The Family Woman-Part 2
"Holly?" Sophie said, "are you trying to climb out the window?"
"Ummm…" Holly didn't know what to say. She wanted to be honest, to tell her that yes, she was in fact climbing out the window. She was also pretty certain she was having a panic attack mixed with some sort of hallucination. I must really be working too hard, Holly thought at the ridiculousness of it all.
"Can you come downstairs like a normal human? The children are getting restless and want to open their presents. And by children, I mean Gail" Sophie interrupted her thoughts.
"What? You want me to come downstairs?" Holly sputtered.
"Ugh" Sophie sighed in the exasperated way only a teenager can master. "Come on, let's go!" She crossed the room and pulled Holly back through the window. She slamed it shut before grabbing the brunette's hand to drag her to the main floor.
It took a second, but Holly felt the unmistakable sensation of metal surrounding her ring finger. Wedding bands she thought as she turned her hand over in Sophie's to confirm it. Yep, I'm in someone else's house, wearing their weddings rings. This is bad.
"Finally!" Gail shouted when Holly stumbled into the family room.
The two youngest kids ran up to her shouting "Mommy! Mommy! Look what Santa brought!"
Holly's chest tightened. She was completely confused, and quite frankly terrified. Two children, who were certain she was their mother, were clamoring for her attention. She wanted to laugh for fear of crying. It was all too much.
She tried to take deep breaths, desperately hoping she'd wake up from this nightmare. She couldn't take all the noise so she bolted out of the room and headed for what she hoped was the kitchen. She was pacing around the island when Gail walked in.
"What is wrong with you today, Nerd? You were up half the night putting the jungle gym bunk beds together for Felix and Jane, then you don't even get out of bed to watch their faces when they see it for the first time?" Gail moved easily around the kitchen and poured two cups of coffee. She handed one to Holly, but the brunette refused to accept.
"I don't understand what's happening right now. Why am I here? Why am I not at home? I have a deadline for my research paper, not to mention next year's budget" Holly had started pacing again, the stress of the situation taking over.
"What are you talking about?" Gail interrupted. "Did you have a stroke, Lunchbox?" the blonde said as she placed a quick kiss on Holly's cheek before heading back into the other room where the two youngest were climbing on their new beds and Sophie was smiling at her new iPod.
Too much thought Holly, this is all too much. She was moving toward the front door when it opened.
"Merry Christmas, Holly!" Bill Peck said as he came through the door with his hands full of gifts.
"Bill?" Holly asked.
"Yes?" he replied as he started setting the gifts on the floor to take off his jacket. The door opened again and in walked, who Holly already knew to be, Elaine Peck.
"Merry Christmas, Holly" she said crisply.
Holly shook her head. She grabbed a coat and started stuffing her feet in the first pair of boots she could find. She grabbed a set of car keys and ran out the door to the sound of Bill saying "where the hell is she going in such a hurry?"
The fob on the keychain unlocked a minivan that is sitting in the driveway. She looked at the licence plate just to confirm that she has somehow found herself back in Toronto. It reads Ontario. She is still somehow surprised.
After fumbling her way out of the suburban neighbourhood she's found herself in, she hit the 401, heading directly to Pearson International. She managed to get there in record time, parked it in the first spot she could find, and raced into the terminal, intent on getting on the first flight back to California, and her life.
The first airline she found that she knew flew to the western US has nobody in line and one smiling agent waiting to greet her. She's was grateful she almost didn't recognize the woman manning the desk: Mona.
"Hello, Dr. Stewart. How is your Christmas going?" she said jovially.
"Are you kidding me right now? Hello, Dr. Stewart. How is your Christmas going?" the usually even tempered Holly imitated the woman in a nasally voice. "What the hell is happening to me? How did I end up in Toronto? Why do two children in Canada think I'm their mother!?" she was nearly screaming now.
Mona nodded and passed Holly a brown paper bag. "This might help" she said, "take some deep breaths. People often find it very overwhelming. But if you need to puke, please tell me so I can hand you the trash can. I don't want to have to clean up like last time."
"Can you please tell me what's happening, without the cryptic bullshit!?" Holly said between puffs of her improvised inhaler.
"This is glimpse, Holly" Mona stated plainly.
"A glimpse of what?"
"What your life could have been"
Holly stared at the woman in front of her, incredulous that this could even be happening. "What my life could have been like if I were on a constant acid trip? Because that's how I feel right now! I like my life just the way it is! I've worked damn hard for it, sacrificed for it, and I want it back! So what do I need to do? How much money, huh?"
"It doesn't work like" Mona told her as she pushed away the credit card Holly pulled from the coat pocket. "You have to figure this thing out for yourself."
"Figure what out!?" Holly demanded.
"You'll just have to let it come to you"
Holly sighed as Mona looked past her and asked the next customer to step forward. She was exhausted and had nowhere else to go except back "home", so she grudgingly got back in the minivan and drove to the house she woke up in only a short while ago.
"Where the hell have you been?!" Gail shouted at her in a whispered tone, so Holly knew she was pissed but so she wouldn't upset the kids. "First you miss the kids opening their gifts, then you run out the door when my parents get here, leaving me alone with them, and then you don't come back for hours! I had Steve running your name through the system! We thought you were hurt!" she finished as she slapped the brunette's arm.
"I… I… I'm sorry. This has been really overwhelming for me"
Gail sighed deeply. "We can talk about this later. Can you please go help Jane get dressed? And then can you get dressed so we can have dinner? The kids are starving and my parents are still here and I want them to leave. That will only happen if I feed them because my mother will never pass up the opportunity to dig at me about my cooking, or the kids manners, or how I still haven't lost all the baby weight."
Holly nodded and headed up the stairs, deciding that all she can do today is coast along. She could hear the sweet voice of a child singing "Frosty the Snowman" so she followed it to its owner. The little girl was singing her song in her pajamas while she played with her new toys. She stopped singing and looked up when Holly reached to door.
The brunette smiled at the little girl who just looked at her.
"So" she attempted to be as motherly as she could, "why don't we get you dressed? Grandma and Grandpa are here and we'll have dinner soon but not until we're in our nice clothes" she tried in a sing song voice.
"You're not my real mom, are you?" the blonde haired child asked.
"No, I'm not" Holly replied, so happy that someone finally understood she could cry, even if it was just a five year old girl. "I'm a scientist and I run an entire department at a university in the United States, kind of close to Disney Land" she told her with relief.
"Where's my real mom?" she asked, concern washing over her face.
"I don't know. But don't worry, she loves you very much and I'm sure she'll be back very soon" she said as she knelt in front of the girl to comfort her. The girl, Jane, stared at Holly. Then, to the pathologist's surprise, she reached out and started touching Holly's face.
"They did a pretty good job" she said, looking the brunette over.
"Who did?"
"The aliens, in the mother ship. You look just like her. Promise you won't kidnap me and my brother and sister and plant stuff in our brains?" she asked.
"Absolutely" Holly replied, thinking this kid has to be Gail's by how morbid her thoughts are at such a young age.
"Okay" Jane smiled, "welcome to Earth. I'll help you as much as I can".