Chapter 2

A week had gone by and while moving furniture and fixing things up, Rachel had noticed that something was going on. Whenever she had started to fix up something, she would work on it until it was halfway done and then she and Molly would go out to eat. When they returned, Rachel would find the job she had started was completed and her tools placed to the side neatly. She checked to see if anything was missing, but everything was in place.

She searched the house, but didn't find anyone hiding. "Who is finishing up the work then?" She asked herself, wondering if she needed to get security cameras. She decided to do so anyway just for the outside so she'd be alerted of any visitors.

But if it was someone coming in to work on the house, why hadn't she seen them? That made her wary as she didn't know who was doing it and she was concerned for Molly's safety. "Molly," she called out.

"In here, Mommy!" The child called out.

Rachel went to the kitchen where she heard her daughter's voice and saw the child eating a snack of apples and peanut butter. Rachel blinked. "Sweetie, did you get that by yourself?" She asked.

The child shook her head. "No, Mommy. I thought you put it here?" Molly said in confusion.

"I didn't," her mother said before going up to her daughter. "Do you feel okay, honey?"

Molly nodded. "Yes, Mommy."

Relieved that her daughter wasn't hurt, she looked around. "Is there someone that your grandparents or James arranged to come fix up the house and leave you a snack?" Rachel asked no one in particular.

"I don't know, Mommy," Molly said. "But they move my toys around."

The young woman turned to her. "What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, that Moon doll I found was sitting with one of my books and my teddy bear, fox, and rabbit were sitting in front of him, like he was reading them a story."

Rachel was thinking of ruling out robbers or someone meaning harm, because if the person coming in meant harm, why clean the house, finish fixing the stuff she was fixing, make Molly a snack, and arrange her toys in a cute manner? It wasn't making sense. "Molly, if someone comes around here and you see them, call for me, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy," the child said.

Rachel decided to call James and her parents to see if they had hired a handyman or cleaning service to help out while Molly finished her snack. As her mother walked out of the room, the child finished eating and took her plate to the sink, trying to reach it to put her plate in it, but she was a bit short.

Suddenly, blue hands picked up the child and she jumped in surprise, turning her head to find a very tall version of the Moon plushie she had found in the ballpit. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open in surprise, to which the jester chuckled before holding her closer to the sink. The child set her plate down in it and turned towards the jester. She was about to speak, but the jester motioned her to not speak. "Hello, little one," he said, his voice unusual, but soothing.

The child looked at him curiously before touching his hand. "Are you...the one I found in the ballpit?" She asked.

He chuckled again. "No, but you did find the plushie of me," he said before looking curious. "What made you hunt for it?"

"I didn't know it was there," Molly said. "I like playing pirates though and hunting for hidden treasure. The ballpit was like sand to dig in and find buried treasure."

The jester smiled and the child smiled back before hugging him, surprising the red-eyed jester, but he hugged her back before pulling out the plushie that looked just like him. She gasped and hugged it tightly while he set her down. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Moon," he said, gently ruffling her hair.

Just then, they heard Rachel's voice and Moon moved away. "Be good, little one," he said before he disappeared down the stairs. Molly went to follow, but he was gone.

"Moon?" She asked, confused.

Rachel came into the kitchen. "Well, James and your grandparents didn't call for anyone to come help with fixing the place up, so I'm not sure who our mystery helper is," she said.

"Maybe it's Moon," Molly said, holding up her plushie.

The young woman smiled. "I'm not sure he could reach as high as the area near the ceiling, sugar dumpling," she said gently.

"But he can," the child said. "He said this was his plushie and he had hidden it in the ballpit. He seemed really happy I found it."

"He was?" Rachel asked, curious. "Where did your friend go then?"

Molly pointed to the stairs. "He went there, but I can't see him now," she said. "Maybe he's hiding?"

"Possibly," the young woman said, looking at the stairs and not finding anyone. She normally would have written it off as her daughter having a creative imagination, but with all that had been going on lately, she wasn't about to dismiss the 'friend' as an imaginary one yet.

She turned to her daughter. "Well, since it's the weekend, what do you say we do a pizza, ice cream, and movie night?" She said.

Molly's eyes lit up at that. "Caramel ice cream?" She asked hopefully.

"Let's see what we can order," Rachel said, looking at her phone.


A few hours later...

Moon came upstairs and saw the television was on, but when he looked into the living room, he saw Rachel and Molly both sound asleep on the couch. He motioned to someone and two others came out, one looking like a sun and the other looking like a mixture of Moon and the sun one. He also stood a bit taller than Moon and his counterpart.

"I'll clean up," Moon's counterpart said.

"I'll take the girl's mother up to her room," said the larger bot.

"Then I'll take Molly to her room," Moon said.

The sun one quickly got to work, having the living room picked up in twenty minutes and he quickly washed the dishes and threw out the trash. Moon took Molly up to her room and tucked her into bed, tucking in the plush of himself beside her. She stirred and opened her eyes. "Moon?" She asked sleepily.

"Shh," he soothed and brushed a hand over her head. "It's bedtime, little one."

She fell back asleep and he quietly left before seeing the tallest of the three placing Rachel in her own bed, gently tucking the covers around her before he quietly left.

The three then vanished downstairs and all was quiet until the next morning.

Rachel woke up and was surprised to find herself in bed when she remembered falling asleep on the couch. She went to Molly's room and found the child asleep in her bed. Now very curious, she went to the living room, finding it clean and tidy. "Okay, who is doing all this?" She asked herself.

A sound caught her ear and she listened a bit more closely, hearing the sound again. It sounded like a clang of metal.

She followed it downstairs as she heard it again and she went towards the built-in garage, seeing the door leading to the garage from the house was ajar.

Her protective instincts taking over, Rachel saw her tool bag nearby and she quickly grabbed her hammer, moving slowly, pushing the door open and looking carefully, but she didn't see anything unusual. She then looked around the garage and noticed two doors. One was open and the other was not.

She looked in the open room to find what looked like a storage space for things as there were plastic totes full of items. She recognized a couple of them to have the same colored balls as the ones in the ballpit up in the playroom. She also noted the room was spotless, just like the daycare room had been when she and Molly had first arrived. "Okay, this is insane," she said. "Why is this room immaculate like the playroom was?"

She turned her attention to the closed door and tried the knob, finding it unlocked. Opening it, she flicked on the light switch and saw something that made her stop in her tracks.


What did she find? I think you all know. :)

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418