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TW: physical and verbal abuse, violence
Eleanora let herself into her mother's house without knocking, banging the door open with all her might and heaving her things inside. She left her trunk and her owl cage with Circe inside at the door, not planning on staying long. At the noise, Eveline Marks, Eleanora's mother, came running in from the kitchen. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her daughter, wild-eyed and messy-haired, standing in the open doorway with a furious expression contorting her face.
"Where is he?" Eleanora demanded, scowling at her mother. Eveline stared in wonder and horror at her daughter, trying to piece together what on earth she was doing there. "Stephen, mum. Tell me where he is and I'll kill him for what he did to Daisy." Eleanora looked so serious, so absolutely livid, that Eveline believed her.
"He's not- he's not here."
"When does he get home from work?"
"S-soon. I think," Eveline said, cowering away as Eleanora drew her wand from the pocket of her jeans.
"How could you let him do that to her? I thought you said she'd be safe! The only reason I left her here is because you promised me she would be alright, and now she's in the hospital!" Eleanora thundered.
Eleanora felt white hot anger flare up inside of her. "I was wrong about you!" she screamed. "My dad deserved better than you, and I took your side. I took your side my whole life!" She was on the verge of hysterics. Eveline edged further backwards. Instead of hurting her mother, Eleanora turned and sprinted up the stairs.
She hurdled into her old room and started opening the drawers in her old desk, rifling around. She heard the front door open and Stephen came in, shouting something at Eveline. Eleanora kept searching her drawers. Finally, she found what she was looking for. A commotion downstairs had begun and seemed to be escalating quickly. All of Cillian and Eveline's old letters from back when they were in love. The shouts from the floor below grew louder. Eleanora had found the letters in the attic one day and kept them as proof that her family had once been happy. Now, she wanted to burn each and every one of them right before her mother's eyes. She pulled the rubber band off and turned to the door, but froze when she heard the sickening crack from downstairs.
Somehow, she knew what had happened before she saw the scene. She crept to the top step and peered over the banister, afraid of what she would see. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw her mother's motionless body laying on the floor next to the edge of the wall. The letters dropped from her hand and fluttered like snowfall over the banister to the floor below. Eleanora tiptoed down the stairs, first arriving at Circe's cage. She crouched down, her eyes still trained on her mother.
