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As the night got darker and we felt more connected, I promised myself to keep going through the mysteries of Harmony Grove. The supernatural story unfolded, showing how we were connected and the secrets hiding in the parts we hadn't explored yet. The journey ahead might be hard, but with our shared humanity, we could find the strength to face the unknown.
CHAPTER 17 | A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
EVELYN’S POV
The air felt tense, and the sounds of a woman screaming echoed in the quiet, making me very scared. I wanted to hide from her forever and didn’t want to be here anymore.
“Evie, I need you to come here right now,” she screamed, and I covered my ears. I hated that she loved to shorten my name, but she did it anyway. I would wait for her to get tired and leave me alone.
The stairs above me made a noise as the woman hurried down. She was shouting my name, and it made me even more scared. I held onto my necklace, a small moon-shaped pendant, for comfort. It was like a tiny anchor in the middle of the chaos around me. It would keep me safefrom her.
"Evie! Evie, where are you?" She sounded mad and sad at the same time. I covered my ears with my small hands, hoping she would leave if I stayed quiet and hidden.
But she didn't.
The woman came down the stairs, and each step felt like a warning of something bad happening. My heart raced, and I cried. I stayed in the shadows, hoping they would protect me from her anger.
At the bottom of the stairs, she saw me. Her eyes were red, and she reached out towards me. I held onto my necklace even tighter, finding comfort in its touch.
She grabbed my ears and pulled me into the light, and I followed her like a small ghost, scared of what might happen next.
She was very mad, talking about things I didn't understand. My pendant hung from my neck, cool against my skin, comforting me amid all this anger.
As she took me upstairs, I kept holding onto the pendant, finding comfort in its familiar touch. It was like my lifeline in this storm of feelings. I didn't want to let it go, thinking that if I did, I would be lost in a sea of uncertainty.
Upstairs, there was chaos—a lot of shouting and crying that felt like it would never end. I held onto my necklace, my eyes filled with tears, as the night swallowed us up. The moon outside was far away, watching a little kid endure a tough time.
***
The old, worn-out curtainsbecame my hiding place as I crouched behind them, trying to hear what my foster parent and someone from Child Protective Services (CPS) were talking about in the next room. Like distant whispers, their voices filled the air, making me feel uncertain and small.
"We just can't handle her anymore. She's weird, you know? She creepily looks at me without saying a word. I don’t even know what the fuck she wants. She scares me." The words felt bad, reaching my ears through the curtains. It made me sad, but I stayed quiet.
She was lying, I didn’t stare at her creepily, and she didn’t ask me what I wanted. She was always mistreating me, and she usually assumed what I wanted. She didn’t even know my allergies. I don’t leave my hiding spot to tell the woman that though, I just sit there and listen.
“You know that’s how children are; they won’t explicitly tell you what they want. You have to ask or at least relate with them to know.” The other woman tried to convince my foster mother, but she wasn’t having any of it. She just wanted me to be gone from her life. I wanted to be gone from here, too.
They went silent. I hoped she wouldn’t get convinced not to let me go.
“I can’t keep her, I’m sorry. I tried to, but I just can’t. Thank you,” she whispered finally, and I didn’t know what to feel. Maybe she was right about me, and I was being creepy. If she lets me go, this would be the third home I’m leaving so soon.
The CPS lady, a shadow in the dim room, tried to sound nice, but something serious was in the air. I strained to hear every word, my eyes wide open, hoping that the things happening would disappear if I stared hard enough.
Then, there was silence. A pause that felt long. The CPS lady said, "Evelyn, is it? Time to go, sweetheart." Those words made it feel like I was losing the last thing that made me feel safe. I was going to face anothernew family who didn’t know how to care for me.
I stayed hidden behind the curtains, looking at the patterned floor. The CPS lady came closer, bending down and looking at me. "Come on, dear. We're here to make sure you're safe," she said, reaching out her hand. I stayed still, not moving, not really looking.
But then, a sharp voice interrupted everything. "Evelyn! Get down here, right now!" My foster parent's voice was angry, and I had to come out from behind the curtains, even if I didn't want to. The CPS lady picked up a bag with my things, not much stuff, just some pieces of my life.
My foster parent watched, waving a little, but it didn't feel like a real goodbye. I stayed where I was, looking at the disappearing, safe feeling. I didn't wave back. My hand just hung by my side, like it was stuck in the moment when I realized I was being left alone.
The CPS lady walked ahead, thinking I would follow, and I did, like a robot. The curtains made one last shadow in the empty room I left behind, and the door closed softly, making it clear that another piece of my life was changing.
***
I turned around and tried to sleep again. I hated when I got flashbacks of my past, as if I didn’t remember every one of those events properly. Sleepiness finally got to me and as I was starting to enjoy the peace, I found myself in a new place.
I was in a strange place with three versions of myself from different parts of my childhood. There was the rebellious teenager, the innocent eight-year-old, and the fragile six-year-old lostin abandonment. Each wore the moon-shaped pendant, a necklace with me through all the uncertainty.
