#WEP #WEPFF Urban Nightmare 1000-word Flash Fiction #PUSHunt

https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2020/06/wep-june-challenge-urban-nightmare-sign.html

1000 words on the dot! Full critique accepted.

Sally's Urban Nightmare

The loud crashing sound seemed to shake the apartment. Two more crashes followed a second later, along with crying.

Sally rushed to her daughter’s bedroom. When the door wouldn’t open, she kicked it in. "What was that?"

Rose screamed in agony between sobs.

"Hush. I have to call for help."

This would be it. One too many trips to the doctor. This time with twisted, bloody fingers that were lodged under a door. She pulled the older style phone from her pocket. It took a moment for the screen to light.

"Help’s coming. "

"No, no, no! No more needles!"

Sally huffed as she went to the front door, cracked it open, then returned to Rose.

"What were you thinking? Haven't I told you to be careful?"

Rose clutched her doll in her good hand as her mother moved the fallen fort.

"You climbed up on the dresser to hang the sheet."

Rose whimpered as she rolled to face her injured, trapped hand. "It just fell."

"No. You fell. Because you can't climb. I've told you that. You were supposed to be in here taking a nap." Sally tossed the fallen book stack aside. She grabbed a pair of pants and socks from the dresser.

"You're going to wear pants, socks, and shoes with your nightgown to the hospital. No arguments." Rose wiggled between sobs, dressed just as help arrived.

"She's back here. I can't get her fingers out from under the door."

The paramedics helped Rose as Sally explained to the officer that she'd heard a crash and burst through the door, worried for her daughter. "She was supposed to be napping. I just got her down not five minutes before and taken a moment to use the bathroom."

"How long between the crash and you getting to her this time?"

Sally dug her nails into her hands. No way was she taking the blame for this. "Seconds. I kicked the door in to get to her. That's how her hand got caught."

The officer nodded. Sally excused herself and, Rose's shoes in hand, stormed to the girl's bedroom.

"We have her free." A paramedic said when she got there. Rose was staying still for them. But still clutching her doll.

"You know they don't let you take toys to the hospital." Sally held out her hand.

Rose’s screaming and flailing started again. Sally didn't budge. The officer eventually knelt down and retrieved the doll. He glared at it.

"Jennter," Rose cried as she reached as far as she could, but the paramedics were taking her away.

"She still has this?" The officer shoved the doll at Sally.

"Can we go? I should be with her. Didn't even get her shoes on. But I have them. See? New condition." Sally tossed the doll aside.

"Mmmhmm," the officer motioned for her to lead them out.

Rose returned home three days later. She wobbled to her room as fast as she could. Sally yelled to be careful.

"Jennter? Jennter?" Rose searched under the bed, in the drawers, and in the wash hamper.

"There's a new doll on your bed. Gift from the cop. This one is named Marie. See? All the letters on her box. Unlike the Jennifer doll from that toy drive."

"Where's Jennter?"

Sally picked up the new doll. "Marie. Can you stay still while I use the bathroom? Have you had enough doctors poking you this week to at least not cause another accident?"

Rose took the new doll from the box and asked it to help her find Jennter. Sally walked away. 

She came back to find clothing everywhere and the bed unmade. "I was gone for a blink!"

"I can't find Jennter!"

Sally's face scrunched as if she bit a rotten lemon. "Jennifer is gone. Took off because you couldn't behave. Clean up this mess or Marie will follow."

"No. Jennter wouldn't leave. You sent her away."

"That doll was scrap. You have a new one. Now clean up."

"She wasn't scrap! I'm not scrap. She was healing from her ouchies, like me. Her skin had markings like mine does. Her hair was patchy like mine because some of her brain came out too. And she had arm holes like me. That's why you don't like her. You don't like me! You want Marie as a daughter. Take her!" Rose chucked the doll at her mother.

"Enough. Clean, nap, or play with the doll. But you stay in this room. And no climbing on the furniture or I'll throw it out."

"Like you tossed out Jennter. Like you want to kick me out."

"Stay quiet until dinner." Sally slammed the door. She went to the kitchen and banged a pot onto the stove. Just one day where it isn't so hard, she prayed.

Once the pasta and chicken was on the table, she called Rose, who didn't answer.

"I know you hear me calling," Sally said as she wedged the bedroom door open. Rose wasn't on the bed. Sally dropped to her knees and looked under it, but the girl wasn't there. She checked the dresser and the hamper.

"Rose?"

Sally ran around the apartment, calling her daughter's name, searching every hiding place. Then she felt a cool breeze on her neck.

Rose knew not to go into Sally's room. She knew she wasn't allowed near the bedroom window. She wasn't supposed to climb on the dresser to unlatch it. Or to open it onto the fire escape.

That rusted death trap. The building was nearly condemned over that. The owner had been fined again and again. Yet there it hung, clanging in every storm. Sally ran over and looked out.

Marie sat perched on the rusted fire escape.

Sally dialed her old phone, cursing as it retarded her speed in an emergency. "My daughter is gone!"

The wind whipped through the urban buildings, a new nightmare swirling between the leaves and litter. A cat hissed from the alley far below. Sally looked down and screamed.

---

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