Mona

Nobody looked at her and thought that she was dangerous. Mona Morrison looked like a little angel on the surface. Nobody knew where she came from. Her parents just happily accepted her with open arms. You see, the middle-aged couple always wanted a child. The wife had a condition that wouldn’t allow her to get pregnant. She had prayed for a child of her own. One day, she and her husband were taking a drive along the countryside. Around three o’clock, the car broke down.

“Oh,” the husband said as it slowed to a stop. He got out of the car and lifted the hood.

“Honey,” his wife said as she peeked out from her seat for a look. However, something else caught her eye further down the road. “Honey!”

“What?” her husband asked. He turned and gasped. A dirty-looking little girl about four years old wandered down the street dissolved. She nearly about tripped and fell on the dusty path. Her clothes were torn to shreds and her hair was a mess. The wife covered her mouth, gasping. She jumped out of the car and ran down the road.

“Dear?” her husband asked. The wife ran until she met up with the little girl as she collapsed to her knees. She looked like she had been beaten up. The wife tried to wipe the stained on dirt from the child’s bruised face.

“Oh you poor dear,” she said. “Who did this to you?” The little girl looked up at her with teary big eyes.

“What is it, dear?” her husband asked as he joined her. His jaw dropped when he too saw the child’s face.

“What happened to her?” he asked. His wife turned to him.

“We have to take her to the police!” she said.

“Right,” her husband said. He fixed up the car and they all piled into the car. The husband sped down the run while his wife cradled the little girl in her arms.

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There were no police reports on any missing children. No hospitals were missing any patients in the area. No record of the victim ever existing either. The police chief shrugged.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “It just seems she just came out of nowhere looking like that.”

“There must be something you can do,” the wife said.

“I’m sorry, without any knowledge of the victim or evidence, we can’t really do much.”

The woman pulled the little girl into her arms for a secure hug. “Then we’ll take her.” The police chief and her husband stared at her with big eyes.

“What?!” the chief asked.

“Honey,” her husband said. His wife shrugged her shoulders. “We might as well. She has nowhere else to go.”

“But what if her parents come looking for her?”

“And what is she supposed to do until then?” She eyed her husband as she went quiet. The wife smiled as she patted the little girl on the head.

“It’s settled then,” she said. “She’ll stay with us.” The police chief might have imagined it, but he thought he saw the little girl smirking at him like a demon. He shook his head and said nothing.

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It all started with the plants. One by one, everything in the couple’s garden started to die out. The wife couldn’t understand why. The other gardens in the neighborhood looked just as healthy for the season. Soon, the trees and grass around the house began to die as well. Even the house plants didn’t last for long.

“What is that smell?” the husband asked one day after coming home from work. His wife looked up from her book and took a sniff.

“Eww, what is that?” she asked. They traced the smell back to their daughter’s room. When they opened the door, the smell of death hit them in the face. Little Mona sat on her bed, eyeing them. The couple tried putting up air fresher in her room on a daily basis. But, the smell took over the whole house.

In days, cats, dogs, and small animals started to disappear around the neighborhood. The couple didn’t think too much about it until the father noticed Mona standing in the backyard staring at something on the ground.

“Honey?” he asked. The man walked over for a closer look. He dropped his bag of groceries on the ground. Mona turned to him with blood splattered all over her face and hands.

“Papa?” she asked. Her father backed away pale as snow as he noticed fur all over the child’s clothes. The flies flying around the carcass of the cat at her feet didn’t bother her. Why would it? It was just another day for her.

In the coming weeks, the couple began arguing about Mona. The father shouted as he pointed at the little girl.

“That child is a monster!” he yelled. “We have to get rid of her!”

“No!” his wife shouted. “She is our daughter and I love her!”

“That child is the devil! Either she goes or I go!” His face looked so red when he said that. His wife turned and walked back to their bedroom. Mona stood the whole time and didn’t say a word. She didn’t even blink at her father calling her a monster. Her face looked so blank. When her father turned and looked at her, he sneered and walked away, trembling.

“Why are you so creepy?” he asked. Mona still didn’t move when she heard their bedroom door slam.

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A month later, that middle-aged couple seemed to have disappeared. Their neighbors started asking questions and went over to investigate the house. Little Mona walked away covered in dried blood unnoticed as screams filled the air. She would look just as innocent as she always had until she came across the next set of parents.