I used to like Mary Poppins- That is, before I met Lolly.

One stormy night she stepped into our lives with a storm snapping at her heels. I had been slightly suprised when I saw her lopsided grin, freckled face and scruffy hair. She didnt seem like the sort of Nanny mother and father would’ve picked for my brother and I. I remember glancing their way, but mothers usually pursed lips and upturned nose had melted into a warm smile as she took in the scruffy dripping water onto our expensive carpet.

“Lolly Poppins!” She said sticking out her hand, “a pleasure to meet-“

“You mean like Mary Poppins Poppins!?” Jax squealed. Lolly turned her caremal coloured eyes to him and winked. “I’m her sister,” she had said mysteriosly.

Within a week Lolly had taken charge of the house. She was fun, kind and genuinely seemed to care about us; everything our parents lacked. We woke up to the smell of pancakes on Sundays the clattering of her heavy boots on our tiled floors mingling with her sweet voice. Each morning she would race us to school on our bicycles and during the night she would take us to watch the sunset in the park. Half of the time Jax, Lolly and I would fall asleep sprawled on the couch with popcorn spilling into our hair and a movie still playing. Rather than chastise us as I thought mother would, she had patted Lolly on the shoulder and drifted off to work with a smile curving her face upwards. One night Lolly gave me the brown umbrella she always kept in her room. I remember I had been over the moon. In my mind it was the same as Mary Poppin’s umbrella and I grasped the priceless treasure in my small hands. I slept with it hugged to my chest that night, and thats when the dreams started. I was running through an ocean of green grass with hills rolling out all around me when I the figure of a tall womanfolded up before. She was holding a purple umbrella and as she opened it, the colour bled from the vibrant world and clouds started rolling across the sky. I cried out in suprise and hearing my voice the woman whipped around in suprise. Before I could even react a cloud of purple clouded the world and the dream shifted. Every night I had the same dream. I had it again after a a month of Lolly being our Nanny, but this time it was different. I was running through swishing grass and a smell of wildflowers tickled my nose. A woman folded up in front of me tall and clothed in black with a purple umbrella in her hands. She opened the umbrella and once again the colour oozed from the world, but this time the red stayed. Streams of red running from the womans dress and dripping from the sky. I let out a scream of horror and she whipped around to face me. She had high cheekbones and forget me not blue eyes, but when they saw the brown umbrella clasped in my hands a tear crept from the corner of her eye, carving a glistening scar into her rosy cheeks. Suddenly she stumbled back in horror, staring at something behind me, a look of pure fear blackening her eyes. I woke up with a jolt, the umbrella clutched in my sweaty palms tightly. I couldnt move, sweating under my sheets. Lolly was standing at the foot of my bed, her sillhouette illuminated by moonlight. She wasnt laughing or joking like she usually was- she was just there… staring. Her eyes met mine in the dark. “You must’nt scream Mary, or you’ll end up like her.”

I blinked and Lolly was gone. The next morning she was there playing lego with Jax with a smudge of flour on her cheeks as if nothing was wrong. I convinced myself it must’ve been a dream, but I caught Lolly acting in an unsettling manner. I saw her watching me brushing my hair in the reflection of the mirror, eyes black voids, but when I whipped around she was just scrolling on her phone. One night I went into Jax’s room to ask if he had my socks, but when I opened the door my blood turned to ice. Michael was sitting as stiff as a board on his bed and Lolly was crooning softly and stroking his hair. When Lolly saw me an unatural grin stretched her sharp features…

I CANT BE BOTHERED TO WRITE MORE:

Basicly Lolly isnt lolly and is some random woman who killed the real lolly and made her skin into the umbrella Mary has.

I ran down to mother “Lollys dead.” She turned around slwoly, smiling. It wasnt mother, it was lol- NOt lolly, the woman who had killed lolly and lived in our house for over 3 months.