Mother Sucker

"Oh, children, my gentle ones, my patient ones. Come here."

The six children hurried to their mother.

10 seconds.

The rules were strict, and the number one rule was to drop anything and everything immediately when Mother called.

All six of us stood together, heads up, eyes forward, attentive and silent. Not a word until mother allowed us to speak.

"My children, the world needs us again," her voice slid through the air, cold and sharp. Mother stretched out her arms towards us. "Ash. Nyla. Shadow. Bram. Val. Lili. Will you help me rid the world of its dirt? Of its disobedient children."

We nodded. "We listen and obey our mother." Not a crack in our voice. No hesitation. No fear. If she smelled fear, she'd beat it out of us. And she did it because she loved us.

Mother smiled. The kind of smile that would melt any heart...that didn't know her.

Chapter 1:

All six of us shared a very clean, basement-sized room. The only place we could be ourselves if Mother wasn't around.

"I'm excited to go back into the human realm. We're older now. You think Mother would let us explore?"

Ash lifted a hand into the air to shush me. "No, Lili. We complete the task, then we come home," she replied sternly.

I rolled my eyes and mumbled under my breath. "Miss perfect,"

Nyla and Shadow did each other's makeup. Nyla drew stitches on Shadow's mouth, making him look like a dead man. Dark eye shadow underneath his already black eyes. In our natural form, we were eyesless, as humans would say, but we could see. He was going to do the same to Nyla except red.

"Why would you want to explore Earth, Lili?" Nyla said. "It's full of bad kids and weird adults who can't control their children. They are out of control! Mother says it all the time."

Shadow, in all his dark makeup and long clothing that hid his body, walked over to my bed and plopped down next to me. "Come on, we have one job. Get the kids to listen to their parents, and bam, happy family. We have a part to play in this world. Mother said so."

Even though Shadow and Nyla were the youngest, 118 to be exact, they were always the smartest and most logical out of us. Bram and Val, the quiet ones, are 200, Ash is 350, and I'm almost 600. That's right, mother's oldest. They're all in their teens, but I'm almost in my adult years. However, we're not like the teens and children of Earth, though. We've been around longer. Watching. Listening. We see humans from a point of view they can't see us...yet. Technology is catching on because sometimes we've been caught in reflections, cameras, and our own fears can cause us to be seen by humans. That's why Mother keeps an eye on us the majority of the time. She's always teaching us, instilling fear in us so we protect ourselves from the humans.

Mother is old. She's 6000. She has more experience with humans than we do. She tells us she can slide through their blood, especially when they're sad, angry, or intoxicated. She knows them better than they know themselves sometimes. She can convince adults and children to do almost anything. She's good at it. I've seen her make some of the most disobedient children never speak back to their parents again...

Impressive...I think.

"We flow through them like water, whispering into their hearts," Mother would say. "And they listen. Humans are so weak." She would laugh. "But we help fix them. Who are they, without their parents' right?"

As I've gotten older, I have become more curious about them. I never thought humans were weak, actually. I would never tell Mother that, though. That's forbidden. We do not want to be like them. We can fly. Shape-shift. Become invisible. Appear as animals and creatures of Earth. Some call us mimics. Ghost. Fairies. We live longer. Yes, we get hurt. We bleed. Some die early or later. We are like them in certain ways. Not all. And we have communities, religions, and kingdoms. And all of them are right on Earth with the humans.

Unseen.

But one thing that fascinates me about humans is that they change. They adapt. Even if they can't shape-shift or fly. They create all the time. And even if something bad happens, they move on and try something new.

"What are you thinking, Lili?" Val and Bram joined us on the bed.

"She has that look on her face." Bram looked me straight in the eyes. "You aren't thinking of disrespecting Mother, right?"

"I'm just curious, Bram," I said. "What if I don't want to do this anymore?"

Ash got up immediately and sat by my foot, looking up at me with anger. "Could you imagine what mother would do to us if any of us questioned her? This is what we're alive for. Who's going to help us if Mother doesn't? You and all of us swore our duty to help Earth. It's how we play our part in the world."

Ash stood up and cleared his throat. "That's enough. It's time to get ready to go. Lili, get dressed. Nyla and Shadow, the makeup is good, get dressed. Bram and Val, your cloaks are ready, and the masks are in the closet. Wear the all-black ones that only show the mouth. We almost got caught last year with those camera things. We can't let anyone see our natural form. And Lili..."

Ash looked at me and nudged his head to the side. The two of us walked over to the closet door, which was further from the door. She leaned towards my shoulder and whispered. "What are you doing? You can't say stuff like that in front of them, Lili."

"How long do we have to do this, Ash? You're not getting bored?"

"What!" Her teeth clanked together hard. She glared at me. "Stop! You need to stop this right now. You've never thought to disobey mother before. Why are you acting like this?"

I sighed. "I don't think I'm disobeying her by asking a question. Since when can't people have questions? I see humans ask-"

"We're not them."

"This isn't what I want anymore. Honestly, Ash. I'm just bored."

"Then stop boring yourself."

I turned away, watching as my siblings got ready. "Listen, I'm getting older, and I just think I have a right to at least ask if I have to do this."

"We were created for this purpose," she said, then grabbed my shoulder to turn me around. "We listen, and we obey. Don't get us in trouble, Lili, seriously. I'm scared of what Mother would do. If you're so bored, you'd better start getting creative."

There was a loud rip. We turned around. Bram had accidentally stepped on Val's Cloak and it tore easily. Ash smiled. "How about you get creative by fixing their cloak?"

She faced everyone. "Get ready. Look presentable. We have a job to do, and we must dress the part. Mother is waiting.