The Gray Place

Chapter Four: The Photograph on The Wall

Back in her room, Courtney pulled the covers up but couldn’t stop shivering and biting her nails.

*” Our only problem is our daughter…”*

The words rattled louder than the rain beats on the roof. He wasn’t talking about me like a parent should—he was talking about me like a problem, a disposable package.

What was she not supposed to find out?

BREAKFAST

“Morning Dad!”

“Morning Mom!”

Courtney greeted quickly as she sprinted down the stairs. Luke and Carmen exchanged glances.

“You’re not having breakfast with us?” Mom asked.

“I’m late for school Mom”

“But it’s just 7 am?”

“Yes, Dad. I have an early extra class.”

They were acting so normal, like normal people even though they are not. Her mom poured coffee with a surprisingly peaceful face while her dad read the news.

Courtney watched them for a minute, feeling like she was sitting across from actors in a stage play she hadn’t gotten a ticket for. She wanted them to be normal so bad but let’s call a spade, a spade.

“Sleep okay?” her mom asked.

“Yeah, the weather was chill,” she replied trying to brush the conversation off.

Her dad looked up briefly, eyes unreadable, “Are you good?”

“Yes, Dad I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” she said with a half smile.

She kissed her parents goodbye and left for school, closing the door behind her with her shaking hands. Three can play this game of pretense.

She arrived at school and was surprised to see it buzzing with students, She unexpectedly stopped feeling lonely— time to look for her friends. She heard a voice calling out her name with excitement — oh Lila, great timing for real.

“Hey…”

“Hey,” she mustered a small smile.

“What’s up? You look like you saw a ghost,”

“Cold night,” she said clearing her throat.

“You want some?”

Courtney looked up from her hoodie to see Lila handing her a warm blueberry muffin, She realized how hungry she was and she hadn't eaten this morning before rushing out.

Gosh, what was I thinking, leaving the house hungry?

“Yeah, I appreciate it” Courtney answered

“Don't be so modest” she shruggled

“I needed this,” she said as she took a bite too big for the corners of her mouth to contain.

It worked. The warmth, the taste, she felt like she hadn't eaten for a week. She actually needed this, at least it felt normal, she could control this, she could understand it.

Courtney didn’t want to be lively today but she didn’t want to be alone either. She’s been hanging out with Aubrey, Grace, and Lila since first period. Thankfully they had the same classes as her today.

The clouds broke just after fifth period, as if Pine Harbor was offering a half-hearted apology for the endless downpour. Courtney didn’t care. She didn’t want sunlight. Sunlight made things too real — and reality was currently the last thing she needed. After a hearty, cheerful dinner the night before, she’d hoped for a better morning but she got a morning full of carefully staged smiles from her mom and unreadable expression from her dad, she was scared, she needed air. She needed a space without whispers and secrets hiding behind hallway doors.

After school, she walked home alone, and her mind was spinning with unanswered questions. What if she’d been born to different parents?—Different life? She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings till she got to that turn… She remembered the short scene that happened there, She remembered Mason—is he okay?

She got home and walked straight to her room then plugged in her earphones, listening to Beyoncé’s Sandcastles. She didn’t sing along so as not to make any sound. She felt uneasy and way too alert, she had to do something about this. She paused her music and opened her door quietly to look out. Her dad’s door was slightly open and then she heard it — a slow mechanical hum, too quiet you can barely hear it, almost buried beneath the sound of the wind.

Courtney stood looking at the door for a while, She hadn't checked on her parents since she got back and she didn’t hear their voice either, and she was curious to know what they were hiding. How long would it be before everything comes crashing down?

The wind from outside subtly touched her face, urging her to satisfy this curiosity. She struggled with it, she didn’t want to give in. A part of her knew this was a path she wasn’t ready to walk but— what could she do?

Courtney had plans with Lila and the girls “her tour guides”. There was a town museum, more like an antique house, literally. This place was unsettling her and she needed to know why.

Pine Harbor Museum was a small, cluttered local history museum with creaky floors and low lighting which was located not far from the town center. It sat across from the local post office and a coffee shop— not sure if it was the one Lila mentioned.

From the outside, the museum looked weathered, tired. Ivy creeping up on the sides like it’s trying to hold the place together. The entrance, with two old wooden doors, was the only attraction but inside was brewing with worn-warm energy, very vintage and nostalgic. It was a living visual encyclopedia of historical things, She was expecting it to look like an antique dump site but it was way more than that.

The air smelled faintly of newly polished wood and a hint of caramel, the exhibits— like glass cases filled with black and white photos of people long gone, artifacts from different times— holding histories only nostalgia could tell.

In the back room, there was a local archive, which was a big room filled with a lot of files for a really small town. There were old newspaper headlines taped to an empty wall, and this place was guarded by a volunteer who’s been there “since before you were born” so she says. She wore a knitted cardigan and knows exactly where to find any town's death records from the last hundred years.

The museum is quiet, not eerie like the streets of Pine Harbor and the ambience screams softly of a quiet strength.

Courtney approached the wall lined with

yellow newspaper headlines taped to it, and a few fading black and white photos taped on the wall too. She began looking through them carefully not to touch, when a photo caught her eye. It wasn’t old like the others and it had the number 99 at the top left corner, the headline close to it read “Woman Finds Girls Who Has Been Missing for 12 Months”. Her breath caught as she went closer to get a clearer view and almost lost her knees to shock.

“Who’s the face in that photo?”

“Is that Mom?…” She whispered with fright in her eyes.

Luckily, Lila had gone to look at a corner dedicated to the “Great Fog of ’58,” and feed her eyes on the gift store in the next room by the corner. Courtney had never been so glad to be alone. She recollected herself quickly and hurried past the door mouthing a shaky “thank you” to the lady. She had to talk to someone, find Lila, or Grace, anybody she knew, someone she could trust. Her mind wandered to Mason again, It’s been two days, what’s happening?