Chapter 1.7: Chantia

Not long after Ariko left, Chantia reached her first milestone in life.

She aged into a beautiful little toddler with her mother’s rich hair and her father’s brown eyes. In Evelyn’s eyes, she was the prettiest child that has ever been born. Of course, she knew she was a little biased, but she didn’t care. Chantia was her and Gustave’s child and she had gotten the best of both parents’ genes.

 

From the very first day, Chantia never ceased to amaze Evelyn. She was a bundle of energy, always trying to investigate the world. Evelyn wanted the absolute best for her toddler, so she bought educational toys for Chantia, hoping that it might help with Chantia’s development. It turned out to be a very good idea, as Chantia loved playing with the blocks. At first, she was a bit confused about it, but eventually figured out how to play correctly with it.

Playing with blocks was a serious business.

Although she loved the playing with the blocks, Evelyn’s best gift to Chantia was the toy xylophone she had bought the little girl. Chantia took to it like a fish to water.

Until she discovered it made music when she hit it. Then she was completely and utterly hooked. It came as no surprise to Evelyn that the girl loved the xylophone so much. From the very first time Evelyn brought the girl home, music had always fascinated the girl.

 
In Evelyn’s eyes, Chantia was definitely the best thing to have ever happened to her. The girl was always laughing and it cheered Evelyn immensely to return home to her laughing bundle of joy.

She would’ve loved to stay at home and spent the entire day playing with her daughter, but she had to work in order to care for her children. With her recent promotion to High School Teacher, Evelyn often had to work until late in the evenings as her boss often assigned her extra tasks to complete, like organising a money increase to the school from the City Hall, or welcoming any new co-workers to town.

Usually by the time she returned home from work, Evelyn was exhausted, but she always made time to spend time with her child, teaching the girl her essential skills; like potty training.

Still, Evelyn was really glad that the two children in her house were so well-mannered. Both Chantia and Mia never cried unnecessarily. Even when she was waiting for her food, Chantia never cried. She was always so delighted to receive her food, no matter how much time it took Evelyn to give it to the little girl.

After feeding Chantia and making sure the girl was safely tucked in in her crib, snuggling with her fairy teddy bear, Evelyn took care of Mia. By the time she finished taking care of both girls, Evelyn was always glad to crawl into bed, falling asleep the minute her head hit the pillow. Her life was incredibly busy, but she wouldn’t exchange it for anything. She loved her life.

As the two girls grew older, Evelyn’s life settled into a contented rhythm. In the mornings, after she woke she took care of her children, followed by waiting for the babysitter and going to work. After she returned home and thanked the babysitter in the evenings, Evelyn made some effort to spend time with Chantia. The girl was reaching the age where books fascinated her, so Evelyn took the time to read with the girl, teaching her the meaning of the pictures inside the books.

After that, it was very difficult to tear the girl away from books. She even left her precious xylophone alone to page through the books and laugh delightedly at the stories and pictures contained within.

All in all, Evelyn was happy with her life and her children. Both girls were wonderfully healthy and happy. It wasn’t until the first Full Moon after Chantia’s birth that Evelyn realised something might be wrong with her daughter.

The evening started off normally enough. She had spent the evening teaching the girl to walk. Chantia was her normal exquisite, happy self; hesitantly taking wobbly steps, but still happily cheerful the entire time.

It wasn’t until a little bit later that Evelyn got her first major fright. She had left the girl playing with her blocks to wash her hands. When she turned around after finishing, her child was gone.

Evelyn searched fervently around the room, calling her child’s name.

“Chantia? Chantia, where are you?” There was no answer; not even the slightest giggle to indicate that a little girl was supposed to be in the room. It was as if the child had simply just disappeared.

With her heart in her throat, Evelyn ran outside, hoping to find her child there. She wasn’t in front of the house either. Evelyn ran around the corner and to her immense relief, she found her child sitting on the grass, staring avidly at the full moon. There was no sign of a smile on the girl’s face.

“Chantia!” Evelyn exclaimed and rushed over to her child. The girl gave no indication that she noticed her mother. Even when Evelyn reached out to pick the girl up, the girl just continued to stare avidly at the moon, even going as far as to try to push her mother away when the woman obscured her view of the moon.

It wasn’t until they were safely back in the house that Chantia started to respond to Evelyn again. She buried her head in her mother’s shoulder and started crying. Evelyn immediately tried to comfort the girl, but nothing seemed to help. The girl just kept crying until she finally cried herself to sleep.

Evelyn continued holding her child, afraid to let go. It had frightened her immensely to find her child missing, only to find her staring so avidly at the moon. She knew it wasn’t normal. Children didn’t do that. It scared her that something about Chantia might not be normal.

What was wrong with her child?

_~...~_

And so the first child is a toddler! Personally, I LOVE Chantia. She definitely got her mother's good looks and she's just so adorable!