It Took a While – Chapter 6

Collected Letters

Mathilda stayed behind, not because she couldn’t leave, but because she was strong enough to stay. Of all the sisters, she was the only one their mother didn’t dare touch. Angel constantly brought the mother to a blind, full blown rage; Cordelia shied away from conflict, trying to convince her little sister not to test their mother’s patience; Jill ached violently for a family of her own to simply find peace, and Patty was a strong-willed soul set on a survival mode. They scattered in all directions, one by one. She stayed, for herself, for their father, even for their mother. She feared the worst would happen if she left, so she surrounded herself by books, fragments of memories and forgotten dreams, collected letters scattered in a pandemonium inside of her. In her daydreaming escapades, she sailed aimlessly with her sister Cordelia; she sang in a duet with Patty; she lived under the sea with Jill; she held her little sister Angel and told her everything would be alright. She was the only one of them who attended the mother’s funeral, her father’s fading will clutching to her arm while he whispered “I miss your sisters…”

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 The image that inspired this story has been resized to fit the slideshow’s photo dimensions of this blog. I strongly recommend viewing its original size!