The Harper Generations

Journey

Valentino

After everyone left, I headed upstairs to ponder everything said tonight. When did my life get so complicated? Has there always been this darkness that loomed over the family? Why didn't I notice anything before?

The questions surged forward as I got ready for bed. After removing my hearing aids, I lay in the silent darkroom. I didn't realize how deafening the silence was until I couldn't hear. Just because I was deaf didn't mean my thoughts weren't loud. They were.

I drifted off to sleep until I opened my eyes to find a hallway with doors. I passed a mirror to open a door when I stopped and backed up. Looking at my reflection, it was me as Nashville Gray.

"Crazy, isn't it?" A voice asked.

I glanced at a familiar face. "Aunt Liz?"

Liz nodded and smiled. "It's me. Although not in the flesh."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to guide you on your journey, but you will need to stick close to me. Lucille would kill me if I lost you." Liz giggled.

"I'm so confused." I rubbed my face in frustration.

"Maybe I can clear up the confusion." Liz approached a door and opened it to reveal a young blonde-haired girl playing with dolls.

We stepped inside of a child's bedroom.

"What is this?" I asked, glancing around at the room.

"Just watch," she said.

I watched a scene unfold as a shadow moved until it became a doll. The doll started moving as the little girl noticed it. Without hesitating, the little girl grabbed the doll, flung it out of the window, and shut it before returning to her toys.

"What was that?" I asked.

"That was Lucille taking matters into her own hands."

"Wait. What?"

Liz turned and left the room.

I followed her down the hallway to the next door. "Was that Grammy Gray?"

Liz nodded before opening another door. "She was a child then."

We stepped inside to see a little girl with brown hair talking to herself. We watched as her cartoon character sheets started to morph into spiders. The little girl screamed before ripping her sheets from the bed, throwing them out of the room, and slamming the door shut. The bed remained bare while the little girl resumed talking to herself.

"What in the hell?" I shook my head and blinked a billion times.

"Patty developed a fear of character sheets when she was a child. She refused to sleep on them afterward. Her mom wasn't happy since she just bought them. But those weren't spiders or her imagination." Liz exited the room, approached another door, and opened it.

We watched another little girl with light brown hair gaze at a booklet until she flung it onto the floor. I stepped toward it and saw it open to a picture of Bryson. But he had a disfigured face.

"Maybe if Maggie had seen the true appearance of her so-called crush, she could have avoided humiliation," Liz said.

My gaze snapped at Mags as she furrowed her brows.