Eastern District School

Chapter 80 - A history unfolding

As each piece of the puzzle slipped in place, another piece seemed wrong.

Something as an architect she should have noticed. Should have spotted. Should have questioned. 

If this old abandoned school, had so many secrets and hidden gems. A hidden room where films were developed; another secret staircase that led to the roof; a chest of wonders lurking behind said staircase....If all this were so spectacularly preserved ready for her to find....why in other rooms did the graffiti, broken bottles, torn clothes and simply rubbish lurk. 

Was it kept secret from the public, from the homeless that sought shelter on bitter cold nights? Rubbish simply been put in place to make the abandoned look more authentic? Or...had the secrets and treasures been placed in the rooms recently, in anticipation of their coming? The neatly lined desks in that specific room to draw her attention? Had Thomas Stork placed these items in place, so that she might try to add the pieces of her secret life together? 

She now knew he had had the mission of telling her...when he thought the time was right. Whether he found that a privilege or a burden. Yet, how had he known that the time was right, before she had come here....before they had met? 

This blanket that she thought must have belonged to her grandmother, now clearly made sense that it was hers. If she was born in that very room where she saw cots to one side. One of which, could even have been her bed for a short time. Before when she had wondered it's origin, she brushed off the thought that it might belong to her. It was too far from home. Then she wondered perhaps if her mother had sent it to her grandmother as a momentum, a piece of her granddaughter that she would never see. Only she had been wrong. Her grandmother had seen her, many many times! The blanket could very well have vanished when they had left quickly that night. Perhaps even doing a midnight flip.

Her mother's eyes sat wide and frozen. 

"Ma?" Her stomach did a miniature flip, worried briefly that she might have broken her mother, as she waited for her response and it did not come. "Did you leave a very precious blanket behind?" She repeated, hoping that she might be met with an answer this time. 

Her flicked only a split second toward Sylvie who was still sipping her coffee, before returning to her mother. Only she had to recheck her glance, meeting her Nan's eyes only briefly before they fell towards the inside of her cup.

"Yes Nan, I'm talking about the blanket that you must of made me."

She wasn't sure why she snapped at her Nan for. Other than the fact that Slyvie had tried to keep quiet and keep out of it, but there was definitely something that she did know! That guilty look sure said it now. 

"Oh for goodness sake Rose, leave your Nan alone, she doesn't know anything. I told you I left many things behind. We just had to go! I've told you that!" Shirley sighed, her eyes tired and bags around them. 

"Yes, but if Rose, that is my grandmother managed to come back and see me so many times....then why couldn't she have brought things back? And what about all the other things that you left behind? Where are they now? Hmm?" She rambled out these questions fast, and just before Rich joined them once again at the table. 

"Where are what?" Rich's face looked genuinely concerned.

"All the possessions that my father and mother had together. Wedding gifts, even?"

Shirley gave an outburst of laughter. "Wedding presents? Oh and I suppose these were from all the hundreds of guests that attended our wedding right?" She gave another auditory noise that might be deemed at a scoff and laugh mixed together, and she sat back and crossed her arms over her chest.