Emily

The sun was setting on the old, dilapidated house, casting long shadows across the overgrown lawn. Emily shivered as a gust of wind ruffled her hair, and she tugged her coat tighter around her body. This was it. This was the place where she had grown up, where she had spent countless hours playing hide-and-seek with her siblings, and where she had said goodbye to her parents for the last time.

As she approached the front door, Emily’s heart began to race. She hadn’t been back here in years, not since the accident. The memories flooded back, the sound of her mother’s laughter, the smell of her father’s cologne. But now, it was all gone. The house was empty, abandoned, a shell of what it once was.

Emily pushed open the creaky front door, her footsteps echoing through the empty hall. The wallpaper was peeling, the floorboards creaking beneath her feet. She wandered through the deserted rooms, her fingers trailing over dusty furniture and faded photographs. It was like stepping back in time, but a time that no longer existed.

As she made her way up the stairs, Emily’s eyes fell on the door to her childhood bedroom. She hesitated, her hand hovering over the doorknob. Could she handle it? Could she face the memories, the pain?

With a deep breath, she turned the handle and pushed open the door. The room was just as she remembered it, filled with posters of her favourite bands and books strewn across the bed. But there was one thing that was different. In the corner, propped up against the wall, was a small wooden box.

Emily approached it cautiously, her heart pounding. She knew what it was before she even touched it. It was the box her mother had given her, the one filled with all her childhood treasures. Emily reached out and lifted the lid, and a wave of emotion washed over her.

There were her old diaries, filled with teenage angst and heartbreak. There were the seashells she had collected on family holidays, and the homemade bracelets her sister had made her. But there was one thing that caught her eye, something she had forgotten about.

It was a photograph of her and her family, taken on her eighth birthday. Her mother was holding a cake, her father was grinning from ear to ear, and Emily and her siblings were crowded around them, beaming with joy. It was a moment frozen in time, a moment that would never come again.

Emily felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes as she gazed at the photograph. It was a bittersweet reminder of what she had lost, but also of what she had once had. She closed the lid of the box and tucked it under her arm, knowing that it was time to leave. But as she made her way back down the stairs, she knew that this old house would always hold a special place in her heart.