The Lost Files: Maya Dixon

Chapter 2

[A.N.]
ᖴᗩᑎ ᗩᖇT? ᗰEᔕᔕᗩGE ᗰE!
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That was four years ago, but it feels like it was yesterday. Brandon (My best friend and the one with me when Maya died.) has lived with me in my old house for the past year since his he refused to move to China where his parents were moving for work. Instead he decided to stay here and go to Mizzou with me. We're moving out there next week. My mom left yesterday for the psych ward. Ever since Maya's death, she just couldn't quite come back to the reality her daughter was really not coming back, no matter how hard she cried. With the event of our dad leaving, she was pushed over the edge of insanity from which she could never return.

I thought I would forget about her by now. Four years to lose the memory of her, not a wink of it gone. She's in my dreams, in my waking hours, she defines me. People pass by me downtown, and all I can hear are the whispers about how I'm Maya's brother. Not a person who got a full scholarship to Mizzou, while the other half of the school had to save up money. I can't be "Lucas Dixon" anymore, can I?
Just the dead girl's brother.
Is that all I really am?
-=+=-
I run upstairs to my room to grab the last of my boxes, not taking into account the fact that dorm rooms just aren't big enough for all my junk. I kneel down, pick up the two boxes left in my room, and stumble down the stairs, trying extremely hard not to drop anything. Brandon was waiting at the door and I hand off the boxes to him.

"That all?" He asks over his shoulder as he hoists the containers into the back of the car.

"The last of it, but I'm gonna scout out the attic before we set off, if you'd like to join me" I beckon towards the front door. Brandon runs through it with a grin on his face, putting on imaginary shades as I chase after him. He bounds up the stairs and jerks down on the rope, the connected ladder missing his face by inches as it drops down. As he stands next to the ladder, dazed by the fact it almost hit him, I trample up it and into the attic. I fumble around the room, feeling for a light switch until at last I pull down on the string barely visible in the darkness. The whole room lights up, illuminating cobwebs and totes most likely filled with stuff from when we were little kids.

"Get up here, Brandon!" I yell down through my laughter as he begins his long trek up the ladder, still a slight bit dazed. I cease from laughing and walk around the attic, careful not to walk on the weak spots squared off with electrical tape. My dad's foot went right through one once, the hole from it still there, a memory. I walk over to a tote consisting of train tracks covered in marker and barbie dolls missing body parts. I look at the side of the tote to find it was labeled "Kid Stuff." Sounds about accurate. I search through totes labelled "Marriage", "Christmas", "Books" I even found a small floral tin concealed by bubble wrap containing my old cat's ashes.
I hear a gasp from Brandon
I whip my head around and walk over to him on the other side of the attic. He's holding a brown leather book with a silver lock on it, staring at it intently as if it will open itself if he waits long enough. I touch his shoulder and he jumps, dropping the book in the process. I kneel down and pick it up while he stares at me.
"What is this thing?" I ask him, as if he knew.
"I could ask you the same question..." He replied
I blew off the thick layer of dust on the cover, almost laughing at how cliche it was. Like I was the protagonist in some cheesy mystery movie. I wipe of the remainder of it still stuck to the leather. I start to read what's written in gold metallic sharpie. I take a sharp intake of breath and drop the book, scrambling away from it. After a few heavy breaths, I slowly crawl over to pick it up.

"Maya's Diary" was written on the cover.
It was started shortly before she died.
[A.N.]
Do you like the length of this chapter better or worse than the last one? How long do you think chapters should be?