After driving halfway across London, they finally found the place. A large two story house painted a faded white with rather nicely decorated window frames. The door was made of dark oak wood, which seemed to be fairly new. They parked the car directly outside, where a nice dainty yellow car rested as well.
"Huh," Christopher huffed. "This is a rather refined estate. Why are we here?"
Neo didn't answer until they were both out of the car. "If I'm correct, a relative must live here, but I don't know who."
He moved up to the gate, opening it and stepping onto the property. As if on cue, he felt an immense amount of pressure fall on his shoulders, looking up to the far left window where his room used to be. Seeing the house that he once called home stirred something up inside of him, making him shift his weight from one foot to the other. He didn't take another step, tempted to let Christopher do all the work, but something told him otherwise.
For Liene.
Sighing, he walked up to the door, looking back as Christopher followed up behind him. He crossed his arms as Neo knocked on the door - three hard raps. There was no answer from inside for quite some time, making him curious if anyone was home. He knocked again, but there was still nothing. Not even a call to wait a moment.
"Do you think anyone is even here?" Christopher asked. "Did you try to open the door?"
"You want me to just walk into someone's house?" Neo glowered. "There's a car over there in front of ours. Someone has to be home."
"Fine," He glanced away. "What about the window? Why don't you go take a look?"
Neo glared at him, about to argue about how Christopher was asking him to do things he very well could have done on his own. However, he bit his tongue, walking over to the window. He looked it up and down - curtains. With a rather disgruntled look on his face, he walked over to the door and tried the handle.
It opened.
"See?" Christopher smirked, pressing past Neo and into the room.
"Yeah, and now we'll walk in on someone using the bloody loo," Neo shot back, but followed anyway.
Inside was a small hall with a hat and coat rack by the door, leading into the lounge where two couches and a rather comfortable looking chair sat around an empty fireplace. A coffee table sat in the midst of it all, a blue and white teapot and biscuit tin on top of it. Rather delicate and beautiful plates with cups sat in front of each one, placed neatly as if someone was expecting guests. Even so, the house was blanketed in an eerie silence that didn't bode well.
Christopher continued forward, calling out. "Hello?" He said. "Is anyone home?"
"Yes, walk into someone's home and call out for them," Neo grumbled as he followed loosely. "What a great way to get attacked."
"You say that as if you've never done it before," The prince teased before he paused. "Wait. Someone's here."
Neo glared at him before walking up beside him, looking around before his eyes locked onto the single cushioned chair. It was a sleeping elderly woman, with silvery hair and wrinkled pale skin. She was wearing a sundress of yellow and blue flowers atop a white frame. He frowned, walking towards her - something was off. Placing two fingers under her nose, he found she wasn't breathing, and her pulse was dormant.
"She's dead," Neo confirmed.
"Heart attack?" Christopher mused.
"Something like that," He shrugged.
"Well," The prince sighed. "Might as well take a look around before we call the bobby. You take the first floor, I'll take the ground."
Neo raised an eyebrow, walking up the stairs, his eyes glancing over the steps as he did so before reaching the top. A narrow hallway met him with two doors on the right and one on the left. He examined the hallway first, but found nothing but some torn wallpaper and plastered up holes. With a sigh, he went into the first door on the right, which was a bathroom. He looked in the cabinets and drawers, but found nothing but some rather old hygiene products and medications.
"Find anything up there?" Christopher called from below. "I haven't found much here except for a few unopened letters… Nathan, did you leave the door open?"
"Not yet," Neo called down. "And I dunno, can't remember. Probably?" Then he flinched, feeling something brush up against his leg - only to look down and see a fluffy calico meow at him. "I found a cat…"
"Oh gods," The prince hissed. "Of course."
"What?" He asked.
"I'm allergic." As if on cue, he sneezed. "Bad enough Kyrana has one."
Neo nudged the cat away with his foot gently, walking towards the first bedroom. The cat meowed at him, loving against his leg again. With a deep breath, he opened the door to his old bedroom. The walls were covered with fresh white wallpaper, the floor different from before. As he glanced around the room, he remembered his last time there.
It used to be smaller with only one window and a bed with white linen sheets and blankets. A dresser would sit by the door, one of the drawers always stuck half open to reveal the same linen fabric but in shirt form. The floor used to be a tan carpet, the walls white but spackled with dark handprints and finger paintings on them. The carpet was the same, looking like it could have been burned, but it was only his fault.
The image faded from his mind. The place was only a spare room then, with boxes all over the area. Neo rummaged through them for a long time, but all he found were nicknacks and keepsakes. Half the boxes were filled with picture albums, which Neo had filed through on automatic, ignoring the pictures of his family that he never knew. With a defeated sigh, he dropped the last album back in the box.
"Nothing?" Christopher asked behind him.
"Nothing," Neo confirmed. "There's one more room."
He got to his feet, glancing out and walking towards the last door. Christopher followed as Neo pushed open the slightly ajar entrance and revealed a bedroom. The furniture was rather antique looking, the dresser by the door and the bed in the middle between two windows. A few peculiar chests made from metal were around the room, looking fairly old. The calico was sitting on the bed, their paws all tucked in as they more or less looked like a loaf of bread.
Christopher walked in behind him, looking around before his eyes laid default on the feline. He sniffed a little, and Neo smirked. Walking in, he trailed his fingers across the purring cat's back before he bent down and opened a chest. Inside were various newspapers and articles, some pieces cut off. He took them out, glancing over them and reading the date.
"These are all from the 1940's," Neo announced.
"What?" Christopher peered over his shoulder. "Ah, well, she was old. What are they?"
"Memories? She might have a scrapbook with the missing pieces around here somewhere. They go up to our current day before running out." He paused. "They're all from the Mourning Star."
The prince paused, thinking. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"No," Neo answered sharply.
Pulling forward another chest, he opened it. Inside were perfectly organised coloured files, but none of them had names. He cursed at the sight, parting the first one on the left with his fingers. In the slips of paper were envelopes, which were torn and yellow from age. He took one out, then another, reading the fronts.
"These are all from a Duncan Hearth to an Elizabeth Hunt," Neo said. "How much do you wanna bet that's the woman downstairs?"
"Very funny," Christopher snarked. "Are they love letters?"
"Maybe," Neo responded, opening one and taking out the musky paper before unfolding it to read it.
Dear Ellie,
It feels strange writing letters when you used to be simply a block away. To be honest, this is the first letter I've ever written, so I don't really know where to start.
I miss you. We've been friends since we were small, and now we're apart because my father had to take the stupid mining job in Wales. I'm glad you suggested the idea of writing letters.
Not much is happening on my end. We've moved into a new home near the coal mine. My mother and I are unpacking while my father is dealing with the professionalism of a new job.
I'm supposed to start attending a new school soon. I probably will be by the time this letter arrives. We're pretty far apart now, but at least we can still talk, so I guess I shouldn't whine.
My mother made crepes and she's telling me to stop wasting the paper, but writing letters to you is never a waste. Farewell, Ellie. I hope you reply soon.
Love,
Duncan Hearth
"Seems to me they were young friends - probably blooming to be a bit more than that. Here," Neo handed off the paper to Christopher.
Upon taking it, he read quickly before humming. "Interesting enough. But what is the point of it all?"
"I dunno," He frowned. "We should take the box with us, in case we need to search it further."
"Yeah, and the-" Christopher stepped back, and there was a creak in the floorboards.
Neo perked up. "Did you hear that?"
"What?" The man looked down. "The floor?"
"No, idiot, the hollow sound," He shooed him away as he knocked on the loose floorboard. "There's something under there."
"Yeah, the ground floor," Christopher responded.
Neo ignored him as he crouched down, forcing his fingers through the tight area and beginning to pull. His hands started to burn from the tension, but he kept yanking with force, the cracking and splintering board slowly revealing there was something underneath. Upon noticing, Christopher began to help, and after a moment they were able to pull it back with a snap of the wood.
"Bloody hell," Christopher seethed. "Whatever she was hiding, she really didn't want it found."
"With how hard those nails were in, I'm glad we didn't have to fight her to get in here," Neo smirked.
Multiple spiders and other bugs were inside, scattering away from the new light and disappearing into the cracks. Webs lined the corners and dirt caked the crevices. Among it all was a fairly small folded piece of paper, slightly covered in dust as if it had been moved recently. Neo picked it up, frowning, shaking a spider off that fell into the floorboards.
Christopher sighed. "That has to be what we're looking for. C'mon, let's get going. I'll inform the bobby of this mess."
Neo was both eager and reluctant to open the paper and read what was on it - alas, he put it in his pocket, deciding to do so later. He glanced back at where the cat was; or where it should have been, having since left. Christopher beckoned him to follow, and follow he did. They made their way towards the door, but Neo stopped, staring at the living room.
He didn't want to remember, but he did. He did remember. Despite it all, remembering was what he was good at.