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In his daydream, Manson was twenty-one again and standing on the doorstep of a two-story house. It was about 110 degrees outside and no one was answering. He tried ringing the doorbell again. Then, the door opened and there was a little girl about four or five: faded floral sundress, skinned knees, dark braids. Princess Gretel.“Are you Maleficent?” she asked him.The one he knew as Marguerite (in his head at least; that was not her true name) had thin wrists and long legs and a vacant smile. She was easy to like, though she didn’t seem to have a lot going on upstairs. Daisy seemed to like her the best of his family and it was easy to understand why. She was the most affable of Asteraceae and never treated Manson with the apathy or contempt that the others did.He had a clear memory in his mind of Marguerite and Princess Gretel. It had been a boiling hot day in July. Princess Gretel was frolicking in a kiddie pool while Marguerite sat on the porch reading a textbook and playing a mixtape of ‘70s funk. He remembered most the expanse of Marguerite’s skin that her tank top, worn cut-offs, and prescription sunglasses did little to hide.She’d seen him watching, invited him outside. When she bent him over him to hand him a beer from the ice chest on the porch, he inhaled the smell of sunblock, clean sweat, and the faint lingering of perfume. He’d wanted to talk to her but couldn’t think of anything to say.He was an only child and had always wondered what it was like to have a brother or sister. He’d get a rough idea pretty soon afterwards. Daisy had come outside at some point and sat in Marguerite’s lap, pretending not to notice than she was there.“Get off me, you little shit.” she’d shrieked. But he’d ignored her.Princess Gretel had apparently grown bored of swimming and chose to run over and squirt them all with the hose. Marguerite had abruptly stood up then, sending Daisy crashing onto the concrete porch with a thud. She loudly berated her niece, only to get another face full of water. She took off running after her niece while Daisy lay on the porch, still dazed from his sudden fall.Manson couldn’t decide whether to be incredibly amused or annoyed. He’d been inclined to the latter feeling at first, but being soaking wet did provide some relief from the heat, so he decided to be amused.Still, Marguerite had forced Princess Gretel to give him a towel and apologize to him. She was shy and genuinely sorry and crawled into his lap afterwards and gave him a hug.┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄Princess Gretel was probably an adult now. That was strange to think about. He doubted that she’d hug him how or that Marguerite would be quite so friendly. He didn’t even want to think about the Princess’ mother would do to him.He never thought her real name fit her very well, either, and constantly thought of her instead as Poppy. Or sometimes the Red Queen, with Marguerite as the White Queen. Unlike her sister and daughter, she never seemed to have liked him much. He couldn’t imagine that Poppy and Marguerite had thought of well of him since ‘96 and their opinions had probably only hardened since they’d lost Daisy.Daisy had often referred to his mother, sisters, and nieces as “the coven” and “she-jackals.” It was a joke, but at times, Manson often wondered if could have been literal in some way… Perhaps they’d cursed him (and also Twiggy) for what they’d done to Bellis perennis.Which would certainly explain a lot. Perhaps it was just guilt, yet there were plenty of times when he couldn’t help but feel cursed. In retrospect, it has seemed like everything had started going wrong in 1999. There had been highs again, but the lows of 2007, 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021 had been so incredibly low that it didn’t quite natural.In 2021, he’d seriously thought about contacting Poppy and Marguerite and begging them to undo the curse. But he had no idea how to get a hold of them and, besides… it was an absolutely crazy thing to say to someone.Perhaps there was no curses, no magic, nothing supernatural. Perhaps it was all just him and his choices, nothing more.Somehow, that seemed even worse.