Sunshine: Part 2

'Dear Daddy...'

Molly Calhoun bit her lip as her pen faltered on the page in front of her. Somewhere downstairs, she could hear her brothers' voices and then the insistent barking of a dog. Glad of a distraction, she pulled the curtain away from her bedroom window and looked outside. It was raining; not heavily, but almost in a misty sort of fashion, so that when she caught a glimpse of Jake and Hugo through the sleet, they appeared unearthly, ghost-like. Molly stood up and saw that they were struggling with Ruth, their border collie, who in her old age- she was now in her seventeenth year- had become apt to simply stop moving in adverse weather conditions, and who was now sitting placidly under the apple tree in the rain. Smiling slightly to herself, Molly withdrew from the window and reluctantly turned back to the letter she was writing. She began to write in a hurry, as though afraid the words would disappear if she did not put them down quickly enough.


'I don't know if you know that they told us it wouldn't be much use writing to you, because your mind is completely gone. Well, they did, and that's why you haven't heard from any of us until now. We always wanted to come and see you but Mum said we couldn't. She used to cry when she said it but- well...'

Molly stopped, swallowed the lump in her throat that arose far too easily whenever she thought of her mother. Fiercely, she forbade herself to cry, and it was with renewed spirit and a trembling hand that she continued her letter.

'I don't know if they told you this either but Mum died. She killed herself, actually. Five years after they took you away. It was a few weeks before my fourteenth birthday. Nick- he's our stepdad- found her hanging from the light in the bathroom. He cried like you did the day they came and took you. Jake still doesn't realise she's gone, even though it's been six months. You didn't even know Jake, Dad. Mum was three months pregnant with him when you went. I was there though. I helped her and I looked after him and Hugo like you told me to. I did it all. But I need you now Dad. I really need you. Nick is here but he doesn't talk- sometimes I find him sitting in the bathroom muttering Mum's name over and over and over again. That scares me because it reminds me of what you used to do. And I don't believe you're not able to be here. I really don't believe that. When you get this letter, can you please, please help us. I can't ask anyone else. Nick has gotten so funny recently that I think you're the only one who will understand. I need you so much. Please answer this.
I love you.
From your daughter
Molly'

Carefully, she folded the letter, fumbled in a drawer for an envelope and placed the letter inside the envelope, firmly sealing it within. In handwriting that shook a little, she copied down the hastily written address scrawled on a scrap bit of paper that she had found in her stepfather's writing desk several days earlier.

Lewis Calhoun
Ward 3a
Lambeth suite
St. Tobias Psychiatric Insititute
Surrey

Putting the as-yet unsent letter away in a drawer, Molly lay back on her bed and closed her eyes. In the distance she could hear the Ruth's barking turning to whimpering as rain beat down heavier on the roof. The muffled sound of Lewis' sobbing echoed down the hallway and into the bedroom.