1 Chapter 01

Allison Clark's POV

I slowly climbed the latter which led to the attic. The latter was covered in multiple layers of dust due to the fact that no one has ever been there since the day my mother disappeared many years ago to put her stuff away. My dad thought that if we put away her things he won't be reminded of her all the time.

That didn't work.

Apparently I remind him of her every day because he sometimes look at me with a pained expression on his face. I guess I take after my mother, I have the same red hair as her, and my eye colour is similar to hers, a greyish blue colour. He used to say he saw her in me, and that we were practically twins.

I came up here today because I had nothing else to do, also because I was curious. The memories of my mother were fading, and father only let me keep one photograph of her, so I thought if I went through her stuff I would be reminded of the times I spent with my mother.

The attic was pretty large, there were old furniture and random things placed in untidy piles around the room. It was daytime so there was sunlight streaming through a little round window that hasn't been cleaned in ages. A quick scan of my surroundings revealed that there were no cardboard boxes that looked like it contained my mother's belongings in sight.

I signed, guess I'll just have to explore a little, I thought to myself, starting to walk towards the pile of little arts and crafts I made in kindergarten which I have no use for anymore.

My shoes were covered in dust by the time I actually found the things I was looking for, the large cardboard boxes that were hidden in the very back corner of the attic. There were at least ten of them, piled high and probably really heavy too.

"Wow..." I murmured, I doubt I would be able to go through all of these today, and dad would be beyond mad if he found out I was going through these things.

In the end I decided to take a smaller looking box that wasn't too heavy, but getting down the latter was still a pain, I almost fell right off multiple times.

I speed walk back to my room on the second floor even though there was no one in the house. My dad was at work, he usually comes back at five pm, I look at the clock on my wall, I have a good two hours to go through this box then put it back in the attic. Today is Saturday, so I don't have school, but my dad still goes to work. He gets the day off on Sunday.

Grabbing a pair of scissors from my desk, I swiftly cut the tape that was on the box and lifted the flaps, revealing some clothes and lots of jewelry. My eyebrows rose at the sight of all the bracelets, necklaces, and earrings that looked like it had been tossed into the box without much care. Most of them were vintage, and there were some pearls earrings and crystal necklaces thrown in the mix.

Then, I noticed a rectangular wooden box in the very bottom that had very detailed carvings of creatures that belonged in fantasy novels, a howling wolf, a dragon, a phoenix, and others I didn't recognize. There was a key sticking out of they keyhole, the once shiny metal was dulled and I could see the tiniest bit of rust on it.

Curious, I unlocked the box, and slowly, cautiously, lifted the lid, as if a Jack in The Box was going to pop up when I open it.

To my relief, there was nothing to scare me when the box was opened, but my jaw dropped as I examined the items, there were two identical necklaces with a single glittering ruby gemstone on each, in the shape of a water drop, and a small crystal on top of it, placed perfectly side by side in the box. The necklaces looked very elegant and like something you would only wear to big, formal parties.

"Holy cow, this must cost a fortune." I said loudly while carefully tracing my finger on the gem, aware about the fact that this is probably delicate and I need to take care of it, because I tend to be extremely clumsy when I am around these expensive and easily breakable items. For example, one time I had knocked over dad's diamond embedded wine glass that was a gift from his friend, and boy, was he mad at me.

I decided to keep the two necklaces for now and put everything back in the attic, and no, this isn't stealing. When I climbed up the latter and stepped into the attic, I realized that I could see the prints of my feet on where I had stepped before on the dusty floor, and if my dad comes up here for any reason at all, he's going to see it. I ended up taking a handful of dust that was accumulating in the corners of the room and covering the footprints up.

The ruby on the necklace was a blood-like red. Even though the colour isn't very bright, it was the first thing my eyes landed on when I entered my room, it stood out like those pop-up birthday cards that captures you attention so it is the only thing you see.

To me, when I looked at it, the everything else was out of focus, similar to the photos that has a shot of a clear flower and the a blurry background.

After examining the necklaces for a long time, holding it up and weighing it on my hand, I decided to check out...the box. It was entirely made out of wood except for the hinges and the lock, when I picked it up, I felt something cool and smooth on the bottom.

Not at all like wood.

I turned the box over, and there, was a card taped on the bottom of the box, written in my mother's neat handwriting,

'My dear Allison, these necklaces are my parting gift for you, don't lose it, give one to a friend you trust, and put it on together, it will help you in the future. See you soon. Love, Mom.'

See you soon? What does that even mean? Confused, I took the card off, and flipped it over to see if there was anything written on the back. Nothing.

Then, the front door opened, I quickly put the necklaces back, closed the lid, and stuffed it in my closet at the very back. I glance at the clock, it was a little past four pm, which means my dad shouldn't be home yet, then who is in the house? My heart was beating really fast now, so I took a few deep breaths. I decide to tiptoe quietly to the hallway so I can see who it is, but just as I took a few steps, I heard my dad's voice call.

"Allison, I'm home!"He came home early! He usually doesn't come home for another hour! I calmed myself down, tried to look normal, and walked down the stairs to greet him.