Evelyn

Dear Cara,

as hard as this is to admit, I must do it, and I must do it now. You were right. You were right about everything. This house is haunted. You did the right thing when you left the way you did, and I can only hope you never feel tempted to return here ever again because, if you do, she’s going to get you, too.

Yes, she. The source of all your shivers, concerns, and restless nights. It’s a young girl, her face badly burnt. What little is left untouched reminds me of Melanie, and when I see her from certain angles. she could almost pass as her twin. Her name is Evelyn, Evie for short. It means “wished for child”, did you know that? I didn’t until she told me. She told me a lot of things the first time she caught me here all alone and continues to do so on a regular basis. She wants to live up to her name, she wants to be wished for at least once in her life. Ah, how silly is to say that when talking about a ghost. She had no life before we came crashing in. She tried reaching out to you first, but you weren’t receptive, I understand. The pain runs deeper in you because you’re the one that found her after all, but Melanie has moved on already, or at least, I hope she did. She wouldn’t approve what is happening right now.

You see, my dear, I’ve been adopted. Yes, I’m Evelyn’s father now. At first, I resisted the notion, I tried to get away, but her whispers kept pulling me back in, words and images of loneliness and despair branded in my brain. They burned me just like the fire pokers burned her sweet, innocent face. I have scars all over my brain now but that’s okay. It’s a small price to pay considering what she’s suffered. Yes, I pity her as much as I fear her for I know she didn’t want to be like this, so needy, clingy, and filled with rage. If she could get out of here to exact revenge on those that wronged her, she would have already. Instead, there’s only me. I’m but one man except when she believes differently. I’m her father but I’m also her tormentors. I’m her brother, her cousin, her best friend who saw it all without saying a word. I’m the police officer who ignored the obvious signs. I’m every single person who knew or, at least, suspected she was being abused. Evelyn despises them all and I…

Cara, this is a nightmare, a twenty-four seven living nightmare! She was plucked from this world before she had the chance to grow and now she’s stuck in this cycle of extreme devotion and even more extreme hate. She doesn’t let me leave the house no matter what, it’s been ten days since the last time I ate or shut eye for more than an hour. She lets me write these knowing I’ll never be able to send them to you because she thinks they’re amusing. It’s all a joke now, especially the torture, the screams, the cuts, the impression of flames on my cheeks and tongue… I’m going to die here if I haven’t died already. My only consolation lies in the fact that you’re free and that perhaps I’ll get to see Melanie again, soon. I’ll say “Hi” to her for you, okay?

I must go now. Evelyn wants to play hide-and-seek with a fire poker. I love you.

Forever yours,

Brad