Violets and Ash

Chapter 6

I carried the consequences of my past on my shoulders for years.

I'd tiptoe downstairs and to fumble with the lock on the front door for a couple minutes before curling up in bed. That was what I considered a good night, and thankfully they happened rather frequently.

Last night, however, wasn't one of them.

My stomach was full but the conversation I had with Norma left me feeling anxious and jittery. I needed to make sure the doors were locked, that the house was secure from the inside out. It was an urge I no longer questioned, and one I'd stopped fighting years ago.

The lock on my bedroom door was wrong.

It felt too flat between my fingers, nothing like the heavy thud of the deadbolt that was on the front door of our cabin—the same kind downstairs. This one was one of those cheap locks that stuck out from the doorknob like a button. Even the click it made was wrong.

I face planted in my bed hours later, swallowed whole by exhaustion.

A soft knock sounded on my bedroom door, and instantly my eyes opened. The sliver of moonlight that had bathed my room in an eerie glow was gone, replaced by early morning rays. I stared at the dust particles hovering in the air before remembering someone was at the door.

"Sorry, you know I wouldn't wake you if it wasn't important." Elijah stood in the doorway, two to-go cups in his hands. "I come bearing gifts—caffeinated gifts."

The earthy smell of his aftershave permeated my room, bringing on a wave of unexpected nostalgia that I had to shove down. It reminded me of pine trees and cold mountain air—the only two things I liked about home.

I sighed and used my brattiest voice, "...alright, I guess you can come in."

"With a little more practice you'll fit in perfectly around here." Elijah's laugh was warm hearted and made his eyes crinkle behind the rim of his reading glasses. "The princess attitude doesn't look bad on you."

"Well, we do live in a castle."

The heavier of the two cups was full of chocolate milk, which I poured into the steaming espresso. It was the only way I'd drink my coffee and started when I first began home-schooling.

There had been a time were going outside felt paralyzing, and even the two-minute trip to the grocery mart was impossible. I couldn't stomach the bitterness of black coffee, so I improvised and used what we had—and what we had was chocolate milk.

"Sylvia and I have to leave in a few hours. She has a meeting with some of the clinic's sponsors and asked that I tag along. It's supposed to be quick, but you know how these things can go." His crinkled-eyed smile was apologetic as always, even though he knew I wasn't angry. "I'm glad you're eager to get out of your comfort zone—but Violet if you need to slow down, please let me know. The last thing you need is to become overwhelmed, which is easy in a town like this. I'm only saying, we can't have a repeat of what happened before...the people here, they won't take kindly to something like that."

It was the first time Elijah mentioned the incident that led to me dropping out of public school and removing myself from the general population of the town.

"Believe me, that will never happen again." I reassured him, lowering my eyes to the cup in my hand as I took another drink, using the chocolatey espresso to unwind my tangled nerves.

The flash of surprise on Elijah's face lasted only seconds before he launched into what I hoped would be a heart-warming approval.

"Between running EleaCorp and holding seats on both the school board and medical board, Sylvia's influence here runs pretty deep. There's going to be events that I'll be attending with her, that her son's will also be expected to attend. People are going to expect the same of you as they would Sylvia's boys...only they won't put you on a pedestal the way they do with them."