What Happened to Ernestine Viglianco?

Last night, Ernestine Viglianco was found dead in her home. She was found the in her bedroom, tucked into her bed. Cold as the snow surrounding her large home. It was her oldest son, Magnus, who had been the one that had found her. As his Mother had requested to be awoken when her youngest son, Nigel, finally arrived from the airport.

They had planned to go check out Christmas lights in town.

Neither man could understand what had happened to their Mother. As her health before this was nearly perfect. Aside from slight joint pain, Ernestine was doing very well for a woman of eighty-three. So much so that Nigel was fairly certain that Magnus must have done killed her. It was the only thing that made sense to him. There was no one else that lived with their elderly Mother. In fact, he insisted upon being the only one to be with her. So much so that he had moved in not that long after he insisted.

There was something about this that had never set well with him. Why was he the only one that could be trusted to be with their Mother? Not only would this be a tough task for one person, which it clearly had been, it was too much. Their Mother was healthy, yes. But being the only one to help her when she inevitably would get worse would be much too much of a task for just his older brother. Despite how much Nigel tried to convey this, his brother wouldn't listen. After a long while he had banned his younger brother from even visiting their Mother.

A thing he tried to go around a few times but, his Mother went with it.

He absolutely hated this. Hated that his Mother went with whatever the Hell his older brother fed her. It just made him feel that Ernestine was going along with it to keep the peace. Maybe that she didn't love him as much as he hoped she had. Either way, he felt that Magnus had a definitive hand in it.

While Magnus only wondered what had happened at all.

Magnus had left for the day to spend time with other relatives. Fixing parts of their homes and bringing groceries to his elderly aunt, Dorothy. Unfortunately, she had kept him there at her house for longer then he had wanted her to. By the time that he got home, he noticed that everything was still on. Despite the fact that his Mother had texted him that she was getting ready for bed. Sure, she knew that he was coming home sometime later that evening. But she would have locked the door since she knew that he had taken his key with him. When he turned the doorknob he was horrified to find that it hadn't been locked.

Those were the first few clues that something wasn't quite right.

The next was just how eerily silent and cold the house was. A few hours earlier, his Mother had been listening to Christmas music. Which she often forgot to turn off before going to sleep. And the house was normally very warm. Since it was the dead of Winter in the Midwest, Mother always had the heat up during that time. Sure, he hated coming back to a sweltering house at times. Magnus suffered through that to keep his Mother happy. After all, he didn't have to live in her home. So he was lucky that he could, now wasn't the time to go down that toxic thought train. Right now, he had to think about everything he could even vaguely remember from that night.

Like the strange fact that the kitchen window was wide open. There were wet, muddy, rather large footprints on the carpet leading to the kitchen from the stairs, too. Nearly the size of his own work shoes that he had been wearing not too long ago.

Something in him told him that he had to call the police. That someone had broken in and his Mother was possibly in trouble. Oh Lord, his Mother! What had happened to her?

Without really thinking, Magnus ran to the stairs and went up them two at a time. Hurrying as fast as he could to be sure that his Mother was perfectly fine in her bed. That everything was perfectly fine and that maybe someone had messed with their house. Stolen some useless items that can be easily replaced. He shouted,"MAMA?! MAMA ARE YOU OKAY?!"

The silence that he received only confirmed that small part of his worst fears.

Yet, Magnus couldn't believe that she was hurt at all. That his Mother was dead and that maybe she wasn't home. That maybe she was at a neighbors sitting with them or something. Well, he had hoped as much until he came to his Mother's room. The door was flung open to a degree that the elderly woman wouldn't like. And his heart jumped into his throat as he reached out to grab the doorknob. Gently pushing it more open, he softly called,"Mama? Mama? Are you okay? The door was unlocked and there's a window open downstairs."

"...Mommy?",he asked. Walking over to her bed to find her laying there. Nothing looked off at first. She looked like she had just fallen asleep in bed. That was until he got close and turned on her nightstand lamp. Showing a deep bruise around her neck and that she was so cold to the touch. It didn't matter. What mattered was getting the police to their home along with an ambulance.

After he had called everything and everyone he was supposed to, everything was a blur. Time seemed to move in slow motion and he was barely inside himself. It felt like he was seeing everything from a distance and that he wouldn't be there.

Nigel was cold as he'd always been. Barely saying much to him or about their Mother. Though that was to be expected. It was hard dealing with everything afterwards and going to a hotel. Because being at their home was hard for him. Too many damn memories and being at a crime scene felt so disgusting. All his thoughts were about his Mother and why she had died. Not even paying his younger brother the smallest bit of attention. Or the cruel looks that he'd given him when he thought that Magnus wasn't noticing.

Which was more then he was anticipating on if he were being honest.

That didn't matter to him. His brother could be angry with him for failing their Mother if he wanted. It was within his right to be. If he were Nigel, he would also be blaming him for not being there to protect her.

All that mattered was piecing together what could have happened. As his Mother didn't have that many friends or enemies that could have harmed her. The only other people who had issues with her were elderly folks like herself. But, those weren't worth taking someone else's life over. At least in Magnus's mind they definitely weren't. What, what could have happened?

The front door wasn't busted down for crying out loud!

So, who was his Mother expecting at all? He couldn't remember her telling him that she was expecting a guest. Or that anyone they knew would be coming over. Hell, he wasn't even sure if his Mother's friends were even still in town. Given that it was the Holidays and most of their friends were either entertaining loved ones. Or taking trips out of town to be with their loved ones. Their other relatives wouldn't have dropped by without calling. And he was pretty damn sure that...pretty damn sure...wait, had he missed seeing anyone the day of? Anyone that he went to the house of and couldn't get a hold of?

That was something that he was wracking his brain extensively for. Why couldn't he remember if he missed anyone or not?

It was bothering him as he paced the floor of his hotel room. Just who or what had he missed?

A loud banging dragged him out of his thoughts and caused him to jump. Quickly he turned to the door of his room and he froze as he heard Nigel shouting. Demanding to be let in that instant. Soon as he opened the door, Nigel accused,"You did it. You killed our Mother! Admit you bastard!"

"I did no such thing! I would never hurt Mother! How dare you suggest such a vile thing!",he fired back. Having enough of his younger brother's nonsense. Why in the Hell would have killed his Mother for? He loved her! She was kind enough to allow him to stay despite being in his thirties. The answer he got from his younger brother made his stomach drop. And his whole body go numb as Nigel snapped,"You broke her ribs when you were eighteen, Magnus."

"You're not as innocent as you like to pretend you are.",he added. Pushing past his older brother to get into the room. The ribs, oh Lord. He forgot about that day. Or rather, his mind buried the memory of that terrible day. When his Mother got so drunk that she forgot who he was and tried to kill him. So he slapped her across the face and she tumbled down the stairs.

Having one rib broken was probably the least terrible thing to have happened.

His Mother had pleaded with him to take the fall for that. Not wanting Nigel to know that she'd been drinking again. Or that she tried to hurt him. Something that he wished he hadn't in hindsight. Softly, Magnus answered,"Mother tried to kill me that day, Nigel."

"Whatever you think of me, it isn't true. Please leave me alone.",he begged. Wanting Nigel to leave so he could grieve in peace. This only seemed to infuriate him more as he screamed at him. Every single grievance he had with him and his Mother. How unseen Magnus had made him feel over the years. It sort of hurt knowing that his own younger brother was harmed in this way. But, he couldn't fix it right then...neither could have his Mother. When he opened his mouth to plead forgiveness, Nigel punched him hard in the face.

Hard enough to break his nose and lose a tooth.

When Nigel left Magnus's hotel room, he felt uncertain that he had the right man for this. As something about Magnus's attitude wasn't indicative that he had committed murder. All it felt like it had been some form of creepy control on their Mother's part. That Ernestine had been keeping Magnus under her thumb a lot too easily. A part of him felt guilty for punching him in the face the way that he had.

Yet, the rest of him felt absolutely wonderful. Like he finally did something good for himself.

Maybe he'll apologize for doing that, once everything settled.

Once he got to his car, he decided to take a look at his childhood home again. As the cops were surely gone by now. There wouldn't be an issue for him to go through it to find things. Especially, if he didn't grab anything. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he pulled out of the hotel parking lot. Determined to find something to figure out just what had truly happened to Ernestine.

Once and for all.

Soon as he pulled up, he felt a lump in his throat. Being back at his childhood home wasn't easy. All the painful memories of not being noticed by Ernestine. Having Magnus never even glance in his direction, either. Along with no one else in his family even trying to spend time with him, it hit him like a tidal wave. But, he couldn't afford to dwell on it as he parked his car. Got out. And hurriedly walked to the house. Getting inside with the key that Ernestine had left under the rug at all times. Something that Nigel wasn't entirely certain that Magnus knew existed. Then again, unlike Nigel he had his own key and rarely ever lost things.

So why in the world would he need the spare key for?

Soon as he was inside, he took his shoes off near the door. Remembering that Ernestine hated when people walked in the house with their shoes on. Not like it mattered. Since she wouldn't be around to yell at him for it. But some part of him felt it was only respectful for him to do that. While he walked through the house, he noticed that nothing had really changed since the last time he was there. Nothing was even the slightest bit out of place.

On the first floor.

Once he got upstairs, he started searching through the rooms. Opening them as carefully as he could. A few looked emptier then they normally had been. It made him wonder if Magnus and Ernestine had been planning to sell the house or something. When he found Magnus's room, those thoughts felt strengthened. There was practically nothing in there aside from his older brother's mattress and bed frame. He even checked through the dresser. Finding none of his older brother's clothes inside of the damned thing.

Not even a sock.

Sure, he was at a hotel right then. But that didn't mean all of Magnus's clothes would be gone so quickly. So that had to mean something was wrong, right? With this in mind, Nigel moved on to their Mother's bedroom. Soon as he was inside, he searched everything as carefully as possible. Looking for any form of clues about what could have happened. Soon as he opened her closet door, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. That was until he noticed above himself there was something a 'hole' in the ceiling. Chewing his bottom lip, he found a chair in his Mother's room. Pulling it into the closet, he stepped up onto it. Slowly peeked his head into the hole and turning on his phone's flashlight as he did so. Once he got his phone above the hole, he froze in place at what he had found in the small room.

There was a small sleeping bag laid out on the ground. It also had a huge old pillow laying right next to it. Along with the shabbiest teddy bear that he had ever seen in his life. A worn out navy blue backpack was near both of them. It looked very old and like it'd fall apart if it were tugged on too hard. Nigel wasn't entirely sure what to make of it as he got into the small space. Crawling over to the backpack, he opened it up to find half of Ernestine's jewelry inside. Stuff that she hadn't worn in years if Nigel hadn't remembered. Along with some of Magnus's clothes. And a few of Nigel's old pictures, too.

His stomach dropped as he found a few more recent ones. Including one of him arriving from the airport.

Turning to the opening of the weird hole, wondering just who had been up here. For how long. And if they truly left the house at all.