Happy Halloween everyone! I thought I would do something a little different this year. It's been a while since I've written any flash fiction, so I thought, now would be the perfect time to do so. I wondered what exactly I could do it on, and then I received an email with about five or six prompts for scary flash fiction. I picked one, I think you'll enjoy it. *fingers crossed.* So, without further ado, here it is: Photograph.
Years ago, I sat in this living room, surrounded by family members as we celebrated some birthday or holiday. Mother would enter the room from the kitchen carrying a tray filled with confectionary delights along with mugs of hot coco or cider. Nog, or hot toddies were for the adults. We laughed in this room, cried in this room, and gathered together two months ago to say farewell to our loving mother and father.
They went peacefully, according to their doctor. Mother died at 11:59pm and Father departed at 12:01am. They weren't very old, however mother had cancer. By the time she and Father explained it to my brothers and I, it had spread through her body, sucking the life from her day by day. It started as breast cancer. Who knew a small lump could create such havoc. It spread to her lymph nods then her spleen, liver, pancreas, spine then eventually her brain.
Her decline had been swift after they announced her prognosis. One day she sat there telling us all not to worry and the next we were calling the funeral home to have her and our dad picked up. Doc said daddy died of a broken heart. They were the love of each others lives, so it made sense, however it didn't make it any less difficult for us.
After their services and the reception we held at the house, my brother Dan brought up selling the house. I was inclined to agree, yet Kevin didn't want to. There were too many memories here. Good ones in fact, he couldn't see parting with our childhood home. I empathized with his assessment, and also realized in those minutes standing at the sink our mother used to stand at while filling the dishwasher, even the good memories hurt.
Somehow, Dan convinced Kevin selling would be the right thing to do. Today, we were having an estate sale, then whatever was left, we'd divide between us. The new owners of the home would be moving in by the end of the month and we, sadly, had to be gone.
One of the last boxes in the basement had been all of our old photo albums. Mom loved to have pictures of everything. Thirty years of life, love and happiness had been crammed into at least twenty albums. I decided I would split them evenly then distribute the pictures from the remaining album to all three of us. It seemed like the only fair thing to do.
As I placed each one onto the coffee table, I didn't even look through them, I couldn't. Not yet, anyway. But, when I grabbed the blue one with a Bunch of golden flowers and a small bunny on the front, something compelled me to look at it. I opened it up and grinned. There were pictures of our mother and father in this very living room. Mom was pregnant with Kevin and Dan and I were on the floor by the Christmas tree playing with whatever toys we'd gotten that year. Family members were also there, and I'm pretty sure my aunt Susan took the picture.
Going through the pictures, I was swept away by the nostalgia, until one of the pictures fell out of the album. What I saw sent a chill to my bones...
"Hey...Janey, what did you find?" Dan shook me, snapping me out of my stupor.
"Huh? Oh." I turned the photo toward him. I couldn't believe what I'd seen. The dark mist like image of a little girl, standing outside my bedroom. Mom and dad never told me about this photo. I don't even know when they took it.
"What the..." Dan took the photo from me. "Where did you find this?"
I motioned to the album on my lap. "It kind of fell out at me."
"What fell out at you?" Kevin entered the room and took a seat next to Dan. "Oh, her."
Oh. Her? None of this made sense, how did Kevin know about a picture Dan I had no clue even existed. "Who is it?"
Kevin shrugged. "The girl who lives in the attic."
Excuse me? "I don't think I heard you correctly."
Kevin took the picture from our brother and showed it to me again. "She came with the house. How do you think mom and dad got it for such a great deal on this place? Sheer luck?" He laughed. "Nope, mom and dad knew about this place."
"What is there to know?" Okay, so my curiosity had been piqued. I needed to know everything about this little girl and why Kevin knew and Dan and I didn't.
"Back in the fifties a family lived here. They had three children and one on the way. The parents were excited because after three boys they were hoping for a girl."
I don't know why a niggle of dread wormed through me, but it did. It didn't make any sense, what so ever. Yet, the longer I sat there and listened to my brother speak, the tighter the knot in my stomach became. "What happened?"
"What happened to most children who were born with some kind of abnormality whether it was physical or special needs?"Bile burned a path up my throat, because I'd heard stories about this and always thought they were urban legends or scary stories. "They kept her in the attic?"
"Bingo. She had some kind of genetic malformation which slowed her mental capacity. The family couldn't care for her properly nor could they put her into a facility, so they did the next best thing. Put her in the attic. It was a self contained area with a bathroom, bed and everything she'd need. Most days, the family kept the room padlocked so no one could find their dirty little secret, nor she could get out.
I sat there for a moment, trying to digest what our youngest brother told us. "How could they be so cruel to her?"
"What happened to her?" Dan hedged.
"The power went out in a storm, the mother left a hurricane lamp on the table. They were extremely heavy to pick up, let alone dump over. She must not of thought twice about leaving it for the girl, but the girls herself and the attic on fire."
I sat there for a moment trying to wrap my head around what Kevin told us. "So, how did the picture come about?"
"You and Dan were already in high school at the time, but I was home sick and I heard giggling, so I followed it. It disappeared at the attic door so I thought it was just my imagination and went back to bed. For two days I heard it. By the third day, I grabbed mom's camera and started taking pictures. This one. One in the hall and one by the door to the attic. This is the only one that came out." Kevin placed the picture on the table.
"After I showed mom, she believed me. I guess the only reason I can see her, is because of my gift." He gave a sad little smile. "It's time to go now."
Perplexed I stared at him for a moment. "What do you mean it's time to go, we still have to pack." I glanced around the house and found it completely empty and Dan was gone. Only Kevin sat beside me, not even the photo albums were on the table.
Kevin frowned. "I hate to be the one who tells you this, Janey, but you're dead."
I shut down as waves of shock rushed through me. Dead? I couldn't be dead. Mom and Dad died not me. I'd just been here for their funeral just told Greg I'd be home in a couple of days. How could I be dead. "Stop playing, asshole."
Tears filled my brother's eyes. "I wish I was. You and Dan were on your way here to help me sort and pack. At some point on your drive, a big rig crossed the center divider and smashed into Dan's SUV, killing both of you instantly. You've been dead three weeks. I came here knowing I'd probably see you."
No. I had too much too. So much to see. I wanted kids and Greg and my job. No, I wasn't dead. I couldn't be dead. "You're lying. Where did Dan go?"
"He crossed over when he figured it out. You will to. The house isn't ours anymore, Janey. It's time to go. It's time for you to rest."
How could I rest when my family was falling apart? "Kevin, I..."
"I'll be fine Janey, promise. Go to the light."
Out of nowhere a small orb of pure, white light appeared in the middle of the room. It warmed my chilled bones. Filled me with life, something I'd only recognized now, I'd been missing. I turned to Kevin who gave me a reassuring smile then shooed me on. I didn't want to go, however the closer I got to this pureness, the more at peace I became.
I glanced over my shoulder one last time and watched as Kevin wrapped his arm around his boyfriend's waist then buried his face in his neck. Then everything was gone...
#
"Do you think she made it," Adam whispered against Kevin's ear.
"Yeah, she's finally at peace." He scrubbed his eyes and tried to smile. "We should get going. The new homeowners will be here soon and we don't want to be in their way."
"Are you going to tell them about the activity on the property?"
Kevin stopped and glanced at the house. The paranormal activity in
the house seeped through every crevice and nook. "No, there's nothing malicious here, they probably won't have an ounce of problems."
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