The Misunderstood

Something in a Memory

Angie's POV

Angie had gotten busy making supper as soon as she got home. She made breakfast for supper. Her four children and husband didn't complain. They loved breakfast for supper. She had made scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes for them. Afterwards Paige had helped clean the kitchen. So Angie was able to get the youngest, Abigail who was 4 years old, bathed and dressed for bed while Thomas, age 12, and Ryan, 9, got their showers too. She had Abigail tucked in by 8pm. The older children were in bed by 9pm.

After the children went to bed, Gary, showered and called it a night as well. Alone with her thoughts, Angie made herself some popcorn and poured a glass of tea. She then sat down to watch a movie. She was too wound up to even think of going to bed. She knew that if she did, she would only toss and turn. She tried to concentrate on her movie. But hard as she tried, her mind continued to wander back to thoughts of her friend. And memories of the past. She couldn't shack a feeling of foreboding. Something was coming. She could feel it.

As her mind wandered to the event's of the past she suddenly felt very afraid for her friend and Levi. If Miranda was right, they were going up against something very powerful and dangerous. Angie questioned their ability to handle it again. How might this thing affect their children. Would it come after her own children again?

Angie had been able to sense spirits all her life. Although, unlike Miranda, she wasn't always able to see them. Neither could she usually converse with them. Miranda could, but more often than not she chose to ignore them all together. Miranda told her that she had found ignoring them to be best because sometimes interacting with them only caused a whole host of problems. Angie also could interpret most dreams and sometimes had visions. She had inherited her gifts from her grandmother, her mother's mom. Sadly, her grandmother had passed away when Angie was 13 years old. So she felt like she lost a wealth of information when she lost her grandmother.

After her grandmother died, Angie had moved back in with her mother. Life had become a living hell for her. Her mother had given her up when she was just five years old. Grandmother had given her little choice after seeing their living conditions and threatening to contact CPS. Angie's mom never hit her, but she was emotionally and verbally abusive. And very neglectful. Her mother was addicted to drugs and had always been very selfish. She also blamed Angie for her husband, Angie's father, for leaving her. Which wasn't true at all. He left because he had gotten tired of her. And he had found a younger woman that didn't do drugs and was beautiful.

After moving back in with her mother, Angie was exposed to all manner of wrong doing. Her mother was hooked on cocaine. She didn't keep house or concern herself with her daughter's needs. Angie was r***d shortly after moving in with her mother, by one of her mother's dealers. A few months later she discovered that she was pregnant with Paige. Angie turned 14 two months before Paige was born. Being a kid herself she did the best she could to be a good mother to her daughter. She managed to stay in School too. A year after Paige was born, 15 year old Angie met her future ex-husband, Tony. Life with her ex-husband had been a nightmare. In the beginning he was loving. He proposed very quickly. She accepted, because she believed they were in love and that he would take care of her and her child. Although they couldn't marry until she was 18, she moved in with him. Not long after she came up pregnant again. At age 16 her son Timothy was born and her fiance was so excited to have a son. When Timothy was two they married. Tony suddenly became someone else. He was always angry with her. He started choking her and slapping her around. Constantly accusing her of cheating on him. He resented her for not working and helping to pay the Bill's. So she got a job. His behavior got worse. She learned to get creative with hiding her bruises. Wearing her hair down or a pair of sunglasses. Extra make-up and long sleeves. She offered to quit her job, he just beat her. Stating again that she was lazy and ungrateful. Then she became pregnant again. He beat her so badly that she was certain that she would loose the baby. By some miracle she didn't. But she did lose her job. She had too many bruises to hide. After calling in to work three days in a row her boss had fired her. Tony told everyone that would listen that the baby wasn't his. That he knew she had cheated with a guy she worked with.

It wasn't true. When she had given birth to Ryan she knew she had to get away from Tony. So one evening after he had beaten her again, Tony decided to go out for drinks. He walked to the bus stop and rode the bus. He was mean but not any i***t. He wasn't going to risk getting a DUI driving himself.

Angie had watched through the window. As soon as she knew Tony was gone she had gathered her daughter, her toddler, and her infant. She packed the car with all their clothes and as many of their toys as she could. She had packed what food wouldn't spoil and she had pointed the car south. Only stopping when she had to, she drove through the night and into the next morning. She had no idea where she was going. She only knew she wasn't ever going back to Ohio.

As she sat there trying so hard to focus and watch the movie, the memory of a bonfire at her old mobile home came to her. She suddenly felt so cold. She could see her breath in front of her and she was surrounded by darkness. She looked up and saw the night sky. Behind her she heard familiar voices. She turned and saw the flames dancing from the bonfire as children held their marshmallows on sticks above it, roasting them for s'mores. She recognized her oldest three children and Levi. Around them sat Carlton, Miranda, and herself. She realized that she was reliving this moment. She knew from experience that there was a reason and that she must pay very close attention.

Angie smiled as she watched her friends, herself, and her children. It had truly been a wonderful evening. It was very cold. Christmas had passed. It would soon be the new year. There was so much happiness and hope for a better future in her heart. She had made it on her own the past few months. Something she never thought possible. And yet here she was, she had saved herself and her children. Times were hard. But they were happy.

Angie watched as the children ate their smores and laughed and played together. After some time passed and it had gotten colder, the fire began to die. Timothy fell asleep in his mother's lap. Carlton gathered a sleepy Levi, kissed his wife and headed home. Miranda promised to not be long. Then she helped Angie gather all of her children and took them inside. While Angie bathed a very sleepy Timothy, Miranda washed and changed baby Ryan. Then got Paige in the tub as Angie laid Timothy down in his bed. Angie then took Ryan and laid him in his crib in her room. As she came back up the hall she could hear Timothy talking in his room he shared with his sister. Paige was still in the bathroom dressing. Angie paused outside his door and listened.

She heard Timothy ask someone what their name was. Then he paused for a moment as though he was listening to someone reply. After a few seconds the child said, "Oh, hello Jack. My name is Timothy." The little boy continued to have what Angie thought was a cute pretend conversation as she walked on into the living room where Miranda was waiting to say goodbye. She had been a little puzzled by what she heard. It was different from the child's usual pretend play and to her knowledge he didn't know anyone by that name.

Miranda caught the look on Angie's face and asked her what the matter was. Angie had chuckled and told her friend what she had heard. Miranda's facial expression wasn't one Angie expected. Miranda had a shocked expression, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. She had then proceeded to apologize in advance for sounding like a crazy person. And then had told Angie about this Jack fellow. Of how initially he had seemed friendly and had attached to Levi. In the beginning everyone thought he was like an imaginary friend for Levi. How Miranda had not been able to see, or hear him. How that confused her. How she actually never did see or hear him. Which really frightened her, as she had never encountered one that she couldn't see or hear, or even sense in the beginning. She didn't explain then that she was a psychic, Angie had read between the lines. Miranda told of how the entity slowly showed his true self over time. Becoming more aggressive. Terrifying Levi daily. How at first she questioned the then 2 year old's sanity as she herself could not sense this thing. But how in the end that changed. Miranda told Angie of how she had battled this being and how she had thought she had gotten rid of him for good. She told Angie that she was so sorry. She never thought that it had simply been turned loose into the world, free to simply find another child to terrorize. Miranda stressed over and over again that his name must never be said outloud in a dwelling he had been removed from. As it was an invitation for him to return. After she had heard the impossible story Miranda had told her, she immediately gathered her children all into her own room. She came back to Miranda in the living room and asked her to help cleanse the boys room and the house. She saw the look of surprise on Miranda's face. Miranda had been shocked at how easily Angie had accepted what she told her, and also of Angie's knowledge of how to handle the situation. Angie smiled at her, hugged her neck, and told her that they had a lot to discuss later. But that she had had a feeling about Miranda from the moment she met her. Miranda made her feel calm and balanced. She felt a closeness to Miranda immediately and knew she could trust her.

As the women turned to handle the one who's name they do not say, Angie felt herself pulled back from the memory. She felt warm. She felt the couch she was sitting on. She could hear her television. She opened her eyes and found herself sitting in her house again. She took a deep breath and readied herself. Something was coming. There was a reason she had relived that moment from the past. She didn't know why, yet. But that didn't matter at the moment. For now she simply accepted that Miranda and Levi needed her. She felt tired and decided to go to bed. She would need the rest come tomorrow. Of that she was certain.