Last Photograph

Chapter 31: As far as curiosity went

      Halley pushed the door open as she entered Vince's office.

     Looking around, she noticed a cozy and calm ambiance her papa's office give.

     It wasn't her first time inside that room but definitely her first time to stay and appreciate the simplicity and the architecture of the room.

     She was even surprised that the room was tidy and organized but his table was chaotic.

    "Papa really does work so hard."

     Halley said to herself after seeing piles of papers above Vince's desk.

     It almost filled the whole table.

    She quickly made her way towards the table to at least arrange and put the papers back in place.

    It was the least she can do to help her papa.

     Papers were mostly about contracts, minutes of meetings, notes, and other paperwork.

     Once Halley was done and was satisfied with how organized the table looked, she started searching the whole office.

     "Hmm."

     She let out a curious sighed.

     Halley hasn't found any single canvas or even portrait inside.

     "That doesn't make sense." She said.

     Halley always knew her papa loves painting and photography, basically anything about art, and now she couldn't even trace any of that inside.

     "Is that how much he hated doing those things again?"

     She asked herself thinking that was the reason why her papa didn't go back in doing those.

     Until she remembers the room where her papa often stays.

     It was the room she was not allowed to enter and the only thing they told her about it was that—that was the room where Vince kept all his stuff from photography and painting back then.

     Halley had begun to feel the wanting of checking out that room too.

      But she simply can't.

     Since she was a little kid they only had one rule inside the house.

      And that was for her to never go inside.

     But then again, I have been following that rule since a lil' kid. A little sneaking out wouldn't be a big trouble, she told herself.

     Halley knew that room was always locked so she tried searching for the key inside the office.

     It was a bit hard for her since she hasn't seen how that key looks and did not actually see it before.

     But instead of finding a key, she found two pieces of paper.

     A birth certificate to be specific.

     "Why would papa wants to know this?" Halley asked herself and scanned the papers.

     Halley was not a professional within this field but she could clearly understand that there were two birth certificates in front of her but had different middle names on them.

     "Abbey Valdez Martinez, Abbey Salman Martinez." Halley reads it again as if making sure she had read it correctly.

Before anything else happens, Halley quickly puts back the papers from where she got them then immediately heads out.