Chapter 3. {The Woman In Lavender}
1033 Words
The attic had never felt this cold.
Melissa stood motionless before the open memory chest, her eyes fixed on the neatly arranged envelopes. Her fingers moved slowly as she counted them again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Her brows knitted together.
“No…”
She whispered, shaking her head.
“There were seven.”
She searched through the scarves, lifted old photo albums, even emptied the entire chest onto the dusty wooden floor.
Nothing.
The missing letter was gone.
A strange feeling settled in her chest—not fear… not yet.
Violation.
Someone had touched the last pieces of her mother.
Melissa slowly sank onto the floor, clutching the first letter to her chest.
The scent of lavender still lingered on the paper.
Her mother’s favorite perfume.
She closed her eyes.
“…Mom.”
Her voice broke almost immediately.
“I found your letter.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
“I don’t know what you were trying to tell me… but I wish you were here to explain it.”
Silence.
The kind that hurt.
She smiled weakly through her tears.
“You know…”
“I made pancakes this morning.”
A soft laugh escaped her.
“They tasted awful.”
“Dad tried pretending they were good.”
Another laugh.
Then it disappeared.
“You would’ve laughed at us.”
Her shoulders shook.
“I miss hearing you laugh.”
Her hand tightened around the letter.
“I’m scared, Mom.”
“I’m scared I’ll forget what your voice sounds like.”
She buried her face in the letter, breathing in the fading lavender scent as though it could bring Emily back.
“I don’t want to lose you twice…”
A quiet knock startled her.
“Mel?”
Tessa.
Melissa hurriedly wiped her tears before opening the attic door.
“What are you doing here?”
Tessa frowned the moment she saw her swollen eyes.
“You didn’t answer my messages.”
Without another word, she wrapped Melissa in a hug.
Melissa broke.
She buried her face in Tessa’s shoulder and sobbed quietly.
“I found letters…”
She whispered.
“Letters my mom wrote before she died.”
Tessa gently rubbed her back.
“Then she knew.”
Melissa pulled away.
“Knew what?”
“I don’t know.”
Tessa sighed.
“But nobody writes farewell letters unless they feel something is wrong.”
Melissa stared at her.
“What if…”
Her voice trembled.
“What if Mom knew she was going to die?”
The words hung heavily between them.
Neither girl spoke.
Because neither wanted to believe them.
………
Across town…
Jason Anderson sat alone in his office.
The meeting had ended ten minutes ago.
His employees had gone back to work.
Yet he remained seated, staring blankly at the framed family photograph on his desk.
Emily.
Melissa.
Him.
The perfect family.
Or at least…
The illusion of one.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
His heart skipped.
Slowly, he answered.
“…Hello?”
Static.
Then a woman’s voice.
Soft.
Almost familiar.
“You still haven’t told her.”
Jason’s blood ran cold.
“Who are you?”
“You know exactly who I am.”
His breathing grew uneven.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to remember.”
The call ended.
Jason stared at the screen long after it went dark.
His hands trembled uncontrollably.
“No…”
He whispered.
“I buried everything.”
His own words echoed in his mind.
Buried everything.
A sudden wave of guilt crashed over him.
Emily’s smile.
Her laughter.
The trust in her eyes…
…the night she looked at him and asked,
“Jason… you’d never hurt me, would you?”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen…”
His voice cracked.
“I swear I didn’t.”
A tear slid silently down his cheek.
……….
That evening, rain fell steadily against the Anderson house.
The power flickered once.
Then again.
Melissa stood by her bedroom window, watching raindrops race down the glass.
Her thoughts kept returning to the missing letter.
Someone had been in the attic.
Someone knew about the chest.
A flash of lightning illuminated the garden.
Melissa froze.
Near the old oak tree…
A woman stood motionless.
She wore a long lavender dress that swayed gently in the wind.
Her face was hidden beneath the darkness.
“…Mom?”
Melissa whispered.
The woman slowly lifted one hand.
Not to wave.
To point.
Toward the attic window.
Melissa’s heartbeat pounded against her ribs.
Another flash of lightning.
This time she saw it clearly.
The woman wasn’t smiling.
She was crying.
Then…
Everything went dark.
The lights went out.
The entire house plunged into darkness.
Melissa gasped.
“Dad!”
No answer.
Her hands shook as she fumbled for her phone, switching on the flashlight.
The beam cut through the darkness.
She rushed downstairs.
“Dad?”
Still nothing.
Just as panic began to rise—
The electricity returned.
Every light in the house flickered back to life.
Melissa spun toward the window.
The woman was gone.
Only the rain remained.
Jason hurried downstairs.
“Melissa! What’s wrong?”
“There was someone outside!”
He immediately grabbed an umbrella and rushed into the rain.
Melissa followed closely behind.
Together they searched the garden.
Nothing.
No footprints.
No sign anyone had been there.
Jason was about to turn back when his flashlight caught something carved into the trunk of the old oak tree.
His face drained of color.
Freshly etched into the bark were five words.
YOU CAN’T HIDE THE TRUTH.
Jason staggered backward.
Melissa noticed the fear in his eyes.
“Dad…”
“What does it mean?”
He looked at her.
For a long moment, he couldn’t speak.
Then he forced a smile that never reached his eyes.
“…I don’t know.”
Melissa knew he was lying.
For the second time in two days…
Her father had looked terrified by something connected to her mother.
And for the first time in her life…
Melissa began to wonder if the man she trusted most was hiding the darkest secret of all.
- Writer
