//------------------------------// // Stop It Mum! // Story: Mummy, there's a Changeling in my closet! // by TheHiveQueen //------------------------------// “Sophia, what were you doing last night?” Mum asked, looking across the table. “I was sleeping, Mum,” Sophia replied, giving the sweetest grin. “You know that's not what I meant,” Mum said, folding her arms. “Okay... I was talking to Spike about... politics.” “Oh, really? Please tell me how that involves spraying insecticide all over your room.” Mum's arms were still folded firmly. “There was another spider in my room and Spike suggested spraying it instead of waking you up again,” Sophia said, trying on the cute face. Mum shrugged the cute face off, refusing to believe the tale. “So you're telling me that you used one whole can, on one little spider?” “Two cans actually.” Mum shot Sophia a severe look. “Okay, it was that changeling-thing-a-ling again in my closet!” “Oh, enough of this changeling talk! I looked up the creature yesterday out of curiosity, and such a thing can't possibly exist! I'm afraid you've imagined it, dear,” Mum said, giving her definitive opinion. “I didn't imagine it! I sprayed it with that stuff and made it go away back into the closet; I know it will be back though!” “I'm telling you, use a gun next time.” Tom made his daily unwanted appearance in Sophia's life. “Be quiet, Tom,” Mum said before turning back to her daughter. “Sophia, darling, it's not real. You must have been sleep-walking or something and sprayed what you thought was that silly creature.” “But ask Spike. He saw it too–” “I don't want to hear anymore of this. You get some sleep tonight and don't mess around with those dangerous substances again.” “But–” “Sophia, I'm trying to read here,” Dad chimed in, looking up from his newspaper for a second, before burying himself back between the pages. Big Brother Tom stuck out his tongue. Unfortunately, he still had some cereal in his mouth, and milk-covered cheerios spilled out of it and all over the table. While Mum was scolding Tom, and telling him to go get a cloth, Sophia sat back in her chair. She was not happy and made no attempt to hide it. Surely Spike was the most credible witness of all? They had some nerve rejecting him like that... *** “Goodnight again, Sophia. Don't let me catching you playing with your toys again or spraying imaginary creatures. I'm trusting you...” The door shut slowly, concluding eventually with a click. No, Mum. Just no. Sophia jumped out of bed and looked through the armoury again beneath her. She brought out an old slingshot she had found collecting dust in the shed. Now you're playing with power! But what about ammo? Spike was very much excited by the weapon. “Ammo?” Sophia asked incredulously. A big bag of marbles was brought up and placed on the table beside her. But there's only one slingshot. And you know I can't hold marbles well. “You can't hold anything well, Spike. I'm afraid you'll just have to be here for support.” Yeah, frankly I'm just happy to be here today. Thanks for saving me from Mum by the way. “Don't worry about it! Where would I be without my number one toy?” *knock knock* Show time. “Spike pass me the slingshot,” Sophia whispered with her eyes fixed on the closet. She blinked a few times before turning to Spike, who was reclining on the pillow. Whilst mumbling something about laziness, Sophia reached for the slingshot herself. She grabbed a marble and loaded the pouch before aiming the weapon at the door. This time there's no holding back. No stupid talking with the bad guy like they seem to do in every silly movie Dad makes me watch. The door gently opened with a creak and green light surged from the closet. “Now prepare to meet your end! After what you did to me, I won't bother to feed off your love. Vengeance will be mine!” Chrysalis screeched, still hiding in the closet. Laughing wildly, she finally let her head around the corner of the door. “This is the part where I kill you,” Chrysalis said gently. “Muhahahah–” She stopped abruptly as something small and hard hit her on the nose. “What is this?” Sophia answered the queen by grabbing a handful of marbles and firing them all at once. The volley of balls flew across the room and again found their target: Chrysalis' face. “What are you doing?! Stop!” Chrysalis cried between face-fulls of marbles. But Sophia didn't stop. She felt bad but knew that such drastic actions were necessary to rescue playtime. She started to grow mad with power, laughing hysterically as the changeling queen suffered at the hand of marbles. It didn't help that Spike was egging her on from behind: Oh! Hit the horn! Hit the horn! Chrysalis writhed in discomfort more than pain. She was unable to cry out, as such a thing might mean a marble flying in her mouth. However, the occasional marble did hit her in the eye, and she found herself shutting them tightly, willing it stop as she retreated back into the closet. Thankfully, the bag of marbles was almost depleted. But that didn't matter when the bedroom door suddenly flew open. Sophia stopped firing and gave her marble-collecting arm a rest – it had been moving in such a rhythm that she had to grasp it with her other hand to hold it still. “Young girl! What do you thing you are doing?!” “Mum! Mum! Look!” Sophia pointed at the closet door. “Yes, I can see! Marbles everywhere! Explain yourself!” “She was there again! The changeling! She's still in the closet; you can go take a look if you don't believe me.” Mum glanced a look at the open door of the closet only to see nothing there. “She's inside, Mum.” Mum walked over to the door and looked inside – but only to put these silly claims to bed once and for all. “You see? Nothing here! Come over if you don't believe me.” Sophia walked over and peered inside, half-expecting to see the changeling huddled up in a corner. She checked the front of the closet; she checked the back of the closest. She even checked the top to see if it was hanging upside down. Nothing. “Umm, I'm sure she was there,” Sophia muttered. “You know what I'm sure of? I'm sure you're hallucinating because you don't get enough sleep, and perhaps things get a bit out of hand when you're playing with your toys.” “I'm sure that's not it, Mum.” “I know it is, darling. Just hand them over, and everything else you brought up here, like this slingshot.” Mum picked up the thing from the bed and turned it over in her hands. Sophia knew that Mum wasn't kidding around so she fetched all her toys and handed them over. She then gestured at under her bed, indicating where she had stored everything else. Mum rummaged through the things and it took several trips between rooms before everything had been taken and put safely away. “Why is there a knife here?” Mum asked, brandishing the object in question. “I thought it might help,” Sophia mumbled, looking down at the floor. “This thing is very dangerous. Don't take it from the kitchen again and go get some proper sleep now. I know you want to play but this is for your own good. You can play in the morning.” Mum left the room before her daughter had time to argue any further. Sophia plodded back to her bed and lay down in disgust. She reached for her dragon–ready to moan about how mean Mum could be–but instead found empty space. She scowled some more. *knock knock* “You didn't think those petty objects would destroy me, did you?” a familiar voice hissed with a hint of menace. Sophia shivered with fear and looked up nervously at the closet. No! No! No! How could she still be here? Sophia had nothing to defend herself with. No Spike, no torch, and certainly no knife. In those terrified seconds, Sophia conjured up her courage, and made a decision. She got out of bed and tiptoed over to the closet, careful not to wake her mum up. She knelt down by the door, holding it gently shut with one hand, and whispered between the gap: “Hi, Chrysalis.” There was a pause. “Queen Chrysalis. And you pronounced it wrong.” “Can you leave me alone for this night?” Sophia asked in the cutest possible fashion. “No.” The response was blunt. “But my mum took everything I had!” Sophia wailed. “Not my problem.” “It will be when I scream and she comes and uses them all on you.” “Now that would be a cowardly thing to do. Accept defeat. Play fair.” “I always play fair! Ask Spike! You're not playing fair!” Sophia babbled, unsettled by the absurdity of the accusation. “Let me make things fair.” “And how would you do that?” Chrysalis inquired. “Just give me five minutes to do... something.” “To do what, exactly?” “I don't know! Something!” There was a pause. “Chrysalis?” “Four forty-nine, four forty-eight, four forty-seven...” Sophia moved away from the closet and looked desperately around. What do I do? There's nothing here! If I go outside then Mum will catch me and send me back to bed! Spike, help! Spike? Oh shoot.