OHIO
A NURSING HOME
THE LAST HOME OF ANNABELLE'S MOTHER
A group of people are walking down the hall of a nursing home. An administrator, next to an older woman, and trailed by three teenagers.
The administrator: "Sorry for the mixup at the entrance - I do have you on the emergency contact list - but it just had you down as "Frieda."
The old woman smiled. "Frieda" works, my dear. My relationship with the O'Rourkes is complicated. The older girl is her granddaughter from her deceased daughter, Annabelle's sister. The younger two are half-sisters from my side of the family."
"I don't know what that makes myself and Annabelle! Stepmother-in -law? Aunt-in-law? We have really pushed the idea of a blended family till it nears breaking."
Subdued Laughter "Regardless, she is dear to me. I will spare her this."
"Annabelle isn't coming, then?"
"No. She has dealt with Agnes more than enough. I would deny that harpy any chance to hurl last minute hate."
"And the girls?"
"...they want to hold out their hands for a chance at rapprochement. It will not happen, but I am hopefully wrong. I will not deny them that chance, but don't anticipate this visit lasting long."
"Sometimes...sometimes they don't give you the Disney moment. For your sake, I hope she does."
"Thank you. This is a difficult job you do. Have peace."
That sounded like a command. I'll try.
The door is opened
"...well, if it...isn't the grifter...the retard...the monster...and the ghoul..."
Frieda went to Agnes first. She leaned over and SIlentspoke to her, and her alone.
"Agnes, you don't have much time left. Let the children try to help you. It's not going to work. It's too late. But if you can accept them, even now, it'll help both you and them. Help the passing go easier. They'll remember you better. And in the end, that is what really matters."
Amy approached "Nona, PLEASE. We're sorry you're so sick, please let us try to help you. Maybe if you feel better, you won't be so upset..."
"Where's the...deviant? The slut's gone...I remember that...with their useless father...good riddance."
Amy and BeGee ran for the door.
"They'll...turn out...just like...their mother. Or worse...Annabelle."
The old Otherperson feels a good deal of rage build up inside her. It gets pushed down. No, I am NOT going to end her. She doesn't get that luxury.
Things half remembered by the old witch are fully remembered, for a time. And disclosed.
Frieda shook her head and spoke to Agnes aloud.
"You know, I always tried to feel bad for you, Withered Old Mundane. But no more. The husband whose memory you mock? The House I will build will bear his last name. It will be filled with beings the likes of which you cannot comprehend."
"The daughter you have no use for? She is MINE. She will be so important to my House that her image will be on coins."
Frieda held out one of the golden Icecoins. "Yes, that's HER."
"Your granddaughter, the one you call addled? She will RULE that House. I will give her as much Magic as any Mundane can have. MINE."
"The granddaughter you reject? That good-hearted chaos gremlin? Let me share a secret. That will be the most powerful Magic entity ever seen. You could have been remembered fondly by someone who may never end. That would be an immortality of sorts. Now? MINE."
"And Ellie? You could have had the greatest gift of them all. Wasted."
She leaned in and whispered: "I'd have welcomed you as a friend. My kind often did. I'd have even tried to stave this day off. But you hurt us all. And in those kind of competitions, my kind always wins, Underthing."
Frieda took one last glance at Agnes and then made to the door.She called to Ellie. "Granddaughter, join me and your sisters. We will return to the bookstore and care for Annabelle."
"One sec, Grandma. I have something to tell Nona, first." Frieda nodded. She then left the two alone.
"Listen to me."
"You could have departed having made amends with Frieda and your granddaughters. Not alone. That almost always makes things easier."
"Now, you get to go alone, at 1:29 AM. When I make a return visit."
"Aunt Annabelle and my sisters will feel bad for a little while. But they'll be secretly relieved. Life will go on. You'll occasionally be briefly remembered with a shudder. When I'm forced to take Frieda, she'll live on in everybody's hearts, every day, for the rest of their lives. And mine."
"I can be the gentle cool breeze on a hot day that calms the departing soul I am taking to safety and happiness. I love being that aspect of me."
"But I can be something else as well."
She makes a waving motion over her face. It reveals something that is no longer a face.
"You made the lives of your husband, Aunt A., and Amy and BeGee's mom miserable. You just turned down a chance that your perceived enemy, my Grandma, laid before you for their sake. For her Realdaughter, and two Mundanes she never even knew."
"A pity."
"See you at 1:29 AM."
Late afternoon at a cemetery. After a sparsely-attended funeral. Three sisters stand at a freshly-closed grave. BeGee is starting to fidget more than usual. And Ellie somehow looks like she is both at home and wants to be anywhere else but where she is.
Amy, to herself:
This is not a good place for these two to be. Ellie needs to be surrounded by life, not death. And BeGee...my god, Mom and her...original...self are buried- she stifles a sob both mental and physical just over the next hill. I'm sorry I can't go see you now, Mom. I'm sorry I don't come hardly at all. I think of you all the time. Thank you for leaving us Aunt A.
She finds her determination.
Let's wrap this up and get everybody back at the kitchen table at the bookstore.
Ellie: "I didn't wear this face. I should have, just to be a little kind. I couldn't."
"I am sorry"
BeGee: "Ah wanted her to like me. But the thing she said about Momma... half the time, ah don't even feel real. You an' Aunt A. are the only tethers here ah have. But it always kinda nice to think ah was really Angela's kid, not the child of that fat bastard. To insult her and Annabelle...ah could have ended her right there and then..."
"Ah'm sorry."
Amy took her sisters under her arms "It's okay. You're both real. I'm so glad you're here." "And I'll tell you a Secret. Deep down, I hated her, too." It was a harsh admission. But true, and it seemed to break the tension. And put an end to a difficult day.
She pointed them towards the car. "Now let's get the hell out of here and back to the bookstore. Aunt A. and Grandma have been through a lot. We'll get some takeout for everyone, I think we can spare a sliver of an Icecoin."
BeGee: "Can I get..."
Amy rolls her eyes "YES, we can get the pizza with gingerbread toppings. How that is even a thing, I'll never know..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SOMETIME LATER
The memorial, carried out in the bookstore, had been small but heartfelt. Neighbors and friends had come in, looked at the picture of Frieda, and her hat, laying on the table, and were saddened. Everyone she had met knew that she was at the least, a little odd. And many understood that she had been something Other. But none of that mattered. She had made many friends in her last period of life. She was strange, but one of them.
Even the parish priest had come. He was unsure what to say or do, so he just touched the hat and said "Frieda, be at Peace." He told Annabelle at that moment he felt like he got a warm hug in return.
At the end of this bad day, Annabelle softly smiled. BeGee and Amy had
cried themselves out. She had put them both to bed.
I've got to be The Old Lady now, and for the rest of my days. I can handle it. I hope.
Ellie was sitting across from her. Her head was lowered.
Next job is to help Ellie.
She crossed towards Ellie and wrapped her in a hug. "I can't imagine what this was like for you. But thank you for taking her away when we were there. I had nightmares about coming down one morning and only finding the Hat."
"I-I didn't WANT to-but I wanted her to be safe and happy. Oh god-"
"You did what you had to. She is at The Table, right?"
"Yes. It's Real. Realer than anything I've ever seen."
"Good, that's all that matters."
"I can remember leaving her off at the door. She hugged and kissed me on the forehead. She looked DIFFERENT. But the same."
"I-I even saw her mother for the briefest moment. I can't remember what she looked like. But not what I'd imagined."
"She had this smile when she saw me. And she talked like a Mundane, kind of. "
"She-she said: "Good to see you, Kiddo. Don't worry, you'll get here to stay yourself." "And then I was back here."
Annabelle was quiet for long moments. "When...when my time comes, I want you to take me there, on that Path. My daddy and Angela will be able to find me there. I'll bet they're there already, anyway. Sounds like their kind of place."
"I want to see Frieda - my REAL mother, again." "And I think I'll need to have a talk with this other Old Lady."
The Belfana: A BeGee the Elf Adventure
Copyright © 2026 by Christopher M. Reed
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