Generation Infinosil

Chapter Forty Four

Chapter Forty Four - Shane

2050

Kaitlyn and I were both sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the sofa with the suitcase open in front of us. I said I wanted to see some baby pictures of Kaitlyn, so we were shuffling through trying to find them. Not having any luck, we decided it would be easier if we emptied the pictures out one by one as we looked at them, to avoid looking at the same pictures more than once.

The pile of pictures beside the suitcase was growing as the jumble of pictures inside the suitcase was shrinking. There were barely any pictures remaining in the suitcase, yet we had still not found a single picture of Kaitlyn before her teen years. We had found proof of her accident, a picture of her walking into her room with the caption, "Kaitlyn receiving a tour of the house after returning from hospital." But I was more interested in seeing pictures of Kaitlyn as a child, now that I believed her about the accident anyway.

"That's weird," Kaitlyn said, as she removed the last picture from the mix, "I know my parents have pictures of me as a child. I found my Mum looking at one once, she didn't know I saw but she was crying and asking why this had to happen to her, you know, after my accident."

I put my arm around her and squeezed her shoulder gently, letting her know that I was here for her and that she wasn't alone. She returned the favour by smiling at me and resting her head on my shoulder.

"You can't blame yourself for what happened, you have to realise that Kaitlyn. I Love you." I whispered, as I kissed the side of her head.

"I Love you too." She whispered back.

"So where are all the other pictures then?" I asked.

"I have no idea, I thought they were all here, I swear I remember looking through some childhood photos in this suitcase."

"Maybe you have another one like it?" I suggested.

"Maybe," She agreed, sounding defeated, "Sorry about that, I know you really wanted to see those pictures."

"It's okay, it's not your fault." I said, as I placed a few of the photos back into the suitcase. That's when I saw something gleam in the light from the bulb above us, it was a piece of metal at the very edge of the suitcase.

Kaitlyn must have noticed me pause, because she asked me, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Wait a second," I replied, "Is that a zip?" I reached for it and it was, indeed, a zip. So I pulled it back and, with a sense of achievement, found some more photos. I picked one of them up and there was a toddler version of Kaitlyn smiling back at me, her two front teeth uneven where one had been growing faster than the other.

"Oh, why are they in a separate pocket? That's weird. Oh gosh, that picture's embarrassing." She buried her face into her knees to hide her face and I couldn't help but laugh, she was an adorable toddler.

"You were so cute, awwh, look at those little chubby cheeks of yours." I said, reaching for her cheek and pinching it gently, which made her push my hand away playfully and giggle.

I unzipped the seemingly hidden pocket and revealed dozens of childhood photos, the one at the top being a class photo from when Kaitlyn was in primary school. Printed at the bottom in large, gold lettering were the words "St. Lucian's Primary School."

"I actually haven't seen this picture before. Look, there I am." She pointed to a girl on the back row, who looked about ten years old.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure."

"How do you recognise yourself if you don't remember being that age?"

"My parents have shown me pictures since the accident, but they seem a bit weary to show me loads, I guess they think it will upset me or something."

"Oh right."

"Do you not know what you looked like as a child?" She questioned.

"I do vaguely, I've only seen the photo that my Mum keeps in her purse, I was about nine in it I think."

"You've only ever seen one photo of yourself as a child?" She asked, clearly shocked.

"Yeah, I don't think my Mum and Dad are very keen to bring up my lost past with me."

"But pictures may have jogged your memory or something, and they didn't think that showing you them was worth a try?" She argued.

"Apparently not. So you went to a school called St. Lucian's?"

"No, I went to a school called Elm Tree Primary, why?" She stated.

"You couldn't have Kaitlyn, it says here that this is a picture from St. Lucian's."

"What? That doesn't make any sense, I swear my parents told me I went to Elm Tree Primary School."

I grabbed my phone and searched the internet for both schools, what I discovered caused confusion to disperse throughout my mind. "Kaitlyn?"

"Yeah?"

"Neither of those schools exist."