Photographs & Memories

"Okay, I know Chris. We aren't going anywhere near America. It is just a short trip to Brazil. Athena is so excited to go to Brazil finally, you should've come with us too." A female voice spoke loudly on the phone. In the background, loud noises of buzzing voices and announcements on the speaker could be heard. The background noises almost drowned out the female voice.

"You know I wanted to go too. But the new launch is coming up, so I have to be around for it. We will go somewhere else on Athena's next vacation. She has been clamoring about Disneyland so we can take her to Hong Kong together next time." The voice of a man on the other side answered.

"Yeah, work is also important." The female voice sounded unconvinced but quickly changed her tone, "The little devil heard you talking about taking her to Disneyland. She is dancing in the middle of the airport right now. Athena! You can dance all you want but not there baby, it is dangerous to stand there. You should be seeing this Chris, she is so cute right now."

"Ah! I'm jealous. I haven't seen our little dynamite doing the tutu dance." Chris answered regretfully.

"Don't worry. I will send you lots of videos of your precious daughter." The female voice answered cheerfully. There was some indistinct announcement in the background and the female voice spoke in a hurry, "It is boarding time Chris. I will call you later when we land. Baby, come take your bag, we have to get on the plane now."

"You should've just taken the private jet, Nina. It would've been much so much more convenient and easy." Chris spoke with a sigh.

The female voice answered sternly, "What did I tell you, Chris? We can't let our little girl grow up in a small protected bubble of wealth. She needs to experience the world from a young age and learn to be a part of it. Our daughter shouldn't turn out like those stupid, insensitive rich kids you see on the news. Anyway, we are getting on the plane now, so I have to hang up."

"Okay, take care you two, and have a lot of fun. Don't get to anywhere near America though." There was a sense of urgency and fear in Chris' voice.

"I know, Chris. Now I really have to hang up. Athena, baby say bye to daddy." The sound of a little girl's shout came from the other side, "Bye Daddy. Miss me a lot and I'll bring you gifts." The female voice chuckled, "That's your daughter for you. Bye, honey. Miss me a lot too and love you."

Chris laughed out a little and answered, "I already miss you two a lot. Stay safe Nina, love you lots."

The clicking sound of the phone being hung up sounded out. In the darkened room, the hang-up tone of the phone almost seemed to reverberate and fill up the entire space until it died down. And then, there was silence. The kind of heavy silence that is capable of deafening you.

In the dark room, the only source of light was the bright screen of the phone. Someone tapped on the phone, and the sound of ringing broke the silence once again. After a couple of rings, the phone was picked up and a voice was heard.

It was the same female voice, Nina's voice. "Hello. Chris, I was just about to call you. We just arrived at our hotel in Sao Paulo. We arrived safely, you don't have to worry."

Chris answered with a relieved tone, "That's good. Did you meet the bodyguards arranged by the company? I know you hate it but Brazil is not entirely safe so please don't go around alone."

"Yeah, we met them. Athena already became friends with them. She even nicknamed them Big Bear and Tall Bear. You don't have to worry too much. We aren't going to go anywhere dangerous but we will still take the two 'bears' with us just in case." Nina sounded amused by her daughter's antics.

Chris chuckled, "Yes. Where is the little dynamite though? Let me talk to her."

"She went to sleep the moment she jumped on the hotel bed. It was a tiring flight. I'll call you later when she wakes up."

Chris answered regretfully, "That's fine. You should rest too. We can talk later. Stay safe, love."

"You should rest too. I'm sure you have been up all night tracking our flight. We arrived safely so rest now. I'll video you later when we go out. Love you." Nina hung up the phone with that.

Once again, the reverberating tone lasted for a moment until it was drowned out by silence. There was no other movement for a while in the darkness until the phone screen began to dim down and finally went black completely. There was once again the sound of movement and clothes rustling.

The phone screen brightened, and there was some more tapping on it. A video appeared on the screen this time. A beautiful brunette woman in her mid to late twenties appeared on the screen. She was wearing a flowery summer dress and a hat.

"Come here baby, look who is on the phone here." The woman's voice was that of Nina's. The camera moved down and a cute little girl of four or five years wearing the same outfit as Nina was seen on the screen. She resembled Nina quite a bit.

"Daddy! Mommy and I are wearing the same dress. Is it pretty?" the little girl smiled brightly at her father on the video and showed off her dress.

"It is very pretty. Our little dynamite looks like a princess. But don't you miss Daddy? My daughter only cares about the dress." Chris acted pouty.

Little Athena giggled, "Hehe, I always miss Daddy. Daddy is silly." The voice of Nina came from off camera, "Yeah sweety, your dad is very silly. Tell him where we are going."

"Oh. Big Bear and Tall Bear are taking us to the giant statue of Jesus Christ. It's the statue with hands like this." Athena posed with her hands held up on the side like Christ the Redeemer.

"Oh, yeah? Do you know the name of that big statue?" Chris asked playfully.

Athena thought for a second and stuck her tongue out, "Christ the Reindeer." There was laughter on both sides of the call. Athena seemed confused at first but joined in on the laughter.

Nina, who seemed to be trying hard to control her laughter corrected her daughter, "It is Christ the Redeemer, Athena. Say it with me, baby. Re-Dee-Mer." Athena followed along with her mother.

Suddenly, a big guy ran over into the frame and picked up Athena in a hurry. The camera started shaking but in the shaky frame, it could be seen that the man was pulling Nina along as well.

"What? What's going on? What happened, Andre?" To Nina's question, the big man answered in a calm tone, "It's dangerous ma'am. Something seems to have happened over there, we need to evacuate."

There was a commotion on the screen with Athena crying out of panic and Nina trying to console her while running toward the car. Chris shouted in panic, "What's going on? Nina! Talk to me. What is happening?"

But there was no answer from the other side, there were sounds of loud explosions in the background that drowned out Chris' voice. He could still hear Athena crying, "Mommy, I'm scared. I want to go to Daddy." Nina was consoling her in a nervous tone, "It's okay baby. Mommy is here. Everything is going to be okay."

Chris was heard shouting, "Alex! Get me a plane to Brazil right now! And contact the local branch in Sao Paulo, find out what's going on, and send more bodyguards to my wife's location. Now!"

In the video, an explosion was heard nearby. The phone suddenly, and Chris continued shouting, "Nina! Nina! Are you there? Are you okay?" The phone cut off.

Once again, silence dominated the dark room. But this time, there were sounds of intermittent gulping. The sound of glass hitting the table and then the long drawn-out sound of a glass bottle rolling on the floor. It took a while for the rolling sound to stop after making a clanking sound of hitting something.

The phone screen went dark again. And then there came a loud crashing sound of glass shattering into pieces followed by a heartbreaking scream of a man. "Aaaaghh!" After that, silence.

The door opened abruptly and a sudden burst of brightness filled the room all at once. A concerned voice came from the silhouette standing at the door, "Sir! Are you okay?"

In the brightness, the room looked like a mess. It seemed like a study or a home office at first glance but it was littered with bottles everywhere. The books, stationery, and papers were all over the floor. It was a very messy room. And at the end of the room, behind a desk, was a man.

The man's age was difficult to estimate due to his unkempt, overgrown hair and beard but he seemed to be in his late twenties at most. He looked like he hadn't washed or slept in weeks. His eyes were sunken and his hands looked skinny. He didn't seem to have been eating properly.

The man shouted at the man at the door, "I told you not to disturb me, Alex! Leave me alone." Although it sounded hoarse and tired, it was the voice of Chris.

"Athena is awake sir. She is looking for you." The man at the door, Alex, spoke excitedly.

Chris jumped up from the chair, knocking over a bunch of glass bottles. "What did you say? Athena woke up? Is that true? Is my Athena awake?"

"Yes sir, Athena is really awake. I suggest you clean yourself up and come down fast, I don't think you should see her in that state. I'll get the car ready." Alex spoke in a stern voice.

Chris looked down at himself and then ran to the bathroom. He could hear Alex's voice from behind him, "The shaving kit is in the bathroom and your clothes are ready on your bed."