh, Joyce. You know sometimes I get confused with these things." Brook gave an awkward little laugh and glanced at her mother's face nervously.

"Huh. Mrs. Ryder was just here. She said Elsie was gone out with her dad somewhere."

Brook stuttered, "Umm... I meant, that, uh, Elsie was, er, she was..." Brook trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Marilyn looked into her daughter's face and raised an eyebrow.

"Um, what I meant was that, uhh... Can I just go upstairs?"

Marilyn stared very hard at her daughter for a minute. Then, to Brook's surprise, Marilyn slumped and muttered, "Fine."

~~~~~~

Upstairs, Brook soaked in a warm bubble bath and wondered what to do about Mom. 

She knew something, obviously, but how much did she know? Did she know that Brook knew she wasn't human? Or did she only know that Brook was talking to Evelyn?

~~~~~~

Marilyn groaned. What had she been thinking? Why had she just let Brook go? Oh, well. She would talk to her later...

Marilyn sipped her coffee and glanced outside.

Outside, the sun had set almost completely. The sky was dark, streaked with gold. The trees were moving, back and forth, rocked by a gentle wind.

The winds picked up suddenly, and what once had been a whispering breeze was now a strong gale. The wind was so loud it seemed too shriek.

Marilyn turned back to her steaming mug. Normally, she only had coffee in the morning, but when she felt she needed it, she would make herself a mug of coffee. 

Marilyn looked out the kitchen once more, and, over the noise of the wind, muttered, "That sounds a bit like— never mind, it's impossible. I've kept Brook away, I've kept her a secret from them. Unless— no, that can't be."

The noise stopped abruptly, and Marilyn shivered. It couldn't be a coincidence. Marilyn Stewart Willow didn't believe in coincidences. Especially when it came to these kind of things.

She noticed two dark shapes beside the road. They were approaching the house. Marilyn clamped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming. She ran to the backyard door and opened it. 

Marilyn breathed deeply to calm herself, and stepped into the cool, fresh air. She walked out onto the deck. Then she ran back in. She couldn't go. They'd get Brook. And Marilyn would never let that happen.

She flew upstairs into Brook's room. Brook was reading something and looked up, startled when Marilyn rushed in. "Brook. Climb out onto the tree in the backyard. Then go over the fence and run to Elsie's house."

"Why?"

"Just do it, Brook." Then Marilyn ran downstairs.

Brook thought a moment, and then decided to listen to her mother.

She cautiously opened the window. The screen door had fallen off last week, so there was nothing stopping her from climbing onto the branch of the tree outside. She held onto the tree trunk tightly, and slowly slid down. Once on the ground, she ran to the fence, which, thankfully, was short, and climbed over it carefully. Elsie's house was only a couple houses away, and Brook reached it in a minute.

~~~~~~

Brook's room, painted pale blue, was dark.

The doorknob jerked, and someone opened the door. It appeared to be a human, a woman clothed in all black. She wore a mask that would send shivers down anyone's back.

The woman yanked the closet open and looked inside. Seeing nothing but clothes, she shut the closet. Then the woman proceeded to search the rest of the room. Finally, with a disgusted sigh, the woman marched out.

~~~~~~

Alice looked outside.

It was dark, but she still saw two dark shapes running. One of them was dragging another figure. They'd just come out of Brook's house.

Alice leaned forward, interested to see who it was. Her mother noticed and said, "Alice, honey, eat your steak."

Alice turned back to her dinner. Then, when her mother wasn't looking, she snuck a glance back at the running silhouettes.

They were about to turn onto Main Street. The third person was running on their own now, but one of the other two was holding its arm tightly. Then the shadowy figures whipped around the corner and disappeared.