The Painter

1 - The box

"Lily! Come on, we're gonna be late!"
My mother is yelling at me, as usual, but I cannot really leave now: after my grandma's death, I had no time yet to come here and check my and her old stuff... until today. The life of a journalist isn't as easy as it seems, especially when you have to work on the most boring news. But here... here it would feel different, I don't know how to explain this.

I used to spend every summer in this country house with my grandparents, I have so many memories here. The little swing on the tree in the garden that my grandfather made me, is still hanging there: it really has seen so much! Especially me falling either from it and breaking my teeth or just me falling on the grass, while running away from any imaginary enemy or danger my vivid imagination was able to come up with, in order to keep me entertained.
My usual nostalgia is kicking in again...
Looking at the old tree silently but elegantly shining in the golden hour, makes me feel kind of hugged. Makes me feel good. I don't know how my mom could leave such a beautiful and calming place and move to London. I mean, okay, she wanted to study in a good college, but still... I would have loved to grow up here, in the calming nature, away from the city's crazyness. I don't even know why we didn't come back after my parents broke up.

"Lilyyy!!!"
"Yeah, I'm coming..."
I leave for now, but I'll be back. I wanna bask in the warmth of all these memories. I miss my granny, I really do, even if I act like a grown up and pretend that I'm okay and I'm very strong... she was special, the only one that really cared about me and my thoughts, how could I not miss her? I could not even say a proper goodbye to her.

"Elizabeth! This is your last call! I swear I am gonna leave you here!"
It wouldn't be too bad, to be honest...
I shake my head back to reality, take a breathe and move. I will just take this little box, I'm sure I have hidden a lot of things in there from when I was a kid. I remember I had found it while I was looking inside an old wardrobe, during one of my researches' trips I used to take on rainy days.
With a smile on my face, I reach for my mum waiting in our car and I give one last look at this beautiful place, before I head back to the city.

After having had dinner and a shower, I finally am able to get some alone time in my room to open the box. Mum really felt bad about my granny's death, I am sure she feels guilty for not being able to be with her. She has a lot of thoughts going on inside of her, I can feel that, but I don't think she really wanna talk about them. And even if she wanted to, why with me? I'm still her child, the one she throws all her pain and sufference on...

I try to not think about this and move my attention back to the box.
My hands are lightly shaking, I don't know what I will find and I'm kinda nervous to be honest. I remove the cover, and see a few pastels, a picture of me on the swing and one, older, with my grandmother holding my mother on the bench in the garden. She had such a beautiful smile!
I keep digging in the box and see a few drawings I made when I was a kid: one is supposed to be my family in the house's garden, having fun together... such a far away image and feeling, it doesn't even seem real anymore. I leave that aside on my bed and spot an envelope. The writing on it is so beautiful, looks kinda old. When did I put it here?
I'm not sure it belongs to my grandma. It says "To Mrs E."
That's not even my granny's initial as her name was Claire, but... oh, oh, it's mine!
The casualty makes me grin. It wouldn't be too bad if I opened it, right? I mean, I'm E... Elizabeth!

I take a deep breath, and won by my usual curiosity, I take the letter out and start reading.