Snowflakes In Autumn (A Novella)

Two

Faith had only opened the boxes to confirm they were the right ones before taking them. Her mother never would have handed them over willingly and had kept them tucked away in the attic rather than the basement with everything else from their childhood. But with her mom always out of town now, she must not have thought Faith was desperate enough to get the answers for herself.

In the confines of her apartment, Faith lifted the first lid and placed it on the stained cream colored carpet. A mountain of photos greeted her and tears instinctively fell from her eyes. Having Hope and her father tucked away in a box was like erasing them from all their lives. She couldn't imagine the pain her mom must have suffered with their loss, but hiding them away and pretending they never existed couldn't have been the only way to survive the pain.

She picked up the photographs one by one, inspecting them in hopes it could release some memory trapped within her. Some were of her father posing with the rest of the family, some posing with Noah. There were dates jotted down on the back of the photographs, giving her a timeline of her past. There were a few where it was just her and Noah, him locked away as if to keep him a secret.

How close were they? She appeared happy in every single photo, as did he. Most of them weren't even staged, but candid and from a distance. The longer she looked at a photo of him swinging her in the air by her arms, the more she felt a tug somewhere deep within.

Faith closed her eyes and saw only a moment. Noah covered her entire body with his own. Then a shot rang out in the classroom. All she could remember was his body jerking and becoming heavy on top of her.

He'd been shot. She remembered now. Shot to protect her and keep his promise to her father.

Her phone came to life beside her and Faith jumped at the sudden sound, photographs dropping from her hand and landing every which way. Seeing her brother's photo on the screen, no doubt to wish her a happy birthday before starting his day, Faith answered.

"Was Noah shot?"

"What?"

He knew exactly who she was talking about. "Noah. Was he shot that day?"

Her brother's heavy breath filled her speakers. "You remember."

His voice sounded more disappointed than anything. It was something he was never able to understand. While he and her mother may have moved on with their lives, they did so because they remembered. They had memories to keep them going. Promises they made. Thoughts of their smiles to get them through the difficult times. They remembered feeling loved.

In Faith's twenty-one years, she didn't have any of that.

"Yes, I remember." It was sort of the truth. She remembered a moment, which was more than she'd ever had before. "He survived." She only said it as a statement because his face wasn't in the article under the victims. That, and Faith wanted to sound like she knew more than she did.

"Can't you please just let this go? You know how mom gets when you dredge this shit up."

Though her brother couldn't see her, she glared at the phone anyhow. He couldn't see her because he lived somewhere else. Her mother didn't live far away at all and still didn't see her. Faith reflected the daughter her mother lost.

She was done living her life as the silent, invisible daughter.

"I've tried it your guys' way," Faith reminded him. "I've tried having a life. It isn't working. Please, Ryan, just give me something."

Another heavy breath. "Grab a pen and paper."

Faith stood, feeling her legs tingle from sitting on them for so long, and wobbled over to her end table. After she grabbed a pencil and her notebook, she scanned for the nearest empty page and sat down on her bed. "Got it."