Memories
A photograph, old and weathered by time. Though it was not the first thing that she had noticed while doing her spring cleaning, it was certainly an oddity, jammed in between the two old pieces of furniture up in the attic of her parents' house. It had been years since she'd set foot inside the dusty attic, but not so long ago that since she'd lived in the house. She had agreed to help her parents clean the house while they were out of town to celebrate the anniversary of their marriage. Certainly, she did not expect to have ever set foot in the attic, if it wasn't for the list her mother had given her of the rooms that seriously needed cleaning. But back to the topic of the photograph she'd found. She'd set down the broom and dust pan to the floor and carefully plucked the photo from between the narrow space between the wooden furniture. It was covered with a good layer of dust on both sides. She blew on it, coughing and sneezing as the dust gathered together in a cloud just before her face. Waving away the dust, she took a good look at the picture. Her eyes flew open wide as a small smile formed on her lips.
In the photo was a waving Suzume, holding tightly to a bear mascot, a smiling Ichiko, posing for the camera, and right there in the middle was herself, just standing there smiling happily with her friends. It was a picture of when she was younger and much happier and naïve, back when she was insecure and unsure of what to do with her life. It had been quite a few years since the photo was taken, enough time for her to forget. It was enough for her to not remember.
She could barely recall what had happened back then as she stared at the picture, but a nagging feeling at the back of her mind told her it was something important. That there was something she desperately needed to remember, something that she should not have forgotten. She did not realize when, but sometime during the years, she had slowly forgotten, slowly blocked out the memories from that point in time from herself. And now, it was back to haunt her, to remind her, to forcefully make her remember, to understand, to accept.
Tears slowly formed in her eyes, blurring the image of the photo from her sight. Slowly, ever so slowly, the tears fell downwards, and dripped on the photo; a growing piercing pain started in her chest, overwhelming her, as she grabbed at it, falling forwards and curling into a ball. The tears continued to fall from her eyes, she gasped as her locked memories slowly fought to resurface and the pain in her chest grew. Finally, one word broke through and appeared at the forefront of her mind, a distinct name. She whimpered as she fell unconscious.
"Munto."