There's a Monster Pony Outside My Window

by Halira

Chapter 6: Checking Suspiscions

"Thank you for understanding, Mister Williamson. I'll work a double shift tomorrow," Wendy said into the phone. "I'll see you then."

She hung the phone up and sighed before turning to look at her three daughters sitting on the couch.

"You three are going to go to your rooms and take a nap," she instructed.

"Can we go visit Miss Newman?" Andrea pleaded.

Wendy blinked. "No, school is in session right now. You aren't going out after staying home sick. You're lucky I'm not stopping you from trick-or-treating after pretending you're sick."

"But we are sick!" Kristin objected, then coughed three times. The cough was even less believable than their claims about monsters.

"If you're sick, I can't let you go trick-or-treating tonight," Wendy reminded them. "Now, are you sick, or did you three stay up all night and get no sleep?"

Her daughters all looked at one another and hung their heads.

"We stayed up," Charlotte confessed, not willing to give up the upcoming free candy. Andrea gave the youngest sister a scathing look for doing so.

Wendy shook her head in disappointment. "On the plus side, you three managed to get along for the evening and united together about something; that is the only reason I'm not going to punish you. You realize I'm missing a shift at work because of this and will be gone all day tomorrow because of it, right? Not to mention you shouldn't be missing school. Kristin, you had a perfect attendance record until this."

"Sorry, Mom," Kristin said, sounding legitimately ashamed.

Andrea was quiet. She was almost certainly the ringleader of whatever they were doing last night. It was odd because she was usually the best behaved, but she had been the most insistent on staying home today and the one giving the other two dirty looks to keep them in line. What had they been up to? A better question might be, what were they planning to be up to?

Whatever they were planning, they were going to be doing something more important first. "I want you all to go to your rooms and take a nap," Wendy instructed. "It is only going to be for about two hours because I don't want you to be unable to sleep tonight because you slept all day today. Understand?"

"Yes, Mom," the three said together. Technically, Charlotte said Mommy. It seemed like yesterday Andrea and Kristin were saying that too, but for some reason, that always fell out of favor with kids as they started to progress through school. Charlotte was holding onto the term longer than her sisters did. They'd both stopped calling her Mommy halfway through kindergarten. Charlotte was in first grade now.

She waved a hand to dismiss them. "To bed. You need your rest. If you don't sleep, you'll be too tired to go out tonight. Hurry up, go."

The three scrambled in the direction of Charlotte's room, Andrea and Kristin using it as a cut-through to get to their room. Hopefully, they would actually go to sleep this time. They had to be tired. Growing kids needed their rest.

Wendy sat down and lit a cigarette. She tried not to smoke when her kids were in the room, although she wasn't always perfect about that. She didn't want them seeing her and following her example when they got older. It was a bit hypocritical, refusing to stop smoking but not wanting her daughters to ever pick up the habit. If they did pick it up when they got older, there would be only herself to be angry at, not them. It was stupid, but it was her way of coping with stress, and right now, she was stressed and angry, and she didn't want to show that anger towards her daughters.

She couldn't afford to miss any work. Their budget was too tight. She was lucky her supervisor was going to let her make up the shift tomorrow, even if it was going to make the day long and painful for her. Fourteen hours of work tomorrow, all because her daughters felt like staying up. It would be one thing if they were sick, but this was due to disobedience. She wanted to scream at them, but they were just kids and didn't know any better. It wasn't like they pulled this all the time, and it was good to see them doing something together when they were usually at each others' throats. All three of her daughters were very independent, which unfortunately led to a lot of conflict between them.

The doorbell rang, and she got up to check it. A quick look through the peephole revealed it was Miss Newman. Wendy opened the door and smiled at her neighbor.

"Miss Newman, hi. What brings you over here again so soon?" Wendy asked.

The older woman looked tired. "I noticed your kids didn't leave for school, and I didn't see you at the bus stop when I took my stroll. I wanted to make sure you were all well."

"We're fine," Wendy assured her. "Did you want to come in and talk?"

Miss Newman yawned and nodded. "Just a few minutes. I had a long night and need to get to sleep soon. I'm going to be giving myself twenty-four hours of rest after I return home, a day to isolate myself. It's a habit of mine."

Wendy let her in and then realized she was still holding a lit cigarette. She hurried over to the ashtray and put it out. "Sorry, a filthy habit I can't seem to stop."

Miss Newman waved it off as she used her other hand to cover a yawn. "It's no problem. I smoked for a few years as a teen." She turned and looked Wendy in the eyes. "However, I would recommend quitting. My mother… she suffered from lung cancer."

"I'm very sorry to hear—" Wendy began but realized something. "Didn't you say your mother was alive and well? Something about her going out gardening by herself?"

"She was given a miracle, but no one should count on miracles to save them. Don't let any preacher convince you that you just need enough faith and God will solve your problems," Miss Newman said without hesitation or concern. Wendy caught no sense she was lying.

"Odd advice from a former preacher," Wendy commented.

Miss Newman seemed to be examining the ceiling and trying to hide the fact she was doing it. "I have come to believe that God takes a very hands-off approach to the world. This doesn't mean I have any less faith, only that my faith has evolved over time. We're not on this Earth to receive rewards or punishments here; those rewards and punishments are reserved for what happens after our time is up. We're here to live our lives, and so by our actions, intentions, and faith be judged. Don't count on God to give you any handouts; even the most Christlike may never receive a single one for their prayers—aside from their place reserved in Heaven. This life is short and not worth his time to interfere or intervene."

"You said your mom got a miracle," Wendy reminded the woman.

Miss Newman shook her head, still examining the ceiling. "That miracle was extraordinary blind luck, not an act of God. Sometimes we get lucky, never count on it."

Wendy crossed her arms. "Miss Newman, is something wrong with my ceiling? You seem very interested in it."

Miss Newman paused and stopped looking at the ceiling at last. "Oh, my ceiling has some oddities, and I was checking to see if yours had similar ones. Tell me, why is everyone at home if everyone is fine? Did something happen?"

Wendy sighed and flopped on the couch. "The girls spent the entire night up. Charlotte thought she saw a vampire pony outside her window. I know it sounds silly, and I half-expect it was something she made up to cover for staying up watching TV. It was enough to give Kristin a nightmare last night, and Andrea saw a hawk or something in Kristin's panic and turned it into a monster in her head. It's all ridiculous, but they ended up staying up all night. I couldn't send them off to school without any sleep."

"All three, you say?" Miss Newman asked with a raised eyebrow. The woman took a step towards Wendy. "A word of advice from the matriarch of a large family; always take what your children tell you seriously, no matter what they are saying. You don't need to believe it, but you do need to show you're listening and have their backs. Listen to their stories, and you might find some truths that you were not aware of."

"But I know these have to be fantasies or lies," Wendy countered. "There's no such thing as flying ponies."

Miss Newman shrugged. "Some of the most important lessons we teach children are fantasies and lies. An example is kindness, an element I embrace at the sacrifice of my honesty. Kindness is only an idea; it has no physical form or energy in the universe. You could say it is as much fantasy and lie as any cartoon your children watch, but it is an important one, one we depend on believing. We would be less for not believing in it. Sometimes the biggest lies are the greatest truths."

This lady practically lived sociology and philosophy. Wendy supposed that it could be a side-effect of getting older and spreading wisdom to the younger generation. Considering their age difference, Miss Newman might view her as a child. Wendy was unsure how to feel about that.

"Andrea had asked to see if the girls could visit your house," Wendy said, deciding to change the subject from philosophy. "We still need to give you a proper housewarming. Would visiting your house be possible soon? I only ask to try to indulge my daughter."

"It won't be possible, I'm afraid," Miss Newman said quickly as she looked at the time on the VCR, frazzled, frightened even. She then hurried towards the door. "I need to get going. I must start my day of rest."

Wendy was taken aback by the sudden change in mood. "Okay. Have a nice—" The door slammed. —day."

She went over to the front window and peeked out. Miss Newman was running for her house like her life depended on it. The older woman reached her home and hastily entered, again slamming the door shut behind her.

Not for the first time, Wendy reflected on how odd that woman behaved. Something didn't feel right about her.

On a whim, Wendy decided that she needed to verify the woman wasn't a squatter. This was a sometimes dangerous neighborhood, and squatters setting up drug dens in houses was not unheard of. That woman's odd behavior was hard to explain, and it could be linked to drugs. Today was the only day of the year that police made patrols through the neighborhood—for the safety of the kids walking the streets after dark—and today was the day Miss Newman had an urgent need to isolate herself. They had let that woman into their house, and Andrea wanted to visit her for who knew what reason. They needed to know she was safe.

Wendy grabbed the Yellow Pages and started flipping through, trying to find the listing for the real estate company that had been selling Miss Newman's house. That house had sat empty for close to five months, and she'd seen the for sale sign long enough to know what company had control of the property. She found the number and dialed it.

It took only two rings to pick up. "Century Twenty-One, how may I help you?"

Wendy smiled since it impacted the sound of the voice when talking. "Hi, I was trying to inquire about one of your properties. One-eleven Breckinridge Road, in Aurora, about a mile outside Denver city limit. I saw the for sale sign a few days ago and wanted to see how much it was."

"We would be happy to discuss that with you," the person on the other end of the line replied. "Give me a moment to find the property and which of our agents is handling it. You said it is in Aurora, just outside of Denver? Closest major road?"

"Montview."

"Montview, got it. That would be Jim's territory. Repeat that address."

"One-eleven Breckinridge Road."

"Thank you, give me a minute."

Wendy sat waiting as the person on the other line hummed to themselves while looking for the property listing.

"Found it! I'm very sorry. It looks like that property is no longer available. It went off the market a few days ago. Would you like me to set you up an appointment with Jim so he can discuss similar properties in that area?"

"No, I was specifically interested in that one. Thanks for checking for me. Have a nice day," Wendy answered and didn't wait for a reply before hanging up the phone.

Well, that was a mild relief. Miss Newman wasn't a squatter. She was just odd. Perhaps she had moved in before her stuff had even arrived to avoid any further hotel costs. That wasn't unheard of. Her own family had camped out in sleeping bags inside a new home once before during a move, waiting for movers to arrive. If that was the case, it would make sense why she hadn't seen a moving truck yet, and why Miss Newman was not allowing anyone at her house.

She felt a little bad for having checked on the older woman like that, but at least she didn't need to keep wondering. It was time to do a few chores around the house before needing to wake her kids from their naps. Hopefully, they wouldn't wake up early with more nightmares about monster ponies.

Comments

[DecoGalileo]

Here in my country, Philippines, people believe in supernatural creatures, and one of them is called tikbalang. It has a horse head and the rest of the body is a human.

[Jack14]

Sorry for being rude but when will we see the monster and the family meet

[Halira]

11027532
We will get there, soon. Answering that question is inherently spoilers.

[Charlie_K]

11027532
Honestly, the fact we haven't actually seen anything yet just serves to make it feel creepier in my opinion. We know something's up, but the family doesn't have the benefit of that knowledge. They're dealing with strange sightings and skittering they can't explain, mystery blood, a strange neighbor, and it's all mildly unsettling for them.

[Numinos]

It's kinda sad to be a year late for the party, but it seems to be the story that I'd hate to wait for updates : )

So... Time loops or AU shenanigans? Or both? So far this "Miss Newman" is giving me the feels that she's a grown up Charlotte with random sudden pony-ups. But why hunt bats? Questions, questions...