Lights | A Forever Fanfiction

Chapter Twelve: Adventures in the Kitchen

We began searching the kitchen.

Well, searching is an understatement. Ransacking is more like it. We carelessly left plates and saucers and teacups scattered on the counters and the floor, until finally, we found it.

It looked like nothing at first. A tiny little hole, half the size of a dime, in the back of the pantry. The only reason I noticed it was because light was filtering into it.

"Dr. Morgan!" I squealed. "Look!"

"It's a hole," he said almost apathetically. "It probably used to have screws in it."

I moved all of the cans of soup and corn out of the way and jammed my head into the tiny space, staring through the crack.

"Get me a flashlight!" I demanded. "There's one in the living room, in the top drawer of the credenza. And get me some wire or something."

Dr. Morgan returned moments later with a flashlight and a thin, coiled up cello string, shaking his head and mumbling something about children and their overactive imaginations under his breath.

"What was that?" I grunted as I hauled myself into the tall space in the top of the pantry. "I can't hear you over the sound of how correct I am." I took the flashlight and clicked it on, casting a beam of white light into the shadowy space. I pointed it at the tiny little hole and stared into it, and I found something in the darkness: a latch. I would need something stronger than a wire.

"There's a latch on the other side," I informed Dr. Morgan. "Or, at least, it looks like a latch. Now, how am I going to pull it open with this tiny space? I need something sturdy but flexible..." We sank into a deep silence full of thoughts and doubt.

"A straw," he said suddenly. I jumped, slightly startled, and I hit my head on the top of the cupboard. "Do you have the reusable kind?"

"Yes! Yes. They're the drawer where the cutlery is - I mean, was," I corrected, glancing amusedly at the heap of silverware lying in the sink. I hopped down from the shelf, rubbing my head and musing at the destruction. We began sifting through the mess.

"Found them!" Dr. Morgan exclaimed, raising a fist full of neon-coloured plastic. I snatched them away and clambered back into the cupboard, holding the flashlight between my teeth and staring intently into the hole. I poked the straw around for a while, trying to hit the latch and get it to pop out, until there was a loud click. The back of the pantry fell backwards, revealing a large vent-like tunnel. I beamed at Dr. Morgan.

"I'm not crazy," I confirmed triumphantly. "So, who is going first? I vote for you to go, since you're a confirmed immortal."

"Oh, no. We can't go in there. We need to call Jo, and the police can sort it out." Dr. Morgan shook his head skeptically.

"Okay, so, then, I'll go." I flashed him a grin and got down on all fours and crawled forwards, ignoring Dr. Morgan's loud protests. The metal walls of the tunnel were icy cold - strange for a building with heating. I wormed forwards, the flashlight my only source of light.

"Lights, don't-"

"I'm almost there, I think!" I called over my shoulder as I moved forwards, feeling through the shadows with my hands. They hit an edge, and I inched forwards carefully, feeling for a ladder or something below the opening. My hand hit a rung, and a metallic clang reverbrated through the space.

"Are you alright?" Dr. Morgan's shout sounded tinny and echoey at the end of the tunnel.

"I'm fine!" I called. "I found a room or something! There's a ladder, I think. I'm going in!" I turned around, managing to scuff my knees and elbows as I slid carefully down, until my feet slammed against the ladder. I clung to the edge of the tunnel's frame as I slipped down, down, down, my feet sliding off of the rungs. And then, I lost my grip.

I opened my mouth to squeak in surprise, but I hit the ground just as it came out. The flashlight clattered to the floor next to me flickering once before dying.

"Lights?"

"I fell," I wheezed. There was no response. He probably couldn't hear me. "I fell!"

"You fell? Are you alright?"

"Fine," I coughed, rolling onto my side as the pain slammed into me. "I'm just- Ahhhh..."

"Are you sure?"

"I am wonderful, absolutely wonderful," I called, getting up carefully. I hanged through the darkness for something, anything, and I found a switch. I flicked it upwards, and a lightbulb flickered on above me.

"What would you do if you had a secret room?" Dr. Morgan asked. "What would you put in it?"

"Woah," I gasped. "Dr. Morgan, I think you need to see this."