FATHERS

1.

Ben and Lacey Ellis struggled; they fought to have a child of their own. Like so many couples, they wanted to start a family and found a roadblock or two. When a pregnancy did come their way, one of the first feelings and emotions that greeted them other than relief was that of joy, joy at being blessed that someone somewhere, divine or otherwise, saw it fit to bless them with a child. At the beginning of this pregnancy and for some time to come it could not be known that the entity that blessed them was anything but divine.

The signs however were there from the start. The feeling of being watched within a doctor's office, the invisible touch on a shoulder, the unseen shadow moving through the room, the arriving pregnancy would not be cause for joy other than the initial joy the discovery brought, if anything the discovery marked the beginnings of many a disaster.

Everything changed for and about Lacey, slowly at first then quickly and almost all at once. Her health declined, both mentally and physically. Her appearance both paled and darkened, the lives of her and the unborn child were feared for, so much so to the point it would be thought best to have her committed into a mental health facility, an asylum of sorts, a place which mostly caters for girls and young women.

In this place Nancy Ellis would be born and taken from her mother to then be cared for by her father and her mother's sister. Despite Lacey's paranoid suspicions, Ben and Aunt Sharon were never romantically involved and that would be true prior to and post Lacey's forced move.

Sure, Ben and Lacey have been husband and wife and that never directly ended. It may have been hoped that once a child came into the world then Lacey may become more like what she once was though as time moved on it looked more and more likely that Lacey may never be released from the asylum she had been taken to and despite knowing that she may see out the rest of her life in such a place Ben always felt committed to his wife.

The first few years of raising Nancy were as normal and unusual as could be expected with raising any child though with Nancy being who it is she actually is, things were always destined to change. A spot by a tree, a patch of dead or dying grass and a few other items of such being out of the ordinary, both Ben and Aunt Sharon knew something was not quite right though Ben didn't really want to know. To him everything was fine, is fine, a bit unusual to say the least but fine, sure no harm had yet been done. Sharon however, she felt it, she felt something more, she felt there was something to ... fear.

The first real moment of significance came when Nancy was six years old. In a public park on a bright autumn afternoon, Ben allowed Nancy to move up ahead of him but not so far that he couldn't get to her in a matter of seconds. Nancy began to move up a slight hill and Ben went after her to ensure she wouldn't fall over and there it was, only a few feet away.

What an incredible sight, a young deer just standing there, watching as a child moved closer, Ben, being weary of the moment, allowed it to occur. He was ready to snatch his daughter at the first sign of potential danger. With no fear, Nancy moves right up to the deer and indeed with no fear the deer reacts positively and carefully.

With her right-hand Nancy began stroking the deer and it responded by slightly leaning its head towards the child. Seconds passed and dad was still at the ready for any sudden movement when something happened that he most definitely did not nor ever could see coming. The deer dropped down onto its knees then turned onto its side and lay its head down on the ground.

The deer's eyes bright and wide one moment closed the next. Ben moved closer and to his surprise the animal was dead, Ben was sure of this. Nancy just looked up at her dad and smiled. Surely, she hadn't just killed it, no, such a though would be impossible and would be a ridiculous thing to even consider, still, what occurred was most odd and if the death of the animal came from nothing the little girl had done then what was it from?

Ben looked around, there were a few stragglers walking around the park, all of whom are quite a distance away though no one apparently had taken any notice of what had only just happened. Ben picked up his daughter and they moved on. He looked back once; the deer still lifeless. What could anyone in his position make of such a moment?

It was only a few days after the deer incident when an incident involving a neighbour would give cause for great concern. Ben backing out of the home driveway with Nancy in her car seat in the back, all is quiet, so Ben keeps moving down onto the side of the road and out of nowhere a neighbour tears down the street and clips Ben's car. If Ben's own actions weren't such as they are then disaster could have struck for Nancy indeed being in the back of the car could have been seriously hurt.

Once the clip occurs Ben's immediate concern is with his daughter. He checks on her from within the car then gets out and opens a back door. Nancy is well and fine; she has hardly been disturbed at all. No marks, no nothing, she is perfectly fine. Next order of business is to let loose on the neighbour who knowing what he has done has brought his vehicle to a stop.

'You idiot, you Goddamn idiot' shouts Ben as the neighbour exits the other car.

'No need for that' speaks the neighbour, a man of similar build to Ben with the exception of being a couple of inches or so taller.

'My daughter is in the car you fool ...'

Ben is on edge. The thoughts that his daughter could have been seriously harmed being first and foremost on his mind, with the deer incident along with all that has occurred over the previous seven years being in there somewhere too, this is the first time he is really having an all-out emotional outburst.

'Relax, no one was harmed' says the neighbour stretching out his left hand towards Ben who just slaps it away.

The neighbour thinks about throwing a punch though before fully deciding on doing so, a small hand has been placed upon his right arm and with this his right arm goes completely dead though dead in the way of what a really good punch to the shoulder would and could leave an arm. Little Nancy had gone unnoticed until having reached for the neighbour's arm.

She had let herself out of the car and given the whole deer incident Ben was glad of the fact that the neighbour had his arms covered with a shirt sleeve and jacket. If his daughter really has some kind of odd touch, can she control it? Still, he doesn't want his own mind to wander especially when nothing is for sure, nothing is more than coincidence.

There may have been no intention to kill but only to weaken from little Nancy's point of view and the presence of clothing may have done nothing to prevent death though Ben believes ... well maybe he does not know exactly what to believe.

The car clipping incident brought Aunt Sharon within the home to the front door upon which Ben told Nancy to go inside. She won't be going into school on this day and Ben would worry, if she would need to be seen by a professional or to be given the once over by a doctor just to make sure she is fine then he would worry about how to go about such a thing given anything he may suspect. Whatever it is she can do, there is some control on it, clothing or not, for the effect she seems to impart is not something that occurs on a daily basis.

What an odd way to be thinking of your daughter but how else could Ben think, considering all of what he has seen?

In this moment however, insurance information wouldn't be passed on due to what still has to occur. Aunt Sharon knows, despite not having been around for the deer incident, she may not have seen Nancy touch the neighbour's arm or the effect it had had though she knew, there is evil in that child, not one hundred percent evil and it is not your everyday kind of badness either. Still, she is sure that it very much is there.