Double Life: Unexpected Call

“I miss you so much” she lay down over the place where her mother was buried, there was no cross, no plaque, no mark but the big white tree to keep a gentle shadow and the many flowers around.

Once again she felt the buzz of her phone; she growled and picked it up taking it to her ear, waiting to hear the dreaded voice.

“Nic” she heard a small voice that she´d never heard before in this phone

“Camille?” she sat alarmed, the girl sobbed. “How did you find me?”

“I… dad dropped his phone” Nichole´s little sister said

“What´s wrong Mii?” Nichole stood up worried; her father never ever left his phone anywhere.

“Mom and dad are fighting” the little girl said in a small voice

“Tell me what happened, are they close to you?”

“No, I´m in my room… mom was angry that father came here so she brought me here, father got mad and shouted…” the girl’s words were stomping one after the other

“Mii, where is here? Aren’t you at home?”

“Mom threw to the wall one of your mom´s picture” the little girl said crying more

“It´s ok, Camille –she said gentle- tell me, beautiful, are you in Crystals house?” she knew that was the only place where her father´s wife couldn´t vanish her mother´s pictures.

“Yes” the little girl said and Nichole shut tight her eyes

“This is what we´ll do, baby, you´ll hang up…”

“No” the girl cried

“Listen to me, dearest, you´ll hang up and you´ll open your window, I´ll be there in a minute”

“But you´re far, in school, how´d you get here” Camille sounded sad

“Trust me, I´ll be there, now, I´ll hang up, so I can go there, ok?”

“Ok” said the small voice on the other side of the line.

Nichole passed her hand over her face, she was always glad to hear Camille´s voice but this time she was crying, she hardly ever cried, she was a happy kid and now her parents were making her sad but also Nichole had just been the monster, she hadn´t even changed her clothes besides she was drenched from the rain, the window in her bedroom was closed so she went straight to Camille´s open one, she found the little girl sat on the edge of the bed with the lights off. Once Nichole got in, Camille ran to her and hugged her, she hugged her too.

“Mii, I don´t want to get you wet” she gently pushed her little sister away.

“You came!” the girl hugged again, Nichole smiled

“Let me go to my room to get some dry clothes, I´ll come back quick” Nichole caressed Mii´s back, the little girl didn´t let go “Mii, I can´t keep dripping like this and getting you wet, you´ll get sick” the little girl let go this time and looked down. “I´ll be back soon”

“Mii, tell me how father left his cellphone here?” Nichole asked once she returned to her little sister´s room, she took a backpack from her room to put her wet clothes.

“He dropped it”

“How?”

“He came to leave me here and when he tucked me in, he dropped it” the little girl said, Nichole lifted one eyebrow “You don´t believe me!”

“I do, Mii, it´s just that father´s never careless”

“He was angry”

“Why was he angry?”

“He was angry because we came” she started to cry again

“He didn´t want to come?”

“He was here!”

“Mii, you´ll have to tell me what happened since the beginning, ok? Can you do that?” Nichole didn´t understand what was going on. Camille nodded

“Mom called dad and he never picked his phone, he always pick his phone. I went to bed and then when I woke up, I was in the car, mom told me to go back to sleep but I couldn´t go back to sleep. We entered the house and the lights were off but they were on in the library, daddy was there, he was holding a picture, when he noticed us he got angry and asked her why we were here and mom asked him the same thing, she asked him if he´d been here these three days that he hadn´t gone home. He asked her why she´d brought me and mom shouted, he asked her to calm down but she took the picture, your mommy´s picture and threw it against the wall, dad seemed angry but he picked me up and brought me here, he said to sleep that everything was going to be ok, when he kissed me goodnight, his phone fell out his jeans. I tried to tell him but he left too quickly and then – Mii´s voice wavered as her tears fell- I heard them shout just outside. Not here, daddy shouted…”

“Aw, Mii” Nichole cuddled her little sister “Don´t worry baby, everything will be ok, parents sometimes fight because they´re angry but you´ll see they´ll soon make peace”

“Daddy was angry that we came” the little girl cried

“No, baby, he was mad that your mommy drove you both here at night and under the rain, it´s dangerous”

“Is he angry at mom?” the girl sounded hurt

“I think he might be but he still loves her and that means he will forgive her. Have you ever been mad to Ash or Jess or me?”

“I have never been mad at you” the little girl said and Nichole smiled widely

“Thank you, beautiful, but my point is: have you stayed mad? –The little girl shook her head- see? The same goes for father and your mom”

“Ok”

“Now, to bed and to sleep”

“Will you stay with me?”

“I can´t stay, Mii, father will be mad for me being reckless” Nichole whispered, tucking the little girl

“I´m sorry that I made you come!” the girl threw her small arms around Nichole´s neck

“Don´t be, I´m happy that I saw you today… but promise me you will never touch father´s phone again ok?”

“You don´t want me to call you?”

“I do but father won´t like you to take his phone without his permission”

“He´ll be mad at me that I called you!”

“He won´t, baby, I’ll erase the call and we’ll keep this secret”

“Thank you, Nic…”

“You´re welcome, Mii” Nichole took her backpack

“Stay a little more” the little girl pleaded “I can still hear their voices” she said, Nichole furrowed her eyebrows.

“Do you still hear them?” Nic knew she was able to hear them but she also knew there was no way Camille could. The little girl nodded. Nichole lay on the bed next to her. After a few minutes and a lullaby her mom sang to her a thought occurred to Nichole.

“Camille, are you still awake?”

“mmmh” the girl stirred

“Mii, can you see me now?” she asked wondering if her ability to listen as well as her was similar to her ability to see in the dark, maybe it was trait of family… she´d thought of it before but it had always been a long shot, maybe it was her father´s if Mii was like that… Nichole felt her heart racing. Mii never answered, she was sound asleep.

“I love you, Mii” she whispered and left the room.