Forgotten Photography ✔

Unpleasant Pleasantries

Her head was spinning wildly, as if on a ride that would never end. A toilet full of vomit sat next to Evergreen as she lifted her pounding head, but upon further investigation, she did not recognize the toilet her vomit lay in. The vomit was most definitely hers, the smell gave it away.

Then, the dry heaves. The horrible, wretched dry heaves. It caused her intestines and throat to ache, fire burning its way through her sinuses and her inability to breathe made it so much worse. When her stomach finally calmed, her nose started bleeding from the over exposure to her stomach acids.

That's the moment she noticed someone standing in the corner of the room. But wait, what room? This isn't like any of the bathrooms in her house. Evergreen's mother preferred simplicity and function over style and fashion. The old tub next to her was a claw foot tub from a time period she was too dazed to be able to name.

"Where.....the....fuck...." These were the only words Evergreen could stifle out as she hiccuped and gasped for air from the pain of her wretching. She gazed from behind searing tears to see what all surrounded her. That's when the sillhouette disappeared once more, but she saw just enough to notice the person was definitely a man, he wore a dingey hoodie and baggy work pants. His boots were stained, either from blood, or what could be vomit.

Was he the one who brought Evergreen here?

Wait.

Oh God.

"HADES! MOM!" Evergreen got up in a panic, rushing from the bathroom. She thought the door was locked, throwing her weight against it to open it. She fell hard onto the ground as the door swung open, clearly not locked, in fact it wasn't even latched. She squealed and smacked the ground with a hard thud.

Evergreen groaned in pain, wanting to cry. Her body was aching now, slowly bruising. She felt blood rushing down the right side of her face, her vision absolutely black in that eye. The hot, sticky liquid glued that eyelid shut as she whined.

"It's not wise to panic like that." An unfamiliar voice echoed from a chair in what was probably the study.

"What?" Evergreen was too dazed to understand a word, head bowed as she stood up, dizzy. A puddle of blood spreading from where she landed.

"I'm going to be the one to clean that mess up....damnit.... it is my own fault, I guess." The man had a dark mask to cover his identity. His rough voice was like gravel, but not so much to be unattractive to the ears. An intimidating tone, but not so much where you felt endangered.

At least, not yet.

"Who are you and why am I here!?" Evergreen went to rush at him, but having lost so much blood, her world spun as she collapsed again, this time in the man's arms.

"Don't. Don't stress yourself out any worse. You are not in the shape for this kind of aggression." He sat her down in a chair, disappearing only for a moment to grab the necessary equipment to clean the blood from the tile.

"Who the hell are you to tell me what is good for me? You kidnapped me!" Evergreen's fury was unhinged, even while slumped in a chair.

"No. I'm not. I'm just supposed to watch you. The one who took you is not here." The man took care of the mess with such thorough precision, it didn't even seem like the tile had ever been used, none the less bled upon.

"The one who took me? What is this? Some kind of Mob operation?" Evergreen had enough of her situation.

"Yeah, sure, what ever you wish to call it." The hooded man put away his cleaning supplies, sitting down in the chair directly across from Evergreen. "The only advice I have for you is, don't run."

"And why not? What would happen?" The question sounded defiant at first, but then just boiled over into legitimate curiosity.

"That answer is one you can only find out by doing. And if I were you, I wouldn't." And with that cryptic answer, he disappeared into the bathroom, grabbing medical supplies. He started to work on Evergreen's eye, which was the object of injury. "This may never function correctly again, sorry girlie..." The man sighed, gathering his supplies back up and putting it away.

"Well....that's just great." Evergreen stood up slowly, still dizzy, but her curiosity was slowly winning. She shuffled her way through the rooms, coming across the staircase, and then the kitchen. From the kitchen she made her way to a small office room with a picture of a young child with her parents. The parents were older, almost too old to even have kids.

Then it clicked.

One of the photos happened to be the same as one of the photos in the museum. It was Maddison's family. This was her house. It was lived in.

"Wait....but Maddison has been missing for years....Why are you here?" Evergreen turned around to see the Hooded man looming behind her.

"Because. She needs somebody to take care of this place while she is away. She'll be back, Maddison just had some things to attend to." The man leaned against the door frame as she looked Evergreen over, as if to size her up.

"But....nobody has heard from her!" Evergreen was shocked. How could Maddison just be "away". There had to be something else behind it all.

"Listen kid. Just because you haven't seen someone in years doesn't automatically make them dead. She met someone. That's all I will say." He just continued to lean on the frame, looking around the small office. "Also, don't go up the stairs. That part of the house is off limits."

"Why is that?" Evergreen turned around and walked from the office, back to the room where they could sit and relax.

"Do you really want to find that out?" The hooded man turned and walked away, tired of her constant questioning. Evergreen didn't see much of him after that, sneaking out of the house with ease.....

Too much ease.