Was there anything worse in the whole world than a vicious case of the flu?
Undoubtedly, but at the moment a certain ailing little girl couldn't name a single one of those nastier alternatives. So stricken was she with fever, she could barely think at all for that matter as she lay curled up in her bed, looking as if she was standing at death's door.
It was bad enough that she had been so mercilessly struck down by this sickness the night before, sending her temperature skyrocketing and making her so queasy she could barely stomach anything other than some water now and then. However, along with that heaping portion of misery, Goo also found herself saddled with a sizable side dish of guilt as well. After all, the family had been planning to pay her grandparents a visit at their home a few towns over since the beginning of the week, and no one was more excited abut the outing than the child herself.
However, apparently her health seemed to have had other plans as the flu bug she had contracted from clear out of the blue unexpectedly incapacitated her. Thus, all thanks to her, their Saturday had gone straight down the toilet without a trace. And, although her mother had just been in her room half-an-hour ago, reassuring the child that these things "just happen" and it wasn't her fault, it still didn't make Goo feel so much as one smidgeon better. No matter how many times she was told that everything was going to be just fine, it still didn't change the fact that her mother and mother were stuck here tending to her, and to say she felt terrible about the whole mess would've been an understatement at the very least.
So now there she lay, wracked by a hideous combination of guilt and flu and feeling as helpless as a newborn kitten. At the moment, she wanted little more to drift off to sleep and pray that she'd feel slightly better when she awoke. However, just as it had been when she first woke up, luck didn't appear to be on her side, for she was also feeling thirstier than someone who had just crawled through a barren desert for three days. She desperately wanted a drink of water, but Goo genuinely didn't want to trouble her mother and father any more than she already did. However, try as she might to be as little a bother as possible, her craving for a cool glass of water just wouldn't leave her be, and finally, as the last of her willpower sapped away,
"M-Mama?" She groaned. "Mama, c-could you get me s-some water?"
With that, she rolled over, tried to make herself a little more comfortable, and waited patiently…and waited…and waited…and waited…and waited…
It was a full five minutes before the feverish child glanced at the clock next to her bed and realized that her mother hadn't shown up, nor even her father. After a few moments to mull this puzzling development over, she quickly realized that she hadn't even heard anyone reply to her earlier request.
Confused, she struggled to sit up in bed, cleared her throat, and managed to call out hoarsely, "Mama? D-Daddy?"
Words failed completely to describe the initial panic that washed over her when she understood that not only was no one replying to her, but while she listened intently, she didn't hear so much as one sign that someone other than her was present in the house.
Before she was completely overwhelmed with horror, Goo quickly tried to get a hold of herself and automatically denied this nightmarishly unthinkable scenario. No, no that couldn't be right. Her parents had to still be here, they simply had to be. Maybe they were just outside, or something. After all, who on earth would leave their only child all alone while she was terribly sick?
Maybe it was the just the fever, she suggested silently to herself, and immediately a weak grin took root on her features. Yes, maybe she was just a little delirious. Perhaps her mother and mother were still here, but because of the fever she couldn't hear or see them and-
THUNK!
The sudden clamor emanating from downstairs startled the child so terribly she almost leapt clean out of her skin. Okay, that she definitely heard.
Bewildered, Goo quietly listened as she hoped desperately it was a sign that her mother or father was still here. As soon as she heard an odd rattling racket, she quickly recognized it as the distinct commotion of someone battling with a doorknob downstairs.
"Huh?" she grunted, as she continued to be swamped by confusion. True, there was no denying that it sounded like someone was trying to get through the front door. But exactly who was that particular someone? If it were either of her parents, surely they would've been able to let themselves in with a house key of something of that sort, yes? Then who could possibly…
Almost immediately, her imagination became a runaway freight train, and it wasn't long at all until Goo found herself picturing some brutish thug in a ski mask standing right outside her house, struggling to get inside to rob her family of everything they had, or even worse.
"N-no, no couldn't be…" the child started murmuring to herself as she clutched her bed sheets tightly in her little hands. "M-Mama…Mama just got locked outta the house, and…and she just-"
Her self-reassurances met a hasty demise when she suddenly heard a yell of frustration resound from outside, quickly followed by the din of someone, or something pounding the door angrily.
WHUMP! WHUMP!
As her heart almost leapt into her throat, without even thinking, the feverish little girl crawled from her bed and stumbled out into the upstairs hallway to investigate the commotion. Stumbling about weakly, Goo struggled to remain as silent as possible as she peered downstairs and braced herself for the worse.
"Wha…?" To her surprise however, all of a sudden it was as if the entire ordeal had been nothing more than a mind trick. The pounding, the rattling, the yelling, all of it had appeared to come to a sudden halt, and again the house was awash in silence.
Sorely flabbergasted at this point, Goo couldn't help but let her curiosity get the best of her. Making sure to grip the stair railing tightly, she slowly descended downstairs to investigate the din she could've sworn she had heard. Once she had successfully made it to the first floor, she paused, started to reach for the doorknob…
"YEEEK!"
Immediately she elicited a strangled yelp and stumbled back a few paces once she realized that someone was indeed outside, and had simply switched to a new tactic; from the sounds of it, was now trying to actually pick the lock.
For a few moments, Goo was hopelessly frozen with terror the likes of which she had never felt before, as her heart rate quadrupled, her eyes almost bugged out of her skull, and her breathing became alarmingly shallow. It did no good to try and convince herself otherwise, there was no way in heaven or hell that it was anyone from her family trying to get back into the house. She had little choice but to accept this living nightmare she found herself trapped inside; she was all alone, and about to be at the total mercy of some crook.
As the tears of fright started welling up in her eyes, the sickly little girl's mind started racing. Maybe, if she was quick enough, she could grab a phone, hide someone safe, and call the police so that-
Too late. With a barely audible click, the lock was undone.
"NO!" Goo shrieked in horror as the door started to open. Without so much as a second thought, or even any thought at all for that matter, she stumbled over, drew and umbrella from the umbrella stand, then promptly lunged at the intruder with her weapon held high. There was no way she could escape to safety, the feverish child hastily concluded. There was only one option left, and that was to defend her home with everything she had.
"GO AWAY!" she howled as she started lashing out furiously at the first thing that walked into the first door. Almost immediately, the trespasser went down like a sack of cement under the hail of blows, and his startled cries echoed loudly throughout the house.
"OW! What the-OW! OW! OW! OW! Stop it! OW! OW! Cut it out! Cut it out-OW!" he instinctively burst out begging shamelessly for mercy. Nearly half-blind by the tears that gushed down her cheeks, Goo continued striking out viciously in her determination to make it out of this encounter alive.
"G-go away!" She cried, never once taking a moment to see that strangely enough, the intruder was actually shorter than she was. She just battled on fiercely, giving it everything she had as she continued to scream hoarsely, "Go away! L-leave m-m-me alone! Don't-"
"AUGH!" a horrified scream rang out above the din of the veritable massacre. "WHAT ON EARTH?"
Before Goo knew it, a pair of arms had wrapped themselves tightly around her waist and had swiftly hoisted her high into the air. As her improvised cudgel fell from her hands, the child let out an eardrum-rupturing shriek of terror before the intensity of her weeping doubled.
"No! Nooooo! No! No!" she sobbed as her limbs flailed. "Just l-leave me alone! L-l-leave me alone! P-please, d-d-don't-"
"Leave you alone like this? Not on your life, missy!" a familiar voice scolded as suddenly, Goo found herself staring straight into the vibrant emerald eyes of her captor. Once recognition came crashing down upon her like a ton of bricks, Goo immediately ceased her struggling, and went temporarily dumbstruck.
For a couple seconds, she could do little more than gasp for breath and gawk mutely before she managed to whine hoarsely, "F-F…F-F-F…F-Frankie?"
"No, it's the tooth fairy here to drop off a nickel!" the lanky redhead snapped back, though this flash of temper lasted for only a moment. Once she saw the terror in the shaken child's eyes, the woman shook her head, sighed heavily, and instinctively started cradling the little one gently in her arms.
"Goo, what were you doing?" Frances "Frankie" Foster demanded softly. Quivering like a leaf from the ordeal and unsure what to think at that point, the little girl started whimpering,
"I…I-I-I dunno…f-first, M-Mama and Daddy disappeared…a-a-and after th-they left me all a-alone, I-I thought th-that angry psycho b-b-burglars showed up…b-but you w-w-were the…th-the…b-but why are you s-sneaking into p-p-people's houses and st-stuff, when….I-I just don't get it, why…"
As the tears continued to trickle down the sides of the girl's face, Frankie gently dabbed at her eyes wit a sweater sleeve and groaned. "I knew we were gonna pay for being late."
"Being…b-being late?" Goo repeated bewilderedly.
"What'd you think? That your parents abandoned you?" the redhead inquired incredulously. "Your mom called this morning just to let us know how you weren't going to show up at the house today, and when I found out why and about the plans you guys had made, I…well, I kinda volunteered to look after you for the day."
"…Y-you're my babysitter?" the disbelieving child murmured.
"Well…" Frankie replied with a shrug. "Yeah, basically. I mean, the rabbit said I could, and it beats a day of chores anytime. So your mom and dad got to leave, but we were supposed to show up before they left. I guess they just forgot to leave any of the doors open, but luckily I had a hairpin with me so we could-"
"Hold on! Hold on!" Goo whined as she was still stricken with puzzlement. "Who's we?"
"Ugh…" a piteous moan from down below quickly answered that question. Goo took one glance, and as soon as she laid eyes upon the little boy lying in a heap, she went noticeably pallid with dismay.
"Uh-oh…" she whimpered, as Frankie quickly realized she had forgot all about the other child in the midst of the chaos. Hastily, the redhead dropped to her knees, managed to transfer Goo to one arm, and delicately scoop up the little boy.
"Mac?" she yelped. "Oh jeez, oh you all right? Pal, are you hurt at all?"
Badly dazed from his pummeling, Mac hung as limp as a sack of potatoes in her grasp as he murmured, "Just…just my pride…and m-my body…"
"…I'm sorry, Mac…I-I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" The ailing little girl found herself whimpering yet again as she lay safely curled up under a blanket and securely perched upon Frankie's lap while the little group watched TV. Mac repositioned the ice pack on his head and tried to flash her a reassuring smile.
"I told you already that it's okay." He replied gently. "You didn't know, and-"
"I-I know, but…I'm really, really, really sorry," the sickly little one just started murmuring guiltily again. "I'm sorry Mac, I didn't mean to beat you up, I just…"
"Oh, will you give it a rest?" Frankie couldn't help but chuckle as she gave Goo a delicate pat on the head. "Don't worry, he gets worse when we're roughhousing back at home. He'll be fine."
"I…I know, but-" she attempted to apologize before her friend smiled at her again.
"Just remind me not to get you ticked off during a rainstorm." Mac teased in an attempt to lighten her spirits. The remark worked like a charm, and before Goo knew it, she was quaking softly with mirth.
"I wasn't that bad…" she snorted. "Was I?"
"All I'm saying is that I never knew you were so skilled in the deadly arts of the umbrella." The boy continued to joke.
As the two children shared in on some laughter, Frankie continued to stroke the little girl's head and teased, "Don't worry. As long as we're here, I think it's quite safe to say that no one else is going to get bonked on the-"
"Hey, what's that?" Mac suddenly piped up as his ears picked up an odd clamor. Instantly, Frankie hit the mute button on the TV remote, and all three fell silent as they listened intently.
"That's…that's the back door, near the kitchen…" Goo finally spoke up softly before her expression contorted with confusion. "But…but who would wanna enter through the-mmph!"
Working quickly, the caretaker slapped a palm over the child's mouth and motioned for silence as she instinctively went on the alert. With her maternal instincts telling her that the children were possibly in danger, she hastily swung into protective action. After wordlessly gesturing that the two were to remain still, she deposited Goo aside, and bolted for the kitchen with all the silent agility of a panther on the hunt.
Both a little frightened by the prospect of a real intruder actually breaking in, the little ones went as rigid and quiet as statues, save their hands which unconsciously wandered and grasped one another tightly. After only a few moments though, which seemed to last for an eternity, they heard something wrestle a door open, followed by a whiny demand, "Hey, what the heck is wrong with the front door-"
CLANGGGGG!
WHUMP!
As soon as a young woman's panicked cry followed the metallic ring, the children instinctively rushed from the living room. An instant later, they arrived to find a most peculiar sight; possibly the most blob-like trespasser they had ever seen, lying face-first upon the linoleum and totally out cold. Meanwhile, Frankie's pallor was as white as fresh snow as she gawked in horror at what she had done, while still wielding the frying pan in her hands.
For nearly half a minute, the kitchen was dead silent save their own breathing. Finally though, Mac glanced up at his guardian, took a hard swallow, and whispered, "I…I guess he changed his mind about wanting to come with us."
Frankie, still looking unspeakably mortified at what she had done, just nodded wordlessly as she shakily put her weapon down, and carefully gathered up the unconscious imaginary friend into her arms. As she watched, Goo, unsure whether she shouldn't feel so bad about her earlier mistake anymore, tried to break the next wave of deafening silence with a light-hearted comment.
"I…I guess I really should be feeling a lot safer now, huh?" she tried to joke with a wan smile. Still cradling Bloo in her arms, Frankie sighed heavily, gazed heavenwards as if silently imploring 'why', then strolled towards the freezer to grab another ice pack.
"Let's just get our story straight…when he comes to, we tell him that he 'tripped' on the way in…"
The End