The items from the box

Her face was blank as she stared at the item. The feelings she felt were complicated. It was like she was suddenly launched to outer space. The person beside her started to grow weary because she grew extremely silent and her face wasn't portraying anything. She looked like she had a stroke, on the spot. Moments later, she started laughing sarcastically. It grew louder and louder and she even looked at him while wiping the tears that started to form in her eyes.

Was this the way life toyed with her?

Ashley was well aware that she was laughing cynically in front of Ramier. He didn't get why she was laughing when there was nothing funny. She continued to wipe the corners of her eyes because she almost cried..from both laughter and distress.

After she was finally satisfied, the air around her suddenly turned solemn once again. She didn't want to be negative and just hope that this item was slightly helpful. However, she couldn't see how it would have a clue about going home.

It's not like that was the only piece right?

It wasn't over yet. This was just the first box anyway. It's not like all of the other items were a piece of junk like this one.

She tried to maintain her cool and closed the lid of the box.

She wrapped the gold cloth around the box and placed it on its original position. She didn't know if she should tell Ramier about the soda can, being a piece of garbage. But... That's his problem. Besides, she can already guess that they didn't have things like that in here. If they did, why treasure it in the deepest part of the museum?

She decided to take another box and placed it down the table, hoping that it was something useful. This time, she did quickly.

But she frowned when she saw what the box contained. It was a postcard with nothing written on it.

She turned around to ask Ramier a question.

"If you don't mind me asking, Do you know about these things? Like anything. Just anything about these items.."

"Well, Amilia would speak to the Priestess about the purpose of these things. She records them in a book.. but it's in a temple."

"Oh... okay." she said in disappointment and turned her attention back to what she was previously doing.

She took another box and opened it. It came out to be a pair of old sunglasses. The next item was car keys. Then a movie ticket, tourism maps, toy car, plane ticket and other stuff. She finished the whole shelf and really felt exhausted climbing up and down the ladder but sadly they were all nothing useful. Most of the items were just souvenirs. If not, were just junk.

However she discovered something. There were items that were from the present while somewhere from past eras. There were things that only existed during a certain period while other items continued to innovate or change in style.

For example, a gold coin from Rome. She was able to determine where it came from since it was inscribed with roman numerals. There was also an old camera. She didn't know which time it came from but it was definitely within the 1900's.

It was amazing and funny at the same time. It reminded her of the life she used to have. Who would've thought that things that seemed unimportant to humans were actually cherished here in this world.

She found it amusing and chuckled under her breath. But it still didn't help her nor gave her clues. She smiled bitterly when she remembered this.

Still, there were a lot of shelves with a lot of boxes. Who knows, she might find it hidden there somewhere.

Ramier, who was leaning down the wall while watching her, stood up straight and walked towards her. He decided to offer his help. He knew that she wouldn't finish this task alone. He was also bored just standing there doing nothing.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"I—..." she was about to turn down his offer but she realized that being courteous was pointless. She needed to be wise so she decided to agree. She nodded at him.

Ramier reached to the shelves and took two boxes at a time. What he did saved Ashley plenty of time and she opened the boxes simultaneously while looking left and right. She frowned when she saw what the things were.

It was a lighter and a carnival ticket. She sighed in disappointment.

She closed the lid and covered it back then handed it to Ramier who held out his hand. Ramier put the boxes to where they were before and took the two boxes beside them. He put it in front of her

They did that for the entire afternoon. Ramier would fetch the boxes while Ashley sat on the floor and opened them one by one.

It took them a couple of hours till they were finally on the last shelf. If he was not maybe it was already six in the evening. They would be slightly late for dinner. He decided that they would have dinner together and ask her about her findings.

He simply thought asking her now while they still weren't finished was inappropriate.

A receipt...

Brochure...

Empty photo album...

Picture of Mt. Everest.

A small Buddha...

Newspaper of the World War...

Still.. no... clue...

She could guess that the person who sent these was travelling around the world. She could recognise foreign alphabets and the variety of cultures present on these items. However, there was still nothing that could help her. She suddenly grew restless. She hoped that the remaining boxes would at least contain any information. To her dismay, it didn't.

After less than 20 minutes, they finally finished checking all the boxes. Seeing her expression. He knew that she found nothing. She slumped down on the floor and stared blankly in the air.

It was completely useless. Ashley found nothing that gave her a clue. It was like the box just spat out random things each year.

'Oh boy.. What do I do now.' she thought and looked helplessly at Ramier.

She was in deep trouble.