Mia
July 19th will always be a date I will remember, though it didn’t start out that way. It was a normal day in Headen, the place I had lived in for over half my life. It was a rainy summer day, and I had some time to kill. No practice, no school work, and my friends were out of town, and this is where our story begins.
This rain really is persistent, I thought annoyedly, gazing out the window lazily. I pushed myself up and out of the low-seated chair I was sitting and walked in the direction of the door to exit my room. I opened the door to find the hallway empty and soundless, completely unlike my house normally. I was still in my pajamas, even though it was around 1:30 in the afternoon. I continued walking down the hallway until I heard my brother yelling in his room. He was playing a video game of some kind I assumed, so I rolled my eyes and thought nothing of it. I found the string from the ceiling that pulled the ladder down to the attic. I had a haven up there that I felt like nobody could bother me or disturb the calm. I went up there when I was stressed or needed quiet. It was a nice thing to have at my age, 15. I wasn’t particularly stressed or needed quiet, but I figured I didn’t have anything else better to do. I tried not to “distract” my brother from his game, though he’s pretty easily distracted. The familiar creak of the ladder unfold to me calmed me, though there wasn’t anything to be calmed. I climbed the ladder up to the old smelling attic, and put the plastic bin lid that I used as a cover over the part where the ladder descended. I carefully stepped through the wooden beams and to my area, which had white Christmas lights up around it, even though it wasn’t Christmas. There was a fluffy, grey rug to cover the unfinished wooden floor, and a desk on top of it. It was a simple white desk, with a small fake plant in a pot on it, with a floor lamp beside the desk. There was also a set of rollable drawers underneath the desk for storage. I had a small, plastic drawer stack on top of my desk to keep smaller things in, and a big pile of bean bags and pillows in the corner of my nook. I also had a cubby set that was filled with all sorts of books and bins to keep miscellaneous things. I also had a picture of my dad and I when I was little on my desk, framed. I glanced at the picture as I leaned to plug the lights in, and remembered when he still was here. My dad went missing when I was 10. He just, disappeared. He went to work one day like normal, and didn’t come home. That was a really hard time for my mom, my brother and I. We didn’t have him there anymore, and we had to adjust to him not being there. That was when I made this nook. Just somewhere I could go to be alone. To escape. I continued plugging in and turning on the lights around me as I looked at my bookshelf. I was planning on coming up here to read a little, maybe start a new book. I spun the other way in the spinny chair at my desk, and that’s when I saw it. A cardboard box, hidden behind all the other ones, labeled “Caycee.” That was me. Why is there a box here I never saw before? I got up and cautiously made my way around the other boxes, and got to the one that had my name on it. I picked it up, there was still tape that sealed it, and it was very dusty. Must be my old baby albums. But why would it be sealed? This realization furthered my curiosity into the box, so I ignored the heavy weight of it and brang it to my carpet. I carefully sat it down and kneeled next to it. My almond brown hair was braided back so it wouldn’t be in my face, but the shorter fly aways always made their way down to my face. I brushed the braid off my shoulder and searched in the drawer for scissors. I found a pair of them, and cut the tape. The box was so dusty it made me cough, so I brushed it off with my hand, and opened the box. There were lots of albums in there, each labeled by year. I smiled to myself, they were all before I was 10. I decided to go back as far as they went, and I found an album labeled with a year after I was born. I carefully picked up the worn, navy blue album and ran my hand over the design. I opened the book and I saw a picture of me, with a bunch of kids I didn’t recognize sitting on parents’ laps. I realized I was wearing a birthday hat, so it was probably my first birthday party. I was surprised I didn’t recognize the kids, because I kept pretty close with my friends when I moved. I didn’t think much of it though, I figured I’d ask my mom later. I kept flipping through the pages of pictures and saw my grandparents with me, my mom and dad and brother holding me at a park, and a big family picture. All family from both sides gathered together, in one picture.
“Wow…” I murmured aloud, in awe of how many people were actually in the picture. I didn’t realize I had that many cousins or family in general. I recognized all of them except one. He stood out to me, he was wearing a suit with a blue and white checkered bow-tie, with bold-framed glasses. He didn’t smile in the picture, but his face looked friendly. I had deja-vu from looking at his face, but I wasn’t sure why. I flipped through the next pictures, they were all just me as a one year old with every member of my family one by one. My cousins and I all got in one picture together, and once I looked though all of those, the very last picture was of me with the man I didn’t recognize again. I looked into his face, really tried to pin down who he was. I didn’t succeed, but I took the picture out of the album and set it on my desk. I also took the one of me and all the kids I didn’t know. I set them both on my desk, and put the albums back. I slid the box under my desk for easy access, and got ready to head back into my room and put the pictures up on my corkboard. I looked back at the nook, and removed the plastic cover as I climbed down the ladder and, still staring at the pictures, walked back to my room. I laid down on my bed on my back, looking up at the picture of me and the strange man. I debated for a second if I really should ask my mom, but I got a text from one of my best friends, Fabianne Winston. I call her Fae for short.
Fae- Hey Caycee! Turns out I’m coming home a day early from my vacation, and I’ll be home soon! Let me know if you want to hang out today!
She’s really nice and sweet, but I hesitated responding. I felt a weird vibe after finding these pictures, and I didn’t know if I could shake it. I left the message sit for a few minutes, and then decided I could use her company.
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