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General

The attic.

A place of dust, of things, long forgotten. 

Some people don’t know they have an attic. 

Some just don’t acknowledge it. 

Several forget they own an attic all together. 

Very few actually use theirs. It’s too fragile up there to keep all sorts of things like in movies, right? 

I for one didn’t even have an attic at all. 

Or at least, that what I’d thought. 

---

Our house (us being my mother, father and baby sister) was a very, very old cabin. My grandparents had passed it down to us after their parents had to them. We lived in solitude. All alone in the mountains, nothing to do.

Nobody to bother. 

Only the trees and grassy mountainside.

The only connection we had to the outside world was our huge box of a computer. It hardly ever worked, but on the rare occasion that it did, I was always first to the old box. There was a yearning in me to see the world that was so far away from mine.

Other than the computer, I would spend my days exploring our giant cabin. I had never found an entrance into any sort of attic, no matter how hard I looked, and when I asked my parents they had said they’d never seen an attic. I just assumed there wasn’t one.

Even though, when I researched it, I figured out that an attic is important for maintaining the temperature of the house. I still assumed that ours did not exist. It wasn’t like our home was always the perfect warmth or anything. The house was especially old when the weather outside was harsh.

At least that what I had thought up until the moment I met a friend.

Little did our family know, five miles away, a new cabin was being built. A larger, newer cabin.

 We were going to have neighbors.

And when I found out, I was ecstatic.

---

Our neighbors were called the Darwins. And they had a kid that was my age.

His name was Cole.

My name was Kola.

It was perfect.

Our friendship hit off from the moment we glimpsed each other. We made eye contact and snuck away from the grownup conversation to go and play.

We played until the sun sank behind our tall mountain and Cole’s mother had been gone for hours. 

Only, when we started to play the classic game of hide and go seek, we discovered something. 

The cupboard on the right side of our loft did not open. However, the one identical to it, on the left side of the loft, did. All that the open cupboard held was our winter coats, so I wondered,

 Why was the other one bolted shut?

---

Every day, Cole would come over to do school with me and every day, we would attempt to open the mysterious cupboard. 

Until one day, we’d had enough. I finally worked up the courage to ask my mom about the strange cabinet and was surprised to find out that she did not know much about it either. Later that day, we were going to force it open.

---

My father was grunting like an ox while he pried the door open.

When it finally popped open, my mother gasped.

Apparently we did  have an attic.

A hidden one.

There was a narrow staircase that led up to a dark unknown cavern.

“Well, we finally found the entrance to the attic.” My mother laughed.

My mother went in to explore it first. We watched as she disappeared into the thick blackness of uncertainty.

Little did we know that she would never come back to us

We would have never suspected that the moment she entered that black hole, the entirety of our lives would change.

That day, my mother fell from the ceiling and broke her neck. 

She didn't survive.

My father blocked off the attic and said we would never go into it again.

I couldn't agree less

---

10 years later:


As I stared up into the last place I’d seen my mother I couldn't help but remember the last words she had spoken before she left us.

“Well, we finally found the entrance to the attic.” she had cheered.

How’s that for famous last words.

And just moments after she had spoken them the entrance had been bolted shut. I promised myself that I would never open it again.

And yet, here I was, standing in front of the gaping hole, remembering. 

Remembering how curious of a person my mother had been all those years ago…

And how she would never have wanted her death to be in vain, she would have wanted us to explore the attic even with her gone. 

But that never happened.

Maybe, now, it should. I thought. 

The house belonged to me now.

I was older, I could do whatever I wanted.

I could re-enter the attic.

But there was something holding me back. 

I did not have a family, (I was only 20 years old after all.) but I did have a fiance.

His name was Cole. 

He had comforted me after my mother passed away, and stuck by my side ever since. If I was to enter this attic and fall, what would he think.

I wrote a note.

I told him not to grieve for me if I fell, just to move on with life. 

It would have to suffice.

I took in a sharp breath and ran up the stairs into the attic. 

---

Everything was dark and dim, and I couldn't see anything around me.

The only thing up here was an inch of dust.

I sneezed, and it turned into a sniffle.

Tears fell down my cheeks, and I began to sob, my mother had died for nothing. There was nothing up here but dust.

And she had snapped her neck for it. 

I had the sudden urge to run out of this dangerous minefield as soon as possible.

I could not suffer the same fate as her.

I was about to run when a glimmer caught my eye. There was a necklace.

My mothers necklace.

The one we’d thought went missing, but had apparently fallen off into this dusty attic.

I walked over to it and grabbed it.

Then the floor fell out from beneath me.

I was falling, but then, suddenly I wasn't. There was a hand gripping mine and pulling me away from certain death.

I looked up to see who it was.

Cole.

He carried me out of the attic and wouldn't put me down till he was sure I was on safe ground.

I was safe.

---

Later, we blocked off the attic and wrote a sign on the door.

“Attic: Do not enter. Unstable ground.”

Nobody would enter that attic again. I was sure of it.

It was safer this way.


December 06, 2019 18:59

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18 comments

Kaylee Tinsley
15:23 Jan 07, 2020

Once again...awe. Pure awe.

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Philip Clayberg
20:33 Oct 28, 2020

Interesting story. I liked it. Makes me wonder what else could be up in that attic. Maybe a copy of Dorian Grey's portrait? Maybe a billiard table with time-traveling billiard balls? Giant-sized dolls? An easel with a self-painting canvas?

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Cam Croz
05:28 Oct 29, 2020

haha 😂 That would surely be interesting! Thanks for reading!

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Philip Clayberg
17:10 Oct 29, 2020

You're welcome. The giant-sized dolls idea is actually from a Doctor Who episode (when Matt Smith was the Doctor). The billiard balls idea was inspired by the episode about quantum mechanics in the "Elegant Universe" PBS series (I'm not sure if atoms time-travel, though). In the episode there's a fictional place on the quantum level called the "Quantum Club". Look for the part where Dr. Brian Greene is playing a game of pool. The billiard balls aren't behaving in normal ways. When I was in bed last night, I thought, "What if billiar...

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Metaxia Tzimouli
14:23 Oct 25, 2020

Reminds me of the stories I use to read when I was young (RL Stine mostly), the ones with a bit of mystery, suspense, terror and love! Well written and well-paced! Good job.

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Cam Croz
14:29 Oct 25, 2020

Thank you for reading and leaving a comment!

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Vameerah Darren
13:06 Oct 19, 2020

Awwww I love this story so much! The way you described Cole and Kola's relationship from the very beginning was flawless. I would greatly appreciate it if you could leave me some feedback on my stories :)

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Cam Croz
01:40 Oct 20, 2020

Thanks! Ill see what I can do.

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23:10 May 16, 2020

I loved this story so much! :) I especially liked that Cole and Kola ended up getting married. That was adorable! When Cole saved Kola, that just showed how much love he had for her. Keep writing and stay safe! -Brooke

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Cam Croz
00:27 May 19, 2020

Thank you!

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19:16 Feb 14, 2020

Such a great story! I love the names!

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Shernel Davis
23:32 Dec 12, 2019

Wow. It was simple yet beautiful.

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Cam Croz
02:23 Dec 13, 2019

Thanks!!!

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Sydney Mari
22:08 Dec 11, 2019

I felt this should’ve been longer, and other than a few grammatical mistakes this was great!

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Cam Croz
01:50 Dec 12, 2019

Thanks so much for the feedback! It is highly appreciated. I'll try and make my stories longer in the future!

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Selena Selena
12:17 Dec 24, 2019

Sydney's right, but I loved it.

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14:54 Feb 14, 2021

This story is so haunting!, I clearly thing that this is awfully awesome piece of art! Hope that you keep it up, but not in the aaaattic! (er, lol?)

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Cam Croz
21:22 Feb 14, 2021

lmao XD gotta love da puns haha Thanks for reading!

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