Postcards

A young lady was going through the things in the store room. Ever since her parents died, this was the first time she came. She wanted to clean up the place before she rent the house. The memories were just so hard for her. Her parents died three months ago and she was living in the house she had in the city away from the beautiful house she used to live with her parents in her hometown.

Suddenly she saw a box. It was so beautiful that she thought it was a jewel box. But she was surprised when she opened it and saw that it had a lot of postcards. She slowly went through the postcards. She started reading the earliest postcards. After reading for a while, she realized that the early postcards were from a pen friend of her mother's as it was addressed to her.

The pen friend wrote on some postcards how much he wished to meet her one day. Most of the postcards were funny and friendly. But as it came to later ones, they started to be more romantic. It seemed that he loved her mother a lot. The young lady thought of looking for the name of the pen friend, thinking that it must be her father. But she was shocked to find that it wasn't.

She was more curious than before and went on to reading the postcards. It abruptly stopped just three years before her mother married. "What went wrong?" thought the young lady. Then she saw a letter under the postcards and a postcard was attached to the letter,

"Dear Elaine,

If you are reading this letter that means I wasn't able to find him the one who was my pen friend. I love your father but no matter what I still love my pen friend too. If you are reading this that also means that I am not there with you but don't be sad because I know you will find a better person in life, he will look after you until then be strong. And as my last wish, I want you to find my pen friend and let him know that I loved him too.

Love you,

Your mother."

Elaine had tears in her eyes but she wiped them up. Then she read the postcard which was attached to the letter. It was from the same address as her mother's pen friend but it was from the mother of the pen friend's. It said, "My son is missing. If you know where he is please contact us, Ron's mother." Elaine thought for a while. Then she decided I have to find Ron. Not for his mother but for her mother's sake.

After a long flight, she reached the city, where Ron's house was located. When she reached the house by a cab, she realized the house was quite old. It looked like it was over hundred years but was in good shape. She rang the bell. A man about Elaine's age opened the door. "Hello, my name is Elaine. I would like to talk about someone who knows Ron Mathews." "Hi, my name is Dean Mathews. Ron Mathews is my uncle," said the man smiling.

Dean let Elaine in the house and asked her to sit on the sofa. After a while, "What do you want to know about my uncle?" asked Dean. Elaine hesitated and then said, "He was a very good friend of my mother and I was wondering whether he is around. I mean my mother was really worried for him as he went missing..." Dean looked at Elaine closely and said, "Unfortunately, no. My parents and my grandparents looked for him for years but they couldn't find him."

Dean explained that his mother died three years ago and his father died two years ago. His grandparents were long gone. "I am the only one in the family but if my uncle is alive somewhere then I won't be alone anymore," said Dean and sighed, "After all these years, why are you here?" Elaine explained that her parents died recently and her mother's last wish was to find her friend. She didn't tell him about the love part.

Dean was very helpful and told Elaine everything about his uncle. He also showed his uncle's room. While going through the items, a postcard fell from one of the boxes. Elaine took it and read. It was addressed to her mother. It said that he was going to an island called, 'Costa Mel' and he will work there for a month and then he will meet and propose Elaine's mother.

Elaine showed the postcard to Dean and she started to go out. Dean stopped her and said, "Let me help you. After all he is my uncle." He smiled at her. Elaine nodded and the two of them started their journey to the island.

The island was really beautiful with its beach and the small hills in the middle of the island. Elaine and Dean reached the island by boat. They got the luggage and found a small hotel to stay. It was more like a lodge than a hotel. Elaine started talking to the hotel manager. When Elaine asked about Ron, he said, "If it is about 25 years ago then my father might know about him."

Elaine and Dean went to meet the hotel manager's father. He was sitting on the veranda of the house. They walked up to him and asked about Ron. At first he didn't remember him but then after a while, he said, "There were people who went missing around that time and one of them was this Ron too. They were never found."

25 years ago, 10 people from the hotel went missing. The police tried to find them but was unsuccessful. When Elaine and Dean went to a police station to inquire, they said that they don't have a record of it anymore. Disappointed, Dean and Elaine went back to the hotel. It was already dark and they were tired due to the journey and slept early.

But in midnight, Elaine woke up. She took some time to realize she was in her hotel room. "I think I should take a walk maybe that will make me relaxed." She went out of the hotel. There was no receptionist in the reception. She ignored it and went out to the beach. The waves were calming. Then suddenly someone touched her shoulder from behind.

Elaine turned around startled by it and found that it was none other than Dean. She relaxed. "What are you doing?" asked she. "Couldn't sleep and you?" said he. "Same." They were looking at the calm sea when they noticed some lights from the sea. Dean went inside and came back with binoculars. He explained that it is a night vision binoculars.

"There is an island there. I am not sure whether it was a man who is flashing some kind of light or not," said Dean. He went in and took his boat keys and started to the sea. Elaine followed him and jumped into the boat. They were curious to know what the light's flashing was about.

When they reached, there didn't seem to be anyone. They slowly got onto the island and checked around. Carefully, they moved into the island. After walking for a while, they stumble upon a man and almost fell. Dean and Elaine expected to see an angry man but he smiled. "You look like my brother," said the man. Dean looked closely at the man for a while and the man looked like the picture his father showed of his uncle but he looked a little bushier and old.

He frowned and said, "You shouldn't have come. They allow people in but don't allow them to go back..." He was interrupted by another man, "Well amazing, we have new workers." He was grinning at them. Two new people came in. Elaine, Dean and Ron were dragged into a room.

When the men left them with another 25 people, Elaine spoke up, "What's going on?" Ron explained that they were being held because they wanted cheap workers for completing a dangerous project. Every morning they are taken to work and at night they are locked up in the room. "For 25 years, I was trying to escape but I couldn't. Today, I went close enough to escape," said Ron sadly.

They all sat dully and then, Elaine said, "I have an idea." She told her plan and everyone around got excited. They divided themselves into three groups. One group broke the window and went out. The other group hit the door down. And the other group got ready to back up the two groups to fight people off. In about half an hour, they were able to escape to the beach. There were small boats around. Everyone got into the boats and started the engines.

There was a gunshot and another. "Don't wait! Try to reach the beach of Costa Mel, quick," yelled Dean. When they reached the island, everyone was tired. Elaine, Dean and Ron went to the police station. There was only one officer. They explained everything in a rush.

After three hours, the criminals were caught. Dean, Elaine and Ron were sitting on the balcony of Elaine's hotel room. "Thanks, Elaine, if it weren't for you, I would have been stuck there forever," said Ron. "No need to. I just wanted to fulfill my mother's last wish," said Elaine and smiled, "My mother is Amelia, and she was your pen friend. She wanted you to know that she loved you a lot."

Ron looked at her for a while and then he said, "Her last wish, you mean she is... I should have been able to send the postcard..." Tears came to his eyes but he wiped it and said, "I am glad she found someone in her life and got such a sweet girl like you. If you don't mind I would like to see the picture of your mother." Elaine smiled and showed him her mother's picture. Ron said smiling, "She was really beautiful just like you."