A Hint of the Past

I was alone, once again. My family had gone out during the weekend to visit my aunt on her estate. Their flight was delayed, however, due to the weather. It had been raining all day now, with the grey clouds gravely misted upon the once clear blue skies. The rumbling of thunder only increased and the howling of the storm began to deepen. 

I was sitting at the table reading a book. In front of me, the glow of the only light source flickered casting the room an illuminating yellow glow. I glanced at the grandfather clock on the wall before moving my head back to the book. 5 more minutes, I silently thought to myself and went back to reading. As I moved my head to check the clock again, a black shadow moved out from the corner of my eye. I stilled and looked in the direction the object came from. Another flash of a shadow. 

I got up quickly and started peering through the corners of the house. Huh, weird, I thought to myself. Suddenly, a crash could be heard coming from my bedroom. I froze and quickly grabbed the candle from the table and headed my way upstairs. Nothing. No noises could be heard whatsoever. Swinging the door open forcefully, I was met with eternal silence. Nothing was out of place. No broken windows or mirrors. I narrowed my eyes and looked around. 

My wardrobe seemed slightly opened. I inched near it and softly closed it. Just as I was about to run around, I heard the quiet creek of the wardrobe door. The more I stared at it, the more it seemed to open, almost like an invitation. Turning promptly around, I headed straight for the bedroom door, thinking I’m going crazy. Except there was no door. 

My back hit the wardrobe as I whirled around to see everything in my room disappeared in plain sight. Just me and the wardrobe now remained in the room. Only this time the wardrobe’s door was gone and there seemed to be a swirling lilac circle surrounding inside of it. Suddenly, as if someone pushed me into it I stumbled straight into the portal. 

My body hit the soft grass below me. A girl stared at me from a distance. When we made eye-contact her eyes widened as she took small hesitant steps towards me. Her big doe brown eyes stared at me contrasting against her midnight-black hair. Her freckled face seemed to be slowly observing me before she spoke, “We don’t have enough time, we need to hurry.” With that, she marched along the grassland with me following closely behind. We soon stopped in front of an old small building. 

“We met here a couple of years ago if you remember, that is?” I gave her a confusing look, to which she sighed. Pulling out a key from her back pocket, she opened the door leading us to a dimly-lit indoor. She stopped in front of the fireplace where a photo could be seen. She held it to me. I could see a family of six where three girls sat on the front, smiling widely. A boy, who looked to be in his late teens, was standing beside the parents. 

I looked at the girl, confused. “Whar’s this have to do with me?”

She pointed to one of the girls in the picture and said in a soft voice, “That’s you.” The shock on my face would have been an understatement of the century. “W-what?” I asked, bewildered. “That’s you,” she repeated again, keeping her face composed of any emotions. 

“I-I don’t understand, this isn’t me I grew up with a different family,” I said staring at the unfamiliar faces in the picture. 

“They haven’t told you anything, did they?” She inquired before, grabbing my hand and leading me to a different portal. She stepped into it, leading us to a car crash scene. I could see several people surrounding the car that was hit. The paramedics carried a stretcher, where a thin white sheet covered the body. Three other stretchers did the same thing. The unknown girl walked to one of the stretchers and smiled sadly. With an outstretched hand, she pointed to it and said, “That’s me and the others are our parents and our younger sister.” 

I shot her a quizzical look before I heard a familiar voice speak up. My parents. I turn around and say, “Dad, Mom can you hear me?” 

It was the young girl that answered, “Nobody can hear you this is the past.” “Come.” she grabbed ahold of my wrist and pulled me near the ambulance. A young girl was there, breathing but barely. My eyes widened almost an inch before I said, “That’s me.” 

“Yes, your “parents” were the ones to hit us with their car. Our parents, Emily, and I died from the sudden impact, but you were alive. Your parents adopted you the second you were about to be placed in foster care.” She said, her eyes brimming with tears and then she continued, “Declan wasn’t able to adopt you because he was too young and he wasn’t aware that you got adopted until it was too late. He was informed that as a college student, his financial instability would only make things more difficult for you since you lost your memories. Before you leave I need you to promise that you’ll look for Declan, please.” 

“I-I don’t even know you guys and I don’t even know what Declan looks like.” I stuttered in a shaky voice. 

She smiled at me softly before saying, “Even though you don’t remember us, I want you to know we will always be family.” She slipped a bracelet onto my arm, where the name “Osborne” was engraved upon it. Objects around me began blurring and spinning wildly. 

I woke up drenched in a cold sweat. In front of me, the candle’s flame flickered immensely. I would’ve been convinced that this was all a dream, until I spotted the thin bracelet on my arm and the notification on my phone, alerting me the verification request on social media. I opened it and there stood one name that requested to follow me. Declan Osborne.