Before The Fall (Suicide Notes Prequel)

The Family

~Published: July 30, 2015~

Victoria London stood outside the small blue house that she had once called home but had taken for granted. She stood on the stoop nervously and waited for her heart to calm before she hesitantly reached out and knocked on the white door, hoping that nobody would be home so she could escape with some semblance of her dignity.

It would be the first time in years that Victoria visited her family after being forcibly admitted into Briar Rose Institute for the Mentally Ill, but who was to blame her family for putting her there besides Victoria herself? Victoria was just a reminder of what they had lost and would never get back and eventually it became too much to bear for both her and her family.

The door swung open revealing a tall middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a scowl who Victoria immediately recognized as her mother. Violetta London looked at the girl standing in front of her with shocked wariness even as Victoria looked at her with a blank stare and dead, emotionless eyes.

"Hello, Violetta," Victoria spoke her mother's name with a bleak tone, not completely used to calling her by her first name as she had slowly become accustomed to; she lost her right and ability to look Violetta in the eyes and call her mom since she awoke in the emergency room almost three years ago.

"Victorique," Violetta replied with a frown as she stood unsure of what to do but got her answer when Victoria spoke up after a minute of silence.

"May I come in?" Victoria asked. "this will be quick. I simply came for a short visit and then you will not have to see me for a while."

Or ever again, Victoria thought despairingly.

"I...I suppose." Violetta moved aside and allowed Victoria to enter her childhood home and upon entrance to the hall, she sorrowfully observed the walls that had once been home to pictures of her and her siblings, now only home to pictures of her siblings but not her.

Violetta, upon seeing Victoria's sorrowful gaze, cleared her throat in discomfort before saying, "We gave most of your things away to charity when it became clear that you weren't stable enough to return home."

Victoria nodded though she knew it was because they wished to purge themselves of her existence, but before she could dwell on that, voices and the sound of laughter met her ears and she slowly walked towards it, her heart hammering and palms sweating.

The moment Victoria entered the sitting room all laughter and chatter ceased and she was met with the grim, unhappy glares of her father and two brothers. Victor Thomas London, the oldest child, sat next to Vinn James London, the youngest, aghast and beyond shocked, wondering if he was, in fact, seeing a ghost whilst Vinn simply sat in his wheelchair with an emotionless mask.

Vincent London shot to his feet in surprised fear as he gaped at the daughter he hadn't set eyes on in years, dropping the pack of playing cards in his hand which then promptly sprayed themselves a few feet forward until the majority of them landed in front of Victoria.

Without much thought or prompting, Victoria kneeled down and proceeded to pick up the fallen cards, lifting the Joker last and placing it back into the pile which she held out to her father who stood still and unmoving from his spot.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get a reaction from him, Victoria placed the cards on the side table near the wall, held her hand out anxiously, and said, "Hello, Vincent."