The Choice (a Painful Past)

188 Colby's POV

"Treasure Island." I read out, as I admired the intricate lettering. "I read this when I was a kid."

I flipped the book open and found the publishing information. Published in 1893.

"No fucking way." I exclaimed, in a hushed tone. "Sam, this book was published in 1893! That's over a hundred years ago!"

"No shit?" He asked, without looking up from the drawer he was pilfering through.

"No shit!" I replied. "This is older than I thought. Wow. You find anything?"

"Just a bunch of what I think are invoice receipts. Like for animal feed and crops, maybe. The writing is pretty faded out." He replied, as he pushed more things around inside the desk drawer.

"I'm gonna keep looking through these books. They're almost perfectly preserved." I murmured, as I put Treasure Island back on the shelf.

I knew that Callie like to read, but I didn't know what kind of books she liked to read. From what I remembered, she loved pieces of history, also. The architecture and beauty of days gone past.

I pulled out a few more books, just looking to see what the family that lived here used to do to pass the time. Then, I found what I was looking for.

It was perfect for her.

"The Wizard of Oz." I murmured, as I pulled the old book from its space on the shelf.

I opened it up, carefully, and gently turned the brittle pages. There were little sketches over each chapter mark, of the different characters and scenes. Callie would absolutely love this!

I felt myself getting excited, just imagining the smile on her face when I give her this book.

I set it down on the little end table by the door, so that I wouldn't forget it, then turned to Sam.

"You ready to head to another room, or you want to keep looking?" I asked.

"Yeah, we can move on." He sighed. "There's nothing here."

I nodded and led the way into another connected room. It was the kitchen. There was a cast iron potbellied stove sitting right in the middle of the room.

"I've only ever seen these in books." I said, quietly, as I ran my fingers over the dusty iron.

"This is kinda awesome." Sam chuckled.

I had to agree.

"Could you imagine living like this?" I asked, as I looked around the room.

I noticed that the pantry was nothing more than a built-in shelf in the side wall. It still had preserved foods in glass jars sitting on the narrow shelves. Iron pots and pans hung on the wall over by the pantry, along with a few wooden spoons.

The walls were made of concrete, except for the back wall. It was completely red brick, giving the room a pop of color.

Against that wall, there was what looked like a small, old school, bookshelf/writing desk. The bottom was a type of desk, but the top had cabinets and a couple of shelves under those cabinets. There were 3 kerosene lanterns, ranging from small to large, still half full of red kerosene.

I took one down and pulled my lighter out of my pocket.

"Whoa, you think that's safe?" Sam asked, popping up beside me.

I jumped a little at the sound of his voice and sighed.

"Don't DO that!" I exclaimed.

"Do what? I'm just standing here." He replied, genuinely confused.

"Don't sneak up on me." I answered. "You almost made me drop the lantern."

"Colby, I've been standing here for a couple of minutes. I didn't sneak up on you." He laughed.

"Seemed like it to me." I grumbled. "Anyway, yeah, it's safe. Just gotta be careful."

I pulled the glass dome off of the lantern and used the little rolling thing on the side to bring the wick ribbon up a little more. I set it on the desk in front of me and struck my lighter. I slowly brought the flame to the kerosene-soaked ribbon, then jerked my hand back, as the ribbon shot up in a big flame.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed.

I laughed and put the globe back down over the flame.

"Now, we have a little more light." I replied.

"Sweet." He replied.

I picked my camera back up and got an extensive pan of the old kitchen.

"Wait, did you notice that there is a sink basin, but no faucets?" I asked, walking over to the basin. "That means that they didn't have running water."

"Hmm." He mused. "I think you're right. The lamps indicate no electricity too, and I don't see any outlets. I bet there's an outhouse out back."

I cringed at the thought of these people having to sit on a flat plank of wood, and shit into a hole in the ground.

"God, that's gross." I replied, in disgust. "I'm so glad we grew up in a time with actual toilets."

Sam laughed and shook his head. "I don't know that I could do that. I'd rather go take a squat in the woods."

I laughed with him. "Shit, I think I would too." I responded. "Should we move on?"

He nodded and walked back through the living room, and into the foyer. "Might as well finish the first floor first." He said.

I agreed and followed him into the room across the hall. It was massive, being the only room on this side.

"What is this room?" I asked, as I looked around.

The back part looked like it might have been a dining room, but I saw a kitchen table in the kitchen. Maybe this was for when they had company. The table was dark wood, varnished, making it shine, even through the thick layer of dust on top of it.

The front part of the room had windows all around it, with a small reading nook set into one of the windows. The rest of the room was almost bare, except for black and white photos hanging on the walls, and a green couch sitting in front of an old brick fireplace.

"I don't know." Sam finally responded. "It's cool as shit though."

I chuckled. "Kinda want this reading nook in my room, not gonna lie." I replied.

He laughed and took the few steps over to it.

"Here, an Instagram worthy shot." He said, as he posed on the reading nook.

The lighting in this room was probably amazing in the daytime, with all of these windows, but since it was dark outside, I made sure that the camera's flash was on. Then, I snapped a few different shots of Sam, before passing him the camera.

"My turn." I said, taking a seat after he moved.

When we were finished with the Instagram shots, we walked back into the foyer and looked up the narrow staircase, with the red carpeting.

"Think we're gonna fall through the floor up there?" He asked.

"I hope not." I laughed. "But is that thought really gonna stop us?"

He shook his head, with a grin. "Not a chance."

"We just have to be careful and go slow. The floor sagged in a few places down here, but nothing too bad. I think the outside took most of the damage. This is upstairs though, so if there was any kind of small leak, we could be asking for trouble. I'm not trying to go to the hospital tonight, so watch yourself. You don't need another broken back." I instructed, even though I knew that he already knew this.

He cocked his eyebrow at me.

"Yes, Dad." He replied, sarcastically.