The house smelled of dust, lemon cleaner and old wood.As I walked, I made sure to touch all the door frames on my way through the house.
The pantry door still scratched the ground at the bottom of the frame.
My father claimed that cold weather caused all of the creaking noises in old homes, and so he repaired the pantry door every winter.
While resting his hand against the old wood, Dad said, “You missed out on a lot of things, kid.”
I sat on the ground and ate chow mein. As I finished eating, I took out my receipt and jotted down a to-do list on the back of it.
After pulling one of the loose pantry shelves forward to inspect the wall behind it, I felt cold air seeping through the crack.
That’s when I noticed something.
Behind the shelves, the wall is smooth, finished, no seams, no nail holes. It’s a perfectly patched-up wall that Mr. Walter must have had stored for years without ever opening it up to clean or inspect it.
As I began to pull my phone out of my pocket to check the time, the phone rang.
Mom.
“Where are you?” she asked immediately.
“I’m in the kitchen, eating dinner like I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m sitting on the floor because I don’t have any furniture yet.”
“Are you near the pantry?” she asked before I could answer.
“Why?” I asked, my grip on the receipt tightened.
It sounded like she had suddenly taken a big breath of air. “Astrid, please tell me you haven’t found it.”
“What do you mean by ‘it’?” I asked.
“I mean the room your father sealed off.”
I looked at the wall.
“Mom,” I said slowly, “you can’t say that to someone casually, and then expect them to comfort you.”
“Just answer me.” She was sounding irritated.
“I didn’t find it.” I lied.
After I hung up the phone, I was frozen in place until the creaking of the house broke my trance.
I went into the garage and found Mr. Walter’s old hammer, and returned to the kitchen with it.
I was no longer sixteen years old.”Astrid, no more secrets,” I whispered, “please open it.”
My wrists were hurting after the first swing of the hammer, but by the time I hit the wall five times, I had made an opening that was big enough for my flashlight beam to shine through.
When I shined my flashlight through the hole, I froze.
It wasn’t because it was scary.