Memories

Chapter 1

"Serv, what the hell? You're leaving? Just like that?"
"Yeah, I am, actually, I can't deal with you anymore."
"You can't just leave! We have a daughter coming in a few weeks!"
"Actually, I can leave. I didn't want this kid anyways, she's not my responsibility."
"Servando, you better come back here-"
-
"Sarah, can you come here?" a voice called from downstairs. Now thirteen, Sarah Mia Morgan looked up from the book she was reading and ran down the stairs to find her mom, Alex, busily cleaning the kitchen.
"You called, Mom?" the teenager asked, poking her head through the kitchen doorway.

Alex looked up from her cleaning, smiling at her daughter. Sarah looked almost exactly like Alex did at her age, sharp blue eyes and brown hair. To Alex's delight, her daughter had also picked up on her love of pink pre-wrap, and wore it with a passion during games. Not only that, but Sarah was becoming a multi-sport athlete, much like Alex was during her teenage years– playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, and running track.

"Yeah, I did. I'm doing some cleaning down here, so can you go up to the attic, dust it, and see if there's any stuff we really need to get rid of?" she asked.
"Sure, Mom. Can you toss me the spray and paper towels" Sarah asked.
Alex nodded, throwing the spray bottle and roll of paper towels from across the kitchen. Skillfully, Sarah caught them, grinning. "Nice throw," she remarked.
"Nice catch," Alex winked, and Sarah turned to start walking out of the kitchen. "Wait!"
Sarah froze, an eyebrow raised in confusion. Her mom tossed her a dust mask. "It's real dusty up there, I don't want you getting sick," she said. Sarah nodded and walked out of the kitchen, bounding up the stairs and climbing the ladder to the attic.

She strapped the mask on before stepping in, reaching for the dangling light cord. Pulling on the string, she ripped a paper towel off the roll as the light flickered on, weak from lack of use.

"Holy cow, it really is dusty here," she said to herself, eyes widening at the sight of the dusty boxes and miscellaneous items. Cautiously, she wiped down the items, rubbing the grime and dust off them.
With her arm, Sarah brushed the hair out of her face, still cleaning.
Several minutes later, she began to peer into the boxes to look for unneeded objects.
"Hmm...broken ornaments. Out," she mumbled to herself, moving the box to the other side of the attic. "Dolls...out."
Sarah groaned as she lifted the heavy box, walking it over next to the box of broken ornaments. Looking into the next box, she found clothes with a sticky note marked, 'To throw away'. "Well that makes my job easier," she remarked.

About an hour later, she had gotten through almost all of the boxes– with only three left to check.
In the first one, there was some old-looking books with handwriting in them. Sarah noticed a raggedly looking Bible and took it out, opening it curiously.

Inside, several passages were highlighted, often with messy handwriting along with it. She raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Huh. Mom doesn't read the Bible," she said.
Sarah looked at one of the verses highlighted in green.
16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Next to it, written sideways in a messy scrawl not at all like her mom's, it read: don't vandalize the temple... ya heard?
Sarah smiled at the rough translation, closing the Bible. Setting it aside in the pile of things she was bringing down to her room, she moved the box to the 'Keep' side of the room.
She slid the next box in front of her, cutting off the tape that bound it closed. In the box were several clothes, neatly folded in four piles. Sarah frowned at the sight of several UNC hoodies, t-shirts, shorts, and sweatpants, confused.

"What are these doing here? Didn't mom go to Cal?" she asked herself.

Taking out one of the white hoodies, she brought it to her nose, sniffing it. She shrugged when it smelled clean, realizing the box had been closed for quite a while. Running her fingers along the inside of it, she raised her eyebrows. "Wow, this is really soft. I think I'll keep this stuff."
Setting the box next to the Bible, she moved onto the next one. "Let's see, what have we got here?" she wondered aloud.