The Secret Door

Chapter 1: Molly

Hi, my name is Molly. Molly Simone actually. I'm 12 years old, and my favourite things to do are draw, ride my bike, play with my dog Plin, and hang out with my best friends, James and Sophie.

If fact, I am on my way to meet them right now at our secret hideout.

Our secret hideout is located conveniently in the downtown heart of the bustling city that we live in. It's an abandoned mall.

Since there are always so many people minding their own business, it's super easy to sneak in and out of the deserted building, without being noticed.
The mall is of course abandoned, so we can chose from at least 5 different shops for our different bases. Because the mall is so old, it wasn't considered a mall anymore when they closed it down.

All the stores are closed down, except a tiny bookstore at he back. I have no idea how the owner kept it open for so long. Rumor has it that that bookstore was opened just after the second world war World War I ended. One of the only stores that made it through the Great Depression. It was started by two siblings, a brother and a sister, who lived during the war. They made it through, moved, and started a bookshop here.

That's all I know about the history of the bookstore, so I'll get back to the present.

I was biking down an alleyway with Plin trotting happily beside me. Ring! Ring! My cellphone started ringing, just as I pulled up to our hideout.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Hi Molly!" It was Sophie. But why was she calling me?

"Hi Soph. What's up?"

"Well, I-" I could hear her being cut off by James talking to her in the background. "We changed the meeting place to the bookstore, ok?"

"Uh, sure." I said, not quite knowing how to respond to her random request. "Why?"

"We just-" She was cut off again. "Sorry Molly, James says it's too important to tell you over the phone. It has to be done in person. Is that ok?"

"Sure!" I'll be right there."

I hung up and straddled my bike to chain it up against a telephone pole.

Arf! Arf! For some reason, I found kind of weird, it seemed like Plin was trying to tell me something. Something that was very important. Whatever it was, he seemed to be really excited about it.

As we made our way through the musty corridors of the mall, Plin seemed to get more and more excited. Soon he was racing up the hall, them just when I couldn't see him anymore, he would shoot back and jump up and down like a lunatic.

When we reached the bookstore, Sophie and James were waiting for us.

"Hi Molly." James said in his french accent.

"Hi guys, what's up?"

"Well, Sophie and I think this could be something very big, so I'll let her explain."

"Thank you James." She said as she stood up from her perch on the window sill of the store. I was starting to think that they had rehearsed this.

"As you know, I have been studying the shopkeeper of this particular bookstore, and I came in early today to take notes on how he opens up shop."

"Ok...?" I said cautiously, wondering where this was going.

"Except, when I got here, I just saw the tail end of his coat, gliding through......" she paused for effect. "this wall."