George's torchlight traced the dark figure from feet to face.

She smiled.

George recognized that smile. It was one he had oft seen and gotten quite used to.

"Mum?" he called at the familiar face.

"What are you doing here?" he continued. Sweat birth from fear still lingered on his forehead, neck and under his arms.

"Hey, little man. Why're you up so late? Its 3am. You should be in bed by now and fast asleep like a normal kid. Though these days, being awake 3am is totally normal. Freaking millennials." Alice told her worried son.

"I...I...I heard sounds... so I got up and decided to check out the source." George stuttered. His eyes scanned the room.

"Well, I couldn't get some sleep so I decided to check up on the girls. I heard Melody whimpering but she was fast asleep. I think it was a bad dream. I decided to sing a lullaby and I was about to check if she had calmed down with this when the rays from your torchlight hit my face, like I'm some sort of thief." Alice explained and lifted what was actually a flashlight on her right hand.

"I'm sorry mum...I couldn't sleep either and after hearing your voice I was sure something was wrong." George said. His eyes continued to scan the room until they landed on Mary's bed side.

Alice noticed and traced the focus of her son's stare.

"You thought it was her huh? You thought she was up to something didn't you? You really don't trust her do you?" Alice asked her son.

"How can I trust someone who ripped my dog's head from its body?" George asked in a whisper, his eyes were still focused on Mary's bed.

"Ugh! George you're becoming more and more like your father." Alice said.

"No I'm not! I'm just cautious."

"Exactly! Cautious like your father."

"Dad isn't cautious. If he was, Green eyes wouldn't be here right now would she?" George asked his mother.

"Come on. I want to show you something. It was the first thing I checked on when I came in." Alice told her son, while she dragged the young man's arm and led him to Mary's bed.

When Alice got to Mary's bed, she lifted a purple cover, turned on her flash light and focused its rays at the lowest on Mary's face. She looked like a princess. A flawless sleeping beauty.

George wanted to tell his mother to stop. He did not want to anger a sleeping mad girl but he could not get his eyes off the pretty head on the pillow.

Mary's face was the total opposite of the crime she had committed a day ago. She was calm and beautiful. It was quite unbelievable that such a sleepy form of sweet could hurt a fly.

George stared hard until he started to paint pictures in his mind. Girl-crazy pictures.

"I know right?" His mother asked in a whisper.

"I...I...I...don't know what...what you're talking about." George struggled to respond in a confident and carefree way but even a toddler could tell that he had begun to fall for Mary.

"Alright Mr-Likes-Green-Eyes, let's get going. We don't want to wake the girls." Alice chuckled.

She was so happy to see her son that way. It had been a while since he showed concern for anything or anyone else but his phone.

Mary might have been a bad omen but Alice thought it nice to see her son so indulged in something new.

With a smile on her face, Alice walked out of the room and placed her hand over her son's shoulder.

George turned back to look at Mary but saw only the rays of the moon light trickle in simple lines on her female figure while she slept peacefully.

He quickly turned away from her and walked with his eyes forward, for his guts told him that it was a bad idea. It was a bad idea to fall in love with Mary Angela.

A week had gone by and everything seemed perfectly normal at the Beckham home.

Though doubt still soared in little dots, Mary became a part of the family.

She had not done anything crazy or out of norm.

The family did not trust her wholly but they had gotten used to her existence amongst them.

A special day had arrived.

The long absent member of the Beckham family that everyone spoke of was to arrive on that beautiful day.

"Richie are you done setting up the furniture in the extra room? He'll be here soon and I need to clean it up some more!" Alice commanded.

"I'll be done in a minute honey. This stuff isn't easy. It's basic engineering." Richard screamed from the rails above, just outside the extra room.

"You better hurry. You know how Todd likes everything tidy." Alice told her husband.

Todd Beckham. This was the name of the family member they expected. A member of the family whom they always treated like a guest.

Well it was normal for a family to treat the best like a king.

Todd was Dr Richard Beckham's younger brother. He was twenty six years old and a graduate from Harvard law school who was already representing one of the biggest software engineering companies in Silicon Valley, Palo Alto. He had no criminal records, no setbacks in his grades since the first class he entered in his life, he had always been Mr Popular among boys and girls, and he was the genuine description of perfect. So perfect one would think he was a fictional character written from every parents' wishes. He was so perfect it was quite irritating to a few.

There was one thing though; Every white that soared the skies in years would one day be stained grey.

Unknown to the faultless young man in an ordered ride, Todd's stain was to have a beginning the day he set foot in the wooden house.

Back at the busy Beckham home, Alice, Melody and Mary had begun to prepare the perfect meal for a perfect being.

Drops of this, a dice of that, a slice of one, a pinch or two and aroma engulfed the large kitchen in sizzles and whistles of pots and frying pans.

"Melody how's the cranberry sauce coming?" Alice asked her youngest child.

"It's going great mommy!" Melody smiled. A red lumpy paste painted her pretty face in dots. Her pink gown was dotted slightly as well.

Mary looked at messed up Melody and laughed. A very normal laugh.

"Well would you look at that? Such a pretty smile for a pretty face. You should do this often love." Alice said.

She held Mary's face after she dusted her hands against the yellow apron she wore. The white gown she wore beneath the apron still shone like snow.

Mary was truly pretty that day. Seven days of warmth and good health had really brought out the beauty in her.

Her green eyes shone brighter. Her pale skin was kissed gently by pads of red at heated places. The red in her pink lips seemed more noticeable. She also wore a dress Alice had borrowed her. It was a fitted pink thigh-long satin gown. Her hips and waist were perfectly distinguished and the smoothness of her thighs swayed perfectly with every step. Her bun was also parked up like a ballerina's not for style but obedience to a kitchen rule known by all chefs and mothers.

Mary smiled and so did Melody. They all looked like they had been brain washed.

"Well, we better get to work. Todd won't feed on our smiles." Alice said after a tear dropped on her cheeks.

Melody laughed, she did not notice the sly drop of water that left her mother's left eye.

"Green eyes could you chop those carrots like I taught you a minute ago?" Alice asked Mary while she struggled desperately to wipe her face clean of tears.

Mary already noticed the tear drops on Alice's face. She found it strange but she found it comforting as well.

It was the same as the change in her mental health. She had not done anything senseless in days, nor had she spoken to herself in gibberish like she used to. It was strange yet quite comforting.

Mary stared at the knife in her right hand and the chopping board on which the carrots were placed.

If it was a week ago, she would have stabbed Alice with the knife over and over until her intestines gushed out. She would have dug Melody's little skull with the edge of the chopping board until brain peeked out in its mushy pink tissues.

Until that moment of wandering, she had not had such thoughts in several days. The fire that pushed her to such actions had cooled off. The voices in her head were quiet. She gazed at her arms. The cuts that were once there like a tiger's stripes had healed up so well they began to vanish. She could still not recall the past before her madness clearly, but things were quite normal. It was strange, yet comforting.

Mary stared at the knife in her hand once more and then her eyes went to Alice who was busy with a casserole.

Alice had trusted her enough to give her a knife.

Alice had become a cure to her insanity.

Mary thought it best to pay her curry scented cure.

She began to chop the carrots and after one more minute of contemplation, for the first time in the home of the Beckhams Mary spoke and in the sweetest voice one could imagine;

"Um...Excuse me? Mrs Alice?" she said.

Alice froze.

Melody's hands dropped along with the bowl of cranberry sauce...

Upstairs the men of the house worked tirelessly in Todd's room. They tried hard to setup a new bookshelf they had ordered a few days ago.

"This sucks dad! I'm tired and my back aches! The dust I cleaned off from this room still lingers in my nose. I need a break!" George complained as always.

"The only break you'd be getting is dinner when Todd gets here! Just one more screw and we're done. If we don't get it right or remove something we're not meant to, the shelf would fall apart and we'll start again." Richard told his son.

They both wore blue denim jean trousers and grey T-shirts. It was the perfect clothing for such a job. Also Richard made them wear it for fun.

It was indeed fun for Richard but hell for George.

"What's up with this stupid denim anyways? My butt is sweating like crazy! You've got to hurry dad. I'm burning up!"

"Don't rush me boy!"

"But you're the one with the manual. The instructions are right in front of you. What's hard in that?!" George asked.

"I'm a doctor George not a fucking carpenter!!"

In that minute, Richard's phone rang.

He took it out of his pocket and gazed at the screen.

Immediately he turned his gaze to George.

"Go get more nails from the basement George."

"But...but...we've got more than enough..."

"If it's enough I'll tell you it's enough! Get your ass up and get moving!" Richard screamed.

George walked out.

He did walk out but remained just outside the extra room when he heard his father dial the number that had called.

"So? Did you get anything? Any feedback on what happened to the girl two years ago?" Richard asked the man on the phone.

"Maybe he's trying to find her parents." George thought and began to walk away but more thoughts came in.

"But two years ago? What happened two years ago? How did he know something happened to Green eyes two years ago?! Why is he so precise?" George's thoughts conquered and he walked back to the position he was. His neck stretched out so he could hear better like the big bad wolf.

"Don't fuck with me dude!! This is serious! It's her! It's Mary Angela!! I don't know if she came back from the dead...whoever this green eyed bitch is, she looks like Mary and it's messing with my mind! Strangely Alice feels a connection with her!...I know! It's crazy! I mean what the literal fuck?! I thought she'd forgotten about that past but I think the girl reminds her of it! If she remembers...Argh!!! This is totally fucked up bro! She's Mary I'm sure of it...Fine then...You dig as much as you can or I'm getting rid of her my own way this time...I'm trying to be careful man...If Mary Angela's still alive you know who else might be..."

Richard kept talking.

While on the phone he spotted his son's shadow on the rails. He began to walk towards the door quietly.

George was too engrossed in the conversation.

Normally he would feel his father's movement towards the door but he was too paralyzed by curiosity to move.

Richard took a few more steps...

Alice did not care about the cranberry disaster. She cleaned her hands with a napkin and took graceful steps towards Mary.

"You just spoke didn't you? I mean the one with that voice...the one who said those words was you wasn't it?" Alice asked.

"Yes." Mary said in a word.

Alice wanted to jump like a child, say a hundred sentences and ask a thousand questions. Instead she kept her cool and asked in the simplest of ways "So why did you call?"

"I...My name...My name is Mary...Mary Angela." Mary said shyly.

Alice hugged the pretty girl.

"Mary. That's such a beautiful name! And your voice...goodness it's like angels in harmony. Mary. It's nice to meet you officially Mary Angela. Welcome to our home." Alice said after the brief hug.

"Mary. I like it. It's a nice name. Nice. Mary. Mary. Mary..." Melody chanted Mary's name as she picked up the bowl of cranberries and worked on what was left of it.

"Ah! We've got to tell the others." Alice said excitedly as she clapped her hands like a happy seal.

In that moment of joy, the doorbell rang.

"Todd! Todd! Todd's here!" Melody screamed. She abandoned the cranberry sauce and ran out of the culinary with a wide smile she had shown no one in a week.

Richard got out of the room and there he was, George. He had listened to every word.

"I'll call you back Henry." Richard said while he ended the call.

"And what on fucking earth do you think you're doing?" Richard asked his son. His eyes burnt with fury but he tried hard to control himself. He did not want to seem guilty. After all, George had no idea who Mary was.

"Dad tell me Mary Angela isn't the green eyed girl with mum right now...Tell me it isn't Green eyes." George asked with teary eyes.

Richard day dreamed of punching the boy or throwing him down the stairs but he was his son.

He placed his hands on George's shoulder gently.

"I know your old man ain't all clean son but you've got to start learning to trust me. I didn't send you out because I wanted to stop you from hearing my conversation. No! I really wanted those nails. Also, Mary is the name of one of my patients who escaped the mental hospital recently. I performed a plastic surgery on her and now, she's all over L.A doing awful things. The cops needed more info on her old identity so they could get her. It's just a cornucopia of police stuff." Richard said.

"Liar." George thought. "I see." The boy said out loud and with a fake smile.

The tension between father and son grew stronger.

Richard's hands had begun to sink into George's shoulders with more pressure. He squeezed them.

In that moment of confusion, the door bell rung.

"Well that must be Todd. Let's go welcome him Inspector Gadget." Richard said after he slapped his son playfully on the back.

George had never been happier. He wobbled down the stairs with a lot on his mind but a glitter of hope remained for his best friend Todd had arrived.

The Beckham family were gathered downstairs with smiles on their faces except Mary who was quite curious about the visitor.

Alice opened the door and there he was. The guest they had waited for and the last one to arrive at the cabin. Todd Beckham.