"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places." – Roald Dahl
"Mom," Sophia hopped up the ladder destined for the attic.
"Hey, honey." Emily chucked another box into her unsuccessful pile, frustrated. She huffed, her blonde wisps incidentally blown from her eyes, and Sophia eyed her mother with general bemusement. "Your little sister kindly nominated me as primary costume designer for the school play."
Sophia smirked, "And, you've come up here because...?"
"Because I'm almost one-hundred-percent positive that your Grandmother's clothes are still up here somewhere. Your father didn't have the heart to throw them out. I planned on giving them away to charity but that was one item on my to-do-list that I never ticked off. At least, this way, they'll be in good use."
"Well, I'm not busy. I can give you a hand," Sophia peered into one of the boxes and a childish wave of excitement washed over her. "Oh my! Is this what I think it is?"
"It is, indeed," her mother confirmed. "You painted that on your first day of first grade." Sophia admired a small, painted picture of the sunset on the horizon. "I opened this one earlier, it's full of old photographs from when you and Charlie were little." That was another to-do Emily had forgotten, as an endless array of family photographs that should have been filed. She admired a photograph of herself, Daniel, Charlotte and Sophia on vacation in Australia. "Those were the days, huh?" Emily passed the photograph to Sophia and continued her own search, "It's been forever since we had a vacation, hasn't it?" Sophia nodded her head, in agreement, and Emily recalled the last one. "Canada, 2025."
Their conversation temporarily ceased, until Sophia stumbled upon a small, rusted safe stowed away in the corner of the attic. "Whoa!" The metal container appeared ancient, unused... unloved, as if it hadn't been opened for years. Her lips curled into a smile, as she contemplated the lost, loved and forgotten items inside. Her foot attempted to move it, to no avail. "There must be a dead body in here!" She declared, furiously. "What's that old film, when the murderer hides the girl's body in his basement safe?" Sophia physically shuddered, at the literal buried bodies.
Her mother nervously stared in her direction, "The Lovely Bones." She motioned to the safe with her chin, "I don't want you to play with that, okay?"
Sophia's delayed reaction to her mother's harsh tone was interrupted by her father's voice. "Em, the finance department from NolCorp are on the phone! I'm late for work, I'll see you for dinner tonight." The front door closed, the audible noise of Daniel's exit from the house.
"Could you keep going through these boxes?" Emily requested, "I may be some time on the phone."
Her mother descended the ladder and Sophia scanned the room, in preparation. There were tonnes of unwanted belongings hoarded in the attic for years and, surely, hundreds of hours would pass before she discovered what her mother desired. Eventually, a Louis Vuitton suitcase shone like a beacon of light, "Bingo!" Sophia dusted off the years and unzipped the collection of bandage dresses, every shade of every colour. She selected a scarlet-red classic heel and checked the faint size on the heel, before she slipped them onto her feet. "Perfect fit," she gleefully remarked. Once again, her curiosity peaked when she caught another glimpse of the safe. "Come on, come on..." she wracked her brain for the combination, a mixture of numbers her mother must have created. She punched in memorable dates, from birthdays to deaths and anniversaries, but none pried the lock open. Finally, Sophia resorted to a random assortment of numbers and, miraculously, it cracked open. "Oh my God!" Her congratulatory moment overpowered her ability to mentally process that the combination was the numerical form of Amanda Porter's birthday.
"Sophia!" Her mother called from a distance, "How're you doing with the clothes?"
Sophia swallowed the lump in her throat, "Working on it, mom!" She coerced the safe door open and retrieved the wooden box inside. There was a double-infinity sign carved on the lid, which she lifted off, only to be greeted by an aged photograph marked Grayson Global Executive Retreat 1992. Her father's parents were prominently stood in the forefront of the group. "Those were the days," she satirically mimicked her mother's earlier remark, when she noticed David Clarke in the crowd.
Stacked underneath the picture were letters, small books in diary-style, so much that Sophia cared to explore but the voice of her mother made it impossible to concentrate. "They've put me on hold again!" She could practically hear her mother's frown.
Sophia swiftly replaced the picture and scooped the box into her arms, shut the safe and snatched two of the dresses from the suitcase. By the time she had hidden the Infinity Box at the bottom of her wardrobe, behind a stack of winter sweaters, her mother entered the room. "I found some dresses, and there's more up there." Sophia cringed at how obviously guilty she sounded.
Emily spied the ruby-red, strapless silk dress Victoria had worn to the Fire and Ice Ball, her and Daniel's engagement celebration. Her mind rewound to the fateful evening, the night Tyler had been brutally murdered, but quickly snapped back into the present. "Great! These are perfect." Emily returned her attention to the phone pressed against her ear and muttered, "They call me for advice and have the audacity to put me on hold a second time." She sensed how on-edge Sophia had become, "Honey, are you okay?" Sophia nodded her head, "Okay, I'll be in the office. Thanks for your help."
Sophia breathed a heady sigh of relief, once the room became empty. With the door shut, Sophia placed the Infinity Box on her bed and eagerly opened it again. "Mommy's box of secrets." She was convinced it belonged to her mother, yet what secrets her mother could have possessed evaded Sophia. Her mind retraced to Conrad's letter. Perhaps, he had known all along... Her cell phone's vibration paused her thoughts, "Charlie, hey!"
"Soph, hey." Charlotte's voice was not-nearly as enthusiastic. "I'm being escorted to visit Gramps at Rikers." Her tone was agitated, and Sophia heard the bare bones of fear behind it. "I don't know when I'll be home but I think it's best that mom and dad don't know where I've gone.
Two male voices could be overheard in the background, before Charlotte abruptly shut the phone call off. "Charlie?"
"Sophia," her mother reappeared, and Sophia threw a blanket over the Infinity Box. "I need to drive over to Nolan's. Would you look after your brother and sister for me, while I'm gone?" Sophia happily shrugged her shoulders, "Thanks, sweetheart. Oh, and have you seen your sister?" Emily's voice drifted, as she wandered further and further away from Sophia's bedroom. "I haven't seen her since breakfast."
"She's kind of tied up at the moment," Sophia not-so-subtly responded, "But I'm sure she'll be home later."