𝐓.𝐇.𝐄

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏

We have been surpassing all rooms, and I still have no idea where he is taking me. I follow him quietly, staring at his enormous back. His muscle move in harmony together at every step he takes, and I cannot stop myself from admiring them.

I am still trembling about the fact he knew my parents. I knew they have always worked here for the Rockchild family, but I have never imagined he actually knew them. And most importantly, that he knows me. He said he sees a lot of them in me, but how can he say that if he doesn't know me personally?

There are so many questions I want to ask him. So far, i just need to wait and see where we are heading to.

"We're almost there." His voice interrupts my thoughts.

"Where are we going exactly?" I ask, as we take some stairs I have never seen that lead upstairs. I never noticed there is another floor. This Palace is an endless and mysterious maze.

"Patience."

I hold my thoughts, and I shut myself impatiently.

After what seemed thousands of stairs, we finally arrive at the end of them, and a big old wooden door shows up right in front of the stairs.

This is the floor, A door?

He takes a key from his packet, for then inserting it in, and the door starts opening automatically. An old books smell get to my naris, and i start coughing. "Nobody has visited this place for a while. You may excuse the fragrance."

Despite the old and closed air, there is nothing out of place. I can glimpse from the little window at the top, some paper documents and, mostly, photographs all over the place. I take some steps closer to analyse the room, and everything starts forming itself more clearly.

Long wooden shelves are filled by black and white and coloured photographs, embodied in golden cover. I try to recognise some faces, but there are hundreds of them which i have never seen before. "What is this place?" I ask, even though i already know the answer.

"The room where all my memories are collected, and kept to life." He explains with a low voice.

"May I know why you brought me here?"

He takes some steps close to one shelf, staring at a big frame. He takes it by his hands, and gives it to me. "Here it is your Christmas wish."

As my eyes pose upon the faces depicted on it, I start trembling. I remove the dirt from the frame cover to see better the faces, and there they are.

My parents.

I glimpse my beautiful mother, smiling at me with her arms around my father's neck. And my father, kissing my mother's forehead and hugging her tightly from the hips. As I pose my eyes back to my mother, I notice she is wearing the red dress she left me. The red dress I am wearing right now.

Tears fall on the frame. In total sorrow, I let my body fall in the ground, still holding tightly the frame to my chest. Loud sobs start to come out from my mouth, and I cover it right away not to be heard by him.

But how can he not. He is standing right here.

Suddenly, two hands take me from my hips and drag me up. I turn around for meeting his now lighten eyes staring at me. I notice a slide of lucidness in them, but I know it will not last for long.

"I-I'm-" I try talking, but the sobs don't allow me, "I'm s-sorry."

"Do not apologize for missing your beloved ones."He affirms at my ear.

His words seemed full with understanding, as if he has already experienced this feeling. But his parents are still alive, who may have lost?

"Have you ever felt so much pain?" I ask, with my tears falling down my cheeks like waterfalls.