Scratches by Joshua Marsella

Author:Joshua Marsella [Marsella, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2020-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

- Thirteen -

The next morning Connor could sense that something was seriously wrong with the house they now called home. He decided if his mother was going to ignore the problem and pretend it didn’t exist that he would have to figure it out by himself. The only problem was he had no idea where to start or what he was looking for. Most of the house was cleared out before they moved in. Much of it was donated to local charity and the rest was sold or brought to a landfill. The only original stuff that remained was some of the furniture, all the appliances, and a few boxes of junk that remained in the basement. He didn’t have much to go by.

After Janet left in the morning for the early shift, he thought it would be a good time to do a little detective work. He needed answers that wouldn’t come to him by conventional means. He scoured the main floor but came up dry since they had disposed of the few remnants of his grandfather’s existence. At least the stuff that served them no purpose. Next came the basement. This too had essentially been emptied out so there wasn’t much to look through. Janet had made sure that most of her father’s personal belongings were removed from the house before they moved in. She made her best effort to make sure no memory of him remained in the house.

As Connor ascended the basement stairs feeling defeated, a memory flashed in his mind. He recalled seeing a small door in the ceiling tucked away in his mother’s closet when he helped her hang up her clothes during the move.

Of course! The attic. This was the quintessential place you went when you needed to hide something of importance. Everyone universally hated going up into attics. If there was nothing up there, there was likely nothing in this house. The question remained; what exactly had he expected to find up there in the dark?

He felt guilty as he snooped around in there. He opened her closet and spotted the opening in the ceiling that was lined with trim. A piece of plywood laid across the inside that was painted to match the ceiling. Bingo. Now he needed to find a way to get up there.

At first he thought he could stand on one of the kitchen chairs, but after one unsuccessful attempt he found that he was too short to reach the hole.

Then he remembered seeing a short, rusty extension ladder leaned against the back of the house one day when he put his bike away. Once he replaced the chair he walked around to the back yard. He picked up the ladder and shook off the morning dew that accumulated on it. Carefully he carried it inside trying not to bang up the walls.

At first he struggled to lift it into the closet, but after a few grunts and groans he managed to extend it up, set it against the inside of the hole then steadied the base.

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