Suspended in Time

Chapter 1 - Traveling Down the Road to a Different Time

Hello, my lovelies! I am deciding that after every Elvis story I write, I'll work on a normal fiction story.

Here is a story that was inspired by an urban explorer that I found on YouTube. I am such a history buff, so I love the stories he tells about the homes that he explores, and I love seeing the antiques and other memorabilia left in the houses. It's all so fascinating. This story is actually based on him, but I changed the names of everyone he talks about in the house, including his own name. Also, images used are courtesy of AI generation.

~ ~ ~

"And remember to stay off the beaten path."

That was the usual line that I said to my audience after every exploration, to remind them to attempt to explore, to have adventures in their lives, and to stay happy. That was my wish to everyone, really. For me, I had a deep love to discover what could be learned about the past, to learn people's stories and to see what made them happy. Also, I loved traveling and filmmaking. It was a passion. I could do it all with this way of life of mine.

"Alright, let's get out of here. I don't want to breathe in more black mold and dust."

I took my big camera off the deteriorating wooden floor in the den of the house and started to head out of this house that was full of immaculate furniture and mountains of memories left by Darina Howard, the owner of this house before she passed. It was such a tragedy, her family leaving all this behind. I had explored dozens of abandoned houses, and it almost broke my heart, made me emotional almost every time.

Before leaving the house, though, I wondered back to a bedroom that I guessed was Darina's daughter's Edith's room. I gazed at the photo of the little girl on the wall for a moment, then left with a final gaze at a gray-scale photo of young and beautiful Darina, dressed in what could be a prom dress, or she was just dressed up for the photo. It was amazing, that the photo was left there. That everything was left. It made me recall the touching, yet tragic story of Darina Howard. Hers touched me more than the other stories I had researched for my dozens of explorations for some reason.

"Okay, keep it together, buddy," I said and cleared my throat, and I felt tears stinging my eyes. I glanced back at the woman in the photo at age maybe twenty but passed way ten years ago at age ninety. "She was so incredibly beautiful, and not just physically."

I could sense it. She loved beautiful things and loved her family immensely due to all the family photos that were left behind. What would it have been like to know her? Probably amazing. Everyone she knew was probably blessed by her.

A sigh escaped me so I could gain control of myself. I left the house to the overgrown garden outside and looked back on it for a moment. I had already gotten my areal shots with my drone, so I would just have to get on my bike and leave.

"Goodbye, Darina," I said as I got all my gear together and I was sitting on my motorcycle and had my big backpack on, full of my camera equipment. "It was such a pleasure getting to know you."

It felt as if she heard me. I never thought any place I explored was haunted, but sometimes I felt the previous owner smiling down on me, watching and listening as I was experiencing their life through their left-behind items.

I was off, zooming down the road on my bike into the lowering sun that was casting a golden glow on the trees and fields in the distance. The dirt road went on to the main road that I was headed for, and I knew that I would hit it pretty quickly. When I did, I followed it into town where my hotel was. My brows creased as I came into town and saw 50s cars all over the place.

"What in the world...?" I said, completely confused. "Is there a car show going on?" The people around were in what looked like clothing from the 50s. I knew what it looked like since I had seen 50s clothing in enough abandoned houses, and I had seen old movies and old photos. "Okay, this is really strange..."