A Door to a New Life

Macy wasn’t very hopeful as they drove up the dirt country lane. Another new place, this time it seemed, a place that was far from civilisation. The trees on either side of the road curled over to form a sort of tunnel over the road, with small beams of light shining through the gaps. Since leaving the motorway they had passed no other cars.

How on earth did they find these people? Macy thought to herself. She knew nothing about her new foster parents, other than that they were in their 60’s and clearly lived in the middle of nowhere. As she sat quietly in the passenger seat, she sighed.

“It’s going to be fine Mace. They seem like nice people, and if you don’t act up, maybe they will keep you this time.” The social worker rolled her eyes. “I’m running out of options here, you know that right?”

“Yes,” Macy sighed again. “I know.” They returned to driving in silence, with just the sound of the car between them. The radio had kept cutting out the further into the trees they drove. So they had just decided to turn it off completely as no one likes listening to static with occasional clips of songs or radio hosts. Finally, it seemed, they were leaving the trees.

“Woah,” Macy exclaimed. They had come upon two large iron gates, behind which was a large estate, with what Macy could see, was a large red bricked stately home, a beautiful garden that stretched on as far as she could see, and what looked like a lake. The social worker leaned out of the car window and rang the bell on the side of the gate below the sign “Evergreen Manor”, and they slowly began to creak open. Macy was stunned as they drove up to the entrance of the house. A young woman opened the oak door and came out to greet them, definitely not one of her two new foster parents. They pulled up and got out of the car. The house itself was beautiful. Along the outside walls, roses were growing up from the ground to the 2^nd-floor windows. They were an assortment of colours, pink, white, and peach. It was a good thing it was summer, as she couldn’t imagine they were this beautiful in the winter.

“Hello, you must be Macy!” The young woman said enthusiastically. “My name is Mrs Stevens, but you can call me Rebecca, I work for the Hutchings.” They have staff. Macy thought to herself, not sure how she felt about this.

“Hi, I’m Eleanor, we spoke on the phone, and this is Macy. I was under the impression that Mr and Mrs Hutchings would be here to greet us.” She said raising her eyebrow.

“Ah yes, Elizabeth has come down with a terrible migraine so is resting at the moment, and John has back to back meetings all day.” Rebecca looked at her watch. “We were under the impression that you would be here around five.”

“It was a long drive, so we thought we would leave earlier, especially with the way the motorways usually are. Sorry if it’s an inconvenience us arriving early.”

“So, Macy.” Rebecca paused, turning to Macy. “I’ll show you your room and you can get settled, while Eleanor and I go over some paperwork. Do you need help with your bags?”

“It’s just the one bag, I can manage.” Macy said, feeling dejected. How great were these foster parents going to be if they hadn’t even been the ones to meet her? Macy went to the boot of the car and pulled her beaten up black suitcase out. She wheeled it up to Rebecca and she led them both inside. Rebecca took her shoes off and placed them on a rack, picking up a pair of slippers and placing them on her feet. Eleanor quickly followed suit. Without undoing the laces, Macy used her other foot to push her shoe off, and then the other. Rebecca then led them through the white-tiled corridor and up the first flight of stairs.

“Are you sure you can manage my lovely? You are on the 2^nd floor.” Rebecca smiled sweetly.

“Yeah, I got it.” Macy continued to lift her suitcase up. As they reached the 1^st floor, Rebecca Paused.

“Elizabeth’s bedroom is on this floor, so let’s be quiet so we don’t wake her.” Macy peered around the corner to a door which was partially open and lifted her suitcase a little higher as to not catch the wheels on the ground. She had had carers hurt her before for making too much noise. They crept passed and up the next flight of stairs. There were a number of rooms on this floor with the doors shut, she wondered what was in them all. Rebecca pointed out which of them was the bathroom and then lead them into the room at the end of the hallway.

“Right this is your room, I’ll let you get settled and I’ll make you a sandwich if you want? Dinner isn’t going to until around six this evening.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Macy said, pulling a service station sandwich out of her rucksack. “I’ve already got one.”

“Okay Mace, this is where I’ll say goodbye then. You’ve got my number if you need it and I will check in in a few days to see how everything is going.” Eleanor said, turning away with Rebecca as they vacated the room and headed back downstairs.

Macy looked around her new room, it was much larger than the rooms she had had previously. There was a large double bed in the middle of the room with a large intricately carved headboard. She ran her hands over the lavender sheets, they were soft, maybe silk. She unzipped her suitcase on the ground and began to put her folded t-shirts and jeans into the chest of drawers, and hung her one dress and two jackets in the wardrobe. She undid her plait to let her now wavy, ginger hair fall around her shoulders, and she leapt onto the bed. It had to have been the comfiest bed she had ever been on, maybe the comfiest thing she had ever been on. She awoke suddenly, unaware that she had drifted off fully clothed atop her covers, to the sound of a car pulling away. Must be Eleanor leaving. Bye Eleanor.

She looked out the window, but it wasn’t facing the front entrance where they came in, it was facing the gardens and lake. It looked like this whole estate stretched on for miles. Macy decided that if she lived here now, she might as well explore the grounds. She headed out of her bedroom door and then paused. Surely these doors can’t all be to bedrooms. They can’t have that many bedrooms for just the two of them, right? The first two rooms, did in fact, turn out to be bedrooms. The third room she went into was a sort of a lounge. There was a sofa, bookshelves, and a half-finished puzzle on the coffee table. She walked up to the bookshelves and started perusing the shelves, she had always loved reading since she was little, it was often her only escape.

As Macy made her way down the shelves, she found a copy of Alice in Wonderland, one of her favourites. As she pulled on the book, the bookshelf made a clicking noise and moved slightly. Puzzled, she looked to the side where a small gap had appeared between the bookshelf and the wall. No freaking way. In disbelief, she pushed slightly and the bookshelf moved to reveal a passageway. The imprints in the wall looked like there were hinges that had since been painted over, most likely where the original door once stood. Ensuring to leave the bookshelf slightly ajar she made her way through. It was dark, and she felt along the wall a few steps when she came upon what felt like another door. Fumbling in the dark, she slid her hands along the smooth wood until she found a door handle, and with a click, it opened. Before her, she could see she was now in another bedroom very similar to her own, however, this one had an armchair, more bookshelves and pictures of a girl no older than Macy was now. This must-have belonged to one of their children, why it's hidden I have no idea. This seems like a pretty good place to get away from things though. She peered out the window and saw a small rose garden with statues of characters from Alice in Wonderland. As she looked down, she saw the girl from the pictures sat reading amongst the statues. I didn’t realise there would be other kids here. The girl looked up and waved at her, and Macy awkwardly waved back.

“That didn’t take you very long then.” A regal sounding voice came from behind her. Macy turned with a start.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I not meant to be in here?” Macy apologised sheepishly, knowing full well that if it was that well hidden then she most likely wasn’t meant to be in here. “You must be Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth nodded. “I wondered how long it would take you to find this place, but I certainly didn’t expect it to be on your first day here.” The elderly lady said peering down at Macy.

“So…” Try to break the tension. “You must really like Alice in Wonderland then?” Macy bit her lip.

She chuckled. “Yes, child, I do like Alice in Wonderland, but not nearly as much as my daughter Alice did.”

Did, not does. Macy quickly glanced behind her out the window, but the girl had vanished. Confused, Macy convinced herself the apparition must have been her imagination. “I’m sorry, I’ll go.” Macy stuttered.

“This is your house now too Macy, you can go anywhere you wish. Do you know why we opened our home to you, Macy?” She asked, Macy just shrugged. “When I read about you, you reminded me so much of her. I just thought that if it had been the other way around and she was left without us, I hoped someone would have taken her in and loved her as much as we loved her. And I thought to myself, I’m sure your parents would have wanted the same thing.”

“So, your daughter…” Macy paused. “She’s dead?” She died?

“Yes, she passed away many years ago, John couldn’t bear to see the entrance to her room anymore, so I hid it with the bookcase and told him I had sealed it completely. She used to enjoy reading in the garden, so I had it changed into her own personal wonderland when she passed. I wish I had done it before; I wish I knew if she liked it.”

Glancing over her shoulder again at the now empty garden, Macy said: “I’m sure she does.”

The thing is Macy, you wouldn’t be replacing her, I don’t want you to ever think that. It’s just that… I mean lord knows we have the room, but I just believe that you deserve a home and a family Macy, and we are able to offer both. If you’ll have us.”

Macy smiled, thinking of the happy, waving girl. “Yeah, I’d like that.”