Forgotten Memories

Chapter 1: The Letter

Chapter 1: The Letter

The present

The dusty smell was present throughout the entire room, leaving Emmelyne covering her face with her sleeve. Coatings of spider webs layered the objects, evidence of the years of neglect towards the hardly wanted artefacts. Creaky wooden floorboards left Emmelyne with the feeling she would fall right through them.

Nevertheless, the job needed to be done, no matter how unpleasant for one it must have been. For Emmelyne, that meant cleaning out the attic she had not set foot in for years.

It was nothing interesting, at least, not to the naked eye, but Emmelyne knew she would end up reminiscing due to the forgotten articles stored away in the disregarded room above the house. Besides, half the stuff had been left so long it may have been unrecognisable.

"Alright," Emmelyne whispered to herself. "Let's get started."

She started to the far corner, trying her hardest not to startle every time the floorboards made a noise, or a revolting insect scuttled in front of her feet. Nearly at her destination in the corner of the room, a box to her right caught her eye. It didn't look like much, but then again, nothing did when it had been sitting in a dusty covered room, left to rust and rot.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, brushing off the dirt with the corner of her dress. Opening the box proved to be a mission and some when Emmelyne ended up using her entire body weight to lift the heavy lid. It was as if some invisible force didn't want her to open it, but never mind that; she knew what was in it already.

She finally pried the lid off the box to reveal an old box of letters. Majority of them were cheesy love letters from her apparent suitors. Considering she was – and always had been – a servant girl, the number of letters she had received since becoming of marriageable age was significantly more substantial than any other servant she had come across.

Emmelyne picked up a letter from the top of the pile. They were practically all the same anyway. 'Miss Emmelyne, some guy you have barely exchanged two words with has shown interest in you. Now I will grace you with a list of why you are an eligible female...'

Okay, so the letters were worded a bit differently to that, but the implication was there. At least, that was the implication Emmelyne had got from every letter she could remember. She couldn't imagine how many suitors a woman of noble blood or high status would have if a lowly servant such as herself received as many as she had.

They must have had rooms filled with letters and pointless gifts sent in the attempt to win them over.

Emmelyne thumbed through the letters to decide if there were any worth keeping when an unusual one stopped her cold. It wasn't just because the paper was tinted to a light rosy pink colour, or the corner of the envelope had an intricate design pressed into the paper, but instead because she couldn't remember it.

Every other letter was the same to her, yet she remembered them all to some extent, so why didn't she remember the one that stood out? With trembling hands, Emmelyne delicately reached for the letter and gently held it between her fingertips. It was open, with her name on the front, so it wasn't as if someone else's letter had been caught up with hers.

Her nimble fingers slid out the paper carefully, not to crinkle the mysterious note. She opened it and began to read.

'My Dearest Emmelyne,

You are the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. You came into my life coincidentally, but I can't help but think our meeting each other was intended to happen. Nothing can change the way I feel about you, my beautiful darling.

Truly, I don't care that you are of a lower class than myself; I simply couldn't be with anyone else. Trust me when I say that is not an exaggeration.

Emmelyne, we have had such wonderful times together. Our little adventures, our jokes, the fact I can be myself around you. You are the least judgemental person I have ever met, Emmelyne. Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to you, but that would only be one reason amongst many.

My dearest, I can't promise you a perfect life. I can't promise we will never fight or disagree, or that being with me will be easy. There is a lot of responsibility on my shoulders, and if you're with me, you'll have to share some of that responsibility, but I know you can handle it. You could take on the world if it was given to you.

As soon as I finish writing this, I will be seeing you again. Seeing you makes me the happiest man in the world.

What I'm trying to say is, I love you, Emmelyne. Thank you for coming into my life.

Sincerely,

Your Nolan.'

To say Emmelyne was stunned would have been the understatement of the century. She had to sit down and place the letter in her lap to stop her head from spinning, clasping her hands together and willing them to stop shaking.

Emmelyne knew she must have known this man, Nolan, fairly well according to his letter, but if she knew him so well, why couldn't she remember who he was? He wouldn't be a servant, that's for sure. The way he had written implied they spent a lot of time together. And to sign it from, 'Your Nolan?' Why would it be signed like that is they barely knew each other?

Something was wrong. She couldn't possible forget something this important and big as a potential marriage relationship. No, not if she could remember every other letter she received and those weren't even important to her.

There was something going on that Emmelyne didn't know about. It was something to do with this guy named Nolan, and she was most definitely going to find out.

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