What an astonishing day it has been! I woke up feeling very woozy,until I saw a glistening old chest beside me. I was about to open it when my mom shouted “Willie!”.It is already eleven o’clock and you’re still sleeping” .Go down right now and eat your breakfast!’ I quickly rushed down the stairs and sat down on the chair.In a lightning speed I finished my breakfast and went back to my room to ope...

Mommy and Isabella were in the attic. They were looking for old clothes for the church jumble. Well Mommy was looking. Isabella was helping by wearing an old lady fur coat and a Sunday hat and dancing.

“Careful Izzy!” Mommy shouted as Isabella fell backwards.

Kissing away the tears, Mommy lifted her from the floor.

“What’s dis?” Isabella turned to glare at the box that tripped her. Slowly Mommy ...

“Come on, open it!”

Aster stayed where they were (sat cross-legged on Evie’s desk) as their siblings crowded around the old box, watching the four of them closely. They didn’t really belong in this moment, one that was sure to be of fictitious reminiscing of days never experienced and a time for a generation to think about a vaguely romanticised past.

So they watched as Evie pulled out what seem...

I walk out my front door on a sunny Sunday morning.

Expecting just my usual mail I take a step outside.

Only to find a wooden worn down chest

And a note with delicate handwriting set on top of it.

I recognize that handwriting.

My grandma Lucile.

She had passed a few weeks prior.

I pick up the note to read

“My sweet honey bee if you’re receiving this I have passed on. Inside this chest you will fin...

The autumn sun is sending Low golden rays through the scarcely leafy walnut tree that has been standing in front of my grandparents’ old house for as long as i can remember, and based on the old black and white photographs of my granddad as a young man, from before his time. The warm glow made the doorknob pleasantly warm to the touch. For a handle that has not been turned in years, the metal is s...

Accepting the challenge the shadow tempts, I begin to open the old, wooden chest. The iron latches echo a satisfying click that bounce off the padded attic walls. It takes some of my strength to pray the chest open, but it opens. Well, the lid falls off and lands on the very dusty bed. The first thing I see is a note, a very formal looking note.

Alice,

You are in danger. Hold on to this wor...

My grandmother’s old chest was her staple piece. The worn burgundy leather had begun to crack over the years, while the thin line of gold metal that framed the leather whispered its old age in a plea. Two solid and rusted locks held shut the massive lid in defiance to my incessant yanking and pulling as I tried to break open the chest with pure strength I had most definitely lacked as a child. ...

Your grandmother gave you a chest of her old belongings and what you find in it fascinates you...

An ancestor I barely know

Left a chest inside my fibers

Hid the key inside my own secrets

Hummed whispers guide the clues

I’m only allowed one item at a time

One family secret revealed

I pull out a bone dry bottle

She tells me what I know

Keep it empty to survive

We close the chest together

Locks changed for my safety

We’ll meet together again

Once I learn her name...

After sorting through textbook after textbook and baby pic after baby pic, I’ve found what I’ve finally looked for: a mirror for which I look at myself from the distance of a few inches from my face. With the mirror’s surface rippling, I grab my own chest and notice how my shirt’s covered in tears and sweat after crying for so long after reminiscing with myself for ages all at once. After putting ...