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The front door to the house slammed shut at three pm, followed by sniffles and another door slamming closed.
On nothing but instinct, Amanda put down her drafting pencil and walked down the hall. “Abby? It’s mama. Are you okay?”
“No.”
“Can I come in? I’ll bring in a can of soda.”
“Mhm.”
Amanda brought in two cans for herself and Abby, sitting cross legged on the floor once let in. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
“Mr. Berg. I think he’s trying to push me out of robotics. Today he told me that it’s not meant for everybody and that he will just give me an A+ for the course if I just drop it. He doesn’t seem to like me very much. He doesn’t like my project either.”
Amanda‘s fingers twitched for a second. Apparently, when he was teaching in Minnesota, he didn’t like your mom much either. He called her work mediocre.”
“So he’s always been a jerk?”
“Yeah, piglet. It seems so. But you know what? You’re too cool for his class and that’s what gets him mad. You’re naturally talented and he can’t bend or twist that into whatever the hell he wants.” Amanda gives her daughter’s hands a squeeze. “Hey Abs?” Amanda has that ‘I have an idea’ look on her face, and it always made Abby curious. “What?”
“Wanna build your project with me?”
The kid’s eyes lit up. Without a second thought, she dumped all of her components from the box onto the floor. “Boom.” Abby unfurled her blueprints, pointing to the Bonnie sweater underneath her overalls. “Supposed to be him, but not his cartoon self. Like the actual robot from Grandpa Henry’s restaurant. I’m trying to build a mini replica. Bonnie was the nicest to me.”
Amanda’s heart clenched at the mention of Henry, But even further at Abby still believing in Ally that she and Vanessa told about the robots being possessed by the dead children. While it was true that their corpses were in there, they had created the lie after the two women had figured out that William was controlling them with the express purpose to gain her trust and kill her and they didn’t want Abby to find that out. The rabbit, the two of them created, was made of an indigo colored translucent outer shell, so that way the kids could see the inner components of the contraption. The arms and legs could move, as well as the ears. Amanda could see how proud her daughter was of the robotic bunny. “Grandpa Henry would've loved it, kiddo.” Amanda pulls her daughter in for a hug, and Abby is just smiling. “I’m gonna email a picture of Bonnie to John. Does that sound cool?”
“Yeah, that sounds cool! I’m gonna go watch 'The Lion King’ now. I was gonna watch ‘Spectral Scoopers’ but their stuff has been way too scary for me lately. I love you mama!” Abby skips away while Amanda snaps a photo, uploads it to her computer and emailed it to John with a message: ‘My kid is so fucking talented, John. I just helped with some wiring, but she did the majority of the work.’ And hit send.
The day of the fair, Abby was stimming with pure excitement in her eyes. Her hands flapped and her smile was unmatched. She wore her Bonnie sweater underneath a pair of dark blue denim overalls along with a pair of Amanda’s shorter boots and one of Vanessa’s bracelets. She considered the outfit ‘lucky’. Amanda ruffled her hair. “Ready, piglet?”
“I was born ready.” Abby states with confidence, Amanda nodding. “You have my DNA. Damn right you were. I gotta go get your other mom from the doctor’s, but we both will be back in time to see you present. I’ll be back in five minutes. I love you, baby.”
“Love you too, mama.”
Inside the gymnasium, Abby walks past other booths. From the classic volcano, to a marble run, it had all the makings of a classic science fair. It even felt like a slight cliché to the young inventor. A welcome one nonetheless. As she looks for a table, she runs into Mr. Berg, who isn’t all too happy to see her. “Uh, Abby, what are you doing here? I thought you decided not to participate.” he starts, but Abby responds quickly, not falling for a lie like that: “I am. Do you know where my booth is?”
The man starts going on a tangent on how it’s too late to set up, with Abby rebutting with the fact that there’s an empty table left. “No it’s not. There’s a table over there I could still use. I could set up my project in less than three minutes.”“Look, uh, I just don’t want you to be embarrassed, Abby.” He begins to lie again, Abby responding with “Why would I be embarrassed? I’m proud of my project.”
“So am I. Let me help you set up.” He takes the robotic rabbit and purposefully drops it onto the floor, pretending that it was an accident.
“Oh! Oh, oh, sorry. I’m so, so sorry, Abby.I got, uh, butterfingers. I…I'll tell you what I’ll do: I’ll give you full credit for the class, and this way, you can just go home, and… and..I’ll take out this trash.” Abby runs off just as her mothers enter the gym, Vanessa bending down to wipe her eyes. “Baby bunny, what happened?”
“Mr. Berg fucking dropped Abby‘s project onto the floor on purpose because he didn’t like the fact that she wanted to present.” Eighth grader Abby’s best friend and older brother figure Daniel Matthews immediately tells them with no hesitation. Abby remains sobbing in Vanessa’s arms. “I’m so, so, so sorry, honey. I got you.” She tries to comfort while also trying to prevent Amanda from catching another charge and ending up in prison again.
The translucent indigo rabbit was broken into pieces. Components missing and scattered across the floor, cracked outer shell. It was a deliberate move on the teacher’s part for sure, and Amanda saw nothing but red. “ I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, but I have no idea why you constantly feel so threatened by an autistic little girl! I’m tired of my daughter coming home crying and feeling like she’s nowhere near enough because of your fragile fucking ego!” She shouts at Mr. Berg, grabbing his shirt collar and going to slap him. Before she could do anything, Vanessa dragged her out. Abby did nothing but cry all the way to the car and broke her mothers’ hearts. “Abby, look at me. You did nothing wrong, and I can promise you that.” Amanda tells her, but Abby’s a wreck. “Then why does he hate me, mama?! I do everything I’m told in that class!”
“It’s not you, sweetheart. It’s him. He once told me that my mechanical bridge was dog shit. And this was in the 80s when he was working at my middle school in Minnesota. It seems like living in Jersey hasn’t even changed him at all.”
“He cursed at kid you?” Abby asks, Vanessa nodding. “He did. But me and mama think you did a wonderful job and you always get first place in our book and you always will. But how about we get you some ice cream and we can watch a movie at home.”
“Okay mom!” As upset as Abby was, she couldn’t resist ice cream.
Amanda could hear what both her girlfriend and daughter were talking about but she was more focused on something else. Revenge. John had told her not to make any of her traps personal, but she was completely ignoring that advice. Nobody puts her baby in emotional distress and gets away with it. Her hands grip the steering wheel tighter, and they remain that way until Vanessa puts her hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “Easy, babe. I’m gonna talk to the principal first thing Monday morning.”
Amanda does not respond.
“Amanda? I know what you’re thinking. No.”
Too late. Once Amanda made a decision, there was no going back most of the time.
~
Vanessa had to go out to buy groceries and supplies to restock the first aid kit, meaning it was just Amanda and Abby. “Baby, I’m going out. There is $30 on the counter so you can get some pizza, soda, and even dessert for you and mom if she comes home before me. I trust you to behave. “
“I will.”
“I want you in bed by ten. Whether I’m home or not. If you need anything, call me, mom, or even call Daniel’s mom. If anybody asks, I was home with you.”
“Okay, mama. I love you.”
“Love you too, Abby.”
Amanda kisses her forehead and leaves.
Abby stares out the window. Where was her mama going, and why? She wasn’t a baby anymore so she could handle the truth.
~
On the drive to do what she needed to do, Amanda called Vanessa. “I'm putting him in a trap, and you can’t fucking stop me.” She warns her girlfriend, who rejects the idea. “ Amanda, you lashed out at him at the science fair. The moment he’s found dead, they’ll know it’s you.”
“That’s why he won’t be found and that’s why you need to be my Alibi, babe.”
“I’m still shopping!” Vanessa whispers into the phone
“ Think of something. I have a test subject to collect.”
She pulls into the driveway of her destination, putting on her pig head.
Mr. Berg is at his house, ranting on the phone about how much he hates his job. “These kids do nothing but goof off. They don’t take this class seriously and especially this one girl in my class. Her mother threatened me today!”
Amanda scoffs. “Fucking loser.” She finds an open window, getting inside the house. She wants to make the capture quick, so the pain could be sweet and slow. She makes her way to the bedroom and hides behind the door, much like she does when playing hide and seek with her daughter.
She waits for him to enter. She’s like a lioness stalking prey, and when she gets the chance to pounce, she does. After a quick fight, Her hands wrap around his neck and she jabs a needle in it. She quickly calls Vanessa again. “He’s too heavy to drag out of the house. I need your help. It doesn't take this long to shop.”
“Sometimes it does.”
“Please.”
“Fine.”
Vanessa arrives wearing a rabbit mask, the two of them dragging the body to Vanessa‘s old car that they only use for gathering victims. “ You're incredibly lucky that you’re not calling me out of work right now. I was supposed to work tonight, but Kerry told me not to come in after I told her about the science fair. If I did have to call out of work, suspicion would’ve been made.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Amanda kisses her quickly before driving to that very same warehouse that John had her in. “Once we get him in the chair, I need you to go home, and come back when I call you.”
Once Mr. Berg is situated in the chair, Amanda remains in the corner. Vanessa kisses her goodbye and leaves.
Mr. Berg wakes, disoriented and confused. His eyes are darting around like crazy, and he tries to move. But he can’t.
Amanda is enjoying the show. She remembers sitting in that chair, but unlike her, he doesn’t have the mercy of getting out alive. “ The project slipped out of my hands! I swear!” Amanda is used to liars. “ you have had it out for my daughter since she started your class, so why should I believe the fact that it supposedly slipped out of your hands? Bullshit. So, we’re gonna test that theory. If you can pick up the small robotic rabbit and get the key out of it, you’ll be free to go. If the rabbit is dropped, the door will lock, and you’ll be stuck in here forever. So you better not have ‘butterfingers’ the second time around.”
Amanda leaves, watching the footage from inside one of John‘s old urban development houses that stand abandoned nearby. She hadn’t bothered doing a tape because what was the point? She watches with amusement as Mr. Berg struggles to hold a rabbit. Right, she had coated it in petroleum jelly.
The moment the rabbit hit the floor and shattered, A deadly nerve agent started spilling out, feeling the room and feeling the man’s lungs. She had found the plans to use The substance in one of John‘s notebooks, and couldn’t help herself. He kills kids’ self-esteem from the inside out, so why shouldn’t she do the same?
The irony was sweet and it wasn’t lost on her either. She watches simply for the next hour as he dies a slow and painful death. Right before he dies on the floor next to the rabbit pieces, Amanda walks in with a mask on her face to protect herself. She leans over and whispers “game over.”
She doesn’t care how corny or pathetic she sounds. She would go to the ends of hell to protect her daughter, and if that meant breaking John‘s rules, so what? She hated when other victims did it, but Abbey is much more important to her than people who don’t cherish their lives, and she always will be.
She calls Vanessa and she enters the house as the other woman is leaving. “She’s asleep?” Amanda asks as Vanessa is grabbing her keys. “Out cold on the couch. Poor girl looks like she’s been crying.”
Vanessa just leaves as Amanda takes off her mask. She had given herself an antidote just in case, quietly walking over to the couch where Abby was sleeping. Amanda picks her up with one arm under her knees, and the other supporting her back. She carries her to her bed, tucking her in. Amanda kisses her forehead.
“ I love you much more than I ever loved myself. I promised to protect you from the moment you were born, and that’s what I did tonight. Sleep well, baby.”
And Amanda decides to go step outside and smoke a cigarette like nothing ever happened tonight.