𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘, 𝗻.𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗳𝗳

𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗎𝖾.

❝ everybody has a chapter that they don't read out loud. ❞

━━━━━━━━  𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗎𝖾.

ELOWEN WOLFE used to love the color red. she wore red shoes, red socks, red hair ties (you get it ━━ almost everything elowen owned was red). her mama told her red was a tragic color, one of wine and blood and evil things, but the girl wasn't deterred. she only loved it more. the noirette painted every surface in her small room with the color, telling her mama that she would one day own a big red house for just the two of them. her mama only smiled, ruffling her daughter's hair.

elowen used to think red would solve all of her problems. red meant having courage to stand up to the other kids at school, who had mommies and daddies and picture fucking perfect cookie cutter families. red meant health when she was sick. red meant the love for her mama, the anger she held for people that thought bad of her little family, the internal war that waged within her.

red also means death, but she didn't know that then.

she would learn very quickly though. one cold winter morning, when frost coated the windows and the sun didn't mean anything more than light, there was a heavy pounding on the door. the mother had glanced at her daughter, who had a scarlet crayon, drawing a ladybug. sofia ortega opened the door, unknowingly greeting her killers on the other side. they had a small conversation, most of which was hurried, and angry. the woman slammed the door, and with teary eyes, looked at her daughter.

"little one, i need to hide in the closet for me ok?" her mama had asked, bending down in front of her.

elowen wordlessly nodded, and with furrowed eyebrows climbed into the bottom of the tiny hall closet. it smelled stale, and the girl peeked through the small slats on the frame to get a better look at what was happening in the entranceway. sofia stood defiantly in front of two burly men with guns, and a woman who's bun was so tight elowen thought it was squeezing her brain. the men are dressed the same, in dark shirts and pants, but the woman wore a matching coat and pencil skirt, hinting at her importance.

"we're only here for the girl, so if you could move out of the way it would be much appreciated." the woman said, a condescending tone in her accented voice.

elowen's mama just stands there, not moving.

"you are fools to believe i would ever give her to you." she spat, face red with maternal rage.

the woman sighs in mock disappointment, before ordering one of the men to do something in another language.

the man raises the gun and fires. sofia ortega slumps like a ragdoll, not moving. the hidden girl muffles a scream, tears burning in her eyes.

the group start looking around, searching through cabinets and under furniture. elowen has a dim thought of they're looking for me before she starts to move. there's a metal grate on her right, the screws rusted enough that even a small girl can yank it out of the wall. her eyes dart to the men, one of which is now tearing through her mama's room down the hall. elowen swallows her fear and pulls.

the grate comes free, dust flying everywhere.

the girl crawls into the small, dark space before grabbing the frame and placing it back up. elowen hopes that it looks like no one has been here. she can hear the woman's heels clicking on the wooden floors, getting closer and closer to the closet door. it suddenly opens and the noirette bites down on her tongue not to gasp.

the woman eyes the small space in disdain before scoffing.

"she's not here. ortega must have put her somewhere else."

the men come grumbling down the hallway, and step over sofia's body. they leave the apartment. the woman stands there one more moment, before she shakes her head with a scowl and slams the door.

the girl pushes the grate, slowly crawling to the corpse of her mother. shaking fingers grasp her blood soaked shirt, tears finally falling. the air smells metallic and elowen can almost taste it. crimson stains her mother's white carpet, a sick painting of the cruelness of humanity. she's dead, dead, dead, DEAD repeats over and over in the girl's head. elowen cries, for her mother and herself and doesn't stop when police rush in, pulling the sobbing girl off the dead woman's body. she is vaguely aware that she is covered in blood, red splashed all over her shirt.

colors mix together like a crude portrait. the mahogany floors, the white carpet splattered with blood, the blue curtains. they all swirl like diluted paint, imprinting their colors on the back of elowen's mind. but the most prominent is red.

elowen wolfe now hates the color red.

.˚ ≡ 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦

sorry guys but we had to start off with angst. elowen now has a mild phobia of red as you can see. she also took her fathers last name if there's any confusion. anyways, i hope you like it!