Fan Fiction ❯ The Ties That Bind ❯ Faded Memories ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3 - Faded Memories

The photograph held within curled, arthritic hands was faded around the edges with age, even as the figures within it were hardly visible at points because of frequent handling. The lines, age spots and painful clutching of those hands told more of the life of their owner than a thousand words could have. Hers was a long life, full of toil, pain, and love. The same story was written along the lines of her face and the slightly hunched but still strong body that only now betrayed her in her twilight years. Carefully and lovingly, fingertips traced the figures captured within the faded images of the photo with a precision borne of countless repetitions of the same motions.

The picture revealed five smiling faces attached to bodies of various sizes, all positioned close together to be able to fit within the camera eye. The beauty she had once been was recorded there for all time. An amazing creation of pale limbs, flaxen hair that reached to a slender waist, eyes a clear blue that held the promise of such gentle love as to be limitless in their depth of color, and an overall pleasantness of form that was nothing short of classical all added up to present an uncommonly beautiful woman that was simply smiling at those she shared the picture with as only a mother and wife can. It was the type of smile that makes a person remember what it is to be young and loved, protected against all odds and against anything the world can do to you. Such a smile is an illusion, but a comforting one.

The man who was obviously her husband stood at her shoulder. He was an older man with rough edges that shone through the camouflage of paper and fading. Long of limb and broad of shoulder, he had the handsome face of an angel or a demon, depending upon how you looked, as well as pitch eyes that held only a faint trace of emotion. The love he plainly held for his wife and children was obvious to behold, though it was tempered with a cynicism, mistrust and hardness that not even the camera could soften. The jet hair that fittingly matched his dark gaze fell down around him, though how far was not apparent from his stance within the framing in the photograph. Ranged in front of the couple were three children of descending ages and heights. The youngest was a girl that was caught within that tender age somewhere between a woman and a child. Blonde hair that was so dark as to be a warm golden brown fell down around her shoulders in a mass of unruly curls, as she smiled for the camera. Softly faded blue eyes smiled out of her lovely face as she posed with her family, even then showing the first signs of the beautiful lady she would grow into.

Beside of the youngest, making rabbit ears behind her head was her eldest brother. The handsome young man was all lithe muscle and handsome ease that spoke volumes of how he had spent his time, even at that age. He was taller by far than her and their middle sibling. Dark raven hair was held back in a lose ponytail away from the perfect face of an angel, without the scars that would come later marring that perfection. The sky blue eyes were crystal clear but minus the hard, toughened glittering danger. Those blue depths held only smirking amusement and utter joy in tormenting his youngest sibling and tagalong. The sibling rivalry, uncommon love of an extraordinary brother and sister, and closeness was apparent just from looking at the pair in the faded lines of antiquity.

The middle child stood just off to one side from the other two siblings, a part of the family yet separate from them all. Golden blonde hair that was streaked throughout with silver fell down to his ears, curling there and giving him a boyish appearance still for all the height he possessed then. Chocolate brown eyes smiled shyly for the camera with an almost wistful expression within their dark depths, even as he lifted one hand and waved quietly. His reserved, quietly charming face showed little in the way of overt, loud emotion. Though it was plain he would never be the angelic beauty of his older brother and younger sister, he held a dignified charm and handsome line of form and feature all his own.

The age worn hands continued their trek across the photo that captured a singular moment of joy within the lives of her family. The dance of time had not been able to completely erase her incredible beauty, though age had tried very hard to do just that to the lady that sat hunched within a tiny room. The blonde had all turned to silver gray long ago, even as laugh lines as well as furrows of grief traced the contours of her face. In a way, she had more character in age than she had in her youth. A light foot fall upon threadbare, brown carpet caused her to pause in her tracing of the faded picture nestled between her hands.

"Serafia, you should not be sitting in here all alone at this time of the day. You will catch your death of cold," said a brightly pressed young woman in an achingly clean nurse's uniform.

Serafia ignored her and simply clutched the old photo to her chest tightly, staring at the nurse as if she was the devil incarnate.

"Come on and let's get you back to the common room. We are drawing this afternoon with watercolors. Won't that be fun?" the nurse said in a falsely chipper voice as she moved to lift the old woman out of her seat.

"No, because you insist upon speaking to all of us as if we are children. I will have you know, young woman, that I have lived longer than you've even been thought of. I will not be treated as if I am a wayward, spoiled child of nine. Kindly treat me with the respect due my years or leave me alone," the old woman said in a surprisingly clear voice, even as those clear blue eyes pinned the nurse with more strength than the woman would have given her credit for.

"Just because your late husband was powerful and provided well for you during your stay with us does not give you the right to overexert yourself. Now come along, Serafia," the nurse said, lifting her up and forcing her one slow step at a time towards the open door that revealed a hallway smelling of antiseptic and the infirm.

"If my Althor was still alive, you would be running for your life by now, Nurse Rosenburg. Let go of me. I can walk just fine by myself, without you feeling the need to drag me along like a recalcitrant teen," Serafia said softly and proceeded to step away from the nurse and into the clean reek of the hallway. Slowly, the old woman made her way towards the common room where various people in a range of ages sat, drooling, laughing or playing board games, even watching television. She calmly and quietly sat herself in a chair and stared silently at the photo within her hands, almost as if she was attempting to will herself back into that time in her life.

A shadow passed within her area of vision, clad in screaming white and a stupid grin that did not bode well for the little woman.

"I have never once seen any of your children come to see you, Serafia. I have to conclude that it must be your sweet temperament that keeps them from visiting you, rather than the fact they probably do not exist anywhere outside of your own senile imagination," the nurse said with a malicious smile before turning and heading towards the station that was adjacent to the common room. Her abrupt departure allowed her to miss the glance that the little old woman gave to her retreating back. If she had seen it, perhaps, the nurse would have given a second thought to ever tormenting her charge again.

Murder and pain was found within those clear blue eyes that were plainly visible even through the thick glasses that adorned her face. Slowly, she glanced back to the photo in her curled fingers and the wrinkled lines of her face softened into a loving smile. Carefully, she turned the photo over to reveal the faded, water stained writing that was scrawled onto the back. Simple words were written there that had seen the same fading of age as the front of the photo.

Serafia & Althor, forever. Crispin, Semanche, Bastian, the lights of our lives.

A single, weak tear fell down to the photo and smudged the words just a little. In time, it would simply fade as all things do from old photographs.