26. Day 3 Part 1

A crowded room that reeked of disinfectant...

A lot of funny-looking people wearing white uniforms, running about...

A sweaty man in a business suit, hurredly talking on a mobile phone...

A bed connected to a weird machine that sporadically went BEEP. BEEP.

And a pretty little girl, her tear-stained face scrunched up tight, sitting on a chair nearby, clinging onto a pale hand...

It belonged to the inert figure lying under the covers. A blonde woman in her early thirties, who despite her palpable fragility and interminable pain, continues to smile for the benefit of the precious child beside her.

There is hubbub all around the pair, from the various electronic devices hooked up to the wall, to the frantic exchanges between the medical professionals and finally standing alone, the mayor, desperately rearranging his appointments because of this 'tragic' incident. What an inconvenience this has been for his chances of getting re-elected.

All of the surrounding noise though, is drowned out by the private world his wife and daughter share. The little girl, having spent hours upon hours hoping against hope that her Mommy will get better and the older female having accepted her fate long ago, with her only concern relaying two final words to the love of her life...

"Be... good..."

Then, without warning, it's all over. The woman's palm goes limp, her hand slipping away from her child's grasp forever. The little girl, unable to process the traumatic events for a few bewildering moments, begins to scream blue murder afterwards. The one constant fixture in her life is gone, and despite what they'd taught her in Sunday school, she's sure her mother isn't coming back.

The people around her hear the deafening yell, even above the general pandemonium of the busy hospital. Quickly, the small girl is dragged away from the scene, the now lifeless body covered up securely. Her father is desperately trying to get her to be quiet in his arms, as the paparazzi are outside, and no-one likes a squealing brat. They want an adorable face on the morning front pages, not a crybaby with tears and snot running down their cheeks.

The child doesn't care about her appearance in the media, or even how it might impact on the mayor's personal ratings. She just sniffs, and blubs, and sobs... basically, the opposite of everything she's told not to. Daddy is very disappointed in her, she's told harshly, she knew the chance of Mommy surviving the accident was very small, so she should have prepared herself better. Now, if Daddy's rival gets a percentage increase in next weeks polls, it'll be all her fault. He was going to take her to EuroDisney, but now that's off the table. Things are going to be very different from now on: To start with, she's going to start acting as a child of her status should be expected to, not like one of those worthless commoners who couldn't even save his wife's life...

The girl can't help but absorb all this new information in her dazed state, and as the cameras flash in her face while she's frogmarched into a waiting limousine, two very important words that she'd promised never to forget slip her mind...

...

"MOTHER! NO..."

As Chloe Bourgeois stirred in the daylight from the longest, most restful sleep of her entire life, she noticed a few new things straight off that troubled her immensely.

First of all, she felt itchy all over her skin, as if she'd spent the night on an ant hill.

Then, she happened to glance down at the sheet that was wrapped around her still drowsy form. This was not the smooth, silky, imported material she was used to luxuriating in. It felt starchy. Manufactured. Cheap.

Finally, there was a strange yellow and black bee-like creature floating above her head, with multiple hairy arms and bug-eyes. It seemed very pleased to see her, as it wore a big grin on it's fuzzy face at her awakening.

"Why good morning to you, Chloe Bourgeois..." It hummed pleasantly, as it flew closer to the very confused blonde, right to the tip of her nose."What glorious weather it is outside, the perfect conditions for your fresh start. First of all, let's start things as we mean to go on... with a friendly hug."

At this juncture, the weird insect being took it upon itself to wrap all of it's limbs around Chloe's surprised face, embracing the blonde in an clinch of real affection. Still trying to clear her head after her almost-coma, the heiress was nevertheless made to feel comfortable and loved in the clutches of this strange kwami...

Wait! That's what this bizarre thingie was! A kwami, and her name was... Zoomer? No. Zubzub? Doubtful. Buzzo? Close, perhaps... ZZUBO! That was it, and the little pest was almost certainly the root cause of her hazy mind, and her ongoing urge to scratch everywhere that just wouldn't quit.

"W-what happened last night?" Chloe angrily snarled, struggling in the soft yet extremely strong grip of the kwami. As usual though, her protestions were in vain.

"You had a nightmare, that's what. You were screaming out someone's name..." Zzubo continued to snuggle Chloe, and even nuzzled her a bit. "But don't worry, I'm here now. I'll make everything better. Apart from that, did you have a nice twelve-hour nap?

"TWELVE HOURS?! But, normally I only need six!" Chloe screeched, while still caught powerlessly in the coils of Zzubo, which wasn't altogether uncomfortable. "What did you do to me?! I bet my face is ruined now, with all that gunk around my eyes..."

"Hush, young one..." Chloe suddenly felt a hairy arm placed on her lips. "Children your age shouldn't be so concerned with their outward appearance. Especially in your case. It's what inside that counts after all, and that will form the basis of our training this week."

"TRAININ...MWWF!" Chloe's shouted reply was slightly muffled by some of Zzubo's bristles getting stuck in her mouth. Spitting them out, she continued her tirade. "I've already told you what my plans are! First of all, we're going to..."

"Plans which I won't have any part of. Chloe Bourgeois." Zzubo withdrew her head from Chloe's own to look her directly in the eyes, while still clinging onto her tightly. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm here to help you become a better person and an eventual hero, not your lackey in schemes of petty revenge like Sabrina was. Besides, things have changed a bit now. Rather than simply being your kwami, for the forseeable future I have also assigned myself the honoured position of your official caregiver. Seeing as your mother sadly isn't around anymore, and your father can't seem to handle the responsibility, it is my considered opinion you need love, structure and most of all boundaries. When you're ready, you can climb out of bed, and I'll tell you what I've got planned for your day, and all the new rules and regulations you're to live by..."

Having said her piece, the bee-creature-turned-surrogate-parent released her grip, allowing the teenage girl a full view of her new look room. How different it was, too... every single furnishing, ornament or trinket of any real value had completely vanished, or been replaced with a much cheaper alternative. It was like the heiress had gone to sleep in Aladdin's cave, and woken up in the local garbage dump.

Even worse was to follow. After removing the firmly tucked-in, mass produced, inferior quality, synthetic cloth that passed for her old bedsheet, and the lumpy, stained duvet that was a completely inefficent substitute for her former goose-feather eiderdown, Chloe got an even bigger shock.

She was wearing the most appalling item of clothing she'd ever seen. Rather than her trend-setting Gabriel brand pyjamas, a thick, heavy cotton nightgown that wouldn't look out of place on a granny greeted her horrified eyes. No wonder she had a consistant need to itch herself all over, this fashion atrocity would have her erupting in blotches in no time. There was no way she'd ever willingly change into something this horrible, so how on Earth did she come to be wearing... hold on...

"Did you UNDRESS me yesterday?!" Chloe shrieked so loudly at this point that even some passing bats might have had trouble registering her words.

Unphased by her new charge's lack of volume control, Zzubo simply shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head in affirmation. "Of course I did. I wasn't going to have you spend the night with the clothes you had on, was I? I'm looking after you now. Besides, I needed to put them into storage, along with everything else..."

It just seemed like one awful revelation after another for Chloe ever since she woke up. Maybe her nightmare wasn't quite over yet, after all. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, PUT INTO STORAGE?!"

"Could you keep the noise down child, think of the other guests!" Zzubo had seemingly adapted quickly to her new role, as she chastised Chloe for her raucousness. "It's exactly as I said. For the near future, all of your flashy garments and overpriced dresses will be replaced by a new wardrobe, which you can take a look at now. This is why I needed you to sleep for so long yesterday, so I had time to organise everything. Hope you like what I've done!"

Zzubo's optimism was predictably misplaced however. As the bee creature began to fly around the bedroom opening cupboards that once stored elegant, big name clothes, including all of the blonde's recently purchased goodies, now replaced by common T-shirts, jeans, socks and underwear, 'like' was possibly the furthest thing from Chloe Bourgeois's thoughts. Pure boiling rage, with distinct undertones of murder, was a slightly more accurate commentary on her state of mind.

Also, if you'd watched the heiress very closely at that specific moment in time, you may have witnessed a very rare phenomenon... a non-reptilian with apparent colour-changing abilities. First, she turned pink. Then, green. Next, blue. Finally, the deepest shade of all... red. It was like staring at a giant-size bottle of ketchup, only this one you wouldn't have to shake to get it to explode everywhere.

"How dare you! How dare you!" Chloe was so angry, the very walls seemed to shake in recognition of her ire. "First of all, as my pet... yes I said it, pet, you have no right to tell me how to live my life, no right at all! Next, you are now officially relieved of your duties, along with that useless cretin Jeeves. No amount of superpowers would compensate for dealing with this level of nonsense! I am now going to make the necessary arrangements for the exterminator to have you taken from the premises, then call up other servants to search for my missing clothes and other absent possessions. Now, where did I put my phone..."

Chloe retrieved her mobile from underneath the bedside table, and proceeded to turn it on. But, no sooner had she typed in the first digit of her security number, a yellow-and-black blur snatched it out of her hand at light speed.

"Oops, silly me, I forgot to check under there..." Zzubo stated plainly, the phone safely clutched in one hairy arm. "This is confiscated, until you learn to grow up a bit. Also, please stop shouting, or I'll have to take other privileges away. Now, because you slept so long last night and this morning, you have to hurry up if you're to arrive at school on time. It's going to be a very important day for you Chloe Bourgeois, so you can't be late. Are you going to get up, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"

With a look of pure malice aimed at her pet-turned- custodian, Chloe answered the question by huddling ever more under her new blanket. As much as she hated the texture and feel of it, the unpleasantness was far preferable to obeying the commands of that buzzing taskmaster.

Zzubo shook her head in disappointment. "Well, the hard way it is, then..." she muttered, before advancing forward with purpose.

AUTHORS NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to a very special someone. Hope you're okay, wherever you are... :,)