31st July 2019

RENEE

Mike didn't answer his phone when I tried calling him.

Instead, it was Violet who picked up the call and informed me that Mike had volunteered to drive Clover back to her house last night.
They hadn't heard from him since.

It felt like a warped version of the actual events, but I wondered if I only felt that way because I had always suspected his friends.

As I headed down to breakfast, I could hear mom and dad arguing as usual.

"Clover is missing?!" Dad sounded stunned, then his tone changed, low and angry. "Mike is definitely behind this."

"Ed, can you please stop blaming Mike?" Mom sounded exasperated. "Jen is coming over and she isn't mentally prepared to hear your theories..."

"They aren't theories," He argued. "It's a fact. Mike is possessed, and -"

"For the love of God, my son isn't possessed!" Mom yelled. "Don't you think I would know if he were?"

"Apparently, you don't," Dad grumbled. "And you refuse to listen to me either."

"Because, you make no sense," Mom snapped. "And you blindly believe everything you read from that book of yours..."

"Don't speak about my book like that," Dad frowned. "'My journey through the Spirit Realm' is nothing but the truth. There's even a whole chapter on being possessed..."

Wait... My dad had the book, 'My journey through the Spirit Realm'?

Clover's grandma's book?

So did he know about the Realms?

I swallowed hard, trying to process this shocking piece of information.

"You pick up a random book from some yard sale a year ago, and you treat it like the bible?" Mom spat out.

"The guy who wrote it, Sir Johannes, he's rumoured to be from the Spirit Realm..."

"Please, I can't listen to this rubbish, not this early in the morning," Mom scoffed, before adding, "Here's your coffee."

"Fine, keep your ignorant mortal thoughts to yourself," Dad said. "Maybe Renee will believe me."

"Don't you dare expose her to all this! She's the only sane person in this family..."

I promptly entered the room, and they shut up, sending pointed looks in each other's directions, pretending as if I were an infant who couldn't understand them.

Welcome to being the youngest in the family.

"Sweetie, do you want eggs?" Mom said, before loading a heap of food on my plate, hoping that would cover up the fight she and dad just had.

"I know what you guys were arguing about," I said quietly.

Mom looked aghast, her eyes darting from me to dad, her tone accusatory. "You've already told her!"

"I haven't," Dad looked surprisingly happy, now smiling at me. "You believe me?"

"I believe you, dad," I nodded. "Mostly because it's true."

"So, Mike's possessed?" Mom asked me in disbelief.

"I don't know that," I admitted. I hadn't read the whole book, and I didn't even know that there was a whole chapter on being possessed. "But if dad thinks he is, he must be."

I hated saying the words out aloud. I didn't want Mike to be possessed, and I wished that Clover was just asleep, or too busy with Mike to answer her phone.

But reality said otherwise.

We sat down for breakfast, Dad sending me smiles, while mom sent me scowls, not willing to believe that we may be right.

"Why do you think he's possessed?" Mom crossed her arms.

"His face changed," Dad said casually. "And he got a lot of fame in a short period."

That made sense. And the whole thing about him knowing that three people had pushed the bookshelf onto me?
That was evidence right there.

"It could just be a coincidence," Mom shrugged, before sipping on her coffee.

"He poisoned Truffles too," Dad added. "I knew it was a matter of time before he'd start killing us."

"He... What?" I yelped. "HE POISONED TRUFFLES?!"

Truffles' death was one thing, but hearing that my brother had poisoned her was entirely a different matter.

It was unimaginable.

"No, Renee," Mom glared at dad. "He was trying to take the weed out of her mouth."

"No, he was feeding it to her! He killed her!" Dad shouted, and I noticed the unsteadiness of his tone. "I saw him, killing our innocent Truffles!! He isn't human!"

He was going into a rage again.

Mom and I exchanged a glance. If he began to lose his temper, we knew how violent he could get.

And at that exact moment, the doorbell rang.

That must be Clover's mom, Jen Hayes.

"We need more sugar," Mom said abruptly. "Ed, give me a hand in the pantry, please."

I silently shook my head at mom, knowing what she was going to do. She caught onto my stare, before choosing to ignore it.

"Go answer the door, Renee." She commanded.

"Mom, but..."

"Go!" Mom forced out.

As I left, I couldn't help but think about how messed up my family was.

*****

"Renee," Mrs Hayes threw her arms around me, and she began to sob. "Clover isn't picking up her phone, and she hasn't messaged me in the last eighteen hours, oh I'm so scared... I really am."

When she pulled back, I could see her crying, her face all blotchy and wet with tears. Her wavy blond hair was up in a bun, with rare streaks of grey, her mouth drawn in a thin line.

"My mom is here too," Mrs Hayes said as she drew back, pointing to a short old lady standing a few feet away from the doorway. She wore a bluish-grey dress, her grey-white hair clipped short, adorned by a small black hat. She held a cane in one hand, and a shiny crystal in the other, and slowly turning towards us.

Her eyes were milky white, and her smile warm, as she tapped her stick onto the ground, walking towards the sound of our voices.

"She's partially blind, and a bit deaf too," Mrs Hayes whispered. "I had to bring her, I can't leave her alone at home."

"That's okay, Mrs Hayes," I shrugged politely.

"You must be Renee," Said the old lady, smiling up at me. She only came up to my shoulder, and I realised how short she was.
"Call me Phyllis."

She laughed warmly, before it turned into a burp, her breath stinking of garlic.

"Mom!" Mrs Hayes complained, before waving her hand at the stench. "Have you been eating garlic again?"

"It wards off the evil spirits," Phyllis shrugged innocently.

Mrs Hayes threw me an apologetic smile, before gently extricating the crystal off Phyllis's hands. Mom came up behind me and ushered Clover's family inside. When I entered, I saw that dad wasn't at the table.

Mom must've done her thing.

Her thing was secretly giving dad sleeping pills in his coffee and temporarily locking him up in the pantry. She seldom did this, unless dad was in a violent rage, or if it was an emergency.

The last thing Mrs Hayes needed was to hear that her daughter was in danger. I don't approve of mom's methods, but this was the only option we had.

I know, it's pathetic.

I soon told Mrs Hayes about Mike wanting to drop Clover at home, and her mom began to wail loudly. I could see where Clover got her emotions from, her mom was exactly like her, except older. She only calmed a bit when mom handed her some coffee.

Clover's grandma hadn't opened her mouth, she was still watching us in stony silence. I wondered if she could even hear us, or if she was very tired to do anything. 

"My Clover always messages me," Mrs Hayes repeated, her hands shaking so much that she placed her coffee mug away. "But now, she hasn't and-"

"Jen, don't overthink this, okay?" Mom started warmly. "Clover might just be asleep."

"You don't know where Mike is, right?" She asked again, and Mom and I shook our heads.

"His friends don't know either," I added.

I didn't take part in the conversation, trying to think of the various scenarios where Clover might not answer.

Maybe she and Mike had hung out the whole night, and they might be sleeping in his car. Mike was going on and on about stargazing, maybe that's what had happened.

Clover could also be worried about her first appearance on LOLtube. Maybe she had panicked, and Mike decided to take her on a long drive to calm her down. 

That's when Mrs Hayes received a call from the nearby hospital. It was one of the authorities contacting her, telling her that Clover and Mike had met with a car accident and that she was severely injured.

Within the next few minutes, the four of us set off to the hospital, to see the state Clover and Mike were in, hoping that they would be alright.

All while dad was still unconscious and in the pantry, which I had unlocked just before leaving.

*****

Going back to the hospital only reminded me of the last time I was here, rushing through these very corridors on the day of my accident. That time I was out of my body, so it had been weirder, following myself around, and trying to get back inside.

My mom made me stick along with Phyllis as she and Mrs Hayes spoke to the doctor. I hated the fact that they treated me like a kid, even though I was equally, if not more worried about Clover than they were.

Thankfully Noah provided the much-needed distraction.

"How's my Flower?" He asked cheerfully.

"Flower?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "What's up with you and increasingly cringey nicknames?"

I heard him chuckling. "Aww Ren, don't get mad. I've got good news, I'm in the Before Realm now."

"Really?" I sat up. "What's it like?"

"I'm on a rocky planet, made up of mountains and ice. Shay told me that it's Pluto, but I don't believe her." He answered.

"You're on Pluto?" I asked, half in awe, and half in jealousy. "That's the Before Realm?"

"Many places without life are a part of the before Realm." He told me. "Pluto is just one of those."

"That's so cool," I admitted. "And you don't need oxygen, because you are a Spirit!"

"Exactly!" He sounded happy. "Anyway, Shay is taking me to my ultimate hiding place, so I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Noah," I said.

"See you soon, Ren." He answered happily.

I found myself smiling at the wall, at least Noah was alright. Unlike Clover and Mike who were both injured.

"He's a nice boy," Phyllis muttered next to me. "So sweet."

I turned towards her so fast that my neck nearly snapped.

"Who is a nice boy?" I raised an eyebrow.

"No one," She gave me a toothless grin.

"Then why did you say it?" I asked, highly suspicious.

"I don't know, I don't remember," She answered carelessly, her grin widening.

"Okay, and that isn't weird at all, Phyllis," I answered sarcastically.

Phyllis just ignored me, before swallowing a whole clove of garlic. She then pulled out her flask of tea, and smacked her lips, relishing the taste.

I knew that Clover had mentioned her eccentric Grandma before. Was she the real owner of the book, 'My journey through the Spirit Realm'?

Before I could ask her that, I saw mom return with a sobbing Mrs Hayes.

"Renee!" Mrs Hayes wailed, once she saw me. "Everything is terrible!"

Mom stood next to her with a grim expression, but on a closer look, I noticed that her eyes were moist too.

"Mike and Clover are severely injured," Mom said in a low voice. I saw Phyllis perk up, watching mom anxiously.

"And Clover, she's also in a coma."

*****

(A/N :
We finally hit 1k votes and 4.75k reads!!!
Thank you guys so much, couldn't have done this without you all!❤️❤️❤️

On a side note, what do you guys think of Renee's parents?

And what about Clover's grandma, Phyllis?)