WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THEODORE ELM ─── applyfic

001. THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THEODORE ELM.

CHAPTER ONE.
the disappearance of theodore elm.

OCTOBER 13th, 2016.

1 DAY AFTER
THE DISAPPEARANCE
OF THEODORE ELM.

       "BEEP! BEEP!" THE HORN OF SOREN DELANEY'S TRUCK echoes throughout the swamps. Letha Murdock ━━━━━━ upon discovering her ride was here, quickly yanked on her denim overalls and tied her hair into pigtails. She shouts her goodbyes to her guardian, Alma, but it got swallowed into the silence. Her lonely house was even lonelier that morning. Which only meant the ghosts were that much louder. Letha glanced at the photo of her murdered brother, Bellamy, sat atop the drawers. She curses. No matter how many times she turns it away, Alma would just not relent. As Letha leaves the Murdock foundation, its bones creak with yearning. Like her, it didn't like to be left alone.

BEEP! BEEP!

"I'm coming!" Letha yells.

        When she steps outside, her foot sinks into a puddle of mud. Groaning, Letha brings her wet foot all the way to the side of the truck.

The door opens and Soren flashes her a boyish smile. "Good morning, Lettie."

Letha glares daggers at him.

     As the walking hangover slides into the truck, only one question lingered in mind. A question that screamed and rattled around her pounding skull.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?

       If Letha Murdock somehow knew the answer, her temporal lobe was not giving in so easily. She could feel the memories blurring in her subconscious, grasping and clawing at her head to be let out. Of course, that could also be the migraine. Judging by the way she awakened ━━━━━━ late, unwell and spooning an empty bottle of spirits, Letha took a wild guess that she had been drinking. Drinking and drinking and drinking until the point of blacking out. Something that happened more often than not lately. But before the girl could delve any deeper into the trials and tribulations of her drinking problem, Soren started the truck.

She had made him late again.

"I'm surprised you're up and walking after last night," the sheriff's son jests somewhat hesitantly.

       "And what the hell's that supposed to mean?" Letha demands and narrows her eyes. She wasn't usually so defensive but the girl felt...different this time. There was a strange feeling that had been eating away at her. Like something awful had happened.