Burning Doves//Matthew Murdock

3

"You have to clean this place soon, you know."

Emma nodded halfheartedly, reaching out and grasping the overfilled envelope in one hand.

"Any news?" Her voice sounding dull and dry in her ears, like a canyon worn down from ages in the wind and scorching sun.

"Other then the usual shame-filled silence? No. Dad acts like everything's fine, mom cries herself to sleep every night over her broken pride," the answer sounding bitter and resigned. "I miss you, Emma."

Emma, then, looked up, her own hazel eyes meeting her sister's, so like her own.

"I'm sorry," she muttered in response, feeling the tinge of familiar pain as her heart constricted in her chest.

Her sister didn't reply, only giving a her a small pat on the shoulder before turning and leaving.

The envelope crunched in her grasp as the door clicked shut silently, and Emma watched with detached interest as it fluttered to the ground, crisp $100 bills escaping through the open flap, and floundering in the air before settling dejectedly on the wooden floor. 

Unmarked, untouched. 

Signs of her parent's shame showing only through their ceaseless silence. Sending blank envelopes of money to keep her silent, to keep her away. Anything to get rid of her black mark on their name. 

"You need to fix this," they said. "Get yourself together, this behavior is unacceptable." 

And she had been cast aside like unwanted items, stored away until it collected dust and drifted to oblivion, slowly dissipating from the minds of those around them.

Emma used to be angry at her parents abandonment, their hypocritical appearance of perfection, leaving her the second she needed them the most. 

Now, she was thankful of their disapproval, thankful of the time she spent alone in the world of her thoughts and her thoughts alone.  

For some, silence was deafening, a loud roar that clawed at their ears and sent them to the very threshold of insanity. For her, it was incomparable peace. Peace that surpassed all terror, all violence around her and sent her into a world of her own. A world void of judgement and unwanted eyes, where she could play and create  beyond the limits of her imagination. 

Through their abandonment, she had been set free.