Haunter Shift

Brendon came home a little early today. Preparations for the two-day promotion were almost complete, and Brendon had arrived home before eight for the first time in several weeks.

When he came to the living room after washing his hands, Michelin, who was sitting on the play carpet, saw him and clung to the seat with joy. Grabbing the seat, she started walking.

Brendon had heard from Lauren that Michelin was now able to walk with support, but it was the first time he had seen it. Because when he got home, Michelin was already asleep.

Michelin made cheerful noises and came towards the end of the corner of the sofa. But there was nothing she could hold onto to get to her father, a few meters away. Brendon didn't go towards her on purpose. When he opened his arms and showed that he was waiting for her, Michelin changed her expression and made a complaining noise. Then she let go of the support from the seat and took a few steps towards Brendon.

Lauren and Margaret, who were preparing food in the kitchen, could not see what was happening because of the counter that came in front of them. As Lauren left the counter and stepped forward, she saw the Michelin standing without support. Then Michelin took a step or two towards his father. She was excited and cheered when she realized that she could walk. This caused her to lose her balance and she fell over her hip. Then she got up again without crying, but this time she could not regain her balance. She was about to fall down again but Brendon caught her.

"Well done Michelin!" he said and lifted her up. Michelin let out a jovial laugh as she suddenly took off. She looked at her father and said, "Daddy." Brendon thought that Michelin's spelling sounded normal babyish, but she continued to cheerfully say "Daddy" with her arms outstretched towards her father, while Michelin was held high by the armpits.

Brendon continued to stare at the Michelin in surprise. Then "You learned to walk before you were old, and you say dad?" he said and tossed the Michelin once into the air and hugged her. Michelin, too, hugged her father with cheerful screeches.

It was the first time Lauren had seen Brendon this happy. This was the first time this man, who was aloof and didn't know much about family, showed such affection for his baby. She watched the two of them for a while with the spoon in her hand.

"I hope they are always happy," she thought. She wanted to go and hug them, but she restrained herself again. She knew that whenever she fell in love with Brendon, something would happen to her. She went back to her job in the kitchen.

…

Lauren pulled a hairpin to the side and loosened it slightly. It was easier to sleep that way. She looked at the clock, it was not yet eleven. Michelin had a few hours to wake up. She placed the radio on the coffee table next to her and carefully got into the bed.

Brendon was already asleep, and Lauren didn't want to wake him. As soon as she got into bed, Brendon's arm wrapped around Lauren's waist. Lauren realized that she had failed to wake him up. She felt a warm breath on her neck, followed by a nice kiss. Brendon whispered, "Good night." and continued his sleep.

Lauren breathed a sigh of relief. Had Brendon moved forward, she might not have been able to resist him. She missed Brendon terribly, too, but somehow she shouldn't have thought about him or showed him her love. Her delusions came out when she thought of him when she loved him. She knew now that it wasn't a coincidence. She felt as if he was cursed.

Trying not to think too much, she wanted to fall asleep too. A moment later, she heard another whisper. She thought it was Brendon at first. But Brendon's breathing was the same as in his sleep.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She was about to think she heard wrong when another whisper came over the radio. Lauren's heartbeat quickened.

"Je vais tuer."

She suddenly jumped out of bed when she could hear the words clearly. This frightened Brendon too, but before Brendon knew what was happening, Michelin's cries were heard both on the radio and in the other room. The two of them rushed to her room. Michelin was on the ground, not in the cradle, and was in fear.

…

Lauren looked wearily at the tiny plastered arm. Michelin was still asleep because of the sedative given, but her good hand held Lauren's index finger.

"Je vais tuer." Lauren muttered. She no longer needed a dictionary to look up what such threatening French phrases were.

"Whatever you are, I will do the same to you." she said to herself.

Lauren looked at him with dull eyes as Brendon entered the room.

"They want to keep her here until morning on suspicion of possible head injury," Brendon said in a low voice so as not to wake Michelin. Then he slowly approached and sat next to Lauren on the edge of the bed.

"Is this room suitable? They can move us to another room if we want." he added.

Lauren replied, "It's okay." She was still trying to understand what was going on. The first image that came to mind when she closed her eyes was Brendon's joy when Michelin called him "dad". The second image was of Michelin sitting on the ground and trying to get up with her broken arm.

One of the doctors said, "She may have gotten out of the crib on her own because she was just starting to walk. But falling from such a vast level and breaking her arm is not what we expected."

What villain would pick up a baby and throw it to the ground just because a father loved her? The curse had shifted, and Lauren was blaming herself. But she couldn't know. She looked at her cursed husband with sad eyes. Moreover, she could not even tell her husband that she believed her husband was cursed. He was also confused and tired.

Lauren grabbed his hand with her other hand. "You should get some sleep. I am here. This sofa is not comfortable, go home if you want," she said. After a while, "We will find a solution during the day so that Michelin does not fall again," she added.

Brendon did not take his eyes off Michelin for a while. He didn't want to believe the theory that she got out of her crib because she started walking, but he couldn't think of any other explanation. Feeling Lauren's hand, he turned to look at her. Lauren was telling him he needed to sleep. He squeezed Lauren's hand holding his. He was about to say, "Let-" but Lauren said in a tired tone, "You're in a critical time. I can hang a lesson or two."

Brendon thought for a moment. Then he said, "I'll go home in the morning, change, and go to work from there." He followed Michelin's hand holding Lauren's finger. He thought they were alone with Michelin in this situation. That Lauren had never been in their life...

The door was knocked. A uniformed police officer arrived with a nurse. He had a tablet in his hand. They said they would ask Lauren a few questions if they were allowed, and invited her out.

Lauren didn't understand the situation, but Brendon was on his feet as soon as he saw the police. Without waiting for Lauren's reply, "My wife was with me at the time of the incident. You are tiring yourself for nothing," he said. Lauren didn't understand for a while, then brought her free hand to her mouth and asked, "You think I can do it?" Her astonishment was obvious.

"This is the procedure," the police officer calmly said. An abuse investigation would be opened for a baby who applied to the hospital more than once due to trauma in the last three months. Brendon was starting to get angry when Lauren softly let go of Michelin's hand and stood up.

"Let's not take the officer's time at night. He's doing his job too." she said. As if Michelin realized that she was no longer holding onto Lauren's finger, she woke up and sat up and began to cry towards Lauren. Crawling on her own, she reached for Lauren, but wept even more because she couldn't move her plastered arm.

Brendon gently took Michelin in his arms and tried to calm her down, but Michelin was persistently attacking Lauren. Lauren swallowed once and left the room. As the nurse showed the way to the interview room, she turned to the police officer and, "Babies aren't stupid. They wouldn't show such devotion to someone who hurt them." she muttered.

Lauren and Michelin left the hospital around ten in the morning. Brendon had said he would send someone to take them home, but Lauren was surprised to see Brendon waiting at the door. He put Michelin in the baby seat. "You can go in the back if you want," Brendon said as she helped him from the opposite side. Lauren agreed and moved on to Michelin. She could do the disrespect for using her husband as her chauffeur for today.

"Did you eat anything in the morning?" she asked. Brendon said he didn't eat. Lauren asked, "Do you mind if you have lunch and go back?" She was surprised that he agreed.

As they entered the neighborhood where their home was located, Lauren saw smoke from the top floor of the three-story highway ahead. She wanted to open the Maps app and find out what was there.

There was a mining operation just twenty kilometers from their house. Lauren was surprised at first that it was an industrial location so close to her hometown. Then it didn't surprise her when she read what metal they were working on. "Bismuth…" she muttered. "Did you say something?" Brendon asked. Lauren said no. She would fix this herself.