Disintegrate

Years had gone by ever since the little girl had gone missing. 

No one knew what happened to her. One day she was here, the next she wasn’t. The only person who knew what happened to her was the lady who saw her one day and decided to take her. After all, we should all get the chance to bring a ray of sunshine into our lives. 

Shouldn’t we? 

Years had passed by ever since the little girl was taken. She grew up to be a nice, kind lady. Her true parents died long ago, the mother by her own hands. The father followed shortly after, then the sister, and also the brother. The only one who remained was the second sister, the youngest. 

She found out 5 years later that she was kidnapped. That she was that missing child no one could find. She tried to get “her mother” to explain, but she was dragged away in shackles. She didn’t know what to do. 

25 years have passed ever since “her mother” was placed in custody. 

“MOM!” the girl yells. 

She was startled by the title. She looks around to see her 5 year old daughter staring up at her. “Let’s go!” She cried. 

She tries to remember what she was just doing. 

“Right,” she thinks, “mirror.” 

She looks back at her reflection. The mirror was cracked, the smallest bits of blood on the shattered glass. Her other daughter, a 13 year old, was in the bathroom. She could hear her yell out every once and a while. 

“That right,” she thinks, trying to remember what had happened. 

Another fit, similar from the one yesterday. Only this one resulted in her daughter punching the mirror at the look of herself. 

She didn’t like being her biological child. She didn’t accept the way she looked, similar to the father who had abandoned her. She didn’t like the small details of her mother, who was getting more and more on her nerves with her love and concern. 

So she punched a mirror. 

“No big deal,” she thinks, wiping the blood from the remains of it. 

She blinks, trying to remember what she was thinking about. 

“MOM!!” Her 5 year old yells. “I thought we were going to the park!” 

“We were?” She says. Memories flood back. 

“Oh yeah, we were!” 

“Are you okay?” The voice behind her says. 

She turns to see Mrs. Brenda staring back at her.

“Oh, I’m okay,” she says. 

Mrs. Brenda sits next to her. Mrs. Brenda was the woman who adopted her after her “mother” was locked up. She cared for her, Mrs. Brenda. 

“How's Caroline?” she asks. 

“She’s doing well,”  Mrs. Brenda says. “It’s a surprise you even want to hear about her.” 

“Are you kidding?” She cheers. “She’s my big sister! Of course I wanna know how she's doing!” 

Mrs. Brenda looks down at her in concern. “You have been taking your medicine, right?” 

“What medicine?” She says. Memories come back. 

“Oh yeah!” She says, “Of course!” 

“LOOK MOMMY!!” the 5 year old yells as she goes down the slide. 

“Hi baby!” She says, waving. 

Mrs. Brenda waves too. 

The 5 year old runs towards her. 

“Mommy can we have pizza for dinner?” She says. 

“Sure thing, honey!” She says. 

“Lizzie,” Mrs. Brenda says. 

“What’s wrong?” Lizzie says. 

Mrs. Brenda looks at her with concern. Ever since she got out of the hospital she had a hard time remembering anything. She definitely had no clue about the past, only that “her mother” wasn’t her real one. It was dangerous, Lizzie living alone with Carol and Lily. Carol was now 13, and more of a brat than ever. And Lily, poor innocent Lily was really raised by Carol. 

Mrs. Brenda said a silent prayer. 

“Let me call Caroline to see if she's doing alright.” Lizzie says, pulling out her cellphone. 

Brenda grabs it immediately. 

“Can we go Mommy?” Lily cries, “I want pizza!!” 

“Okay sweetheart,” Lizzie says. 

Mrs. Brenda watches the two of them safely walk across the street to the grocery store. Then she sees Lily suddenly let go of her mothers hands. 

And suddenly everything seems to stop for just a moment. 

And she finds herself running, alongside Lizzie, trying to save her.

The funeral was easier than expected. 

Mrs. Brenda was devastated, Lizzie was lost in her own world, and Carol was locked in her room. 

“You killed her.” She told Lizzie.

“What are you talking about?” Mrs. Brenda says. “What’s wrong?” Lizzie askes her. 

“IT'S YOUR FAULT MY SISTERS DEAD!!” She yells, slamming the door. 

Mrs. Brenda looks back at Lizzie. 

Her face is blank. 

She slowly turns towards Mrs. Brenda. 

“Is.. Is she, really..-”

Lizzie falls to her knees, tears rolling down her face. 

“Is she…really…gone?” 

Mrs. Brenda bites her lip. 

Finally she begins to cry. 

And that night, the entire block could hear her cry. Everyone's pity seemed pointless because no one stepped up to see if she was okay. No one came to pass their regards. No one came to see if she was fine. 

“I didn’t want this,” she whimpers. “They would have been better without me.” 

“Don’t tell yourself that,” Mrs. Brenda says, wiping the tears from her face. 

“I wanted them to be happy,” she sobs, “I didn’t want them to have me..”

Mrs. Brenda stops for a moment. 

Lizzie may have been different from most people, but she was the best parent Mrs. Brenda has ever seen. For her to talk like this, it was.. Heartbreaking. 

“I wanna, I wanna.”

“Disappear.” 

Carol opens her eyes. The sun shines through the window. 

She pulls herself out of bed, rubbing her eyes. 

She still can’t believe her mother is dead. 

Lizzie opens her eyes. She is in Carol's bedroom. 

“It’s dark in here,” she thinks. She hasn't been allowed in Carol's room for a very long time. The place was actually pretty neat, filled with biker magazines on the shelves, clothes either scattered in the drawers or hanging in the closets. Posters of surfers and skateboarders. 

“This is cool,” she says, pushing her fingers against the desk. They go through. 

She falls to the ground as her body goes through the desk. She looks back at her hand. 

It’s translucent. 

She gets up and calms her breaths. “Am I a ghost?” she thinks. 

Carol gets up and walks out the door. 

Lizzie follows, looking around. 

The house seems different. It has a weird smell, almost like-

“Mrs. Brenda!” She says, running down the stairs. 

She runs into the kitchen to see Mrs. Brenda sitting at the table. And someone else is sitting there too. 

“Can I have some more waffles? Lily says, picking up her plate.

“Once you finish your eggs,” Mrs. Brenda says. 

Lizzie looks at her daughter. The one they said was dead. 

“Lily?” She says, walking towards her. 

She tries to hug her but she goes through again. 

A knock at the door brings back her attention.

“It’s me,” A familiar voice says. 

Lizzie watches as Carol opens the door. 

“Thanks Mini-Me,” Caroline says as she walks towards Mrs. Brenda. 

“Oh, now you wanna show up,” Carol says. 

“Carol, don’t be rude.” Mrs. Brenda says. “Show your Auntie some respect.”

“For what she did?” Carol yells. 

“Young lady, get ready for school.” Mrs. Brenda orders. 

Carol stomps up the staircase, slamming the door behind her.

“God bless that child,” Mrs. Brenda mutters. 

“So, where's the will?” Caroline says, looking around. 

“You expect something to go to you?” Mrs. Brenda says. 

“You stupid!” Lily mutters, pointing at her. 

“Behave this child,” Caroline says. 

Lizzie looks around. “Where am I?” She says. 

“Dear Lizzie,” Mrs. Brenda says, “if you are listening, please know that your children are doing fine-”

Carol stomps down the stairs and gives Caroline an evil look before slamming the door behind her. 

“For the most part.” Mrs. Brenda starts to pray. 

“You sure she didn’t leave me anything in her will?” Caroline says. 

“You stupider!” Lily says. 

Caroline throws her hand, slapping her across the face. 

“You monster!” Mrs. Brenda yells, grabbing her arm. “GET OUT!!” 

Caroline storms out the house slamming the door. Lily whimpers, rubbing her face. Lizzie keeps herself from crying. 

“Don’t worry, honey. Mommy will make it better.” She says softly. 

At that moment Lily looked up at her. “Mommy?” she whispered. 

Lizzie nodded. 

“Don’t worry sweetheart,” Mrs. Brenda says, “It will be okay.” 

Lily looks at Mrs. Brenda. “Look, it’s my mommy!” 

Lizzie’s heart seemed to crack as Mrs. Brenda looked up at her. 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “But your mother isn’t here anymore.” 

“But she is!” Lily  cried, “She’s right there!” 

Mrs. Brenda picked her up and carried her outside, heading towards the school house.

After a while Lizzie got bored. She tidied up the house the best she could, finding out that she could move objects, and she could also go through them. 

She thought while she cleaned. 

“Why would Caroline hit my baby?” 

She looked out the window. Snow had begun to fall and winter was here. She stepped outside for a moment, getting a breath of air. 

The cold wind seemed to calm her for a moment. 

“Hey loser!” A voice called. 

Lizzie turned to see Carol being surrounded by a group of girls. 

“Where are you going, loser?” One of the girls said.

She seemed to ignore, trying to make it to the house-

One girl pushed her, slamming her to the ground. 

“How dare you!” Lizzie yelled, running towards her. 

Carol swiped the snow from her face and walked into the house, ignoring their calls. Lizzie followed. 

“Carol, are you okay?” Lizzie said. 

Carol dropped to the ground, crying. 

“Oh, sweetie,” Lizzie said, trying to cradle her the best she could. She started to hum, a song she remembered she used to hum when Carol was a baby. 

Close your eyes

Say goodnight

Sleep well tight

Where all is right

Keep your Hands

Locked in mine

Good night

My darling

“Mom?” Carol whispered. 

Lizzie looked down at her. 

Carol slowly looked up only to realize she wasn’t there. 

Lizzie looked around her home. Her sister may have lived by herself, but it seemed as if a crowd had charged through her home. 

Caroline wasn’t there yet, so she waited patiently outside of the open door. Curiosity got the better of her and she ended up digging through the home. 

She couldn’t find anything. 

“Strange” she thought. “I thought Caroline had a fine paying job. She went to college. Didn’t she?” 

Memories seemed to re enter her mind. 

Her and Caroline are sitting together on the park bench. Caroline had two ice creams, since she stole hers. 

“You can have it, I guess,” she had said as she snatched it from her hands. 

“Get away from me.” Caroline said, shoving her off the bench. She slowly got up and walked away. She was used to Caroline pushing her away. She didn’t see Lizzie as her long lost sister.

She found her as the reason her family had died. 

“What’s the matter?” a really younger Mrs.Brenda had said. 

Lizzie kept quiet for a few seconds. 

“DId Caroline do something? 

“No, I’m fine!” Lizzie quickly said. She ran off to play with her sister. 

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!” 

She remembered hearing Caroline yell that as she pushed her. This was the last time she would be shoved, because she landed harder than anyone would have thought. 

And higher from whoever would have thought too. 

“Mom?” 

Lizzie had returned, looking at her daughter. 

“I want you to go home,” Lily says. 

“What do you mean?” Lizzie says. 

“Go home. Carol needs you more than you know.” 

Lizzie tries to make sense of what she's saying.

“I can’t leave you, dear.” She says. 

“You can. Please, go. For her.”

Everything turns white. 

Lizzie looks at her two daughters. 

“Go!” Lily yells, “Go Home!!” 

“Don’t let her die!!!” Carol yells. 

The two go back and forth, yelling at her. 

“DON’T DO IT!!!” They both yell. 

Lizzie looks at her daughters.

Either return home to comfort her daughter, or give her daughter another chance at life. 

Which would you choose?