Peppermint And Gunpowder

Chapter Thirty-Six: Cherry Lip Gloss Smile

A laugh radiates through the room. A feeling of joy wafts around, the happiness of a child at playtime is spurred.

I sit up and look around the room. Everyone sleeps, but the laugh comes again. And again. I glance down at Poison who's rolled on his side, hair tousled and face pressed to the pillow.

I do not want to wake him, or bother him about the laugher from an unknown location. He wouldn't believe me anyway.

Pushing the blanket off me and onto Poison--so the sudden temperature change that happened when the blanket is removed wouldn't wake him--and slip off the mattress slowly.

I do just as I did the night I heard the baby's cries, searching corners and opening doors. But this time, I do it silently.

I open the bathroom door and the laughter gets louder, as if it was in this room. But the room was empty.

I sit on the edge of the bathtub and rock slowly, listening to the laughter of a baby echo off the walls. It grows louder and louder, it sounds as if she was sitting right beside me.

"Mama!" A little girl's voice says. "Mama, come here!"

I look around the room, searching for the little girl. I realize I am crying when my cheeks become stiff and sticky with tears.

The image of a little girl in a flowered dress and socks with lace riding up her ankles forms in my mind, though the room is occupied by me alone. She has thin blonde hair pulled into pigtails and bruises on her knees, lips dancing with cherry flavoured lip gloss.

A beautiful baby girl, smiling and laughing.

"Mama?" The girl steps closer and the room grows cold, holding one hand out and the other fiddling with the hem of her dress. She keeps her hand extended, whispering, "Mama, where are you?"

I stand and reach up but the image fades, and the sweet aroma of cherries and peppermint swirl about the room.

Searching again, I try and find the lost little girl.

As I look for her, she looks for her mama.

A knock in the door startles me. The smell of cherries and peppermint fades.

When I'd gotten out of bed, I was sure I didn't wake Poison. Surely he couldn't have heard the little girl? He hadn't heard her before.

"Mercury?" Knocking follows. "Are you okay?"

The voice from behind the door was not Poison. I turn the handle for I'd forgotten to lock the door, and behind the threshold stood Jet, a mixture of confusion and sleepiness paints his face in the dim bathroom light.

"Mercury, what are you doing up?" He yawns. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." My eyes dart about the room. "She's gone..." I murmur.

"Who's gone?" Jet asks. I hadn't mean for him to hear, I hadn't meant to say it aloud in the first place.

"No one." I say quickly. He tilts his head and gives me a look only he can give. I sigh and gesture around the room. "There was a little girl in here, I heard her laughing." I pause. "I'm not crazy, I swear. I saw her."

He waits a beat before responding, as if contemplating his response to not sound as mad as myself. Slowly, he says: "What was she doing in here?"

I sit back down on the edge of the bathtub and look to the corner where I saw her just moments ago. "She was laughing, it sounded like she was playing. She called out to her mama, then turned to me. She kept calling for her mama. She held her hand out, like she was talking to me." I shake my head, the image of the girl in the flowered dress fades from my mind.