Chapter 17: Growing Frustrations...

Despite a growing sense of urgency and frustration, Tanya threw the girls a birthday party in the backyard. Other than those living in the household, Tanya invited the boys' fathers and a mixologist to make drinks. She didn't want too many people around in case there was a real reason for her anxiety. Her gut kept telling her it was a bad idea, but she just couldn't deny the triplets a party before they started school. They were already too excited about it.

The party was going very well and Tanya began to relax a bit. The girls were having a blast and enjoying all the attention they were being showered with. They especially enjoyed getting their own birthday cakes. Ansley was ecstatic when she got to blow out the candles, she was convinced it was magic. She even made Tanya relight them so she could blow them out a second time, clapping her hands in delight at the tufts of smoke rising up as the flames jumped and danced before disappearing.

After the candles had been blown out for the final time, all three girls raced up to their room to put on the princess costumes they had been given as a gift. Each girl got a different color so they would know which was theirs. Tanya loved watching them walk with their shoulders back, gliding across the floor as if they owned the place. She was glad they were enjoying their birthday.

After the party, Tanya cleaned up the paper plates and cups and took them out to the trashcan in the driveway. When she got to the end of the drive, she felt that prickly sensation again. This time it was magnified tenfold. She knew she was being watched, but had no clue by whom or why. It was a different feeling than before, so she was almost certain it had nothing to do with the guy from the bar. The painting had to hold the answers, if only she could just figure it out...

The day after the triplets' birthday, they suddenly began demanding this new drink called Plasma Juice. Tanya just figured they had seen commercials for it or something so she gave in and bought a case of it for them to try. It quickly became the only thing they would drink. Tanya checked out the ingredients but couldn't find much on what it was other than it was full of vitamins so she let the girls keep drinking it.

The triplets spent the rest of the summer playing on the slip and slide that Anderson had gotten them for their birthday. It was the only time the girls really spent together. If they weren't playing on it, then they were off doing their own separate things. Briannah and Callie were constantly fighting with each other, and poor Ansley would get stuck in the middle trying to get them to get along.

 Callie had become quite the handful for her mother. Tanya didn't know what to do anymore, she was at her wit's end.  Callie began sabotaging Tanya with pranks. She even went so far as to delete a novel from the computer that Tanya was just a few chapters from finishing. It wasn't by mistake either, she knew exactly what she was doing and reveled in her mother's horror when she realized the document was gone.

Callie would also set her mother's sink to spray water everywhere when it was turned on, or purposefully clog the toilet so it would overflow the next time her mom used it. It was as if she were out to get her mom. She was cruel to others as well, but not to the same extent. The saddest part of all is Callie had some powers of mind control over her mother, so Tanya had no clue who was behind the pranks.  She just assumed it had to do with that growing feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

The last straw was when Tanya was feverishly typing away, trying to rewrite the book that mysteriously disappeared. Tanya had been working on it for hours, well into the middle of the night, hoping to meet her deadline the next day. She couldn't believe she had been so stupid as to not make a back up copy, she knew better. Just as she hit the save button, a piercing scream came through the speakers and an evil creature appeared on the screen.

 A few days after the creepy computer incident, Tanya walked into her bedroom to discover the man from the bar standing there. What in the hell was he doing here? And how did he get in? Tanya had had enough, she was ready for some answers. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" she demanded. The glowy-eyed stranger promised her that he could explain everything, but first there were some things he had to take care of.

He took her face into his hands, stared deep into her eyes as if he were searching her soul. She felt a tingling sensation start where his skin touched hers and then traveled along her body.  His gaze was captivating, and strangely, it was the first time she felt peaceful since the painting showed up. It was as though a wave of calmness washed over her and put her to ease. The man whispered something she could not understand and then was gone.


** I uploaded the home as well as the glowy-eyed stranger (the triplet's father) to my Studio page on the exchange:  Demenshia's Studio **