Chapter 134

Olivia

The chilling air of the basement enveloped us as we descended the old, creaky steps, a sharp contrast to the warmth of the villa above.

Nathan and I were surrounded by remnants of the past, items long forgotten yet holding stories of days gone by. The room was a cacophony of memories, both joyful and painful.

“Wow,” Nathan whispered, his voice echoing in the vast room. “I’ll admit, I haven’t been down here even once since I moved in. I had forgotten about half of this stuff.”

I felt the same way, my eyes scanning old toys and costumes, an entire childhood boxed up and forgotten. “Honestly, I didn’t even think that my aunt would have saved any of this stuff,” I said, blinking back a few tears. “Maybe she was more sentimental than I realized.”

Picking up a worn-out crown out of a tattered cardboard box, I let out a chuckle.

“Remember when we used to play kings and queens?” I asked, grinning.

Nathan’s face lit up with recognition upon seeing the old plastic crown, with its plastic jewels and faded decorations.

“You were always Queen Olivia, the ruler of the mighty kingdom,” he said, rifling through another box and withdrawing a plastic sword. “And I, the gallant knight, Sir Nathan, always protected you and your realm.”

“I’m not so sure if you could have called it ‘protecting’ rather than ‘biding your time’,” I teased with a smirk, placing the child-sized crown on the top of my head. Of course, it didn’t fit anymore. “Let’s not forget that you almost always found some excuse to get me dethroned so you could rule in my place.”

He chuckled. “Well, it was all in good fun,” he said. “And really, it was more of an excuse to sword fight with Alvin. But look at all of this stuff... it’s like traveling back in time.”

For a little while, we got lost in uncovering our old memories. Boxes of books, toys, and costumes were unearthed, each one with its own unique story.

“Remember when Alvin thought that these shoes could make him run faster?”

“Remember when we fought over whose turn it was to play with the kitchen set and I smacked you upside the head with the plastic frying pan?”

“Remember when…”

But even amidst our playful banter, there was an undercurrent of urgency. Our main focus was on more important matters.

“Come on, Liv,” Nathan said, dropping a toy train back into a box. “Why did we come down here? Surely you didn’t lead me on like this just so you could reminisce.”

Shaking my head, I took a cape off from around my shoulders and shoved it back inside an overflowing costume chest. “No, you’re right,” I replied, wiping the dust off of my hands. “I had a memory earlier. Something I almost forgot about. Something about…”

I turned around slowly, my eyes straining to see in the dim light. Finally, I caught sight of it: the little door, set discreetly in the corner of the basement.

A door that held a mystery which had nagged at me ever since childhood.

“That’s the door,” I whispered, pointing at the wooden barrier. “My aunt used to go in there from time to time. She would disappear for hours and never let me inside. Even now, I’ve never even seen what’s behind it.”

“Well, she’s not here to stop us anymore,” Nathan said. He stepped closer, studying the door. It was set in a ways, nestled into the wall. It was small, with an arched top. Nathan would have to stoop to walk through. The door sported dark, gnarled wood and an old brass handle.

“It’s locked,” he commented, giving the handle a slight jiggle. “But why? What could she have been hiding in there?”

I shook my head and brushed past him to inspect the keyhole. But even as I place my eye right up to the hole, I couldn’t see anything except for a single beam of dim golden light. The rest was too dark.

“I’m not sure,” I replied, stepping away and looking around. “She never told me anything when I asked… just told me not to be nosy. Eventually, I lost interest because she stopped coming down here so often as she got older. Honestly, I completely forgot about it until now.”

Determined, I began snooping around the door, looking for a way in. Years of watching my aunt had taught me that she always had her secrets within arm’s reach, but I had to rack my brain to remember how she had made her way into this particular room.

“Want me to break the door down?” Nathan asked, rolling up his sleeves. “It’s old. It’ll break easily.” He took a few steps back, preparing to charge at the door, but I held my arm out to stop him and widened my eyes.

“No, Nathan!” I chided, shaking my head. “Don’t do that!”

“Well, then what do you suggest?” he asked, frowning. “It’s locked.”

I let out an exasperated sigh, coupled with an amused smirk. “Ever heard of a key?” I asked.

“You think she would have left that around here? Knowing your aunt, the old kook would have buried herself with it or thrown it into the ocean or something.”

I shook my head, stifling a laugh. “No,” I said. “I remember… I remember her coming over here…” I wandered over to a little alcove in the corner, which was now piled high with boxes. “And she reached her hand up like this…”

I had to move some of the boxes out of the way with Nathan’s help, but once the alcove was clear, I reached up over my head, where there was a missing brick in the ceiling. Grimacing, I slid my hand into the crevice and groped around, hoping that there weren’t any spiders while Nathan watched with a curious look on his face.

Then, my fingers brushed a small indent in the side of the hole, and I felt something cold and metallic touch my hand.

“Got it!” I exclaimed, pulling down an old, rusty key.

Nathan’s eyes widened in anticipation. We exchanged excited glances with each other, and quickly scurried over to the door.

“Here goes nothing,” Nathan murmured, as I slowly inserted the key into the lock. There was a moment of resistance, then a satisfying click. The door creaked open with a loud screech, revealing the secrets it had held for years.

The sight before us was breathtaking. The room was a sanctuary of knowledge. Shelves upon shelves filled with ancient tomes and scrolls, the air thick with the scent of old parchment. Dust particles were floating lazily in the dim golden light cast by the waning sun through a tiny window on the upper part of the far wall, making the room seem almost ethereal.

“This... this is incredible,” Nathan breathed out, taking a tentative step inside. He stopped in the center of the room, turning around slowly to look at the towering shelves around us. “All this time, she really was hiding this down here?”

I followed him, equally awestruck, and swallowed.

“Could Aunt Gertrude really have been ‘Greta’? The historian?”