inkling teen magazine 2021 - Flipbook - Page 8
UN TITLED
by Abby Hiemstra
It starts with being too hot and too bored.
It starts with a call from your
grandparents, saying, "We made cookies
and we'd love for you to come try some,
and wouldn't it be wonderful if you could
clean out the attic while you're over?"
It starts with agreeing.
Half an hour later, you regret it. The attic is
even hotter than outside, with sunlight
streaming in through the lone window that
hasn't opened in years. On top of that,
there's so much stuff that there's almost
no room to breathe. You're not even sure
where to start.
When you finally do start, it's with a small
wooden box. Curious, you open it. Inside is
a chess set that looks old enough to be an
antique. For no reason whatsoever, you
set up the board on a rickety table, then
make the first move. If you come back
tomorrow, you can play against yourself.
You do come back the next day. Your
grandparents insisted on it, considering
you hadn't even made it through a quarter
of the job.
Cookies are provided again, along with
lemonade. The attic is the same as
yesterday, hot and dusty and overflowing.
Except, upon closer inspection, it's not the
same. You frown at the chess set.
"Hey, Gramps?", you call down the stairs.
INKLING | PAGE 6
"Did you or Gramma move anything up
here?"
"Nope!", comes the reply. "Haven't been
up since you came over!"
You blink. Frown again.
