The door creaked open slowly and Julia's head turned, scanning the house to find any form of life that remained at the dilapidated structure that was once their home.
"Hello?" Julia called hoping, no, praying for an answer. "Hellooo? Is there anyone home?"
"They're gone, Doctor." Julia jumped at the sound of the old voice, echoing from behind her. "In fact long gone. I'm sorry, dear."
"Mrs. Johnson, you scared me. Do you know where they went?" The tears that were already formed in Julia's eyes are now on the verge of spilling out.
"I'm afraid not." Mrs. Johnson frowned and walked away.
They can be anywhere in Maine by now, Julia thought, her bare feet pacing the tile floor of the mansion's entrance. I'd better start now. A sudden thought of her room flashed into Julia's mind, she made her way to the stairs, practically sprinting at the thought that her room may still be in tact so long as Barnabas didn't go near it after the day he killed her. She reached the door that led to her room. Looking down at the brass doorknob, Julia let out a small sigh. She closed her eyes and raised her hand, leaving it to dangle before the doorknob nervous of what she may find in the room that was once hers she wrapped her still shrivled fingers around the doorknob and opened it. The door swung open but Julia did not see what sadness plagued her room just yet because she was still too nervous to open her eyes. After about a minute and a half of long, deep breaths and leaning her right arm on the door frame, Julia opened her eyes.
It was practically untouched, obviously the madness remained only on the first floor. Smiling, she made her way to the wardrobe towering next to the king sized bed. It really was a luxury, Julia thought whilst opening the wardrobe door, living here. She pulled out a black dress and a polka dot collared shirt along with white tights and black shoes and lies everything on her bed. Julia didn't bother looking at the outfit to make sure it looked nice, she simply attempted to peel off the dress that was still a bit damp from earlier and walked to her bathroom to get cleaned up.
Upon getting out of the warm shower, Julia still smelled of liquor but, thinking of far more important things that she should be worrying about at this particular moment in her now eternal life, resumed getting changed into her clean clothes. Walking over to her desk, Julia fixed her tights, opened her top right drawer containing her makeup and looked up at the mirror to see nothing. "Figures." She muttered and applied her makeup blindly, hoping for the best.
As she walked down the stairs to the main entrance of the failing mansion, she looks around but does not find Mrs. Johnson anywhere and tells herself that even a person as old and crazy as her would have left this place. Julia reaches and opens the large door, stepping out into sunlight for the first time. It feels as if every exposed piece of skin has fallen asleep like when one keeps their legs crossed for too long, but Julia doesn't mind she is determined to find her murderer.
Searching for any signs of what she once thought of as a family, Julia stumbles upon a small mix between a cottage and a small castle. Why not, Julia thinks opening the door to the cottage overlooking the crashing waves that she was looking up to only hours ago and lets out a small sigh. The door creeks open and she finds Carolyn lounging on a dusty couch listening to her record player that must have survived the wreckage and David sitting on the floor attempting to shuffle a deck of cards. Carolyn is the first to notice the the redheaded woman that they had assumed dead almost 3 weeks ago and jumps from the couch to greet her, a cloud of dust following. "Julia!" Davids attention focusing from the deck of cards to the woman in the doorway who is now receiving one of Carolyn's rare hugs.
"Oh my gosh, Julia, where have you been? We were getting worried." Davids arms wrap themselves around her ribs as he is not as tall as his cousin, tears coming to her eyes as she removes one arm from Carolyn to wrap around the boy.
"I thought I was the only one who thought of us as a, sort of, family." Julia gives a breathy laugh holding back tears, not realizing until now how much she had missed the children. "David you've grown. Carolyn, so have you. Okay now stop I feel to short."
The children laugh slowly letting go of the doctor, when another door creeks open and Elizabeth steps out smiling, approaching her to give her a small hug. "Hello, Julia. Welcome back." Barnabas stands watching them from a doorway trying to be unnoticeable while he wonders how it is possible that Julia is back. He'd killed her, after all. Julia looks at the pale figure lurking in the doorway. "Hello, Barnabas."
"Hello," Barnabas mumbles in astonishment. "Julia."