Chapter 18 - The Time Capsule
To mark the end of the dark chapter surrounding Lorraine’s legacy, Zia decided to organize a family project for the final weekend of summer vacation.
She dragged a heavy metal lockbox out from the hall closet, placing it right on the dining room table where her place card had once read Guest.
"What are we putting in here?" Travis asked, walking into the room with a stack of old polaroids and documents.
"Everything we don't need to carry into the future," Zia announced with absolute authority.
We each contributed items to the metal box:
Travis dropped in the key to the old bank safety deposit box—the one containing Lorraine’s bitter 1994 ledger.
I dropped in a printed copy of the hateful text messages Brenda Vance had sent during the holiday scandal.
Zia dropped in the crooked red gift bag and the vanilla candle tagged To Travis’s Girl.
"Are you sure you want to bury the candle?" I asked Zia, gently touching her hand. "You kept it for a long time."
Zia smiled, shaking her head. "I don't need a reminder of what someone else called me. I know who I am. And I know who my dad is."
That evening, the three of us walked out to the very center of the newly cleared garden where the old carriage house used to stand. Travis grabbed a shovel, digging a deep, clean hole right into the rich earth.
May you like
Zia lowered the metal box into the ground, covering it with shovelfuls of dark soil until every trace of the past was buried beneath the life we had built together.
On top of the fresh earth, Travis planted a young, strong maple tree—a living monument to resilience, growth, and unconditional love.
