Chapter Text
Mrs. Whispers dreaded going into the attic.
She and her husband had decided to finally move out of their house, the one they have been living in for more than a decade now, and they were almost done with packing everything up, and were almost ready to leave their old house and into a new one. It was a smaller house than the one they have been living in, but with only two people, Mrs. and Mr. Whispers didn’t think they needed such a big space. There used to be three people. Two parents and a child. But, all the children had to leave their parents’ nest eventually. Mrs. Whispers just wished it was in a different way, any other way than what had happened.
Anyways, the only area left to pack was all the stuff in the attic. Well, Mrs. Whispers wasn’t scared of it or anything, it was just the fact that most of the things in there belonged to them. Raine Whispers, her child. It was seeing all of their stuff again that made her dread going into the attic.
She probably could have just thrown everything away, Raine was definitely not going to be using their things ever again anytime soon, but at the same time, it felt wrong to just get rid of all she had left of her child. It felt like she was just removing her child from her life forever, when in reality she knew she would always have to live with the memories, and the regret, and the guilt for everything. And also at the same time, she could not bring herself to look at all of Raine’s things without breaking down. They have been gone for a decade now, but it still hurt to see their things, and remember everything they used to be, everything they loved, and everything that was actually good in their life before their mother just had to ruin everything. If she even had the right to call herself their mother anymore.
So she decided to move all their stuff to the attic, and turn their room into a guest room that they rarely used. Mrs. Whispers never went into the attic ever again after moving all of Raine’s stuff there.
Until now, when she has to pack all of Raine’s stuff, and move into a new house. She took a few deep breaths before entering, trying not to think too much about them, her child. If she could even call them her child anymore.
And of course, the first thing she saw was all of their instruments, and she remembered how much they wanted to be a musician, even with their stage fright. She knew they would have been successful, possibly even the best in the whole world. They were good at playing almost every instrument. Their dreams would have already come true today if it weren’t for her and her lack of support when they needed it the most.
Mrs. Whispers tried to shut down those thoughts, and focus more on the task at hand. Focus on putting things in boxes, doesn’t matter what they are.
But there was something that really caught her attention. It was a light blue book decorated with stickers of music notes, different instruments, and storm clouds.
Raine’s diary.
She won’t lie, Mrs. Whispers never really understood that much about Raine, outside of everything they told her. And that really was not much because they have always been more quiet, kept all of their thoughts and feelings to themself. Reading this diary, that could help her understand her child more. She should have made more of an effort to understand and help them while they were still here, but, maybe it wasn’t too late to learn a few things. They never left a note on why they left when they did. She could probably see if she really was the reason for it, and that one part of her could stop feeling sad, and breaking down. Because why should she be hurt over something that was her fault?
But was it even moral to read it? She got it for Raine so they could express themself, and not have to worry about people finding out what they were writing. She never would have considered going through it herself, that would just be a massive break of privacy and trust. But then again, she already messed everything up and already ruined their life, so what more harm could she possibly do?
She must have been frozen there, staring at the diary for a while because she eventually heard her husband call, “Is everything alright up there?” and for some reason, she could not respond, only continue to stare at the diary lost in her thoughts.
She could hear her husband coming up the stairs. “What is that?” He asked, looking at the diary that she was holding.
“It’s Raine’s diary. I want to read it. Understand them more. But I’m not sure if I should.” She answered honestly.
“I don’t see a problem with it. If she- they have anything against it, they can come back and say so.” Mr. Whispers said, crossing his arms. He never understood what exactly the issue with that child was either, so this really could be a learning experience for him too.
“So what if they’re gone? It’s still a massive invasion of their privacy.” She tried to argue, hoping her husband would understand some of her worries.
“Historians go through dead people’s diaries and journals all the time. Just read it if you really want to.” He said. Mrs. Whispers guessed she really could not argue with that.
“Alright, then. Here we go.” She took a deep breath before opening the book, and reading the first page.
Dear Diary,
I just got this thing as a gift, and I am supposed to be writing down my thoughts and feelings, expressing myself I guess. I like it. It’s fun to express myself with music, so I can totally write things in here. Well, this is my first entry and I am not really sure about what I am doing, but this is fun!
Anyways, I’m going to start school soon, and my mother says it’s the best, and most expensive private school around. And because it costs so much, I’ll have to really make it worth it. My mother says getting the best education possible will lead to a better life.
Well, if I’m really supposed to be writing down my honest feelings, I don’t really care about going to an expensive school, or getting the best education. I just hope there’s good music teachers, and that I can make a few friends.
But my mother is working hard to get the money to let me in this school, so I guess I can go along with it. After all, it’s not like anything could go wrong.
Sincerely, Melody Raine Whispers.
Mrs. Whispers could already feel herself shaking. She was already learning, already remembering her regrets. She never realized Raine never wanted to go to that school untilS they begged her to switch school so they could be with the only friend they made.
She was already becoming a mess because of this, and this was not even close to when everything went so terribly wrong. She knew this was going to be a long, hard road, but she had to keep going if it meant she would understand more. If it meant her self-blame would be justified from this.
Her husband put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting squeeze. This was going to be a lot, but at least she was not doing it alone.