24. Elis journal
Eli's journal
Silence can be a blessing, sometimes a home…
Back then, it was a curse.
That day, silence woke me up.
The same as always, and yet different.
Heavy. Evil.
I got out of bed and walked barefoot out of the room. I don’t know why, but I moved as if I were afraid of waking the house. That damned silence…
I cracked open the door to my dad’s bedroom, which he hadn’t been in for a long time. It was empty, just as I’d expected. After all, he was sleeping in Mom’s room. For her own safety.
So I shuffled over there. I cracked the door open and poked my head inside. Dad was sleeping curled up in an armchair in the room's corner, covered with a blanket.
He looked uncomfortable. Old. Helpless.
The bed was empty.
There was no sign of Mom.
The bathroom door was wide open. It was dark inside.
She wasn’t there either.
I closed the door behind me and started looking for her. I checked room after room.
Every corner. Every closet.
The kitchen was the second-to-last room. The garage remained until the end. But when I walked into the kitchen, something icy ran down my spine. Everything seemed to be in its place. I didn’t find Mom there either.
Then I saw the pantry door. Ajar.
No one ever left it open.
The tiles under my feet were colder than usual.
With a lump in my throat and my heart pounding, I slowly approached the door. Today I know that before I even touched the doorknob, I already knew.
I opened the door.
It was dark inside.
I took a step.
Something wet clung to my feet.
When I groped my way to the light switch, the light revealed a scene that haunts me to this day.
In the pantry's corner sat my mother, in her white nightgown with pink lace at the neckline. Her legs lay flat on the floor. She was staring at me. Right at me…
Her hands rested at her sides.
Blood was no longer flowing from them.
Blood.
I looked down and saw that I was standing in a pool of blood. It was no longer warm.
It had left my mother’s body long ago.
Then the scream reached me.
Piercing. Unceasing.
As if the world were ending right then.
Scream, scream, scream…
It took me a moment to realize that the scream was mine.