Gen 4 Chapter 8: Run

*My apologies my game keeps crashing so this will seem rather short*

“Take that!” Roxanne laughed

“I can’t believe it, we go to school in 3 hours!” Betty squealed.The triplets had been up for the past hour. They were overly excited to begin school, their very first day of it, at the age of 15. Life with Maris had been great so far, all 5 days of it. They laughed about the things they could do, the places they could go and who they could be. The girls loved each other but you can only go so far in life as a single being with your sisters. Jitters, Jeepers and Creeps was a jail for the girls. They were never acknowledged separately, ever. Maris singled them out, got to know each of them and divided them. She never lumped them together when she spoke. She never gave them one thing to make all three of them happy. Maris gave something that made Roxanne happy, something that made Betty happy and something that made Midge smile. The media only ever saw the three as one being, never speaking to them individually but as a whole. There was no Roxanne, Betty or Midge in the papers or on TV, there were just three girls that made up one singing group. They passed the time until the school bus came around. Maris had come down to see the girls off.“Don’t forget, manners!” I shouted.

“Yep!” The girls shrieked back.

I felt a warmth wash over my heart as I watched my daughters get on that school bus for the first time in their lives. I knew I’d have to get tutors, only the best, to make up for the past 10 years of learning lost. The poor girls would have to devote nearly every moment of their free time to play catch up. It broke my heart again. Each one of them had such high hopes for their lives, hopes that were nearly snatched away from them by a cruel manager. They came to me, it was my duty to protect their hopes and ensure them that they were worth every breath they took. The bus pulled away, the girls smashed their faces to the glass and waved frantically at me. I’m certain they split their lips with the large smiles that they had. I waved back, sighing.

“There you go girls. You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine.” I lowered my arm and came back into the house. would I be fine though? I couldn’t help but think that maybe I should’ve packed them a lunch. When I was 15, no one’s mommy packed them a lunch but still it was the girls’ first day. Would that have put them at ease? They seemed excited, but would they get scared? Would they know where to go? Would the teacher’s give them a hard time? Would fans mob them there? So many worries began to wash over me that I didn’t notice the phone ringing. It was a number I didn’t recognize but the girls could be calling, even if they’d only left 2 minutes ago. I dove for the phone and snatched it off of the hook.

“Hello!” I yelled. I cringed, I didn’t mean to make the monster on the other line go deaf.

“Return them.”

“Excuse me?” The voice was dark, it startled me a bit.

“The girls, my daughters, give them back to me!” My ears rang with the yelling but I became cold.“Your daughters?” I breathed. Oh llama. It was the girls’ father. Biological, foster, adopted, or step, it didn’t matter I just knew that my blood went from freezing to dry.

“Yes! My daughters! My children, Roxanne, Betty and Midge! You’ve stolen them!” He roared. I quickly lowered the phone and covered it hard with my hand.

“Joline get on the other line of a phone, quick! I mean right now!” I hollered with all of my might. I uncovered the phone and heard a click, Joline was on. I cleared my throat and moved away from the windows.

“I didn’t steal MY daughters.” I snapped. There was an instant reply.

“Your daughters? The ones that you had a doctor sedate you for, remove from your body and keep secret from you!?”

“How do you know that? I’ll get everyone that I can for a HIPAA violation!” I shrieked. He knew, this man was fully aware that I knew nothing about my pregnancy. That I wanted no information on the infant, that I was to be put under and have the babies removed. That I never knew I had a daughter, let alone three of them.

“You made no attempt to find them after they were taken from you.” He murmured. “But I did. I found my daughters. I found their talents! I made them the great girls that they are! You just can’t become mom of the year and take them from me!” He bellowed.

“You can try and make me feel like the bad guy here but you made them miserable! I’ll make up for all the wrong I have ever done those girls! I’ll give them the life that they deserve, not the one you tried to steal from them!” I countered. So he found his daughters? Then who on earth is this man, he must be their biological father but I don’t know him.

“You can’t keep them from me.” He barked.

“You can try to come here, try to take them, but you had better make sure I’m stone cold dead before you do.” and I hung up.Joline came scrambling down the stairs and I opened my arms to her. I was shaken and scared, for myself and for the girls.

“Madam, you’re fine. It’s alright madam.” she cooed.

“Joline the girls! We never even asked where they came from! They ran away, we kidnapped them! This is bad, they’re not legally mine they’ll come, they’ll come and take them!” I cried.

Joline patted my back and sighed. “You cannot allow such a thing to be done madam. These girls came to you, they came to you for a reason. For you to be their mom.”

“But how. How can I stop this?” I whimpered. “I promised I’d never let them go but I can’t stop them from being taken!”

“You’ll figure it out madam! These girls have given you their trust, they’ve given you charge of their futures! You must defend it, no matter what you must do.”

I let go of Joline and wiped my face. She smiled at me that age old smile. I felt better and felt pity for those that had to watch Joline die so young many centuries ago.“I haven’t many friends Joline, you’re one of the very few I’ve got.”

“Madam.” Joline chuckled. “I am but a maid.”

She nodded her head and walked away from me, probably to do her work. My head was left spinning, the same question of what to do screaming for an answer. I had to protect my daughters. I had to! Then it hit my, I’m rich and come from royalty. My dad was the Emperor of Evil after all. I snatched the phone up yet again.“My father was Flake Royal Fangs. I’m his daughter that needs a favor.”

When the girls got home Betty and Roxanne had scampered into the living room.Midge came trotting in later, she had her head in a book.  I looked at the cover, Phonics and Learning to Read. Tons of those kinds of learning books were stuck under arms and pencils were shoved into her pockets. She had such a look of amazement on her face. She closed her book and beamed at me, there was a happy glow to her. That glow dimmed when she saw my face.

“Midge, hunny. Sorry to say but since I couldn’t catch you sisters I’ll have to speak with you.”

She stood there, shifting her books and placing them down on the table by the door. She shuffled over, her face cast downwards to the chair near me.“Midge,” I began “did you and your sisters run away from your father?”

She continued looking downwards and said nothing as she sat down slowly.

“Midge, did you guys run away?” I asked again.

“Yes.” she mumbled.

“Why did you do that Midge? Why did you guys run away? What did he do?” I questioned.

Midge threw her head to the right and stared far away from me. “He trapped us.” She said.

“Midge, you need to tell me. You can’t be speaking in these short sentences anymore. We’re all in trouble right now, you’ve got to talk to me.” I pleaded. “How did he trap you?”

“He’s our manager. He never let us do anything but dance and sing.”

“Did you ever talk to him about how you feel?” I questioned.

“No.” She still stared off.

“Midge.” I called. No reply. “Midge!” I tried again. I slammed my hands down and got up from the table. I walked around it and sat in the line of her stare.“When I am speaking you look at me! we’re in a very bad situation because all he did was make you three unhappy. But not to worry, I’ve got it handled.”

“How?” she now turned her stare towards me.

“I’ve got the money and the connections. I’m of the Royal family, and my father was the Emperor of Evil. The guys there are doing what they can with my money to switch your birth records and make me your legal guardian. Basically I’m stealing you girls.”

“Why’d you ever keep us a secret?” she questioned me now.

“I was scared.” Midge didn’t like that, she shot her head further to the right.“He called me. He tried to get me to get us to come back.” She said, to no one really, she just said it.

“I’m not one to go back on my words Midge. I said I’d never let you guys go again. I meant it.” I drummed my fingers on the table.

“Good.” She said.

“Now, you girls may not like this too much but once I’m on your records, we’ve got to run.”

“Run?” She gave me a puzzled look.

“Yes.”“To a new home, a new island!” I smiled. Her eyes were wide but she seemed happy.

I continued, “The organization has told me that we’re going to be relocated tonight. They gave me a time range and told us to bring only what we want. The things we need are to stay behind. I’ll be packing up family pictures and urns while you girls give your last performance as Jitters, Jeepers and Creeps. The island is small but good and we’ll have the biggest house. It has the same purpose as this island, to be a sanctuary for the reject monsters. It’s meant for the new generations so we’re really meant to stay here, that’s why no one else really knows about it.”

Midge shook her head and looked at me yet again.“Last performance?” she choked it out, like that whole idea was something strange. I remembered that she had said to me that they were meant to sing until they die really. So no wonder she was confused.

“Yes. I’ve booked you girls a gig, I got your outfits. You just have to go there, singe some songs and say your farewells to the fans. Then I’ll meet you three, and we’ll all leave. To the new island.”

“Do the others know?” She smiled

“You go tell your sisters you got new starts to be going to. Hurry, it’s in 5 hours!” I giggled.

Midge dashed from the table and out of sight.

Later that night Joline turned on all of the TV’s in the house as we began our rush of packing up pictures. I heard Roxanne’s voice and smiled.“Ladies and Gentlemen! I’m happy to inform you that tonight will be the last night you’ll see Jitters, Jeepers and Creeps on stage. My sisters and I have decided that we’d be much happier to be known as our personal selves, doing what we love. I am Roxanne. I am here tonight with my sisters, Midge and Betty, to bid you all a warm farewell and to thank you guys for loving us!”