Hello, everyone How is everyone today? This is not apart of my Jack and Jenny collection, so there is no incest in this story or really romance of any kind. Just sibling bonding.
I am actually very proud of how this turned out (and if I remember correctly, this is my second longest one shot, right after my other story Things Are Not Always As They Seem, so that's quite an accomplishment in my eyes), so I hope you like it as much as I do.
This is a prompt from Movies And TV Shows AU.
Ages:
Jack: 14
Casey: 13
Jenny: 12
Margaret: 11
Disclaimer: I do not own the Haunting Hour episode Fear Never Knocks or the Goosebumps episode Stay Out Of The Basement or its characters.
WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF RAPE AND CHILD MOLESTATION/SEXUAL ABUSE, A SCENE THAT CAN BE INTERPRETED AS CHILD ABUSE (But since the plant copy of the dad was the one that hurt the kid, it's not technically the parent hurting their child)
"I wish you didn't have to go," eleven year old Margaret whined as she carried her mother's suitcase to the running car.
"I know, but your aunt Eleanor's sick, honey. She needs me," her mother replied.
"I know, but-" Margaret complained.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," her mother assured her.
"I know. It's just… I'm worried about Dad. He's been acting so weird lately," Margaret pointed out.
"He's under a lot of pressure, Margaret," her mother told her, having heard this conversation many times before. Margaret was a notorious Daddy's girl and worried for her father, constantly.
It was kind of funny, actually. Before their father got so wrapped up in his work, he worried about Margaret nonstop. He worried about all the kids, but almost excessively so with Margaret. She was his baby girl, and he wanted to protect her and shield her from the big bad world out there. Now that he was working so much, the roles had seemingly flip flopped and Margaret spent all of her time worrying about her father instead of him worrying about her.
"I know, but he never has time for me anymore," Margaret grumbled. "He's even stopped calling me Princess."
Her mother laughed. "I thought you hated that."
The screen door slammed shut as Margaret's three siblings came running outside.
"I do. It's just… it seems like he's changed," Margaret pressed as she lifted the suitcase into the trunk with her oldest brother's help. "And he spends all of his time in the basement, ever since he lost his job."
"She has a point," fourteen year old Jack agreed. "What does he do down there anyway?"
"He's a botanist," thirteen year old Casey told him. "He studies plants."
"I know that, freak," Jack snarled, making Casey flinch.
"Jack," their mother snapped. "Be nice to your brother."
Jack grumbled under his breath. Why should he be nice to Casey? All Casey did was hurt him.
"We know he studies plants. But all the time?" twelve year old Jenny asked.
"He's trying to prove to the university that they made a mistake letting him go," their mother answered. "It's never fun to be fired, you know."
"I just feel like something's wrong. Something else," Margaret added.
"Like what?" their mother asked, showing a hint of real concern.
"I don't know if something's wrong, necessarily," Jack said, "but something is definitely weird."
Their mother sighed. "Your father is always going to be weird, but nothing's wrong. Now, go get your father. I don't want to miss my plane. I left a slip of paper with Aunt Eleanor's phone number on it on the kitchen counter. "
"I made a card for Aunt Eleanor!" Casey chirped, handing it to her.
"Well, that was nice," their mother smiled.
Jack swallowed. They all loved Casey, acted like he was perfectly innocent.
If only they knew…
"Say hi to Aunt Eleanor for me!" Jenny told their mother.
"I will. I love you, kids," their mother replied as her four children returned to the inside of their house.
Jenny pounded on the door to the basement, but her loud knocks didn't receive a reply.
"He never hears us when he's working," Jack muttered before turning the doorknob and opening the door.
The four children began to descend the stairs, and just when the green haze and plethora of plants that occupied their basement started to come into a view, a loud yell made the four kids jump.
"Stay out of the basement!" their father shouted from behind them, and they turned to see him standing at the top of the stairs, looking angrier than they'd seen him in years.
Margaret and Jenny, frightened by their father's anger, sprinted up the stairs, shortly followed by their skeptical older brothers.
"Sorry," Margaret squeaked. Considering she was the youngest, she was actually pretty brave, but loud noises always scared her for some reason. That's why their parents never took her to parties or concerts or loud places. "Mom asked us to get you because she doesn't want to be late for her plane."
Their father, realizing he'd frightened his youngest daughter, sighed. "Look, kids. I'm sorry I raised my voice, but I don't want you in the basement. Okay?"
Jack nodded. "Okay, Dad."
"Good," he said as he shrugged on his coat. "Remember what I said about the basement."
Jenny nodded as their father stepped outside. They waved goodbye while standing on the porch as their dad honked the horn and pulled out of their driveway.
"Something is definitely going on with Dad," Casey murmured.
This was one of the very rare occasions Jack could agree with his only brother.
"Without a doubt," Jack muttered in agreement before the four kids escaped the chilly autumn air by walking back into the house and closing the door behind them.
"Yes!" Casey exclaimed, and a loud boom sounded as something on his video game exploded.
"Would you turn that down? Or better yet, stop playing entirely?" Jack grumbled as he flipped through his comic book.
"But Jack-" Casey protested.
"Stop whining," Jack growled, snatching the controller away and tossing it on the table. "I said turn it off!"
Casey's breath hitched, and he hurried to hit the power button. The younger brother was always worrying that today would be the day Jack struck him, and honestly, Casey couldn't blame Jack if the older brother beat him black and blue or even put him in a hospital. In Casey's eyes, he deserved it one hundred percent.
"What was that?" Margaret jumped, straining her ears.
"What was what?" asked Casey.
"That sound," Margaret answered.
"I didn't hear anything," Jack told her.
"Yeah, because you two were too busy fighting," Jenny pointed out as her and her sister stood. "I heard it, too. Listen."
Jack and Casey perked their ears and listened hard, waiting for the sound their sisters had heard to reach their own ears.
And then they heard it. A soft whine.
"It sounds like an animal," Casey pointed out.
"It's coming from the basement," Jack realized.
"We have to go check," Jenny said.
"What about what Dad said?" Margaret asked.
"Well, what if it is an animal, like a stray cat, and it's suffering?" Jenny questioned. "We have to go down there."
"We?" Jack repeated. "No, you two stay up here. Casey and I will go down."
As much as Jack hated to go anywhere with Casey, he'd sleep better knowing he possibly put Casey and himself in danger instead of his little sisters.
"Me?" Casey cried out. "Uh, no, I'll stay-"
Jack grabbed Casey's arm, almost feeling the skin bruise beneath his fingers. "Come on, scaredy cat. You afraid of the dark?" Jack mocked, and Casey cringed. He knew Jack was referring to what Casey used to do under the blanket of the darkness when everyone was asleep before the younger boy realized what he was doing was wrong and stopped. Even though Casey had apologized a hundred times, begged for forgiveness, and did everything he could to earn Jack's forgiveness and trust once again, Jack never forgave him, and Casey didn't blame him. Casey couldn't even forgive himself; how could he expect Jack to forgive him after what Casey had done to him, how much he'd hurt his older brother?
Jack and Casey descended the staircase while Margaret and Jenny reluctantly stayed at the top of the stairs, waiting for them to return.
"It's so hot down here!" Casey exclaimed. "How can Dad stand it?"
"I don't know," Jack admitted, tugging at his shirt collar before taking off his hoodie.
"It sounds like the plants are breathing," Casey murmured.
"Don't be ridiculous. Plants don't breathe!" Jack snorted before he froze as he, too, heard the strange breathing sounds coming from the plants that threatened to suffocate them on all sides. "Right?"
The two of them wandered further into the basement before Margaret called, "Find anything?"
"Just plants!" Jack replied. "Come on, Casey, let's get out of he-"
Jack abruptly trailed off when he heard the whining sound once again and followed it to a certain plant sitting in the corner of the room. A soft, uneven whistle sounded, as though it were breathing. Could Casey have been right about the plants breathing?
Jack held his hand out towards the whining plant, but he yelped when it clamped down on him, holding his wrist in a vice grip. Jack tugged and grunted as he tried to pull his arm away from the plant, but it was no use. The plant held him tight.
In the blink of an eye, Casey was at his side, and his brother karate chopped the plant. The move obviously didn't injure the plant, but it did distract it long enough for Jack to pull his arm free.
"Dad's home!" Margaret suddenly screamed, and the siblings bolted up the steps and slammed the door behind them, wiping the sweat from their faces.
"Where's your jacket?" Jenny asked Jack, who widened his eyes.
"It's still in the basement!" he replied.
"Jack!" Margaret shouted, exasperated.
"I'll get it," Casey offered, surprising Jack.
"But if you're caught, you'll get in trouble," Jenny pointed out.
"But you three won't. Sit on the couch and pretend you've been there all night. Stall Dad if you can, but if he asks, I snuck into the basement. You knew nothing about it," Casey told them in a rush before bursting into the basement.
The three kids bolted into the living room and collapsed onto the couch as Casey had instructed.
Meanwhile, Casey sprinted into the basement and ran down the narrow aisle between the rows of plants on either side of him. He stared nervously at the plant that had apparently claimed Jack's jacket since the jacket was between the 'jaws' of the plant.
Casey anxiously reached towards the plant, wondering if it was worth it. You could lose a finger with this plant.
It was worth it. Maybe Jack would finally realize how sorry Casey truly was.
Casey lunged forward and snatched the jacket, stumbling away from the plant that tried to eat his fingers, and running up the stairs.
Casey literally leaped over the coffee table and landed on the couch with his legs ending up on Jenny's lap. Casey swung his legs off of his sister's lap and tossed Jack his jacket just as the front door opened.
"Hey, Dad!" Jack exclaimed, trying to act as normal as possible. "Did Mom make her plane?"
"Yes," their dad replied, facing away from them. "Were you in the basement?"
How did he know?
Margaret could never lie to their father.
"We heard some noises. Like someone was crying," she burst out.
"Did you go into the basement?" their father asked, taking slow, even steps towards the living room.
"We were scared. The sounds were weird and-" Casey tried to defend his siblings and himself.
"Did. You. Go. Into. The. Basement?" their father asked.
Jack nodded. "Yeah."
Their father sighed as he sat on the edge of the coffee table, looking particularly at Margaret, his baby, infamous Daddy's girl, and the one who was the most worried about him.
"If I told you kids what I was doing in the basement, would you feel better?" he asked.
The four of them immediately nodded.
"Okay," their father responded. "I am going to try to explain this as simply as possible. Botanists usually take good qualities from one plant and put them into another."
"And that's what you're doing?" Jack asked.
His father took a deep breath. "No. What I'm doing is a little more unusual. I can't tell you what it is right now."
"Maybe you could tell us later?" Margaret suggested, hopefully.
Their father smiled, rubbing his hand over her hair, affectionately. "Maybe…" he agreed, but it was obvious he had no intention of giving them details any time soon.
Margaret nodded. "Mom rented us some movies. I could make us some popcorn, and we could stay up late and watch them all."
Their father sighed. "Sorry, kiddo, but I've got a lot of work to get done," he said before disappearing into the basement.
Margaret looked so disappointed, so broken up, about the fact that their father didn't have time for her anymore that her siblings immediately jumped into action.
"We can still have a good time!" Jack told his youngest sister. "And who knows? Maybe Dad will join us later."
Okay, Jack felt a little bad about getting her hopes up when their dad probably wouldn't leave the basement for the rest of the night, but it was worth it to see a smile light up her face. Maybe they could even have so much fun and distract her enough that she'd forget all about Dad and how busy he was and would go to sleep that night happy. They could hope anyway…
"I'll make the popcorn!" Jenny offered.
"I'll put a movie in!" Casey exclaimed.
Margaret smiled even wider, and she was glad that her siblings would always be there to cheer her up.
The four children slept peacefully that night. Even Jack and Casey, both prone to nightmares, had pleasant dreams.
All four of them were completely oblivious to the strange noises echoing through the house and the eerie green light shining under the basement door…
"You made breakfast?" Jack asked as he walked into the kitchen to see Margaret setting up a plate of bacon and eggs on the wooden table.
Margaret nodded.
"Margaret, you know you're not allowed to cook," Jack sighed.
Margaret rolled her eyes. "Jack, I'm eleven! I'm not a baby!"
Jack chuckled. "It's not about your age. It's about the fact that you nearly burned down our house the last time you tried to cook."
Margaret sighed. "I can still smell the burned steak."
"Burned is an understatement," Jenny said as she walked into the kitchen. "That thing looked like you made it off of the grime on the grill and felt like a brick."
Casey was the last to walk into the room.
"Yum," he commented as he approached the plate.
"Don't you dare," Margaret told him. "That's for Dad. There's tons more in the pan for the rest of us."
While her siblings got their own plates, Margaret walked over to the basement door and knocked, sharply.
"Dad, breakfast is ready!" she called.
She received no reply, except for a series of strange, unidentifiable sounds.
She knocked again. "Dad. Breakfast."
When she didn't receive a response, Margaret reluctantly gave up and went to eat her own food, leaving her father to his work.
The four kids sat in the living room after finishing their breakfast, and Margaret watched as Casey blew up another space ship on his video game. She listened to the flutter of the pages as Jack turned a page in his comic, and she heard Jenny's music blaring through her headphones.
Casey, being the first to see Margaret's depressed mood, sighed.
"Margaret, you know how Dad is when he's working," Casey told her.
"Yeah. Weird," Margaret replied.
"He's not weird," Casey responded. "He's just… busy. He'll eat it when he's ready."
As if on cue, their father stepped out of the basement.
"See? I told you," Casey said. "Anyway, I'm going outside to play. Any of you want to come?"
"No, thanks," Margaret mumbled.
"Why would I want to go anywhere with you?" Jack grumbled, making Casey flinch.
"I'll be out in a minute," Jenny said to Casey, who nodded and left the house while Margaret went to talk to their dad. She turned to Jack. "You could try being nicer to him, you know."
Jack shrugged. "Why?"
Jenny gaped. "Because he's your brother."
Jack shrugged. "And that automatically makes him my best friend?"
"No. He looks up to you. He's doing everything he can to make you like him, and you're not even trying," Jenny said. "You don't hate him, so stop acting like you do."
"I do hate him," Jack disagreed.
Jenny's eyes widened. "You don't mean that."
"Yes. I do."
"Why? What could he have possibly done that was so terrible?" Jenny demanded.
Jack avoided her gaze. "If you knew what he did, you'd hate him, too."
*JACK'S FLASHBACK*
"It feels good. Trust me!" Seven year old Casey chirped in the middle of the night.
Eight year old Jack shrugged. "Okay," he murmured as Casey's hand drifted below his waist band, touching Jack in a way that was definitely not appropriate for brothers or kids their age.
It didn't feel good. It hurt. And it only hurt more as Casey and Jack aged. Molestation became rape when Casey was eleven and Jack was twelve, and even though Casey had stopped when Jack was thirteen and had apologized a hundred times for what he'd done, it didn't heal the scars the abuse had left on Jack's heart.
*FLASHBACK OVER*
Jack shook himself out of the flashback and continued reading his comic book.
Jenny stared at him for another long minute before deciding she'd pressed her older brother enough for one day and walked outside to play with Casey.
Meanwhile, Margaret glanced around the door frame to the kitchen, and she frowned when she saw her dad holding a container of plant food. Her jaw dropped when her father began to gobble the shredded green material up, stuffing his cheeks full until he looked like a chipmunk. A few strips dangled from his mouth and he slurped them up.
Her father whipped around, and Margaret ducked around the door frame to hide. She breathed hard, her shock and worry causing her heart to race.
If she suspected something was wrong with her dad before, she knew that there was something wrong now. Without a doubt.
Margaret walked into the kitchen to see her father gulping down water like there was no tomorrow.
"Dad," Margaret began. "I made you some breakfast."
Her father swallowed the water in his mouth. "I'm not hungry," he told her before disappearing into the basement.
"I saw him, Jack. He was eating it!" Margaret exclaimed.
Jack sighed. "Are you sure weren't mistaken? Maybe it was just some spinach."
"No," Margaret replied. "I thought so, too, but I checked the label. Look."
She handed him a small container, and Jack read the label. Sure enough, it was plant food.
"And you're sure this is what he was eating?" Jack asked.
Margaret nodded. "Positive."
Jack shrugged as he stood up from his chair.
"Something is definitely wrong with Dad," Jack said. "It's time to call Mom."
"Mom, she saw him. He was eating it," Jack told his mom over the phone.
"I'm sure it has something to do with his experiments," their mother sighed.
"But he's always acting so weird lately," Jack pointed out.
"You know how your father gets when he gets wrapped up in an experiment."
Jack pursed his lips. "Maybe you're right."
"Anyway, how's everyone?"
"Well, Dad's acting weird, but the rest of us are fine. Margaret's right next to me, and Casey and Jenny are outside playing," Jack told her.
Margaret took the phone and spoke into the receiver, "Mom, you don't understand. The way Dad looked… I've got a bad feeling and-"
Out of no where, the phone was snatched from her grip, and Jack and Margaret gasped as they spun around to see their father standing behind them with wide eyes and an almost flat expression on his face as he placed the phone beside his ear.
"Hi, honey," he said, his tone completely flat. "Yes, we're fine… Margaret? I agree; I should spend more time with her… How's Eleanor? Oh, so you won't be home for another week or two… That's too bad… Love you… Bye."
Their father hung up, staring at his children for another moment before returning to the basement.
"That was… strange," Jack murmured.
"What have I been trying to tell you?" Margaret asked. "Something weird is going on, and somehow, we need to figure out what it is."
Margaret was awakened in the middle of the night by a soft growling from the hallway, and she turned on the light to see her father's shadow dancing across her door as he muttered several words she couldn't make out.
Margaret rolled out of bed and crossed the room to stand beside Jenny's bed. She lightly shook her older sister until Jenny awakened.
"Margaret," Jenny mumbled. "Did you have a bad dream or something?" she asked upon seeing Margaret's distressed face.
Margaret shook her head. "No. It's Dad."
Margaret tugged Jenny out of the bed, and the tired older girl followed her sister down the hall, following the strange sounds their father was making until they reached the bathroom.
Margaret and Jenny knelt on the floor, and Margaret opened the blinds on the bathroom door so that the two sisters could peak between them.
Their father was hunched over the sink, holding his arm beside the running faucet. He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a gigantic cut running the entire length of his forearm. He squeezed his fist, and what should've been blood dripped from the cut. But it wasn't blood. It was a dark green substance.
Their father leaned down to wash his face, and Margaret and Jenny gasped when they saw their father's curly hair, almost always kept under a baseball cap these days, stained green.
Their father glanced up, and Margaret hurried to shut the blinds before the sisters dashed back to their room and dove into their beds. Margaret shut off the light, and they curled up under their covers, facing away from the door and pretending to be asleep.
Their father entered the room, his sleeves rolled down and his baseball cap back on his head. "Margaret? Jenny?"
Neither girl replied, and their father waited another moment before leaving the room.
"Did you see what I just saw?" Margaret murmured.
Jenny nodded. "We need to tell the boys."
"Let's wait until morning. I don't want to go back there while Dad still suspects we saw," Margaret whispered.
Jenny nodded. "Agreed."
Silence reigned for several moments before Margaret swallowed and spoke.
"Do you think Dad is turning into a mad scientist?" she murmured.
Jenny licked her lips. "I hope not, but I'm afraid might be."
Another pregnant silence occurred before Margaret asked the question she'd been too afraid to ask since their father yelled at them for going into the basement.
"Dad wouldn't hurt us, would he?" Margaret whispered. "He's always so mad, but... he wouldn't actually hit us or hurt us or something… right?"
Jenny took a shaky breath. "Truthfully, Margaret… a part of me wants to say he'd never do that. He's our dad. But the other part just doesn't know anymore."
Margaret felt tears appear in her eyes at the possibility of her father actually hitting her.
"But," Jenny continued, "if Dad even tries to lay a finger on you... Jack, Casey, and I will protect with every bone in our bodies. You can count on that, Margaret. Try to get some sleep, okay?"
"…Okay."
As hard as they tried, neither girl got much sleep that night.
Casey and Jack leaped a foot in the air when a loud creak sounded, jolting them out of their sleep.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked as their sisters walked into the room.
"I saw something last night," Margaret blurted. "Dad had this cut, and this green stuff was oozing out of it, and it looked like he had leaves growing out of his head."
"Margaret, that's impossible," Jack grumbled.
"I saw it, too!" Jenny told them.
"Kids, come down here please!" their father called.
The kids glanced at each other. Their father wanted to see them instead of his plants? Something weird was definitely going on here.
The kids walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, sitting at the table while their father stirred something in the pot in his hand.
"I made breakfast," he said, cheerfully.
"Dad, why are you wearing that cap?" Casey asked. "I thought you hated baseball."
Their father shrugged, but he didn't offer any explanation.
Margaret and Jenny swallowed. After what they'd seen last night, they couldn't look at their father the same way.
Their father picked up on the tense atmosphere.
"Margaret, Jenny, is something bothering you?" he asked.
Margaret gulped. "We saw you last night. In the bathroom."
"Spying on me?" their father snarled, his anger flaring.
Jenny shook her head. "No. We were just…"
Their father sighed. "I see. You're just… concerned about me."
The kids nodded.
"Kids, what I'm doing is very, very unusual. I am trying to make a plant that is half animal," he said, proudly.
The four of them gaped.
"You're taking animal cells and putting them in a plant?' Jack realized.
Their father frowned. "I can't say any more."
Their father grabbed the pot off the stove and scooped some of the food out of the pot and plopped it into Jack's bowl.
"Eat up," he said, giving the others some of the food, as well.
The kids made disgusted faces as they stared at the green, stringy mess in their bowls. It smelled gross, and they almost expected the food to start moving.
"What?" their father demanded. "Eat."
"It doesn't smell so good," Jenny said.
"It'll taste just fine, so pick up your spoons and eat it!" their father shouted, making them jump, considering their father rarely raised his voice.
The doorbell rang.
Their father sighed. "When I get back, I expect those bowls to be empty."
As soon as their father entered the hallway, Jack and Jenny grabbed the four bowls off the table and ran to the trash can. By the time their father returned to the kitchen with a man the kids only vaguely recognized as a former co-worker of their father's, the kids were sitting at the table with smiles on their faces and four empty bowls.
"Did you finish your breakfast?" their father asked.
"Yep," Jack lied, trying not to look like he'd just spilled their food into the garbage. "It was really good."
"I'll just be down there," the man said, gesturing to the basement.
"Go outside," their father ordered, taking off his apron and placing it on top of the fridge before escorting the man into the basement.
"I don't believe anything Dad says anymore," Margaret said.
"At least Dad told us about his experiments," Casey pointed out, tossing Jenny the Frisbee.
Jenny threw it to Jack, but it went way over his heed and landed in the bushes.
Jack rolled his eyes, playfully, before chasing after it.
"If you would've backed me up when I brought in my numbers-" their father's voice carried through the vent, followed by the visiting man's voice.
"I tried-"
"They were good numbers. Very good numbers! But the university never got the numbers!"
"I've been trying to build a case for you!"
"Well, you didn't try hard enough!"
Jack didn't notice the plant creeping out of the vent growing at an unbelievably fast rate, almost sneaking up on him.
"No!" the visitor shouted in fear.
That was when Casey noticed the plant moving behind Jack.
"Jack, look out!" Casey shouted as he dove forward and shoved Jack out of the way. The plant clamped down on Casey's shoulder, tightening until he couldn't even feel his arm.
"Casey!" Jenny shouted as the girls ran over.
"Get it off!" Casey cried as the plant began to wrap around his neck.
His siblings yanked with all their might, and the plant snapped, the broken pieces falling to the ground.
"You saved me," Jack realized.
Before Casey could a reply, a sudden voice made them jump.
"What are you four doing?" their father demanded as they whipped around.
"I heard a fight. In the basement," Jack said.
Their father raised an eyebrow. "There was no fight."
"But I heard-"
"And I'm telling you there was no fight!" their father yelled. "Margaret, Jenny, did you put him up to this? More of your spying?"
"No!" Margaret cried, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. "We were playing!"
"Margaret-"
"We really were!" Jack told him.
"I don't care what you were or weren't doing! You shouldn't be spying at all," their father yelled at Margaret.
"Stop yelling at her!" Casey screamed. "If you need to yell at someone, yell at me or Jack, but don't yell at our sisters."
Jack's eyes widened. Looks like Casey had finally grown a back bone.
Their father stared at Casey for another moment.
"Up to your rooms! All of you!"
The children scrambled to do what they were told, afraid of what would happen if they disobeyed. At this point, they almost expected their own father to strike them.
"I'm scared of Dad," Margaret whispered in the silence of their room.
Jenny nodded. "Me, too."
Margaret shifted in her bed. "I need to use the bathroom."
Jenny frowned and gestured to the door. "Go then."
"Dad said we couldn't leave our rooms," Margaret pointed out.
Jenny knit her eyebrows. "I don't think that counts going to the bathroom."
Margaret still looked nervous.
"Would it help if I went with you and stood outside the door?" Jenny questioned.
Margaret nodded.
"Okay, come on."
Jenny and Margaret exited the room, and Jenny leaned against the wall outside the bathroom while Margaret was inside. Jenny tapped her fingertips against her arms until the door opened, and Margaret stepped out, wringing her hands, nervously.
"I told you girls to stay in your rooms!"
Both girls jumped, whirling around to face their father.
"Margaret had to use the bathroom, and she asked me to stand outside the door," Jenny replied.
"Why?" their father demanded.
"The lock's broken! She didn't want anyone walking in on her," Jenny explained. The first part was true; the lock was broken, but that wasn't why Margaret had asked Jenny to stand outside the door.
"Well, I told both of you to stay in your rooms," their father said, harshly, grabbing Margaret's arm and beginning to drag her back to their room while Jenny followed.
"Dad, you're hurting me!" Margaret exclaimed, and Jenny slapped their father's hand. It didn't hurt him, but it did startle him enough to let go of Margaret.
"If you ever lay a finger on her again, I don't care if you're my dad. I will tell Mom, and I'd be surprised if she didn't get you arrested for harming her child," Jenny threatened.
Their father stared at them for another moment before walking away and disappearing down the stairs.
Jenny rolled up Margaret's sleeve and saw a red mark on her upper arm, already darkening to a gross shade of blue.
"We need to tell Mom," Jenny murmured.
"Can we wait until she gets back?" Margaret whispered. "I'd rather tell her in person."
Jenny nodded. "If that's what you want."
"And could you not tell the boys yet? We could tell them right before Mom gets back," Margaret mumbled.
Jenny sighed. She didn't want to keep it from her brothers, but she also didn't want to risk upsetting her younger sister any further.
"We can tell the boys whenever you're ready," she said to Margaret before they entered their room and shut the door behind them.
"We need to talk," Jack whispered to Casey as they climbed the stairs.
"Casey, for so many years, I hated you. Ever since you hurt me. But when I saw what happened with that plant today, I realized that… even after what you did to me, I don't want to see you hurt. You've apologized to me; you've done everything in your power to heal the hurt you caused," Jack murmured, his voice thick with tears. He was now sitting on his bed with Casey beside him. "When you pushed me out of the way of that plant today, I realized that you really regret what you did, and I owe you my life. Maybe it's about time I started trying to forgive you…"
Casey felt tears fill his eyes before a sob burst out of his lips, making Jack jump.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked. "This is good news, and those don't look like tears of happiness."
Casey stood and walked over to the window, covering his chest with his arms and avoiding Jack's gaze.
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Casey whispered. "I thought it was normal. I thought it was okay; he said it was okay."
Jack's eyes widened as he leaned forward. "Who?" he demanded. "Who's he?"
Casey took a shaky breath. "Jack, I was seven when I started hurting you. Seven year olds rarely know that stuff unless they learned it from someone else."
Jack froze. "Casey," he murmured as realization dawned on him. "Who hurt you?"
Casey sniffled as he wiped his eyes, but it was no use; they only filled with more tears.
"Uncle Jonah," he mumbled. "He touched me, and he told me that it was normal and okay and that there was nothing wrong with it. He started when I was four; he would touch me and give me baths and… deep down, I knew what he was doing was wrong, but I didn't understand why my uncle would hurt me, so I believed him when he said that it was okay. When I was seven, I thought… Jack is always teaching me things. Maybe I can finally repay the favor. If I'd known that I was hurting you, I would've stopped, and I did the minute I found out what I was doing was wrong. I'm so sorry, Jack."
Jack crossed the room and swept his little brother into his arms as Casey's knees buckled, and the younger boy crumbled. Casey's knees hit the floor as Jack held the crying boy in his arms.
"It's okay," Jack mumbled. "If I'd known he was hurting you, I wouldn't have blamed you all this time. I would've blamed him."
Casey took a shaky breath as he leaned into his brother's embrace, cherishing the fact that Jack was hugging him for the first since Casey was seven.
"At least we don't have to worry about getting hurt anymore," Jack said.
He expected Casey to nod, to agree, to do something, but Casey went stiff in his arms, and Jack stared into Casey's emotionless expression and felt horror grip his heart.
Jack swallowed. "Casey, Uncle Jonah isn't still hurting you, is he?"
Casey remembered the speech the teacher had given all of them back when he was thirteen; the school had called an assembly, and at the end of the presentation on sexual abuse and how to tell someone, they played a song that brought tears to everyone's eyes: If Her Tears Were Stars. He remembered one line in particular.
"If you're listening, girl… you've gotta try! Tell on the monster and all of his lies."
After almost (but not quite) ten years, Casey was finally ready to tell on the monster that hurt him, the man who caused the emotional and physical pain that haunted him.
Casey nodded. "He's still hurting him, every time we see him. Even at my soccer games. He pulls me into the bathroom and hurts me. Why does he hurt me, Jack? Why me?"
Jack hugged Casey tighter. "I don't know, Casey. I really don't know."
"Do you hear that?"
Jenny's whisper carried around their shared room, and Margaret turned her head towards Jenny and nodded.
Jenny was referring to the strange mechanical whirring coming from down the hall, almost like the sound a drill makes; the girls glanced at each other one more time before climbing out of their beds and entering the hallway, where they found Jack and Casey already standing there, peaking around the corner towards the staircase.
Jack shushed them before the four children descended the stairs and poked their heads over the railing to see their dad standing at the basement door, but they couldn't see what he was doing from this angle.
The kids were forced to walk fully around the corner and approach their father, who didn't even glance up when they appeared at his side. They spotted a wooden thing on the door, and he was drilling it.
A lock.
"I also put locks on the basement windows from the inside, so don't try getting in through there either," he informed them as he set his drill on a nearby table. "I'm going out. I'll be back in a couple of hours."
He took a sudden step towards them, and Jack expected his own father to strike him in that moment. Evidentially, he wasn't the only one that felt that way because Casey leaped a foot in the air, and Margaret turned her face away, and Jenny took a subtle step in front of Margaret, as though protecting her.
Their father left the house, and Margaret turned to her siblings.
"I'm calling Mom," she said, and her brothers and sister nodded in agreement before they ran down the hall.
"I can't believe this!" Margaret exclaimed as she rifled through a huge stack of papers. "It was a white piece of paper with Aunt Eleanor's phone number on it! It was right here on the counter!"
"What do you think happened to it?" Jenny asked.
"I think Dad took it," she answered. "It seems like something he'd do now-a-days. Yelling at us, locking us out of the basement, eating plant food and trying make us eat it, leaves growing out of his head, and green gunk coming out of his arm… something weird is going on, and we need to find out what it is."
"I'd prefer if we waited until Mom got back," Casey muttered.
"Dad's work is getting more dangerous," Jack pointed out. "Not only for him, but also for us. The police won't believe us. We can't call Mom, and who knows if she'll even believe us. We have to do something now."
Jack and Margaret walked down the hall while Casey and Jenny followed.
"Where are we going?" Casey demanded.
"If Dad took the number, it might be in his room," Jack pointed out.
"We're going in his room?" Jenny squawked as they climbed the stairs.
"You want to talk to Mom, don't you?" Margaret asked before they entered the master bedroom.
The room was a wreck, to say the least. The bed was poorly made, and the pictures on the wall were crooked. Papers littered every surface, along with trash. Muddy footprints trekked across the floor.
"Start looking," Jack ordered, and the four kids split up, each taking a corner of the room.
Margaret checked every desk drawer, read every piece of paper, even explored into the fake plants, but she came up empty. Her siblings didn't have much luck either.
"He probably has it in his pocket," Casey mumbled as he checked the nightstand, and they all jumped when the phone rang. A few moments later, a soft beep sounded as the answering machine kicked in.
"This is the Brewer residence. We'll make sure to get back to you as soon as possible," their father's voice said on the answering machine.
"This is Gloria Marek, Dr. Marek's wife. I was just wondering if my husband was there. I'm getting a little worried; he was supposed to be home hours ago. When you get the chance, can you give me a call at 555-0101? Thank you."
The answering machine clicked as she hung up.
"I thought Dr. Marek left," Casey said.
Jack swallowed. "Did anyone see him leave?"
The four of them exchanged glances, and no one could bear to speak the frightening answer to Jack's question: none of them had.
A sudden bang sounded from downstairs, and they all jumped.
"Dad!" Casey realized before him and Margaret ran from the room, but when Jack went to stand, his legs got tangled in the phone cord, and he tripped. The answering machine tumbled to the ground, and the voice-mail began to play over and over again.
"Jack, shut it off!" Jenny exclaimed as they started hitting buttons.
By the time they finally placed the silent answering machine back on the nightstand, their father had reached the top of the stairs.
"What are you two doing out of your rooms?" their father demanded, and Jack and Jenny peaked through the cracked door to see him glaring at Margaret and Casey.
"I had to use the bathroom," Casey said, slowly.
"I was just going to get a drink," Margaret lied.
"Where are Jack and Jenny?" he demanded.
"In our rooms," Casey answered.
"Did you go in my room?" their father asked after he caught Margaret glancing at the door to the master bedroom.
"No," Casey lied.
Their father nodded, not totally believing them but not having any reason not to.
"I forgot something. I have to go back out. I want both of you in your rooms. Do I make myself clear?" their father ordered.
Casey nodded, and Margaret and Casey returned to their rooms.
Their father approached the master bedroom, and Jack and Jenny communicated through hand gestures and facial expressions before coming to a silent agreement and scrambling under the bed.
The door opened, and Jack and Jenny watched as their father crossed the bedroom floor, oblivious to the two children hiding under the bed.
Their father sat on the bed, and Jack and Jenny jumped when a worm landed on the carpet, quickly followed by two more.
Jenny made a disgusted face, and the brother and sister shared a confused glance. Where were all those worms coming from?
A wallet hit the floor, making the kids jump again, and Jack swallowed a gasp when he read the name.
Dr. A. Marek.
Their father left a few moments after he picked up the wallet (nearly touching Jenny's arm, but she pulled it out of the way just in time), and they waited until they heard the front door close before allowing themselves to breathe and crawling out from under the bed.
The door opened, and Margaret and Casey rushed inside.
"Thanks for covering for us," Jack told them. "He had Dr. Marek's wallet."
"He dropped it, and we both saw it," Jenny added before her and Jack remembered the worms and turned to the bed, gulping when they noticed that the covers were moving.
"What are you looking at?" Casey asked.
Jack and Jenny knelt in front of the bed, and Jenny took a deep breath.
"There's something under these covers," she said.
"Like what?" Margaret asked.
Jack shrugged. "Only one way to find out."
The siblings stood, and Jack whipped the blankets aside; the girls shrieked, and Casey cried out while Jack stumbled away from the bed.
Worms. Tangled together to form what looked almost like a rectangular blanket of disgusting, dark, slimy creatures.
"Ew!" Jenny squealed.
"Why?" Casey added, thoroughly disgusted.
"We need to find out the truth," Margaret told them. "And I have a feeling that the truth is in the basement."
"Look for anything you can use as a weapon against those unfriendly plants," Jack told his siblings as he grabbed a crowbar from a nearby table.
His siblings searched the garage they'd entered before Casey picked up a huge, yellow tank and slung the strap over his shoulder.
"Weed killer," he told them.
"You guys ready?" Jenny questioned.
"Nope," her siblings chorused.
Jack smiled, nervously. "Then let's do this."
Casey and Jack grunted as they put all their weight on the crowbar until the lock on the door snapped off, splintering and raining shards of wood down on them.
Casey picked up the weed killer he'd grabbed from the garage, and Jack nodded at his younger brother before marching down the steps, followed by his three siblings.
"It looks even more like a forest than before," Casey murmured as they wandered down the aisle between the rows of plants, although the aisle was now crowded with plants and leaves and stems.
"Look out!" Margaret yelped, and Casey followed her gaze to see a vine trying to wrap around Jenny's ankle.
Casey pulled the lever on the tank of weed killer on his back, and the toxic substances sprayed all over the plant, causing it to whimper and pull away from the siblings.
"What are these things?" Casey asked.
"I don't know," Jack admitted.
"Isn't that the plant that tried to grab you?" Casey questioned Jack, pointing at a particular plant that whined and wheezed.
Jack nodded. "What are these things?"
They leaned towards the nearest plant, and for a brief moment, it simply looked like the plant was breathing, but all the plants looked like that. But then, a face appeared in the plant. A human face.
"You guys saw that, too, right?" Jenny asked as they jumped back.
Jack nodded. "I wish I hadn't seen it."
Margaret jumped. "Did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Jack asked before he heard it, too.
A series of muffled sounds, mumbles, and groans.
Jack went first as they followed the sounds to a nearby closet.
"Somebody's in there!" Jenny realized.
"Or some thing," Casey pointed out.
Margaret knelt on the floor and glanced at a name tag on an unfamiliar leather bag.
"This is Dr. Marek's!" she exclaimed. "He could be in there."
Jack threw open the door, and he came face to face with… plants?
"It just looks like a bunch of plants," Casey stated.
All of a sudden, the plants moved, and a human came tumbling out of the closet, falling to the ground to display his tied up hands and the duck tape over his mouth.
It was someone none of them were expecting.
"Dad?" Margaret exclaimed.
"Mhm!" their father- seemingly their father- said.
"We have to untie him!" Jenny said.
"Don't!" Jack ordered. "Dad left, remember? So how can that be Dad?"
"All right," Casey said. "We won't untie him. I'll just take the tape off his mouth."
Casey stepped forward and ripped the duck tape off of the man's mouth.
"Thank you," the man sighed. "Now untie me."
The kids exchanged nervous glances.
"Kids, it's your dad! Come on!" the man urged.
"Dad left," Jack pointed out.
"That wasn't me. That was a plant. I'm your father!" the man said, pleadingly.
"So the dad we've been living with is a plant?" Casey asked.
"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Jenny demanded.
"I will explain everything later, I promise, but you need to untie me first," the man said.
"I'm going to untie him," Margaret said before pulling the rope off of his wrists and throwing it the ground.
"Thank you, Margaret," the man breathed.
"What is going on?" Jack demanded.
His father didn't reply. Instead, he knelt on the floor, and his hands wrapped around the crowbar Jack had dropped when he opened the closet door.
"Dad, what are you doing?" Jack asked, slowly.
"He's not our real father!" Casey replied, fear shining in his eyes as he aimed the tube of the tank of weed killer at the man.
"Yes, he is. I know he is," Margaret murmured, seeming to be on the verge of tears. "Aren't you? Aren't you?"
"No, he's not." The voice came from behind them, making them all jump and whirl around to see their father standing behind them, the one that had left the house less than an hour ago. "He's a plant. A copy. I locked him in there because he's dangerous! Spray him!"
"You're the copy!" their father- the one that had fallen out of the closet, the one without a baseball cap- disagreed. "He's going to make plant copies of us all. Spray him!"
"I don't know what to do," Casey cried.
"Give me that," Margaret commanded, taking the weed killer and aiming the tube at the cap-less version, glancing back and forth between each, trying to decide.
"No," the dad with the cap said, going over to stand beside the other father. "He's the one that tried to make you eat the food. He's the one that attacked Dr. Marek."
"No!" the cap-less version yelled. "He has Marek locked up in the other cupboard!"
"He's lying. Spray him!" the version with the cap ordered. "Spay him!"
"No! Spray him!" the cap-less version said. "Come on! Come on, Princess!"
Margaret's eyes widened before she pulled the lever and sprayed weed killer all over the version of their dad with the cap and watched as he screamed and melted into a wilted plant on the ground. The cap fell to the floor on top of the pile of clothes.
"Nice," Jack and Jenny said in unison, not taking their eyes off of the plant that had formerly looked just like their father.
"How did you know?" Casey demanded.
Margaret shrugged with a smile. "Only one person calls me princess. My real dad."
"We can study these better at the University lab," Dr. Marek said the following day as him and their father- now bald, having shaved the leaves off of his head- carried plants to the truck in their driveway. "Oh, by the way, the University wants to know when you can come back to work, full time?"
Their father shrugged. "As soon as I get over all of the side effects," he answered, gesturing to his bald head. "I truly appreciate all you've done for me."
Dr. Marek laughed. "I appreciate you getting me out of that closet."
Their father chuckled. "Well, you can thank my very brave children for that," he said, hugging Margaret under one arm and Jack under the other while Jack slung his own arm around Casey, who was now forgiven by Jack and was almost best friends with his brother since they understood each other's pain. Jenny, on the other hand, embraced Margaret on her other side.
"I still don't understand how it all started," Margaret said as Dr. Marek finished loading up the research into his truck.
"Well," their father said, "it was an accident. I cut my hand and some of my blood got onto a slide, and I ended up with something that was part plant, part human."
"You should've told me," their mother, having returned home, said.
Their father nodded. "I should've, but I was wrapped up in my work, and I went too far and ended up with an exact replica of myself."
"Except evil," Jack added.
"To us, maybe," their father said, "but like most organisms, it wanted to dominate its environment. It overpowered me. I think it wanted to make plant copies of us all."
"You know, Aunt Eleanor asked about you four, and I told her you were growing like weeds," their mother laughed. "I didn't realize how close to the truth I actually was."
"I'm just glad we're all okay," Dr. Marek said.
"And all human," their mother added.
Dr. Marek nodded. "Yes. I'll call you tomorrow, Dr. Brewer," he told the other scientist before getting into his truck and driving away while the family of six waved.
"Who's up for some lunch?" their father asked. "I've got an idea for a great garden salad and some leafy vegetables."
His kids groaned. They'd definitely had enough plants for a long time.
Their father chuckled. "I'm only kidding. Hamburgers for everybody!"
"Yes!" Jack and Casey shouted, running inside, shortly followed by Jenny and their parents.
"I'll be in in a second!" Margaret called before kneeling down to tie her shoe.
Margaret jumped when a plant touched her arm, and her jaw dropped as it whispered, "Margaret, Princess, it's me. Your real father."
"No, I'm your real father!" the flower beside it hissed.
"No, I am!"
Soon enough, every flower in the flower beds was trying to convince Margaret that they were her real father, and Margaret almost fainted right there.
"Margaret, you coming?" Jenny called as she ran down the steps, and her jaw hit the ground when she saw the flowers moving around, whispering I'm your father over and over again.
Jenny grabbed her younger sister by the shoulder and gently pulled her away. "Let's go," Jenny urged before they sprinted away from the flowers and into the house.
"Hopefully, this will make the bruise go away sooner," Dr. Brewer said as he spread some cream over the finger shaped bruises on Margaret's arm from where the plant copy of her father had grabbed her.
"Thanks," Margaret said.
Dr. Brewer sighed. "I am so sorry my creation did this to you."
Margaret smiled. "It's okay. I'm just glad you're safe, Daddy."
"I'm glad you're safe, too, Princ- wait. Nope. You told me you were too old for that nickname," their father chuckled.
Margaret shook her head. "No. I love it when you call me princess now."
Dr. Brewer nodded. "Good. Because in my eyes, you'll always be my very brave princess," he said before embracing his daughter, tightly.
He was so glad to have his little girl back in his arms. When the plant copy locked him up, his greatest fear was breaking out of the closet, only to find his children hurt or captured or worse.
From now on, he would never put work before his family. His work would always be there, but there was always a chance that his family wouldn't be, and while he prayed to God that he would get to see every one of his children grow up, none of them were guaranteed a tomorrow. If there was even a chance he might lose his children- and he would do everything in his power to make sure that didn't happen- he wanted to make the most of the time he had with them.
"What do you say we have a movie night tonight with the whole family?" Dr. Brewer asked. "And then tomorrow, I'll take you to ice cream. Just you and me, kiddo?"
Margaret nodded. "I'd like that. I love you, Daddy."
Dr. Brewer hugged his daughter once again, "I love you, too, Princess. I love you, too."
"Uncle Jonah is visiting in a few days," Casey murmured.
Jack looked up from where he was reading his comic in his own bed.
"What?" Jack asked, having heard Casey's words, but not fully comprehending them.
"Uncle Jonah is coming over in a few days," Casey reiterated. "What if he hurts me again? What if he turns on you?"
Jack crossed the room and laid down beside Casey, no longer nervous about being so close to his younger brother.
"Jonah wouldn't dare," Jack told him, "because I will not leave your side until he leaves this house."
Casey swallowed. "What of he hurts you?"
Jack shrugged. "At that point, we tell Mom and Dad because I don't know if he just likes boys, and if he hurts me, he may hurt Margaret and Jenny, too, and we can't let that happen."
Casey nodded. "I know… why do you think he chose to hurt me?"
Jack frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I don't want him to hurt you or the girls or anyone else, but I can't help but wonder… why did he hurt me?" Casey asked, his voice thick with tears. "Was it something I did or said?"
Jack shook his head. "Casey, nothing you said or did excuses what he did. It is not your fault."
Casey swallowed. "It's not your fault either," he whispered.
The brothers hugged, tightly, and somehow they knew… someday (not any time soon, but someday), everything would be okay.
The next summer had arrived, and the four kids were called into the living room by their parents.
"Kids," their father- now with his hair grown back- smiled. "Your mother and I are going on a business trip for the next month and a half."
The kids groaned.
"You will not be coming with us," their father added.
"We get the house to ourselves!" Jack cheered.
"No," their mother interrupted. "You're going to stay with Grandpa!"
"Yes!" Jenny shouted, and the kids immediately began to celebrate, leaping up and down. Visits with Grandpa George were always fun, especially for Jenny, who wanted to be a psychiatrist just like her grandfather when she grew up.
For a moment, they were having fun. No plant copies to worry about. No danger lurking in the corners, at least that they could see. The kids truly believed that the next month and a half at their grandpa's would be fun.
If only they knew what a… fearful… visit this would be.
There will be a sequel. I don't know when it will be up, so be sure to follow me and keep your eye out for it.
Thank you all for reading! Please let me know what you think of this story in the form of a review or a PM! I love feedback (but keep it kind or constructive criticism because any flames will be ignored and reported if necessary). Goodbye, everyone!