Chapter 6: Blood Ties part 2
I don't own anything. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and Tomb Raider belongs to Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and I think Square Enix. The only thing I own is the changes made to the stories of the Tomb Raider games/comics and Resident Evil games/comics/CG movies, the Government branch S.P.E.L.L., the person that has taken over Kathrine Warren's life, and Rose Warren. This story also will be bloody, violent, and have cursing. It's rated T for Teen.
Country: United Kingdom, State: England, City: Surrey, Place: Croft Manor, Area: Caller, Month: November, Day: Thursday 16th, Year: 2000, Time: 21:34 BST…
Lara paused at seeing a journal on a box. At first, she thought it was her fathers or Winston, but when she picked it up she was startled to find it was a missing journal from her mother. She opened it to a random page and read it.
I'm at a crossroads now. Good lord, that's such a cliché. But there's truth in it. Two roads before me, both present joy and compromise. A life with Richard...adventure, intellectual pursuit, perhaps a new family. But also, a man obsessed with something I cannot understand. Or...a life of obligation. Upholding the De Mornay name, embracing our traditions. Not losing the family that raised me.
This really is a rubbish choice. I don't want to lose them. But I love the life I've started to build with Richard. He comes with his own difficulties, but I can accept them.
Will it be enough?
"For the time she was with us, I hope it was enough. I hope it was worth it..." Lara sighed sadly. She tucked the journal into the back of her pants. Once she is in the library, she will put it with the others.
She turned and walked more among the selves of old dinner ware and bottles. She spotted another journal on a shelf. It was one Winston's journals. She opened to the last entry and saw that it appeared to be about her birthday.
Everything is almost ready for Mistress Lara's birthday expedition surprise. It's been a bit of an all-hands-on deck effort organizing the affair and keeping it secret. She's obsessed with Egypt, memorizing hieroglyphs and ancient Egyptian Districts. So, she'll be delighted with what Lord Croft has come up with!
This will be good for her. She's been acting up of late, but I know she's just craving more of her father's attention. He's been so buried in his research. It will be a nice moment for the two of them to reconnect.
And I do believe he needs it as much as she does.
"It really was one of the best birthdays I ever had." She smiled and put the book down.
She moved two shelving carts to get into the rest of the cellar. She even found an old decanter of her mother and father's. She remembered seeing on the table when they had guests over. She stepped down some steps then ducked down to follow some old pipes down a path. She smiled a bit remembering coming down her with her father. She could hear the conversation as she traversed the tunnel and entered the partly flooded basement. Yet another thing that needed fixing.
"Dad…" She had called in a hushed whisper. "This is it. The Basement of Despair!"
Her father had nodded sagely. "Indeed, Lara. Muster your courage…for this is the only path to the library of infinite Knowledge!" He encouraged.
"Look there! See the string?" Young Lara had asked.
"An Egyptian trip wire…" Her father had assessed. "The keepers of knowledge want none to disturb their treasures. We must trend carefully!" He had advised.
"Let me lead…I know how to spot all the traps!" Young Lara had called excitedly.
"I'm sure you do, my darling." Her dad had said with a smile. "Lead on!"
Lara paused for a moment in some mud. She wiped some tears away that started falling with the return of the memory. The best memories held some sorrow as she'd never have a real adventure with her father ever again. There was so much she missed. She missed her mother, whom she found it increasingly harder to remember. She missed her father, who she had genuinely believed for years that he was as crazy as everyone told her he was.
"I miss you both." She muttered.
She paused before a trap. It no longer worked, but she remembered it. It was one of the traps Winston and the house staff had made. A harmless trip wire with ropes. She turned a corner and frowned looking at the collapsed ceiling.
"Water damage from the Main Hall above." She sighed, more to fix.
She followed the path, ducking into a slow walking crouch to get under the debris. She got to a ladder eventually and climbed it. She found herself in a small back room. On an old worktable she found old renovation plans for the Manor.
"Plans for adding Electricity to the Manor…Dad used to say his granny hated all the bright lights." She flipped the plans over, thinking she could use these to help guide repairs, but frowned that she only had 1 and 3. "Hmm…there's a missing page."
She turned around and found another cassette tape. She picked it up and swapped it with the other one in the player. She then hit play.
"Amelia left tonight. She packed her suitcase and walked right out of here and I didn't even notice. Like those days in the Oxford library before we even met...I just had my nose in a book, lost in my own world.
I am such a fool. I have let my obsession with this damned Ritual of Long Life rule my better judgement for far too long. And it may already be too late. How could I have not seen this coming? I've made this mistake over and over - always putting my research before my personal life. But it's never hurt like this before.
I simply cannot live without her. If I have to give up this accursed quest that has plagued me for so long...then so be it! I am going after her. Right now. Tonight!"
"It was almost over before it started. I always admired Dad's ability to recognize when he was wrong." She sighed and put the player away before turning to the exit.
She pushed the secret door open and slipped into the library. She nodded taking it all in. There were many bookshelves, full of many books, from all sorts of backgrounds. A few reading tables and desks were around the room with comfortable chairs. Old lamps to light up where ever one was reading. Upper landings you could get to for yet more shelves of books. Now there was cobwebs, broken curtain rods hanging in brackets, the drapes pooling on the dusty floor. So much dust covered the windows that hardly any light made it into the room.
"Okay…" She muttered walking farther into the large room. "Dad's ledger has to be in here somewhere. Hopefully it has the combination to the safe."
The first thing she found in her search was another tape on a small side table. She put it in the tape player and hit the play button again.
I've created a clever little map for Lara's Birthday Expedition. I used the INVISIBLE INK Amelia picked up for me in Morocco so many years ago. At the time I remember being so annoyed by that rather aggressive street vendor, but she just smiled in her sunny way and paid him without a second thought. I assumed it was just a tourist scam, but it actually works.
Turns out it requires a very specific kind of vellum, and a heat source to illuminate the ink after it's dried. It should prove a nice challenge for Lara to puzzle out.
"Dad put so much work into that birthday expedition..." She sighed as she hadn't fully known how much work had gone into the best birthday she'd had.
She found another journal too. This one resting on a book cart. This one was another one of her mother's. As she picked it up she placed the one she found in the cellar on the cart.
I always accepted that Richard's rather unorthodox research was just something I had to live with. But...but this time...the thrill of discovery has taken hold of me. I never imagined I could be drawn in this way.
Richard cabled to tell me he's found the Monastery. The symbol we deciphered in the scroll was the key to its location. I don't know if I honestly believe that this will lead to the fabled Elixir of Life. But I can't help but feel that a great secret awaits us there.
My brother was threatening to shut down the expedition, but I managed to talk him down for the time being. Now I am going to meet Richard.
I would bring Lara if I could, but she's still young. She'll be in good hands with Winston. And when we return, her parents might be just a bit more famous.
"She was beginning to believe. It must have made Dad so happy to know she could accept his wild ideas." Lara muttered putting it back down on the book cart. With just a quick look around she didn't see a shelf were all the journals would be kept together.
She walked over to an old phonograph. She wound the crank then put the needle on the vinyl record. Many beautiful instruments started to play. She wasn't sure what song it was though. "This music is familiar. It's beautiful." Lara smiled relaxing more.
She listened to the music as she continued her search. Finding another locked door, so she really needed that master key now. She walked to the main desk seeing that on the top was a small pile of scattered papers. On one of them was, finally, a clue to the safe's combo.
For God's sake, memorize the combination, you old fool...
Lara's Expedition treasure...
My favorite painting by Amelia...
The day of our wedding anniversary...
"Dad would never have written down the combination, but it looks like he left himself clues to remember the numbers..." She muttered as she tucked the note into her pocket. "Okay, got to find those objects to figure out the combination of the safe."
She walked to the other end of the desk, finding yet another tape under a receipt of some kind.
"I've reached the monastery. As Roth predicted, it was hidden deep in the Himalayas. And now that I am standing on these high stone walls, I am overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the mountains that surround me. It is simply breathtaking. But what adds to their spiritual majesty is the truth of this place.
The monks welcomed me, as is their way, but they seemed to expect me. They must have known someone like me would eventually come seeking answers. I know this is the place - they've conducted the ritual before. I have seen the evidence - the distinctive symbols carved into the floors, the art displayed on the inner chamber's walls...they've created the Elixir before. And they will again, if I can convince them.
I sent Amelia a message straight away. I want her by my side for this discovery..."
"Hmm…Dad was looking for an Elixir…was it the Elixir of Life?" She wondered. "Dad never told me about this myth...why was he so sure? What did he find that convinced him it was real?"
She also spotted an old lighter. It looked like it was made in the 1920s. She tested with a flick of her thumb and after a few tries, found it still worked.
"Dad's lighter…I don't remember him ever using it though." She muttered as she flipped it to look at the underside. "The Croft Family Crest…and initials…" She squinted at them. "B.C? I wonder if this belonged to my grandfather…"
She popped it in her jacket pocket and looked around.
"Okay, I should be able to light the fireplaces now." She muttered as he spotted an old child's drawing.
It wasn't great. The image of a tiger hiding and peeking out from a rock. She smiled with a laugh.
"This is my handiwork…I used to love drawing pictures of tigers." She smiled. "Kat said jokingly that my art must suck as my handwriting is impeccable. Wonder if my drawings have improved at all." She said as she put the image back down. "I spent so many hours in here." She breathed as she spotted an old dinosaur stuffy on the window seat where dozens of her drawings were taped to the window, and hanging on strings, tape up to form a makeshift display stand, once she taped them as high as she could reach on the window. There were a few scattered books on the bench as well. "Reading, drawing, dreaming, of my own adventures."
She searched around some more, finding an old note under a book on one of the tables.
Lara,
Jaffa cakes next to William Blake
She smiled. "He always hid sweets around the house for me to find." She put the note back down.
She found yet another of the clues for the safe on one of the other desks. A hieroglyph worksheet.
"I remember this now…" She said as she picked it up. "Each district in Ancient Egypt had a symbol and a number. Though I always preferred these symbols to the actual number hieroglyphs."
She could remember her father going over them with her.
"Now…let me see, let me see…" Her father had said. "These two myths are refencing the same source material. But where did I see this image…" He said putting on a show for her.
"Dad…I think it's this one…in the chapter on Egyptian Districts." Her younger self had pointed out.
"Why…yes. I think you're right, Lara!" He congratulated.
"I remember the page…with the illustration of RA." She had told him.
"My goodness, you've been paying attention, haven't you?" He had asked with pride. "This could be an important breakthrough."
"Does this mean I'm your research assistant?" She'd asked him hopefully.
"That and more, my darling girl." He had smiled.
She sighed shaking her head. "Takes me back…those were good days…The best times."
She turned and carefully climbed up one of the ladders. She could feel it vibrating with each step and the mountings felt lose. She'd need to get much sturdier replacements. At the top she found a few more old bookshelves. There were not as full, there were gaps in the rows were something or several books were removed. On one of the lower shelves she found a photograph setting on top of the row of books. She picked it up and saw an elderly woman looking over blueprints.
"This picture was taken in the library." She flipped it over and read the fancy script. "1820, additions to the Main Hall in progress. Hmm…" She put it back and turned back to the ladder after giving the shelves a quick once over for clues.
She walked to the fireplace that was centered along one wall of the library, where it would cast the greatest light and heat for the reading areas. She kneeled and lit the old wood on fire. She sighed at the warmth and the light. Looked to the right of her old window sat and saw another ladder that she missed in the shadows. Looking up she could see this one was on a roller track. She chuckled as she pushed it.
"Took quite a tumble off this old thing when I was a girl…" She winced. "Still feel it in my shoulder from time to time."
She climbed up the ladder but the opening was blocked by a book cart. She could not move it from the vantage point of the ladder, she tried pushing it, but that just moved her and the ladder, it was way too large to move it this way. She looked to the left and saw another opening in the railing. She went back down, moved the ladder to the other opening, climbed back up to pull the book cart out of the way. But she could not squeeze around it. She looked at the railing for just a moment thinking that she could just climb out on it and crab walk around the cart by slipping her feet between the posts of the rail. She gave the rail a little rug and heard some loud cracking. She winched and patted the rail as if to say sorry to it. Then she moved a book cart. She climbed back down and moved the ladder back to where the car had been blocking the way. She climbed back up and was on the extended upper landing of the whole library. Whole sections of the shelves here were empty and there were cartons stacked along the railing. It looked as if someone had started to pack up the library. When she got to the far side of the landing she found a parchment on top of a wooden crate with only an image of a key on it. She frowned at it.
"Hmm, blank…except for the image of a key." Then it hit her. "I remember this map now…it leads to the master key. The one I need." She picked up the paper. "But we made it with a special kind of invisible ink." She looked back into the lower level of the library, at the fireplace. "It could only be seen with the heat of a fire…"
She folded the paper up and dashed back to the ladder. She climbed back down it to the floor. Once there, she ran toward the fireplace. She pulled the paper out and unfolded it. With careful movements, she held the map to the fire, close enough to activate the ink but far enough so the paper didn't catch.
Slowly the lines appeared. It was a map of the library. "I can see the map!" She cheered and pulled it away from the fire, her dark clever eyes memorizing the image. "Looks like the key is hidden under a trunk near a bookcase. X marks the spot, as they say…" She spoke out loud to herself as she turned the map to line up the room with the drawing. Once it was lined up she spotted the where the trunk was and put the paper on a love seat.
She dashed over to the trunk and crouched down, leaning on the back of the wooden trunk so she had a better surface area to move it. She pushed it until she could see that there was a square cut in the floor and the carpet. Nestled in the hole was a metal box. Lara knelt on the floor and leaned down to carefully open the box. She removed the cloth cover and picked up a bronze key with the head in the shape of the Croft "C".
"The master key…this should get me into the west wing…and other places." She muttered as she stood and pocketed it. "This should open most rooms of the Manor."
She climbed back up the ladder and walked over to the locked trunk. She fished out the key and unlocked it. She beamed at what was inside. It was her birthday crown.
"The Pharaoh's crown from my birthday treasure hunt!" She lifted it up, feeling the waxiness of the crayon, the dry stiffness from colored marker, and the dusty feel of colored pencil. "How old was I again? Six? Eight?" Then she noticed the two birds on the red belly of the king cobra center piece. "Hmm, I think this hieroglyph corresponds with a number…" She squinted at it. "But witch one…Oh! Five! I was five years old…" Her eyes widened. "And it's got to be part of dad's safe code!" She pulled out a paper as she put the crown back and write down the number on that note paper her dad had, next to her treasure adventure.
She turned to the door on her left that was locked and slipped the key into it after putting the note and pen away. She stepped into the hallway outside of the study and put the key away in her coat pocket.
"Okay, Dad's clues mention Mum's paintings and their anniversary." She said as she looked into the study then toward the Grand Hall. "Hopefully I can find some answers in the west wing…"
She made a dash to the double doors to the West Wing. Once there she pulled the key and took a breath as she slipped it into the lock. She turned it and nodded when she heard the click. She'd waited a long time to get in there the normal way. She found her hands shaking a little as she slowly opened the doors. She gasped in surprise though at the absolute state of the side room for the West Wing.
A tree had crashed into the window on the west side of the room. Leaves littered the floor. Walls, floor, and ceiling had water damage. An old overhead light had crashed to the floor long ago, crystal and glass scattered on the floor. It has started raining, water dripped down the limbs of the tree to pool on the floor.
"Worse than I thought…" She breathed knowing that the west wing's damage was going to be the hardest thing to get repairs for.
She walked to the only open doorway and swallowed as her torch light lit her path. She stopped by an old cupboard and opened its doors, hoping for an easy clue. The hinges were rusted from the damp so the creaked and screeched as she opened the doors. The moist air of the west wing, was giving the rooms an abandoned and haunted look and feel. On one of the shelves, she found another tape. She looked around then swapped tapes in the player and hit the play button.
"With Amelia gone, the Manor is a different place. A dimness pervades, a quiet I can't stand. Even though Lara is too young to understand what has happened, she also senses the change. Even though she was…She's asked after her mother only once and I'm afraid my reaction must have terrified her.
I will need Winston more than ever these next few months to help look after her. I never quite realized how much grief can consume a man... but I am utterly consumed. I know I can't escape the pain, but I will try my damnedest to avoid it. I will seal the West Wing, for as long as I live in this place. It will remain exactly as Amelia left it.
Perhaps someday Lara can find her own answers here. And jog repressed memories…"
"Dad was right...I could sense the change. And now I'm going to find my own answers. But what did he mean by repressed memories? I don't have repressed memories." Lara thought out loud.
She stood and turned to the only other doors in this entrance area. She walked to them and slipped the key into the lock. She turned it and pushed the doors open. She was greeted by the sight of her mother's bedroom. Some furniture was covered by sheets, others the covers had slipped off and uncovered part of the pieces. Some of the pieces didn't have anything covering them at all.
There was a changing screen, a vanity table. So many things Lara hadn't remembered her mum had. There was a beautiful fireplace too for when the nights were cold. She turned to a small cushy foot stool. On it was a journal that was already open to a page. She kneeled and started reading it.
I believe it took this trip to push me over the edge. I've been able to see Richard in his element...seeing him at his best, and his worst. I've experienced the purity and chaos of his passion. And I came to realize...I want his passion in my life...every day. So... it's done. Richard wanted to wait ANOTHER 4 DAYS TILL MY BIRTHDAY but I wouldn't have it. Once I make a decision, I prefer to get on with it.
We found a small chapel in Luxor that was just right. And with Roth and the others at our side, we married as the sun set over this remarkable land. Mother will never forgive me. Atlas will forever resent me. But I don't care anymore. I'm free of de Mornay obligations. Free to pursue my own passions and live my life surrounded by those who will encourage and challenge me. I'm excited for the future, whatever it may bring.
Tomorrow Richard and I return home to London as The Crofts. Forging our path together.
"Marrying in Luxor was Mom's idea...I never knew! I'm lucky to have this glimpse of her so many years later." Lara smiled as she stood up. "Hmmm, four days before mum's birthday…"
She began searching her mother's room once more. She found another cassette tape for the player. Swapping tapes again, she gave this one a listen.
"Amelia would not have approved. That alone should have been the end of it. But I am as God made me - a stubborn fool. I locked all the West Wing's doors, and I shall not open them again until either my life or my obstinacy comes to an end.
The night before, Roth told me I would someday change my mind. Like a broken arm cast in plaster, he said, the wound would heal, and we would someday shed the bandages to be whole again. The metaphor made me furious, the clumsy way he'd cast our loss off as nothing more than an inconvenience. There is wisdom in his rough words, but...I've done what I must.
Perhaps someday Lara will throw back the doors to let the sunshine in again. Maybe she will find her own sense of peace in this place."
"I know Dad couldn't deal with what happened, but it's time to open up the West Wing. It's time to move on..." She sighed.
She turned to her mother's wardrobe. Pulling the doors open, finding yet another tape. it was almost like her father left them behind for her, sad yet happy breadcrumbs. Once more she swapped tapes, finding it hard to carry them all.
"I am bursting with pride! Amelia is with child! It is amazing how everything in life can change with such a simple event. Obviously, we don't know the gender...but already we've discussed possible names. Perhaps Benjamin, after my grandfather. Or maybe Griffin? He was more infamous a Croft than even me!
No, Amelia wouldn't have it. Besides, she's certain it's a girl. She favors a classic such as Scarlett or Kate, though I've made some headway with Lara, a subtle nod to the Sun God Ra, and our days in Egypt where certainly this child was conceived.
I find myself thinking about this new life we've created...of how much she might be like us. For all my research into myths of immortality, I may have ignored the most obvious answer to the question that plague me. We live on through our progeny...our genes, DNA, experiences...passed through the generations. Perhaps this is the simple truth of eternal life, and I've just been too stubborn to accept it."
Lara smiled then cringed at the discussion of names. She was intrigued at her father's thought process of becoming a dad. "In a way Dad found the secret of immortality and didn't even realize it. And I'm glad they went with Lara." She sighed then shivered as she tucked the tape player away. "But really didn't need to know about where I was conceived. Just ew, dad."
She turned to her mother's bed and paused. Resting on the comforter was an engagement ring. Lara let out a breath and picked it up with a shaking hand. It was a silver band with small intricate details along the sides. The setting had three large diamonds, the center one in a square cut to offset the two on the sides that were just a bit smaller in a trapezoid shape to give the ring a soft feminine look to it. Framing each stone were very small round diamonds.
"Mum's wedding ring…I always wondered what happened to it." She looked at the band and squinted at the inside, seeing an engraving. "Hmm, the inscription it's faded."
She put it in her pocket. She wasn't going to just leave it lying around. No this was something that meant a lot to her now. A treasure of memories. She walked to her mother's vanity and picked up a bottle. She lifted it close and smelled. The Susinum scent, of lilies, myrrh, and cinnamon was memory triggering. The familiar scent making her partly remember her mother's laugh, or the feeling she got when her mum was around. She sighed and put it back down.
She looked to the left and saw that a box rested on the nightstand by the left side of the bed. She walked over to look inside and let out a gasp. She remembered the pearl necklace.
"I remember this…Dad gave it to Mum for her birthday." She muttered as she ran her fingers over the pale cream-colored orbs on the delicate string. She closed the box gently and spotted her mother's birthdate on the lid. "October 13th…Mum's birthday." She put it back down. "I'm pretty sure my parents were married in October. I think it was close to her birthday." She nodded four days before.
She looked to a photo. It depicted her mother in a white dress. Her wedding dress. Lara picked it up and smiled at how her mum smiled, it was so similar to her own, it was almost uncanny. Her hair was short and around her shoulders loosely.
"Mum on her wedding day…she looks so beautiful." She flipped the frame around saw the date. "There's a date…October something…" She turned her light on it more and groaned in her throat at the snugged number. "Damn, the number's faded. But it looks like it was two digits." She put it back down with a sigh. "Their anniversary is in October…but which day?" She laughed bitterly. "I can't believe I don't know this. There's got to be another clue somewhere."
She walked over to a table where a pocket watch sat. she felt a memory peek out from her subconscious, where it was buried.
"After everything Atlas has done! How could you tell him about the expedition!?" Her father had yelled.
"It's just…all been too much." Her mother yelled back sounded agitated. "I need to talk to someone. He's still my brother." She had pointed out.
"I don't trust him!" Her father had hissed.
"You don't have to, Richard. But please…trust me." Her mother had begged.
"I'm sorry, my dear…but I know him." Her dad sighed. "He'll take it to the papers. The investors will pull out." He had informed her.
"Then go. Without me…tonight!" Her mother stressed to him. "I will take care of Atlas, and then meet you in Tibet next week."
Lara shuttered at the memory. "I was so young, but I still remember that terrible argument." She looked at the pocket watch on the table. "It wasn't always an easy road for my parents…"
She picked up the pocket watch. It looked to be made of silver and had the Croft family crest on it. "Hmm, I think this was dad's pocket watch." She looked at the watch face and tipped her head. "Hmm, looks like it stopped at precisely midnight."
She put it back down and turned to the exit. She walked back out and back to the broken room. She turned and walked along a damaged hallway, the floor was patchy, the windows cracked and dirty, curtains ripped and hung limply. Another flash of lightning startled her as shadows stretched like creeping vines for a second. And for a second, just one, she saw a ghostly image of her father.
She shook her head, grabbing at her chest. Her heart racing for a moment. The haunted house look was really messing with her. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, letting her heart slow back down.
"Okay, Lara, keep it together…" She muttered. "There's no zombies here like Jill and Chris talked about. No ghosts like Kat and Leon talked about. You're just seeing things." She said softly as she walked to a cupboard. She leaned on it for a second. Grounding herself. Then she opened it and found a letter inside. One from Winston to her dad.
My Lord,
We all hope your work was well received at the conference and look forward to your return. As is so often the case with these missives, I wanted to call your attention to an incident involving our little angel.
It seems that Lara has been the subject of some ridicule amongst the other girls at school. From what I can gather, some of the other young ladies were teasing her for being too much of a 'tom boy.'
You know how Lara can get when pushed into a corner. Let's just say, they won't be bothering her again. But I do think their words have had an effect. I believe Lara has been missing her mother lately. She's begun to worry that she isn't like the other girls. And having grown up with only a father, it shouldn't come as a surprise that she has trouble relating to them. Even with her friend Amanda, but she's moving back to America in the summer. I wonder if this new friend of yours, Ana is it? Perhaps she might prove a welcome influence. It might be worth bringing her to the manor to meet Lara. In any case, I'll let you decide the proper time to do that - please travel home safely.
Yours, Winston
"Oh, Winston. He really did look out for me." She muttered as she put the letter down and then sighed. "And Amanda. God I'm so sorry." She looked away from it.
She couldn't linger on her childhood friend's death. Or rather how she was missing. She looked to the double doors at the end of the hall and moved toward them.
"Mum's Atelier…" She grasped a handle and pulled out the master key. "Dad sealed it off soon after she died." She slipped the key into the lock and turned it. "He probably couldn't bear the idea of removing any of her belongings…" She pushed the doors open and looked around the dark room, the art studio. "Untouched for years…exactly as she left it."
There were several easels, canvas leaning against the walls ready to be painted on, boxes of paints, and many other supplies. Her mother's supplies. Nearly all her mother's paintings were in here. Moved here after her death. Preserved. Most were very well-made oil paintings, but a few were watercolor and charcoal. She found yet another journal, open on a specific entry. Again, it was from her mother.
I stood up to my family's criticism, stood in defense of Richard and our love. But as my new life began in Croft Manor, doubt set in. How could love flourish in these cavernous halls and endless passageways? Had I made a terrible mistake?
I have never been more delighted to be wrong. Richard welcomed me to the Manor - my new home - with a game. It was a clue, written in jumbled words from five different languages, but it pointed the way forward. The next clue was seemingly blank piece of parchment in the kitchen, where the heat of a candle revealed a message written in lemon juice.
I followed each step, grinning like a child as I solved his riddles and chased the trail to its end: a white cloth stretched on the lawn where a picnic was laid out. We laughed and ate, and my doubt vanished with the last of the morning mist.
Love can, and will, endure.
"Good job, Dad. You knew how hard this decision was for her and you made it easy." Lara smiled.
She walked farther into the room. Looking at each painting. Some were landscapes others were portraits. Others where abstract as her mother painted what she was feeling.
"Mum's paintings…" She sighed looking at the group. "Which one was dad's favorite?"
She spotted another page on a countertop. She walked over and looked it over.
I returned home this afternoon to collect the last of my paintings. I suppose I should say, I returned to my family's home.
Atlas was there, in one of his foul moods, and even as he dripped venom for Richard with his cruel barbs, I could only laugh. To think that I once listened to my bitter brother in matters of my own happiness! My dismissal only served to infuriate him more.
I left him there in father's study, muttering to himself. On the drive back, as Winston took a longer route through the country, I looked through my paintings, Richard's favorite one among them - a simple abstract with BLOCKS OF RED. I smiled thinking about giving it to him. I was happy and I was going home.
"It must have been so hard for her to give up her family." Lara muttered then hummed as she turned to look at the collection of paintings. "Blocks of red. Dad's favorite painting." She spotted it and walked toward it. "Maybe something about that painting will help me figure out the combination?"
She looked the painting, seeing it was abstract alright. Four red blocks, gold strips, green stripes, blue patch, and brown bits. She didn't get it. Looking at it made her wonder why it was her dad's favorite.
"Okay…back to the study to open the safe…" She muttered writing on the note, then she put the numbers together. She found that she didn't want to leave the room. With all her mother's passions and love in this room as she painted. She just wanted to surround herself with it a bit longer. "Maybe…just poke around a little more. Then I'll open the safe." She muttered putting the pen and paper in her pocket. She walked to a picture frame and lifted it in confused curiosity. It was of a 4- or 5-year-old Lara with her mother, painting in this very studio. Her mother was sitting on the floor behind her, her legs out stretched as she smiled up at the camera. Lara was looking down as she painted on a large piece of paper on the floor.
"I don't have any memory of this…" She muttered running her fingers over the dusty glass. "I wish I could remember doing this…Mum died too young."
She put it back down and looked to another picture. This one was one she'd never seen before. It was of her mother holding her as a baby, maybe a few months old. "Mum with me as a baby…" Lara breathed looking it over in shock. "I've never seen this. Hard to believe I was ever that small." She smiled. She smiled softly. She thought she had forgotten what her mum looked like but seeing her in the pictures, her face and voice came rushing back.
She walked to the other end of the room and paused. There was her mother's piano. She slowed her walk as another memory came to mind.
"You've almost got it, darling…" Her mother's kind voice had said. "Here…let me show you." She guided. "Like this, see?" She then laughed. "Well done, Lara! Well done…"
Lara sighed as she reached out to the keys of the piano. "I wonder how my life would've been different had she lived…" She sighed running fingers on the cream and dark keys leaving a trail in the dust.
She pulled away and looked up to the loft part of the room, wondering what she might find up there. She climbed a ladder and found two things on the dust covered boxes. A brochure for her mother's art exhibit, it mentioned an art showing in New York that never happened. The other was another journal entry, this one torn from one of the other journals she'd already found.
Lara arrived tonight, though not without a bit of drama. But all is well. She's a healthy, beautiful baby. I've never seen him so happy. I'm sure he'll be celebrating with his favorite whisky tonight.
It's calm and peaceful now...just the gentle sound of the rain, and the small, sleeping breaths of this new life I hold in my arms. Lara...Lara Croft.
My darling daughter. It's hard to put into words this feeling I have. We share a connection...something I never expected. A love so powerful and pure. Someday you'll feel it too.
No matter where you go, or where you find your place in this world...we will always have this connection.
"I still feel that connection to you, Mom." Lara smiled sadly. She gently folded the page and put it in her pocket with her mother's ring.
She turned back and left the loft. She paused in the doorway, looking back at the paintings and pictures. She smiled at them. The things she'd found, all of it was the last things she had of her mother.
'I'm glad I still have so much of mum's work.' She thought. As she closed the door, she vowed to not give this place up. She wanted to restore these rooms and hang her mothers paintings around the manor as they should be displayed.
She jogged out of the West Wing and aimed to get back to the study. In the main hall she stopped. She remembered there were still some locked areas. She climbed down the stairs. While down there, she made a quick stop at the foyer's fireplace. She lit the fire there for both light and warmth. After that, she turned to the right side and over to a pair of doors that had been locked.
Pulling the key, she opened the doors and looked around yet another room with a fireplace. But this one was boarded up. More than likely needed repairs. She saw an old couch and some scattered boxes and sheets. She saw some papers though on a metal cart. She walked over and picked them up. this was a letter to her from Winston.
Mistress Lara,
I took the liberty of preparing a tray, as dinner did not go according to plans. I've included, in addition to your meal, a few treats. I would appreciate it if you kept this between us, but I felt tonight called for something special.
If you will forgive the indulgence, your rapid exit from the dinner table had me concerned, and I wanted to impart something that I hope sets your mind at ease. I have known your father for quite some time. There is an intensity to his passion that can be frightening. But I recognize that same passion in you. You're more like him than you know.
Never doubt that he loves you more than his research...more than his artifacts. More than anything in this world. Storms pass, and tomorrow will be clear and blue again.
When you have finished, please leave the tray outside. Be well.
Yours. Winston
"I don't even remember this letter. I'm sure I wasn't able to read it at the time. Did he write this more for himself than me?" Lara wondered as she put the letter down.
She walked to a wall and found the locked old secret passage. She unlocked it for easier traversal should she need it again. She unlocked another set of doors and found herself in the library's bottom floor. She nodded and took the secret stair's short cut back up to the study.