Serenitatem

Chapter 6

Elle jumped as she heard a crashing sound coming from above. She ran up the stairs and saw Uncle Axel picking himself off the floor in one of the rooms. Apparently, he had tripped over the edge of the carpet and dropped her suitcase to be able to use his hands to catch himself.

"Um, here's your room, Elle!" he said, his face red from embarrassment.

It was a small room but very cute. The bed had a wrought-iron headboard and a white fluffy comforter with a seashell pattern embroidered on it. The walls were lavender with white trim and there was a window that looked out towards the ocean with lacy curtains drawn over it. Elle decided it would stay that way.

After thanking Uncle Axel, he said would go make some dinner while she unpacked and settled in. "Maybe you'd want to explore the area before it gets dark, " he suggested, before leaving.

Not likely.

Elle sat on the edge of the bed and bounced a little to get the feel of it. Then she slid to the floor in a huff and buried her face into her arms. The house was nice and she expected to stay there most of the time, but Uncle Axel was dead-set on taking her on a boat. The dark waters would be all around her, deep and full of dangerous creatures. She shivered slightly, thinking of riptides and whirlpools. What if she claimed she couldn't swim? That wouldn't work. He'd just give her a life vest.

It didn't take long for Elle to get bored in her room. She decided to explore the house before dinner. Leaving her room, she walked down the narrow hallway, rattling the many doorknobs as she went. Many were locked. When one finally opened, she went in. It was a small room, maybe once a bedroom, filled with dusty boxes. Elle stepped carefully around the tall stacks. The light that came through the tiny window was gray and dim, creating dark corners that tiny monsters of the imagination could hide. She couldn't find a light switch so she grabbed a lone box and pulled it towards the window to see better. This first box was full of old plates and bowls. The second had dusty clothes that were tacky enough to belong to her grandparents. She found a box of comic books she assumed once Uncle Axel's, a record player, a Class of 1967 Yearbook, and a nest of cockroaches. That last one made her shriek and throw the box across the room.

And then she found the box of photographs. Some were of her grandparents when they were younger, family reunions, Baptisms, graduations. Several were of Axel and her mother when they were kids. They were amazing, like windows to the past. Elle spread them out on the floor, organizing them by the date scribbled in the back. She loved looking at these things, but it was a shame they weren't stored better. She wondered if there were any scrapbooks in the house she could slip them into. Elle was about to put the empty box aside when she caught sight of a small square photo at the bottom of the box, face down.

She pulled out an old Polaroid snapshot of two people. Kneeling on the floor, she studied it. Their faces were a bit hard to make out due to the bright flash that washed over them. Elle squinted, holding it up to the window.It was her mother, easily recognizable by here hair. She was much younger though, maybe her late twenties. She was standing at a bridge with her hand entwined with a man Elle had never seen before. He was tall and lean, with brown hair darker than Uncle Axel's. He was smiling at Margaret like he couldn't believe he was with her. Margaret was laughing at the camera as the wind blew her red hair across her face. Who was he?

"Elle?"

Elle let out a shriek and jumped so hard, she lost her balance. Falling forward, she was able to catch herself before smacking right into the floorboards. Luckily, she didn't crush the mysterious photo in the process. Uncle Axel was standing in the doorway with a confused expression on his face. He looked at all the photos spread around her, nearly thirty of them.