Pills

Fran Laurent was a curious girl. She was a good student, kind and soft-spoken, but the other children avoided her. She liked to sit on the grass near the school fence, making little houses out of sticks and leaves. She rather enjoyed her time this way. In fact , she didn’t mind being alone, because her one true friend in the world was always there for her, waiting patiently at home. He was a beautiful black cat she had named Mr. Midnight.

“Good morning, Mr. Midnight!” She greeted her cat on a frigid Monday morning.

“Hello my dear Fran! Did you sleep well?” Mr. Midnight replied, stretching. His silky dark fur reflected the overhead light like a shard of obsidian.

“Yes, I did. But I do wish I could stay home today…” Fran reached for her dear friend, scooped him up in her arms and stepped onto the floor.

“I wish that everyday, what stops you from staying? Why must that large container with wheels take you away each morning?” Mr. Midnight asked Fran.

“I have to go to school, my dear kitty. Mother and father work too hard for me to be irresponsible. And also, they said if I did especially well this semester, they would buy me a new drawing pad for my 11th birthday!” Fran explained excitedly while tugging on her pale yellow stockings. “Well, I must be going now, I love you! I will see you very soon once I come home from school.”

Fran closed the front door behind her and went to her usual spot on the bench, clutching her bookbag. She hoped the bus would appear soon and take her out of the cold. Last night, Fran had had a very strange dream. She hadn’t wanted to mention it to Mr. Midnight, for fear of worrying him, but it did indeed trouble her… That face she had seen outside her window in her dream felt so real. A face lacking skin, peering into her room through empty eye-sockets. Its head seemed to be the skull of some sort of animal with long, curved horns. The moment she opened her eyes that morning she went to close the curtain. While Fran waited to the bus, she sketched the monster, making a note to forget what it looked like.

School was mundane. Sure, she did enjoy learning, but she much rather be at home with her kitty. And she wanted to be there to protect him in case the monster came back. So once the bus brought her back to the bench, she flew up the stairs and burst inside the house.

“Mr. Midnight!” Fran called. “I’m home!” She went to each room of the house, searching for her dear kitty in all the usual places he liked. She found him curled up in the bathroom over the vent. It was blowing warm air into the room.

“Fran! Welcome home.” He yawned, having woken from a deep sleep.

“I’m going to finish my homework in my bedroom, would you like to come?” Fran bent down for him to climb into her arms. He nodded sleepily and allowed Fran to pick him up.

Fran and Mr. Midnight spent the remainder of the evening at her desk. She sat with her legs crossed, a cozy space in her lap that her kitty liked to snuggle into. Fran finished by organizing her papers into a neat pile, ready to go into her bag in the morning.

“Well, mother and father won’t be home for another hour. Would you like to draw?” Mr. Midnight jumped down as Fran stood from her chair.

“I am not sure if I will be able to hold a pencil, but I will surely try!” Mr. Midnight joked, holding up a paw with its soft pink pads and small claws. Fran smiled, and spread her materials on the floor beside her bed. She already knew what to draw. With the help of her dark blue crayon, Fran outlined her window, the curtain, and the strange silhouette of the face.

“What is that?” Mr. Midnight looked at the finished drawing.

She scratched in the bottom left corner: I hate the monster.

“Just a dream.” Replied Fran. She didn’t mean to, but with such a sudden bout of tiredness, Fran rested her cheek against the cool hardwood floor and fell asleep.

A sound, loud and sharp, shook her awake. The clock on the wall read 01:00.

“Mother?” Fran rubbed her eyes, she hadn’t remembered falling asleep. She was still in her school clothes and felt stiff from laying on the floor.

There was no reply, the house was very dark. Another factor touched her senses, a smell. Fran turned her door handle, going quietly into the hallway. It was a faint scent of rust and salt, like the metal of the coin in her overcoat. This smell was making her feel dizzy. She opened the door of her parent’s bedroom.

A while passed before Fran could fully comprehend what she was seeing. At first she just told the screaming voice in her head that this had to be another bad dream.

In the middle of the floor lay what remained of her parents. A kitchen knife discarded in the corner of the room. Each body had been expertly divided, transversely cut like the vegetables being prepared for a soup. Her mother’s arms were scattered in more pieces than she could count, her father’s torso was still leaking blood onto the floor. They lay there, surrounded by a puddle of red, and Fran collapsed between them. She cried silent tears. The screaming in her head had subsided to an agonized whimper. Fran didn’t care that the blood was soaking into her clothes and skin, the only thing she could think of was the pieces on the floor that had been mommy and daddy.

Only an hour earlier, the neighbors had heard screaming. How could she have not woken? The wail of sirens grew loud as police cars approached the house, but Fran couldn’t hear them.

The front door was not locked, and when the men in blue uniforms came into her parent’s room, what they found was a young girl huddled against the farthest wall. Her yellow stockings stained red, her arms wrapped tightly around shaking knees. The bloodied knife clutched between her small pale fingers.

“Dear God…” Said one of the men. Another came into the room, a woman with the same attire. She looked over the scene with disdain. Walking over to the young girl, the woman knelt down and spoke to her in a cautious manner.

“What is your name?”

“Fran Laurent…” Fran whispered, her voice scratchy from crying.

“Fran, you’re going to have to come with us.” The woman grasped her wrist, tugging Fran to her feet. She felt unsteady, numb. As the woman led her to the door, Fran felt herself stop.

“No…I can’t leave.” She shook her head, trying to pull her wrist out of the woman’s grip. “Mr. Midnight!” She managed to free herself, running away from the noisy room filled with officers and towards her own bedroom, where she knew her dear kitty would be hiding. He must feel so afraid… Fran searched hurriedly for him, calling his name and looking quickly in every hiding space in her room before the officers could grab her again.

“No! Leave me alone! I can’t leave my kitty!” Fran screamed as the two men seized each of her arms, hauling her away and out the front door.

A sting in her neck, spreading a thick and drowsy feeling. Like hot lead filling her body. She struggled to stay conscious, and for a moment felt as though she were looking down at her own body. Standing behind the two men and herself was the monster from her window. Tall and grotesque, it was smiling.

The first thing she felt upon waking was anger. The monster had killed her parents. She hated the monster. And she knew that now it would come back to kill her too.

Fran searched her surroundings for something to defend herself, but every surface she looked at was white and barren. She tried to lift her hands to cover her eyes against the harsh artificial light, but her arms seemed to be locked in place. Buckles ran down her back, tightly holding Fran’s arms crossed against her body

A section of the padded white wall opened. A door. A woman with white clothing came in holding a silver tray. Her hands were shaking.

“Fran,” Said the nurse. “The doctor prescribed this to you, it will help with the hallucinations.” She took a glass jar off of the tray, it contained red capsules.

“No, I don’t need that. I need to get home to Mr. Midnight!”

The nurse gave a sad smile, “This is always the worst part,” she whispered to herself. “Little Fran, there never was a cat. Mr. Midnight doesn’t exist.”

Fran shook her head, not meeting the nurse’s eyes.

“Be a good girl now, Fran. And take your pills.”