The Collymore Family

Chapter 26

Irene squinted her eyes at the photo in front of her. Her legs swung back and forth on the couch as she gripped the photograph in her hand, trying to pinpoint details. Her eyes glanced from Mr. Collymore to Angelica and to Mrs. Collymore, all sitting together in the same photograph that Irene had found again in her parents' house. Even now, looking at the photo, it was hard to see any forms of abuse that had been inflicted on Angelica. The young girl's arms and feet were covered by her sweater and trousers, and she seemed to have no visible bruises on her face, neck, hands, or feet. She looked closer at Angelica's face, trying to detect anything.

It was only then that she began to notice little details. Her lips were cracked, and in the corner of her lip, there was a dark red slit that Irene had somehow missed before. It looked like it had been ripped off with force very recently, and had only stopped bleeding a few minutes before the photo was taken. There were eyebags under her eyes which appeared very light and barely noticeable due to the lighting of the photograph. Irene only just noticed that Angelica's eyes were puffy, like she had been crying. It took Irene a moment to realize that the small pieces of 'fur' in her hair was really dandruff. Angelica's widened smile gave a clearer image of the wrinkles that ran down the sides of her eyes, likely crow's feet. Irene wondered how she hadn't noticed it before since the more odd things she spotted in the photograph, the more appeared. 

Angelica's knuckles were red and seemingly swelling. While noticing her hands, Irene also realized that Angelica's fingers were abnormally skinny. And then, her eyes glanced down at Angelica's ankles, and Irene felt her lips part in surprise when her eyes spotted it. Angelica's trousers rode up slightly on her left leg, and as it was covered a little behind Mrs. Collymore, Irene barely noticed it. Upon closer inspection however, Irene took notice of the large bruise at the back of her ankle just above her foot. 

The wound was so dark that Irene had mistaken it for a shadow. Part of it was being covered by Mrs. Collymore's hand, and it seemed that Mrs. Collymore's hand placement directly in front of the bruise was intentional. Considering it was a black bruise, Angelica must have gotten it only a few days prior to the photograph being taken. The bruise didn't seem to be swelling, but just looking at it made Irene want to clutch her stomach. Had Mr. and Mrs. Collymore done this to her? 

Sure, these findings didn't exactly mean it was caused by the abuse Angelica had faced, but it was indeed possible. Angelica was only eight when this photograph was taken, judging by the date in the corner. How could an eight year old already have wrinkles? It was likely she was going through something, as wrinkles were a sign of anxiety and stress. Her eyebags and clearly puffy eyes also signaled this. Why did she have so many bruises in one photo? Her knuckles were red and swelling, her lip had a deep slit in it that was definitely bleeding before this photograph was taken, and there was a large bruise on her ankle, one that couldn't have been caused just by falling. Irene was shocked by how this so-called 'perfect' family photo had so many flaws to it that were hidden in plain sight. Irene wondered if the photo had been taken by force, if that was the reason why Angelica's widened smile was so unnatural and uncanny in a way.

Irene felt pity for the young girl. She wondered how much pain Angelica was in, before, during, and after this photo was taken. How sadistic these two monsters could be, to deliberately harm their own daughter and then force her to take a family photo with them as though nothing had ever happened. This poor girl had gone through so much in her short life, and was still praying that she could get revenge, still wanting Irene's help. 

Irene thought about how scared Angelica was to have gone through this on a daily basis, to have no one by her side. No one to comfort her, no one to save her, no one to give her a childhood where she could be safe and happy. Irene could only imagine how scared Angelica must feel for Noella, her younger sister who could possibly end up in a similar situation. It hurt Irene so much, seeing how two people who had taken care of Irene since she was a child had abused and murdered their own daughter. It hurt to know she couldn't go to the police, not yet, anyway. The process was so painfully slow, so agonizing to be in.

Before she knew it, there were tears running down her cheeks, and Irene had to wipe them away quickly so they wouldn't land on the photograph. Irene bit her lip as she blinked her tears away, refusing to let it stop or distract her. Her gaze averted back to the photo and scanned over the three of them again. Irene felt her eyes land over to the accessory that lay atop Angelica's head. Her bright, red headband. She felt a wave of confusion wash over her sadness, and then a sense of familiarity. When she first got the photograph, Irene didn't notice anything about that headband. However, looking back at it, she felt something different. 

That day she went to Ivy's home, she'd found some heart plushie under a hat. It had a hot glue stain underneath it, as though it were attached to something and had been ripped off. For some reason, Irene felt it was important to take. Something about it was familiar to her, and only now did she consider a possibility.

Irene put the photograph down on the couch and stood up, making her way to the bedroom. She went into her closet, searching through the boxes she had stacked inside, until she found her book bag. It was her old backpack from 12th grade, which she now used to store any old items she wanted to keep memory of. She opened it up and began to search through the bag. There were files, papers, old certificates, journals, scrapbooks. And then, her hand hit something soft, and Irene pulled out the heart plushie. Stuffing her book bag back into her messy closet, Irene ran back to the living room and picked up the photograph. 

She looked closely at the headband, and then back at the heart plushie. It was incredibly hard to tell just from a photograph. The lighting was much better at the top of the photograph, so Irene could see the headband quite clearly. She felt her heart race faster when she realized that both items were the exact same bright-red colour. A spark of excitement arose in her when she realized she was getting closer, though it was short-lived when she considered a possibility. How did she know for sure that the heart plushie was to be attached to the headband?  Irene didn't have the headband in person, the lighting in the photo could have made the headband appear a brighter colour, and even if it was the same colour, what if it just wasn't meant to be attached? Irene looked back at the photograph. It looked so similar...but there was no way to be sure.

And then, she remembered something.

Yesterday, when she'd been babysitting at the Collymore's house, Irene had talked with Angelica. A part of Irene's memory remembered Angelica telling her that she would label all of her belongings, even her clothes, to try and get more used to writing and avoid punishments. Like Irene had done before, she stood up and went back to her closet to grab those notes she had used to communicate with the spirit. She stored them in a zip lock bag in the far end of her closet, hidden underneath a bright-yellow dress. She fished through the notes and found the one where Angelica was detailing her punishments. 

"I started to practice writing more by labeling all of my things. I would write my name on my clothes, shoes, and my headband. I wrote on everything to try and get faster and better at it. I wanted to make them happy so they would stop hurting me."

Sure enough, it was written down. Angelica even said specifically that she'd labelled her headband, which even if it wasn't the same one, Angelica would have labelled all of her headbands, right? If Angelica labelled everything, then that would mean the heart plushie had to have her name written down, or at the very least her initials. It was Irene's only hope for now. 

Irene ran back into the living room and picked up he heart plushie. She began to look around the heart and checked every side of it. She looked in the more obvious parts, and when she couldn't find anything, Irene ran her fingers down the edges of the heart. On the left edge, Irene spotted something. It was writing that had been written not in black sharpie, but red pen that was a very similar colour to the heart. It was likely done intentionally so that the writing could camouflage with the heart. It took Irene a moment to make out the writing.

Angelica Collymore  was written on the edge.

Irene felt a wave of relief wash over her, despite the circumstances. She was getting somewhere. The heart plushie was very much likely attached to the headband, and even if it wasn't, Irene now knew that the heart plushie definitely belonged to Angelica. She was glad that she'd picked it up when she found it underneath that hat. This could be useful, perhaps even used as evidence.

However, the relief Irene had felt left as quickly as it arrived, when another thought came upon her, a thought that confused her and terrified her at the same time.

If it belonged to Angelica, why did Ivy have it in her house?