Crysolite held her breath as she stepped through the doorway into Tatl’s old room. She looked around, the room being as dusty and old looking as the rest of the house was. But this room was different to her. Memories came back to her of Tatl. Memories she had wanted to forget for always.

She stepped back out of the room, pulling the door with her. She took a few deep breaths.She had to do this. She had to face these memories. They were a thing of the past, and she shouldn’t have to continue worrying about them.

Crysolite stepped back inside. She began to walk around the room, noting the different objects within. When she came across a shelf, she noticed a book...a book that had been special to her...and pulled it off of the shelf on which it lay. A box that had been resting on it fell, but she did not seem to notice.

She paged through the book, tears forming in her eyes as more memories came. But these memories...she never should have forgotten. Crysolite had become so angry with him that she had become blind without ever knowing it until now.

Tatl had not always been an evil elf trying to gain more power. No...he had once been a big brother, not different from any other. When Crysolite got on his nerves, they would argue and fight. But many other times, one could see that he really cared for her, and he would always read books to her, especially the one she held now in her hands. That had been their favorite. But, why had he kept this?

Crysolite set the book back on the shelf, then discovered the box that had fallen on the floor next to her foot. It laid sideways, the lid having fallen off upon the box’s contact with the floor. Different papers were scattered about.

She knelt down, picking up a piece of paper that had been crumpled. She smoothed it out on the floor. It was a letter addressed to Tatl from...her father. It basically was about her father saying goodbye and that he’d be back soon, and that he also loved Tatl.

Their father had run off one morning, none of them really understanding why. He had left a note for his wife, and, obviously, Tatl. Crysolite had gotten the impression that her father didn’t love his family anymore. She had been young and she didn’t remember him much.

She set it back in the box and picked up another letter. This time, it was from Tatl, addressed to her father. In it, Tatl asked about their father’s return, and he also mentioned Crysolite. He talked about how Crysolite was saying ‘mean’ things about their dad and how he wasn’t going to come back, but that Tatl knew that wasn’t true.

But it was true. Their father had never returned. But it was strange. No one seemed to know anything about what had happened...he had just seemed to vanish. It was a mystery that hadn’t been solved to this day, and Crysolite had never thought twice about it.

As before, she set the note back into the box, and also picked up a few more to put away. She didn’t want to look at anymore. Even though her brother was dead, and that she hated him, she still thought she should respect his things.

But her eye caught another note. This one had muddled and eerie handwriting. It wasn’t a letter, as the two she had read before, but more like thoughts on paper. It wasn’t really in sentences, but just had keywords, repeated over and over. Crysolite hadn’t read much before she didn’t want to read anymore of it and put it quickly back into the box with the others.

She was a little disturbed. It mentioned her family...something about death...it was evil. She covered the box with its lid and placed it on the book she had taken out before. Had she been wrong about Tatl all these years? Was there something that was just plain wrong with him? Maybe she could have found out all of the answers sooner if she hadn’t blocked her brother out...