“No, Dad I promise. I’ll be fine. And yes, I’ll keep all the doors locked and no stepping out after 7pm. Love you so much. Bye.”
Sheesh! I said to myself as I hung up. You’d think I was camping in the Sambisa forest or something. It was literally my childhood home. I don’t know why they made it seem like I hadn’t spent the first sixteen years of my life here before moving to the big city.
I paused in front of the little monument that had been done in honour of Grandma who had died six months back. In this house no less. The Caville Manor had been in the family for generations but for reasons knowing to my parents, they chose to leave the day after I’d turned sixteen. They begged Grandma to come with us but she refused, saying she’d been born here and hoped to spend her remaining years here as well. So, we had left and I’d felt bad every day that I didn’t stay back with her.
Now, eleven years later I was back. Just for the summer but still back nonetheless and she wasn’t there. Closing my eyes, I gave the monument a single kiss, apologizing to Grandma for leaving her alone in the Manor all these years and promising to cherish the memories she kept here regardless. I straightened, took a deep breath and walked into the legend that was the Caville Manor.
Stepping into the manor, I grinned when I saw that things still looked the same. Grandma had been adamant that most of the age-old antique furniture remain and I had warded the cleaners Dad had sent off too. Somehow, I felt that it would be better if I did the clean-up myself and I didn’t want anyone tampering with things that meant so much to Grandma.
Putting off, most of the work till the next day, I decided to start with Grandma’s room. I started looking into the closets and drawers. Had some fun trying out Grandma’s clothes and taking pictures of me in them to send to Dad later. Just a way of letting him know I was okay. Absentmindedly, I picked up one of the pillows on the bed and found a threadbare, spiral-bound diary.
I opened it and it felt a gust of magic leapt at me from the brown, frayed pages. I gasped as my goosebumps emerged from my arms. I whipped my head around and took a second look at the room. For a second, it felt like I wasn’t alone anymore. A warm sensation filled me and I knew that Grandma’s aura was in that room but I wondered why. Instinctively, I opened to the last page and Grandma’s flawless cursive came into view.
Maybe, a seat by the window will change your point of view.
A look into my life, before you bid me my final Adieu.
I smiled tearily as mixed emotions gripped, confusion and wonder alight. Nevertheless, I walked to the only window in the room that had a cozy recliner beneath it. I settled in and flipped to the first page as I rested my palm on the window. I read aloud…. “The day of my sixteenth birthday had never felt so bleak…”
The tingles were immediate and it was like being transported into a new world. A world of dreams. Only this time I was in a dream, witnessing Grandma’s life. Like a movie where I had a front-row seat. Only I couldn’t do anything but watch.
I watched a sixteen-year-old Valentina Caville, my grandma as she sat on her bed, her hands over her ears as she tried to block out the noise of her parents fighting. I felt her emotions as she cried that her parents were too busy fighting to even remember that it was her birthday. She opened her drawer and picked up the diary. New and beautiful then. And began to write. Writing the words I was reading now. Seated on the recliner I was seated now. Her words were filled with so much sorrow and pain, I took my hand off the window and in a split second I was back.
I couldn’t believe what had happened in the past minutes. How had Grandma’s memories infiltrated the window so magically? I ran my hand lightly through the window and felt the tingles deliciously on my skin. What did she want me to find out? I clutched the diary to my chest, fighting the urge to open it again and keep reading.
I left the recliner and walked about the room. Whatever Grandma needed me to find, it was obvious to me that it would take much more than a little summer holiday to discover. Could I move here? My job was online and I could afford work from anywhere. As I kept musing, I heard a knock on the door. It sounded a tad insistent like it had been going on for a while.
I ran down, wondering who it was as I latched open the little lock. I came to face with a pair of eyes so green, they matched the colours of the forest.
“Hey, I’m Keith.” The guy said with a tumble of rich tenor. I recovered my wits immediately and answered.
“Yes, Keith. Good day. How may I help you?”
“Oh...My Grandpa sent me. We’re your next-door neighbours and Pops thought I could bring some homemade cookies to welcome you in.”
I took in the wrapped cookies I didn’t take notice of at first and smiled as I took them.
“I’m just here for the summer but give your Grandpa my thanks.”
“Okay. See you around Miss…?”
I almost cursed myself at my rudeness. Why hadn’t I given him my name? “Oh, it’s Bridget. Bridget Caville.”
“Wow….okay, see you around Bridget.”
I smiled again as I closed the door. Climbing the stairs back to the room, I looked warily at my phone on the bed. Taking a deep breath, I picked it up and dialled Dad as I sat back on the recliner, feeling the magic in the window as I touched it again.
“Hey Dad, please don’t freak out. What would you say if I told you that I’m moving to into the Caville Manor?”