Young Writers Society

June 3, 2018

The front door opened and everything leading up to getting out of the attic rushed out of Ronnie's head. It would be just minutes before her grandma came down the hallway and see a leg hanging limply out of the ceiling. Ronnie decided to count down these moments by getting her one leg out of the hole. Her other leg was being stretched off to the right and this position created a wave of discomfort to wash over Ronnie. She decided to sit up and place her leg in front of her, to relieve the tension.

The heat of the attic was another problem. Not only was it creating sweat to form all over Ronnie but it attracted several sweat bees to circle around her. She would swat them but the bees would come back, wanting more. Along with the heat, there was a pain in Ronnie's chest and she reasoned it was her mind doing the natural trick of assuming something bad was happening.

She held her breath every time the house creaked. Her grandma was probably in the kitchen by now, putting away the groceries. Jayson could be in his room still, reading a book and unaware his grandma was home. The minutes started to feel like hours as the evening sunlight started to change into a harsh orange that covered the entire sky.

"Ronnie, Jayson! Come here, please!" Patsy yelled.

"Com-" Ronnie cut off herself realizing if she cried out, her grandma would come down the hallway and start scolding her and at this moment, Ronnie didn't want that.

"Coming," Jayson called out from his bedroom. Ronnie heard his soft footsteps walking out of the room and to the kitchen. She held her breath, waiting for her grandma to call out again to Ronnie.

The circling sweat bees continued to land on Ronnie as she attempted to pull herself out the hole. In a fleeting moment of getting her leg unstuck, the attic floor creaked loudly. It triggered the part of her brain that held the flight or fight responses and knowing where this might go, Ronnie decided to go for the flight response. She jiggled her leg once more, causing the floorboards around her to groan louder in volume. There was an adrenaline rush that surged throughout her body as she finally got her leg unstuck, tumbling onto her back.

Ronnie gleefully smiled, holding her leg up. She sat up and decided to go back to what her main goal was -- calling Natalie and telling her about the information she found in the attic. She then stood up abruptly, shaking for a bit and tried to regain her balance. Her feet were doing the tango and Ronnie couldn't control it. The spot where Ronnie was stumbling upon creaked like a rusty door hinge.

"Did you hear that?" Ronnie heard Patsy ask from the kitchen. She bit her lip, after regaining her balance. The floorboards stopped crying for a moment, settling a wave of silence in the attic. Ronnie let out a sigh of relief, placing her hands at her sides. She then started to walk towards the latch when, in just moments, the attic floor gave way and Ronnie fell through completely.

The crash resounded everywhere in the house. Dust rose up like a snake and the tattered wood planks crumbled around Ronnie. She laid on the floor for a few moments alongside the skewed floorboards as the entire attic ceiling continued to fall apart until a gaping hole was above Ronnie. She stared up in a daze, seeing the dust settle before leaning forward and passing out.

----

Ronnie woke up in her bed moments later.

There was a little bit of orange light still left in the dark evening sky and it shimmered through Ronnie's bedroom windows. She sits up in her bed, rubbing her forehead as a headache starts forming. There was also a pain in her back that started to spread, traveling from her back to her lower part of her body. She grimaced, trying to recount where the pain might've come from. Ronnie guessed she might've just slept walked again and did something dangerous while doing so. She didn't want to dwell much on the chance of sleepwalking and got out of bed.

Her legs gave out the moment she stepped out of bed. Ronnie fell hard to the ground, groaning. She then pushed herself up and onto her bottom. Her legs were covered in small bruises and tan bandaids. Ronnie touched one of the bandaids, considering the possible danger that caused this. She stood up again, this time using the bed as a crutch. Pain rocketed throughout her body and Ronnie cried out, gripping the sheets.

Her bedroom door swung open and her grandma stood there. "Ronnie, what're you doing up? You are hurt, lay down."

Ronnie reluctantly got back into the bed, easing her body into the sheets while the pain continued to intensify. She then let out a large groan as Patsy walked over, a deep line settled across her face. She then crossed her arms and asked, "do you have any idea how you ended up getting hurt?"

Ronnie squinted at her. "Did I sleepwalk again?"

Patsy shook her head, keeping eye contact with Ronnie. "You fell through the attic floor."

It took a moment to realize what her grandma had just said and asked, "I fell through the attic floor?"

"You don't remember? When I found you, you were faced on the floor with a pile of the floorboards behind you. What were you doing up there?" Patsy asked, uncrossing her arms.

Ronnie opened her mouth but Patsy snapped, "I told you not to go up there. You never listen. You could've died, you know. What would I tell your parents? 'Oh hey, yeah Ronnie got impaled by a giant wood stake. How was your vacation?' I told you to not go up there, so why did you decide to break that promise?"

Ronnie lay there dumbfounded, gripping the bed sheets again. She didn't have an answer for any of the questions her grandma was needing and instead, she just laid there. Ronnie kind of wished the answer would come quicker instead of her brain short-circuiting. Patsy stood there, waiting for an answer with eyes boring into Ronnie's skull.

"I was just up there because I thought my favorite book series was in one of the boxes," Ronnie lied, crossing her fingers under the blankets that laid across her chest.

Patsy sighed and shook her head. She then stepped away from the bed and when she reached the bedroom door, she looked back. "I don't know how we're going to fix that hole. If you had just listened to me, this whole thing could've been avoided," Patsy bitterly said. She then opened the door and shut it on her way out. There was a remorseful feeling that snaked around the entire room and landed heavily on Ronnie's chest. She now lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling.

Ronnie decided once she healed, she'd call Natalie and tell her the things she had found in the attic. For now, the reason why there were newspapers in the attic would remain unsolved until Ronnie got out of bed.