TRIGGER WARNING- self harm/suicide
A/N- extremely AU, I am borrowing the characters and doing whatever I please with the story. All mistakes are mine. First chapter is a short intro, the rest will be longer
It's the stragest thing, being wide awake at three in the morning.
One would think that a person would be annoyed, bothered at the restlessness of their own mind. Not Cora Mills. No, Cora Mills found it strange to be wide awake at three in the morning because, for the first time in her life...she had clarity.
Cora Mills was a troubled woman. Always troubled. Troubled about her finances, troubled about her relationships, troubled about her future and the future of her daugher.
Cora spent the majority of her life waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it did, often. She married young, to a perfect man who perfectly beat her. Years later she found herself in the arms of a kind man named Harold who carried her away from her pain and past. At the age 28, Cora gave birth to a handsome boy she named Daniel, he lived to be a year old and Cora learned the hard way that you should never leave a baby alone on a changing table. The death of their beloved child drove a city-sized wedge between Cora and Harold. He left her, and she had a one night stand with a bar tender who also left her...pregnant. Cora gave life to a beautiful baby girl and called her Regina. Refusing to repeat past mistakes, she kept little Regina locked away from the cruel outside world. Things seemed to be ok for awhile, and for a short time Cora almost believed that she would be happy.
Yes all was well...until it wasn't, because Cora Mills was troubled, always troubled and waiting for the other shoe to drop, and on July 18 1995 it did.
The time was 3:01am. Cora Mills was wide awake when it hit her suddenly. Clarity. She was done waiting for things to go bad. This time, she was going to nip her bad luck in the bud, before it could claim her. She rolled out of her bed and padded down the hallway where her five year old Regina slept soundly. Cora gazed adoringly at her sweet little girl, and prayed that the young girl would know only happiness. Happiness that she herself had never truly known. She kissed the child lightly on the cheek and made her way to the bathroom.
The tiled floor was cold against her bare feet as she shuffled towards the bathtub and climbed in. She felt so calm as she her fingers pressed the buttons on her phone, she held it to her ear and waited, for the last time.
"911 what's your emergency"
Cora smiled, a genuine smile, "yes, a woman is dead in her apartment. 326 North Center Street, apartment A3. There is blood everywhere, I believe she slit her wrists. The front door is unlocked, the bathroom door is not. She has a small child, please send someone to care for the little girl."
"ma'am, do you kn-" Cora hung up the phone. The police were on their way, someone would care for Regina, and Cora would be free.
It was poetic, the way the blood seeped from her skin as she dragged the razor blade down her wrist. It was slow and quiet. It was the first time that Cora had felt any sort of control, any sort of peace. She felt herself fading, almost as if she were high. Then it came, death, so inviting, so sure. She went willingly, easily into the darkness and toward the light.
It's the strangest thing, being wide awake at three in the morning, especially when it's because the police have invaded your home and your mother is nowhere to be found. Regina was not panicked, her mother would return as she always did.
At 3:22am, with her house full of officers and paramedics, young Regina hugged her knees and waited for her mother to come, it troubled her that she felt so small and scared.
Little did she know...she would be waiting for for quite some time.
Always waiting, always troubled.