Melissa laid on the couch, staring at the ceiling above her. Her new home. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. Even now, she didn’t quite believe her father was dead, and she was afraid that if she blinked, he would appear beside her and hurt her again.

Daan and Charlotte bickered in the other room, arguing about where she would sleep at night. The clothes Daan brought from her old home churned in the washer. The ambient noises gave Melissa a fleeting sense of peace.

She was… safe.

The girl shot to her feet. Her heart pounded in her chest. Safe? That couldn't be true. Where was her father? Melissa moaned with pain. A word twisted from her lips. “Daddy…”

Teddy nuzzled her arm. Even without words, Melissa knew Teddy understood her perfectly.

“Teddy,” Melissa sniffled. “I don’t wanna live here. I don’t like it. Where’s daddy? He… He should be home now.”

Nothing hurt, she wasn’t hungry, and her father was gone forever. Melissa never imagined any one of them becoming real, much less all three at once. It was too good to be true, wasn’t it? Because how could the pain she was so familiar with vanish, just like that? Tears pricked her eyes. Ever since morning, Melissa felt like if she breathed too loudly, everything would crumble before her eyes.

It’s okay, Melissa. Daddy doesn’t matter anymore. Can’t you feel it, honey? We’re surrounded by spectres. If you cry too much, they might get excited.

Melissa raised her head, taken aback. “Spectres? Like you, Teddy?” She looked around. Chills crept along her skin, seeping into her flesh the more she focused. She could feel something staring at her. Something not human, watching her with eyes that weren’t there. The unsettling sensation distracted her from her thoughts.

Focus on the cold and forget about daddy. I’ll help you acclimate.

Melissa squinted her eyes, searching for the gaze’s source. Her vision swirled. A hazy black form surfaced in front of her, wiggling like caterpillars. Even when she blinked, the blurry fog remained in her vision, watching her. “Blobby,” Melissa said. She pointed at the blob. It inched closer to her, extending a shadowy limb.

Good job, Teddy praised. But don’t point at it. Leave it alone.

Melissa lowered her hand, and the blob drifted away. “That’s a spectre? Blobby?”

It won’t be a blob by the time you acclimate properly. And who told you about spectres? Was it Daan?

Melissa nodded. She strained her eyes, but the blob was still hazy, like a raincloud. Compared to the smiling man and mommy’s corpse, Blobby wasn’t nearly as scary.

It was almost cute.

Melissa’s new home only had one bedroom, and in that bedroom were two beds. Daan’s bed, the one on the left, had pastel cake blankets and gentle pink pillows. Melissa’s bed was plain white.

Charlotte didn’t have a bed. Daan explained that ever since the smiling man took her eyes, she didn’t sleep at night. Instead, she stood guard at the door. Whenever his mother napped during the day, she used the previously empty bed, which was now Melissa’s.

One thing Melissa found fascinating was the number of Blobbies in her new home. After focusing her gaze for a dozen more minutes, she counted at least ten of them clinging to Charlotte’s body and two which strayed near Daan. The biggest Blobby by far was the one she spotted first, who patrolled aimlessly around the living room.

Melissa called them Blobbies because they were blobs, because they did not look like the dead people Daan said they were. They did not look like her mother, whose corpse she found in the freezer.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“Do you like it here, Melissa?” Charlotte asked, plopping onto the couch beside her. Daan left an hour ago for soccer practice, so now there was one less Daan to talk to. Melissa shifted away from the woman, who was nice but almost too nice. She didn’t understand why Charlotte wanted to help her so much.

It’s lovely, Charlotte, Teddy answered for Melissa, who kept her own thoughts quiet. Her words were minced, cut thin, as if she didn’t mean them at all. Even though Teddy wasn’t speaking to her, Melissa shivered. You really didn’t have to go out of your way like this. Really.

“Actually, I did. You think I wouldn’t help you and Melissa? You think I'd let you two stay in that dump?” Charlotte teased. “Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't go hungry here. I'll take care of her. She didn't get much food over there, right?"

Teddy didn't respond. The silence festered before Charlotte's expression flashed with realization.

"Not that it was your fault she was hungry!” the woman blurted, wringing her hands together. "And I'm sure you took care of her over there, too. I just meant... giving her a better place than before, you know."

‘You know’? What do you know? That I’ve only made her suffer; is that what you know? Teddy asked quietly.

Charlotte’s expression faltered. “No, I—”

I get it now. You just think I’m pathetic. Teddy’s voice turned sharp and snippy, trembling with barely contained tears. I don’t need your pity. Just say it already. Say I’m pathetic. Say I never deserved her. Isn’t that what you’re thinking? Look at me and say it!

Teddy panted, waiting for a response.

“Sorry,” Charlotte muttered. The woman glanced away from Teddy. “Um, Melissa, you’ve been quiet for a while. What’s on your mind?” Charlotte grasped the air until she found Melissa’s hand. The woman’s touch was frigid, almost colder than the freezer.

The freezer.

“Daan said spectres are dead people,” Melissa whispered numbly. The words slipped out automatically, and the color drained from her face as she realized the implication behind her words.

Charlotte frowned.

“Then… Could mommy…?” The girl sniffled as a knot grew in her throat. “Couldn’t mommy be one too? Wasn’t mommy in bad emotions? And she’s dead, isn’t she?”

A dreadful silence filled the air.

Charlotte pulled Melissa close, gently wiping away her tears. Melissa choked for breath, but Charlotte only embraced her tighter. A warm, nostalgic embrace. Melissa buried her face into the woman’s shirt, comforted by the familiar warmth.

“Your mother was terrified of leaving you. That emotion kept her attached to you, always by your side,” Charlotte murmured. She glanced at Teddy, and a glint of sharpness touched her expression. “Because Teddy is your mother.”

Melissa’s eyes slowly widened. She hiccupped. A wave of nausea squeezed her stomach. An ugly taste hit the back of her throat. Charlotte’s words buzzed in her ears, and, with a heaving retch, Melissa vomited onto the woman’s arms.

She reeled away. “M-mommy? That’s…?”

Teddy was limp.

Melissa reached forward, grasping Teddy’s arm.

Get away from me, Teddy muttered. Her voice was faint with shock.

Melissa leapt forward, pressing Teddy to her chest. “Oh, Teddy! I love you, I love you,” she sobbed. “Mommy—”

Don’t touch me! Teddy screamed. Her breaths were harsh, infected with a desperate fury. You said! You already said! That I am not your mother! Because I was never your mother!

Every time Teddy screamed, Melissa flinched back. Her hands fell limply to her side, but Teddy had more to say.

Your ‘mommy’ failed. She was a useless, pathetic wreck! She failed to feed you, failed to protect you, failed to love you! She only hurt you, and you still love her? Are you stupid?

If your mother ever loved you, she—she would’ve never had you!

Teddy’s voice hitched as she panted. Melissa stopped breathing. Her face was lifeless pale, but before she could think, Teddy’s voice returned, twisting into a horrible, vulturous shriek.

So you love ‘mommy’ so much? Then how much did you love getting beat by your father? Oh, but you hated that, didn’t you? So what did she do when your father beat you? Nothing, was it? Then tell me, Melissa, in your entire fucking life, what exactly has she done for your sake? And now you want to wish her back? Now you think she’ll love you? Love you when she’s never loved you before? Stop being delusional—and grow the fuck up!

Teddy wrenched out the last of her screams, and all that was left of her was a hollow whisper, filled with dreadful certainty.

Because I was never your mother.

Because your mother never loved you, won’t ever love you, and that’s why she deserved to die.

That was what Teddy said.