Fan Fiction ❯ The Oedipus Theory ❯ Mommy Dearest ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Very Important E/N at the bottom so please read!


Not for the faint of heart!


The Oedipus theory


By Miztikal-Dragon


Chapter Two: Mommy Dearest


Sunshine drifted into the house through the opened window. A woman of twenty-seven stood in the living room with a rag in her hand and a can of furniture cleaner in the other. Onyx hair was tossed up into a messy bun and “Closing time” by Semisonic played jovially in the background. It was Friday and her in-laws were coming over for the traditional once a week ‘family’ dinner. She wanted to make things perfect for her husband’s parents and it wasn’t going to be an easy task.


Her smile reached her ears as she wiped the dust from her wedding picture, it had been the perfect ceremony and she still could remember the fresh smell of the park where it had been held. There had been so many fond memories that made her life seem like a story read out of a book. Placing the picture back onto the mantle, she sighed before leaving the living room, three rooms down, three to go. The tie die shirt she wore hung off her left shoulder as she entered the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. It was pretty warm for April and yet she refused to turn on the air conditioner and let the cold air chill her, the warmth always seemed so much better to enjoy.


A loud thud from upstairs caught her attention and she frowned. She had a rather bad feeling beginning to stir in her stomach. Pulling the mask from her mouth, she calmly headed towards the stairs. She knew that Melissa, her six year old daughter was up there in her room, supposedly cleaning it, but that was highly doubtful. Calling out to her child, Emily waited a few minutes, she was giving Melissa the chance to stop whatever she was up to. The young woman had always been cautious around her daughter, she always got the feeling of being watched, criticized by the little girl. Maybe it was all in her head, but sometimes Emily believed that her own child hated her. It was the glares she received from Melissa, the eerie smirks that were alien emotions sent her way. A conspiracy if you will and it often left her a little terrified of her own flesh and blood.


“Melissa?” She called out again trying to sound as authoritative as possible. “I’m coming up!”


Each step closer she took her heart pounded faster in her chest. She was afraid of a six year old child and no matter how stupid it sounded, she couldn’t change the feelings. The house had gone quiet as she climbed the stairs, she was being paranoid and her body trembled even more so reaching the end of the stairs. All the doors were closed and the hall was barely lit, no lights were turned on usually during the day but the way the shadows reflected against the walls made a large lump swell in her throat.


Glancing down the hallway, she looked directly at Melissa’s bedroom door, it was the only one that slightly ajar and it sent chills up her spine and alarms went off in her mind. Something at the back of her mind told her not to trek forward, for her to just turn a blind eye and go back down stairs. However, the need to stand up was greater, Emily wanted to show her daughter that she refused to be intimidated by her.


Gathering her bearings, Emily stalked down the seemingly endless hallway to her final destination and held her breath before pushing the door open to further inspect. Toys were all over the floor, the stuffed animals torn from their places in the nets that once hung at the corners of the walls. Dresser drawers were haphazardly tossed across the room, clean clothes hanging everywhere except for in the closet. The large dresser laid overturned in the middle of the floor, a small clearing surrounding it like a bad omen.


A frown graced her features as she stepped completely into the room. Where was Melissa and how did tearing apart her room qualify in the slightest for being clean? Emily went to the dresser and bent over to pick it up, there was no point in yelling for Melissa because it was apparent that the girl already disappeared. It took two tries for her to lift it but when she was able, she pushed it back to its rightful place.


The sudden slamming of the door behind her wrenched a cry of surprise from her throat as she spun around. Wide eyes locked onto the small child who had been hiding behind the door from the beginning, her trade mark glare present on her face. Emily’s hand pressed gently over her beating heart and the sudden feeling of being cornered struck her like a bolt of lightning. Melissa’s hair was put up into pigtails and the long bowed pink ribbons were in contrast with the hateful look in her dark eyes. Trying to calm herself down, Emily took a few deep breaths, she didn’t need to get too excited and risk having an attack.


“Why didn’t you clean your room Melissa like I told you to?” She struggled to sound harsh, the child needed discipline.


“I dun wanna do it!” Was Melissa‘s reply, “I wanna go play with Ryan!”


“Not until your room’s clean!” Emily’s anger was appearing, she hated how her own daughter constantly argued with her. It was frustrating.


There was a moment of silence between theme before Melissa’s face lightened up and a large innocent smile spread across her features. Alarms of warning went wild in her mind, telling her to be cautious but they were left on deaf ears. Melissa stepped away from the closed door, with no sign of anger left to see.


“I’m sorry mommy,” it had been the first time in ages since Melissa had called her mommy. “I promise to clean my room.”


Appeasement, that’s what it felt like to Emily, that she was the child and her daughter the adult. The little girl’s smile scared her the most, the way her dark eyes followed every move she made, watching like a predator for a slip up. Swallowing the dryness from her throat, Emily shook her head, there would be better results if she cleaned the room herself. Her nerves would be better off if her child left the house for a few hours, yes everything would be better.


“T-that’s okay Melissa,” she didn’t want to cave, but her body was screaming that she do so. “I-I think that I’ll finish it for you… You just go outside and play with Ryan, I’m sure that he wants to play with.”


Eyebrows crunched together for a moment of deep thought before the smile appeared on Melissa’s face again. The small child filled with sudden energy as she ran to her mother and embraced her in a tight hug and Emily’s blood froze. Her child never hugged her, those were saved for daddy and daddy only and she believed that some how she walked over her own grave. Melissa trotted to the door, half skipping half sprinting before sharply turning to face the older woman, the smirk was back. The many faces of Melissa Hart, it was the tell-tale sign of something big, something sinister hiding in the form of innocence.


“Hey mommy?” Innocence that reeked of something foul, and it was either ignored or unidentified because Emily merely smiled at her daughter.


“Yes dear?” one chance to run, to flee and she wasn’t taking it.


“I left a present for you in the closet,” Emily could have sworn that her child was cooing. “I know that you’ll like it.”


The tone of her voice should have sent signals throughout Emily’s brain, but it didn’t, she wasn’t paying attention to the story in-between the said lines. Without the faintest thought otherwise, she went to the walk in closet, hoping that what she found would be something pleasant. Arching her neck to the side she stepped into the closet and secured her downfall. The door slammed shut behind her, trapping her inside the small room and the soft thumping brought her attention from screaming at her daughter to let her out. The child was cunning and Emily didn’t want to turn around, she wanted to cry, she wanted to kick herself in the face for listening to the small child.


Childishly laughter rang in her ears, Melissa’s loud and eerie laughter it scared her even more than the horror movies and dying. Her breath was heavy and she could feel it coming. Emily kept her eyes closed as she tried to calm herself down, small closed off spaces, not good, not good at all and the worst part was that she could feel something brush up against her arm and it made her blood curl.


“Mommy if you see fluffy tell him I say hi!” Melissa’s laughter stopped and was deadly serious. “I saw him go in there earlier but I dunno if he got out or not!”


Her blood ran cold and her eyes shot open to the object brushing against her arm. It was the yellow tabby, fluffy, and she let out a blood curdling scream. The eight year old cat hung from the rod, ribbons tied around it’s body, limbs bent in unnatural positions and the eyes, oh the green eyes. They stared at her with emptiness and the neck was limp and a little dislocated from the body. White teeth poked out from the slightly gaping mouth and Emily felt herself screaming as she tried opening the door that held her prisoner.


This wasn’t happening! As soon as the door gave way, Emily was sprawled out on the floor, her eyes wide and her chest heaving as she fought to breathe. Her throat was closing in and she could still see those eyes! She scrambled frantically for the exit, she couldn’t breathe, it was closing in, she had to get away! Get out! Emily stumbled to the bathroom, in there she could be safe, her inhaler would help her, it would save her and give her the strength needed to get out of her house and to a neighbors, hopefully where she would call him. He would know what to do, he always did!


Emily bruised herself as she made her way to the bathroom and almost ripping the drawer open in order to find her inhaler. Her hands were trembling as she gasped for air, only to come up short. It wasn’t there! Her mind was running wildly and black dots appeared on the sides of her vision, her lungs were burning, she could escape. Clutching the wall, she tried to walk towards the stairs, there was one in her purse only if she could make it down there! Pain, that’s all she felt as her knees buckled several times, and grabbing onto the stairwell she fought against the lightheadedness, she was stronger than this!


The laughter, she could hear again and she had no time to prepare herself as two small hands grabbed her shirt, pulled back and then pushed forwards. She couldn’t scream as she fell, but she felt the pain as each step collided with her body before she came to a stop at the bottom. Numbing pain, and she couldn’t see, she was losing it all, and her fingers struggled for anything that could help her.


“I’m going to go play with Ryan now mommy,” Emily was suffocating as a strangled gurgle escaped her throat, this was it. “Have a nice nap, you look awfully tired.”


And then it went black.


--oOo--


He sat there on his chair, his feet propped up on the cluttered desk a manila folder held in his hands. Reading glasses rested on the bridge of his nose as he read over the police reports and listened to the tapes, it was all too confusing. Time of death couldn’t be found, cause unknown due to circumstances, suffocation or the falling? Which killed her was a mystery to everyone but the dead, and the dead tell no tales right? He needed to find something that would give him more information, something that would be able to give him a light in the darkness that he was sure he was fumbling around in. She had him right where she wanted him and the doctor was sure of it. There was something about Melissa Hart that the previous psychiatrist missed, but what was it?


What part of the story was missing? Why wasn’t there enough against the girl to send her away in a straight jacket? Who was protecting her and keeping her safe when it was more than obvious that the thing that needed to be protected the most were the things around her?


He would need to schedule another appointment.


E/N: Regarding the comments left, I would just like to let everyone know that the summary was a RHETORICAL question. I know what I’m talking about because I took psychology and I have had some research done so please don’t try and make me look incompetent.


However, I understand, but you as readers have to understand that it’s so frustrating! It was a bitch to put out this chapter because I give myself the heebie geebies sometimes. If you have taken the time to look at my other works it would have been known that I am not one for happy stories, I like focusing on the darker points in life and I know that the shrink seems out of place for his profession, but his personality will be later explained.


The next chapter will be out as soon as I write it, don’t worry because I have the story outlined until chapter nine.


Flames? Comments? Please leave a review, but if you’re going to be nasty leave a email so I can lash back at you. One-sided arguments are no fun and it proves that some people are sissy-lalas.


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


-Krystal-