Insane

•Chapter 2: Pictures and Advice•

"Come on, let's start opening a few things," Alice advised with a smile, "it's always my favorite part about moving." I reply with a nod and make my way to the boxes already unloaded.

Once again, the strained doorbell filled the house. The pitter patter of feet on our porch steps hints of old friends eager to be welcomed. "Rocky!" My hand pushes the door outward and in comes my fluffy black and white companion. And right behind him is his brown and white sister, Ella. Rocky leaps into my arms and showers me with as many kisses as he can. "Hey big boy! Oh how I missed you!" I giggled, scratching his backside.

"I brought takeout!" Chris commented, holding up two bags filled with our dinner.
"Chris, place the food in the kitchen please." I requested without breaking eye contact with Rocky.
Alice departed with Chris to the kitchen while I remained on the floor, too focused on my dog.

"Scarlett, I think you might want to check this out." says Alice from the kitchen. As I made my way to the kitchen, with Rocky right at my heels, I see Alice and Chris looking at a square hole in the wall. "They made these back in the day to send food upstairs." exclaimed Chris as he played with the wires which determined which way the box would be sent.

"How come I missed this when I walked in earlier?" I say eying the old-fashioned contraption.
"It has a cover, which slides off when in use." Alice says as she demonstrates the optical illusion.

I purse my lips and let out a sigh, "I should've known." "Okay, enough of this. Lets get eating." Chris' voice breaks the silence. "You guys set up at the table, I'm going to bring in the tableware." I say diverting my attention into remembering where each utensil was.

"Were the spoons in this one, or this one?" My ear picks up a thump coming from behind me. My eyebrows form an expression of confusion as I look for the source of the sound. My eyes scan the floor, trying to find something out of the ordinary. My eyes shift from the floor to the rim of the lower wall until I meet with the box. It was opened and it wasn't empty this time. I place the forks down on the counter top near me and examine the newly found item. "You're kidding me." I whispered. The whisper itself was so low that I felt my warm breath on my top lip as I spoke. I pick up the item in my hands, a book. "What are you doing here?" I say passing my hands through the front cover. My index finger outlines the cover and runs through its edges. My curiosity consumes me and I begin to flip through pages. Picture after picture after picture. Not one page was left blank. These pages contained old pictures, of people in the same house. Generations maybe?

"Scarlett? Whats the hold up?" Alice's voice sends me back to reality. "Uh... yeah I'm coming right now." I take the book in my arms and grab the utensils. "Look at this, I found it just now in the box."
"Woah, that's pretty cool, antique?"
Alice passes the book to Chris, "Yeah, not bad. Are you going to keep it?" "I'll have to see if it's important, maybe I should return it to the owner." "You mean, to Henry?" Alice gives me a wink and one of her million dollar smiles.

"Henry? And who might that be?" Chris questions while munching on a fortune cookie. "Scarlett's new love interest..." Alice nudges me with her elbow. "It's about time-" "Uh Chris!" Chris' honest yet hurtful response gets him a slap in the arm from Alice. "He doesn't mean that." She reassures. "No no, I do! You've never had a real relationship that hasn't ended up with guys getting rejected over school work."
Alice begins to reprimand him but I cut her off, "No he's right. I should try and give this one a chance."

"You never know, maybe this one's your match!" Alice says handing me my designated fortune cookie. "Let's hope so." I say unwrapping my future advice. Before enjoying my cookie I always read my fortune. My thumb smooths down the thin paper in between my hand and my eyes trace the black ink. "Not everything is as it seems."