Not-So Bright Brighton
For almost ten minutes, Molly walked about Brighton's main street; taking in all the familiar (and not so familiar) elements around her. At first glance, everything seemed to be exactly like she remembered. All the familiar shops were still present, the old video place was still closed, the statue of Ezekiel Tuggbottom was still standing in the town square.
Wait a second...EZEKIEL TUGGBOTTOM" Molly cried while stopping her stride, "but that guy's a fraud, it was his sister who found the town...not him!" Clarence appeared by her side, seconds later and nodded slightly in understanding. Then, he proceeded to remind her that Brighton's changes were just the same as all the others they'd seen earlier...only bigger.
"It was you and Libby who brought the false history of Ezekiel Tuggbottom to public light, my dear" he stated, "but since you never existed, that hasn't changed." After taking a moment to shake off the "ooglies" of this news out of her, Molly soon noticed many other unsightly things that had gone unchanged within Brighton. The streets were still littered with potholes, raccoons still roamed about the town and all the citizens looked downright miserable.
The only thing that, apparently seemed to make Molly smile was the sight of Irving the Illusionist (Brighton's so-called "acclaimed" street magician) struggling with his tricks. Each time he tried pulling a rabbit out of a hat, attempted the cup trick or tried pulling coins from behind the ears of passersby; he made an embarrassing blunder or two. "Well, at least I've got one pleasant thing to see in this weird world" Molly murmured with a soft grin, "always knew he'd screw up with that fake magic scheme."
No sooner had she said all this, Molly suddenly felt something swiftly yet lightly strike the back of her head. As it turned out, it was Clarence who had delivered the blow and she gave him quite the dirty look for it. "I'm so sorry about that, dear" the non-angel murmured apologetically, "but I thought that you of all people would know that reveling in the misery of others is wrong."
While some part of Molly did agree with him, the other part of her still felt her joy felt justified; proclaiming all "liars" deserved justice. "I'll admit, even I agree that the stagecraft of magicians like Irving can be...lackluster" Clarence confessed, "but still, he puts as much heart into it as you do with 'en-happifying others." No sooner had he said this; he revealed that by not existing, Irving had lost his "greatest challenger."
According to him, Molly was the one person in Brighton who helped push Irving towards making more and more dazzling tricks for the townsfolk. Despite her overall disdain for close-up magic, Irving felt that her lack of belief was just the "spark" he needed to perfect his skills. "Sadly, Molly...because you never existed, Irving never found any other person in anywhere in Brighton" Clarence explained, "sure, there were others who disbelieved in his abilities as you did but you were never quite so...violent in your disapproval of them."
To prove his point, he brings Molly to another moment in time; one where Irving is seen performing at a child's birthday party. He was in the midst of showing off the famous "Sawing the Assistant in Half" trick to the children and as they watched him cut his saw through their friend, the children seemed pleased. But then, as Irving pulled both sides of the cut box part; everyone saw the legs fall out of their holes and onto the grass.
As expected, their immediate reaction to this was pure terror; which was something that Irving had no intention of wanting from them. "Do not cry, children" he murmured nervously in reassurance, "your friend is...i-is perfectly fine." To prove he was telling the truth, Irving approached one of the fallen legs and picked it up; showing that it was nothing more than a foam replica.
"YOU GOT A LOT OF NERVE TRYING TO RIP OFF MY FAMILY, BUDDY" roared a disgruntled father, "GIMMIE THAT SAW AND I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO REALLY SAW SOMEBODY IN HALF!" The instant he heard this threat; Irving desperately reached into his pocket, pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it at the ground. The instant it exploded and the party goers found themselves caught in the smoke, Irving took off running.
Sadly, his skills at escape were just as poor as his magician skills, which was evident by his repeated failures to jump the fence. When he finally crawled over to the other side, his pants got caught on a chipped piece of board. As a result, poor Irving had no choice but to tear himself free right out of them and run.
Before long, the mob of angry party attendees and their children gave chase after him; smashing through the fence like a stampeding herd of buffalo. When the dust cleared, Molly stood frozen in place with her mouth hanging agape with shock.
(Line Break)
"As you can see, Molly...because your family had never moved to town, nothing here has changed" Clarence said bluntly, "all of the good things you, your parents and even Darryl helped inspire into fruition never came into being." After taking Molly by the hand, the first place in Brighton they chose to visit was the Retirement Home. Upon seeing this, Molly beamed slightly with joy; hoping the sight of Patty and her senior friends would help lift her spirits up.
But the instant she phased through the doors, she was in for a shocking surprise. Patty and the others were present, just as Molly hoped but every face in the room looked sullen and bored. The music in the room was no help either, it sounded very eerie like the Muzak stuff you hear in a doctor's waiting room.
Then, Molly watched as one of the orderlies soon stepped in the room; announcing that Exercise Time was starting soon. "Feh! I ain't in no mood for no exercisin'" grumbled a senior in a baseball cap, "just lemme stay here and watch my stories!" This comment caused the orderly to roll their eyes in annoyance before making their way towards the old man and wheeling him out the room, despite his many angry protests.
Aside from that, many other things seemed out of place in the Retirement Castle to Molly. There was no sign of lively activity, no laughter in the air and it looked as though the seniors were all moving slower than normal. "Ugh! It feels like those Sob Goblins we saw earlier had drained all the joy out of this place too" Molly grimaced, "is it like this everywhere else in Brighton?"
Clarence gave the young lady a knowing look, as if he expected her to ask such a question. Then, he snapped his fingers and the duo were suddenly teleported right out of the room.
(Line Break)
After reappearing almost fifteen seconds later, they soon found themselves in what looked like a hallway. When Molly took immediate notice of the lockers on both sides of her surroundings, she quickly deduced that they had been transported into Brighton Middle School. "Okay, this don't look too different from how the school usually is" sighed Molly, "but...something tells me you've got some surprises in store for me, dude."
Clarence nodded his head slightly and led her over to her homeroom. Upon arriving there, Molly looked inside and saw all the students sitting in their desks. For a brief moment, she felt at ease; thinking nothing seemed too out of place here.
"Don't be so easily deceived, Molly" urged the non-angel, "as you mortals so often say...looks can be deceiving." No sooner had this been said, the duo heard the soft sounds of heels clicking against the floor echoing behind them. Molly braved a look over her shoulder and saw something that...actually made her feel slightly more at ease.
Coming towards the classroom, strutting like a supermodel on Broadway, was Andrea Davenport. "Ah! Thank corn, it's nice to see a familiar face here" Molly sighed with relief, "Andrea, you would not believe the day I've..." Before she could finish her statement, Andrea walked right through Molly's form as if she were a ghost.
Once again, she came to the sudden (and annoying) realization that she did not exist in this world. Which meant that no one could see, hear or touch her...not even her friends. "I'm very sorry to tell you this, my dear girl" Clarence clicked with disappointment, "but in this world...Miss Davenport is no one's friend except her own."
Feeling understandably confused by such a statement, Molly demanded a clearer explanation of what was happening. But instead, the non-angel directed her attention back into the classroom; where he claimed that an equally shocking surprise awaited her.
(Line Break)
"Look very closely at the rear of the classroom, Molly" Clarence instructed, "tell me...do you see anyone familiar there?" After giving a reluctant shrug of her shoulders, Molly's eyes started scanning about the room in hopes of finding what her angel saw. It was then that she finally caught sight of a familiar face stuffed way back in the class.
Seated at a lone desk, one that looked on the verge of breaking down, was Molly's BBF (or Best Brighton Bestie) Libby Stein-Torres. "I should feel relieved at seeing a friendly face here" Molly groaned uneasily, "but...I've already burned one too many times today from saying that." With that, she wasted no time in asking why Libby was sitting so far away from everyone.
With a soft sigh of despair, Clarence revealed that Libby's current position was all thanks in part to one Andrea Davenport. Now, after seeing how Andrea walked about the halls earlier; Molly had already guessed that Brighton's "Princess of Social Media" was still a diva. But that would only be possible if Davenport's were still open for business.
"If that's the case, it must mean BizMart didn't come along and took away their clientele" Molly deduced, "still...of all people, I hoped Andrea would have some of the spark of decency I saw in her when she helped me and my family." Clarence gave a long sigh and delivered not one but two bombshells of bad news to the poor girl. Firstly, while it was thanks to the McGee Family's involvement in the community that caught BizMart's attention; big corporate chains had other ways of branching out.
In this case, the head of BizMart came to Brighton due to rising profits from Davenport's Outlet Store. "One day, the head of the company approached Mr. Davenport and gave him an offer he couldn't refuse" Clarence said grimly, "a partnership." This bit of news shook Molly so heavily, it felt as though her brain had either shattered or exploded into dust.
It all made sense, when one took the time to think about the plan. With BizMart's vast resources and Andrea's Social Media presence, both sides could (or would, in this case) gain an immense amount of profit. "Because of this partnership, Andrea became an overnight sensation online" Clarence explained, "as a result, she was spoiled rotten; making her far worse than how she was when you two first met."
Molly couldn't help but violently shudder at the mention of that particular moment in her life. It was hers and Darryl's first day in Brighton Middle School and she hoped to make a great first impression with everybody. But then, the moment came where she first crossed paths with the "illustrious" Andrea Davenport.
At first, she seemed rather friendly; declaring herself to be Brighton Middle School's "official Good Will Ambassador." To Molly, this felt like she had a kindred spirit in "enhappifying" the lives of others. But then, Molly made the mistake of mispronouncing the girl name; calling her "Ann-drea" instead of her preferred "Ahn-drea." Needless to say, the young social influencer did not take this very well.
At the same time, this mishap did help Molly towards meeting with her first ever BFF; Libby. Sadly, as she gazed over at the back of the room, Molly felt her heart ache. The sight of her bestie struggling to keep seated and confident felt sadder than seeing a million "It's Almost Friday" posters all in the same place.
Meanwhile, Clarence didn't waste anytime in explaining just how things turned out this way. "You see, dear...you were Libby's first real friend in so long" he stated, "you helped push her towards being a more confident and capable young lady." Although one part of her felt flattered by such words, another part of Molly stayed humble and insisted that Libby already had talent in her.
"For one thing; she told me so herself, long ago how she always had a passion for singing" she exclaimed, "not to mention her equal passion for Slam Poetry!" Clarence nodded silently at both statements but quickly reminded Molly that it was her being there that helped Libby to become the young lady she knew back in her reality. Had it not been for Molly's insistence to join the talent show, Libby would've never discovered her love for poetry.
Secondly, Libby never felt the confidence needed to become a bolder individual; thus prompting her towards writing her own stories or trying new things/experiences. But most of all; due to Molly never coming into her life, Libby never once felt confident enough to try and find new friends. "Now, she much prefers to hide herself away from the world out of fear" Clarence stated, "just like a turtle hides itself within its own shell."
As if on cue to help emphasize this point, Libby saw Andrea approach her desk with a smug stride. This caused the poor girl to "meep" in alarm and hide her head deep within the hole of her turtleneck sweater. Then, Molly watched as Andrea placed a rather mangled pencil on the girl's desk.
At first glance, some wouldn't see this as anything worth noting or looking into. But as Molly took a closer look, she saw that the pencil had an adorable topper in the likeness of a baby tortoise. "Libby absolutely loved that pencil" she shrieked in alarm, "what in cob's name did Andrea do to it?!" With the aid of whatever angel powers he had, Clarence showed Molly the memory in question; which revealed that Libby had already owned a different pencil earlier on.
But then, as they so often do, the tip broke while she was writing with it. Now...while annoying; most people would shrug this off, make their way towards the nearest sharpener and resharpen the tip. But with Andrea, she simply called it junk and threw it in the trash without so much as a second thought.
Afterwards, she proceeded to ask Libby to borrow one of hers...and by "ask," we mean she took it before she could say anything. Then, the memory showed how Andrea proceeded to chew at the pencil with great force whenever she felt annoyed/stressed about the lesson. "Of all the...why she...I would" Molly stammered angrily, "I have a few choice words for Andrea here but...she can't even hear me."
Just then, Clarence snapped his fingers and they were both suddenly transported into the school's Teacher's Lounge. This caused Molly's demeanor to quickly brighten up into a slightly excited expression. Sadly, it soon died out the minute she got a full glimpse of her surroundings.
Like any kid her age, Molly always thought the Teacher's Lounge in a school would be something cool. Instead...all she saw was a dingy room with a small sofa that looked several years old, a worn-out mini fridge, walls with chipping paint, a ceiling fan that was barely spinning and a 90s era stereo that played a warbled version of whatever song the station had on. "Jeez! Compared to this place, everything else looked like an improvement" Molly grimaced, "are you really suggesting me not being here is the cause of this?"
Without even the slightest pause, Clarence responded with a counter question; challenging how Molly's absence wouldn't result to such shoddy conditions for the lounge. "You were always the one pushing people towards becoming their best selves, Molly" he stated, "and that includes the teachers." As a counter to the angel's counter statement, Molly reminded him about what happened downtown with the ice and her run-in with Mr. Bates.
"Because I 'ran into him on purpose,' the guy gave me a week's detention as soon as I get back from Break" she grumbled, "does that sound like somebody who's grateful of me being around?!" Clarence offered no verbal reply but instead, made a mental note to inform his boss about the teacher's behavior. While even the angels in Heaven knew the stresses of teaching, they also knew that it was no excuse to act so viciously towards children; especially during the holiday season.
"That's not important right now, Molly" the non-angel said bluntly, "what is important is the fact without you around, life for your friends and loved ones are nothing short of miserable!" Much to Clarence's shock, the young lady simply scoffed at this reveal; proclaiming that a town racked with misery should be paradise for any ghosts out in the world. But no sooner had she said all of this, a sense of stunned realization suddenly washed over her.
"Hold on, my dude" she murmured, "you've shown me a lot of things in this crazy, mixed-up world...but there's one thing I haven't seen yet." Clarence gave Molly a rather knowing expression, as if he knew what she was talking about. Then, he gave his key fob a quick click and the duo were suddenly transported right out of the Middle School.
The next moment they reappeared, they found themselves standing outside along the more suburban area of Brighton...and a rather familiar one at that. "Hey...I think I know where we are" gasped Molly, "we're back on my street, which means my house should be...THERE!" Upon making a quick turn to the side, Molly swiftly spotted the all too familiar sight of her family's house (or at least, what would've been her family's house.)
As she stood there on the first of the sidewalk steps, gazing up at the shoddy old building, one big question was buzzing through the girl's mind; "if this isn't my family's house anymore...who lives here? Then, as if Fate could sense her thoughts, Molly suddenly heard loud wailing coming from inside the house. While most "normal" humans would flee in terror at such a noise, Molly was simply beaming with glee.
"I know that ghostly wail anywhere" she thought happily, "I can't wait to see you, Scratch!" With that, she made a beeline straight for the front door; leaving Clarence shook his head and walked behind her at a much slower pace.
(First AN: Three visions down, one more to go. What sort of things do you think Molly might see in the old house? Will Scratch be spared from the craziness of the Wish Realm reality? Tune in next time, to find out)
(Second AN: Among the episode callbacks in this chapter; you may notice the sort from First Day Frights, Monumental Disaster and even Davenport's in Demise. But unlike what happened in the events of the third example, I felt making Mr. D and the head of BizMart partners would be a much more shocking thing to happen. After all; if Andrea was a brat while advertising her family's products via Social Media, imagine how she she behaves as the "face" of a big superstore)
(Third AN: While Molly's fate with accidentally bumping into Mr. Bates in Chapter Two was skipped over, I chose to bring it up here because I thought it worked best in showing what her emotional state from that ended up becoming)
(Final AN: For those wondering, I do plan on mentioning the Chens soon...but not until the next chapter. Trust me, it'll make so much more sense later)