Potter does Prompts

Why she did it

Day 3 Prompt Harry and Ron find Tom Riddle's diary (after someone threw it through Moaning Myrtle)

From the doorway of her mom's bedroom, Myrtle watched her mom fill yet another page of her diary. Try as she might, no amount of spying uncovered the place she stashed it. What does she write in there?

"Myrtle, why are you lurking in the doorway? Come in here. Right now."

Terrified of her mom's mood swings, she had no choice except to ask. She blurted out, "What do you write in there?" Please let it not be about me.

Not bothering to turn her head and look at her daughter, her mom said, "I keep track of the weather."

"Did you want to be a meteorologist?" Myrtle forced a little laugh.

Her mom stood and turned around, giving her daughter the evil eye. "Of course not. What a silly girl."

Nothing stung more than one of her mom's rebukes. Especially the label of 'silly girl.' Afraid to break off the stare and show weakness, Myrtle slowly moved backward toward the door, holding, holding the cold and cruel glare focused only on her. Her mind screamed Danger, Will Robinson. Run! With a concentrated effort, Myrtle strolled away, saving herself from further ridicule.

As the years passed, her mom wrote in diary after diary. So many, Myrtle suspected her mom had a hidden room to store all of them. But the mystery of the contents remained. Until her dad died and mom's walls of defense crumbled.

In her broken state, she told Myrtle what she'd written and why. Seated at the oval dining room table, home to five siblings and 68 years of marriage, she stared at her hands and said, "I kept track of every moment in our lives. All our vacations, little stories about happy moments . . ." Her voice broke and she blinked away tears.

Myrtle waited to hear more. Minutes passed.

When her mom looked up, Myrtle saw agony and grief carved on her face, and hoped nothing broke her own sanity.

"As your dad failed . . . it gave us great comfort when I read the diary entries to him." Her mom stood and walked away.