SILHOUETTE"
Unearthing these captured moments makes Stephen feel alone, captive to existence. He rolls over and falls asleep on scattered photos, wishing he could disappear. In the silence, the screen door opens and someone stealthy enters the room. Moving like the soothing motion of the tide, this silhouette slowly slides each duplicate photo from underneath Stephen. He stirs a little and this stranger stays still like prey. She breathes on him and memories lull him back into a deep sleep.
Quietly, she walks away, toting a mystery Stephen almost discovered too soon! She slips through the sliding screen door, turns back and blows a kiss, which fills the room with deja vu, like a cloud of perfume. To Stephen, waking is like sirens outside of the front door of his dreams, knocking, only to bring him bad news. He sits up, disoriented and irritable. He rubs his beard and looks down at the photos. Stephen shuffles through the scattered pile! He riffles through the box and again through the ones on the bed. He rubs his head in confusion, kneels down and looks under the bed.
Nothing!
Nothing... He sits on the floor and looks out the screen door. Stephen feels insane and knows he needs to get help, but then he sees something! Stuck in the edge of the screen door like an Autumn leaf blown by the wind, one photograph rattles between the two doors like a fly. Stephen's body aches and pops as he rushes over to get the picture. He grabs it and his eyes move back and forth over every detail. Like the missing
photographs, Gloria is in this picture with one of the patients. Stephen remembers she usually would never do that!
He turns it over and reads, To Tyne's Family. Stephen flips it back to the front and remembers why he was in shock and horror! A photo is on Tyne's lampstand where Gloria is bracing her hand, and if you look closely, it is the same picture Stephen is holding! The more haunting discovery is not just the photo within the photo; like a looking glass, Gloria's fingers and hand accidentally slid through the photo on Tyne's lampstand, and that is why she kept these photographs hidden!
TO BE CONTINUED...