ROV (ADD AS I EDIT NEW VERSION)

Chapter 1

Ellie wanted to rise above this, to stop feeling the pit getting deeper each day but her hand was always on the handle of the shovel digging deeper each year and as the hole grew larger she threw her hope within; each day making her feel more empty inside.
Ten years. It had been ten years since the search was called off for her mother, so Joanne Roman was either dead or didn't want to be found and it was tearing her apart.
Any time she ran through the woods,especially on her harder days, she would rest on her makeshift chair- a wooden plank between a large three trunked tree- and would try to calm herself. The songs of the birds and cars below near the winding river that ran at a steady pace allowed her to try and to do the same with her ragged breathing or off kilter heartbeat. But on this day, it was a way to chase away the fear of never seeing her mother again and the fact that they would say she was gone was enough for her to hate being around those pretending to bring their family back together.

Ellies slim body was finally slowing down from her morning run, sweat drying from the cool breeze over her bare calves and shoulders as she played with her purple shoelaces. Resting her chin on her knee was the only position right now that was holding her broken heart together and today it felt as if she were to stand her body would falter, the rip would tear her open and bleed off of the mountain side.
When they stopped investigating, stopped looking all because of a stupid time frame they stated to her younger self that if her mother wanted to be found she would have by now but it still angered her to this day how little the dectives seemed to care about the remnants of the small family breaking apart. It could have been anyone's mother, or wife, or daughter but it had to be hers. Why did it have to be hers?
Also, why would a mother leave her child- her family even? Though she knew the reason why she had to be put away the year before her disappearance, the love for a mother, no matter what they did to you still made her wish she was back. What she had seen that day in the tub and what had transpired by her own mothers hands, it might have been her imagination or her mother truly going mad. Though that face will always haunt her, she knew it wasn't truly her and yet when she tried to tell the others it wasn't they couldn't believe it.

The urge to run crept upon her once more as she pictured that night, the night that changed everything and made her fear her mother and tears threatened to drip down her cheek. Shaking her head to stop the tears she felt the need for an explanation knowing it meant everything if she could just ask her why and a part of her knew it would help her father as well.

Today was no exception of a normal day for either of them as she watched her father mindlessly read the paper, sipping his coffee but nothing else from the plate before him. He was out of it, but so was she. She even had a tough time eating the food that had been made due to her recurring nightmare of a dark creature and her own death. This day was the hardest for her, not just a daughter mourning a mother but a daughter losing hope that her father was thinking the same thing. He could go to work, whereas she couldn't stand to be near anyone and even through his quietness she could tell he wasn't the hopeful searcher he was years ago. As if he had given up all together being content with the life he was living with her.

She looked to Maria, who was taking a sip of her Earl Gray Tea, sighing as she watched her husband. Ellie wondered how it must be, to be a second wife, to have a friend die and be the alternative. She knows that Maria was a great fit for him, but it was still odd to see someone who wasn't her mother with her father. Sure, she was considered a form of family when her mom was here but when their relationship changed to something more, it wasn't easy. She hated Maria, as if she was the reason her mom never came back but she had learned to love her. She had learned that she wasn't trying to take her place but be there for Ellie if she needed it.

Ellie felt guilt for those feelings towards a woman who was just trying to help pick up the pieces of a broken home as she sat in her tree hoping the whispers of animals would give her answers she seeked. She had little time to worry about how her father was acting though, the same dream had replayed since her twenty third birthday a month ago and she couldn't shake the foreboding it entailed. Shivering with fear, she ran from the memory before it would consume her.