Twisted Souls

In a small Victorian town on the edge of Massachusetts where the earth graced the sea, lived a young girl by the name of Jessica. Her skin was a beautiful pale shade of ivory and her hair was a dark crimson almost like blood. Her eyes were a mystifying shade of teal blue. She had no siblings but only her mother who she looked nothing like. Quite often Jessica would escape to the ocean shore to sit on the docks and meditate. She also enjoyed the times when the tide would come in, which she would find the most unusually creepy things that would wash up on to the beach. It was a calming place, and strangely familiar. With these objects she would collect to take home and craft them into art pieces.

In her eyes they were treasures, in her mothers eyes she was bringing garbage into the house. Jessica would reply that these ocean objects weren't junk or trash. The look of disgust on her mothers face was indeed full of rage but it was definitely worth the beatings to keep the pieces she had made. Even though she had to hide them away most of the time. In some cases you could say Jessica's mom despised her daughter's hobbies with a passion. She guessed it was a hate-love kind of relationship between mother and daughter. In Jessica's heart, as long as she could remember, she knew something was off about her mom but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Being that she was a very smart kid for her age, and an A + student who was never tardy. Some would say she was too smart, others might call her a freak, and to few, a prodigy. Jessica would often receive letters in the mail from out of state schools or pamphlets for young gifted children but her mom would take them away before she could even look at them. Every year her mother would tell her that they couldn't afford the classes, but maybe some other time. After awhile Jessica really didn't care for the classes anymore. While other kids enjoyed video games and other mind rotting technologies, Jessica was more distracted inside the house reading, writing or doing something actively fun. Her mom was always at her job a good portion of the week and definitely on the weekends. She assumed her mom was too busy for her.

Jessica knew she wasn't like the other kids at her school or of her neighborhood. She didn't have many friends, actually she didn't have any friends at all. Except for the boy who moved in next door the first week of summer vacation. His name was Conner, he looked almost exactly like her, except he was a little taller. They both noticed each other right away and grew closer as the summer passed. As the weeks went on they would learn about each other's passions and similar life experiences. Jessica had no father and neither did Conner.

In fact their mothers worked together at the same local market downtown. Conner and Jessica enjoyed summer to the fullest. From water balloon fights, going to the park, even hosting midnight puppet shows, they both wished that the fun would never end. Until one week before the new school year, Conner tripped over one of his toys, so said his mother. Right in the driveway he hit the pavement hard which split his head open. Doctors patched him up but he never woke from the procedure. When Jessica heard about this horrific incident she went to visit him in the coma ward.

For hours she spent by his bedside telling Conner about their adventures that summer. She didn't know if he was listening or not, she really hoped he was. Jessica didn't want to start middle school without him by her side. She couldn't. Conner was the only friend she had. When she got home, Jessica sat in her bay window crying herself to the point she couldn't talk. Wishing to the stars she had a friend to keep her company. Someone who wouldn't leave her like Conner did.

The next morning there was a knock at the front door. Her mom had already left hours before, and it was Jessica's first day of middle school. Right on the porch was a long rectangular box. Jessica rarely received anything, even on Christmas. She wondered who it was from. It was a very nice package with colorful wrapping paper and pretty rainbow bows. The company that had sent it to her was called HappyLifeToy Co. Jessica thought it was some sort of prank so she assumed it was nothing. I mean what could happen?

As Jessica opened the box it had another note that was tapped inside. It said, "Happy Birthday, JessieBear! With All My Love, Daddy!" Jessica thought they must have gotten the package mixed up with another house. Her father was long since gone, so said her mother. So without hesitation, she repackaged it and biked up to the postal office. It wasn't far from her new school. Jessica dropped the box off and went on her way. As she approached the school grounds she was so scared walking up the stone stairs, she didn't even notice the crowd of kids that were all around her.

This middle school was colossal compared to her elementary. Taking a deep breath in as she looked at her classroom schedule. First thing she had to do was head to her locker to drop off her lunch. As she approached locker number 175 there was something sticking out of it, a letter of some sort. It was another birthday greetings card that had the same written message, "Happy Birthday, JessieBear!" What was really freaky was that inside her locker was the same rectangular box from earlier. Jessica quickly slammed her locker. This had to be a joke.

So with all her courage she opened her locker and grabbed the box once more. She hastily put the package into her backpack but it barely fit. During her first class Jessica felt uneasy and nauseous. She was approached by her teacher a couple of times. By the fourth time she told her she was feeling dizzy and could barely keep her focus on the chalk board. The teacher suspiciously asked what was sticking out of her backpack. She replied it was a strange gift that appeared on her porch this morning but she hasn't opened it yet. In the background there was a constant ringing. Towards Jessica's eyes the teacher went back to her desk and picked up a cellular phone from another drawer. She thought she was hallucinating.

From her desk the teacher said, "Oh, that's right, it's your birthday." Jessica shouted, "it isn't my birthday! My birthday isn't for another month, why is everyone saying that?" The room started to spin, as her classmates and teacher started to sing the happy birthday song. Hyperventilating, Jessica ran out of the classroom to the hallway. Running as fast as she could, she reached the bathroom and locked one of the stalls. Kneeling on the floor ready to puke she paused for a second and thought she was going insane. Taking more deep breaths in and out, she took out the box and finally opened it.

Inside was an antique looking black and white harlequin doll with dark red hair and teal blue eyes, just like hers. He also had a pull string on his back. Jessica said to herself, "I was afraid of a stupid doll? Geezers, Jessica! Junior school jitters, that's for sure!" She pulled herself up and walked over to the sink. Splashing some cold water on her face and looking at the toy. She got the creepiest of dejavu from it but she didn't know why.

Out of curiosity she pulled the string. With a light melody that was scary and familiar the doll started to talk. It said, "Happy Birthday, JessieBear." Jessica replied with horror, "What, what are you?" The doll said nothing so she assumed that she had to pull the string again, and so she did. The doll replied, "We've been looking for you for so very, very long." Jessica couldn't stand these mind games anymore so she threw the toy into the garbage can and left the restroom. For the rest of the day things went back to normal, or so she thought.

After school she went outside to unlock her bike but a tall red headed man approached her. He was dressed almost exactly like the doll. She started to scream 'stranger danger, stranger danger!' Jessica kicked him in the groin so hard he fell to the cement. As she backed away from the statuesque male, she was then stopped by a circus parade of clowns with red hair, pale white skin and teal blue eyes. Jessica turned her bike around in fear only to be confronted by her friend Conner. She had to be going insane for what was standing before her. Conners hospital gown was drenched in blood, and parts of him were missing. What was left of his body had wires going in and out like some sort of science experiment. What was worse then anything was his head, part of cranium was surgically cut open with a good amount of his brain missing. Conner said, "Run, they are coming!"

Jessica's heart skipped a beat, this was too much. She hurried to the nearest phone booth right beside a gas station. The only person she could call was her mom. Dropping quarters onto the floor of the booth she dialed her. "Mom, mom, where are you? Something is happening, I keep having these horrible hallucinations! You got to come pick me up! I think I'm in danger! I don't know?"

Her mom said in a calm voice, "Sweetheart, I need you to stay calm, we'll be right over." "What do you mean by we? I haven't even told you where I'm at!" There was a long silence. "Mom, are you there?" The next thing Jessica knew the glass of the pay phone had shattered in three places. Someone was trying to shoot her. With the thick phone book being in her hands next to her chest the three hits were not bullets, but were tranquilizer darts. Jessica exited the booth and ran away promptly on her bike. In the distance she could hear the thick sounds of muffled engines right behind her.

Looking back, several black cars with glowing headlights were definitely following her. She didn't know what was happening. It had something to do with that doll from earlier. Pedaling as fast she could to the seashore, as soon as she reached the docks there was a large wind of green lasers that covered the twilight skies. Terrified at what was about to happen, a gigantic sphere rose out from the clouds. The same tall red headed man from earlier came fourth and hovered his way over the ocean. On the other side of the beach was her mother who was running for her. Jessica ran to her mother's arms and held her tightly.

In the distance, the same familiar melody played from the spacecraft. Jessica screamed to the tall being, "leave us alone! My mother and I have done nothing to you!" The tall white clown man replied with a scared tone, "JessieBear, you don't belong here, and you never have! This isn't your home, and that isn't your mother! Jessica started having flashbacks from when she was much younger. She started shaking her head in doubt but the memories she had hid deep down in her soul were now flooding back with a fury. The woman who she called mom for her entire life wasn't her mom at all.

She remembered that this lady had killed her real mother and stolen her from this same beach. Her real mom was a collector of beautiful planetary objects, Jessica was just a baby at the time. This being had lied to her, brainwashed and kept her a secret for all these years. It made sense now why she didn't look like her, why she was smarter than other kids, why this woman hated her hobbies. Her real parents were aliens. Conner was not only her friend, but most likely another victim who came to this world. He must have gotten in the way of her plans. What ever the case was this woman and her crew had been grooming them both all this time just to dissect them. Jessica looked at the woman who she had once called mom. Backing away, she gazed at the woman and shook her head.

The woman looked at the girl with an utmost sinister smile while several other humans from the black vehicles stepped out with tranquilizer guns. Jessica quickly stumbled over the sand, her body shaking in disbelief. The tall red headed humanoid alien grabbed his daughter and gently held her hand, and said, "They, they are the real monsters, not us."