The attic
Another title...
anyways this was a short story for a contest (Didn't win but i dont rll care bc it was three yrs ago ish) Um its actually finished so yeah hope u like!
The Attic
"Aviva!" Someone called from down the hallway, "Are you ready to go yet?"
"NO!" I rushed around my messy room throwing my clothes and belongings into my suitcase. Suddenly, I tripped over a school binder and fell flat on my face. "Owwww...," I moaned as I hopped up and grabbed my suitcase. It was an ugly pink with a sequin unicorn on it, I hated it. It used to be my older sister Fays, but she got a new blue and white one, so I'm stuck with this.
"We're meeting Uncle Sam and his kids in two minutes, we've got to go Aviva!" My mom yelled. "We're going to be in the car, ok?"
I ran to the garage and jumped in the backseat with my little brother Liam. Fay started driving out of the garage before I was buckled. I quickly strapped in.
"I don't want to sit by Avy!" Liam yelled, using my nickname.
"Sorry Liam, but she can't sit up here because Fay is driving," My dad answered.
"Can Avy drive? Or me?" Liam begged.
"No, Aviva is only twelve and you're two," Fay said smiling back at Liam, "But I'm sixteen so I can drive, 'kay?"
"Hmph... OK," Liam obliged.
"Wait, did you say we're meeting Uncle Sam and his kids?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Noooo," I moaned. Not Mckenna and Maddison, they are so mean... I thought.
We met up with Uncle Sam a few minutes later at a gas station.
"HIYA shorty!" Someone called from behind me. I hate when people call me short.
"Hi Teeny-weeny!" Another voice shouted from behind me. I slowly turned around and saw my older twin cousins Mckenna and Maddison.
"Hello" I said dully as I turned back around. One of the twins gripped my shoulders and forced me back around. It was Maddison.
"We're going to have a great time at Grandmas Inn, aren't we?" Mckenna said as more of a statement than a question, "Didn't you hear that the attic is haunted and a few years back one of the workers went in and never came out?"
"Ha ha, very funny," I said.
"Grandma told us," Maddison said, still gripping me. Ok I admit that is kind of freaky.
"Sure," I faked.
"We have a dare," Mckenna said, "We dare you to go inside the attic."
"What do I get?" I wondered, actually considering it.
"We'll come in after you. And ten dollars."
"How do I know you'll come?"
"I'll give you my phone until we go inside," Maddison said. No way! Her phone means more than anything to her.
"Deal!" I said eagerly, "When do I get the phone?"
"Now," Maddison said as she handed me her aqua colored phone. I turned it on to make sure it was real.
"See ya," Mckenna said as they got into their car. I hurried to my mom's car and found everyone waiting for me.
"Where'd you get that?" Fay asked, "Is that Maddison's? No way! What did you do for them?"
"I'm going to do a dare," I answered smoothly, as I turned on Maddison's phone. The rest of the car trip went smoothly, I watched a movie and played Maddison's games. When we finally got to my grandma's inn, I felt like I never wanted to look at a screen again. We all got out of the car as Uncle Sam pulled up. He waved and he and his family got out of their car. Grandma stepped out of the hotel in front of them and gave each person a warm embrace.
"Come in, Come in. Thank you all for coming to help! I really appreciate it," Grandma said in her creaky old voice.
"Anything for you, Mom," my Mom said. Grandma led us to her small part of the hotel where she lived alone ever since my grandpa died. We all got settled, ate dinner, and got ready for bed. As I was heading to the room that I was going to share with the twins, someone tapped me on the shoulder.
I jumped, and turned around. Both the twins were standing there with their fingers to their mouths. I had almost forgotten.
"Still have my phone?" Maddison whispered.
"Yeah," I whispered back.
"Then let's go!" Mckenna said quietly. We took the elevator up to the seventh floor and got out. The twins led me to a door that said "STAFF ONLY." They opened it and we stepped inside to see a thin staircase up to an old dusty door.
"That's it," Maddison said. I was having second thoughts about going in, but I couldn't back out now. I walked hesitantly up the stairs; the twins followed. I slowly reached for the old wooden door when someone coughed. I jumped and spun.
"Sorry!" Mckenna wheezed, "It's so dusty!"
"You scared me!" I said. I reached for the handle of the ancient door and grabbed it. I could feel the rust against my palm as I twisted the old knob and the door creaked open. It was too dark to tell what was inside, so I turned to the twins.
"If I die, tell my family I loved them," I said in a joking voice...though I really meant it. I stepped inside and turned on the flashlight that was on Maddison's phone. The attic was much bigger than I expected, and it wasn't an attic at all! It was an aged cave that extended into a tunnel.
"You've got to see this!" I said back to the twins.
"What is it?" Maddison asked.
"Come and see!", both twins stepped in and gasped. Maddison took her phone and shone the light everywhere.
"What the...!" Mckenna said. I turned around.
"THE DOOR IS GONE!" I yelled! Both twins spun around and shrieked.
"What do we do now?", Maddison groaned.
"I think the only way to go is to follow the tunnel," Mckenna said as she turned her flashlight on. Maddison and I followed Mckenna down the long passageway until Maddison broke the silence.
"My legs hurt!", she whined, "And there's no cell service!", I rolled my eyes. Cousins! I thought. We continued in silence for a while until I saw a glimmer of light. We sped up and saw the end of the tunnel. We ran out of the cave to a spectacular view Off to one side the land fell away in a beautiful waterfall. In front of us there were towering mountains. To the other side, there was what I would imagine a forest would look like in a fairy kingdom. We stood in a magical meadow filled with what seemed to be tiny glowing figures.
"Are those fairies?" Maddison gasped. We all looked closer and saw beautiful tiny men, women, and children. They each had beautiful, intricate wings. One fairy in particular took interest in us. She looked like she was about eighteen and was wearing a beautiful rose petal dress. She had the most charming wings that were covered in pink, white, and purple swirls.
"Humans, you must hurry," she said in a musical voice, "You shouldn't be here out in the open, the dragons will come, they will try to stop you. You must go to the dragon queen's lair and steal the key to the door. The lair is on top of the highest mountain. After you have the key, go to where the door appears. You have two days. Hurry! They come," she flew away, and all the fairies scattered. We looked up and saw three dark shapes coming quickly towards us.
"To the forest!" One of the fairies yelled. The twins and I ran to the forest as quickly as we could. I glanced back; I could see that the shapes were majestic dragons coming straight for us.
"Run!" I yelled, already out of breath. I made it to the edge of the forest with the twins on my heels. I raced into the forest as I heard a blast of fire.
"You can stop, they won't come in the forest," another fairy said, "You're safe here," we stopped and sat down catching our breath. Mckenna stood up.
"You heard what the fairy said. C'mon we're going to a dragon's lair," She told us, as if she were our coach. Maddison and I stood up started trudging in the general direction of the mountains. Soon a fairy stopped us.
"There is someone you might want to meet," she led us to the right a bit until we were standing in front of a human-sized hut. A boy about seventeen or eighteen stepped out wearing my grandma's hotel uniform.
"Are you the worker who went into the attic but never came out three years ago?" I asked.
"Yeah, I guess that would be me," He acknowledged, "Also, I know a way up the mountain,"
"Where?", Mckenna questioned.
"Follow me," He started walking towards a denser part of the forest, " The big oak tree has a large tunnel underneath it that leads into the mountain and straight up to the Queen's lair."
"Wait," I wondered, "How do you know this?"
"I've been here for three years. I've Learned things," He answered.
"What's your name?" Maddison asked.
"I'm Adrian. We'd better hurry, we've got to get there before nightfall," He said. We all followed him through muddy swamp, prickly bushes, and ferns that made our legs tingle when we brushed against them. Finally, I saw a clearing up ahead with a huge tree, about ten feet across. The roots of the tree reached out from the trunk like an octopus reaching out from water. Its branches shielded the light making it seem like dusk.
"It's over here," Adrian said, leading us towards a giant root with a dark hole underneath it. We followed him to the small opening and Mckenna stepped back.
"Um I'm not going in there, I get claustrophobic...," She said as she backed away from the tiny opening.
"It opens up after a while, trust me," Adrian said as he crawled into the opening. In a moment he had vanished down the hole. Maddison followed. I hesitantly moved towards the hole.
"Mckenna, you going to be alright?" I asked. She nodded and I slipped into the hole. I heard Mckenna shuffling in behind me. After a few minutes of crawling the hole widened. I saw a bright light flash; Adrian was holding a torch. I sat down and waited for Mckenna to emerge. After she didn't come out, I started to worry.
"Mckenna?" I asked.
"I'm stuck." she whimpered back.
Adrian stepped forward, "We'll get you out, how far back are you?"
"I can see you, I'm right here but my shoe is snagged on a root." She said back.
"Give me your arms," Adrian said as he reached into the hole. He grasped Mckenna's hands and pulled.
"Stop!" She yelled, "The root is through my shoe and it's scraping my foot!"
"Can you crawl back out?" Adrian asked
"I think so," We heard scraping noises. After a few more minutes the sound stopped.
"I'm out," Mckenna said, her voice shaky, "I'll stay here. I can't go back in there."
"Okay, go back to my hut, you'll find food and stuff to clean your wound up with. We'll be back," Adrian said as he started down the tunnel. We walked for a while in silence until Adrian broke it, "We're almost there, how are you planning to get the key?"
"We thought you had a plan," I said in despair.
"It's the dragon queen's most prized possession, she wears it as a necklace. I've tried for years to steal it, but I've barely made it out alive each time," Adrian said. The little flame of hope I had fluttered and snuffed out.
"Let's just go see where she is right now," Adrian climbed up a steep part of the tunnel and I started to see a second light. We stepped into a brightly-lit room. It was the biggest room I had ever seen, it looked like a living room where the table counter was the size of my backyard. Everything was enormous! I gawked at the surreal scene. A huge dragon was sitting on an enormous couch. Its scales were each a sparkling magenta with swirls of blue and pink. Each scale was the size of a dinner plate and I could see a large key hanging from the dragon's neck.
"I think I have a plan." Adrian said. "I'm going to go out there and distract the Queen. One of you will stay here and be my backup-" Maddison cut him off, "I'll stay."
"Great and, oh I just realized I never asked you your names."
"This is Maddison, Mckenna is her twin sister and I'm Aviva," I answered.
"Aviva, I like that name. You'll have the most dangerous job of all. Are you good at climbing?" Adrian said.
"I've taken a rock climbing class, what am I climbing?" I answered.
"Perfect, just like that. You'll climb the dragon queen and steal the key while I distract her."
"What?" I Shouted, "I'm not that good!"
"Aviva, please, she knows what I smell like. If I tried climbing, she would see me. It's the only way," Adrian said.
"I don't know if I can... but I'll try," I said hesitantly. I started towards the dragon. Adrian walked out of the hole confidently.
"Valencia, nice to see you," Adrian shouted calmly. "I see you don't look a day older than when I last saw you."
"What do you want, puny little human?" Valencia said in a booming voice. I reached the legs of the dragon and started climbing. As I reached the knee after a minute or two of climbing, I realized that climbing the dragon would be much easier than I thought it would be. I was above the stomach now and I could clearly see the shimmering silver key sparkling in the dim yellow light. Adrian was skillfully keeping his eyes off me and the key to keep the attention away from me. I was right below the key as the Queen's patience ran out. She stood up so quickly I lost my footing I scrambled to get a hold. My grasp was slipping as the queen burst.
"No more will I let you come into my house and try to steal my key. You are not leaving this time human boy!" She raged. She spread her wings as I saw my chance. I retained my footing and leaped. I grasped the key, but with my added weight the thin cord holding the key started unraveling. I tried to grab onto the queen, but the cord snapped as the queen lifted off the ground. I tucked the key to my chest, closed my eyes and fell. The fall seemed to go in slow motion. My stomach seemed to be left behind and realized I was more than fifty feet above the ground, and no one could survive a fall like that. I started crying, wanting all this to be a dream. I would never see my family again; Adrian and the twins would be stuck here forever. I hit something and the air was pushed out of my lungs. I passed out.
. . .
I woke up with my arm aching. Groggily I sat up. I was alive! I realized I was still hugging the key. I looked around. I was lying on the thick carpeted floor. The thick carpet had miraculously broken my fall. I had to find Adrian. Maddison came up behind me.
"You're alive!" She gasped.
"I don't know where Adrian is, The dragon was trying to kill him but I saw you fall so I came straight to you!" She answered. I stood up and looked around. I saw the dragon Queen ripping up the edge of the couch.
"Adrian must be under the couch!" I gulped, "We have to distract the queen. HEY BIG LOUSY DRAGO-" Maddison clamped her hand over my mouth, but it was too late, the dragon turned her head, malicious eyes staring into my soul. Maddison dropped her hand.
"I'VE GOT YOUR KEY!!!" I hollered. I started running away from the couch. "Maddison here!" I tossed the key to her and ran. Maddison and Adrian raced towards the hole. I quickly grabbed onto the fringe of the huge couch and raced up. I got onto the back of the couch when the queen caught up.
"You've got nowhere to go, give me the key," she cackled.
"Oh about that, I don't have it," I said, jumping off and racing to the exit hole. I reached it right as the dragon knocked into me from the side. Everything went black.
. . .
I woke up in my hotel bed with everyone surrounding me.
"You did it!" Mckenna said, a bandage around her foot. I sat up and hugged Liam.
"Who brought me back?" I asked
"Adrian and I did," Maddison answered, "We found Mckenna and walked back to the cave."
"There were dragons blocking the hole!" Mckenna cut in, "The fairies distracted them while we snuck in."
"I'm assuming you told everyone about it?" I asked
" Avy! Dragons are real!" Liam said excitedly as he bounced up and down on the bed. I smiled and got out of bed. I saw my Mom and Dad in the corner with Fay. I went and hugged them.
"Don't you ever do anything like that again." My Mom scolded
"I won't, I promise," I answered. Everyone left but the twins.
"You know... we're sorry for being kinda mean the past few years." Maddison said
"Yeah sorry." Mckenna added looking down at her sneakers.
"Yeah you were pretty mean...," I said, "But it's okay.I think we'll be good friends from now on," I smiled and hugged them both. They left and I laid in bed with the lights off. As I curled up in my blankets I smiled. Maybe the twins weren't so bad after all.
The End
Comment down below which twin u like better!
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