Memories by Yehor Boichenko

Tom always thought of the attic room

as one of the scariest places in the whole house. During the day it was dark, and in the evening not only dark, but cold and soulless. However, all these memories remained in the past. Tom went to the stairs leading to the attic and tried to take a step.

 “I am so-soooo sorry… are you alright?“, Marta ran up to him. He loved Martha, but sometimes she seemed a little annoying.

“yeah, I’m fine. don't worry. just remembered how good it was here.”

“oh, don't even remind me... who would have thought that the house would catch fire. honestly, Tom, Andrew and I did our best, but… if the firemen had come in time, then…”

”hey, i told – it’s okay. thank god you both weren’t here. don’t forget what my dad used to say: “it could have been worse, so don’t you dare to cry; go back to work”, they laughed.

But Martha was right. The fire broke out suddenly. The reason still could not be established. Martha and her husband Andrew were watching TV at their house next door. First, they smelled smoke, and then they saw a huge fire burning in the house of their neighbours. The house stood alone for a long time, as after the death of the old owners, it was inherited by their son. He, in turn, was very busy building a career as a photographer in a big city. When Tom found out about the arson, he hesitated for a long time whether to go at all. However, Martha's words and the desperation in her voice convinced him to visit for a few days.

He stopped at a roadside hotel, where he had booked a room for one night in advance. "if you book for longer, you may feel a little bit too relaxed to go back to work" – with this thoughts, Tom drove to his parents' house.

“Andrew said he would find a team and they would fix everything. And MAYBE, JUST MAYBE you can even move in… NO, wait, don't interrupt… I know you think that you might be better off in the city…but here… this is your home. What could be better than home?”, said Martha.

“Martha, you will never understand. this all doesn’t feel like home to me… and it hasn’t been felt like home for a long time. perhaps, maybe somewhere inside, I even glad that it happened”, Tom threw his arms around; at that moment, something loudly crashed on the second floor.

 “Jesus, alright, whatever, it's your business. at least I tried“, said Martha calmly.

“then, i think it's time for me to go back to the city. there's a storm brewing and i don't want to get stuck halfway”.

They went out into the garden. Tom took one last look at the house full of memories. The doubts that had been burning inside him all this time suddenly dissipated and seemed to let him go. Yes, he was sure. The house will must be sold. Tom took his backpack and went to the bus stop.

***

”God, where are they?!”, Tom shouted, trying to find the keys in the bag. it was cold in the yard, and the rain was intensifying. All transport to the city was cancelled due to bad weather. At first, Tom thought of waiting at Martha's, but he almost immediately remembered her look and heard all her persuasions to leave her parents' house. "No, it's better to wait in the dark than to be alone with her in the room again," thought Tom.

He felt cold and sad again when he crossed the threshold of the house and he again heard a strange sound coming from the attic. The knocking grew louder. Tom took off his backpack and took a few steps towards the stairs. "Anyway, I need to kill time somehow. Besides, what could be scarier than Martha?", with this thought the man took a step.

The room was as he remembered it. Well, almost. Before, it seemed bigger to Tom. He turned on the flashlight on his phone and began to listen. Minute. Two. Three. A knock comes from an old chest of drawers. Tom slowly approached the closet (the sound was getting louder and even more unbearable). Without thinking, he abruptly opened the first drawer. The room fell into dead silence.

There was an old photo album in the chest of drawers. Tom laughed. "I thought “the mystery of the sound” would be more interesting, but it is what...", he did not manage to finish the sentence, because as soon as he opened the book, a bright light blinded his eyes. And then, everything was like in a fog. Photos, one by one, began to fly out of the album. Frightened, Tom ran to the door, but something seemed to be holding it. He was trapped. "HELP", but the cry was not heard. The photographs did not end and continued to attack the room. Tom stopped. For a second  he thought that he heard a familiar voice. "That's right, now spin the other one! Well done! Just look straight ahead and don't get distracted." "Dad, I'm going! Hahahah, it worked!". "Hey, I remember this day...", said Tom.

At that moment, right in front of him, flashed a memory of his father with little Tom trying to ride a bicycle. Tom saw that almost transparent figures of a light orange color began to fill the room. All these were moments from his life. All of them brightly illuminated the room of the old attic. Suddenly, one of the memories came to the album. Tom noticed that the figure was reaching for a book that was releasing memories one after another. Tom tried to get closer to her, but there were so memories that they blocked his way.

The noise was getting louder, and moments from Tom's life were starting to drive him crazy. A strange figure lifted the album and looked into Tom's eyes. The man was filled with fear and despair. He saw a strange figure start to catch fire. Sparks of fire began to burn memories and those, feeling the heat, disappeared. "My memories!", shouted Tom. At that moment, all the orange figures disappeared. Without thinking, Tom ran up to the dark figure, which was burning brighter. Coming closer, Tom recoiled. The figure was himself, but with a sad face and a terrible penetrating look. "This cannot be...", said the man. The fiery figure handed him the album and disappeared. Tom remained standing in the empty room.