Maggie felt so tired all the time now. She tried to stay awake, but she couldn't. And every time she fell asleep, the monsters taunted her but she didn't have the energy to fight back anymore.
"Hungry?" One of the monsters asked while circling around Maggie's supine body lying on the floor of the scary room. Maggie shook her head.
"Aww that's too bad. It's more fun when you complain."
Maggie lay on the floor, not fighting the rope things. Not arguing with the monsters. She just didn't have it in her anymore.
"Did you like the rocks?" The monsters asked. Maggie shook her head.
"Why won't you talk? You usually don't shut up! I admit, we liked when you couldn't talk, but listening to you whimper and cry and beg, it was getting fun."
Maggie lay on the floor staring up into the dark.
"Still think those losers love you? What are they doing to help you now?"
"They brought me to the hospital," Maggie whispered.
"That won't help you. What are they going to do there?"
Maggie shrugged and lay still.
"She's no fun like this," one of the monsters said.
"No, but we can find other ways to make this fun," the other monster said. A hand crept out of the dark and rotated. One of the rope things tightened around Maggie's stomach. She cried out in pain.
The monsters laughed.
"Awww. Does the baby's tummy hurt?" One of the monsters asked. Maggie refused to answer.
"Answer me!" The monster yelled. Maggie refused, still.
The rope thing tightened. Maggie tried not to cry out, but couldn't help it.
"You know, we still have control over you. Just because we ditched you in Ohio doesn't mean we didn't make sure we were still in control," one of the monsters said. Maggie had lost track of which one might be a girl and which one might be a boy. "And even though we are nowhere near you, we are still in control."
Maggie cried out again. The monsters laughed.
"Please," Maggie whimpered. "Please leave me alone."
"Why? Why should we leave you alone? We tossed you out and still you insist on being."
Maggie coughed. The tight rope things around her midsection were making it hard to breathe.
"Please," Maggie whispered.
The monsters laughed even harder. They circled her. The rope things alternated tightening. They tightened around her arms, then her stomach, then her chest, then her throat and then her legs. They'd tighten and let up after a few seconds.
"Those losers who you convinced to take you in, how come they aren't here? Huh?"
Maggie couldn't answer. Not because she didn't know. She knew Mama and Papa couldn't come into this world. Not like Maggie could. But sometimes their presence could make it through. Maggie was pretty sure that was what was keeping her alive, Mama and Papa's brightness. Mama and Papa were good. The monsters were bad. Mama and Papa could fight the monsters, but Mama and Papa couldn't come here. At least, Maggie didn't think they could. They didn't know about this place. And Maggie didn't want her Mama and Papa here. It was dangerous. Maggie was going to have to find a way to fight the monsters herself. But she was only little. She was only seven. And the monsters seemed to be trying to make sure she didn't make it to eight.
Maggie closed her eyes. She thought about Mama and Papa. And Jim. She missed Jim. She hadn't seen him since Mama and Papa brought her to the hospital. Even Rosie didn't come anymore. Aunty Jenna and Uncle Tyler came to visit, but they said Rosie couldn't come right now. But Maggie thought of Rosie anyway. Because Rosie was her bestest friend and Maggie wanted to think of happy things and people who made her happy.
"Stop that!" The monsters yelled. "What are you doing? Stop that! Stop that now!"
Maggie, still thinking about the people she loved (and Jim, who is a dog and not a people) and saw the rope things slithering away and off of her. The circle of light was bigger and the monsters were further away.
"Dammit!" The monster yelled. The rope things came back and wrapped themselves tightly around Maggie's stomach again. Maggie cried out in pain again, the light closing in just a bit. But she kept thinking about Mama and Papa and Jim and Rosie and Uncle Tyler and Aunty Jenna.
The rope things got tighter. Maggie concentrated hard on the people she loved. The rope things tightened. Maggie tried to fight them but it wasn't working.
Then she heard Mama's voice and she opened her eyes again.
"MAMA!" She screamed. "It hurts!"
Maggie's tummy hurt so badly. The rope things, had they followed her out of her scary room? She didn't see them around her but her tummy hurt worse than she had ever felt in her life.
Papa had run to find a nurse and then a doctor came and they both wanted to look at her tummy, but her tummy hurt too much.
The doctor (did he say his name was Hamburger?) pressed very gently on Maggie's tummy but that hurt.
And then Maggie threw up.
And then she fell asleep again. And the monsters were back. But Maggie didn't have the energy to fight them. She just kept pictures of Mama and Papa and Jim in her head.
The monsters circled and told her that she was stupid to think Mama and Papa loved her. But Maggie remembered hearing Mama and Papa tell her how much they loved her. Even while she was sleepy and in the scary room. Sometimes she could still hear Mama and Papa there.
Maggie thought about the Blurryface song that Uncle Tyler sang. Her favourite song.
The light got brighter. Maggie was still in the scary room, but it wasn't as scary when she could bring more light. The monsters were afraid of the light.
YOU ARE READING
Magnolia Blooms
FanfictionMagnolia (known to family and friends as Maggie) is seven years old. Two years ago, her life was changed when she was tossed out of her parents car, in a garbage bag. She was found by none other than Josh Dun of the band twentyone pilots. She was a...
