Undone By You

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Coraline

" I s that the last one?" I look over at my brother who is carrying a box from the moving van into the foyer of the house. "Yeah that's the last one, you didn't have a lot of shit to move Cora" he says with a smirk as he jumbles the box in his arms to get a better grip.

Fair enough, I stayed in an apartment in Miami with nothing more than what I needed, and I was okay with that. My mother was a hoarder for the finer things, she would collect vintage furniture and had a walk-in closet that looked somewhat like a shrine for fur coats and over the top gowns. So I took some pride in being a minimalist.

I take the box from him and set it down on the kitchen counter.

"Thanks for helping me move Ty, I really appreciate it" I say with a believable smile as I start sifting through the boxes to see what goes where. "Of course, i can't exactly trust you to check the plumbing or the electrical work" Tyler says with a cooing tone as he rolls up the sleeves of his navy button up shirt. "You know.." he starts as he looks down at the ground.

"You don't have to stay here, I don't like that you're out here alone. I-I know it's been tough.. but I feel like you're running away Cora. You need people around you right now" I keep my eyes averted from him as I dust off an old picture of our parents, I wiggle my nose to fight the burn as tears threaten to spring to my eyes. I place it down on the counter and a small smile pulls at the side of my mouth as I trace their faces.

I loved them. I'm not like my parents in any way, they were always beaming around each other, the happiest people I knew. They were oblivious, unhealthy-positive and always had a sparkle in their eyes. Me, however, I'm about as sparkly as a shitty-coloured rock on a rainy day.

"I'm okay, really" I say as I turn to look at my brother "I want to be here. Do you remember when dad brought us here one summer and took us fishing at the lake?" Tyler crossed his arms and gave me a sympathetic look as he nodded his head.

"I was happy here, I can be happy here again. I want a fresh start, I want to be able to find myself or to invent myself or whatever the fuck those philosophers say. I'm okay" I say again "And besides, Rose lives thirty minutes away"

I give him a reassuring smile as I bend to pick up a few more boxes to skim through. Tyler has always been the worrying type, about me especially.

He's a little different than our parents too, he gets me. He looks like my father, but he has my mother's eyes, my eyes. A stormy grey with a hint of icy blue, he has sandy blonde hair like my father, he laughs like him too.

I'm going to miss him. Tyler embraces me and gives me a kiss on my forehead as he sighs "You're a real headache, Coraline" I give him a soft laugh as I wrap my arms around him "I know,okay?" I say as I swallow hard to hold the tears back. "Of course Kiddo" he checks his watch and curses at the time "Fuck, I gotta go Cora, I have to sign a developing contract in a few hours"

He kisses my head once more as he adjusts his shoulders and clears his throat. "I love you, call me when you're settled, or if you need some money for shit, I don't know, just stay in touch, okay?" I walk him to the front door and watch as he climbs into his blacked out truck.

I smile as I wave him off.

Tyler hates goodbyes, and I do too. I appreciate that he doesn't hover and tries to not dwell. My brother is seven years older than me, he's been through a lot, his girlfriend died two years back and he hasn't been the same ever since.

Tyler pretends to be happy and he acts like demons don't haunt him for my sake, but dealing with that kind of loss, the loss of our parents, and dealing with a depressed younger sister must take a lot out of him. I would say he has it worse than me.

It's been two weeks since I moved. I've made some minor changes to the house, I've upgraded the locks, had a few windows replaced and installed a wifi router. The stairs are in desperate need to be re-carpeted and the weeds around the stone walkway out front need some TLC at a later stage, but other than that, I quite like the look of the house.

I walk around the place reminiscing on how it looks just the same from when Tyler and I were children. The black floorboards give a dark aura to the house which makes it feel quite cozy.

I walk into the living room and I'm met with the large French style windows that overlook the West side of the lake. It's peaceful here and I'm lucky to have a functioning fireplace, the wood crackles and the smell of burnt embers engulf me and I take a moment to close my eyes and bask in the nostalgia. Home.

I hear a knock at the door and I hurry myself over to open it, Rose screeches as she flings her arms around me and gives me the tightest hug, I think my eyes actually might pop out.

I let out a wheezed laugh as I hugged her back. "Coraline-fucking-SinClaire!! How are you?" Rose and I have been friends since the fifth grade, she moved to Louisiana after high school to start her own business as a salon owner.

"I'm great Cora, I missed you" I pull free of the embrace and usher her to come inside, she walks over to the kitchen and sits down two bottles of sweet rosé. I eye the bottles and eye her there after.

"What?" She says with a mischievous smile. I smile right back as I walk over and grab two glasses from the shelves.

"I'm sorry, about your parents. Vivienne and Theodore were lovely people, did they catch the son of a bitch who did it?" Rose says while giving me a sympathetic look.

My parents were killed in a car accident, a drunk driver ran them off the road and they rolled down a hill before colliding with a tree.

"No, they have no suspects, no witnesses, they're contemplating dropping the case because things like this happen every day, the police don't think it's worth looking into. They say it was just all a terrible accident and was nobody's fault" Rose scoffs as she downs her 3rd glass of wine.

"Nobody's fault huh? Yeah, right. Did they even bother looking at traffic cams? Probably not, those assholes are useless." I reach for her hand, Rose has always had a fire in her, she would be the one to speak both of our minds when I was afraid to. Her long jet black bob sways as she looks at me, her lime green eyes search mine as she squeezes my hand.

"I know it's been rough, I'm not sure if it will ever get better, but I'm so proud of you for trying. I'm so happy you're here, I missed you"

Just as I open my mouth to speak, a loud banging noise comes drumming from the front door, Rose and I jolt in our seats and I have to grab the counter top to balance myself. What the fuck? "Jesus, do you owe someone money or something?" Rose says with an annoyed expression while clutching her chest. I get up from my chair and walk over to the front door, as I get closer my footsteps start to slow.

A note, someone has pushed a note under my door, I walk closer and pick it up. I open the door to see nobody there, I walk onto the porch and look on either side of the house, nobody.

I slowly open the piece of paper, only.. it's not a note. I stare at the page and I hear ringing in my ears, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and I don't even realise I'm holding my breath.

I sway on my feet as my stomach churns. It's a drawing.. of a violet flower. It's my tattoo.

The exact replica of the violet flower I have tattooed on my ass. What the fuck is going on?