The Attic

Mrs Jones grabbed her oven mitts and pulled out a tin. Thankfully, this time, it wasn’t burnt. She had finally mastered the recipe of the pumpkin pie. A feeling of pride and joy could be found in Mrs Jones.

  Loud footsteps thundered down the stairs.

“We’re hungry!” moaned Mrs Jones daughters, Hannah and Penny.

“So you just happened to be hungry at the exact time the pie is ready?” asked Mrs Jones, lifting the pie out of the tin.

“Yep,” said Penny, licking her lips as she watched her mother transfer the pie onto a plate.

“Well, you can’t eat it yet. It has to cool or else you’ll burn your mouths.”

  Tim strutted into the kitchen. Hannah and Penny groaned. If Tim was around, then the pie soon wouldn’t be.

~~

“Hmm.. what’s this I see?” said Tim, thoughtfully, adjusting his thick glasses to look at the pie.

“A freshly baked pie- pumpkin, if I’m not mistaken and- I see... that is a lattice pie crust, I’m guessing you are new to this whole pie thing judging on the neatness of the braid…”

“Okay, that’s enough from you!” said Hannah, annoyed. 

“I was merely commenting on it,” said Tim, head held high.

“Stop fighting,” said Mrs Jones. “Tim is our guest this week and I suggest you treat him properly.”

“That’s right, Aunt Fay,” said Tim, nodding.

  Mrs Jones cut into the pie. She proudly presented a big piece to Tim. Penny and Hannah stared at their pieces as if they had eyes.

“Our pieces are tiny compared to Tim’s!” said Penny.

“What do you mean?” said Mrs Jones. “They’re the same size!”

“This is not fair, I want more!” 

“It is fair and you can only have more if you finish your first helping,” 

Tim licked his lips. “Yum!”

Mrs Jones stared in disbelief. “You’re done? Already?”

“Yep! And I must say, the taste is quite excellent though the crust is a little burnt but it doesn’t affect the taste at all! Congratulations, Aunt Fay, for making an exquisite pie!”

She blushed. “Oh...thanks.” Another huge helping was handed to Tim.

Penny and Hannah shovelled pie into their mouths. 

“Can we have more?”

Mrs Jones cut them more pie and a slice for herself too. Soon, Tim was asking for another slice.

After many arguments about who was going to have the final piece, Tim walked away with a smug smile and glares from Hannah and Penny.

~~

  Mrs Jones went upstairs to the attic. It was dusty and no one had ever been in there for years, except her. She looked nervously around before going inside and locking the door.

  Hannah, who was suspicious from the day her mother started going secretly into the attic, knew something was going on. She went to find Penny.

“Mom went into the attic again!” said Hannah.

“We gotta find out what she’s doing,” said Penny.

Hannah agreed.

“I couldn’t help but overhear…” said Tim walking in.

“Ugh,” said Penny. “Can’t you just mind your own business for once?”

Tim carried on. “I’ve got a good mind to find out what’s going on in that room. Maybe Aunt Fay is secretly a trapezist!”

Hannah and Penny rolled their eyes.  

“It doesn’t make sense that Mom’s a trapezist but I agree with Tim for once, we have to find out what she’s hiding.”

“Shall we shake on it?”

The three of them made an awkward three-way shake.

~~

  Mrs Jones came out of the attic after an hour and sat on her favourite armchair with her journal and a pen. She wrote vigorously for some time.

“So… Aunt Fay, where did you go for the last hour?” asked Tim casually.

“Um, my bedroom. I needed a little nap,” 

“But I checked your bedroom and it was empty Mom,” said Penny.

“Oh um, I must have...um,” stuttered Mrs Jones, running out of excuses.

“I saw you going into the attic,” said Hannah.

Mrs Jones glared at her.

“Look,” she said, standing up. “It’s none of your business where I go or what I do! So stop poking your nose into other people’s private business!”

Mrs Jones realised she had clearly lost her temper. 

“I mean, I- I’m sorry, kids. Why don’t you just go and play by yourselves.”

She went upstairs to her bedroom.

“Has that happened before?” asked Tim.

“No,” said Penny. “Anyway, I don’t think we should poke into this stuff anymore.”

But they still did.

~~

  They went to the attic, tiptoeing as they went past Mrs Jones bedroom. Unfortunately, the attic door was locked, as always.

“Stand back!” said Penny, pulling out a hair clip from her pocket and jiggling the lock with it.

“That stuff won’t work,” said Tim. “Why don’t you let a professional handle it-”

“Hey!” came a shout.

The three of them jumped. It was Mrs Jones.

“Can I talk to you, Penny and Hannah?” said Mrs Jones.

“Um sure,” said Hannah and went into her mother’s room with Penny trailing behind her.

Tim looked at them and looked back at the attic door. He’d better wait for Hannah and Penny.

~~

“What happened?” asked Tim.

“We can’t go into the attic anymore,” said Penny.

‘Why not?” asked Tim. “We need to find out what’s inside!”

“There’s family stuff inside…” said Hannah. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“But!” 

“Just leave it,” said Hannah.

Tim made up his mind to find out what was on the other side of that door somehow.

~~

The next day, Tim snuck into Mrs Jones’s room and got a bunch of keys which he assumed was for the attic.

He opened the door and… saw nothing out of the ordinary. But then, someone locked him in! A black shadow emerged from behind him and…