Chapter 01 β Legacy
Mornings were still the most difficult part of the day. Waking up to an empty house, without the smell of burnt toast filling the air or the sounds of his old man flipping noisily through the newspaper to greet him, but, rather, waking up to the knowledge that he was alone in the world. The only family he had ever known, gone forever. It all seemed so unreal and he could physically feel the pain gripping his entire body every single day.
Still, reluctantly, Stephen swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat there, dreading the notion that today he would begin packing up his parent's room. He had not been in there since the day following the funeral and had been actively avoiding it for close to six months now.
A gentle knocking pulled him out of his reverie and he looked up to see Sarah standing at his bedroom door, smiling lovingly at him.
"You feeling ready for this?" her voice was sweet and forcibly upbeat.
"Not sure...but with you here it should be easier." It was a lame attempt at acknowledging her constant support over the last few months. The smile on Stephen's lips more for her benefit than due to any real sense of relief or levity. Sarah really was a sweetheart, he thought, an all-American, girl-next-door type with flowing blonde hair and a beautiful smile.
"Well, that's what I'm here for, right?" she replied, gracefully turning on her heels and walking away toward the stairs, her sundress molding to the curves of a body sculpted by years of playing competitive sports, teasing Stephen with the promise of what lay beneath.
'What the hell?!' - The thought of her naked body underneath that dress caught him by surprise, actually making him a bit embarrassed, almost as if he was being improper by thinking of her in that way while preparing to put his parent's belongings away. Yet there was no denying how much he was enjoying watching her walk away. The image of her nude body, with that perfectly round behind and those incredibly long, toned legs hiding her clean, shaved pussy burning in his brain. He could almost touch her.
"Are you coming baby?"
Sarah was standing by the stairs. 'God she looked beautiful.'
"I'll be right there" was the weak reply.
After a quiet breakfast together Sarah cleaned up the table and joined Stephen as he made his way upstairs, holding his hand all along until they solemnly crossed the threshold into his parent's room. A sweet dampness hung in the air mixing in with the smell of his mother's perfume. They quietly got down to business, carefully putting things in boxes as they moved methodically through the room.
They had been at it for a couple of hours and Stephen was almost done clearing out his father's bedside table when he saw the envelope. It was small and square, and entirely unremarkable. It had his name written on it in what looked like pencil, a bit of which came off on his thumb as he unconsciously pulled the envelope towards his chest. A flood of memories nearly overwhelmed him. Snap shots of earlier, happier days spent with his dad fishing and riding bikes by the beach. The sound of his voice resonating in his head as he called his name when he got too far ahead. With these thoughts dancing through his head he gently tore at the seal and pulled out a single piece of paper with what appeared to be his father's handwriting.
"Dear Stephen, I write this note simply to remind you of how much I have loved you and your mother all this years. I know I probably never said it enough, but words never seemed to suffice. All I can hope for now is that you will soon find that you possess, within you, all the tools necessary to gain the happiness that I found with your mother, for your own life.
I love you son."