Chapter Four Part 2

A Chapter by Paradox

Second part of fourth chapter

The spiraling staircase to the Archaeology common room lead to the sixth floor. The third room to the right on the vast sixth floor corridor was the Artifacts classroom. Study of Artifacts used to be the favourite subject of Henrieto. And Alyssa had inherited his love towards artifacts. She had come across so many of such artifacts in her childhood. There was a time when her father used to bring scores of them from expeditions. She observed and examined them, and heard of myths and legends about them. Even they were a means of judicially bribing her.
Alyssa felt nostalgic when she recalled the old days. She could not resist herself from submerging into a flashback…
Fourteen years ago, it was the Stewart Manor attic. Alyssa had locked herself in there, sobbing all afternoon.
“Alyssa…” a voice came flirting in the air. “I know you’re in there dear; you can’t hide.”
“GO AWAY.”
“Shall I?”
“Yes, go away, Dad.”
“Open the door, it’s nearly dusk.” Her father sounded more serious.
“You promised that you’ll stay at home.”
“Ah- I promise I shall be here next time.”
“You say that every time.”
“Birthdays come every year.” Henrieto retorted, and then heard Alyssa sobbing.
“Please dear, open the door.”
“I won’t. You do this every time. You are a LIAR.”
“Look what I have for you.” Henrieto struggled to sound cheerful.
“I know you’re lying.” Alyssa snapped.
“Well then, if you’re this stubborn.” He lost his patience at last, and his suppressed annoyance sputtered out in his voice. “And I leave this for you.” Alyssa heard the clinking of a metal. Sounds of heavy footsteps were heard before they gave in to silence.
“DAD!” Alyssa cried with all her might. She unhinged the door and emerged at the landing. She eyed at the floor. There lied a tiny metal statue�"a gift from her father. She picked it up and held it erect on her palm, gaping.
“Do you like it?” Her father emerged from the shadows of the farthest corner of the landing.
“Daaad!” Alyssa sprinted towards him and threw her arms around his waist. He gently caressed over her brown hair strands.
“You won’t leave us again, tell me you won’t.” Alyssa sniffed.
“I never leave you on purpose.” He gasped. “You know where I go…to far off lands…in search of adventure.”
“Oh, no don’t. Please don’t.”
“Then who will bring you relics? You love them, don’t you?”
“Not more than you, Dad.” She replied. Henrieto lifted her in his arms and placed a warm, soft, gentle kiss on her forehead.
How long it had been since that warmth of his love had vanished! Three years had passed. Despite of that, Alyssa felt like sobbing. But she wouldn’t. Because, she had always believed that the evocative memory of his father would live eternally inside her heart.
Memory�"that’s what one leaves behind. Some of the memorable ones still lingered in her heart. One such was the day she had just recalled. That night, his father stayed awake as long as she did. He conveyed to her the stories of his adventures, stories of far off lands�"from Siberian desert in the east to Easter Islands in the West Pacific, from the land of the Midnight Sun to African rainforests. He told her legends and myths about ancient cults, and their secrets which were hidden to our world, of their tombs and temples, of deities and kings, and of all the aspects that constitute their dark world of mysteries. He shared with Alyssa his adventures through the dark, blood-drenched dungeons, leading to their sacred tombs, they had veiled from the outside world so long.

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