A Place For Memories

Prompt: “Describe your character using just the items in his or her desk drawer.”

She was looking for her favorite fountain pen. It had been with her a long time and it meant a lot to her since one of her closest friends had given it to her. While she was looking for it, she also came across a photo of her with her best friend, Lillian. The girls were wearing bakini bathing suit tops and loose summery skirts. In the photo it looked like the wind had been blowing since the girls’ hair was blown back, and they were holding their skirts as if to keep them from billowing up too far. Caela laughed at the sight of the picture. It had been taken three years ago. When the girls were only fifteen. The memory made a tear come to Caela’s eyes. 

Continuing her search for the pen, Caela found an old key. It was a copy of the one from her first car. Why she still had it, she didn’t know. Her father had sold the car long ago. She also found a bracelet from her first birthday with her first boyfriend. It was rusted around the edges now; from all the time spent going unworn, just sitting in her drawer. 

As Caela continued to dig through the mass of miscellaneous items in the drawer searching for her pen, she found various other items she seemed to have no use for: a locked lock with no key, a few pieces of ribbon in assorted colors, a bow from an old Christmas gift (with glossy, red paper still attached to the once sticky part of the bow), and at the bottom of all of this, a piece of lined paper, so yellowed, that it almost looked like it was part of the drawer itself.

Caela unfolded the softened paper to see what it held. It looked to be a letter, addressed to her, of all people. She read what she could of the faded ink:

My Dearest Caela, 

You have been here for me through everything. I ho… find your love and be happy. I do still lo… I might n… but I mean everything. And all the time I have gotten to spend with you has been some of the b… You… and I want you to kn…

The rest was too faded for Caela to decipher. Though, the signature was somehow still clear.

All My Love, Dylan

Dylan, her former military love, had written her this letter long ago. Caela had received it only weeks before he, well, was unable to return to her. Caela cried at the sight of the letter. All of the memories with Dylan came rushing back to her. How she missed him so much, and had still been able to move on with her life, was still a mystery to her. 

After a few minutes’ mourning, Caela did find her pen. 

Now she could move on to her new life. Her new life, in a new place, with new people; but since she had her pen, and the photo, and the faded, worn out letter, she would always have those things she held most dear.

Her memories.