Key to the Past

Chapter 17

I slid the key into the door knob's lock. It clicked open. I took a deep breath.

"Okay. Here we go. I don't know what to expect."

"No matter what, it'll be okay."

He gently placed his hand on top of mine and turned the mysterious attic's knob.

***

We slowly stepped into the room. The walls were neon green and there was scratchy beige carpet covering the floor. The walls were adorned with stick-ons of elephants and monkeys. There was a white baby crib in the corner of the room. I nervously stumbled over to the wooden dresser. Sitting on top of it was a framed baby picture of me. That's when I realized that my mom was lying. This door hadn't been locked before we moved in, she locked it. But why?

***

"Bridget!" Evan exclaimed.

I walked over to him.

He thrusted a framed photo into my hand.

"Look at this," he commanded.

I closely studied the picture. It looked like it was taken in my backyard. It was a picture of a little baby girl being held in the arms of a beaming, brown-haired, around six-years old girl. I was almost certain that the baby was me, but who was the other girl?

"Who's in that photo?" he asked.

"Me and some other girl. She could possibly be one of my cousins."

I placed the photo down and walked back over to the dresser. I tugged open the only dresser drawer and started to fumble around in it. I saw baby pictures, baby mementos, pictures of that strange girl again, diaries that I placed aside to read later, and more. Then I saw it. My breath caught inside my throat and the world around me started to sway. My vision became fuzzy. I crumpled to the ground, not believing what I had just seen.