Elli's Backstory
Chapter 1: Thank the Stars for Jeff
Summary: My take on the death of Elli's parents, from her POV. Explains how she and her grandmother came to live with Jeff the bakery owner, as well as her feelings toward him.
Disclaimer: I wrote this story, but none of the stuff from the game is mine.
Grandma says my mother was a good lady. Every Sunday, she baked a cake for the local children's home and she always made a point of giving fresh pies and cookies to the
neighbors at Christmastime, or so I've been told. I barely remember her, even though I was eight years old when she died. I just forgot her bit by bit until almost all my memories of her were gone.
It seems so strange to me. How she was killed, I mean. In some terrible freak accident. Daddy said she was going into the cellar to get some firewood when she tripped on her dress and fell down the stairs, landing on his axe, which was facing blade-out in a bin full of gardening tools. What were the odds? He didn't like to talk about it, though. It made him cry. After it happened, Grandma got very sick and never really got better. She still rocks in her chair, ruined, I guess, by the death of her daughter.
I wish I could say I miss her. I really do, because I know I must have loved her a lot. Grandma says I did. More than anything, she says. But I don't miss her, because I can't even remember what she looked like. I don't know at what point I forgot everything, I just remember crying and crying when she died, and then growing frustrated when my mental picture of her started to blur into nothing and I couldn't remember what she sounded like. Every day, I found it harder and harder to see her in my mind's eye, and eventually I just forgot her altogether.
But it was much, much harder when Daddy died. I do remember that. I was thirteen, and things were going pretty well. Daddy made good money and he supported Grandma and me, and my life was more or less carefree. Our family friend, Jeff, took off Saturdays and left his job at the bakery in Flowerbud Village to come play cards with us at the farm. I remember I liked him an awful lot. He was twenty-eight at the time, very dashing with classic good looks. He would sometimes let me win at cards and told me I was the prettiest thing in the whole town. Oh, you can imagine how that made me glow. Despite my anger and sadness at the loss of my memories, I was having the time of my life.
And then, Daddy accidentally stepped on a rusty nail. It happened one night when he was wandering around it the attic. He had already taken off his boots for the evening, and for some reason didn't feel like putting them back on, so he went in barefoot and got himself stabbed. His scream...it was the worst sound I've ever heard. We cleaned up the wound later, but I guess it didn't do any good. He got tetanus and died in a terrible way that I don't care to describe. In short, it was Grandma and me, on our own. Or so I thought, anyway.
What happened next, I swear was a miracle. Jeff took us in, let us move to Flowerbud with him. Gave me a job in the bakery and showed me the ropes. It's where we live now, and believe me when I say that Jeff is the best thing that ever happened to me. He saved me from a terrible life of scrimping and pinching, working on my own and trying to care for Grandma at the same time. I don't like him like I used to, though. I love him with all my heart, like a big brother who looks out for me, a watchdog who keeps me safe so I can sleep at night. Thank the stars for Jeff, I swear. Thank the stars.
A/N: More soon! Please R&R!!