In Search of Mother: Chapter V (Unfinished)

“Who is she?” Misery stared into the green slime as Whistle shrugged.

 

“I dunno.”

 

“Well she has to have a NAME, doesn’t she?”

 

“Well, it’s not as if we can ask her right now. Not when she’s under all that slime.”

 

“Then get her out.” Misery poked at the mound, watching it jiggle. “Get some water, and give her some air. We need to have a chat.”

 

“Pocket!” Whistle turned and screamed over her shoulder. “Get the bucket you found earlier! Fill it with water!”

 

“Jeez, you don’t have to shout, I’m right here.” Pocket grumbled and rubbed his ears, departing from the group that surrounded the ensnared woman.

 

“And how long has she been like this, again?” Star stared into the slime, taking in the woman’s features.

 

“We got her right after she walked in, which was about thirty minutes ago. While you two were still out.” Whistle pointed to both Misery and Star. “I sent Jet out to find you and let you know, but by the time he got off his butt and was ready to go, you guys had already come back on your own.”

 

“But that still doesn’t tell us why she came here. And you-” Misery pointed an accusatory finger at Whistle, “why didn’t you make everyone hide? Didn’t you say you saw her coming?”

 

“We did hide!” Whistle raised her voice in her own defense. “Faith spotted her through the window and we all took a hiding spot. She only found us because Pocket decided he would practice his circus act.”

 

“Hey!” Pocket strolled through the foyer with an empty bucket in his arms, heading for the bathroom. “It’s not my fault the ceiling decided to fall apart when it did. And I didn’t WANT to hide up there in the first place. Maybe if Faith didn’t have such a giant butt I would have been able to squeeze under the table with her.”

 

“Yeah, well-” Before Whistle could finish, Misery cut off their bickering with a sharp hiss.

 

“Were you all wearing your disguises? She didn’t see any of us in our... normal form?”

 

“I... I’m pretty sure, yeah.” Whistle nodded slowly. “Everyone who was in sight was disguised, anyways. So everyone that mattered.”

 

“So she doesn’t know what we really are.”

 

“To be fair, we don’t really know what we are either.” Star shrugged. “You know, besides just weird.”

 

Misery rolled her eyes. “Even if she doesn’t know what we look like, she does know that we spit green slime that traps people. That should be enough to tip her off that we’re not normal children.”

 

“I need some help in here!” Pocket called out from the bathroom. “This thing is waaay too heavy when it’s full.”

 

        Misery motioned for Star to help, and with a sigh, he left the group and headed for the bathroom. Protests of discomfort could be heard all throughout the church as Star discovered the smell inside, giving Whistle a fit of giggles. Misery watched anxiously as the two boys waddled out of the bathroom together, a bucket full of water between them. Both wore twisted, scrunched up faces as they tried to move as fast as possible away from the stench.

 

“Whoever was in that bathroom before we showed up, they left something of questionable origin in that toilet.” Star dropped his side of the bucket slightly before Pocket let go of his, causing the water to slosh over the sides as the bucket landed at an uneven angle. “I think, at one point, it was organic. Now, I’m fairly sure if it falls under the category of ‘unholy eldritch abomination’.”

 

“Shut up and get to work. I want to talk to our visitor.” Misery pointed at the woman frozen in time.

 

“Jeez, Mis, we were getting to it.” Pocket grunted and grabbed hold of his side of the bucket once more. “Sleep on a pea last night, your highness? You seem cranky.”

 

“Stop talking and lift, Pocket. This thing is heavy.” Star huffed and lifted his side of the bucket with all of his strength. “We dump on the count of three, right?”

 

“Right.”

 

“Right, then.” Star cleared his throat. “One. Two...” The pair swung their arms back to build momentum. “Three!” With a heave, the boys threw the bucket forward, emptying the contents on the waiting face of the woman.

 

        As soon as the water made contact, several children stepped forward to help clear the slime out of the way. Their fingers clawed at the viscous green compound as it started to dissolve, pulling it away from the woman’s face. The layers started to fade away as the water washed them down to the floor, and with a few more tugs from Misery, the final membrane broke away. The woman sputtered, emptying her mouth of both slime and water as she struggled for breath.

 

Misery leaned towards Star to whisper. “I know the bathroom was disguisting, but was that water clean?”

 

“Clean enough.” Star shrugged.

 

As the woman spit out the remaining foreign material from her mouth, Misery folded her arms behind her back and leaned forward. “Name, lady?”

 

The woman blinked a few times, trying to get her eyes adjusted to the light. “W-what?”

 

“Name. Everyone’s got one. I want yours.”

 

“Uh... Molly.” Molly gulped, still barely able to see anything. “Molly McKenzie.”

 

“And who sent you here, Molly?”

 

“No one sent me.”

 

“Answer me truthfully, or we put you back in there.”

 

“I am! No one sent me.” Molly repeated herself, louder the second time. “I was just jogging by like I do every day and I thought I heard some weird noises. So I came in to check it out.”

 

        Misery leaned closer and stared into Molly’s eyes. They locked stares as they studied each other’s faces, now that Molly’s vision was finally whole. Misery nodded ever so slightly and let out a sigh, spinning around on her heel and walking away.

 

“She’s free to go. Pocket, dig her out. Someone else help him.”

 

Pocket groaned and picked up the empty bucket, heading back to the bathroom with a grimace. Star gaped at Misery with a look of disbelief before grabbing Pocket by the arm and motioning for him to stay where he was. “You can’t be serious, Misery. We can’t let her walk away now, she’s seen way too much!”

 

“Yeah, and what is she going to do?” Misery spun around once more, giving Star a deadly glare. “Go home and talk about the bug people from Mars who trapped her in space-goo?” Misery motioned towards Molly, who was still snared chest-down in gel. “You’ll be quiet about all this, won’t you?”

 

“Girl, if you want privacy, you can have it. I’ll shut my mouth and you won’t see me ever again.” Molly struggled around in her prison, trying to get her arms free. “I would make the mouth-lock motion, throw away the key thing, but you know. Still stuck in here.”

 

“Even so.” Star shook his head. “What if she’s lying? She could be with the police. Or higher up in the government. Maybe she’s some kind of crazy UFO lady who thought she’d take a crack at alien hunting. Who’s to say she won’t lie about it now and come back with help later?”

 

“And are you suggesting we take her with us? You don’t think she’ll slow us down at all?”

 

“Well, I don’t see anything wrong with just leaving her here. Someone has to come by eventually, and they’ll take care of her.”

 

“Star, we specifically chose this place BECAUSE people wouldn’t come by on a regular basis.”

 

“For the record, I would like to cast a vote against the ‘staying here’ thing. I enjoy moving.” Molly spoke up. “And, uh, eating and drinking on a regular basis.”

 

“Well, regardless of what we do with her in the end, we can’t let her go now.” Star shook his head stubbornly. “It’s far too risky.”

 

“I don’t care.” Misery crossed her arms. “I’m in charge. I make the decisions. And my decision has been made. She goes.”

 

“I can’t follow through with your decision if it puts us in a position of danger.” Star crossed his own arms in return. “In fact, I say we take a vote for once. Who else here thinks letting her go is a bad idea?” Star turned around and held out his arms expectantly, trying to get a response from the small group of children.

 

Misery glared at everyone in the room. “No one raises their hand.”

 

        Whistle rubbed the back of her neck and awkwardly glanced between Star and Misery. Pocket stared forward in silence for a few moments before slowly raising his hand up to the sky. Several other children behind him glanced at each other before nodding and doing the same, raising their hands as well.

 

Whistle took a sharp breath and nudged her brother. “Pocket! Misery said-”

 

“I’m tired of listening to what Misery says.” He tried his best to pretend like he didn’t notice the burning stare aimed at him from Misery’s direction. “It’s a bad idea, I don’t care how many times she tells us that it isn’t.”

 

“Well, I’d say that’s at least four or five votes against two, Misery.” Star nodded. “I’m sure we can find some kind of compromise that will-”

 

“No.” Misery growled. “There will be no compromise. There are no votes. There are no opinions.” Misery stomped her foot and jabbed her finger at Star. “There is only me, my word, and the expectation that it is followed to the very letter.” With each point she made, Misery drove her finger into his chest.

 

Star scowled and pushed her back, causing her to hiss in anger. “Well, I’m sorry I’m the one to tell you this, sis, but I think we’ve all pretty much had enough of your poor decisions. We followed you because you had a plan. Now, your plan has been wasted. And we’re going with Plan B.”

 

        Misery leaned forward and stuck her face directly into Star’s, locking eyes with him in a mutual unwavering glare. The two opposing forces stood there in the center of the room in without a word as the seconds ticked by, each feeling like an hour. The other children, and one confused adult, watched with interest to see who would win the silent war. Molly coughed and cleared her throat from her position off to the side, trying to break apart the awkward encounter. Misery growled lightly and spun around on her heel, heading for the congregation room.

 

“If you want to be in charge, you’re in charge.” Misery stomped as she left the foyer behind her. “I expect a full route to Las Vegas by tomorrow morning, since you think you can handle it.”

 

Star’s expression softened. “Wait, Misery, hold on. That’s not what I-” He tried to speak to his sister, but she had already left the room. “Ugh. Goddamnit.”

 

Molly frowned slightly as she watched Misery leave. “You two need to have a talk. I used to fight with my brothers and sisters too, and if I could go back, the only thing I would do differently is talk to them more.”

 

Star sighed. “Yeah. Maybe you’re right. Pocket, keep an eye on... what was your name? Molly? Keep an eye on Molly while I talk with Misery.”

 

Pocket nodded silently as Star stormed into the congregation room after Misery.

 

~

 

“Alright... I think... no, I still don’t get it. Start over.” Mistake shook her head in confusion. “Someone tried to shoot you?”

 

“Jesus. This is the third time you’ve made me do this. You get the abridged version, this time.” Anon honked at the car in front of him, which was driving too slow for his liking. “No. No one tried to shoot me. The man wasn’t there to kill me. If he wanted to, he could have done it at any time. So, this is what happened: there was a man in the motel room wearing a trenchcoat and hat. He pointed a gun at me and asked me where you were. I lied and got in a fight with him, and he stunned me and escaped through the second story window. Then I came back downstairs and we left as soon as we could.”

 

        Luckily, after their morning visit, the mechanic had kicked himself into gear. The car was in working condition by the time they arrived, and with a considerably lighter wallet, the duo had taken to the road as soon as possible. Now they drove towards the outskirts of Tehachapi, finally back on their way to Vegas, and Mistake wanted to know what the rush was about.

 

“You said a guy in a trenchcoat? What’s a trenchcoat?”

 

“It’s like, uh... a big goofy mix between a jacket and a suit. Commonly worn by cartoon spies, and sometimes black leather variants make their way onto badass 90’s movie anti-heroes.”

 

“Oh!” Mistake grinned with pride as she remembered something. “I saw a guy like that too! At the diner. He stared at me for a little while. It was creepy.”

 

“Yeah, I figured he had to have been following us for a while.” Anon spun the wheel and stepped on the gas, pulling ahead of the car ahead of him. “And I’m pretty sure he knows what you are. What you REALLY are. He wanted you, specifically, he wasn’t there just to steal my wallet.”

 

“You think he might be a spy? For the government, or whatever?”

 

“I’m not one for conspiracy theories, mind you.” Anon shrugged. “I did stick my did into some kind of alien, though, so I figure there must be some level of truth to them.”

 

Mistake sighed deeply in thought. “So, you have nothing on this guy? No ID? No name? You said you were choking him, earlier, so you must have seen his face.”

 

“Yeah, of course I saw his face.” Anon nodded. “He... he had a...” Anon seemed disoriented as he tried to think of the man’s face. “A... a big... fuck, it’s gone. I can’t remember anything about his face.”

 

“So, what DO you remember about him?”

 

“Well, he had a really thick accent. I couldn’t tell where it was from, though. Maybe some nordic dialect? Danish or Swedish or something.Oh, and he left this behind.” Anon lifted his shirt slightly, putting the revolver in view. Mistake gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth as Anon let his shirt fall back down. “I know, I know. Guns can be scary. I promise, I’ll never shoot it at someone. It’s only there as a deterrent, to keep people from-”

 

“Can I shoot it? Please?” Mistake’s shocked face transitioned to a wide grin in under a second. “Just at like, a rock or something. Not a person. Well, maybe a person. Just in the leg. A foot. A toe.” Anon took his eyes off the road for a moment to give Mistake a troubled stare. “No? No shooting people? Not even if it’s a bad guy? Alright, I’ll still take the rock. But really, I want to shoot it.”

 

Anon turned back to the road and kept driving. “Well, I was worried that the gun was going to scare you. Now I’m scared that the gun is going to end up in your hands somehow.”

 

“That would be so awesome.” Mistake stuck her tongue out and pretended to draw a revolver from an invisible holster at her hip, taking aim at the windshield. She made a series of banging noises and pretended to blow the smoke rising from her barrel, spinning her weapon and returning it back to her holster.

 

Anon shook his head. “You can get a gun when you’re older. And living a few thousand miles away from me.”

 

Mistake grinned and tipped her imaginary cowgirl hat, chewing on a piece of nonexistent straw.

 

~