Chapter 2

The next morning I didn't know where I was at first, but then it dawned on me. We had moved, and Lucas and I had to go to a new school soon.

Ill-tempered, I walked down the squeaky stairs. Mom was already moving and cleaning things while Lucas was running around the yard with a soccer ball.

"Good morning sweetie! Did you sleep well?" My mother came into the kitchen to make coffee. The moving truck would finally arrive!

"Yes, slept well. You?''

''Short but deep. Do you want coffee?'' I nodded and impatiently waited for the coffee that Mom craved just as much.

After we had taken apart all the old beds we still had to take them downstairs, to the garage. We then went for coffee again and shortly after that, the moving van arrived.

We spent the whole afternoon unloading. When our furniture had been dragged to the correct spot, and after I had practically put together my bed, I lay down on the mattress with a thud. I would put the sheets on later. I had also dragged my reading books upstairs and put them in the beautiful old cupboard. They stood on the shelves, showing off their beautiful covers. I stood up again with a groan and started to organize the last mess in the room. I had crammed all the junk into the closet on the landing near the stairs. Before I knew it, it was evening already.

After dinner I went upstairs, we were all tired and we all needed sleep... but I still had to put the sheets on the bed.

I slid my fingers across the wooden desk that was mine now. I had decided to give my old desk to Lucas because now, I had a much larger desk. This one was even too heavy to move so it would have been mine anyway.

The dark desk stood in front of the window, but I didn't have a desk chair because we gave that one to Lucas as well. The only thing I could sit on now was my bed and the old ottoman.

After putting the sheets on the bed I wanted to text my friends to ask whether they were missing me already. Apparently, I dumped my ass on the dusty ottoman too enthusiastically. The crappy, rickety thing practically exploded in a cloud of dust and leather! Shit, I broke it! The seat was torn, and the gray cloud spread across the room! I spat out the gray flakes and opened the window to give myself some fresh air. I angrily coughed out the filth in my lungs. I was in the mood to throw the ottoman out of the window! I just cleaned everything!

After a few minutes, I was done coughing. Dad was already wondering why I wanted to sleep here. The room wasn't used for years, there was fungus growing on the walls, not to mention that the room had become one gigantic nest of dustmites. I had one very important reason why I wanted to sleep here: privacy. In our previous house, we had everything but privacy. The big city was expensive, so we lived in a much smaller house. Now that we finally had some more space, I chose this room to have a little more distance from my parents. I wanted to be alone once in a while, but Lucas, Dad, or Mom often took all my free time when I was home. I just wanted to have a room where I could quietly read a good book or watch a movie without Lucas constantly asking if I wanted to play a game with him. I looked down while taking a deep breath of the fresh air.

"Tomorrow, I will clean everything again." I whispered to myself as I took a deep breath in the cool breeze. Then, the sunset broke through the clouds and the orange light coloured the grass. Sometimes a sunray fell on the pond, another shone on the chestnut tree. When I looked a little closer I saw something glittering in the hole of the chestnut tree. I waited for the next ray of sunshine to pass by to confirm that there was something in the tree. Sunlight shone again in the hole of the tree and I saw again that something made of metal was in there! I darted down the staircase, trying to make it downstairs as silent as possible, and slipped through the back door.

I looked over my shoulder, Mom and Dad were probably in their bedroom watching a stupid series. I walked over to the chestnut tree and stood on my toes. I scanned the hole with the tip of my fingers and stumbled upon something cold and thin. I pulled it out of the slippery moss. A key! It was attached to a necklace. But there was still something else hidden in there. Before pulling the key out, I felt something else was in there. I reached in again and pulled it out...

Blood! I almost let go of the paper because of what was in my hands. There was blood on the paper! That could only mean one thing… Grandma had put this here when she was dying! An icy cold shiver was running down my spine. I turned over the wet piece of paper, and it turned out to be an envelope. Dad's name was written on the front in her handwriting: Leo.

"What do you have there?" I turned around as my heart was racing even faster… and saw Dad standing in front of me. He had come down. Only now did I notice that I was hiding the key and the bloody envelope behind my back.

"You scared me." I said while laughing nervously.

"Sorry for scaring you. What did you find?" I gave him the rusty key.

"An old key." I pointed to my window. "The sun was shining, I could see it glistening." I tried to sound as normal as possible. He had to smile. It worked!

"You have sharp eyes, you probably inherited those from me." He returned the key to me. "Keep it safe. Maybe Grandma wanted to hide it so you couldn't find her secret pancake recipe." He joked about Grandma and immediately he turned sad again. "Come inside, it's about to rain again."

Without him noticing, I stuffed the damp envelope into my back pocket. We walked back inside together.

I ran upstairs with lightning speed after ditching my dad in the kitchen. When I tried to open the wet envelope the paper tore. No matter how gently I tugged at the paper, I tore the envelope apart bit by bit. No… soon her last words will be lost because I'm too clumsy opening the envelope! I had to let it dry before I could read the letter. With a sigh, I put the envelope on the heater. I put the key on the desk.

The mirror was foggy after showering. I dried it with a towel before combing my dark brown hair that reached over my shoulders. When I dried my hair with the hairdryer my green eyes were staring at me. I checked whether the envelope was already dry after I finished brushing my teeth. Unfortunately, the paper was still as soggy as before. It will be dry tomorrow. I quickly crawled under the sheets and stared at the bloody paper. Although I was exhausted from this long day, I had a hard time falling asleep. Finally, I decided to turn myself around and stop looking at the paper. What did she want to tell Dad?

***

Mom and Dad just left the house to search for what type of paint they preferred in their bedroom. When they woke me up they said that a technician would come over this morning to install the router and internet wires throughout the house. After getting dressed I immediately wanted to know what was written in the envelope. Just as I reached for Grandma's envelope, the doorbell rang.

The man had to run a bunch of cables throughout the house so that we would have Wi-Fi in every nook and cranny, including the attic. After two hours of work and one cup of coffee, he finished up. Mom and Dad came in just as I connected the Wi-Fi to my phone. Our brand new smart television still had to be set up but that was something Dad would do. Mom and Dad wanted to drink some coffee before they would start to paint their bedroom… and of course, I had to help them. Grandma's letter still had to wait.

Mom and Dad's bedroom had been painted, Lucas' wardrobe had been put in place, and the house was slowly starting to look like ours. The day flew by. I got under the sheets again and only after almost falling asleep, it dawned on me that her envelope was still on the heater. With a deep sigh, I threw off the covers and walked to the heater.

Carefully I fiddled with the opening of the envelope. After pulling out the little paper I was finally able to read what it said.

Look under the desk. I looked under the desktop because this must be the desk that she was referring to. What is that? I peeled the tape off the wood and heard a metal thing fall to the floor. A door handle? I looked at the thing in surprise. The end of the door handle was oddly shaped, more like a key than a door handle. I couldn't remember a door in the house that didn't have a door handle on it. For which door is this handle intended? I put the strange handle in the same drawer as the key I'd found.

I walked back to my warm bed. Why would she hide this thing under the desk? What had Grandma been hiding? I wondered as I slowly fell asleep. Perhaps it had to do with where she came from…