The Haunting Legacy of Sloane

The man’s face was buried in the small amount of blonde hair that was left on top of his head. His grey hair, seemingly made up of the same dust as his tattered clothes, stuck out at odd angles around his face. He ran his hand through his hair and around the back of his neck, pulling out a scarf and tying it off in a quick knot. He pulled it tight to put pressure on the cuts on his neck, watching blood ooze out slowly but steadily.

He turned toward the window and looked outside at the rain pouring down. It was dark, even darker with the rainclouds blocking any starlight from reaching the earth.

The man picked up a bag from beside him and rummaged through it until he found a small flask full of liquid. He unscrewed the cap and took a swig before screwing the cap back on. He wiped his lips with his sleeve before placing the bag under his mattress so he could keep an eye on it in case someone came looking for it. He sat back down at the desk against the wall facing him and picked up a half-written letter to read over what he had already written.

Dear Sloane,

My name is Mister Levit, although you probably have no idea who I am or what I do…yet. You may not believe me when I tell you this, but we are connected in ways that you cannot yet imagine; I know things about your family that I shouldn’t know, things that would be considered rather rude if anyone else knew about them. If anyone else knew where you were right now, for instance…but don’t worry about that for now. How can I explain this to you so that you will understand? Well, let me start by saying my mother was your great grandmother’s maid…and then tell you a little story about how I ended up here.

This all started just a few weeks ago when I went to see your father at work…I had been doing so quite often over the past month after finding out some very interesting information about him and your family lineage that perhaps only you should know…and I couldn’t get these thoughts out of my head until I saw him again to make sure that everything was still alright with him considering who your father is and how he got to where he is today…but now I wasn’t sure if seeing him again would be such a good idea anymore considering what happened next….

Sloane woke up suddenly; she had just been having another one of her dreams – she was looking for something but didn’t know what. She remembered her mother being involved somewhere in her dream too and got up to check on her to make sure she was alright and hadn’t had another anxiety attack like she did last week after taking her medicine incorrectly.

She walked into her mother’s bedroom cautiously; she didn’t want to wake her up but if she needed anything she wanted to be there as quickly as possible – she walked over to her bedside table and gently shook her arm awake hoping not to scare her while also checking if she was ok – ‘are you ok mum? Do you need anything? Do you want anything? What can I do for you? What can we do together? How can we spend time together? Can I help? Can we plan something? What do you think?? What can we do?? Can we go out today?? Are you feeling better today?? Why don’t we go see dad today?? We haven’t seen him in ages!! What do you say?? Why don’t we call him today?! Can I call him?! Will he answer?! Is he ok?! Can we visit him soon?! Should we visit him soon?! Should we pay him a visit soon?! Or send flowers instead?! Some flowers would be nice!! That would cheer him up!! We could get some flowers together!! Then maybe he wouldn’t be so grouchy all the time!! Then maybe he would be excited to see us again!! Then maybe he wouldn't lock himself up in his study all day working!! Then maybe he would talk more!! Maybe he wouldn't forget important things like Christmas!!! And birthdays!! And anniversaries!!! And wouldn't forget important dates like our wedding anniversary or our wedding day or our engagement day or our first date or our first kiss or our first anything!!"

She proceeded to rattle off a list of every single personal anniversary they shared together within the past 20 years - but then stopped suddenly when she realised that she had awoken her mother - "Oh mum! You're awake! Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you!" Her mother slowly opened her brown eyes looking directly at Sloane standing above her bed holding an umbrella; "What's going on?" She said softly trying not to wake herself up anymore than she already had been,"I'm dreaming aren't I?!"

Sloane chuckled softly trying to compose herself - "It's ok momma! Don't worry! It's ok!!" She handed her mother some water from beside their bedside table before sitting down next to her bed,"You've been having those dreams again haven't you?" She asked softly keeping an eye on her mum; "They're not bothering you are they?" She asked sincerely concerned about whatever nightmares might have been plaguing her mother's sleep lately;

Her mum shook her head slowly,"No...no its nothing." She said weakly looking around their room confused by what time it might be; "It'll pass." She added after finishing off the glass of water before passing it back over to Sloane who placed it back onto their bedside table;"Thanks" Her mum said quietly before lying down onto her pillow ready for sleep again."Ok well..if you need anything let me know ok?" Sloane whispered softly moving closer towards her mother's bedside table where she kept all of their medication neatly lined up along with a glass of water for during the night;

"I will." Her mum replied softly as she closed her eyes drifting off back into sleep again,"And thanks honey" She whispered smiling softly at Sloane before continuing with deep breaths - "Do me a favour though...don't wake me up next time ok?"

Sometime later…

With alarm bells ringing loudly throughout the entire house Sloane was startled awake once again by screams coming from downstairs - "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" She thought angrily while getting out of bed quickly putting on a pair of jeans and running down stairs as quickly as possible – without making any noise – towards what sounded like suspicious activity taking place downstairs in their living room – "Somebody get away from my parents!!" She thought frantically thinking of contingency plans for any emergency situation involving their safety;

Sloane burst into their living room carrying a baseball bat behind one side ready for whatever might await her there – "Hey!!" She shouted angrily into their home expecting intruders roaming around freely within their home preoccupied with stealing whatever they could find – "Get away from my parents!!" She shouted once again walking around cautiously looking for any signs of disturbance within their home - when suddenly something unexpected caught her attention just underneath their sofa; She paused briefly noticing an envelope lying under their couch filled with handwritten letters addressed directly towards herself - ‘who wrote these letters?' She thought curiously picking them all up carefully one-by-one reading each letter aloud while wondering aloud who they were written by - "How did this get here?" She thought aloud shocked at how perfect they were; ‘who wrote these letters? Why did they write them? Is this real?' She thought perplexed almost hoping they were real but convincing herself otherwise because whoever wrote them couldn’t possibly have known who she really was – 'Could they?' She thought hopeful despite being completely convinced otherwise…