FWF: The Last Letter

Another Free Write Friday writing prompt from Kellie Elmore's blog Magic in the Backyard You wake to find yourself in a strange house and you cannot remember your own name. You roll over and see a letter by the bed. Is it for you? Who is it from? What does it say? Does it explain where you are and why?

The Last Letter

It's early morning. I can tell by the way shadows of a tree's leaves outside the window play across the white washed wall. Birds are chirping as if they are trying to stir me from the warmth of the bed. It takes a moment before I realize I don't recognize the white  blanket sprawled across my legs. Or the pillow beneath my head. And more importantly...I don't remember who I am.

I sit up, so quickly my head begins to spin and the only way to right the room is to close my eyes and breath deep. Everything up to this moment is a blur and I think I must have had a few drinks too many at whatever bar I had to have been at last night. I'm dressed in a white tank top, pale blue bottoms and my hair is a tousled mess atop my head, I can barely run my fingers through.

I swing my legs over the edge of the bed trying to remember where I am. The floor is cold beneath my bare feet and I immediately pull them back up onto the bed into the warmth. The room is really small, the only furniture it houses is the bed and a small table next to it. A mirror hangs on the wall to the left. On the right there are two doors, I assume one leads to a closet the other an exit. Whoever lives here definitely could use a woman's touch to spruce up the place. On the table is lamp, very plain and dull and next to it an envelope. I pick it up, examining it, trying to decide if the contents are made for me or not.

What if it's not for me? I don't want to invade someone else's privacy. Then again, it's probably just a letter from whoever I clearly came home with last night. I bet they are telling me I can find some coffee on the counter and to lock the door on my way out. Hopefully it will at least tell me who the heck I am. It isn't sealed so I just pull out the folded slip of paper.

I don't know where to start. I don't even know what to say to you right now. You betrayed me, lied and deceived so many people...but why? You know at first I didn't want to believe that you were capable of something like this...

I stop reading and flip over the paper, it's a little torn at the bottom right corner and the ink is a bit smudged. It isn't signed. Great, now not only do I not know who this is really for, I also don't know who it's from.

For some reason I have a really uneasy feeling about this. But I keep reading.

I want you to know that although I thought I would always love you I can no longer stand to see you. You've made too big of a mess now and I can't clean up after you this time.

Do you remember last time I saw you? I asked if you really did this and you said yes. Don't you get it? You've admitted to it. You can't take that back. I can never forget that. I had no choice but to do what I did. I don't care if you never forgive me because I will NEVER forgive you. You are sick and now you will get the help you need. This is goodbye, I mean it this time E, we are not family anymore. You severed that when you murdered our child. This will be the last time you ever hear from me. And you're lucky you even got this much. 

The letter ends just like that. I'm stunned but I hear footsteps in the hall and so I swiftly shove the paper back into it's envelope. I don't know who this E. person is but if they murdered a child I'm sure they won't have any reservations about harming me. I hurry out of the bed and swing open the closet door, it's empty. I quickly pull the door closed, keep a tight grip on the knob and hold my breath when I hear the other door open.

I hear a woman's voice say "She's doing it again."  And then another voice say "Should we call him in then?" The second voice sounds much younger than the first. And both are strangely familiar. The older woman let's out a sigh before saying, "No, we can handle her on our own, we'll just have to put her down again."

I begin to panic, what does she mean by 'put her down'? Are they going to kill me like they killed that kid? Oh God, where am I? I can barely breathe and my tank top is sticking to my chest now because I've broken out into a sweat. I can hear a bit of movement just outside the closet door and faint whispering. Suddenly there is nothing, just silence.

I wait for what feels like a lifetime until I think they've gone. Slowly I turn the knob and peek out, the room appears to be empty so I step out letting out the breath I've been holding. I head towards the door until I realize there is no knob or anything to let me out, I turn to  the window, hoping that I'm on the first floor. Just as I reach for the curtain the door swings open, next thing I know, a hand clamps down on my shoulder flinging me back against the wall. Suddenly the room is filled with voices, people shouting and shuffling about. Before I can scream I feel the needle piercing my flesh.

"Relax, it's just Nurse Anne and Nurse Denise, remember us?" The older lady, Anne, is grabbing me under my arms and Denise grabs my feet hoisting me up. In a soothing voice she says, "You have to stop doing this or you're going to have to be restrained, that won't sound so good in court dear."

Before I completely fade out I feel the softness of the bed beneath me and the words "Time to sleep, Ellie" wash over me, and I remember everything.  

So that was my second short story attempt with the FWF prompts by Kellie. Make sure you check out her site for more great prompts and to read other people's submissions! Let me know what you think!