It was the summer of 2014. We were excited for the move. Afterall, we were leaving nothing behind. It was good to start fresh. I stared out the car window at the fields of tall grass flowing by. It had been such a long drive.
A small mumble drew my gaze from the window to where my little brother's head lay in my lap. I gently pet his soft brown hair and he sighed in his sleep. Dan was eight, but despite the seven-year age gap, we had always shared a special bond.
My twin sisters were sleeping too – curled together in the seats in front of us so that they were barely distinguishable from each other. From the front of the minivan our mom snored softly in the passenger's seat. I caught my dad's eye in the rearview mirror. He gestured silently toward my mom and wiggled his eyebrows. I had to cover my face to mute my snorting laugh.
By the time people started waking up we had traveled out of the countryside and into a more tree-y land. We ooh-ed and ah-ed at tall trees that bent over the winding road, creating a fairy-like tunnel.
When we got bored of the view my brother pulled out the stuffed animals. For this, my sisters woke up more fully, turning around in their seats to reach back and play. At seventeen, Cassie and Aleah really had outgrown their toys, but stuffed animals where something we all took part in. It was an unspoken pact, from since we were little, that the playing of stuffed animals would never be abandoned.
"Soon as we're half settled, we need to finally perform 'Hamlet'." Aleah said excitedly. She pushed her silky blond hair behind her ear.
"We still haven't finished casting," Cassie reminded. She was almost falling over the back of her seat to reach the dog, Mr. Fluffypoo.
"It's really just Ophelia," Aleah shrugged. "And Adalyn and I both think it should be Sophie."
"Do you really?" Cassie turned to me.
"I do," I confirmed. "I really think she fits the role."
"That cat," Cas sniffed in mock snobbery, "lacks the class to be Ophelia. It should indubitably be Lady Bear." She referred to one of our oldest teddys.
"Who lacks passion!" I countered. Our parents giggled in the front seats at the serious proceedings in the rear of the car.
I continued dramatically. "Ophelia should be a woman whose words move the soul; whose countenance inspires –"
"Guys, look!" our dad interrupted us. We followed his pointed finger as we cleared the trees and saw a mansion on a huge estate in the clearing.
We all gaped at the sight.
"That can't possibly be… That's not ours, is it?" Aleah's eyes were wide.
Dad grinned. "Told you it was huge." He continued on the road, but it didn't lead directly to the house. It wound back and forth, exploring the surrounding area, before at long last reaching the mansion.
As soon as the van was in park we were leaping out of the car to see.
"Oh it's gorgeous!" I said exultantly, "So many trees! So much space!" I threw my arms open and spun around taking it in.
"It's so secluded." Aleah noted happily. Cassie put her arm around her twin supportively.
"It'll be a new start for all of us," my mom said, putting her arms around both girls. I saw her and my dad share a look. I hadn't seen him so full of hope in so long.
"Well!" my dad rubbed his hands together, "should we unpack and then explore, or explore and then unpack?"
We four kids looked at each for one mischievous second, then took off running.
"No fair!" my dad yelled behind us, but we were already inside.
We gasped at the beauty of the place and walked around slowly, feeling a sort of reverence for this new house. Under a layer of dust were glossy wood floors. The front room had grand windows. Around the first corner was a spiraling staircase.
"Adalyn." Cassie whispered and poked my side. I looked over and she nodded toward a window. Our parents stood under a tree, holding hands and speaking softly together.
"They look so happy."
I smiled and linked arms with her. "Yeah."
We continued exploring the house for another hour, then finally got down to the work of unpacking.
We'd brought all the boxes in and I'd spent the last twenty minutes setting up my room.
"Hey kiddo,"
I turned and saw my dad poking his head in the room.
"We're putting together a dinner on boxes. Come down in five?"
"Yep. Thanks!" I answered.
He left, and I hurried to finish the box I was working on. I surveyed my room. That would have to do for tonight. I pushed the remaining boxes against the wall and the floor boards creaked. This wouldn't have fazed me except that the whole time I hadn't found one squeaky board in the house.
I moved the box out from the wall and stepped lightly on the floor boards. They not only creaked, they moved. When I bent down and pressed again, one end came completely loose. I pried gently on it and was able to remove the panel.
Very cool. There was a small space beneath, empty except for a tiny key. I picked it up and was surprised when it was warm. I stuck my hand in the space, but the air was cool.
"Weird."
I looked at the key more closely, but it was ordinary. Remarkably ordinary.
"Aaaadalyyyyyn!" Aleah called from down the hall.
Startled, I dropped the key back in the hole and shoved the box back over the space.
"Coming!" I called back.
We all sat on small boxes around the coffee table to eat our dinner of sausage, cheese and bread.
"As we were unpacking we kept finding things the last owners left behind." Cassie shared.
"Us to!" My mom said. "A couple small poetry books in the closet, a beautiful old washbasin in the bathroom. I'll show you after we're done eating."
"Cool! We just found knick-knacks."
"Don't forget the hat!" Aleah reminded.
"What kind of hat?" Dan asked.
"A feathery one!" Aleah said triumphantly.
"Ophelia can wear it!" Dad suggested.
"Nooo!" "That's a terrible idea!" "So inauthentic!" we all talked on top of each other.
"Well you guys are just boring." He pretended to sulk. He picked up his dishes and stood. Kissing the top of my mom's head, he said, "I'm gonna go get the sleeping bags from the car."
"Did you guys find anything?" Aleah asked me and Dan.
Dan shook his head as his mouth was full. Aleah looked at me.
"No." Why did I say that? "Yes! I found a key. Under some floor boards that lift."
"Ooo! Exciting!" Cassie said.
"Maybe it's an extra house key," Dan speculated.
"Yeah, I'll have to give it a test." For some reason I just didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Let's kids all sleep in the same room! Just tonight: sleepover party."
Over the next several days we finished the bulk of unpacking, though our parents were still putting up curtains and pictures. We continued exploring the grounds and got back into our old habits of reading and studying together.
There was no denying we were an abnormal family. Our mom was a historian and our dad was a scientist. They had met in Asia on their respective research trips and fallen in love. They went back to the U.S. together, got married, and started a family, instilling in their children the love of knowledge that they both had. Now we were all incorrigible academics.
One night, weeks after the move, I was lying in bed, just thinking and staring at the ceiling. Maybe the moon was especially bright that night, or maybe I hadn't really looked at the ceiling yet, but I saw something I hadn't noticed before. There were lines in the ceiling, suggestive of a trap door. Suddenly awake and curious, I scrambled out of the covers and stood on the bedframe to reach it. Sure enough, it was a door. I tugged on the edge and it opened silently and let down a collapsible ladder.
Excitedly, I grabbed a flashlight, climbed up and looked at the space around me. There was a tiny room with a low roof. It was probably built for storage, but I knew what I wanted it for.
Within minutes I had moved my beanbag and a small selection of books up and arranged the attic space into the cutest reading nook ever.
I loved that nook. I rarely kept secrets from Dan – he usually guessed them anyway – but I decided it would be fun to keep this spot to myself just for a little while, especially when I discovered a network of tunnels branching out from the tiny room.
The tunnels never really went anywhere, and I had to be careful not to get lost. I marked the tunnels as I went but there always seemed to be new paths. I always brought string, remembering the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. On one of these occasions I was crawling through a new tunnel and noted how there were never any cobwebs, or dust. I wondered if any living thing had been through these tunnels since they were built. I put my hand down in front of me and it passed through air. I yelped loudly, falling on my stomach. The tunnel had ended, and it ended in a drop off. Shakily, I shone the flashlight in front of me to see into the space.
"I could have died," I whispered to myself. I scooted cautiously to the edge and peered down, half expecting to see skeletons in a deep abyss. In fact, it was not a huge drop.
"Ok, so I wouldn't have died from the fall, just of starvation when I couldn't get out and no one could find me. Fabulous." I laughed nervously.
There was something in the room, like a huge box. The flashlight was weak, though, and I couldn't make out anything about it.
After squinting at it for a while more, I decided to go back. I turned and followed the string backwards, making sure to mark each split in the tunnel as I came back through it.
A ladder, I thought, No, a rope ladder. Dan had a rope ladder. I got back to reading nook and peeked through the ceiling hatch, listening for anyone in the hall, before dropping down onto my bed. I checked in the mirror for stray signs of my escapade, then ran out of my room and down the hall to Dan's.
I listened at the door a second before quietly tapping our secret knock on the door. I heard a scramble toward the door then a whispered,
"Speak friend and enter."
I rolled my eyes, but in my deepest voice replied, "Melon."
The door cracked open and I slipped inside.
"Ya know, the point of the secret knock is that you already know it's me."
"Well, yeah, but I'm putting up my Middle Earth maps."
"Ooo!" I exclaimed, momentarily distracted by the pile of maps and manuscripts on Dan's bed.
"That," my brother laughed, "was such an Aleah reaction."
I laughed sheepishly. "So true." Aleah was one of those glorious "ooh shiny" distractible people. Back in our old town, that, plus her natural beauty, led a lot of people to believe she was unintelligent and emotionally shallow. It couldn't be further from the truth, but it hurt Aleah so much that she let them believe it, eventually only showing her true self to us.
I shook off those thoughts and picked up a map.
"Where's this one going?"
"Under the one of Beleriand."
I held it up on the wall and he tacked it up.
"Thanks, Adalyn."
"Of course."
"This one here," he pointed, and I held up another map for him.
"Hey," I ventured, "can I borrow your rope ladder?"
"Of course."
"Thanks!"
We worked quietly for a bit before he asked,
"Did you find a tree?"
I hesitated. I wasn't ready to tell my secret.
"Something like that."
"I see!" Dan smirked at me.
"I'll tell you later, I promise," I hurried to explain.
He brushed away my concern, "I know you will."
I went back through the tunnels with the rope ladder, flashlight, and some sturdy hooks. I screwed the hooks into the floor at the drop off, connected the ladder securely and climbed down. The rope was only six feet long and the drop was almost ten feet, so I had to hop off at the bottom. I shone my flashlight around. The room was only about ten feet by fifteen feet. The only thing in the room was the box, but it commanded all my attention.
It was maybe nine feet high by four feet wide and long. I ran my hand over wood detail. A shiver of excitement ran down my spine.
"Police Telephone," I read the plaque on the front of the box, "free for use of public…" I opened the little door and an old fashioned phone fell out.
A smile spread over my face. This was completely charming. I picked up the phone and pushed some buttons, but it was, of course, completely dead. I put it back carefully and closed the door.
I circled the Police Box. "This is brilliant." I said aloud. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I jumped, trying to look through the tiny windows on top, but I couldn't see anything. Peeking through the keyhole with my flashlight I decided it couldn't be too hard to pick.
I hurried back up the ladder, giddy with excitement. This was the coolest thing I'd found yet and I was going to get inside.