The Place of Forgotten Stuff

The Attic was the Attic.  It was just the up most top floor of the house where they kept things that couldn’t fit in the basement. What was being held there diminished over the years due to Nessy’s mother slowly discarding the excess clutter from the basement to make space for the clutter from the attic. Then again most of the things that were brought down from the attic were thrown out as well.

               Nessy and her younger brother didn’t often travel into the attic because in order to get there they had to open up a space on the ceiling and climb a ladder. The two were both, at that time, in the words of their mother, ‘too little to be allow to mess around with a ladder,’ so they weren’t allowed in the attic. That wasn’t why Nessy stayed away, though, when she was seven she decided to explore the space when her dad brought down one of the heavier objects to the basement. She didn’t last long in the dimly lit area, no she found herself frozen with fear grasping her favorite stuffed animal, floofy, and holding in a scream so she wouldn’t be caught for her curiosity. She looked around trying to remind herself there was nothing there, but after seeing a shadow move she quickly tiptoed to the ladder and slid down on to the second floor hallway only to be caught by her five year old brother.

               “You were not supposed to be up there,” He said well pointing at his sister and puffing his chest. “I’ll tell mom,” He crossed his arms and smiled.

               “No one likes a tattle tale,” she remarked sticking her nose up and standing straiter. Nessy always tried to bully her brother because it was easier to do than bargaining with him. It didn’t always work, though, because although he was afraid of her, he was smarter than her.

               “Where’s Floofy?” he asked trying to hold in a chuckle.

               Nessy looked at her hands and in horror relised that she drooped her stuffed animal in the attic. She glared and crossed her arms, “I don’t know I lost him?”

               “Lost what?” Nessy’s dad asked since he returned from his trip to the basement.

               “Floofy,” Her brother annoyingly answered. Nessy stomped her foot, but when her father looked at her she gave an innocent smile.

               “I don’t need him anyway,” she stated, “I’m I’m…” She thought for a bit trying to get a good answer, “I’m too old for him, Yeah I’m too old to have a stuffed animal.”

               Her dad looked at her, “Are you too old for you other stuffed animals?” he asked. He was teasing her, but Nessy took it as a threat that she would lose all her toys.

               “I’m not that old yet daddy!” Nessy whined

“Okay, so do you want me to help you find Floofy when I’m done?”

Nessy bit her bottom limp and looked down in defeat, “No I out grew Floofy,” she sighed fisting her hands.

Her dad didn’t add anything after that. He shrugged and continued working. When he was out of sight Nessy’s brother teased her more and she chased him down the stairs. The siblings ran in circles around the base until their mother yelled at both of them to go to their room.

By the time Nessy went back to the second floor her dad sealed the ceiling leaving Floofy in the attic.

               That night and a couple days after Nessy had nightmares without her favorite stuffed animal at her side, but even if she could go and get Floofy she was smart enough to know that it was dark up there and to every child the things that hid in the dark were scary.

               She was twelve when she finally ventured up there again. Her dad said that there wasn’t much boxes left to be brought down, but invited her to help anyway. He made the mistake of calling her Nessy when she made it clear that nowadays she preferred to be called Ness. Ness tried to walk away from childish things being that she would soon be thirteen: she would soon be a teenager and not a kid any more. Despite his mistake and her lack of ambition to help she took him up on this opportunity because she got into a debate with one of the girls in her class about which was scarier, the attic or the basement.

               To Ness it was obviously the basement. It was a dark place with no windows to open and escape out of. There were also monsters there. Ness, unlike her brother, was old enough to know monsters didn’t exist, but she also believed at least one lived in her basement. It waited for her to turn off the light and was always on her heals as she ran up the staircase. 

               The horror of the attic was a distinct memory: a onetime thing that didn’t repeat itself. It was dark up there with only a single light blub near the middle of the ceiling. It was spooky but not scary. There were only two big boxes stacked on each other and fives smaller ones scatter around. Ness moved toward the big boxes and noticed something on the ground. She felt a large amount of emotion as she saw that it was Floofy.

               “That’s where it went,” her dad said.

               Ignoring her dad’s comment, she picked up her stuffed animal and sqeezed it. “Whats in the boxes,” she asked looking at the two big ones.

               “Some of my old stuff,” her dad said. He grabbed one of them and carried it down the ladder. Ness followed him and observed as he opened up the box. Among the assorted things Ness noticed a jacket that she thought was cool.  set aside Floofy and put on the jacket.

               “Pretty rad isn’t it?” her dad said in a tone that sounded like a parent trying to be hip.

               Ness nodded. She reached into its pocket and felt something rough. It was an old rabit foot key chain. “Ew!” she squealed and threw the object.

               Her father picked it up and gave a smile. “I always wondered where that went.” he sighed.

               “Why did you have it? It’s gross.”

               “Well let’s just say it’s a lucky charm. I use to think it kept the creatures that hid in the dark away.” He looked at Ness and extend his hand to her, “Want it?”

               “No, definitely not.”

               “Okay then I’ll give it to your brother.”

               “Wait,” Ness said. She didn’t want it, but she didn’t want her brother to have it, “I’ll take it.”