Lost & Found || H.S. [COMPLETE]

The tale of a conflicted girl

"I've been having a hard time adjusting.
I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting.
I didn't know if you'd care if I came back.
I have a lot of regrets about that.
Pulled the car off the road to the lookout.
Could've followed my fears all the way down.
And maybe I don't quite know what to say.
But I'm here in your doorway.

I just wanted you to know
That this is me trying."

Song: This is Me Trying - Taylor Swift

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"Mum, what happened to my boxes from school?" Emma asked with her head in the hallway closet.

"Your what?" She heard her mother shout down the hallway.

"You said you saved all my stuff from school. From before I went to London," Emma reminded her.

"Oh. Uh, have you checked the attic?" She asked.

"The attic?" Emma grumbled to herself.

She always hated the attic. It creeped her out more than she cared to admit. Piper always loved it up there. She would spend hours up there reading by the old stained-glass window, whereas Emma found it dusty and spooky. But Emma was a grown-up now. Things like that shouldn't affect her anymore. But even so, she got that familiar shiver as she crawled up the attic ladder on her quest to find her memorabilia from her formidable years.

The indistinguishable smell of the past wafted through her nostrils, giving her even more of an eerie feeling. She didn't like that any of her stuff was up there. She pulled on the string for the light and waited as it flickered to life.

Looking around, Emma couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the number of boxes her mother kept up there. From Christmas decorations to baby clothes to camping equipment – it was all stored up there. Even after her father passed away, her mother kept all of his things tucked away in this very attic. God knows nobody in this house was going to pull out that camping equipment and use it anymore. It was her father's passion, not his wife or daughters. The days when they went camping as a family had long passed.

It took Emma a bit of time to come across the box labeled 'Emma's Things'. She dusted off the top of the box before pulling it out of its little nook in the attic. She wasn't about to spend any more time than necessary up there, so she took it down to her bedroom with her. She set the box on the bed and took a deep breath before she opened the top. She was about to dredge up memories she long since repressed or forgotten. She was doing it willing, yet she was scared to death of it.

"Come on," she coaxed herself as she pushed away the flaps from the top of the box.

On top lay her yearbook from her final year of school in her hometown. Holmes Chapel Collegiate School was written in large letters across the cover along with the swooping numbers of 2010 below it. That was the last year she went to school in Holmes Chapel. Grabbing the book out of the box, she took a seat on the edge of the bed. With another deep breath, she opened the cover.