Out of Closet

Chapter 1: Let's the adventure begin...from the end

Place: Orange County, CA

Year: 1885

Elizabeth Porter opened her eyes and shut them right away because the sun, penetrating through the partly opened curtains, was blinding her. She decided to wait a little before getting up so she could clear her mind from the events of yesterday. Now, it all seemed like a horrible dream but still, even just by thinking about it, Elizabeth felt her palms getting all sweaty again, her cheeks blushing with anger that was building inside of her. Her mind went wandering back to the events of her life and especially the emotional roller coaster she rode over the last month.

Elizabeth was a daughter of wealthy landowner in Orange County, who acquired all his wealth during the Gold Rush in 1848. Melvin Porter was a very calculating man and clearly knew what he wanted in his future. He invested all his money in some land grants, and began building farms, factories and railroads and became one of the richest men in California. He married a daughter of one of his equally fortunate friends, Maxine Johnson, who was famous for her beauty and intellect, and especially for her love of arts. She was always patronizing local artists and even opened several art galleries in the valley.

Before making all his money in the Sierra foothills, Melvin was briefly married to his childhood sweetheart, who died in childbirth, leaving Melvin with a beautiful daughter, Katherine. First, he gave her away to be raised by his sister, but after he married Maxine, he brought his 8 year old daughter to live with them. Elizabeth was born soon after and Katherine became very protective of her little baby sister, who affectionately called her Katie when she learned to speak.

When Elizabeth turned 18, she suddenly developed an uncontrollable passion for art. To Maxine's surprise, art turned out to be more than just a temporary fascination for her daughter, and she hired several tutors over the years to support Elizabeth's obsession.

Elizabeth was brought back to reality by the sound of chimes outside of her window. She stretched her long and slender arms, but decided against the idea of getting out of the bed so early. She still had a splitting headache from the horrible events of last night and she wanted to sleep it off. Her thoughts drifted away again to the previous and unusually rainy month of August, when Elizabeth experienced the most intense heartbreak she could imagine.

Meanwhile, in another dimension

Place: Los Angeles, CA

Year: 2005

Tina Kennard couldn't sleep at all last night. She kept tossing and turning with her mind wandering around the unusually strong feelings of loss and despair that she had felt for several days now. She tried to reason with herself that these feelings had nothing to do with her treasure, but after countless sleepless nights she decided to face the truth. The loss of her favorite miniature portrait, the one she had cherished since she was a little girl, brought about this anxiety. An uncontrollable flow of tears cascaded down her slightly tanned cheeks every time she thought about beautiful face she might never see again.

As long as Tina could remember, she loved to play in the attic of her family's house with her older sister and couple of her best friends. They were always inventing new games, new adventures or re-enacting old fairytales. One day, on her thirteenth birthday, Tina and her friends played hide-and-seek. Tina had crawled in the narrow niche of the attic behind some huge wooden chest and laid their quietly, holding her breath and attentively listening to every noise and sound made by her friends who were frantically searching for her all over the place. Tina discovered this niche one day by accident and decided not to tell anybody, so she could have this dark and mysterious place all to herself. After awhile Tina's mind began to marvel, she was so tired all of a sudden and imperceptibly she found herself fast asleep. Tina didn't know how long she was sleeping, but she woke up from the sound of loud voices calling for her. She recognized despair in her mother's tone of voice and crawled out of the perfect hiding place.

The murky atmosphere around her suggested that it was pretty late in the evening and Tina suddenly realized why her parents were so hysterical. She hastily began running towards the hatchway when her dress caught the sharp corner of the wooden chest. In her awkward attempt to free herself, Tina dashed forward and heard her dress rip, but she was still stuck. Tina thought, 'The only way for me to get out of the attic without any bodily injuries is to open the cover of that darn chest.' She turned towards the chest and opened the cover. Right away she could smell the moldy scent of the chest's contents and out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a small miniature negligently lying on the top of decayed papers and rugs. Tina was about to touch the painting when she heard her father's voice and then saw his head in the open hatchway.

John Kennard released a sigh of relief and turning his head down, yelled to his wife,

 "She's right here Joan, in the attic, don't worry." Then turning back to Tina, he said, "You completely scared your mother, Tina, she in for an early heart attack."

"Sorry daddy, I was hiding here and felt asleep," Tina replied, as she closed the chest, making a mental note to herself to come here tomorrow and get that painting. All night long, after many tears and as many hugs from her mom, she was lying in her bed and thinking about beautiful face she saw for a brief moment on that old miniature.

Unable to sleep any longer, Tina decided to get up and make herself some chamomile tea in a feeble attempt to calm her nerves and try to figure out, what in the hell happened to the miniature. Last thing she remembered was that wild party with her friends that she had last Friday. Shane and Carmen were so drunk that they organized semi-nude karaoke competition, which totally brought blush to Dana Fairbanks innocent cheeks and made her run into the house to the safety of Tina's bedroom. In the meantime, Tina spent all evening chasing half-naked Carmen around the pool. Finally, Tina's boyfriend of two years, Eric, came to the rescue and with his help, Shane and Carmen were captured at last and Eric took them both home, promising to call Tina in the morning. After hearing that the wild beasts were tamed, Dana came out of the bedroom and giving Tina a hug, saying that she'll be leaving too.

Exhausted, Tina went to bed deciding to clean the party mess the following morning. 'Thank goodness it's Saturday and I don't have to work,' she thought to herself while changing into her pj's. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, Tina opened the top drawer of her dresser, where she kept the treasured miniature, so she could follow her daily ritual. Tina loved to hold the painting, breathing in the beauty of the face that was captured on the century-old piece of oak. After admiring the image, she would turn the miniature over and read the short but the sweetest inscription on the bottom: 'My heart will find yours.' Last Friday wasn't an exception. But this time an unpleasant surprise awaited Tina when she opened the drawer. The miniature portrait wasn't there, and after frantic search everywhere in her bedroom, Tina fell onto her bed, crying herself to sleep.

TBC?