Chapter 143 Prelude
In a certain villa in the community, a woman was busy with her work.
The woman has obvious bags under her eyes.
My hair is limp and messy. It’s obvious that I haven’t taken care of myself seriously for a while.
But even so, she continued to use the knife in her hand to repair the details of the model.
The sound of "rustling", accompanied by somewhat disordered breathing, echoed one after another in the room.
Her name is Linda Wolfe and she is a handmade artist of miniatures.
Her personal art exhibition is about to be held.
But due to a series of recent trivial matters and poor personal condition.
She did not complete the works to be exhibited at the exhibition step by step according to plan.
The originally abundant time was completely wasted, and as the date continued to approach, Linda became more and more anxious.
Her vision gradually became blurry, and her mind couldn't help but think of what happened at the previous funeral.
Her mother Ellen passed away, but to be honest, she wasn't sad about it.
Although that woman was Linda's mother in name, she brought her all kinds of misfortunes.
All this is because of a certain sect that mother Ellen believes in.
From then on, she began to live away from her mother, and did not have much contact with her until her death.
However, the shadow did not dissipate with Allen's death, but instead lingered in Linda's heart.
In the room, the breathing sound became more and more disordered, and the frequency of the knife also became more and more frequent, and finally stopped suddenly.
The blood droplets oozing out from her fingers and the vague pain made Linda regain some sense.
She put down the model in her hand, took a piece of paper from the side to wipe her hands, and then walked towards her daughter's room.
"Feeling a little better? My dear baby."
After Allen died, the most sad thing for the whole family was Linda's daughter, Charles.
The daughter is taciturn, but has extremely high artistic talent.
Except for the grandmother who raised her, she is not very close to anyone else.
Since the death of his grandmother Ellen, Charles's sleep has become very poor.
This forced Linda to take time out of her busy schedule to put her to sleep.
"Is it true that she can't come back?"
Just as Linda was thinking about how to answer her daughter's question, she heard Charles speak again.
"Grandma is gone, then who will take care of me?"
"Mom will take care of you, dad and brother will also take care of you, sleep peacefully, baby."
Linda. He gently kissed his daughter on the forehead, but noticed a strange word carved on the head of Charles' bed at some point.
Her heart sank. After getting up, she did not continue to work or rest. Instead, she came to the room where her mother lived.
From the box containing the mother's belongings, a book called "The Spiritual Notes" was found.
Opening the book, a card caught her eye.
“My dear Linda, please forgive me for not being able to tell you everything, please do not resent me and do not despair of what you have lost.
You will eventually see what they are. It’s worth it, our sacrifices are nothing compared to the rewards.”
The signature was “Love your mother”
Linda couldn’t understand this unclear statement, but. This nagging style of speaking aroused painful memories in her.
She quickly closed the book and stuffed it back into the box, as if she was trying to bury something ominous. She pressed the carton hard, then hurriedly turned off the light and prepared to leave.
But the moment Linda stepped out of the threshold, her peripheral vision caught sight of a figure standing in the corner of the dark room.
The familiar old man appeared in the darkness at some point, facing Linda with a creepy smile.
The latter turned on the light again, only to find that there was nothing in the corner.
What just happened made her look horrified and she kept looking around the room.
At this glance, she glanced at the model placed on the table.
That was the scene when Ellen was scrambling to breastfeed her granddaughter shortly after Charles was born. She later reproduced it through a model.
The more she looked at it, the more frightened Linda became.
She walked forward quickly, turned the model so that its back was facing her, then turned off the light and walked out of the room.
Back in the room, her husband Steve was reading a book on the bed. He didn't find the band-aid on his wife's finger.
“Charlie still can’t sleep?”
Steve is a psychiatric medical expert with a gentle personality and a typical intellectual.
"The situation is much better than a month ago, but she still misses her grandmother very much."
"It is clear that her grandmother favors boys over girls..."
Pull off the quilt and go to bed. , Linda said.
“We are far less understanding of Allen than Charlie is, and we cannot understand the feelings between their grandparents and grandchildren.”
Steve picked up the book again.
“There have been many new faces in the community recently. When I went out to the garbage bag this morning, the old man opposite also returned to his hometown to visit relatives.”
“Los Angeles Police Department People seemed to have come over to inquire in the evening. "
This is not a big deal.
The community is close to Hollywood and there is a high turnover of people, which is normal.
"What happens to the people in the community has nothing to do with our family. I just want to lock that house now."
Linda looked uneasy, but did not tell her husband.
Due to her childhood experiences, she suffered from severe mental illness.
Steve is needed to help with relief every time.
I don’t know if I am worried that Steve is under too much pressure, or if I am afraid of the latter’s strange eyes.
Linda did not tell her about seeing her mother’s phantom before.
"Relax, dear, the relics have been sorted out. You can lock them up anytime you want."
Steve spoke softly, but obviously couldn't understand Linda.
He believed that it was exposure to things related to his mother that aroused his wife's sensitive nerves.
As long as some time passes, everything will return to normal.
Just then, he received a phone call.
After listening, Steve subconsciously looked at his worried wife beside him, but didn't say much.
The other side of the phone was the cemetery management. They called to say that Allen's body had disappeared.
At this juncture, he would naturally not irritate Linda anymore and would just hide the matter.
After turning off the lights, the two of them slept on their sides facing completely different directions.
There are no quarrels and no emotional disputes.
But a gap has arisen between them.
The depression of having nowhere to talk to made Linda go out during the day when she was alone at home, and took the initiative to find a mutual aid club.
People here are suffering from the loss of their loved ones, and talking to each other can help them get out of the shadows.
Here, facing strangers who had nothing to do with each other and were in similar situations, she could finally spit out the secrets that had been buried in her heart for many years and express her true inner thoughts.
"My brother hanged himself due to severe mental problems."
"He wrote a suicide note before he died, directly stating that everything was because of our mother."
"Said she tried to send another The soul was stuffed into his body."
"Soon after that, I severed the relationship with my mother. With the help of my husband, I got out of the psychological shadow."
"For. To avoid repeating the same mistake, after confirming that the first child was a boy, the husband prohibited the mother from having any contact and communication with me and the child.”
“This situation continued until the second child. Things got better after I was born..."
The people below were quietly listening to Linda's story.
The originally stagnant language became more fluent as the emotions were expressed.
Immersed in the sense of relaxation brought by talking, Linda did not notice that most of the people in front of her looked familiar.
After she finished speaking, everyone showed "encouraging" smiles, and applause came one after another...
Looking at the people below, Linda also showed a look of relief...
(End of this chapter)