Here We Go!

She had wavy curly hair, all dark, almost black, red. Black sunglasses and a smile revealing small shark teeth.    

“Let’s go, kiddo!”

Leading the child away from the neighborhood in which she resided, the woman in stiletto heels which the girl frequently asked why they were so high, the woman clutched at the girl’s wrist, almost dragging her away. The girl looked up at the babysitter, wondering things about her. She wanted to be with her mother, but never dared utter anything like this. The babysitter was very skinny (her collarbones stuck out protrudingly well). She always wore white, black, grey or dark brown or puke green cotton tang top.

The girl had almost white hair it was so blonde. Big brown eyes were the center focus of her physique, every mother’s envy and every girl’s dream look. But this girl prided herself on it, grinning a huge adorable smile as she whipped open her arms to greet her mother every day when the babysitter collected her from the bus to go eat ice cream or go bowling or ice skating.

The babysitter was glad to free the stupid idiot to her mother. The child needed it.

She, the babysitter, didn’t want to have anything to do with a child who she could never have. The babysitter wanted a daughter—a little girl all her own. When she failed in four unsuccessful marriages, she hated the fact that the doctor told her, again and again, she was a barren woman. The babysitter didn’t want to take care of another’s daughter. The daughter belonged to someone else.

The daughter belonged to a lucky woman. A woman in whom the babysitter deeply trusted to be her mother. Because if the child ever ran away, the babysitter would show up. “Lost, little kid?”

“No!” The little girl glared up at her resolutely.

“Don’t see why you’re lost if you’re supposed to be with your mother.”

The girl who had been walking away from her stopped. She turned around. Then she continued. “I’ll find my own way.”

The little girl continued hiking, not really knowing where she was going. She ultimately found herself lost, and, eyes brimming with tears, blinked. “Momma? Momma!” Her little scared voice sounded frightened.

“Lost little girl?”

The babysitter with the shark teeth had appeared. Bending down, you could see her spine. Like, it was almost protruding out of her back like a stegosaurus. But she bent down (and her back was curved like that of a stegosaurus) and, taking off her glasses, she told the stupid little girl to back away and run back to her mother.

“No! Not listening to you.”

The little girl swung around, running away. The next time the woman saw her, she was wearing an adorable hat with frog eyes sticking up and it was lime green.

The woman watched her. “I am your babysitter.” She said calmly. The little girl’s spine shivered with ice. It was something she looked fearfully back because of. The babysitter smiled, and the little girl gulped, eyes wide.

“W-what do you want?”

“Look out the window, sweetheart.”

The girl did. She went up to the blinds, and peeked out. Then she shut them completely once she had gotten over to the blinds’ tilt wand. She knew how to do this. The babysitter sat there, on a chair. “Come here!” She said, opening her arms out. “Come here.”

The girl shook her head defiantly. “No.” Her voice was scared.

The babysitter folded her arms into herself and leaned forward. “How would you like to go for ice cream or bowling?” She grinned, revealing shark teeth.

The little girl looked away. She shook her head, but then she ran over to the couch and hurled herself onto it, crying. Muffled sobs filled the room. “Want my mommie!”

“Mommie isn’t here.”

“Be quiet!” The girl struggled up onto the couch. The babysitter had pushed the little girl up onto the couch but the girl didn’t respond.

“A thank you?” The babysitter said.

The girl didn’t respond. She looked outside. Then she immediately closed the blinds. “She’s not here.”

“She isn’t supposed to be.”

“Why?” The girl looked over at the babysitter, and stayed away from her. Putting her little legs out, and showing her adorable baby pink sneakers with the white soles, she pointed to them. “Mommie gave them to me.”

“No, she didn’t.”

“Yes, she did!” Little fists balled.

“No, she didn’t.” The babysitter said.

“My mommie bought them for me.”

The babysitter smiled, beckoning the little girl over to her to sit on her lap. “Come here.”

“No.”

“Your mother—compared to me—is not what she seems. She’s not very nice.”

A tinge of truth was in her voice. The girl crinkled her brow. “What are you talking about?” A breeze, it seemed, warmed the icy atmosphere. When the beautiful, mostly adorable, little girl moved, she then moved back. “No—I’ll never trust you.”

The babysitter left her chair and scooped the little girl up. But the little girl didn’t fight. She simply let her—a warmth about this devil woman let her hold her. “You’ll be…” She sang a soft tune softly, the child putting her head on her shoulder. Resting against her, the child slowly closed her eyes. She put her to bed—but stayed there. It was night. The babysitter saw through the window and heard the crickets chirp very loudly. 

The mother should be getting back from her hiatus any minute now. She went away to get her sunglasses and returned to the child. She stroked her head softly. The skin was baby skin. She enjoyed brushing away the blondness. She almost snatched the child away. She wanted the daughter.

She was abusive to her own daughter. The mother didn’t deserve such a daughter. The daughter never deserved such a mother—

The babysitter shut the door once the daughter was all buckled in and then found herself looking, wide-eyed, at a pair of dark eyes.

“Oh, Chess, you startled me!”

Breathing a sigh of relief, the babysitter smiled. “How are you?”

“Good!” The gold-rimmed man stood there, and then disappeared. He only came out at night, she knew. He was a shapeshifter.

The babysitter moaned. She couldn’t immediately go—she had a lover. Usually, they would sneak away to the woods beyond, dancing. Imagining themselves as a free couple. A woman with her man. A wife with her husband. Under lights. In a beautiful dark blue dress and dark blue tuxedo. Together, forever.

The babysitter looked at herself in the mirror as she drove the baby daughter away.

Eyes on the road, missy. She chastised herself, but she couldn’t shake the feeling someone was watching her. She looked out the window—no one was there. She stared out ahead, but only saw cars. Some of the way, she was relieved—she’d be on the highway. She kept the light on in the back. But then felt the baby would wake. She forced herself to keep driving. Her shark teeth, she knew, protected her. She could bite into anything.

She smiled, snuggling down into her seat. Everything was fine. If she needed help, she’d call on her lover, who would come—

No, she said. She’d do it. She’d bite that woman. That disgusting human creature.

“You know what? I’m renaming you. And adopting you.”

She started feeling like she could end this evil woman’s reign over her daughter once and for all. Yes, she would kidnap her daughter—forever. She would be a heroine. No more fear.

Once the babysitter swung by the house after making a U-turn and then long drive back, she hurried like a madwoman, collecting her things. It must be in the wee hours of the morning. It was still dark. The woman hadn’t called, texted or even stopped by to check on things. The babysitter, always looking behind her shoulder, clutched the very belongings to her bosom, her chest emanating a sense of warmth. The babysitter felt a little better. 

This daughter. She deserves better.

The babysitter continued driving, but she still felt suspicious. Like she was being watched. She couldn’t shake the feeling the mother was right behind her, driving her car. Or back at the house, waiting for where her daughter was, calling the babysitter.

She put her glasses on. I can do what I need to with this daughter of mine. This new daughter of mine!

The mother didn’t know she’d be taking the daughter to an adoption agency. She didn’t know she’d be adopting this little girl. She didn’t know her so-called precious little girl would be forever taken by the very woman she deemed unfit to have children. Failed marriages didn’t result in adopted children by a single mother. Failed marriages resulted in simply singlehood.

The mother-to-be drove on.

The next day, the woman was at the adoption agency. She legally went through the procedure, but was too scared to tell the mother whether she’d be adopting her daughter. Would the mother haunt her? Would the mother tell her she would steal her daughter back? Would the mother lie to her, telling her she could adopt her only to take her back or, worse, make her feel she was watching her and, worse, actually show up at her door or watch her through the window?

The babysitter slipped her sunglasses on. The judge and jury were terrified of her. Yes, she was a horrible threat the way she looked. But she was nothing compared to the mother. Still, she could scare a flock of birds eating out of the hand of an elderly woman at a park any day. Tell her to babysit a group of children for the day, and they’d scream bloody murder. Have her smile, or maybe laugh, and you’d feel as if your blood turned to ice and would be frozen forever if you didn’t get out of her sight quickly.

She wasn’t scary. She was just wicked.

The babysitter felt upset. She wanted to just be normal. Marry not a shapeshifter, but a real man. With no special powers.

Her lover and she battled court case after court case. The judge kept looking strangely at the mother-to-be, but she, the mother-to-be, didn't really understand. Her daughter-to-be looked up fearfully at her new mother, but she felt her mother, whom she was told wasn’t coming to get her, wasn’t her mother after all. She started to want to sleep in her new parents’ room. Sleeping alone was too scary. The mother might snatch her back any minute now.

The little girl begged to be held. The babysitter held her, and the girl lay her head against the woman’s bone-skinny shoulder. The woman held her, almost rocking her. Maybe later. When she wasn’t always afraid the woman would burst out of nowhere.

And maybe even trap her daughter somewhere the babysitter couldn’t locate her. Or get her back. What if she had a trap laid for the woman? The babysitter hid her fears.

The lover found out. He wanted her to be safe, not to worry but all he saw her doing is worry. She refused his meals. She refused to marry him. She didn’t want him to worry over her. “Then stop. She’s not going to…” she gulped. The girl smiled, her plump cheeks adorable. She looked down at her. She put her sunglasses on, and smiled, playing with her fat cheeks.

The girl giggled, and she played along. The babysitter and the girl were playing. The lover was calling them back to the courtroom, but the babysitter ignored him for a second.

The babysitter tossed her daughter up in the air. The girl giggled with glee, the babysitter on her back in the grass. She wore a white cotton tank top.

The girl was chased by her. Fed by her. Slept by her side. Slept in her bed when the babysitter slept beside her in a sleeping bag, keeping awake, swallowing and checking the house’s doors and windows at least three times. The child kept crying to her that she was tired and didn’t want to sleep alone. She’d stay up all night, she promised. The woman didn’t want her to be sleep-deprived.

“Then go to sleep, Mommie!”

“I…we’ll go to sleep. And wake up, and go to kindergarten.”

“Yay!” The girl lay down, and looked down at her mother. The babysitter smiled, but she turned around. Her eyes blinked tears. She didn’t want someone else’s daughter. She wanted to birth a daughter. She married her lover. He wanted to raise children, but he also knew she just wanted a beautiful life--he wanted what she wanted. What if she didn't want sons and daughters? He wouldn't dream of leaving her. That would be too selfish of him. But he also loved her. He did. They loved each other.

But for now, he just wanted what he wanted. It wasn't bad to want what you wanted, right? So did she...

That's why she never stopped the mother from abusing her. Because she never wanted to be framed by the mother, as she was monstrous. But she often saw the daughter distraught. But never stood up to the mother.

Often, the lover had second thoughts about the babysitter. Did he love her, or did he just want to be with someone, for a security blanket? He balled his fists, distraught for his lover, but wanting to punish the mother. But he was always there for her, comforting her in her paranoia.

The babysitter stood alone. One time, in the bathroom, her husband and she were together, his arms wrapped firmly around her very slim waist—

“Mommie! I can’t sleep.”

“I know, honey. I can’t, either.”

Paranoia.

She’d find Emerald’s Blue, and seize her. Take her away in the night. Swallowing, the woman opened the door. Bending down, she spoke softly, brushing a thumb against the daughter’s cheek.

“I want my mother.”

“Honey, I don’t…”

“I want Mommie!” Emerald’s Blue stamped her foot. “I have a mommie. You’re only my babysitter.” The babysitter stood up slowly, inhaling and exhaling slowly. She turned to her husband. What do we do? She mouthed to him.

He shook his head sadly. His eyes shone with helplessness. He was scared, too. She just needed a hug.

“I know you’re paranoid. Maybe if you stop worrying about the mother, you’d be happy—”

But the babysitter was already in the daughter’s room. Emerald’s Blue was tucking herself into bed. “If you’re not going to do it, I will!” She slammed back into the bed, shutting her eyes.    

“Em, I know it’s hard. I adopted you. I’m not your birthmother. “But,” her voice broke. “I want you to know I don’t have any children. I want to be a mother as badly as you want your mother.”

“Em,” she said. “I’m your mother. I needed to adopt you.”

“Where’s my mother? You stole me away!”   

The babysitter sighed. Paranoia came to mind. She looked out the window. She picked up her daughter. “I don’t want you to suffer your mother’s abuse anymore. I’ve seen it while babysitting you, and your mother…I know it’s complicated…but she’s abused you. No more!”  

The daughter stared at her helplessly with her big brown eyes. Then she buried her face in her mother’s arms, and cried as she was soothed.   

Desperate for her to understand, the babysitter put her sunglasses on. She moved into the bathroom, and smiled, revealing her shark teeth. That’s why I’m always afraid. Afraid your mother will take you away suddenly. But why can’t I just say it? Your mother’s no different—at least not physically. Just another woman.”

She told her daughter she was her real mommie and lay her to sleep. Then she went into her room, and the couple snuggled on the couch, and then went to bed.

When they awoke, the girl was nowhere to be seen. 

“Emerald’s Blue?”

They searched everywhere. No one had seen her. She had escaped!

The babysitter searched and searched, even missing her sunglasses on the nightstand. Her husband grabbed them, making a dash towards her. He was pretty fast. “Hon—your glasses—”

She grabbed them, putting them on.

“That girl ran off. You cannot force her to be your daughter.”

The babysitter hunted the little girl down. Snatching her up, she fought the little girl, saying that you are. You are my daughter.

The daughter looked deep into her mother’s eyes. She didn’t react. She simply stopped.

And turned around.

“Oh—hi. Is this yours? Because I was looking for a babysitting job. You know, if you’re the mother.”

The babysitter took her daughter to have a DNA test. Once tested, the babysitter couldn’t believe her eyes. She stared at the results. Speechless, she closed her eyes, swallowed and then blinked. “So…” She looked over at her husband. “I’m…the real mother? Then…?”

She looked back at the mother behind her. “You’re…”

She flashed her resume. The babysitter’s jaw dropped. After collecting herself, she watched as her daughter was called by the babysitter.    

“No!” Emerald’s Blue ran, open-armed, to her real mother. “I want my mommie!”

The babysitter sat there, stunned. Then it came to her—the adoptive mother must’ve wanted the daughter so badly she would even go to hurtful lengths to try to get her to understand. She just wanted a daughter. She wasn’t abusive—she was desperate. But Emerald’s Blue was hers. The mother with the daughter. Not the babysitter with the mother’s daughter anymore.

“Babysitting’s my thing now.”

Maybe not just desperate—abusively desperate. But why would she abuse her? Was she jealous…? The babysitter turned to her husband, and he raised his eyebrows. “She’s jealous. Of me. I always thought I was the babysitter, and I wanted Em. But turns out I'm the mother. She just wants her.”

The husband hurled out of his chair, rounding on the mother. “Then go babysit somewhere else! She's my daughter--and always will be!"

The babysitter knelt down in front of her daughter one day in the foyer and asked whether she wanted a babysitter. The girl looked up at her mother with beautiful icy-blue eyes, and shook her beautiful blond head. A smile played on her face.

“Let’s go to the park, Mommie!”

The mother winked. “Ready?”

The daughter and mother were extremely close. She bonded with her mother, but nowhere near was her bond close to that of husband and wife. They were never seen without each other, and did dance every night--midnight blue dress with midnight blue tux.

Emerald’s Blue adopted several of the children she babysat. Decked in a tang top and sunglasses, her eyes shimmered in the sunlight outside on this bright day, a pretty icy blue that froze water and melted ice whenever they weren't a normal cute brown.

Here I go!