Paulina woke up, her teal eyes opening and reflecting the stars above her. Beneath her was cold, hard ground...Next to her was Dash, also waking up and rubbing his head. The brunette and the blond sat up slowly, confused and disoriented...hadn't they just fallen asleep? Dash looked around and gasped, seeing a little doll next to him. "Oh my gosh...What is this..?"
They looked around, and got up, Dash gripping Paulina's hand. It took them several moments to realize they were in a beautiful town, and just past the plaza they were standing in was a house surrounded by pink and red carnations. They approached the house and saw a little boy with light blond hair walking around. He wore a red sweater with black pants, cute little red sneakers, and had the most beautiful blue eyes. He looked at them with a smile. Dash walked over to him. "E...excuse me...do you know where we are..?" he asked.
The boy just smiled and said, looking meaningfully at Paulina. "I love my mommy." Dash blinked in confusion, then looked at Paulina. "I don't think he knows anything. Let's look in the house...maybe there's a phone we can use to call Kwan to pick us up or something."
Paulina agreed, not really knowing anything anyway. Dash held her hand, leading her into the house. He knocked a few times and waited for a response. When none came, he tried the doorknob. It was unlocked. He opened the door and walked in, Paulina following right behind. He looked around for a moment and gasped. What looked like sillhouettes of himself, Paulina and that boy they saw were standing at a table in the middle of the room. On the table was a wrapped present and a cake..a birthday cake.
Dash's heart pounded, a rather unsettling music meeting his ears. He jumped and looked to the side, Paulina gripping his arm. There was a radio playing the music. Dash bit his lip and tried to turn it off. He couldn't. Nothing in the room changed, but the clock kept ticking and the music played on. It was like everything but the clock and music was frozen in time. He began to look for a phone, Paulina deciding to rummage through the drawers. Paulina gasped as she opened a closet, jolting and quickly closing it. She bit her lip and shivered. Pretend like nothing was seen...
Dash opened the dresser in the back, hoping to find a cellphone. Whatever he saw equally horrified him and he closed it, holding his head and closing his eyes. He couldn't get the image out of his head. What is seen cannot be unseen... He shook his head and realized the dresser was blocking off a room in the back. He tried to move it, but it wouldn't budge. He sighed. "So much for a phone."
Paulina let off a squeak. "Dash, there's stairs! Maybe there's a phone up there!" She ran up before he could protest. Dash cried out and ran up after her. "Paulina, wait! We don't know what's up there!"
They both froze in shock at the doorway to the room upstairs. It was a child's room...most likely that of the child they'd seen. The room was full of toys and the dolly they'd woken up next to was sitting on the floor. There were three pictures. One of a childishly drawn Paulina, one of Paulina, Dash and the boy, like a family portrait, and lastly, one of Dash's dog Pooky outside a doghouse.
Paulina's hand went to her stomach for a moment, then she shook her head and ran outside. Dash stayed in shock a moment longer before following. Walking by the house was the boy...Paulina ran up to him. "Little boy, how do we get out of here?!"
The boy just smiled and replied once more, "I love my mommy." He walked away and looked aroundin the pink carnations. Paulina shivered a bit. Dash put an arm around her and looked ahead. "Come on...let's look around some more.."
They headed east, following the river that cut the town in half. Dash saw a bridge ahead and ran forward, before he stopped. Near the fence that kept the town enclosed was a mitten, all alone. He quickly led Paulina across the bridge, not wanting to think of why the mitten was there.
He gasped, seeing the other side of the bridge was a maze full of bushes, holes and discarded sweets. He shuddered, he didn't like the feeling of this. He gripped Paulina's hand tightly and lead her along through the maze. He regarded all the sweets as a trap of sorts, and narrowly avoided a pitfall trap. At the exit of the maze...was another mitten.
Not too far away was that little boy again...but that's impossible..they left him amongst the carnations. Dash looked at him, seeing his smile seemed a little forced now. He bit his lip. "Kid...how did you get over here so quickly?" He would have assumed he swam, but there was not a drop of water on the child.
"I love my mommy..." He said, but it seemed off...like he was trying to convince himself of the fact.
Dash walked away, seeing a second house. Maybe this one would have a phone in it...Paulina wandered past the house a little, then let out a scream. Dash jolted and ran over to her. "What's wrong, what happened?! What..!" He gasped, seeing what she saw. A series of graves, ten to be exact, all labeled 'Pooky' or some other dog name.
He took a shuddering breath and backed away, taking Paulina with him. "No...this isn't real...Pooky's alive...L..let's get away from this..." He opened the door to the second house, not caring to knock this time as he brought her in with him.
It was dark inside, with a few glowing pictures of a figure running. Dash carefully made his way through the room, trying to ignore Paulina's deathgrip on his arm. Finding the door to the back room, he went in. The room was filled with toys, stuffed animals and the like. All of them were facing away. Dash felt a prickling feeling as his hair stood on end. He turned and screamed in terror. On the wall on either side of the door was a painted pair of eyes, staring transfixed at the toys. He screamed again, lifting Paulina over his shoulder and getting out of there as fast as he could. He saw two staircases by the time he made it back through the dark room.
He went upstairs first and sighed, relaxed to find some light in the dark house. Then confusion filled him when he saw a recreation of the scene from the Bible he knew too well...The snake tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, represented as an apple. He didn't know why this would be in such a creepy house, but he went back downstairs, looking for Paulina.
There was a scream from downstairs. He gasped and ran down, freezing up seeing...a tea party made up of dolls. Paulina was at the back of the room, staring at the floor behind a red doll. Dash raised an eyebrow and went over, letting out a gasp of shock. Behind the doll was an axe. "Wh-what the...? Never mind..come on, let's get out of here!"
He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the house, running through the town. It was growing more messy and dilapidated. He saw the boy again, but noticed something different about the boy that made him stop in his tracks. The boy's eyes were no longer that brilliant blue, but black. His smile was barely there now. Dash gulped and asked. "Kid...are you o-okay...? Is there a way out of here..?"
The boy looked up at him and stared at Paulina. "I lO-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lovE mY mOmMy..."
The way he said it sounded garbled, sending chills through their spines. Paulina whimpered. "I want to get out of here! Where is the ghost boy when you need him..?"
Dash backed away a few steps as the boy walked past them and sat amongst the weeds, and he shook his head. "I dunno...but we have to find a way out of here."
He saw an abandoned house that looked like nobody had taken care of it for a while. He wanted to just walk right past it, but he went in against his better judgement. Part of him wanted to see what was inside. Paulina followed, not wanting to be alone in the creepy town. Dash cried out when he stared down the narrow hallway of bookcases in the house, seeing the doll from before with an axe in front of it. He ran upstairs, dragging Paulina along, shouting, "NOPENOPENOPENOPENOPE!"
Upstairs wasn't much better. The doll was there, sitting in front of a TV that played nothing but static. The room was filled with those child-drawn pictures of Paulina, like she was an obsession of the doll...or the boy...now. Dash backed away, falling down the stairs in his horrified stupor. He fell right down the next flight of stairs to the basement, grunting in pain. It felt like he'd broken his arm.
He got to his feet shakily and looked around. The room's wallpaper was peeling, the floor was mildewed and smelly. There were several things in the room...a book, a typewriter, a telescope, a bookcase, a piano...a songbird singing to sheetmusic...and the doll. The doll was staring at a crib in front of it, and next to the doll was a bed.
The bed had the outline of a child's body on the sheets. Dash gave a shudder, holding his broken arm close to his chest. "What the fuck is this place...?"
Paulina came down and clung onto him, causing him to wince. His attention was drawn to the wall...where a framed picture of that drawing of Paulina hanged. He bit his lip, and urged Paulina to go upstairs, quickly following. He went outside and took a gulp of the air, tasting..sea breeze? He just realized there was an ocean nearby, and the house was on a cliff above the beach. He squeezed Paulina's hand and sighed. "There may be a way out yet...Let's keep looking.." He didn't turn back.
He just went on through the town, Paulina walking along behind him. She was strangely quiet, touching her stomach quite often now. The town was a mess here...full of dead trees and weeds. He shuddered and walked on, seeing a final house ahead. Praying there was some way to get out, or a phone, he went inside. The boy was there.
Dash screamed and backed away when he saw him. The boy's outfit hadn't changed, nor his hair, but his eyes were now completely black...like they were empty of all life. Even the whites were black. Bloody tears were streaming down the boys cheeks and he forced a wide smile. "I lofjberhjverfnerighir myfgey moFJRIHNENFmmy..." he said, speech horribly garbled. The room was almost the same as that of the first house, but much messier.
Paulina shook her head and ran out of the house, possibly to go back to the plaza of carnations. Dash shuddered and bit his lip, going to the back room..the dresser usually blocking it was moved aside just enough. There was a silhouette of the boy, next to the doll from before. They were barred in and surrounded by staring statues of women.
Dash trembled and ran out of the room, back to the main room. The boy was still there, sitting by the trash can and staring at it...as though he felt he belonged in it. The blond jock went upstairs in a final bid for a phone, despite knowing he would not find anything good. It was the child's room. All the toys were facing from the middle of the room. The dolly was there with the axe, and the pictures...The picture of Paulina was all scribbled out. The drawing of himself, Paulina and the boy had the boy scribbled out. Pooky was scribbled out of the next drawing.
He pieced together what it meant. Paulina was absent from the picture...or her love was...and the boy was gone. The one companion he may have had, Pooky, was gone too. He began to wonder...what did it all mean? He ran out of the house, heading back to the plaza.
There was a cliff just west of the first house, where Paulina was on her knees. She was crying. Dash ran over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Paulina, what's wrong..?"
She pointed down shakily, at the beach below. Dash looked, and his heart stopped. On the beach was a blue quartz grave, which was completely blank except for the dates...May 2011-Aug 2011. Four months. It had to be pre-birth in order for there to be no name, and it must have been an unwanted child...
Dash paled in horror and covered his mouth. May...he and Paulina had done it for the first time, and the condom must have broke. He took a step back, trembling. Four months later...Paulina may have found out she was pregnant in that time and had an abortion...she had shown the baby no love, and just threw the life away like trash the first chance she got.
Now the child was hauntng them, tormenting them for their thoughtlessness. Aching for their love...He shuddered and turned away, tears falling. He felt horrible. He was sure Paulina felt worse. She did. She felt like a complete monster. There were footsteps behind them and they looked, almost afraid to see...
The boy stood, looking normal again and smiling...those blue eyes piercing right through their souls. Two ghostly figures stood behind them, and red eyes seemed to glare from the starry sky. One of the figures patted the boy on the head, and they came into the light. They were green-skinned, wearing white gold-embroidered robes with black and gold-trimmed capes, one single, judging eyeball on their faces. The little boy smiled and opened his mouth.
"i LoVe My MoMmY..."