We found it in the attic one rainy afternoon. We had never seen anything like it. My brother, aspiring film-maker, said “Don’t open it until I get back!” and ran to get his video. Me, I was always a dreamer, and was perfectly happy to sit quietly with it for a while. Indeed, it would have suited me more to be alone when I had discovered it.

It was old, that much was certain, older than my grandparents, whose house we were staying in for the summer, and whose attic we were exploring, due to the inclement weather, which made playing outside an impossibility. I wondered where it had come from; it looked heavy, and hard to move.

It was a dark wooden trunk, the wood blackened in places- by what I didn’t know. Intricate carved wooden pieces, looking like snakes, birds, and other creatures so fantastic I had no names for them, adorned it, and seemed to encircle it like rope. Looking closer at it, I had no idea how we would even begin to open it when my brother returned. I could see the scene in my minds eye- I would touch one of the carved animals, and feel it give way beneath my fingers. Slowly, the lid would creak open and an unearthly light would be released. Inside it would be….I didn’t know.

My eyes were closed, and, of their own volition, my hands did indeed start roaming over the carvings. I had no idea anything had happened until I heard my brother come up behind me. “Oh, shit!” he exclaimed, “What have you done?”

- By Eleanor