My Second Closet (World of Mr. Plant + Other Ashur Gharavi Creations Fanfic)

Chapter Four-What is She Hiding?

I watch and rewatch the DVDs with the man on it. I know every word he says to advertise the toys I haven't even heard of before.

"Many children are lonely..."

I take note of what looks like eyebags. I can't tell if it's makeup or a lack of sleep with the weird quality of the video. It looks like it's from the 80s or 90s. What? I don't study video quality over the decades.

"But with Talkative Teddy, making friends becomes a breeze."

I wish I had that toy when I was stuck with Dad. I was, to say the least, an extremely lonely kid. Most of the other kids either stared at me or bullied me. Seriously, I was not in a good place at elementary school. And then I moved to another town, where Molly was born, and I went through middle school in track and field. And THEN we moved to this town, where I actually started my masks and Molly started remembering things. She remembers my face, even though I sometimes don't wear a mask at home, but she doesn't mind if I wear anything over my face. Mom hasn't really talked to us since she got the job with Josh. That guy was the whole reason why we moved.

I take the DVD out of the player and put it back into the box. The DVDs each have their own box, probably to keep them all safe, in the same order as the names in the notebook. For some reason, the notebook has the advertisements after the creatures instead of the other way around. It's still in order, mostly, although there are no tapes with an Argos or Mr. Plant on it. I hate having to flip through every page just to find the ads. Looking at that plant's smile and man's eyes creeps me out.

I know they might not be real, but thinking about them makes me want to turn around and check if they're behind me. Molly doesn't know I've been watching these DVDs on repeat. She doesn't even know these exist. After tonight, I might need to keep a closer eye on her.

The knife by my bed is still there. I've been checking on Molly with it every night. She's always asleep when I check on her, but she has been looking extremely tired in the morning since the first time I've done this. Questions run through my brain when I see her like that.

Is she hiding something from me? Why is she staying up?

One question always lurks in the back of my mind, wanting to be called to the front like it's an extra character nobody wants to see.

Are they with her?

It sounds ridiculous, but I can't help but wonder. Ever since I got those DVDs and played them, one by one, it feels like my life is falling deeper into an ocean full of things that want to swallow me whole. Each job interview that the recruiters have said they'd think about has all ended in a pile of rejection e-mails. Christmas is creeping closer, looming over Molly and me. The day that my parents had their divorce, and the day Molly was born.

Molly hates her birthday.

Not because it's also "Santa's" day, but because she just hates having a ton of attention. My birthdays have all ended in silence as I blew out a cupcake and always wished that my face wasn't so bad, when I first started middle school. Or a pony would turn up at our doorstep, when I first started knowing what a wish was. Or the next batch of masks I make don't end in failure, way back when I first started making them.

Molly doesn't believe in wishes. She just doesn't want her mom and dad singing like she's in kindergarten. Josh and Mom don't really listen to whatever a little kid has to say, and they especially don't listen what the little kid's half-sister is backing her up with.

As soon as I'm eighteen, I'm just going to move to a friend's house. If I have any friends by then. I can tell Mom doesn't want me around any longer than I have to, so she isn't considered an "insane parent" or a "fucking douchebag" by the Internet's standards.

I put up the box in the place Molly won't reach: the closet. She doesn't even know that I've opened it. I hate keeping secrets from her, but I shouldn't get her involved with certain things. This might all be fiction, too. I might be getting worried over nothing. Maybe the new imaginary friend Molly has is actually just a flower, and not "Mr. Plant". The flower friend probably talks to Molly when they're alone. The flower might just be mute like Mr. Plant.

I need to go to sleep. I'm going insane.

I lie down, remembering that I have put on my pajamas before I started watching the DVDs, and head to sleep.

But my eyes shoot open.

.

.

.

How do I know that Mr. Plant is mute?

*****

I'm trying to stay ahead by like three chapters and I'm going to work on chapter seven when this one is out.

I really need to stay ahead so you still get content on the most terrible day of the week, and this is actually working.

901 words :)

(It doesn't say it published on my phone for some reason ;-;)