My aunt died and left me her house. I barely knew her. She was my dad’s sister, the weird one nobody talked about.
The house was in rural Montana, middle of nowhere. I flew out to check it out before selling it.
It was nice inside. Clean, normal. Except for one room on the second floor that was locked.
The lawyer gave me all the keys, but none of them worked on that door.
I called a locksmith. He came out, picked it in five minutes.
The room was completely empty except for a calendar on the wall. Every single day was crossed off from January 2010 to August 2024. The day she died.
That’s it. Nothing else. Just a woman crossing off days for 14 years in an empty room.
I was about to leave when I noticed something. Every February 9th had a red circle around it instead of an X.
I counted them. Fourteen red circles.
I googled “February 9” and our family name.
Found an old newspaper article from 2010. A little girl named Emma, my cousin, had gone missing on February 9th, 2010.
She was never found.
I sold the house. Didn’t go back. But I think about that calendar sometimes.
Aunt Linda crossing off every day. Circling February 9th every year.
Waiting.