M'kay. sorry this took so long...and that Matt isn't in this chapter :P
He'll be in the next one! i promise...
I had to wait for Lie To Me to air before i could post this chapter, because, as you will see, i've added in my own little interpretation near the end based off it. More of this will be explained later...
So, i fyou haven't seen Lie To Me, it doesn't so much spoil you, but it will make more sense if you've seen it, or know what happenes...
Anyways, onto the chapter, This one gets a bit sadder and darker...
a few implied things as well. but nothing to bad. Hope you like! i'd also love some feedback on this chapter...
"Sybella" called Emily, wandering towards the spare bedroom the young girl had adopted upon reaching Emily's apartment. The room was basic enough, with a bed, chest of draws and cupboard. What it lacked was personality, something to define it as someone's room. Of course, being only a spare bedroom, no one had ever stayed there long enough to make it their own, but Emily still felt the need to do something to it to make it Sybella's.
"How about we go shopping tomorrow and get some things for your room" suggested Emily, leaning against the door frame. Sybella was sitting up on the bed, its size swallowing her up almost entirely.
"Can we?" asked Sybella excitedly, laying her toy animals around her, each one getting its own special greeting before being laid down carefully next to the others. Emily entered the room quietly, noticing the care taken by Sybella to make sure each animal had not gotten hurt or scared during the move to Emily's apartment.
"Are these your animals?" asked Emily, remembering the long phone conversation's the two had shared in recent years where Sybella had explained the latest addition to her mixed and matched 'family'.
"A huh" nodded Bella, concentrating on the elephant in hand. "This is" she paused for a moment, pondering the toys name carefully "Matilda" she introduced, a small nod confirming her decision. She went on to introduce each animal to Emily, pausing every now and then to think up a name. Emily played along, greeting each animal with a smile and handshake, or paw shake, as necessary. She didn't pay much attention to the names, figuring they would have changed by the next day.
"Bella" said Emily, drawing the child's attention away from the animals she was caring for.
"Do you remember the man named Matt from this afternoon?" she asked, sitting down on the bed slowly. Sybella pondered her question silently, casting her eyes down momentarily to fix the faded dress of her teddy bear. "Yes" she replied, shifting herself into a cross legged position on the bed. "He liked my drawing"
"He did" smiled Emily, glad that Bella's idea of Matt was some what good.
"Well" she continued, swallowing briefly to collect her thoughts "he was supposed to come over for dinner tonight"
"Why?" cut in Sybella, surprising both herself and Emily.
"Just for dinner" assured Emily "he's a good friend of mine and we like having dinner together" she continued, trailing off as Bella's mouth twitched up in thought. Emily's breath caught in her throat, fully aware that while she had not told a lie, she had not told the whole truth.
Sybella seemed to accept this new information "is he your boyfriend?" she asked simply.
Emily watched her for a moment before deciding the innocent question was just that.
"Yes he is" nodded Emily, smiling slightly to lighten the awkward firing of questions from the seven year old.
Sybella rocked back, looking almost happy with Emily's answer much to the surprise of the woman.
"Do you love him?" she continued, a small giggle erupting at the mention of the 'L' word. Emily pretended to contemplate her answer, some what taken back by it in truth, before deciding on her own tactic.
"Is that any of your business?" prodded Emily, grinning at Sybella with mock curiosity.
The child's eyes shot up, the swing in conversation surprising her as she opened her mouth, even though she had no reply. She was too caught up in the change of the last few seconds.
"Or are you just being a sticky beak" teased Emily, though she was quite interested in Sybella's reaction. She liked being in control of conversations, either choosing the topic or asking the questions and she doesn't like being taken by surprise noted Emily; she has to be the one prepared observed the profiler inside of her. She stored this new information away, aware that Sybella was still silent after her last question.
"Anyway" said Emily, breaking both her own and Sybella's train of thought "What I was going to ask is whether you mind if Matt comes over for dinner tonight?" she asked, offering the question up for thought.
Sybella pondered the new question, once more turning her gaze away from Emily towards her animals. She was still a little surprised from earlier, though she knew Emily was had been joking and meant nothing by it.
In truth Bella didn't know whether she wanted Matt over or not. She didn't like most men. She knew that. But Matt was different. He didn't try to speak to her or come near her but he was kind and smiled. Not to mention he liked her drawings. No, she decided, Matt was safe, especially since he was Emily's boyfriend, but something was still telling her inside that she didn't want him to come over. She was secretly glad Matt was Emily's boyfriend. It saved her a lot of work of he was going to be her daddy one day and as much as she wanted to see him again she wanted Emily to herself, at least for tonight. Upon reaching her latest revelation she shook her head silently uncrossing her legs to slide of the bed. Instead of waiting for Emily's reply she turned towards her animals picking up each in turn and silently placed them around the room on their blankets before tucking them in for the night.
"Goodnight, sleep tight" she told each, smoothing back their fur gently before moving on to the next.
Emily watched the silent care Sybella gave each stuffed animal in wonderment. She really was a law onto herself, deciding when and what she wanted to do. Luckily for Emily's sake she wasn't too stubborn, despite her unusual independence.
Walking purposely around her room she really was the mother of her animal family, none where treated differently and she loved all of them, caring for them as if they were her own real children. Each was told good night and tucked in, a little reminder about sleeping in or not being scared about the new house was given to a few and at the end she reassured them all that she would be in the lounge room if any needed her.
When she had finished her rounds Sybella returned to the bed, standing next to where Emily sat.
"Mummy" she said, breaking the silence that had enveloped the room moments before.
"Maybe Matt can come over tomorrow night" she continued solemnly, confirming her decision with a nod before leaving the room.
"Really" replied Emily, blinking surprisedly after the girls retreating form. A smile worked its way up her face as she thought over what she was getting herself into.
How on earth had she managed to become responsible for such a remarkably mature and sweet, if not unusual child?
Emily looked distractedly around the room at the stuffed animals laid near the bed. At the end of the row was a tattered stuffed bear, much older than the rest. It was wearing a light blue dress, the faded pink cherries only a fraction of the deep red they had once been. Emily piked up the bear, noticing with a laugh the stain over the pocket from endless summers spent filling it with leaves and stones and jelly beans. She turned the teddy over gently, careful of its fraying fur. On the back of the dress was a small tag where the initials E.L had been scribbled quickly by a young child all those years ago, back when the dress had been worn by a child, not a teddy bear. When one day it had grown to small for her, it had been passed on to her neighbour, then through a long line of friends until it had reached her again, all those years later with a rip down the side. It had been handed onto a her old teddy then who, like the dress which had comforted her through her lonely child hood, was now ready to soothe any and all children she came along in her line of work just like it had soothed her. One child in particular had found comfort in it, gripping it in one hand while the other held the angel around her neck. She had become responsible for it now and when she had been taken away to her new family the bear had been given prime position over the rest of her animals 'the best looked after teddy bear in the whole damn country' grumbled her foster father one time.
Despite the odd Thirty years that the teddy and dress had spent travelling from house to house they still managed to hold the sparkle that had stopped the tears of a young Emily, and had stopped the tears of a young Sybella years later.
"Emily" called the child in question up the hallway, causing Emily to drop the teddy bear in suprise. She watched it hit the bed momentarily, still in a daze before snapping back to reality and dashing out the room.
"Yes" replied Emily, reaching the hallway in record time. "Is something wrong?" she asked, working her way through the apartment to where the call had some from. A small seed of fear planted it self in her as she thought of all the other times Sybella had called her name, either ending in tears or fears.
"There's no more toilet paper" called Sybella in reply, her small voice straining in annoyance as she heaved a sigh. Emily stopped momentarily in her tracks, laughing softly at her earlier worries. She may have landed her self the role of parent to one of the most complicated and amazing children she knew, but she was still a seven year old child and sometimes that was complicated enough.
Hours later Emily carried an exhausted Sybella up to her room for bed. The two girls had decided on a dinner of two minute noodles, followed by a late night screening of the all time classic Sleeping Beauty, complete with their own remake of the dragon scene, swords and all.
Sybella had collapsed in exhaustion just as Sleeping Beauty awoke to the Princes kiss, her own deep breathes matched by the ringing of bells at the wedding.
When Emily had picked her up she snuggled deeper into her arms, showing no signs of waking up anytime soon. She carried her towards the bedroom, placing her underneath the covers and tucking her in, much like Bella had tucked her animals in earlier. Emily was glad she had convinced Bella into having a bath earlier in the evening, instead of having to negotiate with her in the morning. Maybe you can do this after all smiled Emily, kissing Bella softly on the forehead and brushing back her hair.
She switched the bed side lamp off, tip toeing out of the room carefully before noticing the teddy bear lying dejectedly where it had fallen earlier by the bed. Emily picked it up slowly, hugging it to her chest for a moment, its feel and smell taking her back to her seven year old self, sitting silently in her room, while her uncle talked to her sister Allison next door. She had often wonder why her uncle never came to help her with her homework, only Allison, though deep down something inside of her was glad he didn't. She hated feeling that way. Her uncle had been their for her, and Ally, and their mother when her father had passed earlier that year and her mother was forever telling the two girls how grateful they were to him for everything. Allison would storm off at this, leaving Emily to munch on her cereal or finish her drawing, oblivious to the happenings behind closed doors. Her mother would mutter around the kitchen, opening and closing doors, before finally deciding upon what meal to cook for the girl's uncle that night. When he would come to their house on Friday nights and declare he needed to discuss how Allison was keeping up with school work and such privately, Emily's mother would scurry off next door for a drink with the neighbour. Emily was sent to her own room as she wasn't old enough for homework yet. She would hug the bear to her chest, breathing in its scent of old musty books, just like her father who had given it to her all those years before. He could afford only one at the time, his odd jobs and the cost of medicine for his failing heart resulting in a lack of money. Emily had been receiving Allison's hand me downs for months so, after his pay, he went and bought her the furry brown teddy, just like the one she had seen in the movies. Allison had missed out.
"You kept me safe" whispered Emily, stroking the soft brown fur of the bear. She blinked away the tears, only letting one slide down her cheek to hit the top of the bear's head, one more to join all that had gone before it.
She pressed the bear next to Sybella's small frame, before turning to leave the room.
The young girl sighed softly as she pulled the bear unconsciously closer, deep in the land of nod.
"Keep her safe" murmured Emily from the door before walking down the hallway.
She brushed past the small table by the door before entering her bedroom. She opened her draw, pulling out the odds and ends that had accumulated, along with one of Matt's old socks before she reached the faded photograph at the bottom. Two young girls sat with their father and mother, grin's all around as the father kept the family laughing with his magic tricks.
"I'm sorry dad" whispered Emily, letting the tears blur the happy image before her. She lay down on the bed, hugging the pillow close to her chest as the tears kept coming, down her cheek onto the soft fabric continuously until her breath evened out slowly. Sleep claiming her at last.