Evie’s mother had gone ballistic once she had finally made her way home after the mugging. The moment she stepped in the door of their crappy motel room, she was plagued with things like “where were you?!” or “I thought you were dead!” or “Something seriously bad could have happened!” Once Evie had staunched the flow of her mother’s hysteria, she hurried off to her room, closing the door and falling into bed, still fully dressed. She pulled the covers up over her head and stared at the shiny gold locket in the darkness. It reminded her of something- the way things were before…before what happened with her father.
It was a special night for her parents, in that beautiful old house of theirs. As always, they were mooning over each other, exchanging secretive kisses that failed to be subtle to Evie’s prying eye. At that time in their lives, Evie’s mother and father had been healthy, beautiful even. Evie’s father had thick dark curls, deep gray eyes. Evie’s mother had long, shimmery red hair. Everyone knew the couple- The Jakyls. Everyone loved them, envied their love for each other and their single daughter- Evelyn.
The reason that particular night was special was because it was Rick and Vanessa’s anniversary.
“Come here, my darling,” Rick said, holding out his arms to envelop his wife and daughter in a tight embrace. “My two beautiful girls,” he said. Evie was squished between her parents, the scent of her mother’s perfume floating around her as she leaned in to kiss her husband.
“Uck, mommy!” Evie whined, squirming.
“Come here, you little fox!” Evie’s dad lifted her high into the air, tickling her sides while she squealed with laughter. He always called her little fox because of her red hair and because he said she was the cleverest girl he had ever met. Once rick had set his girl down, Vanessa turned to Evie.
“Evelyn, sweetheart, I want you to go up to bed now. We’ll tuck you in.”
“Yes, mother,” Evie said, smiling. She zoomed up the stairs to her room. Everything had been as close to perfect as real life could get in that single moment. Evie crawled into the bed and, tucked away by her beloved parents, drifted into the same dreamless sleep she did every night. She was awoke without precedent around 1:30 AM. She carefully removed herself from the plush caccoon of blankets and tiptoed to the stairs. Her parents were in at the bottom of the stairs. Evie was about to go greet them when her father pulled out a lovely golden locket. Evie ducked behind the banister, watching. Vanessa eyed the thing with a look almost akin to discontent.
“This way you’ll always find your way home,” he said, hooking the pretty thing round Vanessa’s neck. Evie wondered- where would they ever need to find their way home from? Everything was perfect, right where it was.
A few weeks later, something went wrong. Rick started drinking. Heavily. One night, in a fit of rage, he ripped the pretty locket off Vanessa’s neck.
“There’s no home to find,” he yelled. That was the first time Evie ever saw her father cry, the first feather of change.
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