//------------------------------//
// Can't stop Falling 
// Story: Momma 
// by Opium4TmassS 
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I missed Christmas, New Year's too and drifted in and out of consciousness. Not even the screams of the pigs roused me during that time. However, there were times in the dark of the night that I could feel my stepmother's gaze upon me from somewhere in the darkened hallway. In my weakened state though there was little I could do except roll over and try to sleep.

The weeks of sickness did a number to me. I lost about twenty pounds and some of the hearing in my left ear. Eventually though I returned to school and the weekly routine of school, home, chores, bed resumed. However as things stayed the same they changed as well.

First Mr. Greer was effectively banned from the house or spending any time around Liza or me. Applejack blamed him for what happened to me that winter and was not going to allow his recklessness to put, 'her kids,' in harm's way. She would have done similar to uncle Larry but my father argued against it. Eventually she gave in, but she always kept an eye on either of them when they were around the farm.

Second, various items like photos, home movies and other mementos of my mother slowly but surely were boxed up and put into storage. New photos of her with the family, primarily Liza and my dad, due to my illness soon dotted the places where the old ones were. It wasn't a change I cared for, but understood and managed to swipe a small photo of mom which I placed on a shelf in my room. She may have been gone but damned if I was going to forget her.

Finally, the televisions in my sister and my room were removed. Applejack said that due to what was happening with the hogs certain cuts had to be made in order to make ends meet and that pawning the extra televisions, jewelry, and selling the scrap from under the house would help cover it. She also made sure to stay in the living room with us when we were watching TV, even if it was a show she didn't particularly care for.

Through that winter and early spring Applejack was vigilant. Yet, as the weeks dragged on she began to appear more tired and weak. Dark circles formed under her eyes and an odd smell similar to that of mother's in her last week or so followed Applejack around. Sometimes when we watched TV she would nod off. In response Liza became clingy.

It made sense. She didn't want to lose yet another mother, especially one she'd grown so close to. She'd make pictures, try to concoct medicines from various ingredients in the kitchen (most of which involved water and condiments) in order to get her better. Some nights she knelt by her bed for what seemed like hours at a time begging God not to take her new mom away. It wasn't until after the night after the last hog died and the first bits of warm weather started to creep into the area that her prayers were seemingly delivered.

That night Applejack announced that she was going to the city to see a doctor. It was news that made Liza bawl uncontrollably. We tried to calm her down but it wasn't until Applejack came back downstairs with that ugly pony toy that her tears seemed to ebb slightly. "Do you remember when I gave you this? I told you that if you kept it I'd always be here."

"But mom," sobbed Liza, "I don't want you to...."

"I'll be back in the morning sugar cube. Right as rain you'll see. Your momma," she embraced my sister, "She just has a vitamin deficiency. That's all. I thought that somehow I'd fixed it but apparently not."

"R-really?"

"Of course! Your momma wouldn't leave you and I couldn't rightly go off with that beast prowling about at night could I," said Applejack as she stroked my sister's hair, "But since it's gone now I can get this taken care of and come tomorrow I'll be back and there'll be apple fritters for breakfast. Promise!"

She kept her promise and the next morning there were apple fritters. She looked like her old self, acted like and even that smell was gone though the over abundance of perfume was back. Applejack hummed a little tune and apologized for worrying us. She said that looking back on it that she probably should have said something sooner.

I shrugged it off and went into the living room and flipped on the news. I'll never forget how after the national story passed what the anchorman said next. "Next a gruesome discovery outside of a Waxahatchee trailer park. The bodies of three residents of the park were found brutally murdered. According to police it appears that large portions of the bodies were eaten as..."

The TV flipped off. I turned to see Applejack standing by me with the remote. "That kind of news isn't good for your stomach Joseph. Now come in the kitchen and get a fritter. You've gotta be at the bus stop in a few."

At the time it all made so much sense. The changes were normal. Liza was happy and while I still kept a memento of my mother in my room I had no room to quarrel.





Two weeks later and spring break was upon us as was the county fair. Most years the Caudwell's would have entered a pig or something into competition, however the winter had seen to it that we weren't going to participate. That said though there were still rides, games and attractions that were sure to be a lot of fun. Well, that was until Applejack decided it was time to do some spring cleaning.

Liza and I complained about it. After all the fair was a once a year thing that we looked forward to. It was dad who swooped in and saved us from a week of cleaning when he announced that he would get Uncle Larry and Mr. Greer to help. Applejack protested but it seemed as if whatever effect her word had on him had faded some over the past winter and much to our joy we had our help.

That morning we set about doing the various tasks. Dusting, washing, sorting, organizing, trashing, painting and repairing were the order of the day. Most of the heavy lifting was handled by my father and uncle Larry. Mr. Greer however, was nowhere to be found.

I spent the better part of my morning repairing and painting the fence out front. I was about almost done when I noticed Mr. Greer slowly creeping his way toward the front door. To this day I have no idea where he'd come from. It had been a few months since I'd seen him and it was safe to say what I saw made my heart fall into my stomach.

He was dirty and not in the normal, 'I was working hard all morning' sort of way. He looked more like a man who had been sleeping in a dumpster. On top of that there was a wobble to his gait while clutching a hammer in his right hand.

I quickly abandoned my task and bolted for the front door. The air was heavy with dread. It was all so wrong and when I burst into my living room I half expected to see him standing there waiting for me as he stood over the lifeless body of my sister or whoever he'd come across. Yet, when I entered I couldn't find him.

First I grabbed an axe handle that sat by the front door and then I slowly worked my way through the first floor. I don't think I breathed the entire time I made my way up those stairs and into my sister's room.

It was clear but as I turned to leave I locked eyes with the dirty pony toy. For some reason they were darker than anything I'd ever seen before. I locked eyes with it and I swear it looked back at me. It was a spiteful gaze, one that if it could have spoken would have cursed me for knowing to look and somehow eluding it for so long.

The loud thump from the attic broke whatever spell the doll held over me. I squeezed the handle in my hands and made my way to the pull down stairs that were now up. I tugged on the rope and extended the ladder. My heart pounded quickly as I climbed them and when I reached the top I saw Mr. Greer staring at a large mirror on the far wall of the attic.

It was my grandma's, a wedding gift from some distant aunt of hers in Scotland. It was ornately carved and once sat in Liza's room before she was born but was moved to the attic for safekeeping after Liza almost tipped it on top of her when she was two. Mr. Greer stared at it intently and raised his hammer. "Come on you bitch," he muttered, "I know you're in there. Don't play like you're not."

"Mr. Greer?" I asked and immediately wished I hadn't.

Mr. Greer cocked his head at the sound of my voice. Slowly he turned his head then the rest of his body as he looked at me. Dark circles hung under his eyes. "Why ... hi Joseph. Funny to see you here."

I gripped the axe handle tightly and raised it as I summoned whatever courage I could, "I live here."

Mr. Greer nodded and stepped forward. I stepped back and almost fell down the stairs. He grabbed me by the shirt and swung me around into the attic wall. "Careful," he said before raising a finger, "And stay quiet. Real quiet."

I did as I was told at first, too afraid to move. Slowly Mr. Greer's gaze shifted back to the mirror. Without thinking I asked quietly, "Why?"

"We're waiting for her and when she comes we're going to get her ... the pale bitch."

Every part of me told me to run, but I couldn't move. Slowly a word crept from my mouth. A word that I'd never had any reason to say, especially to Mr. Greer. "Darling."

Mr. Greer whipped his head around and glared at me. I wasn't sure if he was going to swing at me, strangle me or some other horrible thing. It wasn't until he said, "You've seen her too," in a weirdly hopeful tone that I felt just a bit safer, even if I had no idea what he was talking about.

I shook my head and he grabbed me by the arm and swung me in front of the mirror. I screamed as the axe handle clattered from my grip and he glared at me. "Don't you lie to me boy. Now think, did you have any sort of weird dream? Woke up tasting your own blood in a place you didn't really remember going to?"

I stared in total shock into his bloodshot eyes. He nodded to me and patted my head like a dog, "They... they come through mirrors you know. Mirrors and the TV mostly. You have to be very careful around them. They can snatch you without even knowing. Almost got me. When that happens they... well they take a piece of you even if you keep your life. They almost got you ... twice I bet if that river was any..." 

"Mr. Greer please," I begged as tears began to fill my eyes, "I won't tell anybody about this just let me go."

"No, you're not going anywhere," said Mr. Greer as he jerked me up, "You're the only one who knows. The only one who can believe me. We're damned boy. We know too much!"

"Please!"

"Do I feel cold to you," he asked.

I shook my head. He felt normal even if he was nuts. I tried to pull away from him again, but he jerked me back. "That's how you know. They're cold as death to others, but to us they'd be warm. We've been touched by them, torn by them. We know...," his voice trailed off slid unto the mirror. His grip loosened. When it did his face twisted into the most hate filled look I'd ever seen a man give at that point. He raised the hammer above his head and screamed as he charged the mirror. "Fuck you, you bitch," he shouted and brought the hammer crashing down through it sending bits of glass everywhere. 

I scurried across the floor to the attic's exit when I saw Applejack pop her head up from the hole. she quickly raised dad's twelve gauge and shouted at Mr. Greer who paused in his assault. "Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Mr. Greer looked back at her. His eyes slanted, "Saving his life as well as mine woman... if that's what you are. You married Luke awful fast and I've never seen someone keep an all over spray tan as long as..."

Applejack grabbed me and pulled me down the stairs with her before quickly pushing the ladder up and slammed the hatch shut. "Call the police," she ordered which I did. It wasn't long though before the sound of splintering wood and wire came from above. It didn't take a genius to know that he'd broken out one of the vents and in his desperation escaped through the hole he'd made.

Applejack fussed over me for a bit and gasped when she saw that  cut on my hand from when I scrambled away from Mr. Greer. "Did he do this to you," she asked more worried than angry.

"I don't know," I muttered.

She sighed and hugged me. "Go get washed up and get some Bactine on it but if it's too deep we'll get you in for stitches. I'll pay for it somehow. You poor thing," she paused and asked, "Why didn't you tell us he'd gone up there?"

I shrugged and began to sob as the stress from the situation washed over me. Applejack hugged me tight. It felt normal.





I'm not sure how long I stayed in the bathroom. I let the water run over my hand until it stopped bleeding. Then I put the Bactine on it and cursed at how much it stung. Once done, I bandaged it up and knew it would leave a scar. While I did that I composed myself then cursed myself for crying in front of my stepmother. Finally, I washed my face in the hope of the cops not to notice I'd been crying earlier.

The police came over and took a statement and some evidence before issuing an APB to pick up Mr. Greer. I was excused from doing anymore work the rest of the day and spent most of it sitting on the front step and staring into the field across the road as the events of the day played out in my head.

I must have been out there for a while because I could hear the voices of uncle Larry and my dad. First, my dad ripped into him about Mr. Greer to which Larry said he'd only left a note on his door before he headed over and that he didn't know why Mr. Greer did what he did. He then countered and said that if my dad had paid more attention to anything maybe we wouldn't be down as many pigs as we were among other things.

"Enough about the pigs," bellowed my father. My dad was never good at keeping his voice down when needed, "I'm tired of hearing about the goddamn pigs."

"Did you do the math? How many thousands of dollars did we lose this past winter Luke? On top of that did you even notice any changes in Greer either? Do you even notice anything anymore," shouted uncle Larry.

So it went. They raged back and forth until eventually Applejack stepped in and calmed them down and explanations on both sides were given. My name came into the conversation but I'd stopped paying attention at that point. Instead I just stared out into a world that had once been so familiar but now felt almost alien. Eventually Liza came out and sat next to me. She kept quiet for a while and leaned on my shoulder. "Are you okay," she asked.

"Yeah," I said, "My hand just kind of throbs now but, it doesn't hurt."

"No, I mean you're cold, "she said, "Are you okay?"

I didn't know how to answer that.





My father decided that we would go to the fair the next day. While we were there uncle Larry would repair the damage done to the attic and clean up whatever broken glass was up there still. Applejack admitted she wasn't comfortable with being out and about so soon after what had happened. Mr. Greer hadn't been captured yet and she wasn't sure if he'd strike again.

Part of me agreed with my stepmother. It might have been smarter to stay home. However, the kid in me wanted to get out of the house and back to something that I actually enjoyed. So, we went.

I can still remember the almost overpowering smell of funnel cake and other fried foods cooking away in endless vats of grease. The loudspeakers announced various prizes and barked out specials, games and so on to the crowds. Over on the west side at the music pavilion various bands performed.

If we'd gone at night thousands of lights would have filled the gangways with a ghostly greasy glow. However, during the day they remained off and the spectacle was less impressive than normal. It didn't take long for my father and Applejack to find their way to the agriculture and livestock pavilions. While there they listened to some big shots drone on about farm equipment. After a few minutes of that and just enough pestering my father gave us some money and we headed out to check out the rides and games with the promise of meeting up with them by the tilt-a-whirl in a few hours.

While it was nice to be away from Applejack and my dad it still wasn't any picnic for me as I had to drag Liza around and watch her. Frankly it sucked. She was too small for any of the good rides and the ones she could get on bored me to tears. Fortunately that day the lines were never as long as they could have been but that just meant she wanted to ride them more than once. It didn't matter if it was the caterpillar rollercoaster that moved at a snail's pace or the ladybug ride that spun in a circle so slow I could have spun her faster than that. She was determined to get her fill and I was going to watch.

"Yo Joe," shouted a familiar voice.

I turned around and saw Mark with a couple of other kids from school. Mark was built similarly to uncle Larry but had more hair on his head that ended in a rat tail. "Hey man! What are you doing here?"

"Rides and dogs dude," he said and slapped my hand, "Damn you got cold hands. Been eating ice cream all day or something?"

"Nah but yours are stifling. Been squeezing your wiener?"

The others laughed and he just rolled his eyes, "Anyway, what's up?"

"Watching my sister. You?"

"Well if you can get out of it we're heading to Zero G... you can come too... if you're not chicken shit."

Zero G. It was here last year and I'd wanted to ride it so bad but never had the chance. It was a ride that shot you straight up into the air for a few stories and then dropped you back down incredibly fast. It was supposed to be awesome. I had to ride it and I knew I couldn't if I had to drag Liza everywhere.

When she got off of the ladybug ride she walked up to us. I tried to explain that I needed to ride this ride with my friends. "So do you think you're a big enough girl to wait for me while I ride it," I said.

"I'll tell mom," said Liza bluntly, "She told you to stay with me."

"You better not tell her," I threatened and grabbed her scrawny arm with both of my hands while glaring at her, "If you do I swear I'll give you the worst Indian burn you ever had."

Indian burns were the one thing Liza hated above all else. It was my ace in the hole whenever we've been fighting. I twisted my hands around and around. It wasn't hard but it was just enough of a warning to get my point across. I saw Liza squeal with fright doing her best to pull her hand away from my grasp.

"Okay, okay I promise. I promise. Just let go of my arm," Liza whined about ready to cry. "I won't tell. Please."

"Good," I said and released her, "Now when the ride's over just wait for me at the exit. I'll pick you up and well grab a funnel cake and go on something else. You got it?"

Liza glared at me but nodded. That was good enough for me as I joined my friends and left her at the baby ride.





Zero G turned out to be more of a letdown than a thrill. The line to get on was too long and the ride itself too short. It felt like they had just strapped me in when I was shot into the air and it was all over.

After the ride I chatted with my friends about which girls in our class we liked the best before going on another ride and then another. It was when my stomach growled I decided to go get my sister and the promised funnel cake.

It took me a few minutes to work my way across the fair to where I'd left her. For some reason I expected her to still be waiting for me. Heck I even expected her to be angry at me for screwing around. Yet when I got back to where I'd left her she was nowhere to be found.

Quickly all of the fears from yesterday rushed back into my head. I made an orbit around the children's rides hoping to find her at a different but had no luck. "Liza," I called out and hoped I'd get a punch in the back or something. So I called out again. And again.

After a few dozen more shouts I heard the giggling through the crowd. At first it sounded innocent like two of the girls at school talking about which singer they thought was cute. Yet as it continued the maliciousness cut through the innocence. "Liza," I whispered and ran in the direction of the laughter.

I followed that God awful laughter around every ride. I pushed, dodged my way through the masses of people until finally I stopped in front of one of those funhouse/hall of mirrors type places.

"Joseph!" I heard the voice of my sister while working my way through a group of high-school kids. Her voice rang loud and clear in my ears. "Joseph," she called again. I turned and looked in the direction of her voice and saw Liza waving at me as she walked hand in hand with a girl I'd never seen before into the hall.

The girl wore a green shirt and jeans with an almost comical huge pink bow sitting on top a mess of red hair colored so brightly it seemed to have been painted on her head flowing almost all the way down her back. I sighed in relief as I watched the pair disappear into the building. "Jesus Liza," I muttered even though I only had myself to blame.

"Have you started to hear them yet," said a familiar voice that made my hair stand on end.

Slowly I turned to the left and saw who it was. The one man I didn't want to see, Mr. Greer. I took a step back intending to run to the first officer and grab him. "The fuck..."

"Easy boy," he said, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to warn you. That's all."

"Funny way to do it with a hammer."

"Nothing funny about it. Also, those cops... I was in recon for a long time kiddo. Dodging them was a breeze," Mr. Greer sighed, "Even so I have a feeling I don't have much time so I'm going to make this quick. You're gonna start seeing things, hearing things and your dreams are going to get really messed up. They'll see unreal, maybe even desirable but not, trust me. Stay away from mirrors and televisions they like to travel through those and make sure you tell your sister... wait where is she there's no way she'd still be with your dad so that means..."

Without my looking he knew. He snapped his head around to the funhouse with its brightly painted animals and clowns on it. "Oh no," He grabbed his hammer from his belt and pushed his way through the line past the ticket taker.

Without a word I followed him and shouted to the taker to call the police. I didn't know what I'd do once in there but, I did know that I had to find Liza.





The lighting was dim and the place smelled disgusting. If scent were visible the funk that spilled forth from that attraction would have been a sickly tan. I hurried through past the clowns and the skeletons to the mirror maze. I gulped hard and whispered my sister's name as I wound my way through the halls of glass.

I desperately wound my way through the maze. It was truly shocking just how big this place was and as I bumped into dead end after dead end my heart pounded harder. I called out for my sister again only to hear Mr. Greer arguing with some unseen patron, daring her to come out followed by the sound of glass smashing.

I pushed on eager to avoid him. Yet as I did I could hear it, the low steady click like hard soled shoes or a horse's hooves across the metal floor. It was faint and at first but grew louder until I swore it was right on top of me. However, when I wheeled around I saw nothing but my reflection in the mirrors behind me. I pressed on.

The further into the maze I went the quieter the sounds of the outside fair were. After a while I could only hear my heart followed by the occasional sound of breaking glass and the low clicking that would slowly work its way toward me and then away again. "Oh hell," I muttered as I kept walking.

The air grew thick, rancid, becoming hard to breathe. I glanced about and prayed that whatever it was that was clicking along in the darkness wouldn't find me. I hurried down a small path and stopped at its dead end. Once there I cursed and as I did so I saw it. Steam and through it the figure of what I thought was my stepmother but it wasn't.

She was far too pale and fancy to be Applejack. She smiled at me coyly and tossed her long purple hair to one side. "Oh my you poor darling," she said sweetly, "Lost in the maze are we?"

"Yes," I said but it sounded more like a question.

"I'm surprised there's another of you in here," She said as she walked toward me as the clicking grew louder, "You know if you hug the mirrors eventually you'll find your way out... but you didn't did you?"

"No."

"Aw," she said with a pouty look, "And now you've found me. Just like last winter only now you've been such a bad little boy."

I could feel my heart beating hard in my chest as I stepped backward. "S-stay back," I muttered.

"Yes... a bad little boy... who will be punished ever so severely," she hissed, "Don't you know it's impolite to see a lady without her face on! "When she spoke she held up a mask that looked exactly like Applejack's face.

I staggered backward and screamed in terror when from out of nowhere Mr. Greer charged the sultry figure knocking her to the ground, "Run Joseph," He shouted, "The way out is open! Get out of here!"

I turned and saw the exit sign in what looked like two turns and ran for it. While I ran I could hear Mr. Greer shouting and cursing the thing as he fought it. His shouts of rage soon turned to pain and anguish. Before I knew it I'd thrown open the exit door to the funhouse and flung myself out into the waiting figures of Liza and the girl I'd never met before.

"I thought you said he was brave," said the girl.

Liza shrugged and giggled, "Guess he's a chicken butt."

"That was without a doubt the least fun funhouse I've ever been to," said the girl, "We were gonna scare you ya know."

"Yeah you kinda ruined it Joseph."

"Oh well," said the girl as she elbowed my sister who giggled, "We'll getcha next time!"

It took me a few moments to catch my breath and let the panic pass as much as it could and slowly stood up as I ached from the fall. "Who are you," I asked as I looked her over. She was about my age give or take a year. Yet, something in her eyes told me she might actually be a bit older than that. She had a broad smile that made me instantly not trust her. Not one bit.

"Name's Applebloom," said the strange girl, her eyes danced with mischief, "Pleasure to meet ya Joseph!" She extended her hand and I shook it. Normal. 

I took Liza by the hand and began to lead her away, "How... we have to go."

"Why," asked Liza.

"Hey I understand," said Applebloom as she tagged along, "You don't want your sister hanging out with strangers. That's a mite smart cause who knows who she could run into. Though it makes me wonder why ya left her alone in the first place."

"We met while I was waiting for you," said Liza as she tried to tug away from me, "I know you said to wait for you by the ladybug ride but I got bored and she offered to hang out with me and go on some neat rides and all."

"Okay. Fine. Great," I said letting go of Liza, "I'm glad you found someone you could hang out with at the fair but we need to go. Like now. We need to find dad and..."

"But I wanna eat something," protested Liza, "You said..."

"Yeah come on," added Applebloom, "You said."

I glared at Liza, "Mr. Greer is in there. I followed him. He's nuts and is armed!"

Liza stopped whining as her face fell. She nodded and followed me, "Can Applebloom come with? I mean what if he..."

"Whatever let's go!"

We hurried through the fairground to where we were supposed to meet Dad and Applejack. Along the way Apple Bloom peppered Liza with questions which she answered quickly. On the surface Applebloom sounded concerned for her new friend but something about them made me edgy and urged me forward in the hope of getting away from the strange girl.

I dodged through several big crowds as quickly as I could in the hope of distancing my sister and myself from her. Once in a while I looked over to where Applebloom had been and saw that she was falling further and further back among the crowds. After awhile we found our parents and I explained as well as I could about what had happened, leaving out the details about what actually happened in the funhouse and me ditching my sister so I could mess around with my friends.

Applejack gave my father a stern, 'I told you so' look and scanned the crowd for any sign of Mr. Greer as we hurried to the truck. Along the way Liza spoke at great length about the new friend she'd made while riding rides at the fair. At first Applejack gave generally positive answers and was happy, if occupied that her daughter had found a friend.

"Her name's Applebloom," said Liza, "Kind of like your name right mom?"

I'd never seen the blood flow so quickly from someone's face until that moment. Applejack turned from her normal orange hue to a white similar to that of the nightmarish woman in the maze."What? What did you say her name was," asked Applejack as her gaze darted about the parking lot even faster.

"Applebloom mom," repeated Liza, "Hey do you think she could be your..."

"We've gotta go," said Applejack hurriedly. Her voice quivered slightly.

Liza didn't notice and continued to scan the parking lot. After a moment she began tugging on Applejack's shirt, "Mom that's her over there!"

Applejack looked over in the direction Liza was pointing. Sure enough there stood the weird girl with her broad smile. Liza waved to her and Apple Bloom returned the favor. Applejack looked down at Liza and pushed her arm down. "We've gotta go," said Applejack flatly.

"But mom, I wanna say goodbye..."

"Get in the truck Liza."

"But..."

"Do it! Now!"

"But what if she doesn't know where we live," whined Liza which prompted Applejack to repeat herself sternly. It was then Liza stamped her foot on the ground and refused to budge.

I'm not sure what was said but in short order Applejack took hold of Liza and spoke to her in a hushed, deep and angry voice. The blood drained from Liza's face and her mouth fell open. A small shudder went through her and she climbed into the back of the truck next to me. She never sobbed but somewhere deep inside a part of her died that day.

I asked Liza later that day what it was that Applejack had told her by the truck. "Momma's scary," was all she said.

As for Mr. Greer I never saw him again.