Chapter 3: Memories
Charlotte paced the attic. Anger coursing through her as she searched around with her eyes at all the boxes. How could her aunt just keep lying to her? Why were her parents something she had to have kept from her? It just wasn't fair! She let herself fall back on the couch and let out a loud angry sigh. She felt so close yet so far away from her answers.
"Think Charlotte. Where would Aunt O hide the important stuff?" She looked out at the boxes around her. She had gone through every single one of those boxes and had found nothing important. No pictures, or letters. Only clothes and household items. She knew there had to be more. There was no way that her parents never took any pictures!
Then a thought shot through Charlotte and she stood up and turned to look at the furniture behind her. Was it possible that what she was searching for was right under her nose? Too big to be stored with the rest of the stuff? Something took over her and she turned frantically and grabbed the couch. It let out a loud moan as she slid it across the floor, and the bed came into view. Charlotte looked at the mattress that was leaning up against the wall. She let out a loud huff and pulled the mattress to the floor, throwing herself onto it.
The mattress was old and worn but it gave Charlotte so much comfort. The idea that her parents used to sleep there made her stomach tighten. She had to find more! Something other than plates and blankets. She wanted pictures. She wanted to see their smiling faces. She felt like a large part of her was missing. And she knew only her parents could fill it.
She wasn't sure how long she had lied there, looking up at the ceiling and feeling completely helpless and was losing all hope very quickly of finding out anything else about her parents, so afraid that all she would know about them was what color their sheets were, when a noise broke her out of her thoughts and she turned her head to see her aunt entering the attic. A slice of pizza was clutched in her hands and she looked at Charlotte with a hopeful smile.
"Peace offering" she said walking over to Charlotte.
"I'm not going anywhere until I get my answers."
Octavia let out a slight sigh and walked over to her niece. Sitting down next her on the old mattress. She stared at the fabric underneath her for a moment, feeling the material there. "I helped them pick this one out, you know." She looked up to find Charlotte looking at her with skeptical eyes. "Your mom and I had just graduated college and she was getting ready to move in with your dad and me before her residency started." Octavia paused slightly laughing at the ridiculous story, "she had insisted that your dad get a new mattress after a few friends of theirs had slept and done other things in their old one" She glanced up at her niece again. Watching her face very carefully. "Your dad was mad about his old mattress, but agreed. The three of us went the next day to find one. Bell and I found this one right away. The first pick, we loved it, but your mom wasn't sold yet. So your dad and I lied on this mattress for two hours while your mom scoured the store, looking to find another that she liked better. In the end she came back and crawled between us and said 'I love this one' and all your dad could do was laugh at her." Octavia looked up and met Charlotte's eyes. "He loved her so much. And he loved you too. He loves both of you very much, the two of you are the most important things in the world to him."
"Then why did he leave me behind, why did they both leave me behind?" Charlotte searched her aunt's eyes waiting for answers.
Octavia thought for a moment before finally saying "you know he told me he was going to ask your mom to marry him the day we picked out this mattress? He was lying right there next to me, and he told me he wanted to marry her." She smiled lightly, blinking back tears, "I told him it was about time."
"Why did they leave me aunt O?" Charlotte looked pleadingly at her aunt. "Please, I need to know why, I need to know who they are."
"You want to know who they are? Fine. You can know, but sweetie, once you know there is no unknowing. I need you to remember something for me."
"Okay, what?"
"You need to remember that they love you more than anything in the world, and it is not their choice to not be here. Everything they have done, was for you and your safety. I need you to remember that. Always Charlotte."
Charlotte took a deep breath and looked her aunt right in the eyes, "Okay."
"Good... What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
Octavia let out a slight sigh, already knowing this was going to be a long night. "Well, then let's start at the beginning... I know just the thing, follow me." Octavia then got up and descended the states of the attic. She lead Charlotte to her bedroom and opened up the large walk in closet. Octavia disappeared inside for a few moments and emerged again pushing a large trunk. The trunk was old and black, and for a moment Charlotte thought there were more clothes stored inside of it. Octavia smiled and pushed it over to her niece. "You want to know them, this is who they are. Everything you need to know about them is in here. Charlotte stared at the trunk for a long moment before she reached for the lid and lifted it up.
The trunk was filled with old picture albums and old home movies, along with other various items, like a few books, a few stuffed animals, and few other miscellaneous items Charlotte couldn't wait to get her hands on.
"Here's everything kid. This trunk is your parents life. Everything that is important to them is in this trunk, except for you, of course." Charlotte smiled at her aunts joke and ran her fingers over the albums that were ordered on one side of the trunk. There were 5 all together. Each one a different color and labeled with a time frame: 1980-1985, 1986-1990, 1991-1995, 1996-2000 2001- . That last album wasn't finished and Charlotte assumed it was bc of her parents disappearance.
"Here Hun, look at this," Octavia said pulling out the first album labeled '1980-1985', "That's your mom and dad in kindergarten and 1st grade. Your mom moved in down the street from Bell and me when I was 4 and he was 6. One day this little girl just showed up on our doorstep and wanted to play. Bell and I were by ourselves most of the time because mom worked, and Clarkes parents weren't around very often either so the three of us always played together." Octavia smiled looking at the picture of Clarke and Bellamy. "We were some cute kids weren't we?" Charlotte looked back down at the picture and smiled at it. Clarke was hugging Bellamy low around the waist and he was rolling his eyes at her and trying to push her off. To most people it would look like Bellamy didn't like the little girl hanging on him but in reality the hug was Clarke's pay back for Bellamy spraying her with the water hose. "This was the first picture I ever took." Octavia said in a whisper.
"Wait, Aunt O you took all of these?"
"I did. I used to take pictures for a living."
"What happened? Why did you stop?"
Octavia paused and looked her niece. "Not yet."
Charlotte nodded, and turned her attention back to the pictures. Her parents faces dancing across each and every page in all the albums. Octavia pulled out another photo and handed it over to Charlotte.
"This one is from mine and your mom's 5th grade pageant. Bell was in 6th grade and was much cool to be seen with us, but he still came to cheer us on. Your mom had a solo in the show." The picture showed Clarke standing on a stage of the school with large flowers in her hands and a wide grin on her face. Bellamy was standing next to her smiling wildly as well, only he wasn't looking at the camera, he was looking at Clarke.
"So, my mom can sing?" Charlotte asked looking up from the picture.
Octavia laughed out loud and shook her head. "Not even a little bit. But she begged the teacher for that solo and she worked really hard at it."
"Why did she want it so bad if she couldn't sing?"
Octavia sighed slightly. "Her parents were supposed to be at the show. She wanted them to be proud of her."
"Did they come? Were they proud of her?" Octavia shook her hard
"When Bell realized they weren't there he went and bought the flowers from the flower stand the school had out front. He didn't have much but the old man made him a deal, Clarke was so happy by the flowers that if she realized her parents weren't there, she didn't show it." Charlotte smiled and looked back down at the picture. "This is one of my favorite pictures of them, when I took this picture is when I realized just how much your dad loved your mom. Everything after that just kind of fell into place."
Octavia moved on to the next photo album. The two flipped through the albums one by one, taking time to stare at every memory the pictures showed. Charlotte loved seeing her parents grow up, and she loved knowing just how much she looked like the two of them. Her favorite pictures were the ones from her fathers senior prom. Him in a tux, and her mother in a light blue poofy dress. They both looked so good that Charlotte couldn't stop staring at them smiling back at her. Her next favorite was one of Clarke and Bellamy sitting together on a picnic blanket. They were sitting with a few other people Charlotte didn't know, Bellamy was leaning up against a tree in the shade with Clarke leaning against his stomach sitting between his propped up legs. There was a pretty girl with a long dark ponytail sitting next to them with a guy with dirty blond hair sitting behind her and holding her close. Then there was a very young version of her aunt and uncle sitting on the other side of her parents. They all looked so happy. Charlotte couldn't tear her eyes away from the picture.
"When was this one taken aunt O?"
"That one was the day before our graduation. It started pouring down rain right after this, and that lead to this" Octavia turned to page over and handed Charlotte a picture of Bellamy and Clarke standing in the rain, arms out and fingers intertwined. Clarke was looking up at the sky and grinning wildly while Bellamy just stared at her like she was the craziest and most amazing thing he had ever laid his eyes on. Charlotte let a small laugh escape her throat as she stared at the picture... At least she could finally pick out her favorite picture.
After another hour or so of looking through pictures Charlotte moved on to the other contents in the trunk. The old worn out teddy bear was the first thing to catch her eye. "Who's bear?" She asked her aunt, who was still staring at pictures.
"Your moms. Your dad bought it for her when they figured out they were gonna have you. It wasn't much, and your dad knew that, but your mom loved it anyway. Any time your dad was working late or she felt sick she clung to that thing like a small child would, she said it gave her comfort." Charlotte looked at the bear as a question piped into her mind.
"Aunt O, what was my fathers job?"
Octavia only looked at her briefly before she said: "He was a cop, and he was the best in the business." She watched as Charlottes face changed slightly as she imagined her father as a cop. Octavia reached for the album labeled '1996-2000' and opened it to one of the pages inside. "This is Bell and your mom the day he became a cop. She was so proud of him." Octavia smiled at the picture of Clarke and Bellamy. He was smiling very wildly at the camera wearing his new uniform, and he had his arm wrapped tightly around Clarke, she was standing next to him smiling up at him, her body leaning into him, and a large bouquet of flowers in her hand.
"And my mom was a doctor?"
"Almost. She was still doing residency when… well when everything happened"
"And what happened Aunt O"
Octavia stiffened slightly, she knew she would have to tell her niece soon, but she still was nervous about it. Instead she looked down at the trunk and pulled out something that had caught her eye, the necklace Bell gave Clarke. It was the locket Clarke got for her birthday one year, Octavia picked it up and handed it over to Charlotte. "Your dad gave that to your mom this for her birthday. You should have it."
Charlotte took the locket in her hands and studied it carefully, it was so beautiful. She gently placed the locket over her head and looked back at her aunt. "What happened to them?"
Octavia sighed and began to open her mouth to give her niece some kind of excuse or answer, Charlotte wasn't really sure, but she was cut short by the door bell ringing. Charlotte gave her aunt a confused look, it was well past 10:00 at night. No one should be ringing the door bell.
Octavia didn't look so surprised though. She got up mumbling "about time" and went for the door, leaving a confused Charlotte looking after her. She got up and made her way out to the front where he aunt was, she could hear soft voices murmuring to each other.
Charlotte rounded the corner and was met with two new faces, they were faces she had only seen in the pictures her aunt had shown here, but they were older now, and they didn't look as happy as they had in the pictures.
"Charlotte, I want you to meet some friends. This is Raven, and Jasper. They know your parents."
"Hi" Charlotte took in both of their appearances, Raven was a beautiful woman, with long brown hair and a very very thin body, her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail and she wore a tight black dress; and Jasper, who was a goofy looking kid, now looked so grown up with his dark hair slicked back and scruff on his face, he wore what looked like an expensive suit and dark rimmed glasses. They looked so much like their younger selves, and so different at the same time. Charlotte could tell neither one of them was comfortable either, they looked out of place in their clothes, so stiff.
"Wow, look at you." Jasper said after staring at her for a long moment, "You're so big!" he stepped forward and hugged her tightly, like her uncle always did.
"Okay Jas, give the girl a second to take this all in," Raven then said stepping forward. "We're going to change her life tonight, we shouldn't scare her so bad right of the bat."
Charlotte moved her gaze from Jasper to Raven "you're pretty bold, aren't you?"
Raven looked surprised at the girl's answer, but then her surprise turned into a smile, "just like her father."
"Let's go into the kitchen and talk." Octavia said, cutting in, "We have a lot to talk about."
"We do?"
Raven put her arm around Charlotte and started walking her toward the kitchen, "'Course we do, you want to know what happened to your parents, don't you?" She let go of Charlotte and went in to the kitchen leaving Charlotte in the hallway for a moment. She looked down at the locket around her neck, and gave it a light squeeze, then went to join everyone in the kitchen.
Hello everyone! I am so sorry for the long wait, things have been crazy! But I know it is no excuse! Anyway I promise it won't take as long for the next chapter! And I love all the support and reviews y'all have given! So I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please comment, favorite, and follow, I love the support and it gives me so much inspiration to continue on! Anyway keep reading! Next chapter up soon!