Category : Stories

Sub Category : Adventure

"...okay, I'll talk to you later. I love you, bye bye." I smiled and hung up. My fiancé and I got engaged about a year ago, and we were planning on getting married this month, but our plans were set back by the pandemic that's forced everyone to self-quarentine. We just moved into a house together, but he's almost never home. He works as the chief of a fire department here in California, so he works early in the morning and late into the night. I sat down and buried my head in my hands. "What are we gonna do about this wedding, Pumpkin? Everything was going so well until COVID-19 hit." My cat just looked up at me and put her front paws on my leg, letting me know it was time for her to eat. I weakly smiled and went to feed her. I made my way through a maze of boxes, for I just moved in a week ago. Pumpkin jumped up on her table and started to eat. To take my mind off of things, I went to my room to unpack. My bedroom was decently spacious, and my closet was big enough to fit a twin bed. I opened my closet to hang some clothes up, and then I noticed something.



There was a door.



I would assume an attic, but there was no mention of an attic from the seller. There was no handle, but I was too intrigued to not get in. Being too difficult to open with my hands, a took a crow bar and opened it easily. Looking around, I immediately noticed how dusty it was. The previous owners must have missed it somehow, or couldn't get the door open. It was A quaint little room, but was in desperate need of fixing. There were no lights, no outlets, nothing. It almost seemed like the builders gave up with the room. I shone my flashlight around and was surprised to find a small, dusty box in the corner. Immediately, I walked over to the box and brought it into my room.

The cardboard box was taped up, and upon opening it a found a jewelry box. Inside this jewelry box was a beautiful necklace with diamonds that would go perfectly with my wedding dress. "These can't be real," I said to myself in disbelief. After a quick search on my laptop and doing some tests, I came to the conclusion that these diamonds were, in fact, real. I was shocked. I wanted to give something to the next owners of the house, but I had nothing of this value to offer. The least I could do was clean the room. So I got to work. It took weeks upon weeks of dusting, painting the walls, and mopping the floor, but it all came together. I then looked through my many boxes to find something to give to whoever found the room next, and finally found something.

An old tribal headdress, worn by the chief of a tribe of Native Americans. I hadn't been able to look at this without getting angry in years. My mother gave this to me before my dad and I discovered she had been cheating on him with a younger and richer man. I couldn't keep it around, so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to give it to someone who will like it.

I grabbed one of my many cardboard boxes and put the headdress in, along with a note:

"Keep this and put something in the box for the next person to find."

I taped the box and put it in the center of the hidden room. I felt so productive. For the first time in so long I felt truley proud of something I did. That small room and the gift in it could help someone significantly, and I was proud to be a part of that. I went downstairs and heard the gentle sound of rain. I lied on my couch and caught up on some reading. Pumpkin jumped on my chest and curled up, purring loudly. I closed my eyes, feeling satisfied with the past month's work. Slowly, but surely, the sound of rain and the warmth of my cat made me, feeling content and at peace, drift off to sleep, feeling like everything, for once was all right.