The Once Burnt Attic The Kids Novel

Pre-Script

Down.
That was what was racing through her mind.
Down.
As she fell towards the raging current below her.
Down.
Through the clouds that clung to her like claws.
Down.
The prince's last words to her replayed in her head.
Down.
“You were wrong. About everything“
Down.
He was right, she had trusted him.
Down.
Then he pushed her.
Down.
Now she was falling down.
She hit a tree that had grown out the side of the cliff face, and lay there a motionless heap, save the rise and fall of her chest.

Chapter 1

Sarah listened to her music, full blast. She had her head pressed against the window, watching as the world sped by. She was suddenly startled out of her thoughts by none other than her mom. “Honey, can you turn that down please, or put in your headphones?” Sarah gave a deviant sigh and plugged in her headphones, and just for good measure turned down the volume a little bit. Then she went back to staring out the window, but after a while the pit of her stomach started fluttering. “Why did we have to move? I had friends. Do you get that? Now they are back in New York while I’m out here in… The middle of nowhere!” Her mom looked over her shoulder, her face flushed with anger. “You can facetime them if you want to, and you will not talk to me like that.” She finished talking and whipped her head around, her long hair following. After a while the veil of silence that had descended seemed to be the only thing keeping them from fighting.

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Sarah looked out the window at all the old houses that seemed to inch by. Her dad said that they were close to the house and she had only seen one liveable house on this street so far, but then they passed it and kept going. The houses all had broken or boarded up windows and ivy creeping up the sides. Then her father turned onto another gravel road and stopped the car. Sarah's parents were already out of the car and to the trunk. Sarah climbed up and looked out the front window at the house that loomed menacingly in front of her. It wasn’t like the other houses at all, it was worse. While all the other houses were freaky but uninhabitable, this one was habitable and that was what made it bad. She slid her headphones off and placed them around her neck. She opened the door and slid out of her seat and her feet hit the hard rocks. She grumbled and shuffled her feet, going to help unpack.

Chapter 2

“The T.V. goes over there! If you put it in that corner I can’t see it from the kitchen while I’m cooking!” That’s how Sarahs day had been going. Her mom telling her and her father where to put stuff while she sits on a box watching her phone. “But you just told me to put it over here!” Her mom looked up from her phone clearly annoyed, and Sarah put down the T.V. and stomped up the rickety stairs. About halfway up the staircase her foot fell through the board and the wood split open her calf. “Yah! This dumb old house!” She carefully pulled her leg out and looked at her wound. It wasn’t too bad, just a small cut. She hobbled back down the stairs and started looking for her dad. After walking in circles she decided there was only one thing left to do. She hopped over and tapped her mom gently on the shoulder. “What is it, I just got to the best part” she said as she put down her phone. Her eyes widened as she saw the small trickle of blood on Sarah’s leg. “Oh, Gods! What happened?” Sarah told her about the loose board, but left out the part about the stomping. Her mom rummaged through her purse and pulled out a roll of gauze. “I think that was karma for your bad attitude with me in the car.” Sarah sighed and pulled her leg back, checking her mothers handiwork. “Thanks.” She gave her a small smile and headed back up the stairs. She hopped over the broken board and found that no others were broken.


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“There!” Sarah said with a triumphant smile upon her face. She had her hands on her hips admiring her creativity. She had found an old bucket of paint in the corner of her closet along with an old broom with sticks on the end. She had used the broom to knock out all of the cobwebs, and spiders that ran chills down her back. She then took the paint that matched the walls as a minty green color and started painting over the spots where the dirt gathered so much, she couldn’t get it off. She threw herself down onto the mattress and looked at her ceiling. She then saw, in the middle of the ceiling a symbol. It looked like a misshapen skull with a horn. She turned her head from side to side but couldn’t figure out what it was. She shrugged it off and went to sleep.

Chapter 3

Sarah went exploring the house, making sure not to make any noises so as not to wake her mother. Her dad was in the kitchen trying to make the fridge work. She walked into the guest bedroom and raised her head to stretch it and looked up at the ceiling. She gasped, as she saw the same symbol as in her room. She ran out the door and into the hall and ran into her parents room. She looked up and saw the weird symbol again. Then she noticed that even though all the symbols were facing differently, their horns were all pointing in the same direction. At first she thought it was just a coincidence, but then after exploring a few more rooms she saw that they all, indeed, pointed in the same direction. She started frantically running the halls, no longer worrying about waking her mother. Then she saw what she was looking for, the last symbol on the ceiling in the middle of the hallway. She stood on the railing for the stairs and gently brushed her hand against the symbol. Then she heard someone heading up the stairs and she fell. She screamed and landed on the floor in a heap. Just then the doorbell rang, if you could call it a bell. It sounded like a rusted out flute full of dirt. She stood up to answer the door but then her dad came and opened it for her. “Hello!” he had said in her overly cheerful voice. Sarah peeked over his shoulder and saw a group of kids around her age standing in the doorway.

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“Thanks Mrs.Peterman!” said the girl in the middle chair who, a few minutes ago, had introduced herself as Maddie. Beside her was a boy with black hair, he was max. There was then Becky who was Maddie’s twin. Those two looked so similar, the only difference was how they dressed. Maddie was more jeans and T-shirt kind of gale, while Becky liked to wear lots of dresses, and nice outfits. Then last there was Yeho, who had blonde hair and round glasses that looked like the tape holding the would fall any second. “Honey! Can you get the cookie jar from the kitchen?” Sarah sighed and got up walking swiftly to the kitchen so she wouldn’t have to miss much of the conversation. She scanned the room and started over to the counter next to the humming fridge. “Yow!” She had hit her hip on an open drawer. She grabbed the handle to push it closed but then she saw something. She opened the drawer a bit more and grabbed it out. It was an old key, with cracks spindling across the surface. Then there was the symbol she had seen on the ceilings, it was on the key. She looked to make sure no one saw her and she tucked it into her pocket.

Chapter 4

She made sure no one was following her then she ran up the stairs making sure to jump over the broken stair. She slid a box under the spot on the ceiling and stepped up. She took her hand and gently brushed the dust off the panel. She was right, there was a key hole just the right size for her key. It had been a few days but with each passing hour the key seemed to weigh her down more and more. She raised a shaky arm and slid the key in, and turned it. She heard so many clicks and clatters she was surprised her parents didn’t hear anything and came rushing up the stairs. She pulled on a little string that came swinging down and the hatch opened. It then proceeded to swing out a ladder, and Sarah was surprised. Why doesn’t it creak like everything else in the house? It sounds like its hinges were just oiled. She checked again and she climbed up the ladder. She switched on her flashlight and swung the beam around, landing it on a window. She walked over because from the outside she couldn't see any circular windows. She took a look outside and stumbled back, startled by what she had sawn. Outside of that window was beautiful green grass, with a sandy path down the middle. She raced down the stairs and out the back door, not even needing to open it because the screen was crumpled in a heap. She looked around the yard, with brown shriveled grass and a pebbled path. “Mom!!! Dad!!! COME HERE NOW!!!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs not caring if the neighbors heard her. A few moments later her dad came out panting, his hands on his knees, bent over wheezing for air. “Are you hurt?! What’s wrong?” She looked at her dad, would he ever believe her. The man who never reads anything but non-fiction on rocks. She had to try. “Look, take a good look at it. Now let's go” She grabbed her dad’s arm and pulled him back into the house and through the halls. She pointed to the ladder “Up. Now.” She didn’t mean to be so stern, but it was all she could do not to panic.