BEHIND HER SMILE

"Push Charlotte,push you can do this", the nurse's had tried to encourage her as this was the first time a pregnancy had reached this stage "It's a girl!" the doctor said as he brings the baby close to her to hold,tears rolling down her eyes "Please can you call my husband" she seems displeased as she had wanted a baby boy,but who was she to complain, after all the miscarriages she had finally put to birth to an actual baby! Andrew, Charlotte's husband had come rushing in to see his baby. "Can I hold her dear"you can see the tears build up in his eyes as he stared into the bright green eyes of his daughter "Annalise,we shall call you Anneliese" smiling to himself as he holds the hands of his wife. "She can be discharged after a nights rest and once again,congratulations"the doctor had delightfully said as he administered some injections to relieve the stress. * * "Anneliese oh Anneliese" She had searched everywhere for her but couldn't find her. It has been four years now and Annalise had never behaved well and she barely ever smiles. "I'm here mom" she said as I crawled out of the chair she always loved to hide in. "Anne,I have warned you several times already, stop this your childish behavior you're coming of age already" "But mom why don't I ever get to go outside and play with the other kids?" "You'll get to go outside and play when you start behaving properly,and try to smile a little young lady" "I'm always smiling mom,when I talk to my friends" "What friends Anneliese?" "My friends,they're here,see,we were playing hide and seek before you came looking for me mother" "I don't see anyone here Anne"at this point,fear creeped into her,as she wondered what had become of her daughter,maybe it's because of the fact that she had kept her in the house since her birth and she was even homeschooled. She and her husband had cherished Anne as our only child and wouldn't bare to lose her, maybe we were wrong in our up bringing? Anneliese running around brought Charlotte back to reality "Anne join me in the kitchen,dad will soon be back" "Yayy, I want to make lots of jummy foods for my friends too mother, can I oh can I?" the puzzled look on her mother's face made her understand and she stopped talking and silence filled the room. The noise of the Toyota car her husband had bought recently could be heard over a long mile and Anneliese jumped with joy at the thought of the things her dad would bring for her "Welcome home papa" "Thank you my little princess"so he called her. "Dear please come and take these things to my room, and I hope dinners ready because I'm so famished,had a long day at work". "Papa" she cut in "I and mommy prepared your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs" "Oh wow, princess, you deserve a gift from daddy" Anneliese green eyes sparkled as her dad brought some dollar bills from his suitcase "Here you go, you can add this to your savings" "Thanks Daddy, I love you a hundred." "And I love you two hundred." Charlotte had signaled to her husband to come upstairs to have his dinner. "Come now, say your prayers before you go to bed,Daddy had a long day let him rest." Okay mummy,Goodnight dad." as she reached to give daddy a kiss on his cheek. "Hunny we need to talk"there was tension in her voice. "Dear is anything wrong?" "Something is wrong, something definitely is wrong with Anne." "What are you trying to say, something wrong with our daughter?" "I don't mean it that way,I mean she has been behaving strangely these days,like she's possessed or something" "How dare you say that about my daughter" "She's my daughter too,and I've seen the way she behaves,I stay with her in this house you know" "Okay, now tell me ,how does she behave?" "Well the other day,I had gone to her room to collect the laundry.." "And?"He said cutting her off "Will you let me finish?" "Okay okay go on..." "I went into Anne's room and I saw her talking to herself." "And that's the strange behavior?" "You don't find that strange?" "For Christs sake Charlotte"you could sense the seriousness in his tone as he called his wife by her first name. "She's just a kid,a normal one and perhaps she's lonely in this house, I told you we have to let this girl go to school." "She will go to school,when she goes to stay with my mother." "And what are you implying, I send my daughter to my mother-in-law when I'm still alive..?" "I'm not saying we should abandon her, I mean if she has to go to school,it should be in a rural area with less people." "You're saying she can't go to school here because of such silly reasons?" "I thought alot before telling you this hunny please!" "I've heard enough! we will not have this discussion again" He storms out of the room in anger,his wife's words had him thinking as he went to the guest room in the house "She may be right though, maybe living with my mother-in-law is the best thing we can do for Anneliese." "Papa Papa" Anne had kept knocking on he door and only now did he notice "come in princess" "Papa why are you not with mother?" "I went to your room but mother was asleep already" "Papa needed some alone time." "And mother?" "Mummy needed some alone time too." "Okay papa can I sleep here with you?" "Why princess is something wrong?" "I had a bad dream" "And do you mind telling me princess?" "They came for me papa" "Who came?" "Them" "Them?" he repeated, puzzled "Yes papa,I don't wanna talk about it or everyone will be in danger" she said in a hushed tone like she was being watched "Okay okay there's no need to worry,it's just a silly dream,you saw too many cartoons today." "Okay papa" "Let's go to sleep now"as she cuddled up to him "Goodnight papa." "Goodnight princess." * * * The next morning came ever so quickly and when Andrew had reached out to the other side of the bed he realized that Anneliese was gone. There was a knock on the door "Hunny are you there?" "Yes a minute"as he stood up to get the door for her "I just came to tell you that I'll be leaving the house to get some groceries." "And breakfast?" "Oh I and Anne had breakfast already" "And you didn't think to call me?" " Well you'd have to get something for yourself." "And what are you trying to say?" "All I'm saying is that Charlotte here can't prepare food for you" obviously angry at the fact he had addressed her by her first name the other night "Are you still pissed about last night?" "Of course not,I'm just saying you'd have to get your own breakfast" she stoops out banging the door at his face. "Women and drama" he thought "Oh well I have to get to work now,but wait, Anneliese?" He had gone downstairs to check on Anne "What!!!" he looked everywhere in the house and when he had checked everywhere he decided to check her wardrobe and realized all her cloths were gone. Just then there was a loud bang "Hunny I'm home please come help me with the groceries I think I bought too much" he rushed downstairs "Where's Anneliese?" "What do you mean where's Anneliese? isn't she in her room" "Don't start with me now" "What are you trying to say make me understand please" "I'm saying Anneliese is gone damnit" she had never seen her husband this angry in their 10years of marriage "WHATT!!" "Don't play dumb now,I know you sent her away" "You know I would never send our daughter away without your consent" "How do you explain this then?" "She'll be back,this isn't the first time she has disappeared you know that?" "This isn't the first time but her cloths are gone!" this wasn't the first time Anneliese had gone missing when she was three,she had suddenly disappeared but she had returned the next day, Charlotte and Andrew had questions but all Anneliese did was smile but because they were just glad their only daughter had returned they didn't bother. "What,Why are you just telling me this now?" They are Interrupted by a knock on the door "This isn't the right time arrgh!!' she walked towards the door to see who it is "Mrs Smith"she had said rather cheerfully for someone who had been raising her voice. Mrs Smith was known to never mind her business and whatever becomes known to her becomes known to the whole neighborhood "Is everything okay,Mrs Edward?" "I heard loud noises coming from here" "Everything is okay,goodbye now," as she slammed the door rather harshly "Who was it?" "Just Mrs Smith,I sent her away already" "Now back to it since you don't believe me come see for yourself" They both go upstairs to Anne's room "Papa!" "Mother!" you can see the shock on Andrew's face as he saw Anneliese on the room floor playing with her toys "What is happening here?" Charlotte gave her husband a look that made him look stupid "Anne come here"she said pulling her close "Where have you been?" "What do you been mother?,I've been here all day playing with my friends" "What friends Anne?" "They're here,can't you see them!" she said smiling Charlotte gave her husband a sad look signalling to him that they had alot to talk about "Papa remember the dream I told you about?" "I told you it was just a silly dream" "But papa they came" "You mean them?" "Yes them,but my friends helped me" Charlotte suddenly turned pale and this was a sign that. Andrew had to take her out of the room before she began to cry "Okay Anne I'm glad you're safe,your mom and I have to talk okay" "We'll be back soon okay" "Okay papa"he took her by her hand and left the room leaving the door slightly open "You see what I mean "she could not control the tears anymore "Anneliese needs help" "I understand but isn't it a little too cruel" "Anne will understand when she has come of age" "She's your daughter,your only child,will you be able to live with the fact that you abandoned your child?" "Don't say it like that hunny, this is a difficult decision for me too" "I can try to understand you,I'm trying but Anneliese is just 4,what if she doesn't understand,what if she hates you? Hates us? Will you be able to bare it?" "I will be able to bare anything as long as Anneliese becomes better" "What makes you think she will be better?" "I want to enroll her in school" "Why not do that here?" "Do you think she'll be able to fit in with the city kids?" "Now that you say that.." "Going to stay with my mother in a remote town will give her the opportunity to make friends with simple and rural people" "Okay let's settle down and think about this one more time How about we see a phycologist?" "What do you mean a phycologist?" "You said she has problems so a phycologist will help right" "And what will the media say? you know you're a public figure all eyes are on you" "It'll all be done in secret" "Come on now you know that's not possible and there's no time to arrange things" "She'll leave for her grandmother's on one condition" "And what is that?" "We visit every weekday and we'll bring her to come live with us when she's 18" "Fine by me" "Now go attend to Anne,wash her up and get her something to eat." "You're not going to work today?" "Not in this state, I have too much on my mind already." Charlotte goes back to attend to Anne while he goes up to the room to rest. "What a world we live in" "We asked for a daughter and you gave us Anneliese" "Where did we go wrong?" these thoughts filled his head as he fell into a deep sleep.