Lost and then Found

Photograph

I was running, unsure of where I was going. But I knew I had to run. I looked at the sky, the clouds heavy with rain, rumbling in the distance. I bumped into a person but I didn't look back to apologise. I observed my surroundings, a lake in the distance, plain, long grass and an abandoned house. I slowly stopped running until my jog was just slow walking steps as a I walked into the house.

When I walked in, there was a family of four sitting there, watching TV as if they hadn't noticed the environment they were in. When I had noticed their faces, I saw that the 16-year-old boy was me. I looked at the other people around me and saw my mum, dad and sister. How could this be? I thought. Then I heard this alarm coming from the boy who was me. It seemed as if there was an alarm in his body. The alarm got louder and louder until... "Tristan, honey, wake up! You need to go to school." My mum was yelling at me. I woke up, sweating and observed my surroundings. Just another bad dream, I thought to myself.

I stared at the clock. Tick, 2:56. Tock, 2:57. My mind started to wonder back to my unusual dream. Why did the house look familiar? Why was the environment familiar? Why was my family in the house? As I tried to figure this out, the bell rang and interrupted my thoughts. I walked out of the school and wondered if I should go to the abandoned land. I pulled out my smartphone and sent a text to my mum saying "Going over to a friend's house for a project, be home at 7." Using school was my answer to everything and my mum always said yes.

I started venturing off to the abandoned land where no one really goes to anymore. Maybe I was able to discover a clue for my dream. I heard a faint rumble from the sky, the clouds heavy and grey, just like my dream. That's odd, wasn't the weather clear this morning? I asked myself out loud. Am I loosing my mind? I saw on the distant horizon, a lake and long grass, identical to my dream. The grass seemed a little longer and the lake seemed brown and polluted with leaves and bits of people's rubbish. I felt a drop of water land on my nose. I looked around and saw it had started sprinkling. I looked around but couldn't see any building that was from my dream.

I pulled out my phone and saw the time was 6:00. "I should better get going home." I started to walk back and I saw a chimney in between the midst of the fog, in the distance. Could this be the building I'm looking for? I ran towards it, the building getting clearer as I got closer to it. I finally saw it; it was the identical building from my dream. But I feel as if I've seen this building before. It feels very familiar. All these thoughts stormed about in my mind. I observed the bricks on the roof and its destroyed walls, doors and windows. I went inside and saw the deteriorating internals. It was dark and dusty. Insects crawled about, marking its territory.

I took out my phone and put the flash light on. I walked around. This place looked oddly familiar to me. Then I noticed a piece of paper on the floor. It was upside down. There was a date printed on the paper. I shone the light on it and squinted. '1/01/06.' This was dated 10 years ago. I picked up the paper and wiped the dust, only then had I realised it was a photograph. I turned it around and gasped. I couldn't believe it. It had all made sense, as to why this place was so familiar. I had tears in my eyes. It had started to rain. I put the photo and my phone back in my bag.

I ran out in the rain. I ran really fast, back home. I bumped into someone but kept running. I was soaked with cold rain and sweat but I didn't care, I had to get home. I was crying. I'm unsure as to why I'm crying. I finally saw my street and ran home and banged on my front door. My mum, dad and younger sister came running and asking if I'm okay. I wasn't.

They took me inside and waited until I could speak properly and then I told them of my discovery. "I went to the abandoned land and saw our old house, it looks horrible now." They all stared at me, with disbelief. "Anyway, I found this photo inside the house." I pulled the photo and gave it to my family. They started crying simultaneously. "I-I c-can't believe you... you found this," my mum said, chocked with tears. I took another look at the photograph. It was the day before the bombings, the day before we had to leave. The day before my older brother died. The photo was all of us, with my older brother on New Years Day, celebrating the start of his uni year, which he would have started back then. Instead he protected us all the next day, and couldn't protect himself. I hugged my mum, dad and sister very tightly as we re-discovered the horrible memories.