SUPERWHOLOCK

Spilled Milk

"Amy, love? Carry the milk, would you?" she heard Rory call from the opposite side of the car.

"Mm-hmm." She walked over to him, taking the milk.

"Mommy!" a small voice called from the car. "Mommy, Rosie took my doll!"

Amy groaned, and peered into the car. "Rosie, honey, you have one already. Where is it?"

Roseanna and Valerie Williams were genetically twins, but had somehow managed to look completely different. Valerie was taller, and had raven-black hair. Her complexion was waxy and pale. Her eyes were the perfect nature green, the most neon color Amy had thought was possible. She was usually very quiet and refined, and being only four years old, already loved to read.

Rosie, however had her mother's ginger hair, and large yellow eyes that reminded Amy of owl's eyes. She was shorter, and was more outgoing than her sister. Rosie loved being outside, playing in the dirt. In fact, the sisters were so different that they were almost always squabbling. Amy knew that they weren't normal. She knew something about them that no one else knew, not even their father.

"I want hers!" Rosie complained. "My doll is lonely."

"Rosie, the only problem here is that that particular doll belongs to your sister. You need to give it back."

Rosie glanced over at Valerie, who was sniffling. "Here." she handed her the little doll.

Valerie's face lit up and she tucked the toy under her arm. Amy smiled, problem solved. She picked the milk up off the driveway and walked to the front door. She had been to the store to fetch the groceries for her aunt.

Turning the brass handle and opening the door, she immediately dropped the groceries and screamed. "Rory!"

Inside, her aunt lay on the kitchen floor, her head bashed in with a meat tenderizer. "T-tell the girls to stay in the car." Amy whispered through stifled sobs.

"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my-" Rory dropped the bags, and stared open-mouthed at the horrifying scene. Amy fell to her knees, running her fingers through the silky fabric of her aunt's dress. She turned her head and looked longingly at Rory. "I..I don't.."

He paced angrily. "Why here? Why her?" he raised his hands to his air, tears streaming down his face. He then began rummaging around, looking under tables and in cabinets.

 "Rory? What are you talking about? What's happening?" Amy couldn't understand. She laid her head on her aunt's stomach and felt the tears roll, one by one, down her face. Rory then stopped at the windowsill on the far side of the room. The window was shattered, the wooden beams split apart, and the light blue curtain fluttering with the slight breeze. He ran his finger across the surface, a powder rubbing off on his fingers. He then wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Sulfur," he whispered to himself, so quietly that Amy couldn't hear. Not that she would have reacted much anyway. "How did they find us? Why," he sat down, and lowered his head to his hands, "Did I let them find us?"

"What the hell, Rory?" Amy stood up. "What are you talking about?" her words came out in gasps, the result of her sobbing.

"We have to leave. We have to get far away, and fast." Rory attempted to resume his 'strong father' demeanor, and stood up and gathered Amy, putting his arms around her. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

He then hurried her out to the car, where Valerie and Roseanna were still quarreling about toys. Shocked to see her mother crying, Valerie looked up, and whispered innocently, "Mommy? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, honey." Rory reassured her, starting the car. "It's all going to be okay." He turned around and took her hand. "We're just going on a long trip, okay? It'll be fun, I promise."

"Where are we going?" Rosie's face lit up and she looked at Valerie excitedly.

"America." the girls giggled and chittered amongst themselves esctatically, but his words echoed on in Amy's head, and she stayed curled up in the passenger seat. She watched her childhood home get smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing entirely. She felt a hole in her chest, where her aunt had once been. Little did she know, that hole was only going to get bigger.

Her mind wandered on, to the abandoned groceries in the driveway.

Her life was all a bunch of spilled milk.