Saralyn Miller (Orphanage~Valentine’s Day~Murder)
So many memories had started flooding her mind as she stood beside the car staring at her childhood home from the road. Not all of her childhood memories were as sweet as most of her friends' memories. Instead, hers were the kind that would leave a sour taste behind and make you wish that you'd never heard the words that seemed to linger in the air long after they were spoken. Her fathers’ fits of drunken rage. All of the broken promises that her mom had made before she’d left them on Valentine’s Day fifteen years ago. She hadn’t even bothered to take them with her. There were also the many nights spent in the closet rocking her little brother to sleep while she reassured him that all would be fine again in the morning. With her mother’s absence, the man that should have protected had begun focusing all of his anger on her and her brother. As soon as Jacob was old enough, they had left and never looked back.
The bitter, cold air outside warned of the wintry days that were on their way, causing the house to seem as broken and lonely as she had felt growing up there. She’d always heard that before they’d moved in, the house used to be an orphanage that had been shut down. That could only mean that the decrepit house hadn’t seen brighter days in a very long time, if ever. The years of neglect had taken a toll on the house. The outside hadn't been painted since before her parents had moved into the house before she was born. The wood looked as though it was chipping away to reveal the white paint beneath it. A few of the windows on the first floor had been broken. The shabby front door was only hanging by the top hinge and swayed in the wind. And the roof was falling in on what was once the living room where she and Jacob had played with the few toys they’d had.
Looking around the yard, where even the trees announced their sadness with their bare branches, Libby remembered all of the times she had taken her brother outside away from the madness. She’d always felt safer when they weren't inside that awful house. Making up silly games to distract Jacob from the yelling that seeped through cracks in the walls, they sat out there for hours until their mother came looking for them. Mother would always tell them the same lies that Libby whispered in Jacob's ear to soothe him and make excuses for the lousy drunk of a father.
A hand squeezed her shoulder allowing her to leave the memories behind as her husband walked up behind her. "Are you ready to get this over with?"
"As ready as I'm going to get," she said leaning into him. Her father had finally drank himself into a lonely death and left her with the burden of dealing with the property. She’d scheduled for the house to be torn down by the city and planned on selling the property afterwards. They were only there to collect some things that belonged to her mother.
"It's alright, he's gone now. He can't hurt you anymore." Matt said as he reached for her hand. "We'll go in and look for the pictures and then the workers can tear the place down."
She looked over at the wrecking ball that was in position and ready for the say so. Wishing that her brother could be there to witness the destruction of their nightmares, she forced herself towards her past. Matt helped her trudge through the dusty remains until they’d found old box of pictures that her mom had kept in the hall closet. They’d been right where she’d left them. When they’d returned to the car, Matt had taken the box and stowed it away in the trunk. He’d only left her side to go and tell the construction worker that they were finished inside. She’d seen the man nod his head and then signal the others go ahead with the demolition. They stayed around to witness the destruction of the house that had haunted her for so long. When they drove away, there was nothing left standing.
A few weeks had gone by and it had felt like the chain of her past had finally started to break its hold on her. She still struggled with not being able to understand how her mom could have left them to endure the pain that they had. Still yet, Libby was beginning to feel like she could move forward in life. Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t hear the knock on her front door. Getting up from the kitchen table where she’d been pondering over her morning cup of coffee, she went to answer it.
She pulled open the door to see two officers standing on her porch steps. One was slightly older than the other with black hair that was kept short and the other looked to be closer to her age with a blonde military cut. She gave them a faint smile of confusion. “Good morning, officers. Is there something that I can do for you?”
The older officer who looked to be in his late thirties nodded in greeting. “Morning ma’am, we’ve come across evidence of a possible murder and would like to ask you a few questions. May we come in?”
“A murder, I don’t understand? How could I help you with that matter?” Libby asked. But even as the question left her lips, fear began to wash over her. “Jacob is alright isn’t he?
She hadn’t spoken to Jacob in a couple of days but everything seemed to be going really good with him at college the last she’d talked to him. Libby had made it her responsibility to take care of her brother and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if something had happened to him. She looked to the officers for answers to her questions.
It was the younger gentleman who answered this time. “Ma’am, your brother is just fine. No need to worry. Can we please come in and discuss the matter at hand?”
“Um, sure,” she answered as she stepped aside to allow them entrance. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, that sounds great,” said the older one as he stepped past her.
“This way, gentlemen,” Libby said leading them into her small kitchen. “Have a seat at the table while I make your coffee, will you?”
She poured their cups full and then joined them at the table. Gesturing to the center of the table she said, “Cream and sugar is there if you want it.”
They both thanked her for the coffee but preferred theirs black. Taking a sip, the older officer spoke first. “My name is Steve and this here is my partner, Michael. We’d like to ask you what you know of your mother’s disappearance.”
Libby’s eyes grew wide and she forgot how to breathe for a moment. She wished that Matt was here to get her through this, but he’d left for work hours ago. When she finally coaxed herself to breath again, she opened her mouth to speak. “It’s been fifteen years since she left us. My brother and I came home from school on Valentine’s Day to find her gone. We’d thought that maybe she had went to the store but then she never came home that night. Or any other night after that and when we questioned our father, he’d told us that she didn’t want us anymore. That she’d left us for good.”
The officers looked at each other then as if trying to decide how to say what they had to tell her next. The younger officer, Michael, nodded his head to acknowledge that he would be the one to do so. Leaning forward, he made eye contact with her and began to explain why they were asking about her mom. “The remains of a woman’s body were found when they were cleaning the debris left behind of your childhood home. We believe that the remains may possibly belong to your mother.”
Libby gasped as tears filled her eyes and her chest tightened making it difficult to breathe. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, it all seemed so surreal. After going over every detail that they could of her childhood and when her mom had disappeared, the officers left her to her thoughts. Libby picked up her phone and dialed some numbers with shaking hands. A male voice answered on the other end, breaking into her reverie.
“Hello,” Jacob said sleepily across the phone line.
She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears at bay. “She didn’t just leave us behind like he said.”
It was silent on the other end while the sleepy Jacob processed her words. When he spoke again his voice sounded more alert. “What are you saying, sis?”
“The police just left here, while cleaning the property the workers found the remains of her body,” she all but choked out. “He killed her, Jacob. She never really left us.”
Jacob fell silent again, so she continued. “We have to make funeral arrangements. She deserves to be laid to rest properly.”
“Alright, give me time to get dressed and I will come pick you up,” he said before repeating her words as though he was making sure that they were real. “She never left us.”
After they hung up, she called Matt to let him know what was going on. When he tried to tell her that he was leaving work, she told him not to. She said that this was something that her and her brother needed to do together. This was the missing piece to their puzzle. They would finally be able to get the closure that they both needed to move on.
So many memories had started flooding her mind as she stood beside the car staring at her childhood home from the road. Not all of her childhood memories were as sweet as most of her friends' memories. Instead, hers were the kind that would leave a sour taste behind and make you wish that you'd never heard the words that seemed to linger in the air long after they were spoken. Her fathers’ fits of drunken rage. All of the broken promises that her mom had made before she’d left them on Valentine’s Day fifteen years ago. She hadn’t even bothered to take them with her. There were also the many nights spent in the closet rocking her little brother to sleep while she reassured him that all would be fine again in the morning. With her mother’s absence, the man that should have protected had begun focusing all of his anger on her and her brother. As soon as Jacob was old enough, they had left and never looked back.
The bitter, cold air outside warned of the wintry days that were on their way, causing the house to seem as broken and lonely as she had felt growing up there. She’d always heard that before they’d moved in, the house used to be an orphanage that had been shut down. That could only mean that the decrepit house hadn’t seen brighter days in a very long time, if ever. The years of neglect had taken a toll on the house. The outside hadn't been painted since before her parents had moved into the house before she was born. The wood looked as though it was chipping away to reveal the white paint beneath it. A few of the windows on the first floor had been broken. The shabby front door was only hanging by the top hinge and swayed in the wind. And the roof was falling in on what was once the living room where she and Jacob had played with the few toys they’d had.
Looking around the yard, where even the trees announced their sadness with their bare branches, Libby remembered all of the times she had taken her brother outside away from the madness. She’d always felt safer when they weren't inside that awful house. Making up silly games to distract Jacob from the yelling that seeped through cracks in the walls, they sat out there for hours until their mother came looking for them. Mother would always tell them the same lies that Libby whispered in Jacob's ear to soothe him and make excuses for the lousy drunk of a father.
A hand squeezed her shoulder allowing her to leave the memories behind as her husband walked up behind her. "Are you ready to get this over with?"
"As ready as I'm going to get," she said leaning into him. Her father had finally drank himself into a lonely death and left her with the burden of dealing with the property. She’d scheduled for the house to be torn down by the city and planned on selling the property afterwards. They were only there to collect some things that belonged to her mother.
"It's alright, he's gone now. He can't hurt you anymore." Matt said as he reached for her hand. "We'll go in and look for the pictures and then the workers can tear the place down."
She looked over at the wrecking ball that was in position and ready for the say so. Wishing that her brother could be there to witness the destruction of their nightmares, she forced herself towards her past. Matt helped her trudge through the dusty remains until they’d found old box of pictures that her mom had kept in the hall closet. They’d been right where she’d left them. When they’d returned to the car, Matt had taken the box and stowed it away in the trunk. He’d only left her side to go and tell the construction worker that they were finished inside. She’d seen the man nod his head and then signal the others go ahead with the demolition. They stayed around to witness the destruction of the house that had haunted her for so long. When they drove away, there was nothing left standing.
A few weeks had gone by and it had felt like the chain of her past had finally started to break its hold on her. She still struggled with not being able to understand how her mom could have left them to endure the pain that they had. Still yet, Libby was beginning to feel like she could move forward in life. Lost in her thoughts, she almost didn’t hear the knock on her front door. Getting up from the kitchen table where she’d been pondering over her morning cup of coffee, she went to answer it.
She pulled open the door to see two officers standing on her porch steps. One was slightly older than the other with black hair that was kept short and the other looked to be closer to her age with a blonde military cut. She gave them a faint smile of confusion. “Good morning, officers. Is there something that I can do for you?”
The older officer who looked to be in his late thirties nodded in greeting. “Morning ma’am, we’ve come across evidence of a possible murder and would like to ask you a few questions. May we come in?”
“A murder, I don’t understand? How could I help you with that matter?” Libby asked. But even as the question left her lips, fear began to wash over her. “Jacob is alright isn’t he?
She hadn’t spoken to Jacob in a couple of days but everything seemed to be going really good with him at college the last she’d talked to him. Libby had made it her responsibility to take care of her brother and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if something had happened to him. She looked to the officers for answers to her questions.
It was the younger gentleman who answered this time. “Ma’am, your brother is just fine. No need to worry. Can we please come in and discuss the matter at hand?”
“Um, sure,” she answered as she stepped aside to allow them entrance. “Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, that sounds great,” said the older one as he stepped past her.
“This way, gentlemen,” Libby said leading them into her small kitchen. “Have a seat at the table while I make your coffee, will you?”
She poured their cups full and then joined them at the table. Gesturing to the center of the table she said, “Cream and sugar is there if you want it.”
They both thanked her for the coffee but preferred theirs black. Taking a sip, the older officer spoke first. “My name is Steve and this here is my partner, Michael. We’d like to ask you what you know of your mother’s disappearance.”
Libby’s eyes grew wide and she forgot how to breathe for a moment. She wished that Matt was here to get her through this, but he’d left for work hours ago. When she finally coaxed herself to breath again, she opened her mouth to speak. “It’s been fifteen years since she left us. My brother and I came home from school on Valentine’s Day to find her gone. We’d thought that maybe she had went to the store but then she never came home that night. Or any other night after that and when we questioned our father, he’d told us that she didn’t want us anymore. That she’d left us for good.”
The officers looked at each other then as if trying to decide how to say what they had to tell her next. The younger officer, Michael, nodded his head to acknowledge that he would be the one to do so. Leaning forward, he made eye contact with her and began to explain why they were asking about her mom. “The remains of a woman’s body were found when they were cleaning the debris left behind of your childhood home. We believe that the remains may possibly belong to your mother.”
Libby gasped as tears filled her eyes and her chest tightened making it difficult to breathe. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, it all seemed so surreal. After going over every detail that they could of her childhood and when her mom had disappeared, the officers left her to her thoughts. Libby picked up her phone and dialed some numbers with shaking hands. A male voice answered on the other end, breaking into her reverie.
“Hello,” Jacob said sleepily across the phone line.
She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears at bay. “She didn’t just leave us behind like he said.”
It was silent on the other end while the sleepy Jacob processed her words. When he spoke again his voice sounded more alert. “What are you saying, sis?”
“The police just left here, while cleaning the property the workers found the remains of her body,” she all but choked out. “He killed her, Jacob. She never really left us.”
Jacob fell silent again, so she continued. “We have to make funeral arrangements. She deserves to be laid to rest properly.”
“Alright, give me time to get dressed and I will come pick you up,” he said before repeating her words as though he was making sure that they were real. “She never left us.”
After they hung up, she called Matt to let him know what was going on. When he tried to tell her that he was leaving work, she told him not to. She said that this was something that her and her brother needed to do together. This was the missing piece to their puzzle. They would finally be able to get the closure that they both needed to move on.