Dear Tressi [✓]

37

The cramped storage room smelled damp. Tressi could taste the dust mites that floated in the air. There were no windows. Once the door was shut, the room was instantly dark and Tressi could only make out her mother's outline.

"Mom? What are you doing?" Tressi asked, disoriented from being pushed into the room.

"Shhh," Dala hissed. She moved forward, forcing Tressi further back into the small space, until her back hit the shelves. A sudden waft of chemicals enveloped Tressi, letting her know that there were cleaning supplies behind her.

Dala didn't say anything else, but cocked her head towards the door, listening.

"What—" Tressi began, but Dala covered her mouth with her hand. Placing a finger on her own lips, she silently cautioned Tressi to be quiet.

Once she was satisfied that nobody was outside, Dala removed her hand that was covering Tressi's mouth and flipped on a switch. The dingy storage room was suddenly bathed in a yellow glow from a single light bulb that hung from the ceiling.

The harsh light threw Dala's features into focus and Tressi stifled a gasp. She had thought her mother had aged when she'd seen her the week before, but it was nothing compared to how she seemed now. Her already thin body had become frail. The dark circles under her eyes had a purple tinge to them. Her complexion, which had once been roses and cream, was now bone white and waxy. The dark eyes had sunk deep into their sockets making her features gaunt. It seemed like she'd aged ten years in the span of one week.

"Why did you come back?" her mother asked in a harsh whisper. Tressi opened her mouth to reply but Dala cut her off before she could begin. "You have to leave right now."

"No. Not until you tell me what's going on. You're clearly in some kind of trouble. Is it to do with Edda?" Tressi didn't bother to be quiet. So Dala placed her hand once more against Tressi's mouth, since her voice could easily be carried through the walls.

"Not so loud!" she hissed. "I don't have time to explain anything. You just need to trust me and leave this place. Get out of Lapec. Right now."

Tressi grasped Dala's hand that was over her mouth and slowly pulled it away. It was clear that her mother was scared. She could see the fear in the way her eyes quickly darted around, looking behind her to make sure nobody came in. Dala was afraid. Very much so.

"Mom, what's going on?" Tressi asked, making sure to keep her voice low. Dala looked at her daughter unhappily but didn't say anything. So Tressi continued, "You want me to leave, right? I'll go away if you tell me what's happening. Just tell me what you know and I'll never come back again."

"I can't, Tressi. I just can't," Dala moaned, running her hands through her matted hair. "Please leave," she begged, taking Tressi's hands in her own.

Tressi blinked in surprise. Her mother had never begged. Not for anything. There was only one note to her personality—haughtiness. This was big. This was huge.

"No, Mom. Sorry," she said, resolute. "I came here to bury the past once and for all. I'm not leaving loose ends. You tell me right now what's going on, or else I'm not leaving."

Tressi grabbed a stool from the corner and sat down, folding her arms across her chest.

Dala sank down to the floor, holding her head in her hands; she took a huge breath.

"What do you want to know?" Dala asked, her voice almost inaudible.

"Where were you last evening? Did you know I was here? Did you ask Igna Peren to lie to me?"

"Igna didn't know I was in Lapec. I lied to her," Dala replied, looking back up.

"Why?"

"I had my reasons."

"Mom," Tressi warned.

Dala looked away, her lips trembling. Tressi watched in shock as intense weariness crossed her mother's features. Where was the sneer? The disdain?

She reached out to awkwardly place her hand on her mother's; they hadn't had physical contact in fifteen years.

Dala focused her gaze on her daughter's hands and spoke, "I was trying to negotiate and I didn't want Igna Peren to know."

"Negotiate what? Who were you with?"

"Vil."

At her mother's words, Tressi pulled back her hand, disgusted. After all these years, nothing had changed.

"Should've known," she muttered, getting up from the stool.

"It really isn't what you think," Dala chuckled with no humour.

Tressi slowly turned around. "What is it then?"

Dala let out another deep breath. "Vil... has a hold on me. That's why I'm in this place. To help his friends," she sneered. "This whole place is a scam. Tax evasion for the board of trustees, that's what this is."

Tressi then understood. She remembered how her mother had no sponsor listed in the register. There had been quite a few other names too.

Patty had had it wrong. Igna wasn't stealing from the Trust; she was helping the Trust steal.

By saying the majority of the residents had no sponsor, they could write off huge expenses as charity. But she couldn't see how her mother and Vil fit into this.

Dala continued, "Vil helps the board find new members to showcase as residents. They force us to pay for ourselves but the receipts are doctored to show how the money comes from the Trust. Since they can't do this to just anybody, they rely on people like Vil to help them find those who are vulnerable. Those who could be blackmailed to go along with this. That's why I had to leave the house and move in here. Every time Vil finds someone new, he gets a cut. So does Igna Peren, who makes sure everything runs smoothly."

"But what is Vil blackmailing you with? What is the hold that he has on you?" Tressi asked, unable to see what could be bad enough to force her mother to live years in a place like this.

Dala looked at her daughter, smiling sadly. There was no trace of bitterness that Tressi usually saw. In its place, there was only profound unhappiness.

"You," she said, simply.