Roommates

Chapter 29

.A/n.
This chapter contains information of a dark nature that pertains to character development and exploration. There will be no further warnings for this chapter. Take care, lovelies.
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Evangeline fearfully looked down at the first picture in her scrapbook. She had hoped that she had the strength to look at them this time, but beholding the first image immediately made her eyes sting. The image beneath her was a photo on the day of her birth.

"This is my mom," Evangeline said, smiling as she looked into her mother's pixelated eyes. Evangeline didn't dare look at Aurora's response because she couldn't bear to see the pitiful looks. She just wanted to feel her own emotions as all of her memories came flooding to the forefront of her mind. "She's holding Elias and me."

Aurora pretended to take in the image for the first time. Hoping not to raise any red flags. How she wished she could unsee this book.

"It breaks my heart because the last I heard from Elias, he moved to Paris." Evangeline sighed.

"Did he feel closer to your mom by moving there?"

"I'd imagine so." She tutted a laugh at her brother's pathetic childhood ploys to revive Claire. "Our mom told him about those little red umbrellas when we were kids, and he asked our sister for one for years."

Aurora laughed.

"Elias never fussed, but that was the hill he'd die on: getting that damn umbrella." He was otherwise, very timid, unlike Evangeline. "He finally decided to move there a few years ago and we haven't talked since then."

Aurora nodded, letting Evangeline share as much as she felt comfortable with.

Evangeline took a breath to ease her nerves. A glass of water she had left on the coffee table began to look like a mirage in a desert. She reached for it and poured the lukewarm drink down her throat to cleanse her arid voice. "It's been almost four years."

"Do you mind me asking what happened?"

Evangeline rolled her shoulder, a gesture she used to physically block the feelings that arose. They crept up on her every time she tried to think of Elias, but with Aurora by her side, it felt less intimidating. "I got us into trouble while I was coping with my trauma. We always went along with my crowds and did what I wanted to do. He was always so passive, and went along with everything. He did anything to fit in with my friends. Then as we got older, he and I just wanted different things in life."

"What did you want?"

"Oh, hell," Evangeline muttered with an embarrassed smirk crawling across her face. "To be honest, I don't know what I wanted. I think... I think I wanted to be wanted." She pursed her lips. She allowed the sadness in her heart to well up. "I wanted to be someone that a person wanted to stick around for."

Aurora's silence wasn't filled with judgement, but it was rather comforting. Was it empathy? Evangeline couldn't quite comprehend the satisfaction she felt in the quietness.

"My parents both killed themselves, as you know." Evangeline stifled a discomforting laugh at her own pain. She had to laugh or she'd cry. "At eight years old, I believed it was my fault, you know? Kids are self centered little bitches and the world revolves around us."

"You were so young "

Evangeline drummed on her leg, meddling with the still air. "When I got older, I did everything a motherless daughter would do to try to feel like she was enough for someone to live for."

"You searching for love?"

"Of sorts." Evangeline was careful with her words. "I didn't believe in love— hell, I still don't. But, I used everything my mother gave me to try to get the attention that I thought would fix my broken heart."