BLOODSUCKER

quinze

Maeve sat in her seat anxiously picking the skin around her nails with her leg bouncing up and down. The flight attendant asked if she required nothing from the trolley but her mouth was too dry so she just shook her head. So many questions flowed through Maeve's head. Why did her father do that? When did he do this? Why did no one call to tell her? Does her family really hate her that much? The biggest question on Maeve's mind was why did Charles know. How did he find out?

Once she was in the airport, she took the train to the city. The city she hated with a passion growing up. When Maeve was younger, she wished she lived in a farm. She wished he had siblings so she wasn't lonely all the time and above all she wished she had parents that loved each other.

The train did take long. It felt wrong her being here. The day Leo turned up at her door she was kind of relieved. No more nights with no food, no heat and no water. She had been given a second chance in a way, she didn't want to mess anything up. She recalled the day she met Pascale, the luxuriousness of her presence, the outfits, the perfume, the house, the life she had was full of luxury. The day Maeve signed that stupid contract, she agreed to never go back home. But right now all she could think of was how many ways she could say fuck you to the Leclerc's.

Maeve got off at the train station and walked past the bar she spent years hustling in. Memories of the first night she met Charles came flooding back.Charles was an attractive man there was no denying that. The way he spoke to Maeve that night the laughter they shared, the advice he gave her, the words Maeve would never forget. His smile was engraved in Maeve's mind, that damn smile. It almost made her angry, almost.

Maeve looked up at the house. It look abandoned. The grass was overgrown and the windows were boarded up like something terrible had happened here. Maeve's stomach sunk, had he done it here? In the family home, with mama in the next room? Her next thought was about her mother, her poor mother that must be suffering a hell of a lot.

She lifted her hand to knock on the door. Maybe just maybe Mama was here and maybe she'd talk and explain what's going on. Nothing could be heard from the other side of the door.

'Mama, it's Maeve.'

But there was no response from the inside. This all felt too much for Maeve, she knew that something was wrong. It was all out of place. The basket on the porch of the doors were filed with marigolds, when Maeve knew mama always kept lavender by the door. She hoped that the smell of lavender would calm her father when he came home. Maeve then realised that the door was different in the way it didn't look like it was about to fall off its hinges, it was smooth and freshly painted with the smell off paint still lingering in the air. Someone else was living in her home. She lifted hand again but something stop her. The sound of giggles approaching up the pathway.

'Can we help you?' A man question Maeve as he examined her appearance. He had the same dirty blonde hair as Maeve, with the big blue eyes.

'Do you live here?' Maeve asked the strangers standing in her families front garden. The man and the woman exchanged a glanced over at each other before the lady answered Maeve.

'Yes, we bought the house 2 years ago but have slowly been renovating it. It needed a lot of work.' The lady smiled at Maeve.

'I grew up in this house. I just had no idea my parents had sold the house.' Maeve spoke with a shakey voice. She hoped her mother would pull open the door and give her a hug, call her, her baby girl, and make all the wrongs in Maeve's life right again. She realised none of that would happen, Maeve had no idea where her mother could be. 

'Why don't you come in for a coffee?' The man spoke up 'it looks like you've had a rough day.'

Maeve nodded as she stepped out of the way to allow the couple to enter their home. 'I'm Maeve by the way.' She decided to just call her self Maeve. Something about being back home made her ashamed of her surname whether she was a Larson or a Leclerc.

'I'm Sarah.' The lady spoke 'and this is my fiancé Marcus.'

The foundations of the house were the same but everything looked alive. The house was full of colour making it all feel more homely. 'I love what you have done with the place. It looks great. I just can't believe my parents sold it.'

'Well we actually bought the house from auction. It seemed like an opportunity we couldn't miss out of.' Marcus smiled as he passed Maeve a mug of coffee.

'It took a lot of convincing on Marcus's part to get me to move here but I'd do anything to help Marcus find his family.' Sarah remarked as she held Marcus's hand from across the table.

'I was adopted by a family in London. Long story short, they were not good people, moment I turned 18 I headed up north and I met Sarah and well here we are, searching for my birth parents.' Marcus informed Maeve. She could shake how familiar his presence was, Maeve was convinced she knew this man from somewhere, maybe it was from a different life.

'That rock on your finger is huge.' Sarah gasped as she looked down at Maeve's hand. It distracted Maeve temporally from how much Marcus resembled her.

'Thank you.' Maeve smiled as she also examined the ring on her finger.

'How long you been married for?' Marcus asked as he also couldn't stop himself from looking down at the ring.

'2 and a half years.' Maeve's smiled began to fade, 'He is a bit of a douchebag.'

'He must be a loaded douchebag.' Sarah remarked but immediately apologised as she knew it was not her place to comment.

'If you looked up loaded douchebag in the dictionary you would find a photo of Charles Leclerc underneath it.' Maeve scoffed as she finished up her coffee.

'You are married to Charles Leclerc?' Marcus repeated checking he had heard that correctly. Maeve nodded at him

'So you got the house at auction?' Maeve redirected the conversation.

'Yes. The agency said that the city had sold the house to an auction. When was the last time you lived here?' Sarah asked.

'I left around the time I got married. I never came back and didn't keep contact with my parents. I found out this morning that my father has passed away so I am desperate to locate my mother.' Maeve placed her head in her hands

'I am not sure how true this is but the agency we bought off told us the house was surrendered to the council. The previous occupants just vanished. Bills had piled up, no electric, gas or water was paid for in 6 months. When the council came to have a look, they found the practically rotting from the inside as no one had lived here in some time. Wardrobes were full of clothes, towels were hung in the bathroom, pots were in the sink. What did they call the family babe?' Sarah paused to breathe.

'The Larsons.' Marcus spoke not taking his eyes of Maeve. He wanted to see how Maeve responded.

'Yes, the Larsons were never to be seen again. All personal belongings were left behind in the house. It was like the had been abducted.' Sarah scoffed.

'So the day I left, my parents never came back? People believe my family were abducted?' Maeve chuckled. 'They can't be been abducted, my husband received news that my father had killed himself, my mother is somewhere.'

'The house was purchased by the council who sold it to an auction which we then bought the house off them.' Marcus reiterated.

Maeve's brain was working overtime. Her brain didn't work this had when she was working with Pascale and sometimes that required maximum brain power. Then it clicked. The one person that knows everything about everyone would have an explanation surely. Pascale was the key to all of this and Maeve could guess that it's all locked away in that filing cabinet.

'I need to go. Thank you for the coffee. I hope you find your family Marcus. Check the city records if you haven't already.' Maeve said as she headed to the front door slamming it behind her.

'She was nice.' Sarah smiled as she grabbed the coffee mugs and opened up the dishwasher

'That's her.' Marcus smiled as he turned to face his fiancé. 'That's my twin sister.'