Chimneys: A Ghost Story by Mollitor Christian

Author:Mollitor, Christian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Synclectic Media
Published: 2011-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

It took more than an hour to convince Charles and Officer Gilmore that we’d be safe in the mansion alone. After they finally left, we camped out in the library and tried to get some sleep. I was curled up next to Michael on the floor in front of the fireplace, but I couldn’t sleep so I got up and put on my heavy coat. The fire had died overnight and the library still had an early morning chill to it.

I looked around and noticed the desk. I hadn’t actually spent much time looking through the artifacts in the drawers and I wondered if they held any clues to the mysteries of the mansion. I sat down and started rummaging.

Inside I found old pens, a brass paperweight in the shape of a horse, a small book about playing polo and assorted pieces of paper yellowing with age. The handwriting on most of them was illegible because of fading ink.

I noticed that the bottom drawer didn’t go as far back as the top two drawers. In fact it looked about a third smaller, even though it was twice as high as the top two. I tried to pull the drawer completely out of the desk but it would only open about half way. In the early morning light I couldn’t see if something was blocking its path so I got up to find one of the flashlights.

Leaning over Michael, I tried to bend down to grab his flashlight but I tripped and fell right on top of him.

Michael jumped, “What the heck?”

I whispered, “Sorry. I just wanted to grab the flashlight for a sec.”

“What’s up?”

“I’m just going through the drawers in the old desk.”

“Okay, well wake me up if you find anything interesting.” Michael handed me the flashlight and rolled back to sleep.

At the desk, I emptied the drawer and used the light to illuminate the inside of the desk. Nothing. I put my hand in and ran it along the top of the drawer to see if anything was blocking the top. Sometimes in my dresser at home, shirts or socks would get caught in the top of the drawer and make opening it impossible. I thought something similar might be going on here yet my fingers were too big to fit in between the cracks. I felt the bottom of the drawer and noticed it was warped with age. Pulling the sides with my fingernails, I was able to pull off the bottom. It was a false bottom though, because the drawer still had another bottom layer.

I pointed the flashlight in the drawer again and ran my hand over the bottom. A keyhole! It looked old, like a skeleton key would fit in the hole.

“A skeleton key, like the one I found in Grandma’s desk!” I shouted aloud.

Michael rolled towards me, “Huh? What did you say?”

“I found a secret lock in the desk.”

Wyatt sat up, “Is it unlocked?”

Eva stirred awake and looked at me, “What lock?”

I stood up. “I found a secret keyhole in the desk drawer.

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