Elaine woke up in a house, not her own.
The last thing she could remember was kissing Aaran. She wanted to make love to him. She still did. But for some reason she could not recall anything that happened after that moment. "Aaran!" She called out stepping down onto the floor. The hardwood was an ashy grey, rather than a red-toned brown. The room was painted an ivory white, the sheets of the bed she arose from were a soft pink, the blankets on top were an array of deeper reds and pinks. There were wall arts of grapefruits and flamingo's hung around the room. Everything looked so modern and chic compared to her older, rather drab house. Though it was dark, the family she created in it made it drip with abundant life.
That is what made that house her home.
She walked out of the tall door into the hall. It was not her hall. The hall had 5 doors. Each one lead into a different bedroom, and each bedroom was connected to a bathroom. In addition, there were grand big stairs that led down to the first floor. She tiptoed down them quietly and looked around. There was a foyer, a dining room, a kitchen, a living room, and an office all on the main floor. It kept that modern chic vibe all throughout. White cabinets with glass accents and steel handles. A gorgeous white marble slab countertop and island with little flakes of silver tracked all throughout. That same ashy grey wood coating the floor of every room, always accompanied by a decorative rug.
The living room had a salmon colored sofa with white and silver pillows lined on it. There was a large flat screen television mounted to the wall, as well as little knick-knacks of all sorts placed around to give the room more life. But it was not her house. Now realizing she was alone she began to panic. She searched for a phone, something she should have done in the first place. She found it and saw the contact for her husband was cleared out of her phone. Luckily she knew it but heart. But.. each time she called, the phone would just ring on and on. Eventually she quit and walked out to the door.
She wasn't familiar with her surroundings or the neighborhood she was in. An uneasy discomfort grew in her stomach when suddenly she remembered something very important. Elaine rushed up the stairs and tore open the door of each of the bedrooms. In the third one of five, there she lay. Y/n's small body sat comfortably on a full-sized bed, fast asleep. Elaine took a sigh of relief, going to pick her up but she noticed something in the corner of her eye. A small envelope sitting on the edge of the bed.
She felt the grittiness of the white paper and smelled it. It was from Aaran, she could tell. Elaine snuck her index finger under a small hole in the paper. She glided her nail down the inner flap and ripped it open. She pulled out two sheets of looseleaf. They were stapled together and folded tightly into a rectangle. She looked at it for a moment, she feared what would be inside of it. The memories of her friends voices played in her head like a violent trumpet.
"What happens when you come home, and he's not there?"
Her mind shifted to the worst.
The absolute worst.
She slowly unfolded the letter, pulling apart the staples one by one. Staring at the two pages in quivering fear. They were written in smooth black ink. Her eyes glossed as she read over the first line.
My Elaine
She refused to let tears fall, she choked them all back. Folding the papers back up, she shoved them into her pocket and picked up her child, making her way out of the front door. There was no car in the driveway so she called an Uber. She was going back home, she didn't want a fucking letter, she wanted Aaran to tell her anything she needed to know out of his own mouth. She refused this. When the driver arrived she got into the car, holding Y/n close to her chest. The drive was silent, Elaine didn't have it in her to make conversation, she was brimming a sob and didn't have the strength to pick her head off of the window's glass.
When they made it, she staggered out of the car. "No." She said aloud. The word repeated itself in her mind, over and over again. "No, No, No." She says. The house was nothing, nothing but charred memories. She could see soot coating the grass around the burnt plot of land. "Elaine!" A voice calls out. Her heart fills. Aaran hadn't gone, she wasn't alone.
"When I saw the house, I was hoping everything was alright, Then I didn't see ya for awhile. Good to know you're doing good." A neighboring house owner says. Elaine had seen the man once or twice, taking in groceries or cutting grass. "Did you see what happened?" She asks in a hushed voice. "Yeah, yeah! late last night, the house went up in flames, it was sporadic! Completely out of nowhere. The house burned so quickly, the fire must have been real hot. But the craziest thing was the fire didn't spread.
It only burned on that little plot of land. When the house was no more than ash, the fire died out." He says.
"The police didn't come?" She asks. "They came, but it took awhile, coincidentally there was a car accident, took forever to get through traffic. When they got here the fire was already long gone." He says. Elaine nods and her neighbor walks back to his home, waving her off. Elaine stepped onto the black dirt and walked into the center of it before dropping to her knees. One little flower was rooted in the soil. It was all that was left of the last 5 years of her life. She finally let her sobs flow as she wailed on the ground.
Y/n was still in her arms, confused and quite dazed. She stared blankly at the flower her mother cried so loudly over. Y/n outstretched her little hands and grabbed at it. Yanking it out of the dirt and keeping it for herself. Elaine looked up at the sunlit sky, her tears ran down her cheeks and neck. She no longer had a home, a place to call her own. All she had were those two sheets of looseleaf and the child in her arms.
Elaine decided that was enough.
She sat criss crossed on the dirt beneath her and sat Y/n in her lap. Elaine pulled out the paper from her pocket and began to read.
My Elaine, the address is 1340 shinzaline street. I assumed you would have gone back to our old home and found whatever was left of it, so when you're ready to go back, you can find your way. I know you probably have a lot of questions, that I wish I could answer, more than anything, I wish I could answer them, but I can't. All I can tell you is this world is full of evil. And evil that sources from every aspect of life, an evil one cannot control, but an evil that will continue to manifest long after this world ends. I think a bit of that evil exists within me, and I don't know how or why but I fear that it may harm you, or Y/n. And in this life, In every form of this life, you two are all I value, you two are all I care for and all I desire to care for. If anything were to happen I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. So for that reason I have decided to leave.
The house I have prepared for you is completely paid off, It's in a nice neighborhood, I hope the decor is to good enough. I know you have some strong opinions when It comes to taste. I did my best. Financially I know you aren't dependent on me, I'm sure you are much better off than me, but I still left a bit of pocket change in the bottom dresser drawer of the room you woke in.
More than anything I'm sure you are wondering where I've left to. I can guarantee it isn't a place you will be able to find. I'm not even sure If it is a place I will survive in, any place that doesn't have you isn't a place I can live in, but i'll try for the sake of your safety. But all in all Elaine I won't hate you for missing me, but I need you to forget about me. I'm not entirely sure what you should tell your family, I'll leave that in your hands, If you think it'll be easiest to label me dead, I understand. That is why I chose to burn the house. If you needed a easy excuse, you can just say I was in the home. And I'm sure you don't wanna hear that, I'm sure you don't want to hear any of this. You want this all to be a bad dream or some sick joke. I wish it were too. But this is real life, and nothing of it can be altered.
I am gone Elaine. And I won't be coming back. You will forever be my wife but please no longer recognise me as your husband.
Elaine stopped reading. She could see the dried tear stains on the paper, they shattered every fiber of her soul. She couldn't bare to read any further. She understood more than enough. She was a single mother, she had a good job, and a nice home. Elaine had worked at the speed of light for most of her life, she was used to things moving quickly around her. In one day she lost her husband, her home, and all the conviction she held in her body. Elaine cried, god knows she did, she can't say she wasn't hurt. But she didn't linger on it for too long. As the years went on she went to work, she cared for her daughter, she ate by herself, she slept with other men. And Aaran stayed true to his word. He never came back.
She hoped he would but he didn't. When Y/n was finishing off elementary school she landed the biggest deal of her life. Her current boss at the time had died of old age, he had no children or a wife and he often hit on her. Elaine entertained the man but was never unprofessional. She was shocked to see his entire empire had been left in her small hands. Those skinny fingers that resembled her fathers had a full business sitting in its palm.
The stress wore her down, she didn't really have the time to raise Y/n. But gratefully she was blessed with a calm child. She could trust Y/n cook and care for herself. She was home alone often but she didn't mind. She enjoyed the peacefulness of being alone at a very young age. The world was always so cruel to her. Y/n asked her mother for pets, she thought it would ease the loneliness she felt from time to time. But Elaine was not a fan of the idea of an animal in her home. She usually told her it was due to the lack of space, which wasn't entirely untrue. The house was large but the backyard was cramped, a large tree took up most of the space the animal would roam in.
Because of Elaine's packed schedule Y/n was put in virtual schooling. Elaine wanted Y/n in a private school but the ones in the area were too far to bus and she definitely didn't have time to pick up and drop her off at school, so staying at home was the easiest. Y/n didn't mind this either, she liked wearing her pajamas all day and barely paying attention to lectures. She was still ridiculously smart without them. Most would think being isolated for the majority of one's life would make them quiet and reserved, but Y/n was more than talkative and very outgoing. On the seldom days her mother was free she enjoyed going to the zoo and amusement parks. She didn't have many friends but her mom was a lot of fun.
Her mother was like a mom-sister. She felt like she could confide in her mother, laugh and joke with her. For that reason she held no resentment towards Elaine. She never felt abandoned or neglected. She was just by herself.
Y/n really only had online friends. When she would go out to the mall or to the movies by herself she saw friends in groups, sure she envied them a little but once again Y/n wasn't dumb. She had watched friends grow to hate each other in the blink of an eye. She could see the hatred behind their eyes, even as they laughed with each other. But she still envied them. The little things she was supposed to experience by now, like having a boyfriend, or going to homecoming. She never got those experiences. To help herself cope she would often talk down on the 'average' teenage lifestyle. "At least I don't have to wear those hideous uniforms". She'd tell herself. Yet every time halloween rolled around she found herself being some form of school-girl.
Zombie school-girl, Ghost school-girl, Anime school-girl... you get the gist. Every October 31'st she had on a pleated skirt.
Other than that pitiful loneliness she displayed every so often, Y/n was normal. Well... as normal as a cursed child gets. From a young age she could always see them, but one thing she had that her father did not, was apathy of a god. She couldn't be bothered with the curses that caught her vision. For awhile she thought everyone could see them too, and they didn't care. So naturally she paid them no mind either. But soon it became obvious that only she could see them. Even then Y/n couldn't possibly care less.
As for her father, Y/n was told her father had gone missing years ago.
"Always keep a lookout for him." Her mother would say.
Elaine never had the courage to kill him off. "He died in a fire" Is what she could have said, but rather she said he went missing. She told her family the same thing. She couldn't bare to say 'he left' either. She didn't want to soil his name. But killing him off didn't feel right either. She even lied to the police. She filed a vague report, bullshitted with the detectives. In the end it was filed under unsolved and was left a cold case. Her family mourned his loss and she became a 'widow' in a sense.
To this day.
Elaine never finished the letter.