Charms

Chapter Four

"Ccrrreeeeekk!" The sound of my grandparents' old, wooden door went as I slowly pushed it open.

"Watcha waiting for, Patricikson?" Ashley asked as she strode into the living room, "Let's find your mom's charm box!"

I followed my best friend into the house. "Crrreeeeeekk!" the door went again as I shut it. We were both greeted by an old-fashioned room with a green carpet, white walls, an old-looking tv, two red couches, a huge, wooden coffee table, and a whole bunch of picture frames filled with pictures of my family.

"Finding mom's charm box shouldn't be too hard," I thought to myself, "This house is very small. But, both of my grandparents are very clever."

The very first place that I checked was my grandparents' bedroom. I quickly rushed over to their huge, old, wooden dresser. I was greeted by an ugly, dirty, rusty, smudged-up mirror. It was so filthy that I could hardly see my long, wavy, light brown hair and my cat-green eyes. I pulled out all of the drawers and began to rummage through them. After literally cleaning out the whole entire dresser, I finally realized that it was not in there. I looked at my grandparents' old, lumpy bed, which was now covered with their clothes. I honestly did not care that I was making a huge mess; this was an emergency. I do not have any time to clean this up, so I will just explain everything to my grandparents once they return from Mexico.

"Ahhh!" I heard Ashley shriek all of the sudden.

Ashley's piercing shriek was followed by a loud banging noise, followed by even smaller banging noises. I darted into the living room to find Ashley laying on her back on the green carpet. Her long, dark brown hair was covering up her face so that you could no longer see her chocolate-brown eyes. She was buried in a bunch of my grandparents' personal belongings. I looked up at the white wall to see a secret compartment. It looked as if it were seven-to-eight feet high- something that Ashley might possibly be able to reach since she is 5'10 and has super long arms. The compartment had a white door that had a coat hanger hook attached to it. I am assuming that you have to pull on the hook in order to open the compartment.

"Oh my gosh, Ashley!" I cried as I ran over to my best friend, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah...," Ashley grumbled as she slowly sat herself up.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I was just stretching when my sleeve got caught on that hook. I ended up yanking it off and next thing I know, that door opens and a bunch of stuff falls on top of me, causing me to fall!"

"Well, I'm glad that you're ok and that you didn't get hurt."

"Tha- Hey, what's that?" Ashley asked as she pointed towards a small, pink box that was laying next to her feet.

I picked up the box and began to examine it. The box was encrusted with white and purple jewels. There was a small, golden key taped to the bottom of the box. The words "Amy's charm box" were painted on top of the box in white.

"This is what we've been looking for, Ash!" I gasped, "It's the box!"

"Really?" Ashley asked, "Unlock it and see what's inside!"

Following Ashley's instructions, I untaped the golden key from the bottom of the box. On the front of the box was a silver keyhole. I stuck the key in the keyhole and turned it. I pulled the small compartment that was on the front of the box open. The inside of the box was very nice. The interior was made up of purple velvet. There was nothing inside of the box, just as I had expected.

"There's nothing in here!" I told Ashley as I handed her the box.

Ashley began to examine the interior of Mom's charm box, looking for any clues that might help us find out who the charm remover is.

"Hey, what's this?" Ashley asked as she pointed towards the inside of the box.

I peered into the box and looked at what Ashley was pointing at. All I could see was a few chocolate chips and a few crumbs.

"Looks like chocolate chip cookie crumbs," I stated.

That's when it hit me. Lauren Lilly.

"Oh my gosh, Lauren did it!" I cried, "But why?"

Ashley squinted her eyes and scrunched up her freckled nose. "Huh?"

"Lauren is always eating chocolate chip cookies! They're her favorite snack! She must of snuck in here and stole my mom's charm while eating some cookies and accidentally left a few crumbs behind!"

"Eww, what the heck is on my hand?" Ashley cried as she lifted up her left hand.
For some odd reason, on Ashley's pinky finger, there was a red liquid.

"Oh my gosh!" I screamed with fear.

"It's on the box too!" Ashley announced as she showed me the back of Mom's charm box.

The back of the box was covered in the same exact substance. I began to examine it. That is when I realized that it was ketchup.

"Oh, it's just ketchup!" I sighed with relief.

That's when something else hit me. Georgia Carson.

"Oh my gosh, Georgia helped Lauren steal my mom's charm!" I announced.

"What the heck are you talking about, Patty?" Ashley asked me, giving me the same confused look.

"Georgia puts ketchup on everything! She must of snuck in here to steal my mom's charm with Lauren while eating something with lots of ketchup on it and accidentally smeared it on the back of the box!"

Ashley paused for a moment. "Text them both and ask them where they are. Once they answer, call Annabelle and get her to drive us over there."

"Ok."

Following Ashley's orders, I texted Georgia and Lauren in a group chat with my white iPhone, asking them where they were. A few minutes later, they finally responded and told me that they were both at Lauren's house, working on a science project. After that, I called Annabelle and asked her if she could drive Ashley and I over there. She hesitantly agreed to drive us there in mom's minivan, but Dad, Tom, and Rose had to come along with us.