── 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲 ──

Annie and Kane Drysdale had been betrothed to one another since before either of them had learnt to walk ─ they had always known they'd end up together because they simply had no choice. The two decided to make the best out of a bad, no, horrific situation and planned their life together from an early age ─ the typical american dream. A three bedroomed house in the suburbs, a neat, white picket fence and a garden with flowers that bloomed all year round. They wanted two children, an older girl and a younger boy and a well-behaved puppy ─ everything they thought that would make them love one another, alas that's not quite what they got.

Instead, their two-bedroomed house was in desperate need of renovations, the flower garden was consistently wilted and the council wouldn't approve of their requests for a pretty, small fence. Instead of the two children they wanted, they ended up with five and only one amongst them was a girl, they no longer had the room for a dog and did they love one another? Perhaps at one point, but presently, who could know for sure.

It was Annie, in fact, who was more broken up when the fantasy she and her husband had planned together didn't exactly go to plan. When she discovered the fact she was pregnant, she was able to bypass the humps and bumps in her community, and even when she discovered she'd be having a boy, her dreams and hopes were rekindled. Annie had somewhat given up the dreams of a perfect life, she thought a baby would ignite a motherly instinct and she'd become so enthralled with motherhood ─ she'd forget her woes but that wasn't the case at all. The young woman gave birth to her first baby, Oliver, named after her own late father, but she found she was anxious and melancholic often, her chest heavy with guilt, doubt and hopelessness, she cried herself to sleep most nights, her baby clutched to her chest while Kane retired to the living room sofa, their marriage falling apart quicker than ever.

It wasn't long before Annie was diagnosed with postpartum depression, but she couldn't believe it ─ the entirety of her being denied the fact and she continued on, taking her antidepressant medications and willing herself to grow closer to her sweet baby. But she was disconnected, she couldn't help but want to abandon the child and the thought of death was persistent within her mind, her mental and physical wellbeing was deteriorating rapidly and she was alone in it all. Kane had simply withdrawn himself from the family and Annie ─ a selfish act.

Right in the middle of her postpartum recovery and the rebuilding of her relationship with Kane, Annie discovered a second pregnancy and she felt her world crumble around her. She wasn't sure if she could cope with the trauma and helplessness that suffocated her previously, Kane promised he would be there.

He promised.

Then the couple uncovered the fact twins were developing in Annie's womb, another two boys, James and William. However, the routine was the same, depression wormed its way back into Annie's heart and her involuntary hatred for her new children was reborn, along with her dark thoughts and impulses. The family was being torn apart and sewn back together again so many times it was getting weaker and sure to tear beyond fixing. It repeated again and again, first another boy, Lucas and finally a girl, Elizabeth, but Annie still wasn't the same, she was a ghost, a ghost living in the shell of the person she once was.

Birthing Elizabeth was difficult, but Annie was excited for her first girl ─ she had names and clothing picked out but there was a complication with her epidural and all she knew was darkness and the backs of her eyelids for days. When she woke, she was numb from the waist down, unable to move her legs or sit herself up and so, she cried.

Wheelchair bound, depressed and home alone with five children and a redundant husband, Annie was broken. She begged and prayed to every god she knew of to let her die and then she repented ─ wishing for release but ashamed of wanting to leave her babies. With her medication wearing thin, fear eating at her so much she couldn't leave the house and the rising threat and population of mutants ─ Annie faded away. Her petals died, her beauty wilted and death took her peacefully in the night before Elizabeth had even turned one.

The Drysdale children were left to their father, but he may well have been dead too. Oliver raised his siblings at the age of seven better than their father ever could've and with that, his childhood was snatched away.

aimee speaks
❝ this chapter wasn't the most exciting but i wanted to set up the dynamic of elizabeth's parents, annie and kane. the next chapters will be more exciting but i hoped you liked it! also, go and check out chloe's new charles book ─ we published at the same time because we're sickening ❞

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