Photograph

Chapter One - the room

hi the beginning is just a preface to the story but chapter 2 is where the action really starts so please be patient and keep reading bc it gets MUCH better!!

CURRENTLY IN THE PROCESS OF EDITING CHAPTERS THAT ARE PUBLISHED AS WELL AS PUBLISHING NEW CHAPTERS 

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The bell above me rung out into the musty smelling shop, "Evening, Dennis!" I hollered over the light music playing through the small radio on the counter. 

Roy Orbison's "You Got It" rung throughout each of the different sections of the antique shop.

I dropped my book bag next to the door and hurried over to the room filled with furniture, the light in the far corner that overlooked the singular staircase started to cut in and out. I rolled my eyes, "Dennis!" I called again. 

My feet shifted on the blue and green shag carpet that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a few decades, my black boots had a slight heal and sunk into the flooring. I let out a deep sigh and took in the building. The walls were high, probably around forty feet high. There was no upstairs besides two smaller rooms that only Dennis went in, one was his office and the other was storage. 

I leaned up against a tall bookcase and pulled my phone out of my pocket, it was only 5:56pm on a Thursday. Usually Dennis and I would clean the place up till around eight. I nervously bit the corner of my cheek and wandered back around to the front of the shop. 

On the front counter was an envelope with my name on it, my head quirked to the side and I sat down on the stool before picking it up.

It wasn't sealed shut, so I quickly pulled it out to reveal a photo and a note on a piece of scratch paper.

Headed home early tonight! Prudence needed help at the house with the cats. Lock up and enjoy this picture that came in today

-Dennis

I set the note down and immediately a small smile was evoked from the small Polaroid picture. It was the four Beatles sitting together in two twin beds pushed together, singing and playing their guitars together. 

Dennis and I both thoroughly loved The Beatles, it was one of the reasons why I got this job in the first place. Before school every day I would come in and browse the new record selection, I had been hunting for Help for a few months and couldn't find it anywhere in town. It didn't take long for Dennis to notice I was coming in way more than any average customer, and my age surprised him too.

The second I told him I was a nineteen year old who was on a mission to find the album Help, he was all ears. 

Within the next month, I had the job because I would come and clean the place anyway in my spare time. It had always been a mess and I knew it was because Dennis was scattered constantly with all the different aspects of owning a business. Helping him out with a few things here and there for free didn't bother me at all, he was a sweet man. But I'm not complaining that I get paid now. 

I jumped when a loud pop sounded around the corner, my eyes bulged out of their sockets and I rushed around the dividing wall, only to see that the light bulb had blown out. Deep down I wanted to leave it like that and not have to deal with it, but at the same time I knew it would take Dennis six years to get to that project. 

With a deep breath, I started my way over to the staircase and began to walk up it.

The wooden steps creaked with each shift of the foot. I hadn't ever been up to Dennis's office before, one of his rules is that I stay on the ground floor. But what he doesn't know won't hurt him.