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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE WATCHER ( original )
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"GOING ONCE! GOING TWICE! SOLD!"
Amelia's dreams were coming true. Everything she had imagined in the story of her life. The blood, sweat and tears, highs and lows; they led her to this very moment where everything changed. She was thirty-seven, old enough that other women would've admitted defeat and continued dreaming at a distance, but not Amelia Fitzgerald. She had the husband, the children, the job. Now she had the house. 32 Belcourt Avenue. The place for memories to be made.
"We did it," Patrick's smile was ear-splitting. He drew her in close, holding her head to his shoulder. Nothing could bring him down. "I love you, Ams."
Amelia pulled away, not wanting to miss a second of the moment as she scanned her new front yard. White picket fence, freshly pruned rose bushes, plenty of space for her children to play. There was a large wrap-around porch which would be perfect for hosting family dinners and wine nights. Her wired brain was already calculating the cost of a new coat of white paint. She could see it peeling around the trims, and she had no doubt the inside of the house would also need some work to meet her standards.
"Come with me, Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald," the real estate agent said after shaking both their hands and congratulating them. It wasn't every day you spent 1.3 million dollars. "We'll get the pesky paperwork out of the way and then I'll leave you with the keys!"
The keys. Amelia would need a photo with the keys as well as the giant board hammered into the yard where the estate agent's assistant had just plastered over the words 'FOR SALE' with a sticker declaring the property 'SOLD.' Sold to her. To Amelia. She couldn't stop smiling.
"James," she called to her eldest, her only boy. He and his younger sisters, Lily and Nora, were knee-deep in the rose bushes playing hide and seek. "Jimmy! Girls! Come on out of there!"
When the world was laid at your feet, hope became dangerous. Nothing was ever truly permanent. Should Amelia have seen it coming? Even then, on the best day of her life, there had been an undercurrent of tension. Neighbours lingered in their yards, curious for a glimpse at the new faces joining their community. The other bidders were climbing into their vehicles and driving away in defeat. How was Amelia so oblivious? He was right there...
The letter came a week after the contractors arrived. Patrick and Amelia were yet to move out of their current house, deciding to keep the kids somewhere stable while they had their renovations started. They checked in at the property every other day, and as one week led into another, it was Amelia's turn. She checked the mailbox, surprised to find a plain white envelope tucked in among her utility bills. There was no return address, but she could feel the crinkle of a folded piece of paper inside.
