Beyond Grim And Evil: The Alliance

(A/N: Short chapter so I'll probably put up another today as well.)

I'm In Your House

Mindy looked gloomily up at the mansion as Miss Butterbean pulled into the driveway and stopped. Two nights of tutoring down. It was sad that she enjoyed being there with her teacher more than she enjoyed being at home. Miss Butterbean, noticing this, smiled sympathetically and put a reassuring hand on Mindy's shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow Mindy. Don't let your parents get to you. If something happens and you need to talk, or you need some... some help, you can call me. I'm here for support."

She smiled up at Miss Butterbean gratefully, saying, "Thank you Miss Butterbean." Nonetheless she looked uncertainly at the house then took a deep breath, getting out of the car.

Eleanor's smile fell slowly as she watched the girl walk up the grand driveway. It was then that an all too familiar aura began to surround her. She gave a half-smirk as she felt fingers pulling back her hair gently, a light kiss being planted on the back of her neck. She leaned back into it with a sigh and shiver, then greeted, "Creeper. Forward, aren't you?"

"Why waste time with dating when it's already been established I'm very interested in you, Eleanor? They never needed it in the good old days," he answered.

"Courting. I like," she replied. She giggled as he kissed her neck again, this time the side. Her grin fell, though, as she remembered Mindy. So much for her enjoyment. She was worried about the girl. Why should she be worried about one of her students? It wasn't like she even gave a flying flip what happened to them. As soon as they were gone, they weren't her problem. Why, then, did the normally uncaring teacher suddenly care? What went on in that household?

GAoBaM

Creeper noticed her sudden change and paused with a curious frown. He backed off, saying, "I'm supposed to be evaluated today, so I can't stay long. If I can, I'll meet up with you down the abandoned road you used to travel to lure me out at around two in the morning."

"Sure," she quietly agreed.

"What's wrong?" he questioned.

She blinked back at him as if she'd just remembered his presence, then answered, "I need you to do me a favor."

He raised a curious eyebrow then slunk over the seat to sit next to her. "What is it?" he questioned.

She pointed past him, answering, "See that house?" He looked over and nodded, puzzled at the line of questioning. "There's a little girl inside, one of my students. I want you to watch her, make sure she's okay. I think something… I think something's going on with that family."

"If you think she's being abused in some intimate or physical way I can promise you she's not. Her fear isn't that type of fear," Creeper stated.

"Creeper! I never insinuated that…exactly. Wait, how would you know?" she questioned.

He looked at the building then smirked, saying, "I've seen that house more often than you'd think. It's on my route. Little girl, popular, pretty, Mindy I think her name is…" He trailed off with a puzzled frown then continued, weighing his words, "But there's something up with her. Not bodily abuse, no. I'd sense that, I'd see it. It's something else. She's not easy to scare, usually. She's a brave little thing. The weird part is that when I do manage to break through, she really scares. Screaming, crying, hysterics, tears, calling for help… but her parents never come. House must be bigger than it looks. She could wake the dead with her shrieks."

GAoBaM

"How does she calm down?" Eleanor questioned quietly. He noticed the saddened change in her voice.

He wondered why, but obligingly answered, "If the boss hears this I'm dead meat, but I've stepped in once or twice."

She looked at him in surprise then smirked. "Creeper, you have a soft spot," she teased.

He smiled back, saying, "Don't rub it in. Besides, you're the one asking me to watch over her. At first I just left; then I stayed a little longer wondering how she calmed down. She either cried herself to sleep or couldn't sleep at all. Rarely does she manage to completely self-sooth. Finally I got sick of it and… I don't know, I calmed her down. I tried talking in the voice of her father and she called to me. Naturally I couldn't show myself. I just took on my shadow form and stood at her bedside. She figured out it wasn't her father after a day or two. A miracle she didn't scream more, but I think she suspected it was a dream, some sort of protector she'd made up in her mind. She welcomed it. I stopped using his voice and just toned down the scaring. If it got bad, I spoke, but without the guise. What do you suspect is happening?"

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I'm worried she may be being neglected or emotionally abused," Eleanor gravely answered.

He frowned then stated, "So be it. I'll play spy. I'll let you know if anything's going on there that should be addressed."

"Thanks. And Creeper… protect her, please," Miss Butterbean worriedly said, for once not bothering to hide it.

He paused as he was opening the door to look at the teacher, eyes pitying. Finally he nodded, saying, "Nothing will happen to her as long as I'm around. Hasn't yet." She hopelessly shrugged. She couldn't help it.

GAoBaM

Creeper crept after the girl as a shadow, following her every move closely. Where was this going? She sniffed and he felt a pang of pity. For a moment he allowed his presence to appear, and she paused, looking hopefully around. He smirked. "I'm here Mindy, I'm here," he whispered in her head.

"Cha, I just wish I knew who was here," she muttered to nothing. He knew it was to nothing because she'd long ago chalked his presence up to some daydream or figment of her imagination that came when she was terrified or sad. An imaginary friend, in a way. Yes, he could sense that too. She was talking to a daydream. Sad, really, that she thought she was the one making up this event in her mind when it was actually happening. She sensed him, just didn't think he existed.

"Mindy, come here!" her mother's voice angrily called.

"I'm coming!" she yelled back in annoyance.

"Don't take that tone with us you little moron!" he mother called back.

"Dearest, really," her father half-heartedly intervened. Well, Creeper thought, at least her father spared her a fraction of his thoughts. More than the one her mother spared.

"I hate you both," she quietly murmured, walking towards the grand room.

She entered the room, and her mother looked up, saying, "Ah, Mindy, there you are. It's about time. Really, you would do good to speed it up. Though honestly I can't blame you, what with the weight issue and all. How do you expect to win this year's school beauty pageant if you're overweight? What do you weigh, now? Sixty-nine pounds?"

Creeper started. Sixty-nine pounds!? The average weight for a girl her age was seventy-seven! At least it wasn't enough to be a medical hazard; yet. He watched cautiously. This girl had to have some pride and brains, right? "Mommy, I'm too skinny! We learned about our weights and anorexia and how gross it is to be twig thin, and I'm too light for my age. Why, I should be at least seventy-seven pounds." You tell her child. Creeper smirked in amusement at her mother's horrified expression, which he'd taken great delight in delivering.

"Now, Mindy, you're not dangerously thin yet. We don't expect you to ever become anorexic," her father said. "It would be another failure we're not ready to deal with yet."

Failure? Apart from the snobby spoiled little rich girl persona typical in half the young girls and young women he'd seen between childhood and late twenties, it seemed like they'd raised a fine child. Of course, this was coming from the mind of a villain, so he supposed he would be pretty darn lenient in judging fine children from bad children. Nevertheless, the point stood. He had no doubts this child had a bit of a cruel evil side herself, but that was of no consequence.

"Now, about those nightmares you've been having. Child, you really must tone down the screaming. You wake up the whole house," her mother chastised.

"Well maybe if you or daddy came in to comfort me I wouldn't scream for so long or the nightmares wouldn't keep coming back," Mindy snidely retorted with a sneer.

"You're too old now, Mindy, to be screaming just because of a little nightmare," her father declared.

As if. He'd seen full grown adults wake up hysterical or having panic attacks because of some nightmare or night terror that had been enforced by either the boogeyman or him, the latter of which really had only drawn mild hysterics as opposed to Boogey's full out… he didn't know what to call them, but they were bad. "I am not!" Mindy yelled. Suddenly her mother struck her face! Creeper started. Now that, was abuse, and definitely unnecessary. Mindy was stunned silent.

"That's enough from you!" the woman barked. Okay, he'd had enough. Time to step in. Boogey's training wasn't wasted completely after all.

GAoBaM

Suddenly the lights in the room flickered, as well as the fire. The family froze. After a moment her father questioned, "What was that?"

The window panes began to shake. He wished he could do more, but Boogey had ensured his copies would never surpass him. Not that they ever could even at full power. "I don't like this," her mother worriedly said.

Creeper looked at the phone and made it ring. The family looked quickly at it, Mindy's eyes wide in terror, teeth clenched. Her mother ducked behind the desk. The father shakily reached out to pick up the phone. "H-h-hello," he stammered.

"I'm in your house," Creeper whispered. The voice resonated through the room as if the speakers were on; which was strange, Mindy thought, because her father hadn't put it on speaker phone.

"Who are you?" her father demanded.

"I'm in the next room," Creeper replied eerily, loving this trick of Boogey's more and more. Convincing Boogey to share a bit of it was probably one of the smartest things he'd ever done. Just then the adjoining door was knocked on, and the family screamed.

"L-l-leave us alone," Mindy's mother barely managed to say.

"I'm coming in," Creeper replied. He transported to behind the door and gently, slowly, began to push it open.

"Stay out of here!" her father yelled furiously, throwing a paper weight at it.

"Mistake," Creeper chimed. With that he threw open the door and ran in in a shadow! The family screamed in horror and bolted for the door. Mindy, however, tripped on the carpet and fell just before the door.

"Mom, dad!" she screamed, but the door was slammed shut. "No!" she shrieked as the presence appeared over her.

GAoBaM

She covered her head shivering. After a moment where nothing happened, however, she slowly dared look up. She looked around and there saw a figure outlined against the wall, looking down at her. "They're more worthless that I gave them credit for," a voice remarked. A very familiar one.

Mindy swallowed and looked slowly up. The creature stepped into the firelight, and her mouth dropped open. "W-what are you?" she barely managed to ask.

"Creeper," he answered. He reached down a hand. "I'm a helper of the boogeyman. Mindy looked at the hand fearfully. "I don't mean you any harm, Mindy, you should know that by now." Shakily she took his hand and he pulled her up.

"Y-you're the reason for my nightmares," she stammered, tone hurt.

"I just did my job. And if you recall, those nightmares have changed quite a bit since the start," Creeper answered. Mindy said nothing. He was right about that. Now they weren't so much nightmares as they were a nightmare start and dream finish. "Believe it or not, I'm a… an intimate friend of your teacher's. In fact, just today she asked me to watch over you."

"You know Miss Butterbean!?" Mindy exclaimed in shock. "And what do you mean by intimate friend? Ooh, ooh, are you two dating?" she asked excitedly, immediately opening up in order to get the latest gossip.

He smirked and patted her head, saying, "Nice try." She frowned but then shrugged. Fine, not a big loss. She'd figure it out one way or another. She sat down across from him curiously, bubbling over with growing excitement and a boatload of questions. This figure she'd for so long thought was a day dream she'd come up with sat in this room across from her, guarded and protected her, and the icing on the cake, he and Miss Butterbean knew each other, intimately. He smirked in amusement at her curiosity.