07-06-2015, 12:20 PM
“YOU TOOK MY PONY!” Nerissa screams, “AND YOU MADE IT UGLY!”
The kick doesn’t come; Nerissa puts her foot down and storms back to toward the house to scream at Lena. “I’m going to tell my dad and you’ll be in so much trouble!” Her anger seems to switch instantly to glee, and Ephrelle feels a growing horror in the pit of her stomach as Lena looks back at Ephrelle with fear in her eyes. Nerissa grabs Lena’s hand roughly and begins to drag her back up the hill to the big house.
As soon as they are out of sight, Ephrelle feels the life come back to her own limbs. “Wake up!” she shouts, moving as quickly as she can between the three remaining plastic dinosaurs on the lip of the sandbox, brushing her muzzle against whatever part of them she can reach. They wake quickly and look at her with frightened eyes. They know who Nerissa is, even if they had been shoved into a closet for most of her time with them. “Go!” Ephrelle yells again, frustrated with the way they do nothing more than blink. “Run! Get out of here before she comes back.” They remain still, and not until Ephrelle reaches out her newly gold nose and bites the Diplodicus firmly on the shoulder do they seem to get the message.
The Diplodicus, Triceratops, and some long-necked thing she has no name for all leap off the sandbox and into the grass beside it. “Follow the Hadrosaur!” She shouts down to them, gesturing to where the dinosaur that Nerissa had kicked is bolting towards the woods behind the yard. “You should be safe in the woods!’”
“Come with us!” shouts the Diplodicus, but Ephrelle shakes her head and leaps down into the sandbox. Nerissa had kicked sand over the majority of the Tyranosaur dig, but Ephrelle remembers where it is. She has to make sure that he gets out too. She cannot bear to leave anyone with Nerissa. Digging with her toed feet is much faster than it would have been with her hooves. As soon as she touches the dinosaurs side it comes to life, and her task is made much easier as the red lizard struggles to free itself. “Hurry,” it hisses through large plastic teeth, “She cut my leg off last time.” Ephrelle sees the damage for herself as the T-Rex escapes from the sand and runs, limping, for the edge of the sandbox. It struggles to jump over the lip, but with its missing leg cannot make the leap.
“Go on without me,” he says, but Ephrelle can’t. She knows she could make the jump, but instead she rushes to the T-Rex. “Step on me. I’ll boost you up.” The red Tyrannosaurus does as she says, and after what feels like an eon, finally scrambles over the lip of the sandbox and disappears into the grass on the other side. Ephrelle backs up and runs forward, preparing to leap over the edge. She tenses her muscles to jump and freezes.
Nerissa has returned.
She’s not alone this time; she is forcefully pulling along a man by the hand. He shares her blue eyes and blond hair, and there is enough resemblance in their faces for Ephrelle to recognize him as Nerissa’s father. “See Daddy, right here. I told you. Lena stole all my dinosaurs and was burying them in the sand.” Nerissa marches over to the sandbox with her father in tow, pointing at Ephrelle. “Where are the dinosaurs, Sweetie?” asks her father, looking around the sandbox for any evidence of the toys that Lena might have stolen and seeing nothing. Silently, Ephrelle thanks whatever gods exist in the human world that the dinosaurs had been able to escape.
“They were right here!” She shouts, kicking through the sand in an attempt to unearth the missing toys, “I swear Daddy. They were. She must have hidden them!” Nerissa’s father pats his daughter gently on the shoulder, but his worried face has shifted to irritation that even Ephrelle can read. “Sweetheart, remember what Mommy and I said about lying? It’s not something that good girls do.” Nerissa whines something petulantly that Ephrelle can’t hear, but her father replies with: “No, honey. I won’t ground Lena for stealing your toys. They aren’t even here. They’re in the garbage, where the housekeep put them months ago.”
Lena marches over to where Ephrelle is frozen at the edge of the sandbox and picks her up. “This one is mine! See! I got her for my birthday! And Lena stole her and cut off her pretty tail and put ugly dinosaur legs on her!” She hands Ephrelle to her father, who turns the little Equisaur over in his large hands. “Mommy and I didn’t get you this for your birthday, Sweetums. Are you sure this is yours?” Nerissa nods, grabs Ephrelle back from her father and holds her only by her repaired tail. “Yes! I am sure. I’m not lying.”
Nodding, her father turns to Lena and asks if the toy horse was Nerissa. Lena nods, and Ephrelle can see the tears dripping down her face. “You shouldn’t take things that aren’t yours, Lena. I’ll have to speak to your mother about this. ” Nerissa laughs gleefully, and as her father and Lean go off to find Lena’s mother, Nerissa runs back up the hill to her own home.
“Mrs. Schewppe might have made you pretty again, but I’ll make you so ugly that even stupid Lena won’t want you.” She says, holding up Ephrelle and grinning maniacally. “Just you wait. I got a doctor’s kit for my birthday too and now I can use it.” Ephrelle swings helplessly by her tail as Lean climbs the stairs to her bedroom. Ephrelle is laid on a large white towel, and Lean runs to the toybox and pulls out a blue case with a large red cross on it. She takes each tool from the kit carefully. Some of the things she pulls out are not toys, even Ephrelle knows that. There are two knives, one a steak knife with serrated edges and the other a paring knife. There’s also a real hammer, a large screw driver, and several permanent markers.
Ephrelle is turned this way and that as Nerissa’s hmms above her, and then finally the operation begins.
First to go are her new legs and tail, pulled off by Nerissa without much effort. They are followed by her new golden stegosaurus plates, and then by her repaired mane. Pulling the cap off a red marker, Nerissa dots all over Ephrelle’s body. “Gunshots,” she says gleefully, “Someone shot you up and now I have to put you out of your misery.” Once Ephrelle is entirely covered with red dots, Nerissa draws black swirls across her body for no reason that she feels necessary to voice aloud. Nerissa then grabs the screwdriver and the hammer, and takes turns slamming them down into Ephrelle. The filly thinks that perhaps she’s done, but Nerissa only flips her body over and begins to assault on the fresh side.
“We have to clean the wounds now, but I don’t have any soap. Let’s go downstairs.” Holding Ephrelle by her hairless head, Nerissa runs down the stairs and into the kitchen. The industrial dishwasher has just started, and Nerissa pulls it open just wide enough to throw Ephrelle in, and Ephrelle can barely read the sign saying ‘Extreme heat, no plastics’ as she sails by in Nerissa’s hand. The door shuts and Ephrelle is alone in the darkness.
The water starts up again quickly, boiling hot on her soft plastic body. Soon her neck has softened enough to melt around the handle of the measuring cup she’s propped up against, and for the rest of the wash cycle she stares down into the soapy darkness. What feels like hours later, Nerissa pulls her softly purple (and black and red) body from the dishwasher before any adults can find her.
“Your neck has been damaged,” Nerissa whispers as they climb the stairs again. “I need to do surgery to be sure that your esophagus is intact.” The paring knife slices into Ephrelle’s still-warm plastic flesh, severing her head entirely from her body. “Whoopsie daisy.” Nerissa giggles.
Next to go is her “Irreparable” broken hind legs. Ephrelle is a warped head, a body, and two purple legs. “Hmmm. What next? Oh I know!” Ephrelle is resigned, and the two of them bolt down the stairs and end up in the kitchen once more. This time Nerissa is heading towards the microwave, where she delicately places Ephrelle on the glass plate and covers her four pieces with a paper towel. The door closes and the light of the microwaves turns on, and Ephrelle can hear the muted sounds of buttons being pressed on the microwave.
The heat and light start up, and the last thing that Ephrelle sees is the backlight red floral designs on the paper towel. She imagines that it is her Amazon tattoo saying goodbye to her for the last time, and thinks of the dinosaurs that are beginning a new life in the woods. At least they made it, she thinks as her vision fades to black and she becomes four pools of purple melted plastic on the glass of the microwave. At least she was able to do that.
She cannot feel Lena’s mother scrape her off the glass plate and into a Ziploc bag. She doesn’t feel Lena piling dirt atop the bag in the shallow grave that she has dug for Ephrelle beside the sandbox. She doesn’t see the red flower lovingly cut out of a paper towel that Lena glues to a popsicle stick and places in the ground atop Ephrelle’s grave. She’d be glad if she did, knowing that even though she is gone, that at least she is remembered.
The kick doesn’t come; Nerissa puts her foot down and storms back to toward the house to scream at Lena. “I’m going to tell my dad and you’ll be in so much trouble!” Her anger seems to switch instantly to glee, and Ephrelle feels a growing horror in the pit of her stomach as Lena looks back at Ephrelle with fear in her eyes. Nerissa grabs Lena’s hand roughly and begins to drag her back up the hill to the big house.
As soon as they are out of sight, Ephrelle feels the life come back to her own limbs. “Wake up!” she shouts, moving as quickly as she can between the three remaining plastic dinosaurs on the lip of the sandbox, brushing her muzzle against whatever part of them she can reach. They wake quickly and look at her with frightened eyes. They know who Nerissa is, even if they had been shoved into a closet for most of her time with them. “Go!” Ephrelle yells again, frustrated with the way they do nothing more than blink. “Run! Get out of here before she comes back.” They remain still, and not until Ephrelle reaches out her newly gold nose and bites the Diplodicus firmly on the shoulder do they seem to get the message.
The Diplodicus, Triceratops, and some long-necked thing she has no name for all leap off the sandbox and into the grass beside it. “Follow the Hadrosaur!” She shouts down to them, gesturing to where the dinosaur that Nerissa had kicked is bolting towards the woods behind the yard. “You should be safe in the woods!’”
“Come with us!” shouts the Diplodicus, but Ephrelle shakes her head and leaps down into the sandbox. Nerissa had kicked sand over the majority of the Tyranosaur dig, but Ephrelle remembers where it is. She has to make sure that he gets out too. She cannot bear to leave anyone with Nerissa. Digging with her toed feet is much faster than it would have been with her hooves. As soon as she touches the dinosaurs side it comes to life, and her task is made much easier as the red lizard struggles to free itself. “Hurry,” it hisses through large plastic teeth, “She cut my leg off last time.” Ephrelle sees the damage for herself as the T-Rex escapes from the sand and runs, limping, for the edge of the sandbox. It struggles to jump over the lip, but with its missing leg cannot make the leap.
“Go on without me,” he says, but Ephrelle can’t. She knows she could make the jump, but instead she rushes to the T-Rex. “Step on me. I’ll boost you up.” The red Tyrannosaurus does as she says, and after what feels like an eon, finally scrambles over the lip of the sandbox and disappears into the grass on the other side. Ephrelle backs up and runs forward, preparing to leap over the edge. She tenses her muscles to jump and freezes.
Nerissa has returned.
She’s not alone this time; she is forcefully pulling along a man by the hand. He shares her blue eyes and blond hair, and there is enough resemblance in their faces for Ephrelle to recognize him as Nerissa’s father. “See Daddy, right here. I told you. Lena stole all my dinosaurs and was burying them in the sand.” Nerissa marches over to the sandbox with her father in tow, pointing at Ephrelle. “Where are the dinosaurs, Sweetie?” asks her father, looking around the sandbox for any evidence of the toys that Lena might have stolen and seeing nothing. Silently, Ephrelle thanks whatever gods exist in the human world that the dinosaurs had been able to escape.
“They were right here!” She shouts, kicking through the sand in an attempt to unearth the missing toys, “I swear Daddy. They were. She must have hidden them!” Nerissa’s father pats his daughter gently on the shoulder, but his worried face has shifted to irritation that even Ephrelle can read. “Sweetheart, remember what Mommy and I said about lying? It’s not something that good girls do.” Nerissa whines something petulantly that Ephrelle can’t hear, but her father replies with: “No, honey. I won’t ground Lena for stealing your toys. They aren’t even here. They’re in the garbage, where the housekeep put them months ago.”
Lena marches over to where Ephrelle is frozen at the edge of the sandbox and picks her up. “This one is mine! See! I got her for my birthday! And Lena stole her and cut off her pretty tail and put ugly dinosaur legs on her!” She hands Ephrelle to her father, who turns the little Equisaur over in his large hands. “Mommy and I didn’t get you this for your birthday, Sweetums. Are you sure this is yours?” Nerissa nods, grabs Ephrelle back from her father and holds her only by her repaired tail. “Yes! I am sure. I’m not lying.”
Nodding, her father turns to Lena and asks if the toy horse was Nerissa. Lena nods, and Ephrelle can see the tears dripping down her face. “You shouldn’t take things that aren’t yours, Lena. I’ll have to speak to your mother about this. ” Nerissa laughs gleefully, and as her father and Lean go off to find Lena’s mother, Nerissa runs back up the hill to her own home.
“Mrs. Schewppe might have made you pretty again, but I’ll make you so ugly that even stupid Lena won’t want you.” She says, holding up Ephrelle and grinning maniacally. “Just you wait. I got a doctor’s kit for my birthday too and now I can use it.” Ephrelle swings helplessly by her tail as Lean climbs the stairs to her bedroom. Ephrelle is laid on a large white towel, and Lean runs to the toybox and pulls out a blue case with a large red cross on it. She takes each tool from the kit carefully. Some of the things she pulls out are not toys, even Ephrelle knows that. There are two knives, one a steak knife with serrated edges and the other a paring knife. There’s also a real hammer, a large screw driver, and several permanent markers.
Ephrelle is turned this way and that as Nerissa’s hmms above her, and then finally the operation begins.
First to go are her new legs and tail, pulled off by Nerissa without much effort. They are followed by her new golden stegosaurus plates, and then by her repaired mane. Pulling the cap off a red marker, Nerissa dots all over Ephrelle’s body. “Gunshots,” she says gleefully, “Someone shot you up and now I have to put you out of your misery.” Once Ephrelle is entirely covered with red dots, Nerissa draws black swirls across her body for no reason that she feels necessary to voice aloud. Nerissa then grabs the screwdriver and the hammer, and takes turns slamming them down into Ephrelle. The filly thinks that perhaps she’s done, but Nerissa only flips her body over and begins to assault on the fresh side.
“We have to clean the wounds now, but I don’t have any soap. Let’s go downstairs.” Holding Ephrelle by her hairless head, Nerissa runs down the stairs and into the kitchen. The industrial dishwasher has just started, and Nerissa pulls it open just wide enough to throw Ephrelle in, and Ephrelle can barely read the sign saying ‘Extreme heat, no plastics’ as she sails by in Nerissa’s hand. The door shuts and Ephrelle is alone in the darkness.
The water starts up again quickly, boiling hot on her soft plastic body. Soon her neck has softened enough to melt around the handle of the measuring cup she’s propped up against, and for the rest of the wash cycle she stares down into the soapy darkness. What feels like hours later, Nerissa pulls her softly purple (and black and red) body from the dishwasher before any adults can find her.
“Your neck has been damaged,” Nerissa whispers as they climb the stairs again. “I need to do surgery to be sure that your esophagus is intact.” The paring knife slices into Ephrelle’s still-warm plastic flesh, severing her head entirely from her body. “Whoopsie daisy.” Nerissa giggles.
Next to go is her “Irreparable” broken hind legs. Ephrelle is a warped head, a body, and two purple legs. “Hmmm. What next? Oh I know!” Ephrelle is resigned, and the two of them bolt down the stairs and end up in the kitchen once more. This time Nerissa is heading towards the microwave, where she delicately places Ephrelle on the glass plate and covers her four pieces with a paper towel. The door closes and the light of the microwaves turns on, and Ephrelle can hear the muted sounds of buttons being pressed on the microwave.
The heat and light start up, and the last thing that Ephrelle sees is the backlight red floral designs on the paper towel. She imagines that it is her Amazon tattoo saying goodbye to her for the last time, and thinks of the dinosaurs that are beginning a new life in the woods. At least they made it, she thinks as her vision fades to black and she becomes four pools of purple melted plastic on the glass of the microwave. At least she was able to do that.
She cannot feel Lena’s mother scrape her off the glass plate and into a Ziploc bag. She doesn’t feel Lena piling dirt atop the bag in the shallow grave that she has dug for Ephrelle beside the sandbox. She doesn’t see the red flower lovingly cut out of a paper towel that Lena glues to a popsicle stick and places in the ground atop Ephrelle’s grave. She’d be glad if she did, knowing that even though she is gone, that at least she is remembered.