She climbed the staircase in the dark. It was late in the evening, nearing eleven o'clock, and she could hear the laughter of her friends in the parlor as they turned the pages of the photo albums Elizabeth had found in a bookcase. She had excused herself from the group and stood in the foyer for some time, staring up the marble stairs. It seemed to beckon her, the room, and she knew she couldn't ignore it. Walking down the hall, she hesitated at the door to her room. Walking inside, she felt a chill- the same chill that had swept over her just hours before. Gazing around the room, she reached out to touch the furniture, the pictures, the clothing...all of the memories. She walked about the room sweeping her eyes across every item that was strewn about. As she came to her nightstand, she opened a drawer, looking for something very particular. Papers and photographs crowded the space. She reached her hand in to feel around, her brows narrowing with confusion, her eyes widening with bewilderment. It wasn't there.
    She opened the drawers to her vanity, bureau, and checked under the mattress of her bed. Standing in the middle of her old bedroom, she glanced around with worry. Nothing had changed in the twelve years that she had been gone, but the one thing that had stored so many of her memories, so many of her thoughts, was gone.
    "I have it."
    Emily whirled around to see Nikolas standing in the doorway. By the way he stood with his hands in his pockets, she could tell that he had been standing there for some time.
"What?" She now asked.
"It's with me." He repeated, taking a step inside the room.
"What do you mean?" She asked, puzzled. "When? How...?"
    Nikolas turned to stare out the window, which overlooked the patio and gardens. "It's been in my possession for awhile, now. Ever since you left." He glanced at her secretly, but quickly returned his gaze to the window. Her eyes clouded over with anger, but as she opened her mouth to speak, he stopped her. "Let me explain." He insisted, turning around to face her. Emily nodded silently.
"I came over the day that you left. I found Monica up here, trying to go through your things. She sat on your bed, just staring at your photo. And she was crying. She almost didn't hear me come in and it took her a moment to realize that I was there. And she smiled and tried to dry her eyes quickly, but I noticed." Nikolas paused and watched Emily as she stared at the bed. "She told me to sit beside her, so I did. And she began to talk to me as she went through your things, wondering what to save and what to throw away. She asked me if I thought that she had been a good mother to you, and when I answered yes, she said 'then why did she leave? Were we really that horrible to her?' And she broke Emily, she broke down right then and there and I didn't know what to do."
Nikolas stared at Emily hard as she fought to control her tears. "She broke down, Emily." He repeated fiercely. "You tore her heart, why did you leave? Why the hell did you have to leave!"
Emily's wall tore down as her face crumbled and tears poured down her cheeks. "I couldn't stay!" She told him. "I couldn't, I couldn't. You don't understand what it was like to live here, Nikolas, you don't understand what it's like to feel unloved and lonely all of the time. I tried my hardest, believe me, I did. I tried to follow Jason, to be strong, to not show emotion, but it's so tiring and I couldn't do it anymore. I was about to break, Nikolas, and I wanted out of here before I did. I wanted out of this horrible, horrible life."
"What's is so horrible about having people around to love you?" Nikolas demanded.
"Who loved me, Nikolas? Which one of them actually took time to care about how I felt? If they did then they certainly didn't show it. If they weren't screaming at me then they weren't even noticing that I was in the room. So maybe you can tell me, Nikolas, which one of them actually loved me."
"You left before I could tell you." He said quietly, his face showing no emotion.
Emily shook her head slightly as she wiped away her tears. "Tell me what?"
"I was an hour late, Em. One hour earlier and I could have told you everything, but I never got a chance, you had gone."
    She stared at him, silent and unmoving. Her brown eyes gazed into his.
"One hour earlier..." she whispered.
"And I could have told you I loved you."

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