She Was Here . . .

Chapter 1

"Jayden!" yelled a voice.

I turned around to be faced with Mrs Williams, our next door neighbour standing near our fence. Her face paled as though she had seen a ghost.

"Hello Mrs Williams! Good to see you. How's your son? Is he feeling any better?"

"Jayden. My dear boy. How kind of you to be worrying about my sick son at a moment like this!" she says, getting teary eyed.

"Why? What happened?" I questioned, "Is everything okay?"

"Oh my dear God. How do I say this?" she was really contemplating whether to answer my questions or not. "I want you to come inside and have something to drink first," said she, pointing to her front door.

Despite the panic clearly visible in her voice, I was too tired and just couldn't wait to hit the bed. I knew I had to turn her down nicely.

"Even though I'd love to Mrs. Williams, I think I will pass that for some other time," I replied, "Thanks for the offer though!"

Before she could say anything, I waved off her confusing behaviour and unlocked my front door.

Stepping inside, I noticed something was rather off. I locked the door behind me and took off my shoes. Then I slowly looked around, noticing that something WAS wrong.

"Mother," I thought out loud. Paranoia settled in the pit of my stomach, the uneasiness reflected in each step I took towards the kitchen.

She was nowhere to be seen. Usually she'd be at the kitchen island waiting for me with a smile or occupied with the TV. However she wasn't downstairs at all.

"How weird," I thought. "She must be upstairs or maybe she had popped outside to get something".

The thing was, she hardly ever left home due to many reasons I care not mention. So thinking that she would be in her room, I strode up the stairs. I opened her door, expecting her to see me and call me inside. But the view I was greeted with made the protein shake, that I just had after gym, make its way up my throat.

I saw a rope. Hanging from the fan. With a stool underneath. But my mother nowhere in sight.

Holy fucking shit. What storm had struck in my absence?

Saying I was distraught by the sight would be an understatement. Something broke into thousand pieces at the very core of my body.

Beep Beep Beep.

Sigh.

Why do I have to be constantly reminded of what the 15 year old me went through? And every night at that.

I have been having this same nightmare ever since 'The Incident'. I can't believe it's already been two years.

Turning off the alarm clock, I sit up in my bed and stretch my arms. Time to go through another dreadful routine. Time to see the same faces I saw before 'The Incident', only now I dreaded to see them. Yes, absolutely loathed.