The man went back to his home after collecting his properties back. The school and the campus bid him a goodbye, yet his mind was somewhere else. He was biting his inner cheeks, fidgeting with his fingers and doing everything to calm his nerves down.
Today, he shall finally get a chance to explore the basement after the previous failed attempt. The keys were not the ones labeled for ‘the basement’. It was for the kitchen.
“Gotta appreciate your intuition, dad. You thought I’ll never find out about the lost secret of your family, but I will. I certainly will.” Zayn mutters while staring out the window. The driver who drove for him looked at Zayn with confusion. He wasn’t sure who he was talking to.
Soon, Zayn is assisted into his room with his belongings neatly arranged. A maid was about to arrange his file folders when he stops her.
“Thank you, Janice. I’ll manage myself from here.” He says and drives her away. The set of files were a small little envelope he kept hidden.
One fine day in the past, he asked Cassandra’s students to write him a letter which shall make him happy. As a literature professor, he could ask for a little help from his students. Their letters made his entire week and he couldn’t stop the thawing of his frozen heart.
Teaching and mingling with less fortunate students was his forte, he thought.
“Now. Where did you hide the keys, dad…” he asks to no one but himself. He thinks hard, trying to find everything that is suspicious in his mother’s room while she went to the spa alone.
He searches every nook and crook until his patience runs thin.
“No, no. I must find the keys by tonight. I can’t keep Cassie waiting too.” He thinks as he drives himself morally.
At last, after two hours of searching everything in the closed room, he finds a mysterious set of old, rusted keys in the secret drawer beneath the desk.
“That was pretty sneaky, dad. But I found it.” Says Zayn as Nick was defeated at last. However, Nick’s wife, Zayn’s mother respected Nick’s request to never let Zayn know about the ugly truth behind the relationships and deaths of the whole Johnson Family.
Excitedly, he runs towards the basement. He even goes as far to not let anyone of his maids or servants know about his absence. They shall follow the orders of his mother better than him, because of the status indifference. Also, they wanted to respect their Late Master Nick’s final requests to never let Zayn know about the things he locked away in their basement.
The doorknob successfully twists with a creaky sound. The hugely spread smile of Zayn was beyond compare. He felt like he unsolved half of the mystery while the other half was left with Cassie to solve.
Quickly, he searches for a light source and when he does find one, he clicks his tongue.
“They blocked electricity here.” He sighs, the switches weren’t working.
However, it was huge and resounded like a cave. He suddenly remembers that his father uses a lot if old style candles. He runs back to the master bedroom to find one.
“Finally!” Apparently, he discovers it was called a lamp. They were almost extinct in 2057, only rumoured to be in possession amongst the rich or the extremely old population.
He reaches the basement, his eyes widening.
It seems as though Nick couldn’t let go of his past and kept each and every valuable hidden in the basement of the Johnson estate.
What was even going on in that era?
Curiously, Zayn starts to walk around the little sections. There were too many old beds, dismantled and stocked upon each other along with the mattresses. He found everything so weird here. It was mildly cramped too.
He felt like he was walking around an ancient museum.
Coughing up dust, he reaches a mysterious corner which had a really old style of a French desk. It must be Sr. Johnson’s work desk.
“Grandfather…” he brings the light closer to read the name of the man.
“Framton Johnson, 1978…” It must be a gift from one of his business partners, Zayn concludes.
He sits on the tough desk and pats it. It sounded hollow.
His inquisitiveness gets him to be even more curious about the desk.
What did it hold I it’s storage? Maybe it shall help him with something…
As he discovered the keys again under the drawer like his father’s work desk, he finds the keys for the cabinets. It was a very complex kind of opening system.
However, Zayn figures it out in minutes of time. He pulls the drawer open slowly.
He couldn’t believe his eyes.
The hard bound photo frame cracked in the centre held seven members of a family in it’s portrait.
He counts the heads to remember.
He recognised his father…
But… who was this familiar looking woman? The crack was right beside her face and it extended upto the next person standing beside her. Their faces weren’t seen clearly.
Suddenly, his head starts to hammer like a drilling machine. He places the portrait down swiftly and holds his aching head. His temples felt like there were going to burst.
As he opened his eyes which were aching too, he takes deep breaths in.
“What the fuck…” tears start filling up in his eyes, blurring his vision.
He slowly dismantles the photo frame. The picture needs to be slid out.
“Ouch!” The broken shard of glass pierces his index finger. He tends to his wound while his hand held the photo frame.
The paper drops out.
He turns it around to inspect under the lamp light.
“O… oh my God…” he was not in his right mind. He was seeing visions that were not his.
The photo slips out of his hand as he loses balance on his feet.
A car was crashing towards him. He could see a woman as his voice prayed to the god for forgiveness.
“Sorry papa, I couldn’t keep her safe.” The voice of a young man said.
Beside him, as he died with the crash, he could see a bloody woman’s hand reaching out for him.
She was crying helplessly.
Was this the bitter end of their love story?
How cruel was the world towards them.
Also, why did that woman look exactly like Cassandra….?
The photo of the Johnson Family… why was Cassandra the only sister in their family and why was Zayn standing beside her, smiling so wide?