Julie stepped through the large oak doors that lead into her father’s old office. As a child she had been forbidden to even enter this place. It been a total mystery to her. What kind of secrets did her father hide in there?
Whatever they were, they were gone now. Before her mother had vanished she had apparently gone through the entire house, cleaning up anything that was less than savory when it came to the Kramer family memory. The attorney had said that her mother had thoroughly lost her mind before she up and disappeared.
Julie was almost a little disappointed that she had missed those days. Not that seeing her mother crazy would be any blast, but it would have been nice to have some kind of glimpse into what had lead to her mother’s mental breakdown. As it was now, there were no clues. There was nothing.
She noticed that all the family portraits were missing.
There were no pictures of Brian left at all.
Her younger brother had died a year before she had left town. He had fallen off of the a friend’s speed boat in the lake, and had gotten caught in the propeller.
A sudden knock at the door dropped her out of her memories and right back into the present.
Julie turned, and there, looking as if she hadn’t aged a day, was Carla Russo.
"I saw the gate open. I..." She couldn’t even finish her sentence. Carla rushed across the room, wrapping her arms around Julie.
Julie was less enthusiastic in returning the hug.
"I’m glad you’re back." Carla’s voice was a mash up of her usual rasp and a mushy, mucus filled tone of someone who had burst into tears.
"I... I am to."
Carla broke the hug.
"Don’t lie. I can see it in your eyes. You want to rip your skin off every second you spend in this place."
"Never could fool you."
Carla gave her the once over, a curious, if not worried look in her eyes.
"How long are you going to stay?"
"I don’t know. Until I can either find out what happened to my mom, or sell the place. Whatever comes first."
Julie turned, walking to the desk. Her hands glided over the newly polished wood.
"Had you seen her?" Julie turned, crossing her arms over her chest, looking around the room. She couldn’t bring herself to look her old friend in the eye just yet.
"No. Well, I mean, in town every once in a while. She kept to herself. After your father died..." Carla cringed as if she had said a bad word. "She didn’t leave much. When she did she was usually a mess. Oh God, Julie it was real sad. Your mom used to be so classy, but then... she just fell apart at the seems."
Julie tried to picture her mother, a woman who had always been so concerned with her appearance, suddenly reduced to a babbling old cat lady. It both horrified her, and broke her heart.
"Come on, lets get out of here. It won’t do you any good to start rummaging through this old place right now." Carla reached over, gently taking Julie’s hand.
"Where to?"
"How does getting totally drunk sound?"
"Perfect." Julie smiled. It was the first time in a long time.
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