#feltdarkness

         ❛  come here, my love.  ❜   she beckons with a crook of her finger and a smile. déjà vu. she’s done this before. what feels like a lifetime ago. when the house was full the first time, and full again now. she is so pleased. her children have come home. her husband too. she’s no longer alone with only the house to talk to, to touch. she craves it. she’s desperate for the soft skin of her children’s cheeks, the gentle squeeze of their hands in hers. they were gone for so long, liv could hardly breathe in their absence. hadn’t, properly, until nell. and now theo. luke upstairs, shirley in the parlour, steve and hugh asleep. she’ll wake them soon. she promised she would. but theo. oh, theo. olivia’s felt so cold for so long and theodora has always brought her such warmth, the lick of a fire’s flame. whereas liv had likened shirley to calm waters, theo had always been an inferno. but in olivia’s absence, her flame had burned out, unstoked and unprotected. she can tell. she can see. and it breaks her heart.