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Ghosted (4-12-18)


[WP] An abandoned baby was found in your doorstep. As they grow up, you start noticing the increase of supernatural activities in your house. [Link to post.]
"I can't do it anymore," I said as we drove home. We were supposed to be enjoying our anniversary at a hotel for the night, but instead another babysitter freaked out and needed us home right away. The teenager threatened to just leave Lily there and walk out, but another $100 convinced her to stay for a couple of hours until we made the drive back. I didn't need to elaborate, my wife knew exactly what I was talking about.

 "She's our daughter," my wife said. I shook my head. 

 "She's an orphan. And now we know why her parents didn't want her," I regretted it as soon as the words came out, but I didn't know how to take them back. My wife remained silent. She was the most understanding woman I'd ever met, but I knew I'd find the end of her patience some day.

 "You can't deny she's gotten worse. Things like the floating bottles and dancing dolls were creepy, but easy enough to deal with. Now that she can walk, it's hard enough just to keep track of her. Lord knows how she gets up on the ceiling." I stared ahead at the dark road beyond the bright golden headlights. 

 "So you're gonna leave me alone with her, and make it harder on me?" My wife asked flatly. 

 "What if we turn her in?" She scoffed at my suggestion.

 "And what? Explain to them we kept this abandoned baby we had no business keeping for a few years, but we changed our minds?" She changed her tone to mock me further. "Sorry officer, I didn't know I couldn't keep random babies. We good?" Despite the conversation we both laughed at that. The bright sound of her laughter dissolved my tensions like cotton candy in water. I loved her, and we could only endure together. 

 "You're right, I'm sorry. I'm just annoyed tonight was ruined for us. She's *OUR* daughter," I said. I took a hand off the wheel to reach over and grab hers. It turned out to be a dangerous move. As I entangled my fingers with hers, an oncoming semi swerved into our lane. My wife screamed. I turned hard with my left hand while trying to get my right hand onto the wheel with our fingers still locked together.

 The truck drove right through us. Its headlights disappeared and I saw only darkness in front of us. I kept driving to give my mind something to focus on. I glanced over and noticed my wife's right hand was clamped to the dashboard while she breathed heavily. Her left hand gripped my right like a vice.  

 "OH MY GOD!" she screamed. "What just happened??" I looked at her shrugged, still trying to sort it out myself.

 "Ghost?" I asked her. She gave a half laugh, then nodded.

 "I guess? Thanks to Lily, I know how weird the world is now. I guess I'm not surprised ghosts probably exist," she said. She slowly released my hand and the dash board then sat back in her seat; nerves encouraged her to fiddle with the seat belt coming over her shoulder. I kept driving. After about half an hour she relaxed and leaned her weight against me while I focused on the dark road ahead. 

 "What do you think would happen to Lily?" She asked, then rested her head on my shoulder. "You know, if that was a real truck and if we didn't make it?" I shrugged slightly, not wanting to disturb her head too much. I still felt bad about what I'd said earlier. I don't know why Lily's parents abandoned her, but I'd decided I wouldn't. Near death experiences tended to highlight the positives. 

 "Well, we just learned ghosts are real right?" I chuckled. "We'd just stick close to her, and make sure her foster family takes good care of her." The contented sigh in my ear told me she loved that answer. The rest of the drive home was, thankfully, uneventful. The road was hard to see sometimes, but we made it. I hadn't even turned off the car when the babysitter ran out of the house screaming.

 "IT'S TOO FREAKY!" She ran down the sidewalk towards her house. She did hold on until we got there, I couldn't complain. I decided to pay her tomorrow when she calmed down. My wife and I walked into our house, both of us smiling, glad to be home. Then we turned into the den and saw a strange man playing with Lily. My wife yelped; I ran towards him.

 "Who are you?" I yanked Lily, as gently as I could, from his arms and stared him down. His eyes went wide. He looked from me to my wife, our eyes staring him down with anger. He sighed, then yelled up towards the stairs.

 "BABE! The foster parents died too!" 

 
***

Thank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day in 2018, you can find them collected on my [blog](http://hserratafun.blogspot.com/2017/10/front-page.html).

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