Chapter Text
She is like so many young children out there. In a broken home, waiting. Always waiting. Waiting for a day when things will be better. Wondering what she did wrong? But then she finds a way. As she looks out the window spotting something in the distance and studies it and waits for the light to turn on. As she has before. And then it does. And then the world is a different one.
~
She opens her eyes. Her parents are here. And her grandfather too. They stand around her at the kitchen table. They are smiling at her because that is what they do. She feels that that is what they always do. They smile and love her and especially they see everything she does and are always happy with her.
Right now they are singing her a song.
At first when they started to sing she thought there is something unsettling about them, almost unhuman in their unblinking eyes and their large waxy smiles. They move stiffly and they almost seem lumpy and their eyes looking into her at times can feel too intense.
But as the song goes on she feels less nervous. Their words soak into her like a gentle balm, soothing her heart, and she starts to just see their kind intentions. And here she can bask in their unconditional love. She knows at this moment to them she's special. Which means she is.
"We See You, Opal!
Your Troubles are Miles Away,
And in Our Hearts You'll Stay."
Then as she touches the strange burger on the plate. She thinks she heard it called that. Her mother tells her she can do it encouraging her. What is it she is supposed to do though? She doesn't quite know. Just that there is something that is supposed to be done with it. But she grabs it and dances around the table, and does a spin and her family cheers. She notices the music's changed to something light and bubbly, to fit her dance. That was nice. She can be silly. She can play around a table. She can make mistakes. They laugh and cheer for her. And nothing bad. Only kindness.
But then she spots something strange on the wall. A hole? She looks at closer it and see there is a house there on the other side of the street. How did she never notice that? It is crumbling and dark. But there is a light upstairs. And out of the top window there is a haunting sound and curtains burst out of the window and sound is a mix between beautiful and ugly and everything at once. An angel's wing and cherubs in the night and also of death and pain all wrapped in one. More and more curtains seem to tumble outwards into the night and then they are gone. All that is left is the echo in her head. And the image of the window as well, even as the hole now is suddenly gone all she can see is the window. Her parents spin her away. There are drops of sweat falling onto the burger. They are all sweating and breathing so heavily. Her loving parents tell her the one rule which is to not pay that house any mind. To not look or see it. "Remember what we said," they try and remind her. Her father spins her eyes playfully so they turn every which way as he sings another song. It is fun but the spinning is leaving her a bit dizzy. She practically falls over afterwards. Then the mother takes the burger away and tells her it is time for bed. It all seems rather rushed. But they tuck her in to her soft warm bed and kiss her on her forehead and slip away leaving her with her thoughts in the darkened room. And she almost goes to sleep.
But once she saw it she cannot forget it. In her eyes is the top window of that house. Something is there. The sound resonates in her. She must know. So when they tuck her in for the night, she will have to investigate further. She slips out of bed.
She has left her warm bed and groping along the walls, making her way across the house. The halls seem to twist in a way she didn't remember before. And as she walks on, she feels more nervous though she doesn't know why. And then she is outside running across the yard. As she reaches the other house a bright light turns on behind her. She screams a curdling cry as she reaches desperately for the door handle and makes her way inside.. catching her breath as she does.
There is a dark figure of someone in front of her. There are wrappers and trash and all over the floor. She's trying to balance act around them though. A wrapper crinkles under her foot. Her eyes dart around in terror to see if they noticed. They do. She doesn't know when it happened but they are no longer looking at the tv, but are facing her. They are wearing small round darkened glasses, and she thinks he might be blind. But their voice is deep as can be. "Is that you Claire? Bring me my cigarettes! It seems to cut into her. She sees on his desk some crushed beer cans and an ashtray that is full of cigarette butts and ashes. "You shouldn't hide them from me!" She is looking hopelessly in the dark for them, feeling for them across the dirty floor on her hands and knees crawling, as she can hardly make out anything. But she does see there are bloody tissues and empty cigarette packs and other food trash everywhere. Meanwhile he seems to be rambling, and try as she might to understand, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to her. He says people are evil for helping people who do not need it. And that she must hurry.. Then he switches to talk about the people on tv as if he knew all about them and their lives. And then switches and says that she's just like them. She says nothing through all this, just hopelessly searching.
Then of all things, she thinks he has started to sing about the people on tv and she looks over at the tv and there is people dancing there. He says I think they are dancing for me Claire. And she almost swears the tv replies, "Yes we are." He ends by saying why do they make it look so easy to breathe and by the end he is panting so hard trying to catch his breath and it is scary but she is helpless to do anything but witness it. She finds the cigarettes.
She's about to hand him his cigarettes, knowing that is what he wants and steps up to him. Instead of being happy though he seems upset as he sniffs the air. He asks her why she smells so weird? She doesn't know what to say so she continues to hold out the pack to him. "Hey you're not Claire!" he exclaims. In his startle he tips over in his chair both him and the chair crashes forward to the ground with a large bang. His glasses break and now she can see his milky eyes unseeing as he yells at her, a bellowing scream erupting from him and she dashes away deeper into the house.