Ripple Like Water || ONC 2023

2 || The Key

Four hours long car ride might be nothing for most people but in the combination with the scorching sun that turned their car into an oven, Arya had enough. And by the time they passed the "Welcome to Eastbrook" sign, she was contemplating jumping out of the riding car into the woods around them.

It's been actually quite some time since they saw anything else besides tall pine trees. Which together with the welcome sign means, they were here.

A small town spread in front of them. No skyscrapers, no traffic, no crazy advertising screens. Just a quiet little town where everyone knew each other.

The car rides thru the streets where more people were walking on the road than in cars. They pass kids playing with a ball in front of family houses and older folks on a stroll. But Arya quickly notices a problem - no teenagers. It wasn't that she didn't expect this - she just hoped for a companion.

In the end, the car finally stops in front of a medium-sized house with a big flower garden in the front and a backyard so big it connected with the forest behind it. The family barely manages to get out of the car and stretch their bones when the front doors open, and an older couple quickly makes their way to them.

"Oh! Finally!" the excited woman calls, hugging her son. "You're late. Quicky, come inside, the lunch is getting cold." The man hugs her back.

"Love to see you too, mom." But at that point, the older woman is already making her way toward Arya.

"Aah, look at you, sweetheart!" she smiles and pulls her into a bear hug.

"Hi, grandma."

With connected effort, the whole family drags all the luggage inside the house and finally sits behind the already-made lunch. Chicken, potatoes, rice, veggies, soup... a whole mini-feast. And even tho Arya's hungry eyes can't get enough of the view in front of her, her troublemaking mind already searches around the house, inspecting all the doors they passed.

The game is on.

✽ ✽ ✽

Nothing says home more than a full stomach and an afternoon group nap. And for Arya the perfect time to start snooping around.

And for her, it is truly a game. Unfortunately, it seems she isn't - as would Thomas say - "high-enough level" for most of the doors she passes. Locked, stuck, completely missing doorknob... It is frustrating. And maybe that's why she sets her eyes on the grand prize - the attic.

In every movie, the attic and the basement have something strange about them. And as far as she knows, the only secret the basement holds is who is going to eat all those different homemade jams. The attic, on the other hand, that one was even specifically pointed out during one of the visits as a "no snooping zone". Unfortunately for everyone, it takes more than a simple "no" to stop Arya. Especially not when she knows where to find the key.

Her grandparents' bedroom.

Slowly, she makes her way to their room, opening the door without any sound. They are heavy sleepers, but Arya doesn't want to take the chance and ruin her plans for the whole summer on the very first day.

This is the first time she is inside their bedroom. There are pictured on the wall - of them, their kids, and grandkids. A big closet with what looked like children's drawings stuck on the wooden doors. Even though she is just trying to have fun, she feels a little disrespectful. However, the feeling disappears when a deep, loud noise strikes the room.

Arya freezes. 

Silence. And then the sound returns. The girl lets out her breath when she realizes it's just her grandpa snoring. If such loud noise doesn't wake them up, she has nothing to fear.

She makes her way around the bed to a cabinet under the window. She remembers seeing a bunch of keys in one of the drawers a while back. Hoping it's not locked she tugs on it.

The drawer moves about an inch when it suddenly stops. Arya holds in a curse and frowns. It's stuck. Of course, it's stuck! she angers.

The troublemaker starts to battle the drawer, struggling to get it open without making much noise. At first, it works, the drawer starts to open more, and more, and she can see a bunch of keys inside. Her eyes sparkle with excitement. 

And then it all goes wrong.

Arya tugs on the drawer with a little too much eagerness, and with a loud noise, the whole drawer comes flying out. The keys scatter around the room and the snoring stops.

"Arya? What are you doing?" The voice of her grandma makes her jump. Crap. There was no way she could possibly explain why she snuck into their room to steal the keys they purposefully hid, with the intention to go where they told her not to go.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," she stands up. "I was looking for a key to lock my door. You know, privacy." She quickly comes up with a lie, her face flushed with red.

Grandma looks at her with a confused look. "The key is in your door."

"Oh." They both stare at each other for a second before Arya drops to the ground and starts apologetically collecting the keys from around the room. "God, I'm so sorry. Let me just clean this mess and let you guys sleep."

"It's fine, leave it," she dismisses her. 

"No, no. Really. It will take a second. I don't want you to get on the ground because of me." She frantically collects the keys as she genuinely feels bad and doesn't want her old grandma to do the work. If she was feeling disrespectful before, now she would rather die. 

The old woman watches carefully but doesn't say a word. In the end, Arya finally gets all the keys in the drawer and closes it as if nothing happened. With a last quick apology, she runs out of the room, closing the door behind herself.

She finally calms and puts a hand over her fast-beating heart. She smiles and closes the hand in a fist, gripping a single metal key.