An Everlasting Memory

The Truth Revealed

They had found her. They had come. She had lost, fair and square. No, it wasn't fair, but it was the truth. She felt the loss, growing inside her, creating a huge hole in her heart. Was this it? Was the rebellion actually over? "No," she thought. "I'll never give up." Even though her spirit still had hope, it was obvious the external body didn't. She tried to get up, but the pain brought her back down. The house creaked and groaned under the strain of fire. Morrone whimpered. The wooden foundation boards of her house collapsed on top of her, crushing her with seemingly, all their might. It was as if the boards wanted to protect her from the true defeat that everyone else saw. But she held on to the thing that could possibly destroy her life. She knew that every step she took, every guilty step, that it would always be there. The photo she grasped onto. The flames ceased to reveal something even more terrible than death. Those noisy steps made the sounds of the fire disappear. Morrone didn't dare look up. For there stood the one, the one that was scarier than fire, the one that with a swish of her hair, could end Morrone's life.

Sophia. That arrogant bastard. That coward hiding behind the neon mask of a firewomen. But Morrone couldn't do anything about it. Oh, what terrible things Morrone wanted to do, if only she had the strength to just do it. Click Clack Click Clack. Those high heels. Elegant even when the worst comes. That's what Morrone hated most about Sophia. Her lack of sympathy. The way she had to look pretty even when a life was about to be destroyed. Sophia kneeled down, and strained her neck until her face was all Morrone could see through her small line of vision. And then, from Morrone's perspective, the chapsticked lips behind the mask smiled. They smiled so largely, in a curving way that was quite ominous. Not a fruitless smile Sophia usually had, but a real, big, fat smile. Back when Morrone was a normal worker, that tasteless smile her boss usually had would give her the chills. Surprisingly, the smile that Sophia gave her now was even scarier, even darker than before. Then Sophia, using her long, slender fingers, tilted Morrone's face upwards so that Morrone had no choice but to look at Sophia's eyes. It was then when Morrone truly saw, saw the darkness in Sophia's eyes, saw what Sophia was born to do: murder.

"I'm not scared." Morrone tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes, but forced them open again, as she stared into the face of Sophia. "So it seems you took the wrong path. Seems you took my words into a whole new level. Wonderful. Take her away!" Sophia demanded. Sophia let go of Morrone's chin, and it painfully hit the splinters of wood. "No! You can't do this to me!" Morrone's internal voice screamed. But it was no use. Two gruff firewomen dragged her across the burning floor out to the fire truck. "Well then, you'll pay the price. I'll give you this. You tried hard. You have courage, Morrone. But you don't have enough strength to change the way things are," Sophia said. She continued rambling but Morrone couldn't hear her anymore. She had already fallen into a deep abyss of memories.

"Let's go outside!" "Yay! I'm coming with you!" Morrone and her brother, Darth, rushed outside and started doing cartwheels across the lawn. They laid down on the lawn, giggling as the grass tickled their backs. Mom walked out, followed by Dad, carrying a tray of lemonade. The children, exhausted already, walked toward their parents and drank their glass of lemonade in one gulp. They resumed to their horseplaying, causing a ruckus. And then, Father took out a piece of shiny, metal equipment. He called to the children, "Younglings! Take a look at this wonderful piece of equipment!" Excited, the children bounced up and down while asking, "What is it, Dad? It looks so cool!" Dad calmly replied, "It's a camera. It's beautiful, isn't it? The salesmen told me that it stores memories! It's very expensive, so...BE CAREFUL, Morrone!" Morrone had snatched the camera out of her father's hands and was playing with all the buttons and controls. Just then, Old Man Jones walked by. He stared at the camera with disbelief, and then continued to pass by. "Why'd he stare at us like that?" Darth asked. Mom sighed deeply and said, "People don't value cameras as they used to. Many think that they're a piece of junk." "Why?" both children asked at the same time. "Well, I guess they just have some things they don't want to remember. Old Man Jones had a hard life, understand? He must have had many old photographs of..." Dad trailed off, then quickly recovered. "But it's all right. We don't have any bad memories. All we have is good ones, right? Here..." Dad gently took the camera out of Morrone's hands and said, "Smile!" And they did. But not for long.