The Portrait of Amélie

Scarlett

"This twenty-thousand dollar painting by the title of "The Portrait of Amélie" originally painted by the late Jacques Reese has been stolen from the Museum of French Art in Norwalk Connecticut," announced the voice from the television in the middle of our Midtown Manhattan apartment.

    I immediately looked up from my breakfast and put my phone down. I turned in my seat at the kitchen counter and looked at the TV.

"What?" My sister Gwen bitterly shouted.

I walked to the couch and turned the volume on the TV up

"It was stolen? I can't believe it! It was under top-notch security!"

"I know," I replied, distraught.

The painting was remarkably valuable, but to our father, it was invaluable and he would do anything to get it back. Our father was in California for Naval training and has been writing us letters. If he found out about the painting, I don't know what he would do.

"I can't imagine! If Dad heard this news he would be absolutely crushed!" Gwen proclaimed.

In January, I turned twenty-two, and later in March, Gwen turned twenty-one. Our father was and still is, in the Navy. I had graduated from New York University with a degree in art history. Gwen was studying the same major at Fordham University. We were going to be art investigators and this was our first job. I had an idea although I did not think Gwen would want to hear it.

"We should go talk to the art theft department at MoMA. Maybe we can find the painting," I explained.

"By we, you mean you, right?" Gwen asked.

"No, I mean the both of us. You need training right?"

She stared at me in silence as I went to grab my phone.

"Fine," She said reluctantly.

After making a quick call to the art department, they ensured that we could go and investigate.

We had just gotten out of a cab at the train station when we noticed it. It felt out of place, awkwardly set in between two buildings. It looked as if it didn't even have a room behind it. The rusty door jabbed at our curiosity as we walked warily towards it.

    "It's open," Gwen noted.

    Why would there be a random open door in the middle of two buildings? It looked out of place. There was no building number or any sort of sign indicating what it could be.

We approached it and it creaked open. Stepping inside, Gwen and I squinted through the dark, but our eyes couldn't adjust. I ran my hand down the wall feeling for a light switch. None. I pulled a flashlight out of my crossbody bag and clicked it on. We walked down the dusty, torn steps and found another door. This one was ajar. We stepped through and it revealed a series of tunnels. There were people coming in and out of them like subway terminals. To the right was a cafe with relaxing jazz music playing in the background. We walked up to it and there was a man at the bar who seemed very energetic and perky. He had a curly auburn afro and pale skin. His face was freckled and he had big bright blue eyes.

"Howdy, what can I getcha?" he asked in a southern accent. His voice was so high he sounded like he sucked helium out of a balloon. I noticed a suspicious man in the corner strangely, gnawing on a pickle.

"Nothing right now, but thank you," I replied.

"Wonder why we have never seen this place before," I whispered to Gwen as we walked. "I mean, I've been to the train station tons of times."

"Me too." Gwen replied, "I guess we just never paid attention to the walls."

"We should look around here to see what this place is. It seems unusual that there is a coffee shop in this area." I suspiciously replied.

"Yeah, I agree," Gwen mentioned. "This place was calling us. We need to stay."

"We also can see all the curious looking people that come here." I whispered, "like pickle man over there."

We nodded at each other and went to find a table to sit at.

Author note:

Okay, so this is the first part! This is something different from my last work but I really like this story. I started it a couple of years ago with a friend of mine but I recently finished it on my own last year. I will be updating this every Friday so stay tuned!

~author