treasure, part one | billy lenz, chris hayden, clare harrison (sfw)
There was someone just below the hatch, their feet on the rungs of the wooden ladder, their fingers gripping high enough to pull themselves up into the attic. Billy shrank back and away, teeth bared, heart thudding unevenly. He mustn’t be seen. Mustn’t get caught. For a brief moment, the footsteps were those of his father ascending the attic ladder to find him. He had always liked the cool attic, the musty smells and the cobwebs falling slowly from the rafters. He had hidden there during games of hide and seek. It had only fooled his father once or twice but soon the trick became predictable and the games became short and Billy became disinterested. Now, he pulled back, retreating into the gloom as the hatch swung open and a yawning square of light grew until the shadows dissolved. Billy was safely behind a stack of boxes some distance from the invasion of light but he watched nervously, his eyes wide and unblinking. A young man emerged from the open hatch.
‘Don’t worry, Mrs Mac,’ he said in a kindly, polite tone. ‘I’ll find it for you.’
Billy wrinkled his nose. The young man was twice his width but not quite as tall and he might have been handsome if Billy had the courage to peer further around his boxes.
The young man straightened his back and wiped his hands together, peering around in the dark as his eyes adjusted to it.
‘If I were a photo album,’ he mumbled to himself, ‘where would I hide?’
‘Chris!’ The voice was soft and feminine and familiar. Clare. The long-haired girl who seemed too frail and too tender for the sorority house. Billy licked his lips. ‘I think it’s by the window. There’s a box of old books there.’
‘How come you can’t come up and look if you know where she keeps this stuff?’ Chris asked, his tone somewhat playful as he gazed down through the hatch to where Clare’s voice had drifted from.
‘Because,’ she said matter-of-factly. A delicate, slender hand rose up from below the attic and through the bright opening, offering Chris a flashlight. ‘Spiders.’
‘Ah.’ Chris took the flashlight and grinned. ‘It’s okay, I’ll find it. How hard can it be in an attic full of junk from twenty years ago?’
Billy strained to hear Clare’s retreating footsteps. Chris clicked the flashlight on and pointed the beam towards the window. The circle of pale light picked out the stacks of book piled into a cardboard box just as Clare had promised. Chris moved towards it and Billy waited, his legs tucked beneath him, ready to spring.