Liar, Liar

“MALORY!”

SMACK!

“Dumb ceiling!” Malory yelps, as she sprints down her wooden steps, slides around a corner, and finds herself in their tiny kitchen. She glances at the mahogany timepiece resting on the counter.

3:00 AM.

“What?” Malory snaps at her mother, who found a spot to sit on the counter.

“Sorry to call you down here early, but today is your birthday. You are eighteen. You need to find someone in need of an apprentice,” her mother says.

“I just had to slam my head into a ceiling for this,” Malory says frowning.

“Why did you have to yell for Malory so early. You know it is also yelling for me, Tina,” her dad says, appearing by the dining table. Also frowning.

“So true,” Malory mumbles, and hums: “Happy Birthday to me, haー”

“Cook breakfast,” her mother grumbles, walking toward the stairs

“Hey, it won’t take long, Mal!” Her dad teases, “I’ll help, since I’ve also been so rudely awakened,” he glares at her mother.

“It’s three in the morning,” Malory complains.

“We need to tell you something,” her mother interrupts, twisting on her heal.

“Yes?” Malory asks and glances to her dad who had started to pick at his nails.

“Since today is your birthday, we wanted to get something for you,” her mother says. Her voice turns cool, distant to her normal, bubbly tone, “But instead we’re telling you a story.”

Branches snap. Someone is shrieking her name. Her legs burn from sprinting.

She didn’t know that her life with those two had been a countdown. Today was the due-date.

Something snaps behind her. Everything sounds like a clock. Then it stops.

“Liar, liars… Aren’t we, Malory?” They spoke in an unearthly union. Her parents.

Pain. Scream. Silence.