Austin's face was dark.
There he was, all alone, in the sadness of his almost untouched attic.
Once a year. He only went up there once a year.
His hands had an unsteady grip on the heavy photo album he was holding.
He looked at one of the pictures. It was Austin and Ally, together at the piano when they were only seventeen.
Austin half smiled. Now they were in their late thirties. Well, he was.
Ally was just late.
Tears appeared in Austin's eyes. He tried to be strong, but he just couldn't take it.
Suddenly he heard the slam of a door and his head twisted.
"Hi, Aaron."
Aaron Moon. Austin and Ally's nine year old son. He had light brown hair, and green eyes.
Austin felt terrible for having to raise the poor boy without a mother.
Aaron slowly walked up to Austin.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
The father wiped a few tears from his face.
He remembered the original plan Austin and Ally had when Aaron was born. The original plan for their family was have two kids, a boy and a girl. If the second kid turned out to be a boy, that would be okay. They would love him anyways.
But unfortunately, some things in life happen too soon.
"Nothing." Austin answered his son.
The truth was, this was the nine year anniversary of Ally's death. She died when Aaron was just five months old, at the point where a truck hit her car when she was returning home from the studio.
She never made it.
Austin remembered. Getting the phone call, waiting in the hospital was baby Aaron on his lap.
The doctor coming towards him, to tell him Ally didn't make it. A simple shake of the head. That's all it was.
Austin continued to speak to his son. "Do you remember your mother, Aaron?"
"No," The boy concluded. "How was she like?"
Austin kept turning the pages of his photo album, not once looking up.
"Well, we met when we were fifteen. We were all about the music..."
Aaron interrupted. "You like music, dad?"
"Yeah. Back in the day I was famous."
"No kidding?"
"Yeah." He said. "If you don't believe me, look me up on Wikipedia."
Austin grinned at the memory. Now he was an accountant.
"Nope. Ally was my songwriter. We did everything together. Soon...we discovered our feelings toward each towards other."
"Was she really special, dad?"
"Special? Definitely. I wasn't complete without her. I'm still not, but I have you to help me."
Aaron smiled.
"We would sit at the piano, and spend the entire night working on a song. When our hands touched; that was the best. I never had a better feeling."
"You know," Austin paused. "I stopped making music when she died. I couldn't bare the fact of it anymore."
"Oh."
Austin continued. "I even had grandma and grandpa to come live with us for a few months. With the sadness I was feeling, I couldn't raise you completely."
Aaron looked at his father sympathetically.
"Anyway," said Austin, "You wouldn't believe how excited she was when you were born. Nobody would have been a better mother than she was. And for the five months you were together in this planet, I never saw anybody more devoted to her child."
His tears became full blown cries. "I'm sorry Aaron. I just miss her...so much."
He put his head down.
Aaron's face looked sad. "I miss her too."
Austin wiped away some of his tears again and looked up at his son. He may have only been nine, but boy, had he grown.
"Listen, Aaron. I wanna thank for being strong and listening to me."
The men hugged.
Soon they got up, and walked back downstairs, leaving the dark attic alone.
Austin looked back.
See you next year, Alls.