Elizabeth (Currently Editing)

A House That Haunts The Mind (Edited)

I watched as my mother climbed into the carriage in front of the house. She had given me no heartfelt goodbyes or farewells, only a small, empty nod as she looked back at me one last time. It hurt, her being so cold, and it had stung deep in my heart and burned like an old wound, festering with infection. She had not always been like this; I can still remember the days when she would watch me leave for school. my mother used to weep as she saw me off, shaking while hugging me, but those days were over, and my mother would never return.

I understood her need for departure from this house. My mother told me that the walls often swelled with memories of the past, haunting her with ghosts, both pleasant and malicious. She would never go into specifics, but I could tell from some of the faces she made when she told stories of her past that some memories held pain instead of the lovely sincerity that old memories should. I felt her sorrows as she wept about the house, wandering like a lost spirit, in an attempt to ground herself after father's death.

"Goodbye Mother", I whispered as her carriage crossed over the horizon. I would most likely never see my mother again. In her old age, she had grown weak and sickly, and the ever-constant rain of the regain we lived in would not help her health. So off she went to her sister's estate, a lovely farm that was run in the new world. I had never met my mother's family before. We were estranged after my mother had met my father and her family had moved to the new world, he wished to stay for they had built a home of the old house my mother's family used to run.

I took one last look out to where my mother's carriage once was, hoping I could see one last glimpse of her, but it was too late. breathing a heavy sigh, I turned back to the house and entered. opening the door, hinges creaking with age and dust, I made my way through the foyer and up the large stairs, I needed to rest after today. Turing down a large hallway I made my way to my room.

My room had always been a safe space for me. It was the one place I could go where I would not be bothered by things like lessons and chores. It was mine and mine alone. Mother and father had allowed me to paint it my favorite color, a deep purple that you could lose yourself in if you stared long enough. My room had the largest windows in all the house, grand ones that were perfect for gazing at the stars. 

It was always pleasant seeing the stars from my bedroom windows, as it was once something I did with my father every night before I went to sleep. But now it was me staring up to the heavens in those big windows, searching for something that I didn't even know I was looking for. Even so, those stars speak to me with such a soft elegance and mystery that lulls me to sleep every night; a quiet melody that they would only sing for me and my father.  And even though it saddened me every evening when I had to look away at them to prepare myself for sleep, I turned from those stars and started to prepare for the long night I had to endure. 

Climbing my way into bed, the candle on the side table flickering as I shifted to get comfortable, almost instantly I noticed the desolate silence that permeated the house. My mother was now gone and no more would she come to say those sweet goodnights. All I was met with was a closed door and the unmistakable loneliness that my mother had left me with as she rode over the horizon. But I believe every child must learn this feeling, there will always be a day when children's parents leave them for one reason or another. It hurts to feel this emotion, but it is something we will all have to live on within our lives. Even if we never want to. 

I nestle under the covers, trying to calm my ever-rapid thoughts, and finally get myself to meet my dreams.