Erimead

Book In The Attic

    MADELINE WALKS down the steps of her slightly unstable staircase, her arms wrapped around her skinny waist. She watches excitedly as her parents drape their coats onto their shoulders. "Stay safe Maddy," her father whispers into her wavy mousy brown hair, that is tied up into a messy bun at the moment. "I know," she responds, "I alway do."

She kisses her mother's cheek, and hands her the black purse sitting on the side table. "There's food in the fridge, and water in the back room, the dictionaries and worksheets are on your bed, so there's nothing to worry about. Oh, and-" "Stay safe, yes I know," Madeline interrupts. "Now go have fun, I'll be fine."

Her mother raises an eyebrow at her questionably. Madeline sighs, and scratches her small button nose. "I'm fine mum, don't worry." "Okay," she says hesitantly. "We won't be out to long." She slips into her heels, and opens the door. "Have fun."
"I doubt it," mutters Madeline, but her parents are already out the door, to far away to hear her response.

She walks into her living room and flops down onto her dusty couch, sighing heavily. "Finally," she breathes, but as time ticks by, she begins to get bored. Listening to the quiet ticking of her clock, she wanders around the kitchen, stealing pastries as she goes, and skips through the living room in search of something interesting. And that's when it hits her. Her parents couldn't possibly get rid of every single book they owned. There must still be something left. Right? But in in all her years of living there, Madeline had not once accidentally come across a book. Unless a dictionary counts.

She begins to pace in her living room, thinking about all the places in her small home. All the places she has been, and all the places she hasn't...perhaps her parents bedroom? Or the hallway closet? But that wouldn't be a great place to hide a book. It would be hidden somewhere her parents would think she would never go, and the only place Madeline hates in her house is the attic.

She looks up at the ceiling, half hoping that the book would not be there. Crossing her fingers, Madeline makes her way over to the small latch on her hallway ceiling, and stands up tall on her tiptoes grasping the handle. She pulls the wobbly wooden ladder down, and carefully takes the steps up to the top, making sure the bottom of her navy ankle length skirt doesn't get caught on anything. Coughing, she runs her hands along the wall searching for a handle.

She holds her breath when her fingers brush something furry, and hopes that it was just a patch in the wall. Finally she locates the switch and flips it on, watching as the room illuminates with the dim light produced by the small lightbulb in the centre of the room.

Madeline looks around, already feeling creeped out. She contemplates on whether or not she should turn back, but decides to stay for a little while. She starts in the right corner of the oddly large room, and rummages through a pile of boxes, and papers.

⌛︎⌛︎⌛︎

What Madeline had said would only be a while, turned into an hour of searching, and she still had not found anything good. Not caring for anything at the moment, she sits down in the centre of the room, staring at the foggy glass window on the centre of the wall. She watches as the rays of sun cross the room, making diamond shaped patterns on the floor. She sighs and rests her thin face in her hands. The sun rays back up to the window, looking as if they're retreating, making a pitch black space in front of the window light up.

For a split second, Madeline can make out the shape of a latch, and she struggles to her feet, reaching out to grab the handle before the sun disappears. Breathing heavily, she yanks on it, and it snaps open. The sun, that has disappeared already, leaves the space pitch black again, so she runs her hands along the small crevice hoping she'll find it. When her fingers touch something hard she wraps her hand around it, and pulls it out.

She sits on the windowsill and faces the object to the light. Her heart pounds in her chest when she realizes that it is a book. She blows on the cover watching as the thick chunks of dust fly off, revealing a leather back blue cover with the word Erimead engraved in golden cursive letters. She runs her hand along the spine, thinking: this is the first time she has ever touched a book that isn't a dictionary, since her sister's disappearance. The sun shines through the window making the golden letters shimmer. "Wow," she breathes. Not wanting to wait another second, she turns the book over to the summary. Her eyes light up as she gets further into it, and she crosses her legs as she flips to the first page.

An orphan boy, Finnick, who ran away into the forest of Erimead, taking refuge with a curious old lady who has lived in the forest her entire life. Other orphan boys that live in the small cottage, and come out to play with him sometimes. A stupid king, and an unfair village. Jumpers: the kings soldiers that hunt the orphan boys.
Adventures and fights, swords and weapons, a charming sixteen year old protagonist.

"Brilliant," whispers Madeline, running her fingers over the page. "Why did they hide all this from me?" Even though she knows no one will answer her, she hopes that someone had heard her.

She says the next sentence aloud, and the one after that, until she reaches the end of the page.
As she's about to flip to continue, the small black words begin to shine golden. She drops the book, and takes slow steps away from it. But the further she gets, the more it glows, until the whole book is shining a blinding golden light. It fills the room, and papers and boxes begging to fly, creating a tornado like shape around her mixing in with the light.
She drops to the floor, and covers her face with her arms, but then moves them to her stomach when a painful feeling rises up inside her.

One more flashing light passes around her, before everything goes dark.