My daughter's been eating a lot of corn lately.

My family and I moved into this house in early summer, a beautiful little place in the country. It has a garden and an enormous field, and my wife is a gardener, so she was very happy. She spent all of her time out there tending to the flowers while I worked in my office. My daughter Madeleine was happy to be out of her boarding school, and she spent most of her time alone in her room reading. She doesn't talk a lot.<br><br>There's an old man that lives next door. He doesn't talk to us much, except to my wife.<br><br>"Oh hello there, young lady," he says. "How are you today?"<br><br>"I'm quite well, thank you."<br><br>"May I ask your name?"<br><br>"I'm Rose. This is my daughter Madeleine and my husband is inside. We just moved in."<br><br>"Oh, nice to meet you, Rose. My name is Edgar."<br><br>He talks with her for a while, and then goes inside.<br><br>"What's his deal?" I ask as we're making dinner.<br><br>"Oh, he's very nice," my wife says. "He just likes to talk sometimes."<br><br>"No, like what's he doing here? He's like, *ninety* years old. Why isn't he in a retirement community?"<br><br>"I don't know," my wife says. "I think he's just a hermit."<br><br>"I think he's kind of creepier than that," Madeleine says.<br><br>We finish eating dinner and I go to bed.<br><br>Over the next few weeks, I notice Madeleine has been eating a lot of corn. I don't know if this is a coincidence with the season or not, but she has it for dinner every night, and a big bowl of cornbread in the morning, and sometimes she'll even eat while she's reading, just a big ear of corn sitting by her on the couch. I try to tell her not to, and my wife agrees with me, but she just shrugs and keeps on doing it.<br><br>"I get enough fiber already."<br><br>"Honey," I say, "you're going to turn into a fucking ear of corn."<br><br>That night, I woke up to the sound of Madeleine being sick. I went in her room and she was throwing up in her trash can, and there was blood all over the place. I called out for my wife, who helped me take her to the hospital.<br><br>We were worried sick while we waited for the test results to come out, but they finally did, and the doctor came in to talk with us.<br><br>"Your daughter is perfectly healthy," the doctor said. "There's nothing wrong with her."<br><br>"What? Then why is she throwing up?"<br><br>The doctor shifted in his chair. "Well, there was something strange about your daughter's sick. We couldn't identify it. But it's not dangerous or anything, so we just flushed it."<br><br>I went out into the waiting room to call a taxi, and when I came back my wife was crying.<br><br>"What's wrong?"<br><br>"Oh god, I think she might be possessed or something."<br><br>"What the fuck? What did the doctor say?"<br><br>"He said she was fine, and then I said I was going to call a taxi, and then he said 'Don't worry, she'll grow on you.'"<br><br>I laughed. "Grow on you? That means 'get used to'."<br><br>But my wife was still crying, and I didn't know what to do.<br><br>We went home, and my wife went to sleep. I stayed in Madeleine's room, reading a book while she slept. When I heard her stirring, I went over and helped her sit up, and she looked at me.<br><br>"Hey, dad," she said.<br><br>"Hey, sweetie. How are you doing?"<br><br>"I feel a little better. I can't believe I got sick. Now I don't have enough money for school."<br><br>"Well, we'll figure it out. Why don't we get some food?"<br><br>"Yeah, okay. That sounds good. Thanks, dad."<br><br>"Don't worry about it, Madeleine."<br><br>"I'm a little sad," Madeleine said.<br><br>"Why?"<br><br>"I don't know. I miss something."<br><br>"What do you miss?"<br><br>"I don't know. It's on the tip of my tongue."<br><br>"Don't worry, it'll come to you. Do you want some corn?"<br><br>"Yeah, that sounds good."<br><br>I went into the kitchen and made a big ear of corn for my daughter, and she ate it greedily. When she was done, she lay back in bed and fell asleep.<br><br>My wife woke me up the next morning, and I went downstairs to make some coffee. As I was making it, I noticed something strange by the window. I walked over to it, and my heart jumped into my throat. Madeleine was standing in the garden, but something was wrong with her. She looked... different.<br><br>As I watched, she buried something in the garden, and then she fell onto her knees.<br><br>I don't know how I snapped out of it. I don't know how long I stood there staring at my daughter digging in the garden. But as I finally came to, I saw Mr. Edgar next door, watching me through his window.<br><br>That night, I woke up to the sound of Madeleine being sick again. I went in her room, and she was standing by the window, vomiting onto the floor. And as I looked out the window, I saw a piece of corn fall from the sky and hit the ground. Suddenly, something burst out of the earth. It was tall and imposing, with long green arms and legs. On top of it was my daughter's head, and she was smiling.<br><br>"Don't worry, daddy," she said. "I'm growing up."<br><br>As I watched, more and more of the things started to come out of the ground, all of them with my daughter's head on them.<br><br>"Daddy, I'm so happy."<br><br>I heard a noise behind me, and I turned to see Mr. Edgar standing there. "They've been doing this for years," he said. "And they'll never stop."<br><br>I ran from the house, into the field, where I hid behind a tree. I watched as the things with my daughter's head on them walked into the house, where they took my wife. I watched as my wife was dragged into the garden, and I watched as the things with my daughter's head buried her into the ground.<br><br>That was the last thing I saw. I stayed in the field for a while, until I was arrested for vagrancy. That's why I'm writing this from inside an asylum; they think I'm crazy, they don't believe my story.<br><br>But I know it's true.<br><br>I look out the window, and I remember the field, and Madeleine, smiling at me. And I think she might have been right, maybe she *is* growing up.<br><br>[The next part was scratched out with black ink]<br><br>[But now Madeleine is my roommate. She doesn't talk a lot, but she's nice. Sometimes I'll catch her eating corn, but she always smiles at me.]<br><br>[Sometimes I can see the green showing through her skin, and I know that one day she'll be strong enough to break through. And then she'll drag me into the garden, where she'll bury me into the ground. And as I lay there, I'll know that Madeleine is growing up.]<br><br>[That's the way it is with daughters.]<br><br>[And that's the way it is with corn.]