"Honey, are you alright?" Laura said from the doorway to Jon's room. She had noticed her rooting through the trash last night, and she had the unsettling feeling that she had thrown out something important. Oddly, the sphinx had kept silent instead of asking her about it.
Still, being her mother, Laura could tell something was very wrong. As another day had come and gone, Jon only grew more detached and sullen. At this moment, the sphinx sat on the floor of her room, hunched so low that her hair brushed the carpet.
Laura sighed. She could no longer pretend to be oblivious. She had to find out the truth. "Jon, can we talk? You've been so quiet lately."
Her daughter turned her head stiffly, the tears running down her cheeks now apparent.
The devastated look on the sphinx's face shocked Laura. "What happened?"
"It's gone, Mom."
"What's gone?"
"The rock that was in that box." Jon indicated said container lying open beside her bed.
"That?" Laura's heart sank. "I'm sorry, Jon. I threw it away. Is that why you were looking through the bags?"
Jon nodded. "There was a hole in one of the bags. Did you see anything fall out?"
Laura thought carefully. "No. Nothing fell out. I'm sure I would've heard it. Can't you just find another rock?"
Her daughter cringed. Even up to this point in her despair, she had held on to the small hope that she was mistaken, that her own parent had unwittingly doomed her to a lifetime on all fours. That hope had now been shattered.
For her part, Laura shared her dismay, though some confusion remained. It had only been a rock, after all. Why was Jon so troubled over such a small thing? "Was it a special rock?" She ventured.
Jon snapped. "Of course it was!" Her voice rose into a shrill screech. "It was in a box under my bed! What, did you think it was some random rock that got there by accident!?"
Laura jumped at the sudden outburst. "I-I Actually, I did. I don't even know why I did. I just assumed."
"How!? How could anyone think a rock just gets into a box by accident? Grandpa gave it to me! He he left it to me " Grief choked off any more of Jon's rant, and she lowered her face onto her paws, shaking with sobs.
Jon's mother gasped. The significance of the rock became clear to her. Any gift from a lost loved one would hold a great degree of value no matter its appearance. Stepping forward, she reached out to comfort her stricken child. "Oh, Jon. I'm so sorry. I didn't know-"
As soon as her fingers made contact with the sphinx's shoulder, a loud, bone-chilling snarl stopped her dead in her tracks. The surprise almost made her scream, but the terror that gripped her heart would not let the sound leave her throat.
Jon fell back, hardly believing that she had produced such a noise. It had been a brief flash of anger, nothing more, and yet, it sounded like something inhumanly vicious. When she had growled during class yesterday, it had merely been a menacing rumble, enough to ward off David's teasing. This, however, was quite different in the worst possible way, and it had been directed at her own mother.
"M-Mom, I'm sorry. Please, don't be scared. I didn't mean to do it. I-I love you, Mom."
Laura stood for a moment. Every fiber in her body wanted to run, to get away from this creature that had replaced her son. Stop it, she told herself. This is my son. No, this is my daughter! If I start doubting her humanity, I don't know what will happen.
Slowly but deliberately, she forced herself to kneel on the floor next to the sphinx. Both mother and daughter had made so many mistakes. She would not make another one this time. With that in mind, she embraced her child, holding her close enough to hear her heartbeat. "It's okay, Jon. It's okay. I love you, too."
