Disclaimer: Sondheim/Lapine own.
AN: I grant you another one of my Into The Woods oneshots!
Everywhere in the house, in the garden, wherever Leanette went, she could always feel her mother hovering nearby. She wanted to move on with her life, she was through grieving. I'm so tired of being here! she thought. She wanted to see the world - not be stuck in the same house that she was forced to grow up in. Suppressed by all my childish fears. She could not escape her mother's voice from the time she'd told Leanette that the house was meant only for their family. Leanette laughed bitterly. Even when the one person who held me back is gone I'll never have complete freedom.
"Mother, if you had to leave me - can't your presence leave too?" she asked what appeared to be thin air, but Leanette knew it wasn't. "Please, leave me alone," she repeated. The wounds of her mother's death didn't seem to heal, she didn't need a constant reminder to what she'd lost. The pain was too real, it was so raw. It was so much Leanette thought no amount of time would erase it.
During nights her once pleasant dreams were haunted by her mother. Memories of her drying Leanette's tears. Memories of her safe arms wrapped around her when she was scared. Memories of all the times she'd led her somewhere by the hand. Her mother's spirit was literally haunting he. She'd even hear her mother's voice, during which she began to question her sanity.
Leanette had to keep reminding herself that her mother was gone and always would be. Though the spirit of her mother was still with her, she was all alone and had been all along. The memories that haunted her dreams were only her imaginative mind bringing her wishes to live. That was one of the reasons Leanette was so upset with her mother's death. They never had the relationship that Leanette had wanted and now they never would. Her mother had hardly treated her like a mother would, and now could never prove to Leanette that she could be the mother that she'd always wanted her to be.
Leanette forgave her mother though, for she knew she was the best mother she knew how to be. After coming to terms with this, the spirit of her mother left her alone.
