Human Spines

Friends-III

Emmeline

Eight years ago

        Esseleecius is nice. It cleans the house for everyone at four a.m. every Sunday. Then it checks Maddy's homework to make sure it's correct, because when Maddy gets bad grades she acts tough and mean but then barely eats any food for the rest of the week. Esseleecius's been doing this for two months. Esseleecius also looks like a wide stretch of yellow. I don't know why.

        I want to call Esseleecius a girl. It could be because her voice sounds like Cinderella's, but it might be because I think yellow is a girly color.

        "Get your mind back on track. Demand the truth, Emmeline." Amistifer grips my shoulder and spins me around to face him while walking me into the hall. Away from Esseleecius in the front room.

        "But they said that was the truth..." I whisper. I can't let Maddy hear me. She's in the kitchen. I'm supposed to be cleaning since she's watching Dessie May. Even though Dessie May is asleep on the couch in the next room. Even though Maddy didn't start "watching" Dessie May until I put her to sleep. Even though I'm the one who's been watching, playing with, and feeding Dessie May for the past four hours while Maddy had her friend over and made the house a mess. Even though I've also had Amistifer trying to convince me Santa Claus isn't real.

        "You give credence to a singular man, a bewhiskered, antediluvian, corpulent man, who annually decides—"

        I drop to the floor of the hallway. I don't want to listen to Amistifer. He's mean and strange and he stands too close and he talks too quickly and he uses unnecessarily large words and he always dresses in a singular color (today it's forest green). He rarely leaves anymore and it's hard to talk to him because no one else knows he's here and it's impossible to make eye contact with him because his pupils are glowing white lights.

        He bends down beside me, laying one hand on my arm and the other atop my head. He leans in incredibly close and rests his forehead on my shoulder.

        "Emmeline." His voice is rather disappointed but also lightly amused. "What have you been doing while I've been talking?"

        "Worrying about getting the house cleaned. Maddy's gonna try to make me do it." I let the truth flow from my mouth without considering lying. There's never any reason to lie. Amistifer taught me that.

        In place of answering, he grips both of my arms. He shoots to his feet, lifting my body along with him. It takes seconds for his long legs to travel to the Christmas tree in the front room and plop me back down on the ground.

        "Observe, Emmeline," he states. But Maddy interrupts.

        "Get in here Emmeline! Mom's on her way home and this house is a mess!" She shouts.

        "Yes, because you made it." I don't bother raising my voice; I know she can hear me. "I will help you clean it up, but only because you're right, Mom will be here in a couple minutes and she wants the house spotless." I stand up, backing away from Amistifer. "I'll take the front room and bathroom, you can get the kitchen and basement," I tell her. This is the second time I've ever said anything like that to Maddy. Amistifer taught me how to do it last week when she tried to make me clean our room by myself. Amistifer has taught me a lot.

        "Excuse me?" She shoots into the front room. "There's no way you think you're talking to me like that! Do what I told you! Silently!" she yells, completely unaware of the Demon towering over her and not even thinking about the toddler asleep in the next room. I don't want Dessie May waking up because of our arguing. I sigh, giving in.