Chapter 39
Beth and Coralina were snarfing down fruit roll ups. Coralina was in the middle of telling yet another joke. Beth looked somber, staring at her sister. “Do you understand what is going on?” Said Beth.
“Of course!” Said Coralina, with a big grin. “The dollhouse has a curse. And me, and mom and dad all have it!” She smiled at Beth.
Beth did not smile back. Coralina stuck a piece of the fruit roll up to her face and grinned. “Look I’ve got a tasty beard…”
“Stop trying to be funny. Why are you so happy?” Said Beth, with a very somber serious stare at her sister.
“I feel like, you missed the memo.” Coralina said, “first the nightmares. Then you break a bone, then blood pours out your nose. I already did those. Next is super anger – do you remember when I jumped out of the car?”
Beth stared at her sister and nodded.
“That was anger. It felt really big, like a water balloon was inside me and it was exploding over and over again. Or maybe… Maybe like a volcano? I don’t know. More like a water balloon I think because I like to think of the tiny bits of rubber just popping apart in a violent attack.” She smiled at her sister and pulled out the box of crayons. “Want to color?”
“No.” Said Beth. She swallowed. “How do you know this?”
“I am, I read some of the stuff that mom had. And I was listening to mom and dad talking about it in the night. And…” Coralina paused, clearly thinking hard. “Well let’s just say I kinda just feel it in the air to. Like right now I’m very happy. And next… I think I’ll get scared like dad. And then I’ll kill everyone.” Coralina grinned and flipped to a page in the coloring book with a little tic-tac-toe board.
“Kill everyone?” Asked Beth. Her face grew pale with worry. The skin was muted and shiny with sweat. “Does that mean dad is about to kill everyone?”
“I don’t know. Probably.” Said Coralina. “I’ll go first okay?” And she drew an X in the upper right corner.
Beth stared at the tic-tac-toe game, then back up at her smiling sister, and back down at the game. “Is there any way to stop it? Can we stop dad?”
“I think mom is going to try to kill the witch, and I don’t think it’s gonna work. But she really wants to try so I think that’s what mom and dad are doing right now. Did you hear her trying to get us a sitter? And now she’s just gonna leave us here with snacks and crayons.” Coralina put a crayon in her sister’s hand and tried to get her to draw circles somewhere on the board.
With a bit of numb denial Beth put a circle in the middle square.
“You are gonna lose now.” Said Cora line, as she puts an X in the lower left corner.
Beth swallowed. “I think we should go help them.”
“Okay, but dad might kill us. I’m not just saying that.” Said Coralina with a big bright smile to Beth.
Beth stood up and open the side door. Coralina and her stepped into the woods.
