Tree Secrets

Chapter 5

A Surprise – Legacy, Louisiana

2017

Nicole resumed her sorting and packaging until night fell. Sitting on the bed, she noticed the little blue bottle had moved from its original place on the bureau. She could have sworn she had put the bottle back behind the picture of the woman. Now the bottle was on top of Ashley's jewelry box. She surveyed the room and walked toward the dresser. As she did, the bottle began to glisten then emanate light. Again, she took it in her hands and held it out in front of her. Instantly, the bottle shot a beam of clear blue light toward the closet door.

Nicole walked to the closet and was just about to turn the handle when the door hinges creaked and the closet door swung open. She jumped back to avoid being hit by the swing of the door, "Well, that's convenient," she said half laughing and half frightened. The beam continued to shoot a thin stream of blue light into the closet. Nicole moved some dresses and an old hat box aside then traced the beam to the back wall of the closet. She crouched down feeling around the floor, focusing on where the beam of blue light cut the darkness. She thought about turning on the closet light, but feared she would lose the blue light from the bottle.

Her fingers searched the back wall where the beam was now stationary. It was nearly laser thin and didn't give enough light to see much of anything. She continued feeling the side of the wall until she felt what appeared to be a frame that extended about two feet from the floor. It went straight up then curved at the top and came back down about one foot on the other side. She felt the surface between the thick wooden frames. Slowly moving her hand over the wood surface she felt a small metal plate about a foot from the floor with a hole in it.

"A keyhole!" Nicole said out loud, "It's a door with a keyhole!

"I am the ghost of the closet – are you Nicole?" A deep, eerie voice emanated from somewhere behind her.

Nicole jumped up so quickly she bumped her head on the sloping closet ceiling. Jay and Eric were laughing hysterically as they watched Nicole back out of the closet and jump around holding her head.

"Very funny! I could have really hurt myself, you jerks!" Nicole pushed Eric into his brother.

"Your head's way too thick to let a little thing like a wall stand in its way!" Jay was laughing so hard he could hardly get the words out.

"No, really, we're sorry for scaring you," Eric said trying to hold back laughter, "but you have to admit, it was pretty funny!"

Nicole thought for a minute and then began to laugh, "I suppose I'd be laughing if it was one of you!"

"What were you doing down there anyhow?" Jay asked.

"I'm not going to tell you because you'll only laugh at me and I think your laugh quota at my expense is full for the day." Nicole said jerking her chin up, pouting.

Jay regained his composure "We promise we won't laugh, we mean it," he held up his hand as if being sworn in at court, then reached across to his brother and held up Eric's hand, "He promises too."

Nicole knew that her cousins would endlessly taunt her until she told them why she was on her hands and knees talking to herself in the closet. She sighed, hoping it wouldn't sound as outrageous at it seemed, and told them about them about the bottle, the closet door and the keyhole. When she said the word "keyhole", she suddenly remembered the small key in her back pocket. She reached into her jeans and produced the key.

"This afternoon, while I was cleaning, I sat down on the bed for a minute and the next thing I knew, something fell right in front of me – this." Nicole held the key up for her cousins to see. "It was really weird; it just fell out from nowhere. I put it in my pocket thinking that it might open a box or something."

The cousins stared at each other, then all three ran for the closet door at the same time. Nicole was the first to reach it. She dropped to her hands and knees and crawled searching the wall until she found the door and the keyhole.

She took the key and carefully slid it into the lock, listening as the old tumblers turned and clicked. She pushed hard with the palm of her hand and the small door grated open, "It's open! But it's pitch black in inside, I'm not crazy about sticking my hand in. What if there's a family of mice or something living in there?" Nicole whispered over her shoulder to her cousins who were crouched behind her on the floor.

"You're such a girl! Get out of my way," Eric said, crawling in beside his cousin and pushing her out of the way. He rolled up his sleeve and stuck his hand into the opening of the small door, "I've got something," he said pulling out what appeared to be a white shirt box tied with a faded ribbon. He stuck his hand back in but came out with nothing. "There's definitely something else in there but my arm isn't long enough to reach it. Jay, your arms a little longer, you try."

Eric moved out of the way so his brother could take his place. Jay pushed his face flush with the opening and reached as far as he could into the closet. After a minute or so, he said, "There's definitely something in there, I think I can get my hand around the back of it."

They could hear the sound of small pebbles being rubbed on wood as Jay pulled the item closer and closer toward the little door. He gave a final push and a roughly hewn wooden box, just shy of a foot square, slid through the door.

Nicole lifted the shirt box from the floor by the faded maroon ribbon that was holding the tightly packed box together and backed out of the closet. Eric followed then Jay, pushing the wooden box out in front of him. When they were all out of the closet, Jay handed Eric the wooden box and brushed the floor debris from his shirt. Both boxes had years of dust on them. A small card was threaded through one of the loops on the ribbon. Nicole carefully untied the ribbon and freed the card from the box and noticed that it wasn't dusty like the box but fairly clean. "I can't read it, I need better light." She took the card over to the bureau and snapped on the lamp. Holding the card under the light she read aloud.

To Nicole,

What you are about to read is an amazing story I wrote many years ago. I know you miss me and I miss you more than you can imagine, but please believe I am where I need to be.

All my love

Auntie

P.S. Always remember... The magic is out there, you just have to find it.

By the time she finished reading the note, Nicole was in tears and her hands were shaking. She sat down on the edge of the bed with the note in her hand, and cried. She pulled the sleeve of her sweatshirt down and wiped the tears from her face. A questioning smile briefly crossed her face as she reread the line from the note aloud, "The magic is out there you just have to find it, what do you suppose she meant by that?"

"I guess the only way we're going to find out is to open the boxes," Jay said shrugging his shoulders.

Nicole looked at her two cousins, "Do you think we should?"

"Eric and I know you better than anyone, and we know you're going to open the boxes with or without us, right?"

Nicole hesitated, "Right."

"Then it's with us," Eric reached over and pulled the ribbon from the box.

Nicole took the box, gently laid it on the bed and took off the cover. A thick stack of paper with her Ashley's familiar handwriting was piled in the box.