Ashes (Flame Ash Burned Backstory)

Chapter 3: Daisy chains and pictures

1st April 1998

It had been about half a year since their mother died, and roughly four months since they had watched Evie bleed to death in the snow right in front of them. About four months since they planned, and were about to, run away and live alone in safety. 

Could have done it.

 Should have done it. 

  They were so close, after all.

Lyric rarely spoke. She couldn't live with herself. Not after what happened. She couldn't forgive herself for not speaking up and taking the blame for the idea of running away.

Maybe then, Evie wouldn't be buried side by side with their mother under the front lawn, where the twins had spent hours on end laughing and making daisy chains together.

It was obvious that she regretted arguing with Evie that day, despite the fact that the twins had apologized and accepted each other's apologies. Lyric had lost her twin - her other half. There were so many things she would have changed about Evie's last day: so many things she would have wanted to say and do, but would now never have the chance to do any of that.

She tried so hard to not let the guilt consume her completely. She still had the responsibility of being the older sibling, after all, and there was no way she was going to let herself lose more of her family. But the hardest part in all of this mess was that she was scared and had no real idea if she and her two siblings were ever going to make it out alive, despite how hard she was willing to try.

Each and every day, the nameless man who had killed both Evie and the mother of the children relentlessly abused the remaining children.

Physically.

Mentally.

Any way he was certain would damage their young and fragile minds. But as much as he loved constructing broken children, he wouldn't hesitate to destroy his living pieces of broken artwork the moment they stepped out of line.

Upon the lawn, the daisies bloomed: little bursts of pure white between the green grass. Plucking them and weaving them into chains slowly and carefully so as not to accidentally ruin her work, Lyric sat cross-legged on the grass between the two raised areas of dirt marking the graves of her twin and of her mother.

She had been outside doing the same thing ever since she woke up, at some point just before sunrise. Lyric made a small flower crown for herself every day and wore it upon her long wavy blonde hair, but only after she had made daisy chains to decorate the graves of her two dearly missed family members.

Joe spent the majority of his time walking around the village and discovering new places, so that he could distract himself and lose track of time. He never spoke with anybody except the boy next door, whose name was Griffen, but mostly stayed alone, though he did sometimes bring Lula with him.

He felt as though he should be taking care of his older and younger sisters, but being so young, he had no idea how to properly do that. Joe tried to mature and be responsible: trying to make each meal for his siblings, cleaning the house. Not only that, but he was also the one who constantly tried to cheer his two sisters up when they were feeling down.