Dear Brother

Letters

Lucy was bored. She was hanging off her bed, head to the ground, as she listened to the clock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.  She turned her head to the left. Her vanity sat to the side filled with her school books. Yep, she uses her vanity as her desk. Why not? She didn't have a desk and a vanity works just fine. She turned her head to the right. The cream wall greeted her. It's old, but it works just fine. She sighed and sat up. The blood flowed back down into her body and her head felt empty.

Summer vacation. It was gruesomely long and boring for 10-year-old Lucy who had no friends. Why would she, in this new neighbourhood? Her next-door neighbours were boomers, sleazy old couples that kept to themselves. And not a single kid in her entire neighbourhood! Well, not if you count that 2-month-old boy two houses down. It was silent and boring and lonely and tiring.

She slid off her bed and tumbled downstairs. "Ma, I'm bored!"

Her mother was in the kitchen listening to a religious podcast while making lunch. She paused the podcast and said," Well what do you want me to do?"

Lucy shrugged and said, "I dunno. Do something!"

"Well, why don't you read some of your books?" 

"I've been reading the entire time. That's the only thing I've been doing!"

"Lower your voice. You don't need to shout."

Lucy fumed and shouted, "My tone doesn't matter right now! I'm bored. There's nothing to do here! Why didn't we move somewhere with a little more life? It's like a prison here! I don't even have any friends!"

"Well, I'm sorry you don't like it here but it's not that bad. Nice and quiet. It's quite calm."

"No, it's driving me insane! Can't we go somewhere?" 

"We'll have to ask your dad about that. Hey, why don't you check out the attic? It could use an inspection. See what you find there." They hadn't gone through the attic ever since they moved in. It's supposedly filled with junk and things they don't need at the moment. 

"Oh, don't break anything though and clean up after yourself."

"Mom I didn't even agree!"

"Do you have anything better to do?"

"No."

"Then what's the problem?"

Lucy pouted, saying, "It's all dusty and murky and makes me sneeze."

But her mom was right. She had nothing better to do. So she climbed the stairs to the attic. She opened the door and expected dust to fly, but nothing happened. It was relatively clean. No cobwebs and muck, but still a little dusty. Lucy turned on the dim light. It flickered with a yellow hue. The boxes barely occupied much space and were not stacked to the ceiling. Around ten boxes were there at the side of the room and so much space. The space in front of the semicircle window was empty and light shone into the room, reflecting off the dust particles. It was quite cosy. 

Grinning she went back down and grabbed the broom and the dustpan. She swept the dust onto the dustpan and soon mopped the floor. She didn't move the boxes though. They were heavy.

"What did my parents put in those things?" she wondered. 

She returned to her room and came back with a pink blanket, a giant pink teddy and a plain white notebook. It was halfway filled with drawings and stories. Or just some random doodles. Why bother getting a second notebook when she didn't even know what she was going to do?

She placed the blanket in front of the window. It was closer to the ground so she could easily look outside. She sat down and leaned onto the teddy. A few minutes passed. She got up and opened her book. She flipped to a fresh page and started drawing the slanted ceiling in front of her. 

The wall was covered with wooden rafters and beams. She took her time drawing the ceiling, making sure to draw every little detail.

Which is why she noticed something different about a piece of wood. It had two straight slits a foot apart from each other. It was a slightly different shade from the rest and was slightly protruding to the front. It was so subtle that it couldn't be seen at first glance.

An avid reader of mystery books, Lucy got up and tried to pull the piece of wood out. It didn't even budge. She tried again and it budged slightly. One last tug and the wood came out. Lucy looked into the wall.

Inside was a silver ornate jewellery box. It was about eight inches long and four inches wide. She reached in and took out the box. She blew off the dust. The box was tarnished and somewhat old, but it was beautiful. The engravings were out of a fairy tale, with fairies, trees and apples. And the name, Alice. 

Alice, what a beautiful name. Lucy opened the box.

Inside, lay a stack of letters.