SPN Fic: Good Girl
Title: Good Girl
Pairing/Rating/Characters: minor female character from 3.16 -- gen, G
Author's Notes: ~1600 words. Spoilers for 3.16.
Written for spn_xx's Women of Supernatural Gen Flashfic Challenge #11. "Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad." - "Remember" by Christina Rossetti
Summary: A forgotten casualty of the war between demons and humans.
Daddy doesn’t come in to kiss her good night anymore and Mommy won’t read her bedtime stories like she used to. And Freckles and Grandpa are gone and won’t be coming to visit her anymore.
She knows why. It’s because of the weekend when she was bad and did things that made Mommy and Daddy not love her anymore.
But she didn’t mean to be bad. It wasn’t her fault. She tried to be good but Amy Watson made her act all funny when she came over to play dolls after school on Friday. After Amy’s eyes went white, she put out her hand and touched her. It felt like a giant marshmallow being forced down her throat and wrapping her in a giant blanket.
She can’t really remember the days when she was bad. She remembers the sad man with the knife in her room, and how he was crying when he left their house. That’s all she can remember. But she knows she doesn’t like the color red, or painting, and birthday cake used to be her favorite food, but it’s not anymore. Now it makes her sick and she doesn’t ever want to eat it again.
Now she’s lonely and she doesn’t want Mommy to always be watching her and Daddy wiggling away when she wants to hug him. She’s supposed to be at school but she doesn’t go, and Mommy keeps taking her to all these places where grown-ups talk in serious voices and poke her with needles and shine lights in her eyes. Sometimes they go to churches even though it’s not Sunday and the men running them will frown and talk to her mother in a low voice and look at her and make her feel like the time when she scribbled on Grandma’s portrait and Mommy was disappointed in her.
“Do you love God, child?” they ask and she nods. Of course she does. Who doesn’t love God?
But then she remembers. She doesn’t love God. The girl with the white eyes. The girl who was in Amy. The girl who looks out of her mirror with her face sometimes. The girl who took the knife and made Freckles… But that girl is gone now. The sad man made her go.
She’s happy she doesn’t have to school or to play group right now. She doesn’t like going outside when she’s not with her parents.
They are outside. They are in her neighbors and in the man who delivers the mail. Inside her school teacher who came to visit her one afternoon. They have horrible faces and they smile at her, knowing she can see beneath their masks.
She tries to tell Mommy and Daddy but they don’t listen.
“What are you talking about, sweetie?” Daddy asks and he looks almost scared when she mentions them.
He looks over at Mommy and it’s like they’re talking together without words.
She stamps her foot and they both jump. “Why don’t you believe me?”
Daddy marches her up to her room and makes her stay there. Mommy brings her supper on a tray but she doesn’t bring dessert.
Later that night when she’s supposed to be asleep, she tiptoes down and listens outside their door.
“I can’t do this anymore, Emily,” Daddy says. “Maybe… she could go to your sister’s for a little while.”
“I can’t. It’s not in her anymore… you can see that? Can’t you? I can’t just leave her because it might happen again.” Is Mommy crying? She presses her ear closer to the door.
“It’s only for a little while,” Daddy says. “Until we can find a surefire way to make sure we can keep her safe.”
“But what if it happens when she’s there? I couldn’t live with myself if she… if it happens again.”
“Shhh, we’ll figure it out.” Through the crack in the door, she can see Daddy hugging Mommy.
She creeps back to her room and crawls into bed. Her bed is beside the window and she makes sure the curtains are all closed. She doesn’t want Mr. Hennessy to be looking into her window again with his eyes all like them. She huddles deep into her blankets, hoping the red nightmare won’t come again.
But it does, and Freckles is lying on the ground beside her painting easel, a red puddle beside him. Her hands move without her telling them, and she finger paints their eyes with the blood.
A hand touches the back of her head, and she twists around.
It’s Grandpa. He’s smiling but his eyes look sad. She holds out her red hands to him, and he doesn’t move away like Mommy and Daddy. His hands are warm as he covers hers.
“I made you and Freckles go away forever.” Her eyes hurt with the tears. “I’m sorry.”
He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t ever talk in her red dream.
“I didn’t mean to be bad.”
He stays with her until she wakes up.
***
In the morning, Mommy starts packing a suitcase.
“Where am I going?”
“Away for a visit to your aunt Laura’s.”
“For how long?”
“Just a little while. Daddy and I need some time alone.”
She twists one of her shirts into a ball.
“Sweetheart, don’t do that.” Mommy takes it from her.
“Mommy, why don’t you love me anymore?”
Mommy stops folding her dresses. “Of course we do, sweetheart. Don’t be silly.”
“You don’t.” She starts crying again. “Not like before.”
Mommy hugs her. “We do. It’s only for a little while.”
“Promise?”
Mommy looks into her eyes and promises. “Yes.”
Her and Mommy go to the park, and they sit together on the swings. She can still see them in the ice-cream man and in the mom by the slide. But they don’t try to make faces like they normally do. They keep looking over to the man and woman sitting on a bench near the swings.
The man and woman are watching her and Mommy. She thinks they might be a part of their side, but then she looks out of the corner of her eye, and she sees them.
They make her feel safe.
She runs over to them, leaving Mommy behind.
The lady is very pretty and she has freckles on her face, and her hair in her braid. “I have a present for you,” she says, smiling.
The man is watching her closely, but he doesn’t seem scared or angry at her, just curious. He looks like he would give good bear hugs. “This is her?”
“Yes. Can’t you tell?” The lady pulls out a red ribbon, with a white locket at the end. “This is for you.”
She hangs back, feeling shy. They are shining bright and beautiful and she’s scared if she gets too close, they will disappear, leaving her alone with them.
“It’s okay,” the man says softly, as if he knows what she’s thinking.
“We’re here to help you,” the lady says.
She steps closer, and the lady stands up, coming around behind her and tying the locket around her neck.
It settles on her chest and she blinks. She can’t see them anymore. She grabs the lady’s arm.
“It’s okay,” the man says. He points over to them. But she can’t see them anymore either.
She’s confused, and feeling very dizzy and tired. The lady whispers something in her ear. Her eyes start closing and she can feel big, strong arms catch her and Mommy starting to yell…
***
She wakes up and she’s in her bed with Mommy lying beside her, and Daddy is sitting in her armchair.
“Why is my suitcase packed? Are we going on a trip?”
Mommy and Daddy look at each other with one of their grown-up looks.
“Nope, not that I can remember. Maybe you and Mommy were going on a play trip?” Daddy asks.
“Maybe.” She sits up, and she feels something heavy around her neck. She looks down to see a locket with a red ribbon. “Did you get this for me, Daddy? It’s very pretty.”
“Er-yes.”
“You have to wear it all the time,” Mommy says, catching her hand and together they trace the red ribbon.
“Why?” She wants to wear to it. It makes her feel safe. She doesn’t know why she needs to feel safe, when she has Mommy and Daddy around, but maybe it’ll work if they’re not there too.
“It’ll… it’ll… help you,” Mommy says.
“Okay.” She traces the patterns in the locket, and the pretty swirling letters she can’t read yet.
Mommy and Daddy let her go back to sleep.
She wears the necklace to breakfast, and lunch and dinner. She wears it to school and in the bath and when she’s at dance class, where she tapes it to the inside of her shirt. She doesn’t take the locket off.
***
One day she’s hanging upside down on the monkey-bars and it slips down, onto the ground. She swings around on the bars, standing up and goes over to pick it up, dusting off the sand.
And suddenly, she remembers. Them. She looks around the playground and she can see a few of them. Their lady and man aren’t there, but she remembers their visit, and their gift.
She looks down at the locket, and remembers what the lady whispered in her ear before it all went dark. “You don’t need to see right now. But you will someday. Until then, wear this. You’ll know when they need you to see.”
She ties the ribbon at the back of her neck, letting the locket rest on her jacket and she watches it shine in the sun. She looks up to the sky and she thinks maybe, just maybe, she’s not such a bad girl if they need her.
She closes her eyes, and forgets.
Pairing/Rating/Characters: minor female character from 3.16 -- gen, G
Author's Notes: ~1600 words. Spoilers for 3.16.
Written for spn_xx's Women of Supernatural Gen Flashfic Challenge #11. "Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad." - "Remember" by Christina Rossetti
Summary: A forgotten casualty of the war between demons and humans.
Daddy doesn’t come in to kiss her good night anymore and Mommy won’t read her bedtime stories like she used to. And Freckles and Grandpa are gone and won’t be coming to visit her anymore.
She knows why. It’s because of the weekend when she was bad and did things that made Mommy and Daddy not love her anymore.
But she didn’t mean to be bad. It wasn’t her fault. She tried to be good but Amy Watson made her act all funny when she came over to play dolls after school on Friday. After Amy’s eyes went white, she put out her hand and touched her. It felt like a giant marshmallow being forced down her throat and wrapping her in a giant blanket.
She can’t really remember the days when she was bad. She remembers the sad man with the knife in her room, and how he was crying when he left their house. That’s all she can remember. But she knows she doesn’t like the color red, or painting, and birthday cake used to be her favorite food, but it’s not anymore. Now it makes her sick and she doesn’t ever want to eat it again.
Now she’s lonely and she doesn’t want Mommy to always be watching her and Daddy wiggling away when she wants to hug him. She’s supposed to be at school but she doesn’t go, and Mommy keeps taking her to all these places where grown-ups talk in serious voices and poke her with needles and shine lights in her eyes. Sometimes they go to churches even though it’s not Sunday and the men running them will frown and talk to her mother in a low voice and look at her and make her feel like the time when she scribbled on Grandma’s portrait and Mommy was disappointed in her.
“Do you love God, child?” they ask and she nods. Of course she does. Who doesn’t love God?
But then she remembers. She doesn’t love God. The girl with the white eyes. The girl who was in Amy. The girl who looks out of her mirror with her face sometimes. The girl who took the knife and made Freckles… But that girl is gone now. The sad man made her go.
She’s happy she doesn’t have to school or to play group right now. She doesn’t like going outside when she’s not with her parents.
They are outside. They are in her neighbors and in the man who delivers the mail. Inside her school teacher who came to visit her one afternoon. They have horrible faces and they smile at her, knowing she can see beneath their masks.
She tries to tell Mommy and Daddy but they don’t listen.
“What are you talking about, sweetie?” Daddy asks and he looks almost scared when she mentions them.
He looks over at Mommy and it’s like they’re talking together without words.
She stamps her foot and they both jump. “Why don’t you believe me?”
Daddy marches her up to her room and makes her stay there. Mommy brings her supper on a tray but she doesn’t bring dessert.
Later that night when she’s supposed to be asleep, she tiptoes down and listens outside their door.
“I can’t do this anymore, Emily,” Daddy says. “Maybe… she could go to your sister’s for a little while.”
“I can’t. It’s not in her anymore… you can see that? Can’t you? I can’t just leave her because it might happen again.” Is Mommy crying? She presses her ear closer to the door.
“It’s only for a little while,” Daddy says. “Until we can find a surefire way to make sure we can keep her safe.”
“But what if it happens when she’s there? I couldn’t live with myself if she… if it happens again.”
“Shhh, we’ll figure it out.” Through the crack in the door, she can see Daddy hugging Mommy.
She creeps back to her room and crawls into bed. Her bed is beside the window and she makes sure the curtains are all closed. She doesn’t want Mr. Hennessy to be looking into her window again with his eyes all like them. She huddles deep into her blankets, hoping the red nightmare won’t come again.
But it does, and Freckles is lying on the ground beside her painting easel, a red puddle beside him. Her hands move without her telling them, and she finger paints their eyes with the blood.
A hand touches the back of her head, and she twists around.
It’s Grandpa. He’s smiling but his eyes look sad. She holds out her red hands to him, and he doesn’t move away like Mommy and Daddy. His hands are warm as he covers hers.
“I made you and Freckles go away forever.” Her eyes hurt with the tears. “I’m sorry.”
He doesn’t talk. He doesn’t ever talk in her red dream.
“I didn’t mean to be bad.”
He stays with her until she wakes up.
***
In the morning, Mommy starts packing a suitcase.
“Where am I going?”
“Away for a visit to your aunt Laura’s.”
“For how long?”
“Just a little while. Daddy and I need some time alone.”
She twists one of her shirts into a ball.
“Sweetheart, don’t do that.” Mommy takes it from her.
“Mommy, why don’t you love me anymore?”
Mommy stops folding her dresses. “Of course we do, sweetheart. Don’t be silly.”
“You don’t.” She starts crying again. “Not like before.”
Mommy hugs her. “We do. It’s only for a little while.”
“Promise?”
Mommy looks into her eyes and promises. “Yes.”
Her and Mommy go to the park, and they sit together on the swings. She can still see them in the ice-cream man and in the mom by the slide. But they don’t try to make faces like they normally do. They keep looking over to the man and woman sitting on a bench near the swings.
The man and woman are watching her and Mommy. She thinks they might be a part of their side, but then she looks out of the corner of her eye, and she sees them.
They make her feel safe.
She runs over to them, leaving Mommy behind.
The lady is very pretty and she has freckles on her face, and her hair in her braid. “I have a present for you,” she says, smiling.
The man is watching her closely, but he doesn’t seem scared or angry at her, just curious. He looks like he would give good bear hugs. “This is her?”
“Yes. Can’t you tell?” The lady pulls out a red ribbon, with a white locket at the end. “This is for you.”
She hangs back, feeling shy. They are shining bright and beautiful and she’s scared if she gets too close, they will disappear, leaving her alone with them.
“It’s okay,” the man says softly, as if he knows what she’s thinking.
“We’re here to help you,” the lady says.
She steps closer, and the lady stands up, coming around behind her and tying the locket around her neck.
It settles on her chest and she blinks. She can’t see them anymore. She grabs the lady’s arm.
“It’s okay,” the man says. He points over to them. But she can’t see them anymore either.
She’s confused, and feeling very dizzy and tired. The lady whispers something in her ear. Her eyes start closing and she can feel big, strong arms catch her and Mommy starting to yell…
***
She wakes up and she’s in her bed with Mommy lying beside her, and Daddy is sitting in her armchair.
“Why is my suitcase packed? Are we going on a trip?”
Mommy and Daddy look at each other with one of their grown-up looks.
“Nope, not that I can remember. Maybe you and Mommy were going on a play trip?” Daddy asks.
“Maybe.” She sits up, and she feels something heavy around her neck. She looks down to see a locket with a red ribbon. “Did you get this for me, Daddy? It’s very pretty.”
“Er-yes.”
“You have to wear it all the time,” Mommy says, catching her hand and together they trace the red ribbon.
“Why?” She wants to wear to it. It makes her feel safe. She doesn’t know why she needs to feel safe, when she has Mommy and Daddy around, but maybe it’ll work if they’re not there too.
“It’ll… it’ll… help you,” Mommy says.
“Okay.” She traces the patterns in the locket, and the pretty swirling letters she can’t read yet.
Mommy and Daddy let her go back to sleep.
She wears the necklace to breakfast, and lunch and dinner. She wears it to school and in the bath and when she’s at dance class, where she tapes it to the inside of her shirt. She doesn’t take the locket off.
***
One day she’s hanging upside down on the monkey-bars and it slips down, onto the ground. She swings around on the bars, standing up and goes over to pick it up, dusting off the sand.
And suddenly, she remembers. Them. She looks around the playground and she can see a few of them. Their lady and man aren’t there, but she remembers their visit, and their gift.
She looks down at the locket, and remembers what the lady whispered in her ear before it all went dark. “You don’t need to see right now. But you will someday. Until then, wear this. You’ll know when they need you to see.”
She ties the ribbon at the back of her neck, letting the locket rest on her jacket and she watches it shine in the sun. She looks up to the sky and she thinks maybe, just maybe, she’s not such a bad girl if they need her.
She closes her eyes, and forgets.