( keyofkresnik HOW COULD I NOT ) haunt me
Lara wasn’t sure why or how she had returned– but there she was, walking the villa’s halls. She would have been grateful, so grateful, for the opportunity to see it and her family again, even on such a rainy night, but somehow what had once been her home just seemed… empty.
She stopped at her old bedroom door, half-raised a hand to open it, then let the hand fall again. Not… right now. Not yet.
Instead she wandered until a sound, a little girl’s voice, drew her attention.
Pushing open the door, she looked down at the girl, curled around a cat plush that was half as big as she was, long blond hair just like Lara’s own all over the place.
Elle made another noise and shifted in her sleep. Lara knelt next to her and ran her hand over the girl’s head, smoothing her hair. “Shh… it’s okay. Mommy’s here.”
She didn’t know if the girl could hear or feel her, but she prayed that at least the thoughts behind her words would get through.
“I miss you so much.” She leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Elle’s forehead. “Know I love you, baby.”