Inner Child's Demon

Chapter 17

As Stoic was revealing who he was when he was human, and also how the demon in Zara's body wasn't really his father but rather his "creator"; the four girls were preparing to play their game of Hide & Clap; which Dinah still thought was a stupid idea but oh well, she'd just play along - for lack of a better word...phrase.

"Right, so, rules, Ally you count to twenty, the three of us will go and hide, when you ask us to clap, we will," Lauren said as Normani took her hand, "Oh and Ally, no blindfolds, it's likely we'll go upstairs, so no peeking,"

"Okay, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR," Ally started counting as Dinah sighed, the things she had to endure for Normani,"You better be hiding Dinah,"

"Alright, alright, I'm going, I'm going, god," the girl said as Ally chuckled.

"Let's play, let's play," Normani said as she took Lauren's hand.

"I'm coming," Lauren laughed as Normani ran upstairs.

"I hear thumping," Ally said, "Did the monkey run upstairs?"

"NO," Normani yelled back.

"Normani, shush," Lauren said playfully.

"Oh, oops,"

"Yeah, oops, c'mon,"

"Oh, oh, the closet,"

"The closet?"

"Yeah, it's cool to hide in the closet, then when we come out we can say, 'Hello, I'm fabulous,'"

"Okay, what have you been watching?"

"I don't know,"

"Aha,"

As the two ran into the closet and shut the door quietly, Normani sat on Lauren's lap and cuddled into her, "Lauren," she started.

"Yeah," Lauren replied as she looked down at her.

Normani just grasped at Lauren's dress.

"What's wrong?" Lauren asked as she stroked Normani's hair.

"I don't know, but I feel sad, Mr Tibbs is sad," Normani said.

"How do you know?"

"I feel it, he's very sad but he's also very angry,"

"He is?"

"Yeah, someone did something bad to him and made him cry,"

"That's not good,"

"When he finishes helping Zara, do you think I should give him a hug?"

"Yeah, because your hugs make people feel better, you told me, remember? And then you gave me a hug, so when Mr Tibbs is done, give him a hug,"

"Okay,"

"Okay you two suck at hiding," Dinah said as she opened the door.

"Oh, I'm fabulous," Normani said as she jumped out of the closet and did a pose that she'd seen in a magazine.

Dinah just raised and eyebrow.

"Wow, you and Lauren are rubbing each other," Normani said, "You're raising your eye thingee like her,"

"You mean we're rubbing OFF on each other, and you're talking about my eyebrow," Dinah corrected

"I said that, and yeah,"

"Aha,"

"READY OR NOT, HERE I COME," Ally yelled.

"Dinah go away, we're hiding, shoo," Lauren said as she grabbed Normani, gently pushed Dinah away, and shut the closet door.