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The story began like all good stories do, on a dark and stormy night in August.
Will Solace had come home late to the little apartment complex he shared with his husband, Nico. He’d had the closing shift in the little music store he worked and had to do inventory.
It was just after midnight that he parked his car and made his way up the 2 open rise staircases to the door to his apartment. Storm clouds hung thick in the air, but no rain. Just the ominous whistle of the wind blowing through the brush, Will shifted. He felt watched.
He stepped into the threshold of his home and kicked off his shoes. The living room was basked in the warm light of the lamp that rested on the coffee table. Nico was nowhere to be found but down the hall, the bedroom door was ajar. Will slung his back into the coat rack and sighed. He was tired but something stirred in his stomach, something….nagging.
After an undercooked microwave ramen as an impromptu dinner, Will padded into the living room with a heavy heart.
A bookshelf leaned against the far wall of their living room. As expected it was stacked with books, Will and Nico’s wedding photo sitting in front of Will’s old medical textbooks.
However, one shelf was dedicated to nothing but their loss. Sonograms, candles, painted rocks and in the very middle, a smooth wooden box, carefully engraved with a single name. The ashes of their stillborn daughter.
Every night before bed Will and Nico, sometimes together, sometimes individually, would say their goodnights to her. Maybe it was silly, but in some way….it brought closure.
However, tonight Will went to say his good nights and his heart dropped. Where the small wooden box should be there was nothing. An empty space.
Will froze, feeling sick to his stomach. He wanted to puke. He could barely think. Did…did Nico move it?! By where and why?!
He wanted to sob. The last piece of their baby, the last proof she was real, that she existed was gone. Will felt a lump forming in his throat. In a daze, he checked the coffee table, the mantle, anywhere Nico might have moved the urn to. The wind whistled outside almost like laughter, taunting Will’s futile search.
His panicked search for answers was interrupted by 3 small knocks against the front door. He froze. It was nearly 3:00 in the morning, who the hell would come knocking at this time of night?!
He takes a deep breath and made his way to the door, steeling himself for what he would find on the other side.
Will was expecting a lot of things on the other side of that door, but of all the things he was bracing himself for, a toddler was at the bottom of the list. Hell, a toddler wasn’t even on the list.
Before him stood a little girl covered in an ashy gray substance, like flour. He could barely tell the color of her hair. Her eyes were blue and tear tracks and snot stuck to her face, revealing tan skin underneath the strange ash. She was in a simple nightgown with a flower on it. Will froze at the sight of her.
Why was she here? Why was she alone? What was she covered in?
Will swallowed around the lump in his throat. He titled his head,
“H-hey kiddo….where…where are your parents?” He asked, trying to sound gentle
The little girl sniffled, “D-Daddy!” she wailed in agony, hurling herself towards Will’s leg and clinging.
Will startled, freezing up. He peaked outside, no one was there, no one was looking for her. Will sighed shakily.
“Hey….hey, I-I’m sure your daddy’s isn’t too far, I-I’m sure he’s looking for you” Will swallows, “C-can you tell me what he looks like? W-when did you see him last?”
She didn’t reply, just shook her head and sniffled, “D-Don’t send me away a-again!” she begs, clinging harder to Will’s leg
Will’s head swirled with confusion, send her away? Had…had someone abandoned her? No one appeared to be frantically searching for a lost toddler.
“Uh, I-it’s okay, I won’t send you away…just…can you answer some questions for me?”
She sniffled again, “I-is Mama here?”
“Um, no…no sorry kiddo your mom’s not here.”
The girl visibly deflated at the news and sniffed, Will paused.
“Can you tell me your name kiddo?” He asks, trying keep his voice level.
She frowned up at him, almost pouting “Y’know m’name”
Will blinked, confused. He’d never seen her before, least not that he remembered. Maybe…she’d been a trick or treater last year? They never gave out very memorable candy, but he’d never seen her around the neighborhood before.
“Um…I-I do?”
She nodded and snuggled closer to him. He rested a hand on her shoulder, attempting to pull her back so he could see her face better. Gods, she was freezing. Her skin was as cold as death.
Carefully he stepped outside to take in his surroundings. No one was outside which tracked for it being 3:00 in the morning. Still…something wasn’t right. He could only imagine how worried the kid’s father must be… but why wasn’t the dad out there looking for his daughter? Why wasn’t anyone out there looking for her?
The air was thick, like the world was holding its breath, watching…waiting. In the distance, thunder rumbled but no rain fell. The wind howled.
Will slowly turned back around. The girl was no longer in the entry way, instead she stood before the bookshelf of woe, somehow having retrieved the raggedy black cat plushy that rested up on the shelf of memories and had it clutched tightly in her little fists.
Will’s heart aches at the sight. That should be his baby holding that.