Saturday

Today, I tell myself that I’m proud all my hard work of building some muscle has been paying off.

Aylin leaves her house the moment she spots me pulling up to her driveway. “I’m sorry for making you come earlier than you have to!” She said something before that but said it too fast for me to pay attention. She’s ready to leave as soon as I step out but Aylin takes a few seconds to lower her window. “Helen wants to see her friend. You don’t have to take her, but if you do, don’t let her know I went back on my word. I already told her you can’t.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Great, be back in a few hours!”

Helen runs down the stairs after I shut the front door. “Guess what!? Guess what?”

“You found out gullible is written on the ceiling?”

“No, dummy. Adanismee invited me to her house today. Can you take me?”

“Hmm, I don’t know. Can’t you go any other day? You have the whole summer.”

“No!” Helen steps on my toe, causing me to wince. “She never invites anyone over. Besides, Micheal is going to be there too.”

“You’re too little to worry about boys.”

“Maybe, but patience is rewarded.”

“Oh please, you’re anything but patient.”

“Please, Grace? I won’t ask for anything from you for two weeks, no, a month.”

I roll my eyes. I was joking with her and didn’t mean to make her beg. “Okay, but in return, I don’t want to hear anymore whining for a whole month.”

The little girl smiles and jumps in excitement.

I don’t believe Helen gave me the right address. It’s either that or I didn’t put it in right. I’m too sleep deprived to give it any focus. It was straining my eyes.

Google maps take me deep inside Mercer Island where the public roads end and where I feel we’re trespassing. It’s foggy and hard to tell exactly where I’m supposed to go. I turn on the private road where I’m told, up a narrow slope where I’m stopped by a gate. It opens right before I’m able to push the button to be buzzed in.

We’re being watched.

There’s so many cameras.

It’s eerie. I imagine this is exactly how every haunted house movie starts. The fog is right, it’s quiet and remote enough.

Further up the slope, the entrance to the house finally appears. It’s not a mansion. Well I don’t actually know as I don’t know what would qualify one but this house is twice as large as the biggest one back home. I think there has to be three stories for a house to be considered a mansion. This one has only two. The driveway curves around like a hotel’s valet area and into two garages.

Certainly feels like a mansion.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I ask, parking in front of the front doors.

“Yup!” Helen jumps out of her seat and rings the doorbell.

The same girl from the zoo opens the door. She isn’t excited that we’re here. She barely greets us. Inside, there’s no adult who comes to meet us. Her mom doesn’t come. There’s no maids or butlers or someone similar to how I expected. The only other person in the living room is a little boy with black and long hair. He stops playing the video game on the gigantic TV and gets up from the couch..

Adanismee introduces him as her brother, Micheal. He stares at me and gives me the creeps. This entire family continues to do so. The boy is eerie, but at least not as much as his sister.

“Are you two alone?” I ask, taking my time to familiarize myself with this place. Somehow I convinced myself that I would be surrounded by mid century antiques and art. This home is too modern to have flavor. It’s decorated exactly how it's promoted in the magazines to read at the lobby of the dentist’s. I hate the trend of everything being as minimal as possible. Nothing has any flavor anymore. There’s no personality.

“For the moment,” Adanimsee answers, then takes Helen’s hand. “C’mon, let me show you where I’m staying”

My eyes stop at a framed photo in the wall of an aging man next to a beautiful and stunning girl woman barely any older than I am. As I look around more, I find more photos of this girl. She gets younger in each one until I see the Adanismee’s resemblance.

“Is this your mom? She’s pretty” I turn around to face the little boy who’s been watching me this entire time.

He hasn’t moved an inch.

“Not my mom. That’s Adanismee’s.”

I look back at the giant frame photo. Micheal manages to sneak beside me without me feeling him. I swear he teleported. It startles me. This really is the beginning of a horror movie, I swear.

“My mom and her mom were best friends so we grew up together like brother and sister even before she died.” He says. “It’s just my mom now.”

The old man in the framed photo must be the grandfather. We’re in his house. There’s no photograph of anyone who could be Micheal’s mom

“Where’s your mom? Why does she leave you alone?”

“Nearby, I think. She’s watching us right now. She’s who let you through the gate.”

These two kids are left by themselves just like I was. My stomach twists into a knot thinking about that. It’s no wonder I find both of them to be a bit odd. They’re a tad bit too emotionless and calm to act like a kid should. They aren’t allowed too. Micheal’s mom is all they have left and she isn’t there for them.

“She should be here.”

“She’s not because Adanismee insisted that you should. Isme didn’t listen to my mom when she told her that you shouldn’t.”

That bewilders me. What a wild thing to say. I look down at the boy, confused if I heard him right. “Why would your mom allow me if I shouldn’t and left because I am?”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“I told Isme that it was pointless too but she was too eager.” Micheal sighs, not answering my question. He turns around and goes back to resume his video game

“What are you playing?”

“Fortnite, duh.”

I sit next to him but not too close to get near his personal space. I can tell he wouldn’t like it if I did. “So you can answer questions. Want to answer the one I asked before?”

“You’re only here because Isme thinks you’ll wake up if you are.”

“You’re not helping your family beat the creepy allegations. What do I have to wake up from?”

“There’s no point in telling you if you can’t understand it.”

I have to admit. As weird and creepy as everything is, I’m interested. It’s too different for me not to be. I knew this day was going to be odd from the beginning. I was at least hoping for Micheal to be somewhat normal. No, he just adds to the oddities.

What’s there to understand?

“Try me. I might surprise you.” I let out a huge involuntary yawn.

The boy side eyes me. “If you could, you would have said it already and my mom would be here with us. You would know why they think you’re special.”

I’m not going crazy am I? Am I that tired that I’m not hearing things right? Nothing about the past ten minutes has felt real. Am I dreaming all of this?

There’s no situation where anyone would be having this conversation.

“What's the name of your mom?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Then what can you tell me?”

“You should leave it alone for now. I already said too much.”

Micheal doesn’t elaborate further and continues to play his game. Helen’s loud voice quickly overpowers the TV as she runs back inside the living room. Adanismee follows quietly behind her. They sit next to me and watch Micheal play his game along with me.

Adanismee doesn’t mention anything Micheal talked about. Unlike the first day I met her, she’s the normal one. She doesn’t say anything odd.

I stay out of it while Helen tries to get Micheal’s attention. Her little eyes shimmer whenever he does. This is her first crush. How confusing must it be for her. She’s still a kid protected from the harsh environment of reality.

I’m jealous of her.

Helen gets to enjoy being a kid.

Then one day, she’ll grow up to be just as cynical and nihilistic as everyone else. But at least for now, she doesn’t have to be. Just like the many odd things of today, my emptiness doesn’t overtake me by my envy. It should.

Perhaps it’s because I see myself in these two odd kids that I’m able to breathe right now. My sympathy overpowers any jealousy I have. It’s keeping me safe.

I’m eventually included in their activities and games. I know too well there’s something all wrong with me. It shocks me how there’s something else to discover. It’s uncomfortable how the void in my heart vanishes and I don’t know why.

Yuele has been the only one able to accomplish this, but it has happened again. It feels the same as the week before. There’s a common denominator, there has to be. I’m too tired to think about what it could be. I’m unable to complete any idea that comes to mind. They cut off in the middle and loop back to the beginning.

Oh well.

I don’t need to know.

I just have to enjoy it as much as I can.

Adanismee begins to talk to her brother in riddles during a game of Uno. “Can you text Mom that it’s all wrong? The one we haven’t met is here now.”

“If you know, she knows.”

“Know what?” I ask.

“Then keep your mouth shut if you want Mom to keep us safe.”

I’m ignored.

Adanismee places a card down. “If we aren’t, then why did they follow the pull?

Huh?

“You’re the one who feels it. Answer it yourself.”

Helen places down the card she picks up from the deck when it’s her turn. “I wish I was special like you, Isme.”

“What are you two little weirdo’s talking about?” I ask. They don’t answer. Then they get mad at me for not taking my turn at the game.

By the time it’s time to leave, the consequence of always wearing my contact is catching up to me. It strains my eyes just to keep them open by how dry they get. I keep eye drops in my car whenever that becomes an issue. The lack of sleep is catching up to me too but nothing an Aderrall pill can’t handle.

Adanismee and Micheal walk us outside and say their goodbyes. I don’t get a chance to ask about the note left on my windshield before they shut the door.

I’m glad for your concern for my kids. Please understand it’s not my wish to leave them alone. I’m a very private person and would like to continue being so. I would put my children at risk if I’m not. Please do not tell anyone about this place or about my kids. Adanismee trusts you, so I will too.

Thank you for coming, Grace.

I wish the day would end there. I want the weirdness to end. Helen asks me to go to the park before heading home. I have no qualms about it because I don’t want to go home either, but it bothers me that I bring us to a specific park. I could have chosen any other and closer but weird makes me drive all the way to Seattle.

Weird is feeling like I’m being watched while Helen plays. There’s not many kids in the Volunteer Park playground. Their parents watch from the side or on the nearby benches just the same as I’m doing. No one is paying any mind to me, which is odd that I feel a set of eyes on me.

Helen is playing with kids she’s never met and will never meet again. It’s easy for her to make friends. She’ll have an easier time than I ever did growing up and that makes me jealous. I’d throw up that I can resent a child like that if I still walked around glass shards. It was only hurting me by avoiding them.

I think this’ll be the last time I sit for Aylin. She can ask Felix if she needs someone that bad. He’s not going anywhere soon.

I can’t wait for Helen to tire herself out so I can go home.

A girl around Helen’s age makes me look up from my phone. It’s that same weirdness again. I’m drawn to her eyes. A girl this young doesn’t typically wear contacts. She looks at me just how Adanismee first did, like she knows me.

“Need something?”

“I’m Audrey.”

I circle my eyes around to check who’s around. I’m still being watched. That hasn’t gone away.

“Okay, so?”

Audrey tilts her head in confusion. “Oh. I see. You’re here by accident.”

“What are you talking about?”

The girl looks over towards the parked cars in the street. It’s there where I see who’s been watching me. Audrey waves at her father, who waves back in the comfort in his car. He’s in the middle of a phone call.

“I was waiting for you. Dad is going to be mad. I made him come all this way. I wasted his time.”

“You’re wasting my time.”

“She says that you shouldn’t be rude.”

“Who?” I raise my eyebrow.

“She wants me to talk to you for her, but it's hard to understand her because you haven’t woken up. You don’t want to.”

I stand up, mad at this girl for creeping me out. “Listen kid, what the hell are you talking about?”

Audrey points to the empty seat on my side, “The girl next to you.”

Ghosts?

I’m losing my mind that I’m even entertaining the idea.

“What about her?”

“She desperately wants to talk to you.”

“What’s her name?”

“Audrey! What did I tell you about talking to strangers?” A woman grabs hold of the little girl's hand. The mother then turns her attention towards me. “I’m so sorry. I hope she didn’t bother you too much.”

“It’s…fine?”

“C’mon, you’ve been here long enough. It’s time to leave, your father’s waiting.”

Audrey tries to tug away from her mothers grip as she’s led away. “No! I need to be here! I need another minute! I won’t get another chance!”

“That’s enough with your imaginary friends!”

What the hell was that about?

Helen tackles me and nearly knocks me back down to my seat. “Look at this stick I just found! It looks exactly like the one from the movie I watched yesterday.”

I take the stick and pretend to claw at Helen. “I thought you didn’t like movies.”

“I like scary movies. Felix watched it with me. That was a lot of blood and guts.”

“Should you be watching that stuff?”

“Grace, stop treating me like I’m a little kid! You’re just like my mom! You don’t have to protect me from everything.”

I giggle, “Okay, fine. What movie did you guys watch?”

“Candyman! It’s Felix’s favorite. Did you know that I’m named after Helen in the movie? Felix said that he chose that name for my mom when she couldn’t decide.”

Candyman.

Huh.

I watched the movie with Sara years ago during a horror film marathon. What a funny little coincidence.