Certificate

Light shone down on him.

Adam looked toward the sun and blinked. It was wonderfully yellow. He stood on shaking legs, and wondered how much time had passed while in the dream.

He saw the time on Mary’s cellphone. It was thirty past nine.

Mary was shaking and taking deep breaths. She seemed far more exhausted than him.

He suffered from a powerful migraine, but changed his clothes while Mary steadied herself on the bed, head drooping lifelessly. She watched him through pain-filled eyes.

“Wait,” Mary said. “What is happening?” She clutched her head. “Tell me.”

Adam finished changing his clothes, thinking what to say to her. The truth? Maybe later, now was not the time for truth, and he realized something else too. Even without his memories, there were things he knew how to do. Maybe he was recovering.

“I need to get the code,” he told her. “You seem in pain. Rest.”

“Of course I am in pain, you jackass!”

“I guess I’ll have to get it alone, then.”

“Wait! Don’t leave yet.”

Someone screamed. It reverberated through the mansion. “Evelynn.”

Mary gritted her teeth at the sound. Adam worried for her. Was there something he could do? “Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” she groaned, not sounding all right at all. “Damnit, what was that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Adam said, heading for the door.

“Wait, don’t leave!”

Adam closed the door on her last words.

A long, pristine corridor with wooden floorboards that seemed to glisten waited outside. All the bedrooms of the house were located on the second floor, though he was unsure of which belonged to who. It was a simple matter to discover; the corridor circumvented them all.

After two turns he saw all Evelynn’s children crowding around a door. Sarah and both her children stood aside, merely watching. The old woman glanced at Adam as he arrived. She wore sleeping clothes, clearly having rushed here.

John broke the door, hurrying inside, his siblings at his heels.

No one minded Adam as he walked in after the others. He started as the younger of her daughters screeched at the terrible sight.

Evelynn lay on the bed, wearing a negligee someone her age really shouldn’t, her unnaturally pale face a frozen mask, her lips purple, her eyes bloodshot. Blood was dripping from her nose, and she seemed catatonic.

Adam was shocked and disgusted. What terrible things had happened to her in that place after he left? Did he even want to know?

Alexandra arrived, and covered her mouth in horror, stifling a scream of horror.

Sarah and her children stood by the entrance, not daring to enter.

Adam took a brief look around the room. The nightstand was covered in medicine bottles. The dress she wore last night lay on the carpet. A shelf of baubles rested above the bed. A wardrobe stood to the left of the room. A photo of herself from many years ago hung on the wall.

After studying the room, he decided to look for Sarah’s room.

“Wait, you!”

Adam stopped, turning around.

John was facing him. His siblings behind him, wearing confused looks. Except the youngest daughter, who held her mother’s hand like a lifeline.

“You did this!” John declared, pointing at Evelynn.

For a second Adam felt flustered. But the feeling easily faded, replaced by the utilitarian want to lie. He cocked his head, an appropriately confused expression on his face. “How could I have done this?”

Alexandra, Adam noticed from the corner of his eyes, had palled and flinched as she heard her husband’s accusation. She scampered to one side, clearly not willing to stand near.

“You don’t deceive me,” he continued. “You are the same as the old man.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Adam shook his head. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”

“John, stop!” screamed the older sister. “This is no time for this. We need to call an ambulance.”

“I guess I’ll see myself out,” Adam said, turning away.

“That’s all you have to say about this?” asked the other sister, turning toward him. Tears rolled down her cheeks, making her look pathetically distraught.

Adam stopped, and faced her. “I am sorry for your loss.”

“She’s not dead!” said the older sister.

Adam shrugged. “I guess I am not sorry for your loss then.”

John lunged at him, unexpectedly, or perhaps not so much. He punched Adam in the face.

Adam stumbled and touched his cheek. Strangely, he felt not a trace of pain. He turned toward John, who was kneading his fist. He pushed up his glasses. “You hit like a girl.”

Lucas stood, shocked.

“Stop it!” The older daughter shouted again, stopping him from rushing at Adam again.

She glared at Adam. Adam studied her, saying nothing.

“This is my mother,” she declared, sharply as if daring him to object. Then she turned toward her husband who had surreptitiously arrived while he faced John. “Call the hospital.”

Adam turned away to leave. He came face to face with Sarah, staring creepily at him. She did not stop observing him even as he left. Her two children studied him, intently.

He continued down the winding corridor, checking the rooms as he passed. He saw the dress Sarah was using last night on a clothes rack. Her room was thankfully after a bend that made it impossible to see him entering.

The room was lacking in personality. It had little furnishing, no carpet, and the bed was small. Still, her open wardrobe had many clothes.

The book, surprisingly enough lay above the bed.

He sighed. Even if she noticed, he had no choice. He snatched the book.

§

Mary lay on the bed, holding her head. She seemed in pain. “Oh, you’re back.”

“It’s quite a long journal,” Adam said, opening in a random page, and reading a passage about how John was a disappointment. “It’ll take a while to find it.”

“Give it here,” Mary said, flopping around in bed. “Ha, the world is upside-down now.”

“I don’t think you should strain yourself.”

“Just give it here!” she insisted.

He gave it to her, sighing. She opened it and smirked. “Yeah, it’s on the first page.”

He took the book back, surprised. “How did you know that?”

“Because your passwords are written on the first page of your notebook.”

Adam’s mind blanked out. He took out his journal and realized that she was correct.

She fixed her gaze on him. “Why are you checking what I said?”

He froze. “I had forgotten I did that,” he tried to explain, but it sounded lame even to him.

“Forgot…forgot, hmmm…is your age getting to you now?”

He stood. “Do you want a painkiller?”

“Already took one,” she said. “Don’t change the subject.” She pointed at him, angrily.

“It’s almost noon. I better go open the safe before the lawyer arrives.”

“Don’t leave me here!”

Once again, he closed the door on her.

He headed for the library. At the stairs, he met one of Sarah’s children.

He was tall and lean, with sunken cheeks and an unhealthy complexion. His eyes were blue and clear, and Adam had the feeling he was a cold person.

“Forgive me,” he said. “I believe we were not introduced yet.” He offered his hand. “Joseph Good.”

Adam shook his hand. “Adam Good.”

Joseph let a small laugh escape. “I did not imagine you would introduce yourself as Good.”

“I am, after all, vying for his inheritance here.”

Joseph fell silent. “I suppose so. Truly, I’d wish to not use the name Good myself if I could help it, nothing good ever came out of this name. But I understand.”

“I feel for your bad relationship with your father.”

Joseph stared at him, unblinking. His silence lasted several seconds. “Have you really nothing to do with what happened to Evelynn?”

Adam frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing,” Joseph said, walking up the stairs. “It was just a question. Goodbye, Adam.”

Adam took one last look at his back and continued down the stairs.

“By the way,” Joseph said, making Adam turn around at him. “Do you really need that notebook?”

Adam stopped, surprised. Joseph took a good, long look upon Adam’s face, smirked, and left.

Adam stood there a moment longer, feeling frustration, then unexplainable anger. He continued to the library, opened the room, and then opened the safe.

He was made a fool of. The realization filled him unbridled anger. A cooler part of his brain understood Joseph was somewhat aware of what happened. What did he know?

Within were more books. He looked quickly over them and searched for something that looked like a certificate. He found it. It was his birth certificate, declaring Oliver his father and some unimportant nobody his mother.