Author's notes: Thanks so much for the reviews, both of them (get the hint, people). Here's chapter 2. Enjoy!


Part II – Many years later

Kat dropped her bag on the bed and sighed. She was back at Whipstaff again after her first year at college, and not much had changed. The grandfatherclock in the hall still let off dust when it rang, the library, her fathers study, still looked like a battlefield, and the trio still did their best to annoy people.

Kat smiled as she placed the picture of her mother on the bedsidetable. She was home.


When Kat was walking through the house the next morning, she suddenly found herself on the attic, outside Casper's room. The door was closed, and it probably hadn't been opened since she'd been here knocking on it the day after the party.

Kat turned the doorknob and the door slid open.

The room inside was dark despite the sunny day, and when her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Kat saw that the whole room was covered in a thick layer of dust.

She closed the door behind her, walked over to the window and tried to clean it with her sleeve. Slowly the durt disappeared and the first ray of sunlight feel in through the class. Kat looked around the room as it was lit up, and something caught her eye. A book was lying in an armchair, and Kat was positive it hadn't been there before.

She pulled of the sheet that covered the chair and sat down to read the book.

It was a scrapbook, very old and full of photos and newspaperarticles. Kat turned leaf after leaf, looking at black and white photographs of a family long since gone. A weddingpicture of a young and happy couple on their big day. A mother holding her infant and trying not to smile. Pictures of the boy growing up. Kat turned another leaf and almost dropped the book. Casper was looking at her from one of the pictures.

When the first chock had faded away, Kat looked more closely at the photo. It couldn't have been taken long before he died.

I must have been dumb, Kat thought. The minute I saw the book I should have understood that it was Casper's. Why else would it be lying in here?

She was about to close the book again when a piece of paper fell out. Kat picked it up, turned it over and felt her heart skip a beat. It was Casper's obituary notice. Kat drew a deep breath and read it slowly.

Our beloved son and nephew

Casper McFadden

Has passed away after a short period of illness

Always missed, never forgotten

Karl & Elisabeth

Samuel, Jonathan, Miles

Kat stared at the last three names, then she quickly turned the leafts in the book. There! In a black and white photograph, along with a man that must have been Casper's father and their older brother. The trio. They were recognizeable if you looked closely, all three of them in easy clothing and smiling broadly.

Kat put the book down. So now they had real names. Samuel, Jonathan and Miles. Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie. Kat smiled. She'd have liked to know more about their lifes, but she was afraid of what other secrets the scrapbook might hold.

Far away she heared the lunchbell ring. That's an improvement, Kat thought and rose from the chair. She wondered if she should bring the book, but it didn't seem right. It belonged here, with the rest of Casper's things.