The Chest
I have never had the pleasure of living in a house with an attic, but perhaps that is a good thing.
The Chest belongs to the following groups:
Short stories - Spherical ScriptingsJimmy led her up the stairs to show her his discovery. “Sarah, you need to see this!” he kept saying over and over again. “Jimmy, can’t it wait until tomorrow morning?” Jimmy didn’t listen; he just gripped her hand tighter and kept walking up the stairs…
Yesterday Jimmy decided that it was finally time to clean out the attic. Sarah wanted them to change it into the guest room and/or future baby’s room (if there was going to ever be a baby), so Jimmy finally made the trek up the attic steps yesterday morning and he had not left since. Sarah didn’t know what he was up too, but truthfully she didn’t care she was just happy that the attic was finally getting the over haul that she wanted…
Jimmy had discovered it in the late hours of the night. In the morning, he made his way up to the attic reluctantly to start cleaning it. “A third bedroom would be a good idea Jimmy, and our house will increase in value when we decide to sell it.” But Jimmy didn’t like the idea of cleaning out the attic just to sell it, he thought about all that hard work he was about to put into throwing all the junk away and organizing and then leaving it all for someone else to clutter and he cringed just thinking about it. Heading up to the attic Jimmy decided that he would start with the front and work his way further into the darkness, maybe a third bedroom, or nursery? Maybe she wants it to be a nursery? Jimmy thought and he decided that he would clean out the attic, a smile across his face Jimmy, determined, walked up the creaky stairs into the darkness.
Pull of the string and the light flooded the room above the kitchen. Jimmy coughed while waving his arms around trying to clear the dust. As the dirt and cobwebs settled, he saw a treasure trove of memories, photo albums, wedding attire, and newspaper clippings, Sarah collected everything and now it was all his responsibility to organize it. Doesn’t seem very fair Sarah Jimmy sighed.
Hours went by and Jimmy began to regret spending so much time in the attic, he was convinced that the smell of mothballs was officially seeped into his pores, “I will forever smell like a grandmother” he said aloud, and smiled at his own witty remark. Stepping over boxes labeled “kitchen”, “keepers”, and “to the Sally-Ann” Jimmy stubbed his foot on a big black Chest in the very back of the attic. The Chest was under a pile of photo albums and rejected wedding presents how much gravy do these people expect I’ll be making? -As Sarah opened another box to reveal their 3rd gravy boat. He picked up the odds and ends and placed them to the side, seeing that the Chest was closed with three clasps, closed but not locked, Jimmy started unclipping the Chest hopeful that he may find something worth looking for, something worth the pain he was feeling in his toe.
The Chest was a big black mass of iron and leather. About four feet long and two feet high Jimmy admired the craftsmanship that probably went into this, although he couldn’t remember if he put it was his and Sarah’s or the previous owner’s. He could over hear the television tuned into Antique’s Road show, Sarah’s favourite, she was always convinced that all the junk she collected would be worth something, “then we’ll go on the show and find out we can retire and live like kings!” she would say, Jimmy just smiled and they always laughed together about the idea, but maybe it wasn’t such a fantasy, maybe this Chest was worth something, and maybe it contained even more riches.
Jimmy finally undid all the clasps and began to lift the heavy lid. As he opened it a smell, a smell so acrid, so pungent and disgusting arose from the newly opened box hit him squarely in the face. Jimmy took a step back, sleeve over his nose and trying to suppress his automatic gag reflex. After the initial shock, he made his way back to the Chest. A sheet covered whatever the source of the smell was, and because all humans are naturally curious creatures, Jimmy lifted the sheet with one hand with the other, over his nose to prevent the smell from assaulting him once again.
She was curled up in the fetal position, wearing an old cotton nightgown with roses on it, the gown was stained with what Jimmy guessed was the fluids that were expelled when a dead body rotted away. In place of a rosy complexion, the woman’s face and body was shade of green and brown. Her hair was still in tact, blond, her cheeks were inverted and her skin rotting away, her lips had long receded, and from her open mouth protruded a set of white teeth that gave Jimmy the impression that she, whoever she was, was smiling a gruesome and distorted grin. Before Jimmy ran to get Sarah, he also noticed her fingernails were painted, a bright shade of red.
When the police arrived Jimmy and Sarah were both sitting on the front porch, shocked from what they saw the young couple tried their best to explain exactly what they saw and how they came about finding the body. “The Chest, the Chest…” Sarah kept saying, over and over. Police took the Chest, with the body, back to the morgue. The police left the attic open; Jimmy and Sarah left the T.V. on, Antiques Road Show in the background.
Jimmy and Sarah spent the night in a Motel.
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