Don't Go in the Attic

The Attic

Alex shut the attic door behind her.  It was dark, but not too dark.  There were stairs going up to the attic. The stairs were old pieces of wood.  The wood was crooked and bumpy.  Alex would have to be careful not to trip or make noise.  The steps were dark and hard to see.  There was no railing, making it hard to climb up.  She felt around the slim staircase as she made her way up to the attic.  There was a dull yellow light that shone.  It smelled very weird.  It was a smell she recognized.  Alex remembered the time long ago when her sister and her had found a rotting rat in the garden.  It was the same smell.  Alex now knew what it was.  It was the smell of death.

Alex pulled her shirt over her mouth and nose.  The smell wasn't strong but knowing that it was death she smelled made her feel sick.  As she made it up the stairs, the dull light became brighter.  As she reached the top of the steps she could see what the attic looked like.  Its walls  were wooden.  The same crooked wood that covered the steps.  The walls had some hand prints on them.  They were the hand prints of children.  Some were quite smaller than her hands and others were roughly the same size.  Alex walked slowly towards the walls.  She put her hand against a print.  Would this be her fate?  Just another hand print on the wall?  She moved her hand to find there was a rusty coloured powder-like substance left on her hand.  "It must be blood."  Alex examined the room some more.  There was a pile of newspapers in the corner.  She went over to them.  The pile was quite tall.  It had newspapers starting in September up to November - the same time the kidnapping had begun.  Some of the papers were from the community paper, others were from nearby towns and cities.  "Young Boy Kidnapped While Walking Home From School," one paper read.  All newspapers had headings of this nature with a saddening picture of the child it was referring to.  While Alex quickly skimmed through the assortment of newspapers she found one with Megan and Riley on the cover.  They looked different on that cover; their hair was blonde, they had blue eyes and for the first time, Alex saw them without fear on their faces.

Alex stood up from the papers and looked around some more.  There was a small window covered by thick black curtains.  Against the wall of the attic there was a desk draped in a dirty, white tablecloth.  The one lamp in the room sat on the desk.  There was an open book on the desk and some markers.  Alex walked towards the desk to take a closer look.  The book was filled with pictures of children.  All of the pictures looked as though someone had taken them secretly.  Some were through a window looking in on the kids, others showed kids walking home from school. Many of them had red Xs drawn over them.  Alex looked at the previous pictures.  They all had red Xs on them.  She went back to the page the book was open to.  There was a picture of Kaitlyn with a red X drawn over her face.  Alex held her breath.  Was Kaitlyn dead?  Is this where she was?  There was pictures of Megan and Riley out of the protective cover as if they were about to be altered.  Then Alex saw it.  It was a picture of her walking home from school.  They had been watching her this entire time!

The other corners were very dark.  Alex was afraid to see what was over there.  She continued to look at the past contents in the book.  Although Alex came up here to hide, curious got the better of her.  It was silent in the attic.  Alex could hear a creak from the floor boards every time she shifted her weight.  She could hear the sound of movement and voices coming from below her.  She could hear a door creak open!  Alex spun her head around to see if someone was coming.  The voices were still coming from below her.  The creak had come from within the attic.

Alex stared around the room.  She was by herself in this room.  She though.  "Alex," whispered an unknown person.  Alex's blood ran cold.  "Alex," the person whispered again.  There was another creak from an unseen door.  "Alex."  Then a small body emerged from the darkness whispering her name.