The Girl: Abridged

Margo looked in her rear view mirror and smoothed back her blonde hair as she drove towards her sister’s home. The driveway twisted through a forest, secluding the house.

Margo thought about the last time she saw her sister alive. It was at Stella’s wedding to Adam.

***

Margo worked hard, but Stella wanted to marry rich, and Adam’s parents were the wealthiest billionaires in the U.S. Their lavish wedding was at the NYC Plaza hotel.

Margo worried about her sister. Adam was in and out of rehab, and Stella was already overspending. She was barely able to wish Stella congratulations before she was swept up by her new crowd.

***

Margo went from having no one, to guardian of two young nieces she didn’t know she had. She found out about Stella and Adam’s deaths the day of the funeral on tv. The lawyer called the following day. She was their only living adult relative.

The driveway split left and right around a large pond in front of the house. Margo went right and pulled around. She walked in into a wide foyer across from a large staircase and hallways to the left and right. She walked right until it opened to a large dining hall. Everything she owned could fit in just a corner of this room.

“Miss Smith, I’m Janet Barclay,” said the lawyer as she stood and held out her hand to shake.

Margo shook it.“Hi Janet. Call me Margo.”

“The girls are upstairs with the social worker. I thought we’d go over the paperwork first.” Margo nodded, and Janet went through all the information about custody and when the girls could access their inheritance. Margo listened, anxiety rising.

“Margo?” She hardly heard Janet. “Are you alright?”

Margo snapped out of her daze. “I’m fine. Sorry. Just overwhelmed.”

“Don’t worry, it’s a lot. I live close. Call me anytime. There’s just a little left to go through.”

After the papers were signed, Janet packed up. As she left, she directed Margo to go up one floor, take a right at the landing to the second door on the left. She’d already texted the social worker to tell her Margo was on her way.

Margo knocked lightly on the door, gently opened it and peeked her head in. “Hello?”

The social worker was sitting with both girls as they played with dolls and turned to look at her. They looked like exact copies of Stella.

“Hello, Miss Smith. I’m Justine. Girls, this is your Aunt Margo. Miss Smith, this is Ella,” gesturing to her right, “and this is Elyse,” gesturing to her left. “I’m sure you all want to get to know each other, so I’ll just observe a while then I’ll get out of your hair.”

“So you’re our aunt?” asked Elyse bluntly.

“I am,” replied Margo.

“Why haven’t we met you?” asked Ella.

“Well, I haven’t seen your mom in a long time. I lived in the city.”

“In the city?” asked Ella. “Have you seen a dead body? On tv, cities always have lots of dead bodies.”

“Girls,” interrupted Justine, “that’s not appropriate.”

“We see a dead girl,” added Ella, ignoring Justine.

“It’s just a ghost girl, not her dead body,” interjected Elyse, turning to Margo. “We saw mommy and daddy’s bodies, though.”

Margo stood, mouth gaping, unsure how to respond. They seemed unaffected by their parents’ deaths. Margo glanced at Justine then back to the girls.

“I’m sorry about your mom and dad. I... guess since I’ll be living here now, Maybe I’ll see the ghost too.”

The girls shrugged, then returned to their dolls.

Margo looked at Justine, and nodded her head towards the door.

“Girls, auntie and I will be downstairs. Holler if you need anything.”

“Okay,” came the reply in unison.

Justine and Margo settled down in the receiving room on the first floor.

“So…,” she began, “the girls have been through a lot recently, but this is persistent behavior according to previous nannies. They have an in-home counselor that they see weekly and get in-home tutoring. Funds are taken care of, so you won’t have to worry, and you have an advisor to help with the girls’ finances.”

“Do they ever leave the house?” asked Margo.

“Other than vacations, it doesn’t appear so. Not surprising after Mia.”

“After who?”

“Did you not know? Stella had another set of twins prior to Ella and Elyse. They would be about 15 now, but Mia went missing when they were about the girls’ age. Maddy’s currently in state custody. She started hallucinating, and it was no longer safe at home with Stella in psychotherapy and Adam back in rehab. You won’t have to worry. Before they passed, Adam’s parents set up her treatment and in-patient living, and she won’t be in your custody. Everything is in the case file about their parents and siblings.”

“But why didn’t they get Maddy back before they had Ella and Elyse?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know. I wasn’t their social worker prior to your sister and her husband’s deaths.”

Justine decided it would be best to leave and let Margo bond with the girls. She gave Margo her phone number and wished her the best.

Over the next few weeks, when the girls weren’t in counseling or school, she got them out of the house. The girls were excited to explore outside and take drives to the city.

Margo turned the sitting room into a family tv den, and one evening while they were eating and watching a movie, Elyse spurted, “Our ghost girl doesn’t follow you like she did with mommy and daddy. I think she likes you.”

The hair stood up on Margo’s neck. Now that she knew about her sister’s other twins, she had a gut feeling there was a connection. She asked the girls some questions.

“What do you think she wants?”

“Not sure. She just stays by us while we play, and goes away at night. We hear her walking outside our room.”

“One night,” said Ella, “I got up for water and saw her go to the room across the hall and sit on the bed.”

“Can you show me?” asked Margo.

Ella nodded and led Margo to the room across the hall from their bedroom. It was almost a mirror image. Two twin beds along the right wall, a window across from the door, and a wardrobe on the left wall. Margo led the girls back out of the room when an idea occurred to her.

“What would you think about moving into a different room?” The girls loved the idea.

After Margo tucked the girls into bed, she walked to her room down the hall. She planned the next day while getting ready for bed: Hardware store for paint, department store for furniture. She realized that in the last few weeks, the girls had come to mean everything to her. She filled up her glass of water, put it on her nightstand, got in bed and shut off the lamp.

Margo dreamed she was swimming. The water was murky, but it felt familiar. She was looking for something. She needed to come up for air, but she didn’t know which way was up. She was struggling to hold her breath and began to choke.

***

Margo shot up, sputtering water. The girls were shouting outside her door. She fumbled for the lamp. Once the light was on, she leaped off the bed, opened the door, and swept the girls into her arms.

“Are you girls okay?” asked Margo, nightmare forgotten.

The girls talked over each other -

“We couldn’t open the door!”

“We couldn’t get in!”

Elyse’s eyes were wide. “She was in here! We heard her moving past our door. We saw her go in your room, and we couldn’t open the door.”

“It’s okay,” Margo said, “I’m fine. I had a bad dream and spilled my water. That’s all.”

“No, you don’t understand,” urged Ella, “That’s how mommy and daddy died.”

Margo let the girls climb into bed next to her and decided to make a detour the next day to get the police records.

They had a late start but were in better spirits. First, they swung by the police station, and Margo had to fill out forms to get the reports on Mia’s case and Stella’s death. Then, they picked out bedding at the local department store, hit the hardware store for paint swatches in their favorite colors, and drove back home to pick out their room.

The girls chose a room on the other side of the home on the second floor. The shopping bags were stuffed into the empty room next to it.

That night they decided to have a sleepover in the tv den.

Margo didn’t remember falling asleep, but awoke to shouting. She wasn’t sure what was happening and pulled the girls behind her.

“No!” yelled Elyse. Margo’s vision cleared and she saw a figure in the middle of the room. It was a girl that looked just like Ella and Elyse, except dirty, dripping water, and very much dead. Margo picked the girls up, grabbed her keys, and ran for the door. They got to the car. She put the girls in, got in and started the engine. They saw the girl standing in the middle of the pond. Terror flooded Margo and she floored it, not stopping until she found a hotel.

Once they got a room, Margo tucked them into bed, and sat down in the corner chair. She thought of the events of the night, when her eyes landed on her purse. She still had the police reports from earlier that day. She tip-toed over, pulled out the folders, and sat back down. She spent hours pouring over every page. When Mia went missing, there was no sign of a struggle and no evidence of a break in except an open window. Maddy didn’t wake through the night.

None of it made sense.

Then she read about her sister’s death. It summed up everything she already knew: died in bed, apparently drowned, no witnesses, no sign of a break in, children found them in the morning and called 9-1-1. She looked over at Ella and Elyse asleep on the bed and thought how horrible it must have been to see their parents like that.

Margo had a gut feeling that everything was related somehow, and she wanted to get closure for the girls. She believed her sister had something to do with Mia’s disappearance.

The next morning, Margo dropped the girls off at home for Janet to babysit, getting the girls’ advisor’s address from her. She also called Justine and got Maddy’s information.

She visited the advisor first, Alexander Brown. She walked up to an empty front desk, and a few minutes later, an older man walked out.

“Sorry about that. Receptionist is out. I’m Alex Brown,” he said and extended his hand. “And you are?”

“My name is Margo Smith,” she started. “I have guardianship of my nieces Ella and Elyse Montgomery.”

“Oh yes, Miss Smith, I’m so sorry for your loss. How can I help you?”

“I was hoping you could shed some light on Stella and Adam’s financial situation around the time my niece, Mia, went missing.”

Mr. Brown gave Margo an evaluating look. “Normally I wouldn’t share that kind of information, but since you’re the only living adult relative and in charge of the girls, I don’t see why we can’t have an informal chat. I was close with Adam’s parents. Ran his accounting department for quite a few years. I’d met all of their girls.”

“I’m actually meeting Maddy today.”

“Ah. Well to answer your question. Your sister had quite the spending habit, and she and Adam had some issues with their finances before Adam’s parents passed away. Just before Mia went missing, Adam’s parents cut them off--”

“--Cut them off?”

“Yes. Adam and Stella had a monthly allowance and business credit card, but they were told big purchases needed to be approved by them first. Nothing changed, so his parents had us stop depositing money into their account. He had to take an entry position at his father’s company to earn a salary. His parents did step in to help when Mia went missing, paying off the media and authorities to keep it out of the public eye-- in the millions. They also funded in-patient ccare and housing for Maddy, then more money to a rehab facility and psychiatrists. Then Adam’s parents were in a car accident, ended up in the river.” Alex sighed. “Adam received his full inheritance. After that, back to their old spending habits. Not long after, Stella was setting up accounts for the girls.”

Poor Maddy, thought Margo. Stella never came back for her.

“I should be going,” said Margo, “if I want to make visiting hours. Thank you for your time Mr. Brown.”

“You’re welcome Margo. Best of luck.”

Margo returned to her car and got back on the road.

Justine must have called ahead. Margo had no trouble getting into the building, getting her visitor’s pass and taken to Maddy’s room.

“Don’t worry,” said the nurse, “Maddy is a sweetheart, and Justine spoke highly of you.”

The nurse opened the door and Margo found herself staring into the eyes of the ghost girl. Only she was very alive, and clean. The ghost girl was definitely Mia.

Margo started with a weak smile. “Hi Maddy, I’m your Aunt Margo. Do you mind if I stay for a little bit?”

“Okay,” came the guarded reply.

“Maddy,” said the nurse, “Door will be open. I’ll be at the nurse’s station.”

Margo sat by Maddy.

“Maddy, I’ll be honest, I don’t think you belong here. I’m going to clear up what happened to your sister, and I’d like to start the adoption process for you and your little sisters.”

“I’d like to meet them,” said Maddy.

“Of course. They look just like you, except lighter hair. Almost six years old.”

“Just like we were… Aunt Margo?” she asked, “Can I tell you something?”

“You can tell me anything.”

“My parents killed my sister.” There it was. The words Margo had been expecting.

“The night it happened,” Maddy leaned forward, “we were having dinner with my parents at home without any cooks and nannies. They’d never done that. I know my mom never cooked, but the food tasted funny, not just bad, so I didn’t eat it. But Mia did. They were pushy about me drinking a glass of water they gave me. It tasted funny too, so I dumped it in a plant by my bed. Mia was already asleep. I woke up and my head felt fuzzy and I couldn’t lift my arms. It was still dark, and I heard my mom and dad whispering. Then I heard a noise and felt a cold breeze. The next thing I knew I woke up in the morning feeling groggy, and Mia was gone.”

Margo pulled Maddy into a hug.

“I told the police, but they didn’t believe me-- said I was in shock. Before I was brought here, my parents were on the phone and fighting about insurance. I thought it was for me, but I found out my grandparents paid for everything here. I gave up telling anyone what happened.”

Margo promised Maddy that she’d find a way to get her home and stopped by the main office on her way out to collect the forms.

As Margo neared the house at twilight, she saw their ghost-- Mia, at the edge of the pond. She parked her car and got out, keeping her eyes on Mia.

“I know who you are and what happened to you,” she said as she stepped towards the door. Mia was suddenly right in front of Margo, her hand inside Margo’s throat. Margo started spewing water.

Janet opened the front door and the girls screamed.

Margo fell to the ground then did the only thing she could think of. She ran towards the pond. She plunged in toward the bottom of the deep water. She felt along the muck until she felt something solid. The adrenaline helped her hold her breath. She felt tattered rags around solid bones, slid her arms underneath and pushed off the bottom of the pond. Janet and the girls untensed when they saw her come up.

Margo stood up at the edge, lifting the bundle out of the water, and Janet sent the girls inside.

Margo’s lungs burned. When she looked at Janet, she said one word: “Mia.”

After Margo cleaned up and came back down, Janet asked, “How did you figure it out?”

“It wasn’t hard. The police wouldn’t listen to Maddy, but I did. She knew what happened-- They tried to poison them, but Maddy didn’t eat it. It must’ve been for insurance money. They got away with what they did to Mia, then Adam’s parents died leaving him everything, and they started over.”

“But how did you know where Mia was?”

“She was soaking wet and hovered by the pond. It was a guess.”

Elyse’s quiet voice asked, “Who was she? Did you find out?”

Margo kneeled by the girls. “Why don’t we go sit down on the couch and talk.”

***

Ella was the last to bring her bag to the car. “When will our stuff get there?” she asked.

“Early in the morning,” Margo replied.

“We have enough in the trunk to last a few days.” Maddy smiled at her little sisters from the front seat. Then they all drove out past the pond, through the trees and onto the main road, passing the SOLD sign.