CHAPTER 15

AVA CLARKE

Toys, once scattered on the floor, are now meticulously organized in boxes. Nostalgia lingers in the air as I admire colorful cars, smiling dolls, and building blocks that witnessed the unrestrained creativity of my childhood. Each piece is a fragment of a puzzle that forms the image of the girl I used to be, a version of myself that seems distant in the present. However, it is when I come across the photograph on the wall that I feel a knot tightening in my throat.

The image, frozen in time, captures my parents holding me tenderly when I was still a baby. The smiles on their radiant faces and eyes filled with hope and love are a vivid reminder of a time when life was simple and devoid of tragedies. Tears begin to stream down my face, a silent tribute to the happy memories that now seem so distant.

I wonder how time can be so ruthless, stealing not only my parents but also the innocence that characterized my youth. The photograph becomes a portal to a past I long to reclaim, a time when the world was safe and my biggest challenges involved choosing which toy to take to bed.

I continue to look around, realizing that I still can't recall the details of my childhood with my parents, making my visit to this house even more painful. As I contemplate the image, I can feel the warm presence of my parents around me. For a moment, I allow myself to sink into the pain of loss, embracing the memories as if they were my parents themselves. Everything is imbued with the essence of a simpler time, a recollection that, despite the sadness, brings comfort to my soul.

In the room, I shed tears of deep longing, but I also find a place where memories intertwine with the hope that, even after the storm, the child within me can still flourish. The room, now laden with nostalgia and sadness, has become a sanctuary of memories where I can return whenever I need to reconnect with my roots and with the girl I once was and who still exists despite all adversities.

This house is my heritage now, and I could sell it, but I can't bring myself to do so because this house is part of memories I wish to recover someday. After carefully observing everything, I decided to clean up this place. I could live here, but I think I still couldn't cope with this new chapter of my life.

I clean everything, and it takes hours, but doing so makes me feel better than before, and I smile as I stand in the center of the living room, looking at everything clean and organized around me.

Furthermore, I talked to Elisabeth for the last time, and now I am walking through the city streets. It's raining heavily, but walking is doing me good. I hold the umbrella, watching everyone rush through the wet streets, and I smile again.

I really wanted to remember everything that happened in my life, but I still can't do it for some reason. After my parents' deaths, I went to live with my aunt and uncle, and I needed many therapy sessions to be able to speak again. I still think I carry those traumas with me.

It's not yet night, but I can see the dark sky because of the rain clouds. A lightning bolt cuts the sky as I decide to explore some of the small shops here. I don't feel sad anymore; in fact, I still feel strange. I feel tired, and it's time to go back to the mansion.

The rain has intensified, and I spent a few minutes trying to call an Uber through the app, but all drivers are canceling. I give up on the first option before walking the streets to try to find a taxi, but I can't do that either, and I feel frustrated sitting at a bus stop waiting for a bus to take me home.

The bus arrives after half an hour, and sitting alone on a bench, I keep my eyes fixed on the wet window, watching the landscape of the small town. I get off at the nearest location to the mansion, and even then, I have to walk a lot to get home. My legs are hurting because I'm walking as fast as I can to avoid arriving too late.

It's not raining anymore, but the streets are too dark, and I almost called Lucius to see if he could pick me up, but I couldn't ask that of my boss. I keep walking quickly, seeing the muddy streets dirtying my beautiful boots, but I don't care about that detail at the moment.

I think about Lucius and the moment we almost kissed. Furthermore, I can't do that with my boss; I'm here to discover more about myself, and he lost his wife and must be feeling very lonely. I raise my head, seeing the dark sky, and I find it very strange because it's still early. I'm looking at the time on my phone when I look forward, seeing some kind of shadow many meters away.

Likewise, I stop walking, furrowing my brow to try to see if it's a person or some kind of animal standing in the middle of the road. The shadow doesn't move and seems to be a very tall person. I can't see in detail because there's a lot of fog right now; the shadow seems to stare at me, and I start to feel a little scared when I realize that I'm on a dark street with some unknown person and alone.

Damn.

Maybe it's a person who is lost, or maybe it's nothing, but I start to feel fear taking over my body.

"Hello?", I ask, seeing the shadow moving quickly down the road. I continue to stand still and widen my eyes when I see red eyes.

I feel my heart beating faster inside my chest when I step back, falling into a mud puddle. Likewise, I quickly grab my phone when I see that the shadow is not of a human being, and I don't know how this is possible.

Furthermore, I hear a noise and raise my head, feeling desperation take over when I see the shadow moving faster in my direction. I quickly get up, start to run away, and look for Lucius' contact on my phone. I'm running in the opposite direction of the mansion because the shadow is on the other side. Not only that, but I find the contact and call him, looking back and running as fast as I can.