A Perfect Family

Little Marie was a quiet little girl who wanted nothing more than a kind family. It was her only wish. She looked out the window of the car; her attention jumping from one thing to another before settling on the 3-storey house atop the hill. “My new home?” Marie asked. No one responded. In fact, no one had spoken to her the entire time. Indeed that house was to become her new home.

Marie was sad when news of her adoption came. It meant that she would be leaving her newfound friends at the orphanage. However, she was also excited that she would have a family again. Her eyes beamed with hope at the very thought of having a new ‘mama’ and ‘papa’.

“She is such a doll!” The slender woman who opened the door knelt and smiled at Marie. A glum-looking man spoke with the people from the orphanage. Marie could hear a little of what they were talking about: Her old family.

“I understand. It must be hard for a girl her age to have gone through so much. I promise we’ll take good care of her.”

The people from the orphanage tipped their hats to him after he signed some papers and quickly drove off. Marie looked back at the woman, “Are you my new mama?”

“I sure am.”

Little 12 year-old Marie dragged her little stroller bag of clothes into the house and stood in awe at the size of the house. “This house is a bazillion times bigger than my last house, Mama.”

Her new mother chuckled. Her new father walked into the house and knelt down to Marie’s level, “And it’s your house now, too.” Little Marie looked around her new home and was taken to a room on the second floor. It was her room. Painted a light pink and had several doll houses; there was even a little bluebird in a cage. Marie couldn’t have been more delighted. After changing clothes, she walked down the stairs and heard her new parents talking.

“She’s a darling, isn’t she?” Her mother was still ecstatic. “You wouldn’t have imagined she went through so much.” Her father flipped through the newspaper before responding. “Oh, what did the orphanage say her last surname was?”

“I think it was Parson. But that doesn’t matter now, does it?”
“We’re returning Marie.”
“What? Why?”

Marie’s brows furled. She stepped down and called out to her parents. “Mama? Papa? You don’t want me?”

Little Marie’s new mother gasped at the sight of the bluebird drenched in blood and decapitated. In Marie’s other hand was a toy knife from the play kitchen in her room. “Why doesn’t anyone want me? Why? Everyone’s the same! Even you!”