Lighting

Romance in a way

"Hello, Mrs. Barley," said man to woman.

The rumored "Mrs. Barley" nodded to him. Her name was not Mrs. Barley and the man knew this much. It was a small and unfunny joke the two of them share. Man thought it to be a great humor, well woman thought if told once more she would cry. In a newspaper quite a while ago there was an article in which a Mrs. Barley mourned over a loss of a Mr. Barley. The woman did mourn that day, that year, the hour but, her name was not Mrs. Barley. The papers had misheard and misspelled her name. Her name was Mrs. Barton and, there was no Mr. Barton. She had but one true love, her boyfriend, a Mr. Alton Russell. But, now he was dead. Though she did not like his joke she smiled. She nodded back and walked to the entrance to the StoreU self-storage units. Her current boyfriend, Mahin would be joining her soon once he left work. Mrs. Kimberly Barton's mother, Reina Barton had died a few days back. Although the cause of death was ruled a suicide, Kimberly would always believe otherwise. And As the only living family of her mother, she was tasked with looking through her many belongings. Kim had already gone through Reina's house and now she turned to the storage unit she kept. She had been there quite a few times in the past few years. When her mother was alive Kim would often go to StoreU herself to pick things up for her mother who was slowly bringing things back to her house. Reina had been diagnosed with cancer and while she lived she liked to keep her possessions close. Kimberly would come home from her job as a sports newscaster and drive the ten miles to the StoreU facilities and then another three to her mother's house. Her mother owned two units and going through them was quite a hefty task. She fit the key into the lock and opened the large door on the first unit. She carried just one box under her purple-clad arm. She set the box down and started going through another. This new box was titled "Photo Memories." Kimberly smiled.

A knock at the door. "Hey!" It was Mahin. "What's in the box?" he asked.

"Photos," Kim said turning the box so he could see the lettering. 

"Nice," he said.

"I think I might keep most of these. Probably just take the whole box down." 

"Sure!" said Mahin. "I brought a few more boxes I'll just pop downstairs and grab them." 

She agreed and he left. Kimberly opened the box and a flood of photos fell out. 

"Oh dear," she said. Kim kneeled down to pick up the photos. As she carefully collected the photos she could hear Mahin's footsteps enter the room. 

"How many boxes did you get?" Kim said but, no response. She waited a few seconds before speaking again. "Mahin? That you?" Still no response. "Mahin! Cut it out that's creepy," said Kim.

Finally, she resolved to simply not question or answer and it seemed that he had to. Kim had no idea why Mahin would do a thing like this but, she didn't think anyone else would be in her room. The front doors man didn't leave his desk and she couldn't think why anyone would randomly come into a room. She continued to put the photos back into the box, examining each of them before placing them in their own place. She couldn't hear the footsteps anymore. Maybe it was just her imagination. But, of course, it wasn't, and oh if she had just known. 

Mahin had been gone for quite a while. It normally wouldn't take this long to just, "get some boxes". Kimberly stopped to take a better look at one of the photos in the box. Or was it? The shiny object glinted up at her. She saw herself in it. A mirror she thought? It was silver lined and glowed in the light. She smiled, it was beautiful. As she stared into its glow she noticed something wrong in the image. She whirled around just to see Mahin.

"Good God! You scared me!" Kimberly exclaimed. 

Mahin laughed, "I got the box."

"Took you long enough!" Kim said, still a bit terrified. 

"Yeah, sorry. It was a bit hard to find. I really need to clean my car soon." 

Kimberly went back to sorting through the photos and Mahin soon joined her.  

"Oo, cool! I love old photos!" said Mahin. Kimberly looked at him, Mahin had been really supportive ever since her mom had died but, sometimes she wondered whether or not he really cared about these things. 

"Are these all of your mom?" Mahin said.

"I think so. Some might be of my dad."

Kim picked up the box and placed it back on the counter. Mahin wandered over to look in some other boxes in the back. As Kimberly went to set the box of photos next to the ones going back to the car she couldn't help but hear the footsteps. 

"Hey, Mahin?" Kimberly called.

"What is it?" 

"Have you been hearing footsteps?"

Mahin turned around, "what do you mean?"

"!!!" Kimberly suddenly met face-to-face with a man she had never seen before. She knew everyone that worked here and everyone that stored but, she had no idea who this man could be. 

"Mahin," the man said.

"Yeah, Kim?" Mahin said but when he filled around to face her his eyes went wide. "Charles? What are you doing here!"

"You know him?" Kim asked but Mahin didn't answer. He simply walked forward, grabbed Charles by the arm, and dragged him out into the hallway. Kim couldn't hear anything from the conversation but, it was clear they were arguing. Kim tried to listen, to hear even a bit of what they were saying. Too afraid to step into the hall, she pressed her ear to the wall. 

!BANG!

Kim stumbled backward then ran outside, putting all fears aside. When she stepped out the door she saw no Charles, just Mahins body on the floor. The gun held... in his own hand. She screamed and screamed until the doors man was there. She cried until the police were there. She couldn't speak. Although the cause of death was reported as a suicide, Kimberly, a 45-year-old professional sportsperson, is convinced that her late boyfriend, Mahin Norris, was murdered. She is currently single. Her most recent romance was with a scientist called Collin Ely Barton, who was the same age as her. They broke up because Collin couldn't deal with Kimberly's obsession with Mahin's death.

Kimberly has two children with 2 two different partners: ex-boyfriend Collin and late boyfriend Mahin: Jeff aged 5 and Jesse aged 10. But, she doesn't take care of or live with either of them. She has not been able to let go of Mahin nor stop looking for Charlie. She has multiple dating app profiles but has never found herself swiping right. And although she doesn't want to believe it Kimberly will die alone. #SorryNotSorry

-The Ceiling Lamp