The second day! This was... very interesting to write. So, this is basically about a woman named Susan Canole (please don't judge the names, I suck at naming things) who goes to the Museum of Stolen Moments with her son on the day it opens. I would say more, but it would be a spoiler. I hope you enjoy! :D
Today is the public opening of the Museum of Stolen Moments, created by the Wundersmith Mathilde Lachance. It had been classified as a Spectacle, and rumours were buzzing around the community.
I had promised to take my daughter, Alexis, to the museum when it finally opened, and though she might be gone, I would like to keep that promise. So, I placed her photograph in my handbag before I left the house with her younger brother.
Ned hadn't been the same since Alexis' passing – he missed his big sister. I knew that, and I tried to cater to any new needs our family would have. We were struggling, we all knew it, yet we tried to act like everything was normal and okay.
Alexis wouldn't want us to grieve her for too long; she wasn't that kind of girl.
With my eight-year-old son's hand in my own, despite his protests, I walked to the end of the surprisingly short lineup for the museum. We only had to wait a few minutes before we were granted access.
It was breathtaking. Amazing. We hadn't even seen what work was in the Museum of Stolen Moments, and I could already tell why it was classified as a Spectacle. It was truly spectacular!
I heard Ned's small gasp of surprise beside me and smiled down at him.
"Pretty cool, yeah?"
He only nodded, squeezing my hand tighter and dragging me towards the door closest to us. We wandered through the large room, looking at the giant snow globe-like spheres. Inside were people, wunimals and unimals alike, all doing seemingly ordinary day-to-day things.
It was almost as if they had been frozen in time and placed in the museum. It was incredible.
There was a skydiver, about to open their parachute, a boat on a stormy sea, two men sword-fighting, a couple dancing on the top of a tower, and plenty more.
It was extraordinary. Ned was pulling me from room to room, eyes wide at the displays. His favourite was a young boy sitting outside during a storm.
When we made it to the last room – though it would have been the first if we had gone the other way – of which had two men embracing, a dog by a fireplace, young men going for a wild ride in a car, two wunimals in trench coats and a... a young woman in the swimming ocean.
I felt Ned's hand slip out of my own as he ran over towards the men in the car, pressing his face against the glass.
"Mum! Look!"
"Just a second, sweetie."
I looked back at the young lady in the ocean-filled glass sphere and tried to rid my head of the thoughts, the memories, as I walked over to where Ned was standing.
Alexis had died in the ocean.
She had been reported as missing, and we still had some faith.
The Police investigators told us she had most likely drowned, but that had seemed unlikely. Our little Alexis was like a fish! She always had been. We had taken her swimming from a young age, and though it wasn't quite a knack, it was definitely her predominant talent.
We lived by the beach, and going to the water was something we did nearly every day, except for that one day. I had something on with Ned, and their father was working, so we had decided that we would let Alexis go swimming by herself. She was a sensible young woman, and we trusted her to be responsible.
The waves had been rougher that day, but none of us thought much of it – as I said before, Alexis was a sensible and strong swimmer. So surely, she would be fine.
But then she never came home.
I waited up nearly all night for her, panicking, and when the sun rose, I ran down to the ocean and called out for her, even diving into the water to see if I could find her. It was pointless, I know, but a mother would do anything for her child.
"Mum, are you okay?"
I was shaken out of my trance by Ned's soft voice and concerned brown eyes looking up at me.
"I-I- think so, sweetheart."
I would continue to be strong, for him.
He nodded.
"I don't think these guys are enjoying the ride."
I frowned, "why not, pumpkin?"
"The car is out of control – look at the wheels, and the drivers face."
I did, and I realised that Ned was right. Their faces were not of joy, but rather of terror.
"Oh... that's interesting."
Interesting was one way to put it, I thought as I watched Ned walk over to the globe I was looking at before, with the ocean and the girl.
He turned and gave me a sad smile, reaching for my hand when I approached him.
"She reminds me of A-Alexis."
I looked down at him, tear tingling in my eyes. It was the first time he'd said her name since her death.
"Y-yeah, she does a bit, doesn't she?"
Ned nodded again, "she even has a similar swimsuit."
I looked at the swimmers, finding that they were indeed the exact same as a pair Alexis had. The pair that was missing, meaning she wore it the day she disappeared.
I frowned and walked around to face the woman suspended inside the globe. Her lips were slightly parted, small bubbles of air blowing how of them. Her eyes were half-closed, and her brown hair flowed around her head, giving her a surreal look.
She was as beautiful as my Alexis was.
My eyes then dropped to the thin chain around her neck and then down to the pendant attached to it. A pippy shell. Like the one Ned gave to Alexis on her last birthday. Exactly like the one Ned got her.
This was our Alexis, suspended moments before death in a glass ball, on display in a Wundersmith's museum. Suddenly, the name made sense; the Museum of Stolen Moments.
These were stolen moments of time. Moments stolen from a person's life. Or rather the stolen moments before the painful end of a person's life.
Some may find it strange and concerning to find their daughter's near-dead body on display in a museum, but I saw beyond that. Mathilde's work was incredible, and it was heartbreaking and beautiful to see my daughter in the place she felt the most alive, even if she was just seconds from death.
