Marked By Darkness

Chapter 95- Graves of the Past

The morning was still fresh, and the air held the scent of dew as Ruhi walked silently, her thoughts tangled in the events of the previous night. She had not informed Ruhan of her departure, not because she wanted to hide, but because she needed to be alone. There was something pulling her to the cemetery near the old bungalow, a place where the past seemed to linger like an unspoken truth.

She arrived at the cemetery and stood before Evelyn Adamson's grave. The weathered stone read: Evelyn Adamson, Born in 1927, Died in 2011.
Ruhi's fingers brushed lightly against the cold stone as she stared at the name, her mind racing with the dream she had the night before. Evelyn's spirit seemed to linger in her thoughts, and Ruhi couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she needed to understand.

"Is she someone important to you?" a voice broke through her thoughts.

Ruhi turned, startled. A woman, perhaps in her mid-forties, stood beside her. She had an air of quiet dignity, though her face was weathered by time. Her eyes, sharp yet gentle, looked at Ruhi with a kind of knowing.

Ruhi hesitated, then nodded. "She's my husband's grandmother."

The woman raised an eyebrow, her expression softening into a knowing smile. "So, you're an Adamson?"

Ruhi, taken aback, turned to face the woman. "Why do you ask?"

The woman's smile deepened. "All Adamson women are beautiful," she replied casually.

Ruhi blinked in surprise, her gaze fixed on the stranger. Was she talking about her, or Evelyn? The woman seemed to notice her confusion.

"Your grandmother-in-law was very beautiful even at her old age," she added, a nostalgic tone in her voice. "And your mother-in-law too."

Ruhi nodded, a sense of intrigue growing. "You know the Adamson family well?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Yes," the woman replied with a simple nod. "I worked at that mansion as a maid."

Ruhi's eyes widened in shock. She took a step closer to the woman. "When did you work there?"

The woman's face softened as she reminisced. "When your husband was just a child," she said, her voice tinged with warmth and sadness.

Ruhi felt her heart skip a beat. "So... you saw Jenesis, my husband's sister?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, as if speaking her name out loud would make the reality of it all more tangible.

"Yes," the woman answered softly, her eyes distant. "They were very little, both of them. Jenesis was... different, but still full of life."

Ruhi asked her, "Then you know maybe something about her death? Why she was suicide?"

The woman's eyes filled with sadness as she began to speak.
"She was a beautiful girl. Her grandmother, Evelyn, loved her more than anything, and Jenesis loved and trusted her grandmother more than anyone else.
But something changed in Jenesis during those days. No one knew what was happening to her. She stopped eating properly. She barely slept. She stopped going outside and hardly spoke to anyone. Even when her family tried to talk to her, she would remain silent, lost in her own thoughts.

Adamson family tried to send her to another place to study, but Aiden never agreed to that decision. He didn't want his sister going anywhere far. She didn't have many friends at school, and the other girls were jealous of her beauty. They all mocked her. One day, she returned home crying. Her mother saw and asked her what happened. She told her everything. She said she didn't want to go to school, that she didn't like it there. But her mom didn't understand her feelings that day, and things continued like that for some time. She cried in her room. She seemed frightened of something, but no one could understand what it was.
Evelyn was the person Jenesis trusted the most. She was always there for her, but even Evelyn couldn't understand what was happening inside her granddaughter's mind.