Mimi's Demons

Chapter 13: Stuffed Animals

Warning: Scary crap ahead, and no the fun horror movie kind. Trigger stuff. 

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On Christmas day, she woke up to her Mom happily giving her a blue dress from Wal-mart. They went down the street to the chapel and Mimi was the flower girl to her mother's slap-dash wedding.

A week after that she had a birthday party with three boys who couldn't understand that the cake and kid's wilderness survival pack were hers. It vanished overnight and Honrye dully told her it was actually the middle child who had swiped it. When she told her new step father he had told her to not act so spoiled, that they still had to get the boys' toys out of storage, which they couldn't do until after they moved so she might as well share her toys.

Two days later, they moved to a trailer in a city much bigger than the last one. It was Jason's trailer and his job was in this city.

The three boys fought with each other constantly. They tried fighting with her too, following her when she tried to run away. Honrye hissed and scratched at their ankles, but his fingers went through them like a ghost's. Once she tried to close and lock her door before they could come in, but the oldest ended up tackling it with his considerable bulk and catching her foot underneath the door. It bled and hurt, but watching the eldest get verbally pummeled at maximum volume by their father didn't help her feel any better.

There were demons everywhere. Slinky, smirky, multi-colored demons, skittering in the corners of the house like cockroaches. Their bathroom was so dirty no one used it anymore. Her mother didn't have the time to clean it, so Mimi tried by herself and ended up giving up half-way through because of the slinky, purple demon in the corner of the shower that reminded her too much of Tom who'd slept with other girls besides her mother.

Mimi managed to get her new room cleaned, at least, and found a new hiding spot under the bed with Honrye, but her new brothers would just follow her there and cackle when they found her talking to herself. The youngest and eldest made up songs with phrases they'd heard her say, which always ended with her going back to the crazy house. The middle would pretend to be on her side, only to come back later to tell them that their dad said Mimi thought she could see demons and was talking to them.

Honrye crooned and tried to wipe her tears until she fell asleep pushed into the farthest corner under the bed, ancient trash lost in the crevice between the carpet and the walls sticking to her back and hair.

On the thirtieth of January, her mother told her that her grandpa had died.

On the third of February, they went to his funeral, and Mimi saw him sleeping in a coffin. She touched his chest and it didn't move. It was stiff. Her mother slapped her hand and scolded her, even when Mimi burst into ugly, choking tears.

In the car back home, her mother handed back a scrimshaw pocket knife. An elk among pine had been carved in brown lines across the ivory.

"Dad said he wanted you to have it." Her mom's voice choked. She'd cried a lot too. Mimi was bad to cry when it was her mom who lost her dad.

Honrye met her at the bedroom door, his tail and wings twitching madly the moment he saw her puffy eyes. Then his gaze found the knife and stayed there.

Mimi hugged it to her chest, as though his gaze might hurt it.

"Give me your blood," he said. "So I can touch you, so I can..."

He'd never asked such a thing before. He'd never hinted that he wanted to hurt her, and she could hardly think past her exhaustion and the brilliant memory of the little red demon at her leg, licking her knee.

Honrye tried to explain, but he was a demon. He couldn't lie that he wanted to try her blood, even as much as he wanted to be able to wipe her tears, rub her shoulder, and sink he claws into the three bratty boys making fun of her crying on the other side of her door.

It was too cold to leave. But Mimi went for a long walk the next day anyway to see just how long she could stand it in her heaviest coat. Her grandpa's knife was a comforting weight in her pocket.

Honrye stayed under the bed. He didn't bother to ask if he could come. He already knew he wasn't welcome.

Mimi found herself at a park, alone, sitting ontop of a plastic tunnel on the playground equipment. No one else was around and, for the first time, she felt peaceful. There were not step brothers to harass her, no step father to yell, no mother covered in spiders, and most importantly, no demons.

She held her grandpa's folded up pocket knife in her hand. Tracing the figure of the elk and the zizags of the pine soothed her. It was like petting her lion over and over. The ivory felt smooth, and the weight felt like grandpa, cutting fishing line and telling her that one should never eat the liver of a predator animal. That made you sick to death. He'd used this same knife to show her how to gut and clean a fish. He'd praised her when she didn't let her squimishness stop her from cleaning her own fish.

So tough, so brave, she repeated to herself. I've got guts. I'm tough.

The sky overhead was gray.

A car engine rumbled close. She hadn't been interested until she happened to glance up and see someone in an older, gray car drive over the sidewalk and onto the grass in the park. She had to watch then, only because she was almost sure that sort of thing wasn't allowed. But none of the cars driving past stopped. Cops didn't come out of nowhere to scream about squishing grass. The car itself didn't explode.

A man got out and looked at her.

"Hey," he called out. "You okay, kid?"

There was something strange about his car. It was oddly colorful in the back windows, as though the insides were filled with confetti.

A slinky demon hung on his shoulder. But a lot of people had demons hanging on their shoulders.

Mimi considered running away.

"You look like life's been mean to you, kid," he said, giving her a friendly smile.

And Mimi hesitated. Her life had been mean. And it had been a long time since someone smiled at her like that.

The man was coming closer, stuffing his hands in his pockets, his shoulders casual, not feeling the weight of the demon who wouldn't look at her.

"I know this might be a little weird, but I got a ton of stuff animals I'm trying to get rid of for charity, you know, trying to be nice to the community. I saw you looking all sad and alone and I thought you might be the perfect friend for one, or, that you might need a friend. In the stuff animals, that is. I know you wouldn't want to be friends with an old guy like me."

He didn't look all that old though, thought Mimi. Not handsome or young, maybe Jason's age. She wondered if he had any annoying little boys. Maybe her mom would agree to marry him instead. Jason hadn't offered her any stuff animals.

And she did like plushies. Soft plushies that Honrye could toss onto her bed, since he had wanted so badly to be able to touch something. Maybe if she got one it would help make friends with him again. They both liked soft things.

The man smiled so warmly.

"Want to come choose one?" he asked.

Mimi hesitated. Then carefully put away her grandpa's knife and slid off the playground tunnel.

The man's smile widened.