The Mysterious Door in the Forbidden Attic

When I wake up, Lauren is still fast asleep on my bedroom floor. I quietly get up and tiptoe around her to head down the stairs and grab a bowl of cereal for breakfast. While I am grabbing my cereal, Lauren suddenly appears on the stairs, walking slowly toward me.

"That party took a lot out of me last night. By the way, who was the seriously hot guy you were talking to in your backyard," she ask.

I look up from my cereal to her.

"Actually, I do not really know who he was. I have never seen him before in my life. He said his name was Alexander Sangre."

"Hmmm, I do not know anyone by that name. Maybe he is a new kid then."

"Well if he is, then how in the world did he know my last name?"

"I guess we will find out tomorrow at school."

"Yeah, so what do you want to do today," I ask.

"I was hoping after that party last night, we could have a lazy day and stay here inside the house."

"Do you want to invite Stephanie over to stay the night with us for a girls night tonight?"

"Yeah, that should be fun."

"Okay, you can pick out the movies for us to watch. I will go l make the popcorn and call Stephanie."

Within fifteen minutes, Stephanie has arrived and my living room is covered with sleeping bags as we sit to eat popcorn and candy. The girls gather in front of the television on the sleeping bags to get a better look. I stay back toward the couch behind them, sitting on my sleeping bag. It is very hard to concentrate on the movie with my mind wandering constantly.

'Who is Alexander Sangre and how does he know my last name? Why did he all of a sudden appear at my party and what is behind that door in the attic? I have to get some fresh air to clear my head.'

Carefully, I get up and walk past the girls to head out the front door. Closing the door behind me, I notice there is something on the ground. I bend over to pick it up and realize it is a letter. Usually I am used to getting letters but something about this one makes me very cautious and nervous. The words on the front make my blood run cold as they read: To Celeste Audriana Dragomir. I freeze in panic as to the fact that no one knows my actual name from birth except for my parents, but they do not ever write to me. Very carefully, I open and unfold the letter. It reads:

Celeste,

I am very pleased to have met you yesterday. Your party was quite fun but a little noisy for my taste. I am sorry to have not introduced myself before but I wanted to make an impression. I am looking very much forward to seeing you again.

Truly,

Alexander Sangre

'How in the world does Alexander know my full name from birth?'

I tuck the envelope with the letter under my arm and walk back inside the house. Luckily the girls seem to have not noticed that I was outside, which does not bother me at all really. I walk into the kitchen and throw the letter away in the trash can.

'Why would Alexander write me a letter instead of just sending me a text message or email like a normal person?'

I am still trying to figure out how he knows my name when I feel someone come up behind me.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?"

I jump and turn to look behind me.

"Lauren, you scared me. You should not sneak up on people like that."

"I am sorry but I was just curious after you left and did not come back."

"It is okay, I just needed some air. Are you enjoying the movie and girls night so far?"

"The movie is okay but I am having fun hanging out with you and Stephanie."

"Well we should probably get back in there before she notices we are both missing."

I follow right behind her into the living room to sit back down on my sleeping bag. The movie ends five minutes later and the girls start talking about what they thought of it.

"Audrey, what did you think?"

"It was good but I kind of got bored after a while."

"That is okay, we should grab some more snacks and play some games now."

"Okay, I will go grab some games from the attic and be right back down."

I get up and start heading up the stairs.

"Audriana."

I turn around to see who is calling my name but notice that Lauren and Stephanie are in the middle of talking and not paying attention to me. Shaking my head, I turn back around and keep walking up the stairs. When I get to the attic door, I hear it again but this time as a faint whisper.

"Audriana."

'Who in the world is calling my name?'

I open the door to peek inside and see that it is completely empty so there is no way it came from up here. I take a deep breath and walk in to head over toward the shelf of games. I grab a box from the shelf and suddenly drop it when the attic window randomly opens up on its own. The wind is very hard and starts blowing everything around the room including the game pieces I dropped on the floor. I immediately run over to shut the window closed and lock it in place quickly.

With a lot of effort, it finally latches and I turn around to inspect how much damage is done. Some of the games are lying around the floor everywhere. I go to bend over and pick them up when I notice something over to my left out of the corner of my eye. The wind from outside has blown the curtain aside to reveal the door behind it.

'Man, I forgot that this is even up here. How did I completely forget about this door? Maybe I can come back up later on when the girls are asleep and check it out tonight.'

Picking up the game pieces, I feel a sudden chill run down my back.

"Audriana."

'Okay, there is no way in the world I am dreaming about this.'

I look up to see who whispered my name but find that I am still alone up here.

'That noise has to be coming from the random door. There has to be a reason for me hearing my name continuously being called.'

I get up from the floor and walk over to the door on the opposite side of the attic. My hand rests on the dusty door knob as I take a deep breath.

'It looks like no one has opened it in a very long time.'

I twist the knob and pull the door open. Blinded by a bright light, I start walking forward through the doorway.

* * * *

When I am finally able to open my eyes, I am completely mesmerized by my surroundings. The first thing I notice are the gold and silver accents all around me. It seems I have walked into some kind of a bedroom that has silver walls and a golden pattern to it. Looking to my left, I see a huge bed with a vanity painted in a gold and white color scheme.

"There you are, I see you finally came to visit us."

I turn and look ahead to see my very own mother suddenly standing right in front of me. Immediately, I run over and wrap my arms around her in a hug.

"I have missed you so much. How come you said you were in Rome for work? This does not look anything like Rome."

She puts her arms around me to return the hug.

"I am so sorry sweetie. We wanted you to get a little older before we told you about who you are and where you come from. This is actually where you were born. Welcome to Andalucia," she says walking me over to this huge double door window that opens up out to a balcony.

I look out on the horizon to see trees everywhere and beyond them I can see the tops of what looks like houses of a town. Looking to the right down below, I see a huge flower garden bed as well as one to match on the left, surrounding what seems to be a big castle that I find myself suddenly standing in.

'I am definitely far away from the home that I am use to.'

"It is so pretty and breathtaking to look at," I say.

"Well, this is where you were born. We really wanted you to grow up in the real world where you could have a normal life until you were old enough to accept and understand who you are."

"What do you mean by have a normal life?"

"There is something your father and I have been waiting to talk to you about for some time now. We were going to wait until you were much older and could understand better but you are here now."

"What is it? What will I not understand?"

"We can talk about it later, you should really get some rest right now. The first time in Andalucia can be really tiring and a lot to handle."

"Hey mom?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you change my name," I ask.

She smiles, "you mean why do you go by your middle name and not your first name?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you did not like the name Celeste when you were little. You said it sounded too formal and proper for a little girl so you changed it to go by Audrey instead of Audriana. To be honest, I like your birth name more but your father and I settled to make you happy."

"Is it okay if I still go by Audrey?"

"I do not really care for it. Personally, I think your birth name suits you better. We can discuss it later on when we have time. I will see you at dinner."

Before I can protest, she turns around and walks out the door. I walk over to the bed to lay down and relax. Soon I find myself falling asleep. I awake later on to a knocking noise as I feel a little disoriented. Sitting up in the bed, I realize I am not at home anymore. Slowly, everything comes back to me; the window, the bright light, and seeing my mother. Thinking of my mother, I immediately get up out of bed and walk over to the bedroom door. When it opens, I see a tall man standing by the opposite wall.

"Hello Miss Dragomir, my name is Charles. I am here to escort you to the dining room for dinner."

"That is very kind of you," I say stepping out into the hallway.

He takes my arm in his and leads me down the hall to a flight of stairs. Going down the stairs, I look up and see a big golden chandelier with white crystals. I have never seen something so beautiful in my life before.

"It is right through this doorway. I hope you have a good dinner with your parents. We hope to see you again," he says before walking off.

I walk through the doorway and immediately see both of my parents sitting down at a huge wooden dining table.

"There you are dear. We were worried you would not come down for dinner."

I run over to my father and wrap my arms around him in a hug.

"I have missed you so much."

"I have missed you too. How about you join us for dinner right now and then you can go back and join your friends for your sleepover," he replies.

"Sounds good to me," I say sitting down in a chair on the opposite side of them.

As soon as I take my seat, people start coming out of a side door, carrying multiple trays of food. They kindly set the food on the table before going back through the side door once again from which they came in.

"So how have you been," my mother ask.

"I have been doing okay. My friends always want to hangout with me. Yesterday we went and saw a new movie and had a popcorn fight in the movie theatre. Do not worry though, we did not get into any trouble. It was actually quite fun."

"Celeste, you know you should not be doing that in a movie theatre," my father scolds.

"I know, it was only the one time and I promise I will not do it again."

"We know you will not because we plan on you coming and living with us again now that you know about this place."

"What do you mean," I ask with confusion.

My father looks up at me, "we want you to come here and live with us so we can be a family again."

"Plus we need to tell you something important. We are almost positive you will not like it but we have to tell you sooner or later."

"Tell me what?"

"Not today, we should enjoy your company before telling you anything that might ruin your time with us again."

I look at my mother and then over to my father, still with confusion. They are both smiling and trying to show how happy they are that I am here with them.

'What can they possibly have to tell me that will ruin this perfect moment?'

After finishing dinner, I thank them and tell them that I will come back to see them again.

"We are really glad you came today. Please come back soon and see us."

They both get up and hug me before I walk back up the stairs to my new bedroom.

'Today has been such a crazy event. I am not sure if it is real but the sooner I get back to my friends, the better.'

I open the door by my bed and walk through to the attic in my old house.

* * * *

I scan the room to see that everything is exactly right where I had left it. I turn around and pull the curtain over the door to hide it.

'No one should go through it, especially without me.'

I grab a couple of games and head back downstairs to join my friends.

"Hey, what took you so long? We were just about to come up there and give you a hand," Lauren says smiling.

I scan the room to realize that not much time has seemed to pass between this world and the one I was just in with my parents.

'How is that even possible?'

I shake my head of my thoughts, not wanting to complicate things more.

"I ended up dropping the games and had to pick up all the pieces off the floor," I say, trying to think of a quick lie to tell them.

"Well, now that they are all picked up, we should play something."

Lauren grabs a game from the stack and starts putting all the pieces together. I sit down on the couch watching the two girls trying to beat each other at monopoly.

"So who is winning," I finally ask after a half hour of watching them play.

"I think the better question is who is not losing," Lauren replies.

I smile, "let me guess, you are the one winning. How is it no matter what game we play, you always end up winning."

"It is a gift I guess," she says with a big grin on her face.

They continue to keep playing the game until ten minutes later when Stephanie decides to forfeit because she does not want to end up losing to Lauren. The girls end up spending the next twenty minutes talking about the guys and wondering what they are doing right now. I decide it is time for us all to get some sleep. We all pile on the floor in our sleeping bags and lay down. Within minutes later, we are all fast asleep.