Abandoned by Abigail Livinghouse (distant reading txt) 📕

parents that I only had a year, maybe less, to live. However, I did not die from the leukemia.”

Tessie cocked an eyebrow. “What are you saying?”

Cyndi gripped Tessie’s fingers in her small hand. Her grip was cold as death. “What I’m getting at is that, I did not die naturally. I was murdered.” 

Chapter 14

For a moment, Tessie said nothing, chewing on what the girl had said. Murdered. Impossible. The facts were too concrete. Cynthia Evans, diagnosed with leukemia when she was seven, died in January of 1888, on the sixth.

She had been ridiculed as a little girl, and had suffered terribly nearly her whole life. With the death of her sister, and then her death. Some said death was a blessing for the child, that she had been through enough in the few short years of her life. However, that did not mean she did not die at a horribly young age. Dying at age seventy was too young to die. Cynthia had not lived a long life, or a full one. Tessie could almost understand why she was a spirit.

“What do you want? Closure?” She asked Cyndi.

She hesitated. “Well, not exactly.”

The bitterness in her tone, the cold depths of her clear blue eyes, it all slammed into Tessie, and she realized what the girl desired. Cyndi wanted blood.

“Revenge.” Tessie murmured. The little girl looked at her with huge, pleading eyes. “I’m begging you. Help me.”

Tessie swallowed. Her throat was very dry. “Help you what? I can’t help you hurt anyone.”

Cyndi waved her hand, looking slightly annoyed. “I don’t want to hurt who murdered me. I just want to know who did it. I need to know. Please, Tessie. I have to know. I’m stuck here until I do.”

Tessie pursed her lips. “So, in a way, you do want closure?”

Cyndi took a moment before answering, considering. “I suppose so. I can’t get out of here until I find who did it.”

Tessie nodded. It was the reason why Cyndi hadn’t moved on. She was here to find her murderer and bring justice to him. The little girl was stuck here until she found who had killed her.

“But, why can’t you come outside?” Tessie gestured behind her at the wide expanse of cornfields and lush, green farmland.

“She can’t.” Conner’s voice pierced the stillness of the room like a knife, causing both Tessie and Cyndi to jump.

He was a few feet back, away from the two girls, leaning against the doorframe near the dining room, looking completely drained of all emotion. The pink flush of his cheeks had vanished completely, leaving him looking sickly pale.

“None of us can.” He said, his voice seeming to echo throughout the entire house. “This place is damned. And as long as we are inside it, we are damned as well. We should’ve burned the place to the ground when we had the chance.”

“Conner, you know we couldn’t.” Cyndi said, her voice pained. “You know what would happen to us if this building was destroyed.”

 Conner nodded, his face flat. “We would go to hell.”

Tessie sucked in a quick breath. Conner shrugged. “I personally do not see the difference. We’re going to end up there anyway. We’re already screwed.”

“Don’t say that.” Cyndi said, her eyes on the ground.

 “Why not? It’s the truth.”

“It’s horrible.” Cyndi’s voice was barely a whisper. Tessie wished Conner would quit pushing her.

“It’s an ugly truth.” He said flatly. “We cannot step outside of this building. But anything is better than this hellhole.”

 Tessie remembered when she had said something similar to that. She had told her parents to send her away to maybe a military school, anything to get out of this hellhole. She had said. Now, Tessie shook her head. Compared to the two children, she had it easy here.

“Even the actual hell? If this building burns we burn with it!” Cyndi screamed at Conner.

He looked at her with dull black eyes. “And? Like I said, anything is better than here.”

A terrible crash that reminded Tessie all too much of her mother’s shattered china shrieked through the house. Conner suddenly became alert. He spun around and darted into the kitchen. Cyndi and Tessie wasted no time. They rushed after him.

Tessie came to a screeching halt when she saw a beautiful dark skinned girl standing in her kitchen. The girl was about her height, with sparkling green eyes and long hair the color of warm chestnut. She looked Tessie’s age, maybe a year older, and was leaning against the island, staring down at shards of glass on the floor as if she was trying to decide what to do with it.

“Ah hell”, Conner muttered, placing a hand on his head.

Cyndi had the exact opposite reaction. She ran and threw her arms around the girl’s neck, squeezing her gently. She hugged and greeted the girl like she had greeted Tessie. The teenager hugged her back, laughing and smiling.

“Well, hello little Cyndi. How are you, my dear?”

Cyndi giggled, squirming until the girl set her on her feet. “I’m wonderful! I haven’t seen you in so long. What have you been doing? Where have you been?”

The girl laughed again. “I never left. Oh,” She hugged Cyndi again, keeping one arm around the little girl. “I’ve missed you so much, girlie.” She ruffled Cyndi’s hair.

She then seemed to notice Tessie for the first time. She didn’t glare at her, like Conner had, but she didn’t jump over and hug her like Cyndi. She simply nodded in Tessie’s direction.

“What have you been up to?”

Referring to Tessie. Cyndi blushed, playing with a strand of her silky blonde hair.

“Um, this is Tessie.” She said, gesturing weakly in Tessie’s direction. The girl rolled her eyes.

“Amazing timing you have. Hello”, she said, reaching out her hand. Tessie shook it. The girl’s fingers were icy.

 “I’m Brandy. And these two”, She looked down at the two children, “You know them already.”

 Conner looked thoroughly pissed off. His fists were clenched and his black eyes seemed to blaze with fury.

 “What the hell are you doing here? We thought you had left.” He said with conviction.

Brandy turned to Conner with a kind smile, unfazed at the boy’s rudeness. “Dear Conner, I did not leave. If I had, who would keep an eye on you and the others?”

Tessie cocked an eyebrow but said nothing. Others? She could barely deal with Conner and Cyndi’s arrival. And now another? It was fortunate though that Brandy seemed more mature than the two kids.

A clink of metal caused Tessie to stiffen. The front door opened and she heard the crinkling of plastic bags along with keys being placed on the table in the foyer.

“Could you help me with these bags?” Mrs. Porter asked Mr. Porter who grunted under the weight of the groceries. Shit. 

 

Chapter 15

“Who are they?” Brandy asked.

No one answered her. Everyone, even Conner, was frozen at the sudden entrance of her parents. Tessie was busy formulating a plan.

The staircase was right next to the door, so they could forget going upstairs. And no one but Tessie could go outside. Their only option was downstairs.

“Follow me and keep quiet.” Tessie said, jumping over to the door that led to the basement. She opened it, gesturing for everyone to get inside.

Brandy took Cyndi’s hand and pushed the little girl forward. When Tessie was about to duck inside Brandy turned at the last minute, bumping into her.

“Wait! Where’s Conner?” She whispered fervently.

Tessie surveyed the room and shook her head. The boy was nowhere to be seen. “There’s no time. Get inside.”

 Brandy did not move. “No. We have to find Conner.” She demanded.

Tessie grabbed the girl’s arm. “We have to go. If my parents see you we’re all screwed. Don’t worry. He’s still here.”

Brandy’s pretty face suddenly crumpled in pain and sorrow. Real tears began to flow down her face. She gestured helplessly with her hands.

“Please, please Tessie. What if he left? If he left I don’t know what I’ll do.” She sobbed, burying her face in Tessie’s shoulder.

Tessie tried her best to console the girl while still listening to what her parents were doing. They were making their way through the hall and were about to enter the kitchen. Tessie couldn’t even imagine what they would say if they saw her with a hysterical girl crying on her shoulder and a shaking child, both who had died years ago.

“C’mon”, Tessie closed the door with a barely audible click. She just prayed her parents couldn’t hear it with all the noise they were making.

 She shuffled Brandy down the stairs, gripping Cyndi’s trembling hand. The basement was finished, but dark without any lights on. Tessie felt her way over to the couch and sat the two girls down. She was afraid that if she did turn on a light, her parents would know she was down here. 

The girls sitting in the dark gave off a faint florescent glow that Tessie had never seen before. She didn’t say anything though. She did not want to offend either of them.

Cyndi hugged Brandy close to her, who had her hands covering her face while she cried, her bony shoulders heaving forward. Tessie heard her mother scream. They must be in the kitchen. The mini tornado had done quite a number on the place.

Cyndi embraced Brandy, who clung to her like a frightened child. In the darkness, Tessie noticed something about the girl that she had not before. She was very pale, everything about her, even her hair, which was a very warm color, had a bit of a pale tint, like she had been out in the sun too long. It was hard to describe, but she had almost a grayish look to her. She wasn’t as bright as Conner and Cyndi. Brandy broke away from Cyndi, who looked at her with eyes wide with worry.

 “Are you okay?” She asked her in a small voice.

Brandy moved her hands away from her face, which was damp with tears. She shook her head and shut her eyes, sniffling.

“N-no, what if something happened to Conner? What if he left? He could be in hell, and it’s all my fault!” Brandy suddenly threw her arms around Tessie, catching her off guard.

Goose-bumps rose on her arms. Brandy’s skin was so cold, like ice. She felt like she was being embraced by an ice creature. Tessie hugged the girl awkwardly.

 “I’m sure he’s fine. He wouldn’t leave.” She said, even though she wasn’t entirely sure.

 He had been the one to say that even hell was better than here. Brandy seemed to sense Tessie’s lie. She moved away, wiping