Prologue
She walked through the door, threw her keys on the table, and sighed, falling into the comfort of her favorite armchair. If a drive around town wasn't going to fix her restless mood, she didn't know what else would. It was already evening, the town was beginning to get dark, she noticed, looking outside and seeing the sky fade to a delicate gray. After a few moments, it seemed useless to waste a possible promising night by sitting around, or even sleeping it away. Her husband would be home soon, and she wanted to look as though she had had a productive day off, even if it wasn't the case.
The Christmas tree was boxed up along with bins of ornaments and a random assortment of decorations underneath the ceiling door to the attic. It was the end of the holiday season, something she always hated to see go. The holidays were a time when it was easier for her to fake a smile, when others were just a little nicer, and it was much easier to get through the days because it was hectic but simple.
She would put the tree away, and it would look like something had been done that day, she decided. She reached up high and pulled the door to the attic down, carefully sliding out the ladder that had been attached for easier access. Having not been up there in awhile, she carefully climbed the shaky steps and hoisted herself into the space, in order to make sure there was ample room for her things.
It was full of dust, and she knew that it would never be cleaned. She decided wouldn't want it that way, because it seemed much more mysterious the way it was. Deciding that she liked the mystery of the attic, she stood up and looked around at all the storage. Boxes from when they moved in, an old mirror tilted up against the wall, a dressmaker's dummy that had been there before her. She sneezed from the dust, turning her head and noticing a cardboard box marked, "CLARE" in all capital letters.
Racking her brain, she couldn't recall what she had placed in there. Whatever it was, it had not been looked at for years since she had moved in. Rustling up more dust by pulling off the lid, and another sneeze later revealed the contents of the box.
Inside there were various books. Aged Harry Potter series, a few textbooks from college, but there was one thing that caught her eye. The binding read, 2013. She picked it up, reading the front cover, Degrassi, was scrawled in large letters on top. It was a photo album that she had made, she briefly recalled becoming interested in photography after a short introductory course in high school, but had not continued to pursue it later on.
She knew what she was getting into when she went to turn the first page, but she did it anyway.
Page one. The photo was of a handsome young boy, mysterious smile, dark hair, and bright green eyes, leaning up against a locker. She realized that for the first time in over ten years, although only through a picture, she was looking deep into the eyes of Eli Goldsworthy.
She quickly wiped off a small tear falling down her face, as all the painful memories began rushing back to her, and she became lost and enthralled in the world that was her past.