Fallen Sunsets

Daughter comes home from the beach during her 18 birthday to find nothing. What happened to her mother?

She was the kind of person who didn't believe in great forces like destiny, fate, and of course, Gods. It all seemed foolish. But that seemed to matter less in the warm evenings when she made her way down the old wooden stairs that connected her little cabin to the grand beach.
She liked to walk barefoot, it made her feel more in touch with her surroundings, she felt part of nature like stubborn roots clinging to the dry earth or sticky green seaweed found stuck to the soles of your sandals after a long stroll down the farthest side of the sandy beach. Instead of just being an individual randomly placed to inhabit earth and complete another puzzle, she wanted to be something more.

Every day at exactly six o'clock, she would isolate herself from the world to gaze at the sunset accompanied by the ocean wave lullabies. Despite her strong beliefs, she enjoyed to conceptualize the idea of the sky being slowly but precisely painted by the unknown. Each day, a different colour, and brush stroke, an endless canvas. She wouldn't like it any other day.

She was quite a character. Her eyes were pale icy blue, as if her irises were the winter ice of a frozen pond. A grey lifeless hole, but if you looked closely you could see much evidence of life.
From afar, the opposite, she had a perpetually distracted look, as if only her body was present and her essence was on a journey she'd glimpsed curiously. A place the rest of us were unable to see.

Strands of long hair would often get in her way, getting attached to her rosy lips while she spoke or tried to drink black tea. It was crimson red with patches of blonde hair from rushingly dyeing her hair with cheap hair dye she had bought at her local grocery store. She was never one to stop and think.

When she turned 18 years old, she came home to nothing. Blank walls, empty rooms, windows open.
Evelyn looked down at the only thing left in the living room, a table. Noticing a handwritten note carefully placed in the middle of it. She braced herself. Something was wrong.

She picked up the note and desperately ran through the house, hoping she would find her mother.
There was nothing. Nobody. Everything was really gone. She held the note tightly in fear of reading it. But she needed to, she needed an explanation.

"Dear Evelyn,
Goodbyes have never been easy, but it's time for me to begin a new life, and restart the journey I abandoned after you were born.
I know you'll be okay, you always are. I love you."
-Carol.

She couldn't believe her eyes, she didn't want to anyway. Her heart was racing, she couldn't breathe, it felt as if someone was choking her.
"How could she do this to me?" she thought out loud, fingers to her lips. Evelyn huddled under the table, hugging her weak knees. Unable to move. Unable to think. She wanted to curl up in a ball and wait for someone to save her. But no one would, no one was there.

The night was warm and quieter than ever. Eventually she closed her eyes and fell into deep sleep.

The next morning was humid, like any other day the birds were chirping, and the sun begin creeping through every crack of the cabin. Evelyn woke up from a light scratch on her cheek, like wet sandpaper against plywood. A black stray cat managed to make her way in the house and was happy to see her new companion. Jumping in surprise, Evelyn startled the clumsy looking cat who ended up rapidly climbing out the window like it was never there. "You and I both" she thought rubbing her cheek clean.
Suddenly she remembered what had happened the previous night, her throat went into a knot. It all seemed too suspicious.

Carol was the opposite of her daughter, she didn't like adventures or new beginnings. She hated going out, it was as if she was scared of living. The type of mother that was overly caring, and would call you fifteen times if you were three minutes past your curfew. She wasn't the type that would run away with some thug to repeat her youth.


-To be continued-

Author's Note

I'm not very experienced yet. It would be really helpful if you could give me constructive critics, in regards of the story, grammatically, spelling, interest. What can I do to make this better? Hope you enjoy it xx