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She stood in the corner, as she wasn't allowed to do much else. Her baby-sitter, one of the most hired in Dimmsdale, had threatened her to stay there. What kind of parents did this town have to constantly leave their children with this kind of person? Veronica bemoaned her own fate as she looked through the old tossed aside toy, the only thing Vicky had seen fit to throw at her, saying "Play with this, brat, and keep out of my way today!" Veronica took a look through. The pink and green butterfly pattern reminded her all too much of something she'd seen before, something even she knew she shouldn't have seen.
Veronica violently shook the object, cursing her parents. They should have paid for more therapy, not baby-sitting so they could go off and have a few hours away from her. She was getting too old to be baby-sat. Plus it wasn't exactly her fault that Vicky was both the only one who would baby-sit her AND possibly the most abusive baby-sitter in town. Veronica banged the toy against the wall.
"Cut it out!" Vicky screamed at her. Veronica dropped the toy noisily, and then the doorbell rang. "You stay right there. Don't move!" Vicky shouted before going to get the door. "Hey there Sam," Vicky now answered sweetly. Veronica watched the shadows of now two figures at the door, noting that the second was shorter than Vicky.
"Hey... Are you sure it's alright if you bring your girlfriend over on the job?" the second shadow answered uncomfortably.
"As if I care. They don't pay me nearly enough for this job," Vicky replied. Veronica knew she was getting paid four times her normal rate, and wonder what would be enough for that evil girl. Though she knew better to ask, and just stayed in her corner.
Vicky invited her girlfriend in, and they continued their conversation. It was boring, Veronica thought as she picked up the toy again. She twirled it around, noticed much more pleasant shapes than she had seen before. She eventually dropped it, seeing, though it was in the living room, that Vicky had started making out with her girlfriend. The other girl had dark hair. It wasn't nearly as long nor as silky as her hair, Veronica thought, though it still reminded her of it.
Veronica watched the girls make out, and imagined herself as one of them. Yes, the pony-tailed blonde cheerleader, making out with the popular dark-haired girl. The fantasy began pleasantly, but ended with anger. "Doesn't Veronica wish she could do something like that with me," Veronica muttered.
But something else caught her eye before she could pick up the kaleidoscope again. It was an outline... No, it couldn't be. Terror filled Veronica. She'd had a phobia of this kind of thing since she was young, but therapy had convinced her it wasn't possible, therefore wasn't worth being afraid of. But there is was... It was a mirage, Veronica tried to convince herself. But it wouldn't go away. The ghost even looked at her, for a split second that seemed much longer in her mind before going out again, through the wall.
Veronica now began screaming, the start of a full-fledged panic attack. Vicky and her girlfriend rushed in. "Shut up! Shut up now, twerp!" Vicky yelled.
"Stop, you're just making it worse," her kinder girlfriend said, touching Veronica's shoulder. "It's okay, it's okay," Sam comforted.
"Don't baby her like that! She needs to learn that sometimes people just need to shut up! What are you blubbering about, anyway?" Vicky demanded.
"I saw it... I saw a ghost!" Veronica yelled.
"Oh, please," Vicky rolled her eyes.
"I did see it! It was right there! It was watching you. Then it was watching ME!" Veronica yelled.
"I'm going to kill Danny," Sam muttered.
"Danny? What does that dork have to do with anything?" Vicky asked.
"Nothing, nothing, he's not even here, right?" Sam said nervously, even laughing a little.
"I'm dying! I'm dying! The ghost came to get me, so I must be!" Veronica continued to panic.
"Where are those damn emergency numbers... You ruined everything, don't you know that?" Vicky shouted again.
Veronica just continued to fret. Anything down to the confetti moving in the toy would just add to her misery now.