11.

Ten in the morning on the third day of March 1988 and a doorbell ring is followed by a double knock to the front door of the Fontaine family home.

'What the hell is this?' asks Jim suddenly becoming aware that there is quite the gathering outside in his garden.

'Forgive me' Chris says stepping in between Jim and the front door.

'What have you done?'

'The only thing I could ...'

'Which is?'

Another knock comes to the door.

'I have this acquaintance ... and he ... er ... he recommended a facility that will take good care of Ester. She will want for nothing; she will need for nothing.'

'What did you do? You should have discussed this with us.'

'I know and I'm sorry but ...'

'Alright, so what's the catch?'

'Em ... you and Estelle will not be able to visit her ... like ... ever.'

'Ah now, just hold on a minute ... not having this.'

Jim moves to the door to tell those outside that a mistake has been made. Yeah, something needs to be done but at that he can't just have strangers call to his door to escourt his daughter to some odd asylum he has never heard of that won't allow him or his wife to ever visit their daughter. Something will be done alright but not like this as far as Jim is concerned and he sure as hell will play a part in the decision making.

The door is opened and five strangers barge right in without so much as an hello or a declaration as to what it is they wish to do. There is no identification given, only one question is asked. 'Sir, where may we find your daughter?'

Out of the five men who have entered the house four are wearing uniformed all white clothing. The other is wearing a brown suit, jacket and slacks, brown shoes, a light blue shirt with a slim black leather tie and it is this man who has asked Jim the question regarding to his daughter's whereabouts.

'You are not taking my daughter ...'

'Sir, I assure you this will be best for all involved.'

'All involved? This is utterly ridiculous ... you have no authority here,' Jim turns his attention back to Chris. 'You had no right to do this.'

As Jim, Chris and the suit wearing stranger stand more or less facing one another in the Fontaine household hallway the four other men have gone in search for a little girl. Soon the call comes from upstairs 'got her'.

Estelle is the first to come down the stairs. 'What's happening? Someone please tell me what is happening?'

'It's a mistake honey and we are going to sort that out right now', turning towards the man in the suit Jim continues, 'isn't that right?'

'I'm afraid not Mister Fontaine.'

Two of the men in white bustle Estelle down the stairs while the other two men follow, each with a strong grip of and either side of Ester. Before these two men can get completely down the stairs, vines from the always renewable hallway plants quickly extend, grabbing and tightening onto one fellow's wrist just before doing the same to the other fellow. One of them is even pulled over the staircase banisters to go on and fall flat on his face to the floor below.

The man in the suit is shocked to see this. He either didn't know the problem relating to the girl or didn't know her abilities are as strong as so happen to be and this so far as it is, Ester is only getting started. The fellow remaining next to her is yanked away, such is the strength and powerful nature of the vines and he falls down the steps.

Whether instinct or something else takes over, Ester makes her way outside before anyone else can even think of getting to her. She may be three months shy of turning six years of age though five men have come to her home intent on taking her away and she knows that she needs to defend herself with everything she has got.

All that Ester Leigh Fontaine truly is, is about to be put on display. The garden is very much alive, and it is ready to go into battle and kill. Most flowing plants that Estelle has gathered and raised over the years are out back though there is plenty out front at this time for Ester to control and use as she sees fit including that of a weeping willow tree.

Inside the hallway, the first two men in white are struggling for their lives. Vines have wrapped themselves around their necks and have tightened strong. The man in the suit briefly assesses them both before ordering the other two men in white outside to the garden instructing them to hold nothing back.

They head straight out with determination and are instantly tripped. Flat on their faces, it will take a moment or two before they can gather themselves. Mum had gone after them screaming for them to leave her baby alone. No sooner having her words leave her mouth she is confronted by a vine. Thick, dark green and very much alive, Chris considers as if this vine somehow recognizes Estelle or is just being restrained by Ester not wanting to hurt her mother as it very much appears as if the vine itself is assessing Estelle.

Ester had overheard her father as he and Chris had talked so she turns her attention and a vine or two move towards Chris. Despite the relationship the Fontaine's have had with Chris and the previous attack upon him, nothing is going to be held back here in this moment. The very same vine which had confronted Estelle moves hurriedly towards Chris like a snake in the air, hunting its next meal.

It goes for and wraps itself around Chris's neck and tightens. Chris had managed to insert fingers form both his hands in between to offer some sort of resistance still it will do very little to aid him in any way. If Jim in any way before this point in time felt he was living within his own personal hell, or at least a personal disturbance, he had never been content with but existing within all the same, then he was about to get a one-way ticket to a real hell on Earth.

No time to go in search of tools this time as he had when a vine last attacked Chris, there is something else Jim had already grabbed. With a piece of timber, he has been saving for possible moments of defense and with the intention of taking control away from his daughter, he smacks her on the back of the back of the head with enough force to send an adult into unconsciousness and there within is his biggest mistake. Ester is not an adult; she is a five-year-old girl, indeed three months short of a sixth birthday.

Chris soon can breathe on his own accord. The two men in white in the garden slowly move to their feet, there men in white inside the house are unconscious but alive. All vines have retreated. Their coming to life has come to an end. The suit wearing man looks towards Chris then towards Missus Fontaine who is clearly and temporarily hit by shock. Ester is not moving, and her head is bleeding. Jim moves to the little girl, his little girl, something she never really had been ... until now. He drops to the ground and picks his daughter up onto his lap.

His eyes tearful and his voice cracked. 'My baby ... what have I done?'

Jim moves into a standing position holding Ester in his arms all the while. Estelle, remarkably calm and with tears in her own eyes, moves to take Ester from Jim to bring the child into the house, Jim walks right up to Chris.

'You ... you did this. Do you hear me? You did this ...'

'I ... I ... didn't ...'

'Go ...' Jim tells Chris. 'Go ... leave this home ... never come back or I will have you arrested ... do you understand me?'

Chris looks towards the house and considers going inside to gather what little belongings he had though decides not to due to the look currently on Jim's face. He moves slowly at first, watched by the other men in attendance then soon is gone to continue on alone, jobless, homeless and for the moment at least, helpless. Right here, right now there are other things to worry about.

Those who have come with intention, move on, not to be heard from again. There is nothing here for them now, a child is dead.

Yeah, a child is dead. Little Ester Leigh Fontaine is dead. A little over thirteen and half months after this day, a second child is born to James and Estelle Fontaine. Both Jim and Estelle have become very different people and Samuel Lemmontine Fontaine will grow up not knowing the difference.

As a young boy he runs away from home. It is not until reconnects with his father that he discovers he had a sister, and it won't be until as an adult he manages to reconnect with his mother when she visits him, out of the blue, at the facility he has come to work at, the very same facility that the sister of his would have been taken to if all had gone well. And as we know, go well things did not.