As I stepped out of the room I saw Rex laying on his little green pillow with his eyes shut and his paws curled beneath his body. His fur stood up on his back, signing that he noticed me. He was still sound asleep. I didn’t want to wake him so I stepped around him and opened the front door. As I opened the door a rush of fresh air and wind smacked me in the face as the light hit my eyes. The air was cold and I felt my bones shake through my skin. This didn’t stop me from walking over to the fence and pulling out my pocket watch. The time read 1:32 in the afternoon, which meant I had already missed lunch. I leaned against the wooden pole under my hands and closed my eyes.
I imagined her smiles, her scent, her eyes, her laughter, and her words. She was right there, I could almost see her. When I opened my eyes again she was gone, and all that I had thought about was just that, thoughts. These thoughts probably weren’t even real. It’s been years I thought to myself. There was no way she looked the same, she couldn’t have the same smile or scent. She probably wasn’t even alive. It hurt me, but that was the truth and I was going to have to admit it sometime. Finally, I pushed up off of the gate and started walking back to the house.
“Wait, Son” someone yelled from behind me. I took a breath hoping it wasn’t that old man from the day before, but to my disappointment it was. He was walking up the road that led to the house and he was carrying a large red book in his arms. Again, he was wearing all black and he had his hat pulled over his eyes. With each step he got closer to the gate.
When he finally got there, I pulled the thin piece of wheat from my mouth and reached out my empty hand. He shook it firmly. I walked over to the locked gate and reached down to unlock it. It took me a second, but while I was unlocking it he opened his mouth.
“Thank you for letting me talk to you. I understand that this is a sore subject, but what I have to give you is extremely urgent” he said to me as I pulled open the rusty metal opening. He walked through and I responded with a nod and nothing more. I stepped forward and led the way up to the front porch.
We walked in silence and I could feel the stiffness of our bodies as the cool air wrapped around us. When we finally made it to the stairs I scraped my feet on the red welcome rug outside and pulled open the screen door. While we walked inside I could hear Rex starting to bark. He hated strangers, we all did.
Mr. Barrett stepped inside as I pulled back the door and held it open for him. He saw the little brown bench to the side of the door and decided to sit on it. Before he did, he pulled out the handkerchief from his suit and wiped down the dirt. He was a man of cleanliness. He gestured to the chair in front of him and I took the seat.
Sitting in front of him I saw the light beam through the clear window and hit the icey blue eyes that completely ruled out every other feature on his face. He reached out and dropped the book that he had held in his hands. As the smooth red leather cover fell onto the wooden table time stopped. He lifted off his hat and reached towards the cover of the string bound book. I crossed my arms over my chest and sat forward in my chair. I was on the edge of my seat.
“I have no idea who sent this package, but I was told not to open it until it was in the hands of a Jules” Mr. Barrett said very quietly as he pulled on the string that tied the leather book together. Jules was my last name, the last name my mother left behind. The combination of the wind and the force of him untying the smooth leather book and causing the cover to flutter open. Two pieces of thin paper fell out and slowly drifted to the floor. Each of them landed at different times. The larger paper landed first and the small delicate one coming in a close second. He reached down his long skinny arm and used his nails to pick up both of the papers from the ground.
As he brought them back up to the table, I reached out my hands to grab them. I was afraid. My forehead beaded with sweat and I could feel the back of my neck become prickly as the hairs stood up. My body froze as he finally spread the papers on the top of the red leather cover.I was afraid.
He slid them closer to my hands and I was able to pick them up with the sweat that stuck to my fingers. I brought them closer into my vision and scanned them with my eyes. The first thing I noticed was the writing, it reminded me of the writing I saw on my dad’s old wedding album. That’s when I realized it was my mother’s handwriting. The same little marks she made. The marks that were unique to her writing and hers alone.
The paper was wrinkled, like she had crumbled it but had decided to smooth it out against a hard surface or the palm of her hands. The paper was a tint of brown that looked old, and the writing was nowhere near new. The ink looked old, as though it had been dried for a while. That was one of the pages, the other was smaller, it looked like a check, something from a bank that only wealthy people from the city had.
I set it aside and picked up the crumbled piece once again. This time I read it. I brought it close to my face and exhaled a long sigh. As I brought the paper closer to my face, I could almost smell her, well not really her but the same fruity scented perfume she always wore. The words were written in small black ink, almost dragging on with each new word. The note said;
“I’m sorry, I am so sorry for everything I’ve put you through these last years. Yes, this is me, and I’m safe. I don’t have a lot of room to write so I’m going to keep it simple. 2 years and 14 days ago, I was taken by him. Unfortunately I can’t give you his name. He took me, and for the first year I hated him, but as time went on I fell in love with him. His house, his smell, his sweet hugs. All he wanted was for someone to love him, and I could. Now we are married, and I even have a little one on the way. I don’t expect you to understand, but I’m somewhere in Europe and I am safe. I have attached a $750,000 check as well. He is letting me give you the money as a final goodbye gift. Do what you want with it, I hope you live the rest of your days well, you will always be a part of my life”.
Love,
Mom
That’s it. That’s all I had left from my mom.
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.