The Murder House

Eight - Letter Two

Complacency makes you blind.
      What a harsh conclusion to come to, though as always I am a mix of the people who made me. You could argue every person who walks through my doors builds me up further each passing day, and that is true I am forever evolving into what the wider public sees. Though when I refer to who makes me I refer to those who had a large impact on my existence. I do wonder how I came to exist, how my personality is so different from my brother, though there is no wider force to answer my questions. To the people of Willowdale, my brother and I are that wider force. Oh stop it Bellerose you are being philosophical and the last time you did this it ended up with Edwards being dragged through London's streets as a child killer. He was do not take this information wrong, he was convicted of the crimes he committed though I do not believe the full story was told. In a sense, he became complacent with his family and his beliefs he they knew were wrong and built upon his mothers failures. I am sure by this point in the retelling you have met Clementine Owen's at least once, well, let me tell you that starved little toddler is the elder sister to Brendon Edwards. They share the same skin colour and green eyes, though that is where the similarities end, God's plan was to make devil stronger than man, sin stronger than sincerity, taboo more alluring than the norm. Clementine is a ball of joy while Edwards is a ball of abuse, unlike Clementine he wasn't given the grace of peace from his parents. His mother raised him alone after his father walked out on them, she gave him her surname and treated him like a dog. When she locked him in one of my lowest rooms she would call him disgusting and a bad boy for urinating in the bucket she gave him, and if he did not and got sick he was a waste of money. I am not demeaning what Clementine went through by no means, but in my opinion I do believe her younger brother got the short end of the stick.
       He took an interest in medicine after his childhood and went into family medicine. He worked hard and gained the trust of a lot of families, though he noticed some children of a similar abuse to him. I just preface that Edwards was very socially stunted, he did not see his mother as the mother I do, he loved her until the very moment she died in his arms riddled with unknown diseases. When he noticed children showing up with bruises and other related injuries and illnesses he began to wonder how he could help them and harm their parents. His practice was inside my walls, and I may have nudged him into the idea of talking to the children as an adult, I never did endure the idea that you must simplify your language for a child. Talk to them as you would wish to be spoken to and there will be no confusion, a small blurring of boundaries may occur. He asked the child what to do and the child asked him to make it stop. Edwards taking it literally told the child he was kill them and then torment the parents. The child took him up on the offer, finally at peace surrounded by blankets and soft toys, Edwards would stay with the children if they asked or leave depending on their choice. Once the child died he would leave their toys everywhere around the parents homes, send them letters and other ways of torment. One day he had a very bad reaction and went to the police to ask for support, they arrested him and publicly executed him.
       My doors did never open again the same way.
       Now I hear you all ethical, morally corrupt young people with their heads so far up their arses that they can't see the killers point of view. To be fair, I would not either if I was not the slave, poor, assassin, everything wrong with the world House. If I were my perfect, rich, Lord of a brother I would have turned my window ledges up and fogged my windows. I preach such things I would never take part in if circumstances were different, do not judge me I am flawed as you are. Back to Edwards, you may ask well, Lorelai, the great Bellerose House, Clementine died in 1804 and he was executed in 1862 how can the two be related? Well, their mother who I will not even grace by naming had Clementine at fifteen, when she was thirty nine she had Edwards. There's a large gap between the two, you would not imagine they are one from the way he treats her either. The day he was executed she did her best to befriend him, once he acknowledge their bond he turned his back on her. I am biased, I do not know how such a man can say such sins to Clementine. She is the embodiment of joy, she single-handedly keeps my walls illuminated with laughter.
       What else, what else? Kristine has finally appeared, and yes she has always been this stuck up and yes Matthias has always been touchy feely with her. She knows he means no harm and when she gets bitchy he knows she means no harm. I do not have much to say about them because I do not care to comment on such, now how may I say this in a tame, respectable way? Oh fuck that I am a Bellerose by name and nature, she is a whore who sells out to anyone with a good enough backstory. Maybe I would be like that, as I write this I asked my dear brother what he thought of me, if I would be an easy sell out. I did not expect his answer but I should have, he knows me better than I know myself, he can recount what wallpaper was on which wall, as I can recount what colour his railings have been painted. He looked at me, and after a long questioning process on why I needed to know or care, he finally signed settling back.

       "I do believe you would have had a more modern perception of the human act of sexual intercourse. Though I also believe you would not have been easy nor opened your legs as if a door unless you truly, one hundred percent perceived it to be as the best choice of action moving forward," he said.

       "Elaborate dear brother," I asked.

       "Well Bellerose you would not have seen sex as some prize or reward as your dear Kristine and Francesco do. You would have not seen it as something you just do to garner a man's happiness nor would you have needed to use your body as an asset like a woman I shall not name and shame," I however do not have the same dignity. I will name and shame the ridiculous, hissy, battered bitch until my hinges fall off and my bricks evaporate into nothingness. Esmerelda Taylor, wife, mother, whore. Can you tell, my child that I do not like her? He continued, "you are too self confident to believe your self worth is laid upon anything bar self perception,"

       He is entirely wrong, my self worth is laid upon my living and his own happiness. I act like a selfish whatnot but I am anything but, I am very sensitive, you would see that side of me if anyone ever tried to harm my living. I am rambling now, I spoke of Edwards and now I am as satisfied as I shall get. Oh! Before I put you out of your misery, when River left after Amobi got touchy I accidentally dropped a whole antique cabinet on him. Hopefully I have stuffed his mouth full of wood so he will not run it any longer. Gosh I felt too satisfied hurting him, revenge is best sweet do not allow any other to tell you any different. Now as night falls upon Willowdale, allow me to leave you with some parting wisdom my dear brother is rabbiting on about as I write this.  Hopefully this will give you an insight into us.

       "I feel the connection to which we harmonise, our band can not be broken even through criticism. It is as if we grow stronger with each passing moment we stand promising to be more than bricks and mortar. Face it dear sister, our bond can not be broken, I adore you in the most taboo way. Sun and moon combined. Wash away your fears, close your windows and lock your doors, you are straight from the brightest star. I am blessed to be stood here with you until the end of time allows,"

       — The Murder House, June 2024.