We all know that attics can be interesting and scary places. They hold all sorts of things: antiques, family heirlooms, and even hidden treasures. But, what if your attic held something more sinister? What if your attic held a secret so frightening that if you found it you might wish it had stayed hidden.
Submitted for the approval of The Midnight Society I call this story...
"THE TALE OF THE HIDDEN ROOM"
Christina didn't like the idea that her family was having to move. Her dad had gotten a job in another town almost 60 miles away. That meant that Christina would have to move away from her friends and change schools, something she definitely wasn't looking forward to. She had lived in the same house since she was little and she didn't think that moving was going to make things easier on her family. She knew her family wasn't doing so well in the financial department but, that didn't make it easier for her to get use to the idea that they were having to move.
As Christina finished packing up the rest of her things, she looked around her room. She looked at the empty space where her bed had once been, now it just looked as if no one had ever lived in the room at all. The pale pink walls looked so lonely without all of her pictures hanging on them, and the laughter she had once shared with friends within its walls was now silent.
Christina put the last of her belongings in the box in front of her and went to carry it to the car. She passed her mother on the way out the door who called out to her,
"Honey, we're going to be ready to leave in five minutes so don't dawdle."
"Okay Mom, I won't."
Christina took the box out to her dad who was loading the last of the boxes into the family's station wagon. She handed the box to him and he put it in the back of the car.
"So are you excited about moving to a new town," her father asked his eyebrows rising toward his thinning hairline.
"Sure Dad I've never been more excited in my life," she answered sarcastically.
"Oh don't you worry this is going to be a great change for us, you'll see."
Somehow, she really doubted it. Just then her mother came out the door shutting it behind her. Christina knew this was the last time she would see her lovely house filled with timeless memories. The family piled into the car and were off to their new destination. A drive Christina was not looking forward to.
When they finally arrived at their new house it was a few hours later. The sun was beginning to set in the October sky spreading a cool mauve glaze over the wisps of clouds. The station wagon pulled up in the driveway to the family's new residence almost as if it were frightened. Slowly creeping along the leaf-ridden gravel drive at a snail's pace. The house was a semi-large Victorian house with peeling yellow paint and tall dead grass. Trees shrouded the front lawn in spooky shadows and orange dry leaves.
"Come on everybody out," her dad called as he stretched behind the wheel.
The family exited the car and stood there for a moment looking at the place they would now call "home."
"It looks creepy," Christina said.
"Oh, it looks a little run down now, but you just wait we're going to have it looking great in no time," her father replied. "Now come on and help us get these boxes out of the car.
They each grabbed a box and headed through the shadow lined landscape up to the front door. Her father took the key from his pocket and unlocked the door, which inched forward with a diabolical groan. He felt around for the light switch and flicked it on. The foyer was flooded in a dusty, yellow glow.
The foyer was covered with wallpaper carrying a delicate red and aging white flower design. The hallway in front of it was long and the floorboards looked worn and creaking. The stairs to the second floor lay to the left and a door down a little ways off to the right. The family looked around for another minute and then put the boxes down to go unload more.
After all the boxes were unloaded and laying in the hallway of the foyer the family went exploring the rest of the house. Christina went up the stairs, all the way up they sounded as if they threatened to give way. The upstairs we less than spectacular, the wall paper in the hallway was peeling and the walls underneath looked like old parchment.
No wonder they could afford this place it was falling apart, Christina thought. She went to a room at the end of the hall and opened the door. The room was a little bigger than her old room with tacky blue paint covering the walls. It smelled musty and a little damp. This would do, she guessed. It wasn't like home but it would have to work.
There was a small chest in the corner, probably left from a former tenant. She heard something moving inside of it and went to investigate. Her hand slowly turned the decorated knob and opened the little hutch. Scurrying forth from inside came a hideous creature. Christina screamed and fell to the floor. Her parents came bursting in.
"What, what is it," her father asked out of breath.
"It was a rat," Christina said her eyes still wide with fear.
"Ah, well this house is old we'll have to buy some traps tomorrow," he answered. "Now come on what do you say we order some pizza?"
The family went back downstairs to the living room which still held some old furniture under dusty drop cloths. There was an old phone on the table by the couch and Mrs. Danvers picked it up to see if it worked. It did. The family ordered pizza and when it arrived they sat in the living room eating it out of paper plates.
After that they began to set up some of the essential stuff they would need for that night like the beds and things. The long drive and unpacking had made them all tired so they turned into bed early. Christina lay there in the darkness of her new room trying to cover her nose from the unfamiliar smells that invaded her nostrils. Then, she heard it, the sound of shuffling above her. Great more rats, she thought as she finally drifted off to sleep.
When she awoke the next morning the room didn't look as scary as it had in the dark. Warm sunlight filtered through the dust-frosted windows.
"Get up sleepy head it's time to finish unpacking," she heard her mother call from downstairs.
Christina got up and threw on some old clothes knowing the day held lots of dirty chores she would have to do. Then she went downstairs to find her parents opening boxes and taking the contents to the proper rooms. Digging in Christina started grabbing the small boxes she could carry up to her room. When most of the boxes had been unpacked the family took a break and finished off the rest of last night's left over pizza.
"Hey, I've got to go into town to pick up a couple of things do you want to come with me," her father informed her.
"Sure, I guess," Christina answered.
The two climbed into the station wagon and headed in the direction of town. Town, was a small community of old buildings with fake stone facades. They stopped in front of Howard's Hardware and got out. The inside of the store was like any other hardware store, full of things for fixing up wrecked homes and any other wrecked thing you could think of.
The plump man behind the counter who must have been Mr. Howard gave them a friendly nod as they came in. Her dad grabbed a shopping cart and began to wander the aisles for the things he needed. Not wanting to go down every aisle with her father Christina told him,
"Dad, I'm going outside I'll wait for you in the car."
Not really paying attention to her as he was busy looking for his repair items he answered,
"Okay."
Christina pushed open the door to the store and went out into the chilly October wind. Outside the store stood a boy about her age with short red hair and bangs that fell neatly over his eyes. He wore jeans, Converse sneakers, and a tan striped shirt. He looked at her for a moment before extending his hand toward her.
"Hi, I'm Danny Pritchard," he said his eyes crinkling up as he smiled.
Feeling a little awkward Christina shook his hand and introduced herself.
"You're new here right," Danny asked.
"Yeah we just moved here from Brighton Cove," she told him.
"Cool, where do you live now?"
"Um... 7 Crescent Street," she said trying to remember the address.
Danny froze, his eyes widened and his expression changed. He definitely knew the house to which she refered and it didn't seem like that was a good thing. Finally he got over the shock and spoke.
"You actually live there?"
Hesitating Christina replied, "Yeah, why is something wrong with that?"
"That place hasn't been lived in for years, not after the disappearance."
"What disappearance?"
"Stories say that there was a family that lived there years ago. The mother and father went out one night leaving their young daughter home alone. When they came home the house was empty, and destroyed. No one knew where the daughter disappeared to. Some people say that she ran away, others say she was kidnaped or even murdered. No one knows the truth. The family moved away after that and the house has been empty ever since."
Christina didn't have time to say anything because at that moment her father came out lugging shopping bags full of supplies.
"Chris, could you help me here?"
"Maybe I'll see you around," Danny told her as he hopped on his bike and pedaled away.
Christina helped her dad with the bags and then they headed back home. That night Christina sat on her bed reading a magazine, thinking about the story Danny had told her earlier that day. Had a young girl who use to live in her house really disappeared? Had she been murdered or did she run away? Christina didn't know but it gave her chills thinking that a girl could have been killed right on the spot she now sat. She yawned and snuggled down under the covers, the next day she was starting at her new school and needed her rest.
Christina awoke the next morning to the sound of her father hammering away at some project. She went downstairs to find that the house was looking more like a family lived there than it had before. The kitchen was starting to shape up the table was inviting with it's white lace tablecloth and fruit bowl. Christina went over to the refrigerator which was stocked with newly bought food. She took out the milk and got down the box of cereal. She went over to the box of dished that had yet to be put away and found a bowl and spoon.
After she was done eating her bowl of cereal, she put the bowl in the sink and went upstairs to shower and get dressed for school. Mason Junior High was a nice brick building with inviting glass windows in front. Christina said good-bye to her mother and got out to cross the threshold into her new school. The hallways were bustling with kids scrambling to get to their classes or standing at their lockers talking. Kids looked at her as she read her schedule and tried to find her first class.
When she entered the classroom she noticed that the boy she had met yesterday, Danny was in her class. At least she knew someone and wouldn't feel so out of place. The subject of the day was something Christina had already studied in her other school so she occupied herself with doodling in her notebook. The rest of the day was utterly uneventful, she sat with Danny and his friends at lunch but even that wasn't anything to brag about. More creepy tales of the house she lived in flooded the conversation, and made her even more uneasy about the move.
That night as she was dressing for bed Christina heard the scuffling coming from the attic again. She decided to investigate this time because she had told her father about it the day before and he had said he was going to put some traps up there. As she ascended the staircase to the attic she could feel the draft coming out from under the door. Heat rises right, so why was is so cold in the attic?
When she got inside, the attic was littered with old junk. A fashion mannequin, old trunks, lampshades, you name it this attic had it. The room was bitter cold and the dust was so thick on everything you'd think everything was made from dust. Christina looked around for what could have caused the sound but she didn't see anything and didn't want to explore any further seeing as the small lightbulb didn't provide much light to the room. She went back downstairs to her room where she went to sleep.
Later that night Christina awoke when she felt a draft wash over her face. When she opened her sleep-filled eyes she froze in terror. A young girl stood in front of her bed, a girl you could see through. She had straight black hair, and wore a old-fashioned pink dress. The girl was pointing towards the ceiling. Christina began to scream. Her parents came rushing in.
"Christina, what is it," her father asked.
"I-I saw a g-ghost," Christina chittered.
"Honey, you were just having a nightmare," her mother replied sitting down on the bed next to her and hugging her daughter. "Now go back to sleep."
"No it wasn't a dream the ghost was real I promise."
Her parents just shook their heads and left the room shutting the door behind them. Christina lay there wide awake for the rest of the night. The next day at school Christina asked Danny and his friends if they knew what the girl that vanished had looked like. They told her the girl was supposedly beautiful with straight jet black hair and she wore pretty dresses all the time. Christina didn't know why the ghost of the girl who had once lived in her house was haunting her, but she wasn't sure she wanted to find out either.
The next night the girl came to her again and still she pointed at the ceiling. What did this girl want with her? Christina knew she had to find out. She got out of bed and grabbed the flashlight from her night table and went up the stairs to the attic. She looked for something that the girl could want her to find pushing aside old boxes, clothes, stuffed animals. Then behind a chest Christina found a small hidden door. Only big enough for someone around her size or smaller to fit into. She tired the knob. Locked. She was going to have to find the key.
The sun was starting to come up as Christina got ready for school early. She wanted to meet Danny before class started so she could ask him some more questions about the house.
"Have you ever heard anything about hidden rooms in attics," she asked him.
"Yeah some of these old houses have them. People use to use them for different things, storage rooms, hide away rooms, stuff like that. Why?"
"Well... this is going to sound nuts but that girl I think she's haunting me," Christina said sheepishly.
"No way? You've got to be kidding me," Danny said a little laughter in his voice.
"I promise she kept pointing to the attic and when I went up there I found this secret room or something behind an old chest."
"Really? What was in it," Danny asked now interested.
"I don't know it was locked," Christina informed him. "I'm going to look for the key today."
The day seemed too slow for Christina. She wanted to get home and find that key to see what lay inside that hidden room. Obviously something someone didn't want found. When her mother finally stopped to pick her up she urged her to get home faster. When they got there Christina rushed into the house throwing her backpack into the living room floor.
"Dad! Dad," she called.
Her father was in the dinning room putting up a new smoke-detector.
"What is it Sweetie?"
"Do you have a key to the attic," she asked.
"There's a skeleton key that opens every door in the house. Why do you want it?"
"Oh no reason I just found a door that's locked and I wanted to open it," she told him.
Her father handed her the key.
"Make sure you bring it back to me when you're finished though, it's the only one we have."
Christina nodded and went off to the attic. She stuck the key in the lock and twisted the knob. The door was stuck. She pushed with all her might and it still wouldn't open. Then taking both legs she kicked at the door with her feet. It finally gave way with creaky hinges. Christina crawled through the narrow space into the room. What she saw made her gasp and then she blacked out.
When she awoke she looked at what she had discovered again in disbelief. There huddled in the corner of the room was a small skeleton adorned with a pink dress. Suddenly Christina was aware of another presence in the room. When she looked over there stood the ghost of the young girl whose skeleton she had just found. This time the ghost girl spoke.
"Thank you. I have been hidden away up here for years. No one has lived her for years, and my family moved away after I disappeared," the girl said sadly.
"What happened to you," Christina asked.
"One night while I was home alone a burglar entered the house. I ran upstairs to the attic and into this room. Like you I was the only one in my family who had discovered it. I could hear him throwing things around downstairs. After I thought he was gone I went to go back downstairs, only the door was locked and I didn't have the key to open it. I screamed and kicked but no one was home, I was the only one who knew about this place so no one thought to look here. Since then I've been waiting for someone to find me so I could be put to rest. Thank you."
The girl vanished and Christina called for her parents. The police came and carried the girl's skeleton away. She would finally be buried in the empty grave that bared her name in the local cemetary. Christina knew that she would never be haunted by the ghost of the young girl again. The family boarded up the hidden room so nothing like that could happen again. And the room became hidden once more.
THE END