Everything was lost inside her mind that night, thoughts were swirling round and round until they built up and became so awful she had came to a conclusion. Diana's husband had once been happy until his mother left him, she vowed to never leave, he had self-conscious and anxious thoughts daily and he'd turn them to anger, though everyone in that house knew that it meant nothing, he was lying to himself.
As much as they'd all hide it, they loved each other but Diana just couldn't take it anymore, tears stained her face during her last few moments of her life.
The next morning, Aurelia had awoken from her nightmare to see her familiar, common room and snuck into her dad's room, laying next to him, he'd always apologise the next day, that's what always happened. Whispering softly not to anger him, she spoke wearily "daddy, where's mummy?"
To which he widened his eyes, noticing she wasn't next to him.
Suddenly shocked, trying to be reassuring "I'm sure she just got up early..."
Aurelia did not believe him, she'd never believed a word he said when he was trying to be nice, and her mother would always sleep in, desperately trying to grasp onto the feeling closest to being alive, because she felt more alive in her own dreams. Peering around, Aurelia uncertainly slumped back to her room, clutching her teddy bear her mother gave her. Stagnating air was common foreshadowing that something terrible was about to happen, but musty air wasn't unfamiliar in that house, it was as broken as the family inside were. Aurelia couldn't comprehend why they couldn't be like they were on the outside, picture-perfect and pure, if they could be like that outside, why not inside? Things were much darker inside. They were going to starve, her stomach twisted and turned in agony, don't think about it. 1, 2, 3... 3 deep breaths. Nervously, she searched the house for her dear mother, whom she had sympathy for, and she doesn't sympathise with a lot of people, she was more numb than complete. Seeing that she was unable to find her, she reluctantly gave up and declared that she was going in the bathroom. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw, even if her fate had been told to her a million times, it would still hurt the same, it couldn't hurt more. Horrified, she screamed, feeling so much physical pain she could hardly breathe. She screamed until no sound came out, until her lungs felt like they were going to burst, until it was silent, until she was heard by someone, anyone. Harold Shipman rushed out of bed to his daughter, holding her while yelling and crying, as she did too. He could tell she was gone and then forced himself to do something he'd never imagine, he even found it repulsive, but his daughter took it worse and was sobbing violently, shaking and screaming, as if it would do something.
They were incompetent and they both knew it. He was going to eat her in order to survive and if there were to have been an autopsy, he wouldn't have gone to jail for anything and he would still be able to provide for his daughter. That day, everything changed for little Aurelia, time to grow up, she saw things no child should have had to see and it was time to accept the fact that this was her life. Storming out of the bathroom, feeling completely mauled and lost, she silently packed her bags, so silent that she could hear her own blood flowing and her heart beating and clocks from downstairs ticking, mocking her, time was slowing immensely and she wanted it to stop. She wanted everything to stop; the voices in her head, everything.
Harold grabbed the pocket knife from his beloved's lifeless hands and began to peel off the skin that remained, storing it in boxes he kept in the house that he and her used to play with when they were making forts with Aurelia, simpler times. She looked so ghostly, so dull yet so peaceful, well death was what she wanted so badly, so he guessed she deserved it, as morbid as that seemed. Aurelia finished up packing and stared at everything, this was her home, the place she grew up in, it may have been awful but it was hers. Deliberating wether to stay or leave, she negotiated with her thoughts and decided she would spend one last day with her father. He would have had no one, two people had already left him, not his angel, his little princess, the last person he'd ever expect. After storing the skin and organs into the boxes, he put them in a freezer and sat by his little girl, digging her into his chest while tears were falling on her head and he exclaimed weakly "Princess, I'm sorry, I'm really trying to get better, but it's hard. It's really hard to make things just be okay and make pain go away."
His last sentence echoed in her mind as she hugged him, she couldn't bare leaving him, she felt so mortified and conflicted but she had to be selfish and face facts, if he died, he might get to be with her because they were both probably in hell. As much as she didn't realise, Diana did count as a person and killing someone is a sin, Harold was just evil and clearly had to be going, unless God would understand somehow, in both cases, or in one.
But no matter what happened, they'd never see her again. She was gone.
They both were. They all were.