The secret within

The sky was grey, threatening rain, as she ran round the familiar streets. Passing the beautiful neighborhood houses, knowing inside they were full of love and warmth.

As she rounded the corner she saw the single gothic house in the neighborhood, abandoned years before she arrived in the area. It stood out with its boarded up windows, overgrown garden, dull and peeling paint work.

As she neared the house, rain started to gently fall. She slowed her pace to take in the aura of the building, stopping in front of the dull iron side gate. The gate had been forced open years ago by some high schoolers on a dare.

She looked down from the building and through the gate. Something caught her eye, in the tall grass, something dark. It seemed to be moving, slowly. She took her headphones off, squinting in to the grass. Taking a step closer to the gate, the movement started again, she heard a faint noise almost like a cats cry but she couldn’t be sure.

She stepped through the gate.

Kept her eye on the shape.

Slowly following it as it moved through the grass, edging closer to the house.

It stopped.

She noticed it had reached the end of the grass.

She got as close as she dared, it was definitely an animal. It seemed to be assessing the opening.

It leaped.

Out of the grass, towards the house.

In one swift movement it slipped through one of the gaps in the board covering a doorway.

Should I follow?, she thought as she looked at where the creature had gone. Taking a step back she felt a shiver through her body and she looked up at the dark house towering above her. She’d never got this close before. Excitement and terror were running through her.

Maybe one of the boards on the door was loose and she’d be able to follow the creature. Maybe it was hurt and needed her help, that’s what she was telling herself.

She approached the doorway, sizing up the boards. Gently nudging them, one by one, to see if there was any movement. Nothing. But the last one, maybe that did move slightly, she tried again with a little more force, it slowly moved. Only attached by its top nail, she pushed it to the side and ducked through the gap.

Grabbing her phone, she turned on her torch.

Slowly she scanned her surroundings, the room resembled an old fashioned kitchen. But it was thick with dust and cobwebs, broken cupboards and rubble. As she turned around the room a small yelp escaped her lips. The dark creature sat in a doorway across the room looking back at her. She focused her light in its direction. It looked like a cat. She edged cross the room towards it, slowly, to see if it would run away.

The cat watched her cross the room, waiting for her. When she was close it looked up at her, let out a gentle meow and turned, walking further in to the house.

She hesitated for a moment, glancing back to where she’d entered the house and decided to follow. She found the cat sat in the hallway in front of a closed door. As she approached, the cat started scratching at the door.

Did he want to go in?

She looked at the cat and the door, he didn’t stop scratching.

She reached out for the door handle, turning it slowly, softly nudging it open. The cat slipped through the gap she had created, she nudged the door further so she could see where it lead. She shone her torch through the doorway. It looked like a small library come study, the walls were lined with shelves, still full of books. There was a desk in the middle of the room.

She stepped in to the room, looking around. She wasn’t sure where the cat had gone. She loved books too much to not have a look at all these books.

She took a couple more steps in to the room towards the shelves closest to her, pointing her light at the spines she quickly read along the neat shelf. They seemed to be in some order, the bottom shelf were dark bound encyclopedias, the next shelf contained volumes of history. As she scanned the words printed in the spines she came to on book, smaller than the others. She squinted and got closer, she couldn’t see any words on the spine and it looked out of place. She gently pulled it out, disturbing a small cloud of dust, she used her sleeve to wipe the dust off the book. It was a small book, black with no writing on it. She gently opened it, it was filled with delicate handwriting, someone note book.

She flicked through the pages, a piece of paper fell to the floor. She picked it up, gently unfolding it. She laughed. It was titled ‘treasure map’, looking closely she realised it was for the room she was stood in. In the corner of the page it said

‘To whom ever finds this, I hid my savings in the library, I couldn’t trust anyone. If you find this, please do something good with it -A’

She looked at the ‘map’, it had a rough outline of the room, an X on one side and next to it we’re some initials ‘A.B, C.B, E.B’. Maybe they are authors, she thought, shining her light round the room to figure out where the X from the drawing was.

She laughed to herself, surely there wasn’t money hidden in here, even if it was, surely it wouldn’t be much. She started moving along the shelves when she saw a collection of books, all written by one of Brontë sisters. Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë and Emily Brontë. A.B, C.B and E.B. She looked at them. How could these hide anything?

She pulled one out, opened it in the middle, thinking of those people that carve out pages to hide things. Nothing. She tried another. Nothing. She policies her phone up and pointed to touch to the shelf, something glistened in the gap she had created. She pulled out a few more of the books. Right behind them was a small metal hatch. She cleared all the books that covered it. Eased it open. Shinning her light inside there was a small wooden box. She reached in. He palled the box out, heavier than she expected.

She pried the wooden box open. It was filled with bank notes. She gasped. This couldn’t be real!

She replaced the books on the shelf. Picked up the wooden box and the bock book. She looked round the room for the cat, but couldn’t see him.

She made her way out the house and walked home. She couldn’t believe what she’d found.

That evening she sat on her sofa, glass of wine in hand. The wooden box and black book were on the table in front of her. She’d already counted the money, there was $20,000. She didn’t know what to do. She’d googled the house and it history that afternoon, the owner had died about 20 years ago, the distant relative had tried to sell the house but it was already run down and the new houses had been built around it so it had never sold.

That was it! She had her own savings... She was going to buy the house!