Tales From The Wondrous Attic
Stephen St. Clair
Chapter One
Dust bunnies, ages old littered the stairs as grandpa
climbed the wooden staircase that led to the locked attic door. When he reached
the door, he fumbled in his pocket for the keys.
“Ah, there they are, can’t get very
far without these!” Grandpa exclaimed.
“Grandpa, what’s even in the attic?”
spoke a voice from the bottom of the stairs.
“Who cares, I just want to get this
done so I can get back on the computer!” came another voice, but from part way
up the stairs.
“Now girls, you agreed to help your
old grandpa with this! You know how Grandma gets when I don’t get my chores
done. Besides, if we are ever going to sell this place, we have to get the
stuff out of the attic, so Goodwill can come and pick it up,” Grandpa
explained.
“I know Grandpa, that’s why I’m helping you. Grandma says I’m always a good helper when someone
needs me!” said the younger of the two girls named Mackenzie.
“We know Mackenzie, you’re such a good helper! That’s why the last
time mom had you help carry up the groceries you dropped the eggs and broke all
of them!” said the oldest sister named Megan.
“Hey, I thought one of the eggs was
chirping at me!” the younger sister said.
“All right you two-” Grandpa turned
to look at both girls. He stood up to his full height of 6’5”, which wasn’t
easy for him to do because of the arthritis in his back. Despite his physical
limitations, even at 67 years old, Grandpa was still an imposing figure.
“If you two don’t stop, I’m not going
to take either of you to the movies tonight or to the beach tomorrow with
Grandma!” Grandpa looked sternly at the two girls, but then a small smile
formed at the corner of his lips.
“Now you two pixies get along and
help me so we can get this stuff done,” Grandpa commanded as he turned to
switch on the light that was above his head.
“Sorry Grandpa!” both girls muttered
under their breath.
The two girls, Megan and Mackenzie,
were sisters both and were the Yin and Yang of the family. At any moment, one
of them would give you a hug while the other would be eating your cookies and
drinking your milk the second you turned your back. Seldom did they get along,
yet seldom were apart. It was if they were magnetically attracted to each
other. Megan was the oldest at thirteen years old. She was just 5 feet tall.
She had dark brown eyes and short, dark brown hair. She was the strong willed
and determined sister between the two. Mackenzie was 10 years old and all of 4’
10”. Just two inches shy of her sister, but just as tall if not taller in
spirit. She was the playful sister with a very intuitive imagination.
“Hey grandpa, why do you keep the
door locked?” Megan asked.
“Well, you never know what might
jump out at you!” Grandpa replied, smiling.
“Grandpa!” Mackenzie exclaimed.
“I’m just kidding darlin’!” Grandpa
replied.
“What are we looking for, Grandpa?”
Megan asked.
“Grandma said there were some boxes
of old books that your dad used to read when he was a boy. Also, I think there
were some old clothes and stuff.” Grandpa said.
“So basically, that would be pretty
much everything up here, right? Because everything I see so far is old books or
old clothes!” said Megan turning in circles as if surveying the land.
“I know Meg, just keep looking and holler when
you see it. The books will be all science fiction and the clothes will be
all... umm... kinda like the books.” Grandpa
said smiling as if he was
remembering something from a lifetime ago.
“I like old books! It’s like going
on a journey every time you pick up a different book!” Mackenzie said smiling.
All
three walked around the attic carefully dodging the cobwebs and dust covered
objects. The girls shied away from the objects that were out of reach or in too
dark of a corner.
Megan
came to a sudden stop, when right behind her, Mackenzie crashed into her. This
sudden movement knocked Megan into a large object covered with a sheet.
“MACKENZIE!”Megan
cried as she stumbled, catching part of the sheet and pulling it off the object
hiding below it.
“Mackenzie, I swear you better watch
what you’re doing or…” Megan started to complain but realized that Mackenzie
was nowhere to be found. Plus, she was distracted by the mirror that was hiding
underneath the sheet she tripped over.
“Hey Grandpa, why do you have a
mirror hiding under this old sheet?” Megan asked still staring at the mirror.
“Cover that up quick!” Grandpa said
hastily rushing over to cover the mirror.
“Grandpa, you’re back doesn’t hurt!”
Megan said with wide-eyed amazement in how fast her grandpa moved.
“I can move fast when I want; I just
choose not to. I wouldn’t want your Grandma to think I was able to still
conquer the world ya’ know!” Grandpa said looking down at Megan smiling.
“Okay Grandpa, whatever. I’m going
to go look for Mackenzie now.”
“Hey Mackenzie where are you?” Megan
said as she started looking around the dimly lit attic.
“Mackenzie!” Megan yelled. She took
a step around the object that caused her to land on the floor and bruise her
pride.
Megan moved on, finally finding her
sister on the far side of the attic, where she was standing in front of a large
trunk. She was mesmerized by the designs on the front and the large lock that
hung almost sideways on the clasp.
Grandpa, still wandering around,
realized he hadn’t heard his two helpers for a while and called out to them.
“Girls, girls where are you? I swear
if you snuck back downstairs to get out of helping me, I’m gonna nail your
pretty little…”
“Grandpa, what’s this?” Megan asked
pointing to the chest.
“Yeah Grandpa, what is this?” Mackenzie also asked.
Grandpa walked over to where the
girls were and stopped a few feet away to look at what was holding up his help.
Grandpa stood for a long minute before one of the girls got his attention.
“Grandpa, don’t you know what this
is? It is in your attic.” Megan asked annoyingly.
“I haven’t the slightest idea girls,
but I’m sure it’s nothing important,” Grandpa said.
He was actually lying to his
granddaughters. Even though it had been a lifetime ago, he knew exactly what
lay within the trunk and the evils that had taken place previously within it.
Grandpa started to walk away when he
saw that Mackenzie had got down on one knee to get a better look at what was on
the lock.
“Mackenzie, you probably shouldn’t
mess with that trunk. I think it might have some stuff of your grandma’s in it,”
Grandpa said.
“There seems to be some symbols on
the lock,” Mackenzie said, ignoring what her grandpa just said.
She looked closer at the lock again.
It was heavy and had some sort of criss-cross design on it. She lifted up the
lock to see the back, where she found more symbols scratched into the surface.
“Hey Grandpa, what do you think
these symbols mean?” Mackenzie asked.
Grandpa tried looking over Mackenzie’s
shoulder to look at the back of the lock.
“I don’t know. Let’s see here. It
looks like...hmmm... what language is this?”
“It says ‘fhosgail’,” Megan said.
Suddenly, the lock fell open in
Mackenzie’s hands. All three jumped back; even Grandpa with his bad back.
“Girls, what just happened?” Grandpa
asked.
“You spoke the word on the back and
the lock opened!” Megan replied.
“Yeah, it was like magic, Grandpa!
Mackenzie spoke up with a huge smile plastered across her face.
“Well, I can tell you one thing; it
wasn’t magic that opened the lock!” Grandpa knew it was though, but he wasn’t
going to tell his granddaughters that. “Maybe it was full of dust or something.”
Grandpa said, eyeing the open lock.
“Grandpa look, there’s more writing
like what’s on the lock, but this is above where the lock was. It says “fhosgaite” said Mackenzie.
“Creeeeeeeekkkk!”
the lid to the trunk suddenly swung open.
“AHHH!” All three screamed in
surprise, both girls clinging to Grandpa’s side.
“G-g-g-grandpa, Did you s-s-s-see
that?” Megan asked?
“I’m starting to wish I hadn’t
honey!” Grandpa replied.
Mackenzie was the first to move. She
was finding it hard to not let curiosity win her over.
“Mackenzie wait!” Megan hissed at
her sister.
“I’m just going to peek. What can it
hurt?” Mackenzie shrugged her shoulders and tiptoed over to peek inside the
trunk.
“Mackenzie, stay back!” Grandpa
said.
Mackenzie turned to look at the two
fraidy-cats standing behind her and smiled, then said, “I’m just going to look.
Magic or no magic; that’s just weird!” Mackenzie shook her head.
Mackenzie crept up to the edge of
the trunk and peered over the edge ever so carefully. A puzzled look came over
her face.
“What do you see, Mackenzie?” Megan
asked.
“It looks like a piece of paper
rolled up. Hold on, let me get it.” As she leaned over the edge of the trunk,
reaching for the piece of rolled up paper, Mackenzie somehow lost her balance,
causing her to fall into the trunk.
At the same time, realizing that
Mackenzie was starting to fall in the trunk, both Megan and Grandpa were able
to grab hold of a separate piece of clothing on Mackenzie. Somehow, as if by ‘magic’,
something caused all three people to fall inside the trunk.
“Ahhh!”
screamed the trio.
As soon as all three had gone over
the edge of the trunk, the lid slammed shut and the lock mysteriously appeared
back on the trunk, locked. A faint laughter echoed from the trunk and filled
the attic like a soft wind.
