The Old Carpet

“Anne? Anne!” were the last words she heard as she fell down, deep into the dark abyss as if nothing would ever break her fall. She just kept falling feeling quite like Alice falling through the rabbit hole. But suddenly she felt the cold floor, damp and hard, all most slippery. She looked up, seeing a light, it was the living room light. She saw her brothers round face looking down, with a very apparent concern on his face, “Anne, are you okay?” is all he could barely mumble out. “Yes, I think so, what is this place?” She replied very curious about her new surroundings. “I don’t know, I’ll go get a flashlight and hop down, then we can find where it leads.” He replied, “Okay, hurry I don’t like being here alone in the dark.”

           As she stood looking up in anticipation, patiently waiting for her brother to peek down to see if she was still there, she turned the events of that morning over in her head. Anne and her brother Pierce had been playing hide and go seek in the house, Anne’s favorite place to hide had always been in the living room, where she found a small lump under the carpet. She ripped up the old rag and found a very small handle to some sort of trap door. She soon called for Pierce as she opened, but Pierce being a little clumsy (for growing makes even the most graceful child clumsy) accidently bumped into her, making her fall in the most uncomfortable position. This is how she came to fall in this dark excitingly adventurous tunnel.

           “Anne? You still down there?” Said Pierce shining a ray of light down upon the floor. “Yes, now hurry up!” Anne replied in a hushed voice, “Alright.” He said back. As he hopped down, he too thought it would never end, but he soon reached the cold slick floor and handed Anne a flashlight. The house they lived in was very old and ragged, their mother and father were planning to renovate some of it including the old carpet in which Anne found the secrete passage. “I wonder where it leads too.” Said Pierce shining the light down the long and dark tunnel, “Maybe to a pirates cave! With gold and treasure!” Said Anne excitedly, “Maybe we’ll find a lion that we can train ourselves!” Pierce exclaimed for they both had very adventurous spirits. It may have been that they were twins or that their parents raised them in a way that made them have similar interests in adventure.

           Walking down the cement cave-like floor they found that the roof dripped almost just like a cave, making Anne's conclusion much more realistic, but Pierce still had hopes for a pet lion. “Look!” Said Anne in awe as she pointed to a large door made of rotting wood with a rusty handle. “What do you suppose is behind it?” Pierce said with the greatest expression of surprise on his face. “I don’t know, lets open it and find out.” She said. As the door creaked open a cold puff of air with a disgusting stench blew out, as if being held there for hundreds of years. It was a small room, far much darker than the tunnel with three narrow passages in front of them. “Wow, look at that!” Exclaimed Pierce, for what he saw was on the left wall, it was an extraordinarily large tapestry, with delicate stitching edged with gold and crimson. On it was the strangest passage that said, “Coming around the bend you wait, three paths you seek to take, one of which defines your fate.” On it, under the passage, was three paths stitched in different shades of brown, the first path was light brown, it had a flourishing tree at the end, yet the path looked treacherous. The second was very dark with a hooded figure, the gran reaper. And the last path was a medium brown, in between the light and dark. At the end was a gray fog, making it unclear what the path held at the end.

           “What? What is this for?” Breathed out Anne, “Maybe it has something to do with those paths over there.” Gasped Pierce. “I think so, it has to be!” Anne replied. “Which one should we take.” She asked a few minutes later, after a long silence. “Well, it looks like the first one is supposed to be good, and the one in the middle bad,” He paused to look at the paths, “So... what’s the last one?” He finished his sentence quietly. “Maybe it is supposed to be either possibility, the possibility of dyeing or living! This should be a great adventure! Let’s go down that one.” Anne said. “What about mother and father? Shouldn't we go home sooner than later? Dinner will be ready soon.” Pierce said concerningly, “Alright, to get more exploring done I’ll go down one path, and you go down another. Then we can tell each other what we've found, but just to be safe neither of us will go down the middle path. How does that sound?” Anne said quickly. “Alright, but we got to make it quick. Which one for you?” He replied a little annoyed that she thought of splitting up before he did. “I think I’ll take the first one, it looks promising.” Said Anne. “Okay I guess the last one looks adventurous and mysterious, I’ll take it.” He said a little disappointedly. “And don’t forget, no middle path, and wait here for each other.” Anne replied as she began to walk down the first path. “Alright.” He said as he looked down the third path.

           As he walked down the path, it was a little curved here and there but there was never a fork in the road. The walls were dim and gray, nothing new, it was exactly like the passage from the living room. As for Anne, there were old vines growing down the sides of the hall and across the ground, the passage was not very curved but here and there was a turn or two. Her path was much shorter than Pierce’s and she soon came to a sunlit room, with lots of plants and a small waterfall running down the side. Now Pierce was still walking, he walked and walked, then finally he came to a room, and what he saw he could not have ever imagined, there was an old rusted chest in the corner. He walked up to it and opened it, and inside was a leather journal, with its pages yellowed from age. There was also a little sack full of silver pieces, and he realized they must be worth a fortune. He quickly grabbed both items and ran straight out of the room through the tunnel and back to the room, where he and Anne were to meet before going back to the house. He waited for about ten minutes before Anne came running from her path with a bouquet of flowers. They exchanged findings as they walked quickly back home. Soon they came to the living room and climbed up a rusted latter. They soon found their parents and told them about their adventures, their parents investigated the passage and they all found many great treasures there. But they never tore that old carpet up to replace it, or go down the middle path.