The thought of going to sleep with a full belly was just that to Lola. A thought. While Aunt Jessica, as she called herself, would keep her feed. It was more to keep her going rather than fill her up. However, on this day alone. Lola had managed to go to sleep, not once, but twice now with a full belly. Miss Myers was kind enough to get her breakfast that morning when they first met, and then she experienced what she now considered the best food in the world. Pizza Pie. She especially loved the sausage pizza, she was allowed to eat as much as she wanted, and as much as she tried to watch the colorful movie afterwards. She couldn’t help herself as her eyes grew heavier and breath grew slower and eventually she drifted off to sleep.
She didn’t remember most of her dreams, but what she was sure of, was that these dreams were warm and welcoming. Pleasant dreams that she didn’t think actually existed, all she knew was nightmares. Lola eventually pulled herself up to a sitting position but she kept her eyes closed tight. The last day had been a dream come true, she was just worried that it would be just that. Her first and last pleasant dream, that when she woke up, she would be back in that lonely cell. That her Aunt would come back into the room, ready to finish where they had left off. Just the memory alone was enough to send fear spilling through her spirit, and where there was fear, there came sadness and from sadness came Misery. When Lola opened her eyes next, she was happy to be back in the room she had been given. It was warm and comfy, yet it also brought a bit of sadness trapped within its walls.
This room belonged to this woman’s daughter, and she was not her daughter. She was just someone this woman wanted to protect? Lola didn’t really understand why Ms. Destiny was doing this for her, but she was not going to complain about it. She turned towards the window where a slight bridge of sunlight was starting to flow from the open window. Sitting on the edge of this window staring out at the world below, was a girl that Lola didn’t like seeing that much. She had long gray hair that spilled down her shoulders and onto the floor like a waterfall. She was the second smallest and thinnest of her personalities. She only knew that she was the 2nd of all the seven. Her hopeless widow, Misery.
“Lola… where are we?” Her voice reached Lola’s ears like a chilly breeze, it was so soft that it made Lola tremble just from hearing it, and she had heard this girl’s voice a lot. Lola blinked and Misery appeared now standing at the foot of her bed. Her long bangs being held over her eyes like a veil, she was barely skin and bones. While she was short, she had oddly long and thin arms like that of a spider. She looked as if she hadn’t eaten in all of her life.
“We are…” Lola stopped herself; she didn’t really have a good answer for where they were right now. “In a better place.”
She blinked again and now Misery was sitting on the bed beside Lola. Just her presence brought forth terrible memories, her worst fears and nightmares, everything that made her sad in recent days came onto her like a flood. Lola found herself pulling back a bit, pressing herself to the corner of her bed. “G-Go away… I don’t want to be sad right now.”
“Why not?” Misery questioned. “You are always sad when you wake up, what is so different that you don’t wanna be sad anymore?” Misery pushed her bangs away from her face, revealing two dull gray eyes. They were lifeless, plain, with no color or hope. “Where is that mean woman, the one that puts fear into your heart and your mind.”
“Be quiet!” Lola snapped.
“I want to come out, and if you won’t let me.” Misery’s voice became colder and a bit sinister now. “Then I will do it myself.” Lola pulled her blanket up over herself, thinking that maybe if she broke eye contact, then Misery would go away. Misery seemed to drain her of all energy, made her weaker, it was the 2nd worst of all of the transformation her body would go through. “Lola, has hiding under a blanket ever worked for us? Has it saved you from the sting of that belt, the shocks of that jellyfish, the pain of knowing it would happen again, and again, and again.”
“Shut up!”
“Make me.” Lola gasped as the blanket was pulled from over her head and Misery was now sitting in front of her. “Does this new home make you feel safe? Aren’t you scared of what happens if this is all just a trick?”
She felt tears starting to drip from her eyes, her body shaking as if she was stuck in a snowstorm. “O-Of course I am,” Lola admitted.
“Good, then let that fear consume you if you won’t let your sadness take hold. Think of the worst possible things that will happen. That woman being a trick, you losing all of this, no one cares about you, you are their tool, their weapon, their-” As Misery was about to keep going, when she was suddenly pulled off the bed and dropped to the ground in a heap! Lola felt a new presence take over her, as a very familiar girl appeared before her. Short pink hair, a leaner body type, bright pink eyes now narrowed in a firm glare.
“Go away!” Kate demanded as a violent hiss escaped from the normally happy girl. “Lola already told you to go away, now scram!” A bright pink aura escaped from the catlike girl, her small tail stood violently up, her small yet sharp claws extending slightly. Her short pink hair lifting slightly as another hiss escaped her normally smiling lips. “Or do you want me to finally destroy you?”
Misery slowly stood back up, her body twitching and cracking in an almost inhuman way. She stared over towards Kate, a look of anger starting to spread across her usually sad and stoic face. Yet as quickly as it came, that anger faded as Misery turned her back. “Fear and sadness, Lola, that is all you have.” When Lola blinked again, Misery was gone but her chilly presence still lingered in the air for a few moments.
Lola let out a sigh as turned towards her joyful kitten, Kate. “T-Thank you.”
Kate turned back to face her, her mean expression fading away, her hair settling back down into calm pink locks. Lola began to laugh as Kate launched herself against Lola in a fierce hug. Her head rubbing up against her in a gentle nuzzle. “No one gets to be mean to you.” Kate said, planting a soft kiss to her cheek before she crawled off the bed. “This is a really good room.”
Lola quickly crawled out of bed, a sudden urge to play starting to take over her. She didn’t really get a chance to explore the room yesterday, the last she remembered she had eaten and then fell asleep. She threw open one of the large boxes that she had a feeling was filled with toys, and sure enough it had so many soft stuffed animals. She couldn’t remember having a stuffed animal before. She was overwhelmed by the idea for a moment. “What should we play first?”
“Everything.”
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Lola couldn’t remember the last time she had had this much fun. It was nice to play pretend, whether she was the queen of a kingdom of stuffies, the leader of an army of teddy bears, against the mean kitty queen, Kate. They had found a miniature house that seemed to be for the large collection of dolls in the second toy box. They were made of plastic, some had her skin tone and others had the skin tone of Miss Myers. All the while she couldn’t help but give the occasional glance towards the door. She expected Aunt Jessica to appear in the doorway, ready to laugh and take her back to her small room. Yet it never happened, she was free to play and it was the most fun she had had in her life.
At one point she did look at the door and a figure was standing in the opening. She jumped a bit and hid one of the pink army-like figures behind her back. Miss Myers was looking down at her with her warm golden eyes. She was wearing blue pants kinda like the ones Lola was wearing now, and she was in a white shirt much the pink one Lola was wearing. “Good morning, miss.”
“Good morning, Lola.” The woman stepped into the room and her eyes seemed to scan the floor. Lola followed her gaze and noticed that it was very much cluttered now. “It seems you have been busy this morning.”
“S-Sorry,” Lola said, now saddened by the fact she had made such a mess in a room that wasn’t ever her own. Then there was fear, fear of what punishment this could earn her. This was not her room, she should not have gone this far and messed so much. If doing something as not moving quick enough had earned her a slap in the face in the past. She could not imagine what hell waited for her for dirting up this room so soon.
As if this woman could sense her fear, she walked over with her hands in front of her, as if to say I am not gonna hurt you. “I am not mad at you, Lola.” Destiny closed the distance between them and cleared out a path for her to kneel down. Even kneeling this woman seemed so much bigger and stronger, even more than Amber.
“You're not?”
She shook her head. “I am not mad at you for having fun, I enjoy watching you play. Especially with so many of these toys that had been doing nothing but collecting dust.” Miss Myers reached over and took one of the red army figures. She seemed to smile down fondly at it for a few seconds before passing it over to Lola. “Now since you are up and about now, how about we get you washed up and changed out of those pajamas.”
She held one of her large hands out towards her. Lola looked at the woman's palm for a moment, it was callused and had a few scars on it, but it was welcoming to her. Lola reached out and wrapped her smaller fingers around two of the woman’s fingers. She was not dragged to her feet, nor was she forced, this woman gently picked her off the ground. “I-I will clean everything up, when we are finished.”
“I think I will help you with that, and as long as you clean up when you are finished playing. Then I don’t care how messy this room gets.”
“Y-Yes ma’am.”
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It took a while for Lola to get washed up and changed. Miss Myers walked her through a few steps on how to do it, in case she wanted to do it herself one day. How to turn the handles on the sink to get a mix of warm yet cold water to place on her face. How to properly wash and brush her teeth with this strong tasting blue and white gel that came out of a bottle. What she could and could not touch in the cabinet that hung above the sink. Once that was done, the woman ran another towel underneath Lola’s armpits making her giggle a bit. She then ran a chalk-like substance underneath her armpits as well, explaining that it was gonna keep them fresh for the day. Once that was finished, she placed a brown gel from another bottle and rubbed her hands together before gently rubbing up and down Lola’s arms and legs. She then showed her how to use this lotion, so she could do her own stomach. Miss Myer was always gentle with her, making sure to ask for Lola permission before she touched her. Much different from the mean woman that used to be in charge of keeping her somewhat clean.
Once all of that was finished, Miss Myers set another pair of clothes on the towel seat and left her alone to get changed. This outfit seemed to be another pair of pajamas, only they were blue shorts and blue white with black mouse on the front, she had a red bow in her hair. It took her a moment to get the shirt on properly, trying to figure out how she kept getting the cute image on the front of the shirt inside out. All of this brought on a bit of frustration at her inability and by the time she was finished, she found another of her seven sitting on the sink kicking her legs. One of anger, rage, frustration. “H-Hi Ember.”
Ember didn’t say anything for a moment, she was clad in the same outfit as Lola, but the shorts looked a bit too small on her larger frame. “You know,” Ember began, hopping off the sink and onto the floor. She landed without a sound and began to walk towards Lola with a slight sway in her step. “It is a rare day in hell, when Misery cannot come out and start the day. She always hogs most of the morning, doing nothing but sitting in her favorite corner.”
“Well I didn’t want her to.” Lola explained, lowering herself a bit as Ember stood before her. She always had a hot presence to her, probably from the flames that would surround this girl sometimes. If Amber was her loyal and strong lion, and Kate was her warm and joyful kitten, Ember was her fierce and fiery salamander. “I don’t want to be sad, I wanna be happy, and I don’t want to be angry either.”
“Then don’t get frustrated over a stupid shirt.” Ember looked at Lola for a moment. “You have it on backwards.” Lola pouted as her face flushed a pink color making Ember laugh a bit. “Look instead of taking it off, just pull your arms through the holes and spin it around until it is facing the right way.” Lola was hesitant but after following Ember’s instruction she was glad that her shirt was finally on the right way.
“T-Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, normally I would get you a little wound up so I could come outside and play but I am not in the mood for it right now.” Ember sat down on the toilet and crossed one of her legs. Her bright orange and red eyes locked onto Lola like two warm suns. “I don’t have much time, since you aren’t mad anymore. However, I wanted to tell you something, I had a little chat with your new guardian last night.”
A bit of panic began to spread through Lola’s body. “You didn’t hurt her did you?”
Ember slowly shook her head. “I didn’t have the power to hurt her, no you would have to be really mad in order for me to even think about going toe to toe with that woman. She is much more powerful than she seems, so I suppose you got lucky that Amber dropped you off here of all places.”
“Where is Amber?” Lola hadn’t seen or even heard from her loyal lion in two days. It was starting to worry her small mind more than she could imagine. “I know that Mystic said she is healing but she is normally done by now.”
“Amber used a lot of her supply of jepei to both escape in that last fight. She fought for an hour before an opening came, she ran from another four before she finally collapsed on this woman’s doorstep. It is gonna take a while for her to reform, but don’t worry I have seen her and she is getting stronger.”
“T-Thank is really good to hear,” Lola whispered.
“It is,” her fiery spirit began to slowly turn into smoke once more. “Looks like I am out of time, however I can at least tell you this.” Ember moved forward like a wall of flame before coming to stop in front of Lola. “I am not sure what relationship she has with our tormentor, but there is something that she is not telling you, but don’t step where you aren’t welcomed. This is a good chance for me to rest, a chance for Misery to mellow out, for Amber to relax. For Kate to truly be free… Don’t let Mystic mess this up.”
“What do you-” Lola didn’t get to ask as Ember disappeared leaving her alone with nothing more than her thoughts. “Why would Mystic mess this up?”
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According to the clock that was on her wall, it was now 3:45 in the evening. Lola found herself sitting on the window seat of her room. Her eyes locked firmly onto the sea of kids that were starting to make their way down the street. Some getting out of cars, a large amount coming in on large yellow cars that could fit more than four kids. All of them were carrying bright bags on their backs, some raced towards houses and came back without the bags but with balls and ropes that were being jumped over. A few larger boys were playing some game that involves throwing a ball into a hoop. There was one thing that she knew about the outside world that she really wanted to try while she had a chance.
She really wanted to go to school.
The idea of learning about the world, to try and read and write, learn math in a classroom and maybe even make friends like the kids in the story books that one really nice worker used to read to her. Now that would be the best thing that could happen to her.
However, Lola didn’t think that was possible. She couldn’t go to school, not while the others were around. She couldn’t imagine what might happen if they took control. Who Ember might burn or who Misery might destroy mentally, maybe Kate and Mystic would be okay, but Amber, Sammy and Cassidy were too much of wildcards to tell. “Where are you two?” Lola thought not having heard anything from Sammy in nearly five days, and Cassidy hadn’t been seen in nearly five weeks.
Lola had no idea where the others went, she had no idea if they all really liked her or hated her. She didn’t even know what they were, or what she was, and not knowing the answer to that question filled her with so many emotions that it never caused her to switch. She didn’t even know how she switched in the first place. Lola lifted her legs up and hugged them close to her chest, as her eyes came to rest upon a small girl. She had really puffy brown hair and was chatting away with another boy that looked very bored and annoyed right now. She had lighter brown skin, maybe a few shades lighter than Miss Destiny’s. This girl looked up at her new house, and for a moment Lola froze as they seemed to lock eyes with each other. This girl stopped and even from this distance, Lola could make out a large smile that spread across her face. She waved up at Lola, a cheerful and welcoming one. One that Lola couldn’t help but return with a tiny smile spreading across her lips.
This small girl suddenly spun on her heels and raced towards the house across the street, nearly getting hit by a car in the process but she didn’t seem to notice. Lola watched for a bit and then that girl came out with her hands wrapped around a very tall and bald looking man that had a similar skin tone to Miss Destiny. She seemed to be dragging him towards the street.
Towards her house.
“Oh no,” Lola thought as she quickly got off of her window seat and made her way downstairs. She arrived just in time as someone was banging on the door. The banging stopped and a moment passed before someone now was frantically ringing the doorbell over and over. Lola could hear a bit of stomping as Miss Destiny appeared from the living room and made her way towards the front door.
“If you don’t stop ringing my damn doorbell!”
Lola really hoped she didn’t just bring trouble to this woman’s house.
She had no idea it would be the exact opposite.
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