She Wanted to be a Memory

This is a posting from my blog The underlying story of my site is that these short stories are snapshots or journals of a fictional explorer and her adventures.

Being the brazen explorers that we are, my darling partner and I have stumbled upon more than a few unsettling places and discovered unusual things there. Today I wish to share with you another snap-shot that I have added to our collection from a place long abandoned. Below are the notes from my journal…

September the 8th

           As usual, Florida has proven to be a difficult mistress, impeding upon our travels with heavy rain and dense humidity. We have given up the hike for the evening and retreated to our tent, set in a small clearing amidst twiggy shrubs. I suspect we are close to our destination area with perhaps half a day of hiking in the morning, provided the storms ease up.

Note : Woke to the sound of foot falls around 2am. I suspect an animal.

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September the 9th

        A particularly foggy morning, the marshy terrain like a soft sponge under foot. We were hopeful to find some tracks or other remains of curious nocturnal creatures from the previous night, but it was in vain. Even in the soft, damp soil there were no prints of any sort aside from our own.

Note: Silk white ribbon discovered tangled in the brush not far in our trek. Specimen collected for later contemplation.

       We have reached our coordinates around high noon only to be greatly disappointed. Despite a day and a half of anticipation, our lead has proven to be sorely misdirected. While resting before turning back to civilization, my partner became startled at the sight of something I had only just missed. Walking in the direction of what he claimed to be the top of a very white bonnet in the tall grass, what we found there was quite different.

It would seem that what we had been promised to find at this location was, in fact, here… or once here. Beneath our very feet were the decomposing remains of an old farm house. Once a plantation belonging to wealthy pioneers of Florida’s partially Southern heritage, were now soggy and half sunken in steamy wet lands. What this place had once looked like is nearly impossible to imagine, but we had discovered our goal, and that was something.

Note: Transportable remains collected, listed in Curiosity Log under the title ‘Sunken Plantation, C15�™.

       The most remarkable (and chilling) article recovered was a photo of a beautiful young girl in an ornate white bonnet in near pristine condition. I am alarmed to find that the ribbon collected earlier has disappeared from our pack, but we are both more than pleased to add this charming photo to our Mysterious Photo book.

End exploration log. 

I am happy to share this wonderful photo with you, dear reader, and hope revealing some of our adventures has proved interesting. What may you make of this daughter of fortunate lineage? I personally can not shake the feeling that she longed to be remembered as more than a lonely specter of forgotten history.

How would you like to be remembered?