le chemin de mémoires

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

unspoken, 7:58 AM, 0 comments

The summer house kept a lot of secrets and mysteries more than I knew.

The first time I went here with my family, I could feel the eerie of this place. All of the furniture were covered in white cloths; it was almost like no one had been here for years. Mamma told me that most of the relatives of us preferred to spend their summertime by travelling these days, and that was the reason of the empty feeling of the house.

From that moment, I asked Mamma and Daddy to bring me to this house every summer. I loved the feeling of discovering new things; the adrenaline, the excitement. I could spend my entire summer investigating this whole place and create a whole new adventure.

And this summer, I discovered another new stories of the house.

As I walking to the kitchen, I stopped and had a long look at a collection of pictures on the wall near the bar counter. I narrowed my eyes, put down the mug I'm holding on the counter and inspected the pictures closely. I was so surprised that they were a lot of visitors, relatives, aunts, uncles and cousins that came before us. The pictures looked so vivid as if the pictures were just recently taken and framed on the wall.

I touched the picture frames slowly. It was very soft, almost like mahogany and smelled like the forest. I wondered how did the pictures hanging on the wall could last very long without fading. I never thought that I had a lot of relatives that I didn't know. Sure, I met Uncle Tim, Aunt Maggie and their kids - Vera, Johnathan and Maria. But whoa, I realized that there were a lot of people that I haven't meet yet.

Maybe it was true that the summer house belonged to everyone. But again, did it ever belonged to anyone in the first place?

"May, what are you looking at?"

I looked behind. Mamma greeted me with a smile and sat near the bar counter. I sat opposite her and asked about all of the people in the pictures.

"Mamma, who are those people in the pictures?"

"Those are your uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces, May. People used to come here every summer and enjoyed their whole summer here."

It wasn't surprising to me either. The summer house was located near the Southern Beach, which the sea glittering like crystals as it shined under the sun. People could do BBQ all day long and not get tired of it. If I could spend all year around here, I would.

"Mamma, why did they stop coming here?"

Mamma looked at me thoughtfully. She stared me for a long time before she answered, "I don't know, May. Most of them spend their time travelling. Some of them maybe don't bother to come anymore."

"But why?"

"Honestly? I don't know either. Eventually, things will change over time. Did you see the pictures third from the above? That's your cousin, Holly and her younger brother, Harry. They used to come here with their family every year, like us. Their parents took photos of them every year on the big rock near the sea; to see how far they've grown up. But then, they stopped coming. You know, when people are so busy with their lives, they tend to stop doing things they used to love."

I sighed a little and start wondering. Will I become just like them; stop discovering and experiencing new things?

"Why May?"
"Nothing, Ma. I'm just wondering if I'll become just like them someday - you know, stop doing things I love."

Mamma smiled at me. "Honey, whatever it is, don't stop doing all the things you love. If that's what makes you happy and feel motivated - keep doing it. Sometimes, I'm wondering why do you love to have an adventure for the whole day just to seek answers to your questions. But then, I see you're very happy with what you're doing now. So I never really stopped you from doing them."

I replied her with a smile. "Thanks Ma. Another thing Ma."
"What?"

"Do you miss them, Ma?"

Mamma lost her smile. "Yes, how I miss them... They're my brothers and sisters, May. How can I not miss them?"

I took my mug and started to walk away from the kitchen, replying Mamma, "I'm sure they will miss you as much you do too."

♥ nina.sha ♥

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