7 Tied together with a smile

It was almost dawn when Daniella, Evan, and the triplets had finished cleaning the whole living room while Selena was sleeping on the couch, wasted with all the liquor she drank.

They all seated on the available space in the couch while Daniella decided to wake up Selena.

"Hey, woman! Go to your room now!" she yelled as she vigorously shook Selena's shoulder.

The woman moaned and slapped her hand way, sending a message to leave her alone.

Then, Daniella turned to her kids, she was exhausted and she could see that her kids were tired as well.

"Honey, you can get your marker and do whatever you want in Selena's face. She's too drank that she will not feel anything," she encouraged her kids.

And just like that, the triplets tiredness magically disappeared. The three ran upstairs and when they came back, they all have markers in their hands.

The three surrounded the sleeping Selena on the couch and started on painting her face.

"Are you using a permanent marker?" Evan asked, he tried to stop them but his wife glared at him.

When the triplets heard their father's question, they all stared at each other and looked at the marker at the same time.

"It's washable," they all rhythmically said.

When Selena suddenly moved, the triplets suddenly ran upstairs and as they reach the top, they all said their goodnight to their parents.

Being alone with her husband, Daniella turned to him and diverted her gaze at Selena.

"That woman is taller than me. I can't carry her so can you please?" she asked.

Evan sighed and carried the woman in his arms, as he walked towards the stairs, he turned around to face his wife and said, "Selena has grown. Years ago, in this same spot. She asked me to carry you to my room," he peacefully said.

And at that moment, as she reminisced that day, her feet ran to him. With a smile on her lips, she tiptoed to kiss his lips.

But their romantic moment was interrupted when Selena suddenly jumped out of Evan's arm.

She held onto the rails and looked at them with disgust.

"Gosh! Please! Not in front of me!" she blurted and started to walk upstairs but her current estate was not letting her walk.

"Babe, help her," Daniella said tiredly.

When Evan and Selena's figure disappeared, Daniella decided to check on Louisa.

She used the duplicate key she was hiding under the vase and opened the door, as she entered the room, a loud sigh let out from her lips.

Louisa was very different, she's not a typical girl who likes doll.

When Louisa was born, it took her two years to say her first word. And she only spoke those words when she was around her father. Daniella thought she was mute at first but she wasn't.

She and Danny had tried reading her mind but they both couldn't. They did hire a lot of doctors in different fields to check on her but they could not also find the answer.

One day, on Louisa's second birthday, Evan's mother Evelyn came to visit Louisa but as soon as she carried Louisa, the girl started crying as if she was getting tortured. When Evelyn let her go, the girl ran to her room and hide in her closet. And since then, Evelyn barely came to visit and since then, every time Louisa was frustrated or scared, she will always hide in her closet.

When Evan's grandparents died, Louisa saw Evelyn one again during the funeral and since she was not in the house, she doesn't have anywhere else to hide, therefore she hid behind her Great grandparent's casket and waited until someone realized why she was hiding.

Daniella sighed as she watched her kid peacefully sleeping on the bed hugging her skeleton mannequin.

All of her family told her that it was not normal for Louisa to act like this, her room was always dark. The wall which should be painted in white was covered in black wallpaper with a printed skeleton head. The sun was being blocked by the thick black curtain while the movie 'Saw' was playing in her 60 inches television twenty-four hours.

Daniella could not figure out why Louisa was like this and no one can. At first, she thought of going to Dr. Lee to ask but the man was already dead.

Unlike any other kids, Louisa's collection was different. She has four collections of skeleton mannequin and some part of it was from a real human.

And Louisa didn't have to beg for it, the girl just simply needed to blink her round eyes and smile at her father and Evan will give it right away.

Louisa named her four skeleton mannequin after her siblings. The triplets had complained about it but when they saw the tears in Louisa's eyes, they all picked the skeleton they wanted to be name after them and since then the four skeleton became Louisa's only friend.

Louisa's weird collection didn't come as a shock to Daniella, given that Alexa has a monkey as her best friend, Leo is sleeping with his four ferrets and Ethan having all type of harmless chemicals in his room. She was at least thankful that Danny, her eldest son was normal.

Daniella sat on the bed and tried to remove the skeleton from Louisa's embrace but the girl suddenly opened her eyes and started screaming.

Due to the darkness in her room, Louisa must have not seen that it was her mother, but as soon as she felt a hand on her cheeks, a familiar soft and warm hand, she calmed down and fell asleep again.

Daniella blows a sigh as a relief, every time Louisa got scared, she either hides in her closet or screams like she's getting killed painfully.

After Daniella heard Louisa's deep breathing, she picked up Louisa's pad on the table and started reading what she wrote on an entire day.

"I don't like bacon"

"Where is dad?"

"Help me buy a car"

"It's for the triplets"

Her head tilted in confusion as she read those words, but the last word Louisa wrote made her blood to boil.

"I need to tell mommy that the triplets stole my money"

The exhaustion that Daniella felt has suddenly disappeared, her eyes narrowed in anger while her hand crumbled the pad.

It was a year ago when she decided to let her kids handle their allowances. She trusted them because she knows that they are smart enough to know the value of the money. She never checked their account since she knows that it will be impossible for them to spend that kind of money but she underestimated the power of the triplets.

She took her phone out of her purse and started checking her kid's bank statement. When she saw where the money had gone, she could feel the fire in her head.

It took some time before she was able to calm herself, she bent down to place a kiss on Louisa's head when the girl suddenly said, "Mommy?"

Daniella was shocked, this was the second word Louisa spoke on the same day, and her soft-melodic voice touches her heart.

She brushed a hand on her hair and whispered, "Don't worry darling, we will get your money back and buy you a new skeleton friend so, can we throw this one?" she asked as her hand reached out to the skeleton but Louisa was quicker than her, the girl immediately embraced it with one hand while the other was reaching for her pad.

Daniella's face went poker right away, she took the pen and the pad and started writing, 'No'

"This is what you wanted to write, right?" she said in a flat voice.

The girl nodded and hug the skeleton with both hands as if it was the only thing that matters to her.

"Fine," she said in defeat and turned to leave the room when suddenly, Louisa stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

Daniella looked at her with confusion, when the girl patted the space next to her skeleton, Daniella figured out that she wanted her to sleep in her room.

Without a second thought, Daniella went under the blanket, she asked if they can get rid of the skeleton lying in between them but Louisa shook her head and shut her eyes.

Daniella then decided to sleep as well since it was impossible to take the skeleton away from Louisa.

After some time, Daniella woke up when she felt a hand around her waist, without looking back, she figured that it was her husband.

"I could not find you in the room so I came here. Can i-" Evan has been cut out when Louisa suddenly jumped on him.

Without speaking, Daniella moved to give way and Louisa with her skeleton mannequin occupied the space between her and Evan.

Even the sun was up, the thick and dark curtain helped the three to sleep peacefully.