Vaggie's afternoon didn't fair any better. Right after school, her mother picked her up and they drove to a department to buy new school supplies. A new notebook, new pencils and pens, some new folders and binders. Things that a good student would need for class which was a smart and responsible idea but Vaggie was bored out of her mind. She didn't think that she needed any new school supplies but per usual her opinion was overruled.
"The ink in these pens always dry out much too soon." Her mother frowned at one cheap brand of pens. "Vaggie, check the next aisle for a better brand."
"Okay Mom."
Vaggie went across to the next aisle to do as her mother requested. This aisle had better pens, but it also had an enormous collection of remarkable crayons, colored pencils, and paints. An oil color paint set quickly caught Vaggie's attention and she began to look over each detail carefully. It featured a variety of paint tubes and tools such as a palette, palette knife, brushes, a sharpener, six erasers, and sketch pencils, all held together by a wood carrying case.
"Now this is what a real artist uses." Vaggie thought.
She picked up the set and walked back toward her mother who was picking out binders.
"Put them back." She said without even looking at the set.
"But Mom, this is perfect for me." Vaggie protested. "It's everything I need to get my paintings just right."
"Put them back. We can't afford them."
"But we can afford several binders, two notebooks, and an endless supply of pens?"
"Don't get sassy with me young lady, and for the record yes, we can afford them because they're more important."
"So my art isn't more important?"
"I didn't say that, but your education must always come first. We've been through this."
"But what if I don't want to go to college Mom? What if I want to be an artist like Dad?"
"If that's what you want, you have the right to make that choice. But someday you might change your mind and if you do, I want you to be able to take that other option. Besides, your father wasn't exactly a successful artist."
"You never supported Dad's dreams."
"For your information, that's all I ever did the entire time we were together."
"From what I remember, you two were always fighting."
"Because he wouldn't get off his lazy ass and get a job. When we had you, dreams could no longer be the most important things in our lives. We had to start thinking about what was best for you."
"So what are you saying? That I killed your dreams? That you never really wanted me?"
"No! It wasn't like that at all! Not to me! Yes I had to give up a lot to take care of you but that's only because I wanted you more than I wanted my dreams."
"You act like it was a choice you made, but you didn't choose to have me. You got pregnant on accident."
"But I loved you right away and I wanted to keep you, and raise you, and give you the best of everything. That's all I'm trying to do."
"Then why can't you encourage my painting?"
"I try to Vaggie. Really I do. But I want to encourage you the right way. I don't want to do what your father did. He told me that I was so good at journalism that I didn't need college, and I believed him."
"At least he supported you."
"He was not supporting me. He was manipulating me. He was trying to keep me naive so I wouldn't wise up to the fact that he was a no-good slacker. He wanted me to think that I needed him when in truth, he needed me."
"You make it sound like he never loved you at all."
"Maybe he didn't. I don't know. I tried, I tried everything possible to make it work with your father but I just couldn't."
"So you threw him out? What about couples therapy?"
"Vaggie you don't understand, it wasn't just about us not being compatible anymore. I had to throw him out. If he had stayed, he would have ruined your life just like he ruined mine."
"What are you talking about? How could have he ruined my life? He loved me!"
Her mother suddenly looked like she had said too much. A terrible guilt was now present in her facial expressions, she was hiding something.
"Mom what exactly did you mean by that?" Vaggie asked.
"Let's now talk about this. Not here, not now."
"But I want to talk about this."
"Now is not the time or the place. Let's save this for another day. Please."
Vaggie didn't want to save it for another day. She didn't want to wait. She wanted to know here and now. But she reluctantly chose to say no more on the subject. Then she put back the paint set, and continued to help her mother pick out school supplies. This was followed by a silent car ride back home and an awkward moment of her mother trying to pretend that their little incident didn't happen.
"I won't be home til midnight." She said putting on her jacket before leaving to work at the diner. "Keep the doors and the windows locked. No having people over, and I expect your homework to be done before you go to bed. Understand?"
"I know the drill." Vaggie said rolling her eyes.
The woman read her daughter's mood and tried to brighten up a little.
"There's a good chance I might get that promotion. If I do things are really going to change around here for the better. We might even be able to afford things we want."
"Oh, like the paints?" She scoffed.
She sighed, reached out to Vaggie and mussed her hair. The girl just pulled away.
"Vaggie I know this whole thing has been especially hard on you, and I know I haven't been making it easier, but if things workout in the end I promise I'll make it up to you."
"That's what you always say."
Her mother wanted to say something more, but she couldn't. So she just solemnly left the apartment and drove on to her second job. Vaggie watched her leave through the window, and when the car was out of sight, she began to think that she really didn't want to spend another night doing homework. She was willing to bet everything she owned that Velvette or Helsa or even Angel were at home doing homework now.
So why should she? After all, her mother wouldn't be home til midnight and Vaggie would be back in bed long before that. She'd never know that her daughter had been gone.
With that idea in mind, she picked up the phone and called Charlie.
"Hello?" Charlie answered.
"Hey Charlie, are you still free tonight?"
"No." She heard her friend huff in anger. "Stolas left me on babysitting duty again. Unbelievable."
"When is he supposed to come back?"
"A little after midnight, maybe one o'clock. Why do you ask?"
"Well my mom won't be home until it's late either and let's face it, you and I have had it pretty rough lately. I think we need a night out."
"Out where?"
"Well we are curious about if this whole Mystique Hollow is real or not. Wanna try for another visit?"
"I'd like to, but I can't leave Octavia home alone."
"She's a smart kid. I'm sure she'll be fine on her own."
"Vaggie, she's six. It's illegal to leave a child that young alone and unsupervised. If someone noticed she was there all by herself, Stolas could go to jail."
"Good point. Get a replacement sitter."
"Where am I going to get one at this hour?"
"Try Angel's grandmother."
"No. That would mean telling Angel, and you know he can't keep a secret."
"That's right. Which reminds me, I still owe him for blabbing about my bed wetting problem in middle school."
"I suppose I could ask Husk to watch her."
"Isn't he a drunk?"
"Yeah but Gina says he's great with kids. She even asked him to watch Angel when he was younger. Still though, should we really go back across that bridge? Tonight? If Stolas or your mother finds out we left the house at night, they'll bury us alive and dance on our graves."
"As long as we get home before midnight, there's no risk."
"Okay but you're forgetting one crucial detail. Octavia. She's a notorious tattle-tale and she's already suspicious of me. How am I going to hide this from her?"
"You could use the method I use to get Angel to keep his trap shut. He sucks at keeping other people's secrets, but he's damn good at keeping his own."
"I don't follow."
"When I want him to really try to keep my secret, I get dirt on him. That's what you should do with the squirt. Even six year olds have skeletons in their closets."
"Well the only naughty thing she's ever done that Stolas doesn't know about is riding her bicycle without a helmet."
"That's perfect."
"It is?"
"She's six Charlie, a bike is everything to her because it's the only thing she can drive. Trust me on this."
At first Charlie had a feeling that she shouldn't do this. As much as she hated having to watch Octavia, she didn't want to leave her alone which could lead to something terrible happening to her. Nor did she like using blackmail on a child, a child that she cared about. But then she thought, she won't be alone. Husk will be watching her. As for the blackmail, she figured Octavia kind of owed Charlie for getting her into trouble on several occasions.
"So why is Mr. Talanov coming over?" Octavia asked when Charlie explained that she would be changing sitters.
"Because I have to help Vaggie with something and you can't be left here alone."
"But Daddy says Mr. Talanov is a drunk."
"You don't even know what a drunk means."
"I know it's a bad thing."
"Don't worry, you'll be perfectly safe with him."
"Does Daddy know about this?"
"No and let's keep it that way."
"I'm telling."
"Do that and I'll tell him that you ride your bike without a helmet."
"Don't do that! He'll take my bike away!"
"Then don't tell him about me going out and there's no problem."
"That's mean!"
"That's life. Now I'll be back around ten, your bed time is the same, and if anything happens, call me."
"Charlie I think this is a bad idea. Bad things happen to girls who go out after dark. That's what Daddy says."
"Only if a girl goes out after dark alone, and I'm not going alone. I'm going with Vaggie."
"But you're still little girls and bad people like to hurt little girls."
"No Octavia, you're a little girl. Vaggie and I are young women."
"Bad people like to hurt young women too." Husk interjected as he walked in through the front door. "I think Tiny here has a point. You and your friend really shouldn't be going outside this late. Our town has a history of kids disappearing. Etienne's boy wasn't the only one."
"He wasn't?" Charlie asked, concerned and slightly disturbed. "There were more?"
"Yeah, but I didn't know any of them. I just know from what I've seen from newspapers and milk cartons. So I have to ask, are you sure you want to go out tonight?"
"Yes." She said, reminding herself that Husk was not considered a reliable source of information.
"Suit yourself. But I better get those twenty bucks you promised me and I better not be held responsible if anything happens to you."
"You won't. Trust me."
After that, she gave Husk a slip of paper with her phone number on it and left the house, heading for the field to meet Vaggie by the bridge. Before going across, they both checked to make sure that they weren't followed and that no one would see them. They were completely alone that night.
"Here we go." Charlie said anxiously.
"Yep." Vaggie said, feeling the same emotion. "Let's see if there really is a Mystique Hollow or if we're one of those weird friends who share a dream."
They stepped on to the bridge and started to walk toward the other end very slowly. However once they heard the sound of cheers and music, they sped up and hurried right across for another adventure.