The Family Crest

The Family Crest

By: Sarah O'Neill

My water-stained ceiling stares back at me as I mull over this new discovery. Maybe it’s nothing…or maybe mom has a past that even our father doesn’t know about. It’s been five days since I found that letter hidden beneath the worn floorboards in her closet, I could tell from the coffee stains and wrinkled edges that this letter was from long ago… so why does she still have it? What does it mean? Most of the words in the bottom half are either smeared or worn with age but the first sentence is what I can’t seem to get out of my mind.

My dearest Katherine,

I cannot come back for you, it is far too dangerous for you to return so please run, run as far as you can…

Why would my mother need to run? As far as we knew she was born here in Smithville, and she has never left. Her and my father met in middle school and married shortly after they had graduated high school, their story isn’t anything special honestly which is why I don’t understand. She’s a simple and kind woman, she goes to book club and bakes for all our school events, she’s the last person I ever thought would have some dark secret.

I plan to go snooping a bit more when they head out for weekly dinner with the Clarks later tonight, but until then I need to stay calm.

“Sammy, breakfast is ready. You don’t want to be late”, my mother’s sweet voice calls from the kitchen.

Here goes nothing, “coming mom”, I call as I throw my bedroom door open and march out of the room with nothing but determination. As I make my way down the oak staircase my senses fill with the sweet smell of cinnamon rolls, mom always did know how to bake and suddenly her past faded into the background… just for the time being.

“Morning mom”, I greet as I make my way to the small circle table just outside the kitchen, the only thing between us a sage green half wall that my parents are in the process of taking down to make the kitchen “roomier”.

“Your brother has already gone for the day so I will have to give you a ride to the library once you’re finished with breakfast. What was it that you were wanting to research darling?”, she asked innocently.

What am I supposed to tell her? It’s the middle of summer break and I have already finished my entire summer reading list, which she is aware of. I guess I could just say I am trying to get ahead for next year but then I’d have to endure another lecture about how I need to “be more social” and “make friends my own age because the old lady up the street doesn’t count”.

“Sammy, are you okay?”, she questioned when I didn’t respond, I have got to get it together or she’s going to figure out something is wrong.

“Ye..yeah”, I cough trying to come up with something, “I just didn’t sleep well last night, weird dreams in all. It’s just research for one of my classes”.

Lying to my mother is not something I do, and with that look she’s giving me I wouldn’t be surprised if she saw right through it. I can feel my heartbeat pulsing through my veins, each second making me more and more nervous before she finally softened her gaze and nodded her head, “very well, we will leave in 10 minutes, I will meet you outside”.

That was enough anxiety to last me a lifetime so rather than stick around I grabbed my plate loaded with a singular cinnamon roll, 3 pieces of bacon and some scrambled eggs and headed back up to my bedroom. There really is only one purpose for going to the library, and that is to figure out what that symbol at the top of the letter means, it must be some sort of house crest because it has a matching one on the broken envelope seal where the letter is kept.  The only issue is, there could be hundreds of family crests with a dragon at the center of it. My only hope is that not every crest has a crossbow at the heart of the dragon. I’ve never seen anything like it, but there is no better place to start than the library.

“This is pointless”, I whisper to myself while running my fingers through my hair, there is nothing in here that looks remotely like the symbol I’m looking for. Hundreds and hundreds of dragons, all with swords, roses, even crossbows but not even one has the weapon at the center of that beast’s heart, not a single one feels right. I’ve spent hours looking through every book I can think of, every lead I thought I had just ended up being yet another dead end.

“Hey, are you doing okay over there?”, a deep, raspy voice calls from the other end of the long mahogany table, but I barely hear him.

My mind races with all the possibilities but only one really stands out, she had to have been royalty. Why else would she be told to run? The only issue with that theory is every royal crest is clearly pictured in these books, every symbol and name, but not the one I’m looking for.

“Hellloooooo”, the voice calls again, this time I hear him loud and clear, but I just don’t have the time to entertain some random stranger that goes to the library to flirt with girls. If I ignore him, he will go away…or so I thought.

“Hey, you”, he’s much closer this time, I didn’t realize how close until his hand landed heavily on my left shoulder and without thinking I grabbed him and hit just the right pressure point to make him freeze.

“Is there a reason you can’t leave me alone?”, my voice turned cold, icy even. But the confidence that was rushing through my veins kept my mind clear.

“I… I… my hand… can you please let go of my hand”, he grunted out between breathes, it was only then that I realized what I was doing and released the poor guy from my grip.

“Oh… Oh my God. I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to”, I rushed out in my normal high-pitched, mouselike voice that everyone found so annoying.

“It’s okay”, he said in a breathless voice while rubbing his wrist, “where did you learn how to do that”?

I thought for a minute before answering, I’ve never had any sort of martial arts training or anything so maybe it was just my fight or flight kicking in but either way… refusing to meet his eye I finally answer, “I really don’t know, it just happened. Again, so sorry for hurting you, it really was an accident”, I pleaded with him worried he would hate me, though I have no idea why I would care if he did. I don’t have many friends; I was the weird and nerdy girl that everyone believed would destroy their social life if seen with me. It’s not like he’ll be any different.

“It’s okay I promise, I just saw the books you were looking through and you seemed stressed. I’ve spent years studying all the different family crests from around of the world, so I was truly only trying to offer some assistance”, he explained in a sincere but careful tone.

“Oh… well, thank you”, I quickly respond, maybe I should take the help considering the fact that I’m not getting anywhere on my own, “that would actually be nice”.

He opted for sitting across from me rather than next to me, and I honestly couldn’t blame him. I had no idea I possessed any strength or knowledge when it comes to defending myself, I don’t even like sports so where did this come from? Either way, now is not the time to figure it out, there are still so much to go through while the library is still open so I’ll start by drawing a picture of the crest for this stranger to reference and then continue on hoping that I find something to convince me that I haven’t completely lost my mind.