Treasure in the ruins

People say you die only once. Well I would agree with them since I knew beyond a doubt that I would never see my mother again.
I folded the picture of the two of us, carefully placing it back into my locket.

"Are you ready Miss?"
I turned to the cab driver giving him the best smile I could muster.
Blowing out a breath, I said, "As ready as I would ever be."
The ride to my new home was quiet. Thousands of thoughts ran through my head. I hadn' t seen him in ten years.

The last memory I had was of him standing with pain in his eyes as my mother asked him to choose.
Choose between us and his objects or as he called them his objets d'art.
My dad was a collector of paintings, art works and jewelries.

My mother and I hardly ever saw him and when we did he talked endlessly about the next rare piece.
No matter what he got, he always wanted more. The final straw was drawn when he became obsessed with finding a particular painting that according to him held a cryptic message that would lead to a hidden treasure.

Source
As a little girl, the idea of discovering hidden treasures had intrigued me but over time my father lost sight of what I thought should have mattered more to him, us.
"Are you sure you gave me the right direction?" The cab driver interrupted me from my thoughts "Yes we are going in the right direction."
"If you don't mind me asking, who are you going to see?"

I looked out the window as the trees covered us the farther we drove.
"My Dad" I whispered.
I felt the gentle tap on my leg. "We are here Miss."
Yawning, I got down from the car as the driver helped me off-load my things. He took one last look at me, "If you need to leave any time, give me a call. I'll be here as fast I can."

I smiled as he drove off. I turned to face the door "Remember Kayla, he is still your father no matter what."
I sucked in a deep breath raising my hand to knock on the door but it opened before I could.
"Dad?" I called out stepping into the house.

Wow, was the first thing that came to my head. The walls were filled with numerous paintings. The shelves carrying different varieties of artifacts.
"Kayla." Before I had a chance to react he wrapped his hands around me pulling into his arms, "You are actually here."

After a few seconds he released me.
"Hi Dad."
He smiled sadly, "You look just like her." Snapping out of it, he shook his head, "Come let me show you to your room."
I followed the man who was supposed to be my father but felt so strange to me.

"Well, this is where you'll be staying. I didn't have much to work with because I don't really know what you like anymore but I hope I did a good job."
I gave him a small smile. I was going to be eighteen in a few months and I would be out of here so it didn't really matter.

Over the next month, we tried to co-exist. He talked about some of his discoveries and I pretended to care.
I spent most of the time in my room since school was on vacation. One afternoon I was really bored so I decided to finally take a tour.

Source
I stood in front of the painting. He had found it. When I was old enough, I searched for it on the internet. I wanted to know what was so special about it that he would pick it over us. It was a painting of different colours and on the side there was a little writing that said Look within.

Memories flooded my head.
"Kayla has daddy issues."
"I wonder what it feels like to have a father that likes collecting junk."
"Is Kayla going to cry? Too bad she can't run to her daddy."

I yanked the painting off the wall and then smashed it on the ground. I repeated it over and over fighting back the tears.
"Kayla", my father rushed to me, "What are you doing?"

"What was so important about this painting?" I screamed at him. "You left us. You were never there. All you ever cared about were your stupid items. Now Mum is gone and I'm supposed to pretend like everything is okay?"

He looked down, "I never asked you to pretend and I am so sorry."
The words sorry made the tears flow even more. He pulled me into his arms, "I am really sorry Kayla."
I let him hold me for a few minutes before pulling away. My eyes went to the shattered painting on the floor.
"What is that?"
My Dad turned as I knelt down to pick up a piece of paper within the ruins.

"Look within" I whispered.
I opened the crumbled paper.
"What does it say?",my Dad asked.
I read it out, "The greatest treasure you will find is love."

He sat on the ground, "Your mother was the reason I started collecting in the first place. When we first started dating, she would bring me silly artifacts to our dates and I would keep them as souvenirs. Over the years, we started competing on who could keep more items. It was fun. We collected anything we could find. You should have seen the house we lived in before you were born."

I sat down next to him, "She never told me."
He sighed,"After you were born, she stopped. She said we needed to make space for the only thing that mattered, you but I just couldn't stop. I didn't have a stable job and when I heard about the painting, one that could lead me to a treasure, I had to find it. To finally give you two the life you deserved."

"I should have seen it." His voice broke, "What was right in front of me."
I placed my head on his shoulder.
"Your mother is gone now and it was all for nothing."
"I'm still here Dad. I'm not going to leave you ever again."
He wrapped his hand around me as he cried silently.

---

The cab driver helped us load our bags into the boot of his car.
I looked up at my Dad, "Are you sure you don't want to take anything from the house?"
"No." He looked down at me, "Everything I need is right here."
We got into the car as the cab driver started the engine.
"Wait. I forgot something."
I rushed back inside the house, grabbed it then headed back to the car.

"What did you forget?"
I handed him the paper and he smiled.
"A reminder that we already have the greatest treasure. I love you Dad."
"I love you too Kayla."