K is for Keeping Room

Thanks to Christine Town-Treweek for letting me use her pic as inspiration.

Wisp and I hovered together over the main streets, back alleys, pubs, shops and supermarkets of middle suburbia. We swooped through the supermarket several times as it seemed to be the peak shopping time and we figured that amongst those who were running to get to the checkout someone Wisp had known might be among them.
The sky grew dark very quickly; it had been close to dusk when we had entered the supermarket but as we followed a group and their trolleys out of the automatic doors we entered the halo of an orange streetlight which cut through the pitch-black sky.
‘Well, maybe next time.’ Wisp lamented while heading away from the shops.
‘There are still a lot of people in the beer gardens and pubs. Why don’t we hang around and have a look?’
‘I don’t know. I just don’t feel like we’ll get anywhere.’
‘Do you think it’s pessimism or instinct?’
‘I don’t know.’ Wisp replied. The words in my head had turned to the colour of dark blue ink. Wisp was crying through thought.
‘It’s okay. We’ll find someone. You can’t give up after a first glance.’
‘I’m sorry, I just wonder if I’ll ever remember.’
‘I’m sure you will. In the meantime, why don’t we go have some fun?’
‘Fun? What can we do?’
‘Come on!’ I beckoned Wisp as I headed off towards my brother’s house. If anyone would be having a few beers and watching the footy it would be him. I figured a night of pointless sport and people having fun might cheer Wisp up and it turns out I wasn’t too far off. Wisp had a minor breakthrough. It wasn’t much but it was something. During the game one of my brothers friends yelled out ‘Screw the maggies!’ and Wisp seemed to brighten instantly.
‘I’ve remembered something!’ Wisp yelled above the commotion.
‘What?’
‘I hate Collingwood.’
I felt myself grin. ‘That’s a good start.’
After the game Wisp was hard at work, trying to understand how this new piece of information could work within the context of a previous life. I floated along happily. My brother had seemed happy and I was glad. I wasn’t even paying attention to where I was going which is how I ended up taking Wisp right over my mum’s house. We went in for a look around and that’s when I saw something new — a trapdoor in the middle of the kitchen floor. It was open. I told Wisp to wait for me and floated just above the stairs into a basement that hadn’t been here before. The sign on the wall said it was ‘The Keeping Room’.