CHILD'S PLAY (First Half)

Laughter hung in the air that day, my dear friend, I'm truly sorry I had to be the one to end your lovely life, for you had nothing to apologize for. You had nothing to atone for! You were just a young child, with so much to look forward in life. I took it away from you...oh, I'm so very sorry. My heart weeps for you, really, it does.

I had promised to make your days better, and I believe I've kept that promise. I've set you free! But as I can see, I learned my lesson, the lesson of killing to survive.

That day...it felt wrong from the beginning.

"Amor! Where are you?" I had called, your mother had warned me not to let you play in the garden. But for a child who was only a mere eight years old, I thought this was entirely unfair. As I ran up beside the maze and secret garden I saw you playfully swinging with your platinum locks flowing passed your face.

"Nadia! Look! It's a spider, Momma has captured her meal!" You laughed, you didn't know any better, and you had received the best education from your wealth. And it angered me so.

You ran over to the water fountain and knelt down watching closely as it spun its deadly web.

"Alright now Amor...it's time for you to play piano." I giggled. The dull baby blue sky loomed over us as the clouds raced like the tortoise and hare. The sun burned our skin with rays of light and heat.

"Aw, but Nadia! I don't want to! Mr. Muzz is such a prick!" Amor mumbled, her voice growling under her breath.

"Quiet Amor! Now, go to practice!" I can't forget: your face was full of anxiety and betrayal. You had told me about Mr. Muzz, how you hated his way of teaching.

"Mr. Muzz! You're here!" Amor propped herself up on the piano bench. Mr. Muzz's fat chubby face opened wide as he laughed, his jolly red cheeks jumping up and down. The way he laughed made he a more disgusting sight to look at, I wanted to barf, and by the look in your face you did too.

"Ah, if it isn't Little Miss Riding Hood!" He cheerfully hollered. You made a face of utter disapproval and sat, ready to begin your lesson. "Oh, ready I see! Good, that's what I love about you. You always get right to the lesson!"

"If you'll excuse me..." I bowed and took my leave...maybe I should've stayed. God knows what you went through, behind those towering brown doors and empty room that only sat you and the piano.

Sometime later( forty-five minutes to be exact), Mr.Muzz left short of breath and flushed face and sweat beaded on his face as he struggled to fit himself in his car. I stood behind you as you looked down at him from the music room. Your face was dull and looked as if all happiness was sucked out.

"God, I hate that fat old bastard," you had mumbled. I coughed and rolled my head back. "Amor...it's not lady-"

"Oh, who cares! Ladylike? God! We act like ladies and all we get is this! Ridiculous." you turned violently, so fast that I thought your spine would snap.

"Amor!" I yelled, my motherly side showing. You did not seem amused. Instead of your usual face you stared at me with black eyes, empty. Your white locks hung around your face, your head tilted downward.

"Nadia...you may have perks...but don't forget your employer," your voice, filled was with venom, your plump baby lips curved to a sick smile, “Say..."

I hadn't know what was happening...but your mother had warned me. You were psychotic, a freak.  "Do you want to play a game?" Your head rolled up as your gave me a demented look. Skipping your way to me, you held that smile.

"A game?" I asked. I learned that if I went along with you, wouldn't snap at me and try to wring my neck. Your sinister glare and smirk cut through your cheeks, but at a in stint it fell apart to a bored look.

"I'm bored, get the bath ready for me Nadia." Your voice rattled with my name as you skipped down the rooms and halls humming to a gentle Ring-Around-A-Rosy.

I watched you stare at the bubbles in front of you. I scrubbed your back and placed more soap on the sponge. "Amor..." I spoke, "Want to go play in the garden?" I asked. This question was my answer to see if you would answer normally, if you weren't in a psychotic phase anymore.

But you said nothing; you blew some of the bubbles and watched them dance in the air. You began to hum again, a gentle, sweet lullaby.

I stood from the bottom of the stairs looking up at your private quarters.  “I, Nadia Beers, will someday have a house of my own with my own children.” I mumbled. This was my motivation for the hard working days such as this one. I had trouble trying to keep jobs; being a daughter of a mistress and prostitute my future had been shattered. My mother knew the price it would pay for her children, yet she brought me into the world. My brother, Nicolas, wasn’t so grateful and had taken his own life. Stabbed in the gut and slashed it open to one side to the other, like cutting open a fish you’ve just caught.

I heard some whispering from your room and I flinched. Taking deep rugged breaths I gripped the railing and took a step onto the stairs. A bright light flooded a corner of my vision as you opened your door. Peaking your head sideways and looking at me. Emotionless face and bangs covering parts of your eyes, those once beautiful icy blue eyes.

“Amor? Is someone in there with you?” I asked, it wasn’t uncommon for a man or child to be in that room with Amor. Kidnappers frantically try to steal the Ms. It never works; she’s always so cheerful with it so gives them her money, a whole pocket full of hundreds.

Your baby lips parted, separating and slowly turning to a grim look. Shutting the door you closed the open space between us, I stood horrified and hurriedly ran down to the basement; where my private quarters was located. I tore my top layer of dresses off and was left with my undergarments, which was a plain white dress. Burying myself in the sheets I blew out the scented candle and went to see.

“Goodnight…” a voice called out form the darkness.

“Goodnight.” I replied.

“You know Amor, that boy, the one your friends with. He would make a great suiting partner. Great for business and the family name.” Helen said, sipping her red wine. Her thin lips were colored a crimson color, her eyes blue like yours but much heavier. Her brown hair put up into a neatly done bun, done by me. The corset hugged her tightly around the waist and her deep red dress gave her pale complexion a rather nice bold point.

You hummed and starting flicking food with your fork, gently pushing it to the other side of the plate. I stood between you two, the center of the long table that you two occupied at both ends. Your mother sighed and gave me a look of utter disappointed.

“How long has Amor been like this?” Helen sounded exhausted as she got up.

“Since yesterday…” I mumbled tilting my head down to a 80 degree angle.

“Make sure there isn’t a mess like last time, Amor.” I took a peek at your face; a twitch on the corner of your mouth gave off a smile.

“Yes, mother…” you replied, actually in the conversation. Helen turned to the side and smiled walking away and heading outside for her carriage.

“Amor, in one hour Mr. Muzz will be here for lessons.” You smiled. It was like your usual innocent kid smiles, but this one…it was filled resentment and revenge. You swung your feet as you jabbed the piece of ham on your plate and shoved it in your mouth.

“Yay!” you excitedly yelled. I cracked a smile and began to worry about what your mother said.

Lessons had begun I waited outside the doors as you were being taught right or wrong. I heard you playing a beautiful piece by Mozart. I hummed along; I swayed and began looking to the window with starry eyes. Then, a sudden clash of keys was played at once. A shriek was heard, not yours not high pitched, a low deep growl.

I waited outside, the hairs on my skin standing up. My oddly blue eyes contrasted against my deep brown hair. It had been a rough thirty minutes, half of the time it was filled with banging and screaming.  Your soft light footsteps could be heard from down the hall. The door opened and I turned and bowed, “How was your lesson today, Amor?” I smiled and looked at your shoes. They track a deep scarlet liquid from the piano room. I shot my vision to the rest of your petite body. The once white and green dressed was splattered with the same liquid from your shoes. You stared at me with fur-filled eyes, blood dripping from you fingertips.

“It was great, Nadia.” You spoke, rubbing blood onto your cheeks. You started to walk down the hall complaining about your mother’s demand, “Aw, I made a mess. It was worth it though. Nadia! Clean it up!”

I stumbled to the wide open door and gasped at the sight. The once jolly fat body of a Mr. Muzz , now laid in distraught horror. His fingers looked smashed, elbows twisted in a odd way. The skin lower half of his face was torn off. One of his eyeballs laid beside him in a mushy state.

My stomach started to make twist a turns as I stared at the body. His stomach was cut open revealing his internal organs. Covering my mouth I ran behind the door and vomited. The acid burning my throat as it came up. Hot tears rimmed the lids of my eyes as I started to cry and wipe my lips off.

“Oh god…” I whimpered.

“Nadia! Clean it up!” I heard Amor yell down the hall as I heard a door slam shut. I nodded and took breaths.

“Okay, I can do this…just clean it up…easy.” I croaked.

The ends of my dress became damp with a tint of red; the tides of red splashed back and forth. The sponge that I scrubbed so hard, my hands became white. I looked at the doorway and found nothing. How did you do it? How did you kill Mr. Muzz? The bucket next to me was crimson and contained pinkish bubbles. I saw bits and pieces of my reflection of myself in the water as I dunked the sponge back in the soapy water.

I was so busy cleaning that I didn’t hear your light-hearted footsteps toward the door entrance. I looked at the doorway slowly and you stared back hugging your stuffed pink bunny that had button eyes and a torn off smile. You smiled, with a sort of innocence to it. 

“I’m tired of looking at Mr. Muzz…why didn’t you start with him first?” You asked, I got up wringing my dress staring at the untouched body of the music teacher. 

“I did not want to slip and fall while moving his body, Amor.” I stated, coldness in my voice. 

“Hmm, I don’t care. Move him to the yard.” Turning on your heels.

“Why the yard?” I asked, at this point I wanted you to leave. 

“To feed the dogs.” You skipped down the hall humming to the soft lullaby tune of, Humpy Dumpy. I continued to look at the plump body of the teacher and took small steps towards it. Mr. Muzz wouldn’t fit into a average black bag or in a barrel. So, against my wishes, I had to dismember his body manually.