The Gift of Chaos

4 - Writer's dream

I had never been in my grandmother's attic, so I'd no real idea what to expect. But it was clear no one had been there in years, judging by the layer of dust covering everything in sight. The only light came from a small skylight on the right, covered in dirt. It was barely light enough to see by, so Scott switched on the light.

"That's better," He said, carefully stepping forwards.

Indeed, it was. The place was still covered in dust, but at least we could see what was under it. It was full of old objects like lamps, cardboard boxes, an old sofa with the springs poking through the fabric, framed paintings, a rickety old rocking chair, a few mouldy blankets... it looked pretty much the way an attic was expected to look.

"Yes, we can see... but how are we supposed to know where the decorations are?" I sighed. There must be dozens of boxes up here..."

"Maybe she wrote what was inside," Scott suggested. "Let's have a look around."

"Okay."

So we did. The dust was so thick it made me cough when I moved even the slightest thing. And sure enough, the boxes were almost all labelled. Old costumes, which Scott said would be fun to look through at Halloween, old photo albums, used up toys and story books from either my or Mum's childhood... it brought a lot of memories, I had to admit.

"Ah! There we go... "Christmas decorations", look."

We opened it and peered inside. Sure enough, it was full of baubles, tinsel and all sorts of Christmas ornaments.

"Great! Now... how are we going to get it down those wretched stairs?" I asked. "It's a big box and it looks rather heavy..."

"I'll go down first and we'll ease it down."

"Sounds like a plan."

I was just about to pick the box up when I saw something that caught my eye. It was a rather old-looking red leather bound book, embossed with gold. It was beautiful and I barely dared touch it in case it fell apart in my hands.

"Look at this," I told Scott.

He looked and saw.

"Wow, that looks like it's been here for ages."

"There's no title..." I noted, puzzled. "I'll ask Grandma about it."

Carefully, I picked it up and slipped it inside the box of decorations. Then, we proceeded to taking it all down the stairs. Scott went first, holding one side. Slowly, we made our way down. Soon enough, we were back on steady ground. The stairs to the living room were much more manageable, so we went down those much more quickly.

"Oh, there you are," Grandma Velma said. "And you found the decorations, wonderful."

"But we don't have a tree yet," I said.

"Your father and sister are going out to pick one this afternoon."

"This late in the month? All the nice ones'll be gone..." Scott said.

"Oh, they're not buying one," Velma replied. "They're going out to Hollybridge Woods."

Peering into the box, she saw the book I'd found.

"Oh... what is this?"

Scott and I looked at each other in confusion.

"Don't you know? It was in the attic."

"Why, no, I've never seen this book before..." she told us, frowning slightly at the book. "It must have been your grandfather's..."

"I brought it down because I wanted to ask you if I could look at it?"