The Peacekeepers

Part Two; Chapter Thirty-Two

Lost Memories

I wake up one night to hear Alice crying. I rush to her dark room and turn on the dim light. She's got her head buried in the pillow, clenching it tightly against her face.

I sit down at her feet and pat her on the back in an attempt to comfort her.
"Hey Alice; what's the matter?" She was crying pretty hard. She looked up at me with bloodshot eyes from all the crying and her lips were trembling.

"Drake, I can't remember her face! I can't remember Mommy's face!" She shouts in anguish. I was really dreading this day.

"Alice, I'm so sorry." I say. She sits up and cries into my arm. Wait a second. That's it! The photo album! I had left one in the safe in the house the day we left. Damn it Drake you're a genius! I remember the combination being Alice's birthday. The only problem is that I don't know what happened to it. Maybe it's there, maybe not. But we both need closure one way or another.

"Alice, there's a photo album that has pictures of all of us. We'll go there today if you want. It's safe outside now remember?" She agreed to leave today and go home.

We left right after breakfast with Sheamas' "permission". Not like I needed it. All he asked is that we be back by daybreak tomorrow. I really don't care what his opinion on the matter is. I was just showing some common courtesy.

I heard the newly repaired gate close behind us. I turn to Alice, smile and tap her in the arm with my fist and tell her we need to start walking. We walked and talked. There's not much to talk about but just seeing her, hearing her voice and simply being in her presence was enough to keep a smile on my face and keep walking. It was nice but after about an hour the complaining started.

"Drake, my feet are starting to hurt." She said.

A few minutes later...

"Drake, my feet are hurting!"

I glared at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Alice please stop complaining. We'll be there in a few minutes. Hold your horses."

I hate walking so I can sympathize. I was starting to feel tired myself when I saw it. The pile of blackened wood, melted plastic and broken glass. Seeing the pile of what was once home almost brought me to my knees. I see Alice wipe her eyes before she runs to the ruins. She falls to her hands and knees. Her tears clump the ashes around her. I jog to her and get down with her. She looks at me and smiles.

"Drake, we needed to do this. I think we needed this. Let's find that photo album and go home." She says.

I look around for the safe but couldn't find it anywhere. Son of a bitch! Did we walk all the way out here for nothing? I continue to search around the yard, the house and its nowhere to be found.

"Where the fuck are you?" I shout in aggravation. I kick a lump of ash. A sharp pain goes up my leg and I hear metal being hit. My surprise shakes the pain off.

"Alice! Come over here and help me clear this ash off!" I call to her.

We swept the ash off and removed some burnt wood from in front of it. This safe once held money but the night we left we placed three photo albums in it. Our memories were forever safe.

I saw the rusted, discolored safe. I put in the combination and heard the latch release. The rusted metal scraped together as it opened. There they were, untouched by the flames and the elements. I reached in, pulled them out and sat down on the safe. We spent hours looking through just one of the three albums. Faded pictures of Mom and Dad's wedding, birthday parties from when we were little, family reunions, stuff like that.

Tears of happiness, sadness and simply missing our loved ones and the old world streamed down our faces. The floodgate of memories opened up on both of us. We took our time looking at each individual picture. We took the books with us and went to return to the compound.

My life would change forever on this day...