DOUBT (book two of MIME)

Chapter One

PART I
They're Back

It was that time of the year when things got darker and colder.
The air wasn't so humid and the trees weren't so summery.
It was September twelfth.
Winter always came early in Ohio.
That's just how things worked.
Usually those winters lasted long.

Melanie disliked winter only because she couldn't see her flower garden and the beautiful nature.
But at least winter didn't last forever.
It just only felt like that.

Blythe had just woken up only a few minutes ago and found her mom in the living room, sipping on coffee and watching television.
It was early in the morning, seven.
Melanie had to get up even earlier than that so she can wait for Blythe to get up.
Blythe always woke up earlier.
She was definitely not a night owl.
Melanie jokingly thought of teaching her how to stay up at least past one in the morning.

"Mommy, can we watch Disney?"
Blythe asked, almost scaring the living Hell out of Melanie.
She laughed, "yes, you can watch Disney."
Blythe smiled and crawled onto the couch next to her mom.
Melanie grabbed the remote and flipped through channels until she found Disney.
Blythe laid her head on Melanie's lap.

It was very quiet in the room besides the television blaring Mickey Mouse.
Melanie's eyelids were heavy with tiredness.
She hated waking up early but it was all for Blythe.

An eerie feeling came back into Melanie's mind.
As if something was coming to hurt her.
She kept her eyes on the television, trying to get her mind off of it.
But she couldn't.
She looked down at where Blythe had been but something had replaced her.
A red beanie took Blythe's spot.
Melanie's head zapped around the room to see where Blythe had gone.

"Blythe?"
She called out.
It didn't sound like her normal voice.
Someone else was talking with her.
Melanie stood up, walking behind the couch to see if she was hiding behind there.
No one.
She clutched the beanie tightly in her shaky hand.
"Blythe where are you?"
The other voice came from behind Melanie.

She froze in her steps.
Her body very slowly turned around towards the person.
They were only a few inches from her face.
Their red eyes glared into Melanie's.
It was a boy.
Both of his twitchy hands raised to Melanie's neck.
Then they grabbed onto her as if she were a toy.

"Become one of us."
His croaky voice whispered.
It didn't sound anything like his normal voice.
Melanie felt dizzy.
Her eyes looked at his black neck and then back up to his bruised eyes.
"N-no."
Melanie's eyes felt wet.

"Cry Baby."
His devilish voice got louder.
His voice was back to normal.
It was as if he was draining every bit of happiness from her soul just from his hands on her neck.
"Stay awake."
He said again.

Melanie startled herself awake and was still on the couch with Blythe's head on her lap.
"You okay, Mommy?"
Blythe looked up at her.
Melanie smiled, trying to seem unbothered.
"I'm just fine, sweetie."
Blythe looked back at the television.