The Diary

January 28th

Dear Diary,

Have you ever imagined what usually takes place in the beginning of a new day? Is that the birds who wake us up with their sweet melody? Or the sun that spread it’s sparks to every eye?

For me, I expect none of them since I could never avoid the harsh arguments that tends to knock the door for me! I always have to deal with bickers of Stephanie over the share of mother’s love between us. I know how horrible it sounds but I can’t help it rather than pulling out a miserable look.

Today was the same!

I dozily opened my eyes and became erect. It was a bright Sunday morning. I gazed upon the curtains. I looked outside the window and glanced upon every single piece outside which could combine together to form a beautiful scenery.

“Eileen! We’ve got to leave this town. I won’t let you venture out to school henceforth, if it continues the same as always!” cried Aunt Kent as she rushed to my room with a slam.

“What’s the matter?” I asked with great perplexity.

“That Houghton is done again with the tenth robbery this time, right at the Wessington Mansion. I wonder how Lloyd would be dealing with himself in order to reconcile back to normalcy again! Oh dear, god knows when that criminal is going to respite from committing such crimes!”

“That is terrible!” said I. “The Wessington Mansion is not that far from this place, I suppose.”

“Yes, you’re right, honey! It would not be late in getting the news broadcasted about our house getting robbed away by that Houghton! Dear, dear!” she says with her words heavy with agony.

Eliot Houghton happened to be a notorious fugitive criminal of our time. Based on assumptions, the cops believe that Houghton has been approaching the minds of every entity behind bars and even of those people who still look forward to get hold of a perfect victim.

Maybe Eliot has become an upstage for all those people.

No one is able to find out Eliot’s place, residence and identity yet which shows how clever she was. How clever she is indeed.

There are a lot many people in the name of ‘Eliot’ that includes both boys and girls. So nobody has been constant about the gender of this criminal.

Now it’s time to introduce myself.

I am Eileen McClellan.

My mom died after she gave birth to me. After going through a tough time, my dad, Albertan McClellan finally remarried with one of his employees called Glenda Plush.

P.S. I hated her since the day daddy brought her home for a dinner and predicted the right thing that she would turn out to be a monster at the end.

A year after his remarriage a car pulled out in front of him while he was up for his work and died.

Glenda started blaming me for this fatal consequence considering me as too much of an unlucky person dropping every single bit of the misfortune that I carried.

I had nothing with me; I was in the middle of nowhere. I could find no company to share my sentiments with. Instead I had to bear the tortures that I got from Glenda till the day I met Aunt Kent.

Aunt Kent and Mrs. McClellan were childhood friends with what I perceived through their actions of reminiscing about their school days, chuckling after every statement of their childhood life and so on.

Aunt Kent took the liberty of bringing me home as she didn’t approve the fact how I was treated by her childhood friend. And since that day, I found my lost happiness back.

But there is no news of Mrs. Glenda now. I know it is astonishing to believe. But truths are bitter, after all.

The last time I took a visit to her house was the day when I had to bring some stuffs of mine. But I got some pretty weird vibes when I stepped in. I was so hell teetered by the atmosphere that I had to tremble after each second. There was one thing that kept on shuddering me. My stepmother had been missing. Well, ‘missing’ may not sound exact to this but I remember her saying she’ll be here when Aunt Kent had let her know about my arrival. I could see her whereabouts in place. Where else could she have gone leaving away her house unlocked like that?

I somehow managed to pack up my belongings and headed to Aunt Kent. I told her everything that I witnessed. But in the middle of the night, Aunt Kent received a message from her and learned that Mrs. McClellan went to her mother’s place.

Thank god, I had an extra lock with me. Otherwise, the neighbors would have been familiar with her carelessness too, just like I am always with.

Aunt Kent says she often gets messages from her. But she never got any call which worries her sometimes. But I think texts are writings that are worth enough for a call.

Uncle Kent does not live in this town. He visits our house once in a year, either on Christmas or on Halloween. I have been staying at the Kent’s residence for almost 6 months.

“Well… well… This is the fourth time Eileen has received my mom’s concern first,” Stephanie intervened.

“Stephanie, what are you saying?” Aunt Kent cried.

“I don’t want to get myself juxtaposed with her! You’ve been making such differences among the two of us by expressing your concern and everything at EILEEN rather than coming to me!”

“You are definitely out of your mind, honey! Why do you always have to bring your intervention with this useless conversation? You really should control your ego otherwise it’s going to unfold some very serious consequences and you’ll be the one to face it in the future!” says mom.

“Consequence? Like what, huh? Getting yourself into the hands of your adopted daughter instead of falling into the grip of her own birth daughter? Is that the consequence? If yes, then I’m truly up for it as I always try to convince you for that but you keep on ignoring every single word I speak!”

Aunt Kent took a deep breath. Then she narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak.

“Let me reveal all the things that I feel for you!” says she. “You can never get into bed sharply at 9 and go to sleep, just like Eileen does. You can never stop the habit of listening to music at a high volume without noticing that you are actually marginalizing your neighbors! Also you show disrespect to your parents!”

Stephanie’s eyes were filled with tears. “Then I guess you should look up to an introvert Stephanie coming up!”

She glowered at me and stomped out of my room slamming the door hard. (What else could she have done?)

 

January 29^th

Dear diary,

Stephanie and I got ready for school. My mom works as a librarian and she often arrives lately at home.

All the students were babbling about Eliot Houghton’s identity in school.

There’s a guy called Eliot Callaway at our class. I have mercy on him sometimes as he becomes the victim of listening to others’ mocks and tantrums that relates him to Eliot Houghton. But I never took part in the ridicule. Because I know that Callaway can turn out to be Houghton.

Callaway is such an introvert that it will take a hundred years for him to make up his mind in stealing or robbing a house and a double of those years to step his shoe inside the house of his victim.

Then how come such an introvert will appear to rob?

The sun was obscured behind the dark clouds that happened to swirl around till it covered the whole sky. After an hour or so, our school got over. I always return alone to my home while Stephanie returns with a bunch of friends.

I reached home and freshened up. I switched on the T.V. when the doorbell rang. It has to be Stephanie; I got up from the couch and opened the door. She rolled her eyes seeing me and immediately got in.

That is really hurtful when someone whom you’re trying to greet with full sincerity is actually being rude to you.

“Welcome home,” I said; trying my best to sound casual.

She spoke nothing. Her eyes fell on the T.V. that was switched on. She snatched the remote from my hand and slumped on the couch. Then she started to change the channels after she bunged her schoolbag onto the couch.

I did not utter a word and simply kept looking at the screen.

Our sudden sight caught the most important headline- ABOUT ELIOT HOUGHTON. The news portrayed that for the first time, Eliot Houghton has done a biggest mistake.

Houghton had accidentally dropped a bracelet at the Wessington Mansion.

Lloyd Wessington, the owner of the Wessington Mansion claims that he struggled from getting himself mutilated by Eliot Houghton yesterday night. While dealing with that awful being, he accidentally pulled a bracelet that announces Eliot Houghton’s femininity.

The cops declared-

‘Whosoever has sold this bracelet, please report it to us without any reluctance. Such a step can easily make us trail the absconding criminal.’

 

February 3^rd  

Dear diary,

Several days passed by. It was Sunday morning when the morning silence was broken within a shudder, as soon as the doorbell rang.

Aunt Kent opened the door and was startled to see two cops. They asked her to call Stephanie. Aunt Kent clamored about the reason for why has she called but they kept on fudging till the moment Stephanie stood right in front of them. That’s when Aunt Kent and I knew what was behind it.

“Stephanie Kent has been the buyer of the bracelet that belonged to Houghton. The shopkeeper had contacted us immediately for recognising it as one of the items that he sold. We checked the records and reached up to the final stage that brings us here,” the cops replied.

“I have never bought this bracelet!” That was what Stephanie said, in a way of defense.

“There has to be plenty of bracelets with this design!” mom cried in pain. “What does it have to do with Stephanie in particular? Catch all the other buyers too!”

“There is only one piece which has been sold to your daughter,” said the cops. Then he immediately got out without any delays, with Stephanie.

Mom and I realized that good times began to fizzle. She had to rove about in search of a good lawyer for Stephanie’s bail. I still could not believe that Stephanie is behind it. I have no right to blame her for something that she has never done; no matter how much she hurts me.

Our house was kept under strict surveillance- how bad can it really be now! We had to deal with the media every time we ventured out whereupon the neighbors began to avoid us.

 

February 15^th

Dear diary,

Today was the day when everything that my mom had to deal with for Stephanie has paid off. She was able to bring her daughter home although she hasn’t caught a proof that acted as a liable one for Stephanie’s bail. So I won’t say it receded. We still have a lot of obstacles to deal with.

“You may have found the way of bringing her home, but you still have lot of efforts to make in order to bail Stephanie. Your proofs have to be liable to that of the prosecution in order to get it over with,” the cops warned Aunt Kent. “Till then, you people are not allowed to leave this town.”

Aunt Kent reached home with Stephanie. She entered the room and switched on the lights. I knew she wanted me to be the first one to listen to this good news about Stephanie’s arrival.

Stephanie entered her room straightway without any patience. Mom was ahead to my room when Stephanie blurted out, “Mom, my wardrobe is empty!”

Mom widened her eyes and rushed to her room. Without uttering a word, she opened her wardrobe and gaped, seeing nothing inside except two rubber masks that were hung down.

One of the masks associated Stephanie while the other resembled Eileen McClellan.

And that’s me.

Beneath it was a small writing that was engraved upon the wooden structure of the wardrobe that read-

Eliot Houghton is unstoppable with no real identity. And Stephanie, I think now you’ve realized what was it for? I’ve always carried a grudge against you and how good can it be when I finally proved that I am something not to be messed with. Because I never underestimated your words of hatred against me!

I intentionally had let that bracelet fall off my hand. I bought it the day before I planned to rob the Wessington Mansion. I had doubled Stephanie when I went to buy it- that’s when her mask was ready for use.

Now Stephanie has realized that she has done the biggest mistake in her entire life for putting me down. Hadn’t I faced those insults from her, I wouldn’t have done such a task!

This is my 11^th robbery at the Kent’s Mansion. And this time too, no one could figure out my real face. You see, I do not have a specific identity to live about.

There’s more to say, Aunt Kent. I know you can never leave the habit of reading my diary. I have witnessed it at least 3 times. But I haven’t revealed a word about it. Otherwise, you’d never come across these recent startling lines about my real identity, that reflects my endeavors.

Try to take the paragraph below as a confession from me to you-

Albertan McClellan was not my real father, for the record. He was just a way for me to get to you. (You were in my list… being included among the richest houses in Capeland Street)

He was killed by me, whereby Mrs. Glenda started blaming me. (This was true)

Do you know where she is? I actually have bludgeoned her- the day when I went to bring my stuffs. You’ll find her body at the basement, buried underneath. I stole her cell phone and started to send texts to you so that you do not have an ounce of suspicion and cops won’t get included. I caught some valuable items in addition that pulled my sight.

Everything that you read above about my father, my mom’s death and so on was a lie so that I gain trust from you. Though I haven’t lied about Glenda’s torture towards me; so I had to kill her.

Have you realized now why do I get into bed so early at 9? Yeah, that’s the time when my plans are ready for execution.

Till then, goodbye.

Eliot Houghton

(Aunt Kent’s eyes filled with tears after going through the diary of Eileen McClellan aka. Eliot Houghton. It lay right above Eileen’s bed invitingly to get it read and absorb the tears that got in touch with its soft pages)

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