The Curse of Mary

Chapter 4

Thomas

In the morning, Thomas finds Ellie's note on the table. "Shit!" he says, "Ellie, what are you thinking?"

"Uncle Thomas?" Gray whispers, "where's mama?"

"I don't know, Gray. I don't know."

Gray starts to cry, "Is it my fault?" he sadly asks, "Did I make mama leave?"

"No, Gray. You didn't do anything. Your mama's going through a really hard time right now. Don't you worry, I'm going to find her. I'm going to call Kara. She'll know what to do."

Kara is at the park with Scarlett when her phone starts to ring. "Hello?" she says upon picking up. "Thomas? Why are you calling me? Ellie? She left? Why? What! That's ridiculous! Okay, I'll be there soon. Bye." She hangs up, "Scarlett! Come here! We have to leave."

"No," Scarlett says, "Don't want to."

"We're going to see Gray."

"Okay!"

It takes Kara about ten minutes to get to the apartment complex. She gets out of the car and walks into the building, with Scarlett toddling close behind her.

There's a knock on the door and Thomas goes to open it. "Hey, Kara," he says upon opening it.

"Hello," Kara says. Scarlett toddles past her in search of Gray.

"Gray's in his room, Scarlett."

Scarlett toddles off toward Gray's room and Thomas and Kara sit down on the couch in the living room. "So," Kara says, "what's this about Ellie leaving?"

"Here," Thomas answers while handing her Ellie's note.

Kara reads the note. "Oh dear. Do you have any idea where she would go?"

"A few." He stands up. "I'm going to check them out, will you stay here and watch Gray and Violet?"

"Yes, of course."

Thomas leaves. He checks all the places Ellie usually goes when she's upset, but she isn't at any of them. He returns home empty handed. "Did you..." Kara starts to ask.

"No," Thomas whispers, "nothing."

"Thomas, look at me." He does. "We'll find her, I promise you. We won't stop looking until we do."

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door and Marie lets herself in. "Thomas? Where's Ellie?" she asks.

"Marie, she left," Thomas answers, sounding devastated, "she left and I have no idea where she could be. I shouldn't have yelled at her last night!"

"You yelled at her? What made you think yelling at her would be a good idea?"

"I didn't mean to! I was angry at myself, not her!"

Ellie

Two weeks had passed since Ellie had decided to leave her and Thomas' apartment. She's sitting at a bar, staring at a blank page in her journal. Eventually, she begins to write entry that detailed her sadness, and guilt over having to leave Thomas as well as other things.

October 8th 1994

It's been a couple weeks since I left. I don't know if I'll ever go back. Knowing Thomas he's probably worrying himself to death about me. Maybe I should go home. I don't know. I just don't want to burden anyone with my problems anymore.

In other news, I may have cheated on Matt. I wasn't drunk or anything like that! Too be honest, I don't really remember what happened. Maybe I was drugged? That doesn't matter, it still happened! Matt will be so disappointed! Why do I always screw everything up? My period is a week late and I don't want to find out if I'm pregnant or not, but I have a doctor's appointment soon.