The Picture - Short story

I hope you enjoy it!

All that was left of it was a picture – tucked away in the corner of one of her drawers, hidden underneath a box covered by old linens.  It wasn’t even in good condition the corners were chipped, the ink was fading and there was a long scratch that ran from one side to the other, connecting them, like a line between two dots, engraved deeply into the paper cutting the man in half.

  Man. Man might not have been the right word, but boy wasn’t either, the same way she hadn’t exactly been a woman back then and hadn’t been a girl either. It was during that time in between where nothing was sure but everything was possible.

  Nobody knew about the picture. Not her five children, not her nine grandchildren and certainly not her husband. This was all that was left and it hurt to think it had to be hidden clandestinely this way.

Oh, there were pictures of him elsewhere, in their house. He was on my walls. He was even in her bedroom. But he wasn’t hers on those pictures the way he was in the one tucked in the drawer. It was her in his eye, he had said, and even after all these years, after everything she still believed him.

That picture was all that was left, yes, and it was hidden but it was better like this. Because she didn’t, couldn’t share this with anyone else, share this part of him, this small reminder. That was all she had left. On that picture he was hers, and strangely enough, she was his too.

Flashback

They were sat together in the photo booth, huddled close behind the red curtain, having forgotten the world that was outside. The camera would flash in their face every three seconds, but they wouldn’t notice, too consumed by the hunger that they felt for each other right at that moment.

She was the one that pulled away from their embrace first. Having said this, from a distance you would not be able to tell that their lips were not touching.

“I need to ask you something” she whispered in that melodic tone that was her voice.

In response he looked up from her swollen lips and stared straight into her emerald green eyes. This subtle movement was enough to reassure her into knowing she had his full attention.

“I need to ask you if you still want to do this, if you’re willing to risk everything for me because-“ she paused and looked down at her hands that were clutched together on her lap, a single tear escaping from her right eye “well, because I don’t think I can ask you to do this anymore…” she trailed off.

“You know Alice,” he started reaching up to trace the tear with his thumb “I’m in this for the good and the bad, OK? I said I would help you no matter what.”

Not really sure what to say she looked down at her hands again, this time her auburn hair fell in to her face. Liam reached forwards and tucked the hair behind her ear. He gently pulled her chin upwards and placed his lips onto hers and Relaxing into the kiss Alice deepened it, their breaths merging together as one.

“Out of the two of us” Liam mumbled against Alice’s lips “I would not have pegged you to be the one with any worries”

She smiled but didn’t get the chance to answer “Alright kids! I know it’s fun being young and in love, but there is absolutely no need, what so ever, to get down and dirty in the photo booth. Now, if you could please make your selves presentable and exit the photo booth now that would be lovely!”

Trying to muffle laughter Alice grabbed onto Liam’s hand and dragged him outside through the heavy red curtain grabbing the pictures on the way and stuffing them into her pocket.