My current book

The Hall of Passage

Chapter 1

A long hall. The Door. Don’t open The Door! Just a peek. A room. Just a room. No. Not just a room. Darkness. The walls close in. Compressing. No air. Death is so close! Audrey’s eyes flew open. She woke up in a cold sweat. She had been having the same nightmare for months. It wasn’t like the other nightmares she had, it was so cold and dark. This dream was weird, it just felt so real. She couldn’t help but think that it meant something. Like, warning her about the future.

Audrey sometimes worried what would happen if she didn’t wake up in time. Would I . . . No. I can’t think about that right now. I have bigger things to focus on. Not just some silly dream. Audrey shoved the thought out of her mind, but she still had an uneasy lump in her throat. She knew that she needed some sleep, especially since her nightmares had been waking her up lately, but she knew that if she slept any longer she would just wake up the same way again. And the nightmare was even worse than feeling groggy. After all, she had a mission to get to.

She hadn’t told anyone about her weird dreams and didn’t plan to. It would just get in the way of her first year of middle school. She wanted to have a fun year in her new school. And nothing would stop her. Even though she already knew a few people, Audrey had made it her goal to know at least ¾ of her fellow 6th graders. Even though there were more than 250. 

It was a huge day for all 6th graders. The first school dance! School had started a month ago, so that meant that it was the fall dance. There were 4 dances a year: fall, winter, valentines, and summer.

The theme for this dance was photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the reason leaves turn green. And when the leaves die, they don’t go through photosynthesis any more. This is what causes them to turn gold, red, orange, yellow, and brown.

The school got to decide the theme of the first dance, but then the student council got to decide the other dances themes. And Audrey was on the student council! The student council was already discussing different options. Audrey personally wanted the winter dance theme to be a cheery party in Santa’s workshop. She was pretty sure that she had swayed at least a third of the student council to vote for her idea, but it had to be a 3/4ths vote. Still, she knew she could do it!

She had been dreaming of this day since the first day of school, when the 7th grade girls told her about it. Not only was it a chance to meet new people, but she was so excited to see her two besties. She had known them both since they were all babies. She wanted to make up some choreography that went with the music with them. They all love singing with loud music and making up a silly dance. This was their time to shine. 

She glanced at her clock. It was 5:30am! The school dance would be in 14 hours. JUST 14 HOURS!!! What she was going to wear?! Audrey had put off picking out her dress until the last minute. Again! She had been so caught up in her acting lessons, voice, student council, and school that she had completely forgotten to find what she was going to dance in. It always happened like that: hearing about some big fancy event, trying to remember to pick out her clothes beforehand, failing, then having to pick them out the morning of. She threw off her covers and hopped out of bed.

Audrey staggered sleepily across her room. She opened the doors to her walk-in closet. She glanced at the poster at the top of the wall, on the very back of her closet it said, “Be grateful for what you have, because there are some people that would think that it is the best thing in the world.” When her mom found it at a school book fair a while back, her mom had insisted that she put it up. Even though it was talking about something in Minecraft. Her parents constantly reminded her that they were very privileged to have such nice things and that when her parents were little there wasn’t such a thing as a walk in closet. She highly doubted it. But still, she was grateful. Just probably not quite as greatful as she would be if she also had her own bathroom. 

Even though her closet was huge she somehow found a way to have it stuffed to the brim with clothes. She lived in a nice house with both her parents and two siblings, Jessie and Parker. She loved her family, but they could be a bit of a handful. Just like any other family. Her mom, Emilia, was a librarian and her dad, Henry, was an engineer and they were both gone a lot. Because they were gone a lot also meant that Audrey had to be the babysitter. It’s not that she doesn’t love her siblings, she does, but she was 11. Jessie and Parker were twins at 9 years old. They were super nice, fun, and helpful most of the time. But when they got wild, they got wild. 

Right now is the perfect time to pick out my outfit. Audrey tried to make the best out of not getting ready sooner. Everyone is still asleep, not harassing me, not begging me to play with them. Perfect! No need to worry . . .but let’s get started.

It was a big night and she didn’t have anything to wear! Audrey rummaged through her clothes. She needed something not too pink, frilly, or over the top, but still super cute. She also wanted a dress that she could do a split in, but she wasn’t getting her hopes up. Most of her clothes consisted of sweatshirts, jeans, leggings, and t-shirts like any other tween’s wardrobe. And most of her super nice dresses were getting too small. Nevertheless, Audrey was determined to find the perfect outfit. And when Audrey was determined, she got it done.

Maybe Mom will let me go to the mall. Actually, no she wouldn’t. She would just say, “Honey, you’ll look beautiful in anything you wear. Just try to find something.”

But she found that no matter how determined you were, you can’t make something you don’t have appear out of thin air. After going through her whole closet five times with no luck, Audrey was about ready to call off her search. But then she hit her foot on the corner of something square. She looked down to find a shoe box that had gotten misplaced in her hunt to find her perfect dress. When she went to nudge it back beneath the rest of her stuff she noticed a black bin. It was near the back of the closet behind a bunch of books. It was just a regular bin, black, with a hinged top but something seemed weird about it. 

She couldn’t put her finger on what seemed off. But as she went to walk out of her closet and give up on her dress she realized that she didn’t remember putting it there. Even though her closet was stuffed, she kept it organized. She always knew where everything was. This isn’t anything to make a big deal about. I’m probably just trying to make a mystery out of something that isn’t even a mystery. Apparently her lack of sleep was taking more of a toll on her than she thought. Her mom must have put it there. Her birthday was a month ago and there was a bunch of new stuff that moved into her closet. It was possible that she had just overlooked it when her mom brought it in.

But even though she knew that she didn’t have to investigate, she decided to find out what was in there. She brought it out and put it on her bed. When she opened it she expected something like shoes, not another box. When she opened the slightly smaller box she found . . .a lot of bubble wrap? After digging through it she hit her wrist on a corner of something small. She closed her hand around a square. Another box? Audrey thought exasperated. 

As she pulled it out she secretly hoped for a book. Not just any book; the book that she had begged her parents for since she was 9. It was called Shipped. It was about a girl who got shipped across the Atlantic because she wanted to go to a specific acting academy. Her parents had told her that it was too old for her, but she wondered if they had finally caved in. But she did wonder why they had pretty much tried to hide it.

When it finally came into view she saw a clear container that would usually hold a necklace. Not a book. When Audrey lifted the lid off, she found a key attached to a piece of string. Why would Mom give me a key. Especially a rusty key. She started to worry about her mom’s fashion sense. It also looked really old.

Despite how odd it looked, she didn’t want to hurt her mom’s feelings. After all, it is kind of cute. I might even wear it to the dance! When she turned around to go back to her closet, she gaped at her floor. It was covered in bubble wrap. Apparently she had been more determined to get to her present than she had thought. 

While she was picking the bubble wrap up off her floor, she noticed a note. When Audrey picked it up she found that it had little key pictures all over it.

 

Remember who you love

Keep them close

You’ll need them

Love, PAS

What? Who’s PAS? What does this mean? Audrey tried not to worry about the note but she just couldn’t help it. What was most disturbing to her was that it wasn’t from her mom. Her Mom’s sir name was Emilia Sabrina Stoken. The only initial that matched was the last name. Could we be related? She didn’t think that it was likely. It was probably just from one of her friends as a joke. 

When she was finished putting the bubble wrap back into the bin she decided to put the necklace and note back too. In case it was from one of her friends as a prank, she didn’t want to  get laughed at for wearing an ancient key around her neck.

She finally managed to shove the bin’s lid back on and decided to just put it back. It could be from a family member that liked weird jewelry. 

As she bent down to slide the bin back under her clothes, she noticed something on the wall right behind where the bin had been. Weird. A strange bin right in front of a . . .a what? She had never noticed it before. It was the same color and feeling as the rest of the wall, but there was a raised square the size of a chair. She was starting to think that this wasn’t just some prank. Maybe it meant something. She had to find out what it was and who put the bin there. She couldn’t pass up a mystery like this. The dresses would have to wait.

If she just cut along the outside of the object nobody would notice. Would they? Not if she put the bin back. Her closet was already so distracting with all of the posters she had put up, the small cut wouldn’t be noticed. 

Audrey didn’t want to ask her parents because, well, they’re parents. They probably wouldn’t understand her thirst for adventure. So she would just have to wake up her siblings . . . after she found out what was under there. Is it possible it’s a secret door? It could go to Mom and Dad’s room. 

Her parents room was right next to her room. She had begged them to let her have her brother’s room since it was the same type of room just across from her’s. The only difference was that if her parents were talking she wouldn’t hear them as much. Even though she did like spying on people, she didn’t necessarily want to know what her next birthday present would be. 

She decided to find out what was behind that chair sized bump. And she knew that it wasn’t just some electrical/house thing. At least she hoped not. If it was and she damaged the electricity, she would have a really hard time explaining what she was thinking to her parents. She also didn’t know that she wouldn’t be grounded for life. 

But against her better judgment, Audrey found the razor blade and cut along the border of the shape. When she tried pulling on the bottom of the bump, it easily came loose. 

 

Chapter 2

 

“Ah!” Audrey fell back startled. One: there was a secret door in her closet. Two: she still didn’t know if she wouldn’t be grounded for life. Three: a spider had crawled out the black abyss. She was terrified of spiders! She couldn’t help her arachnophobia.

This is cra- no, not crazy. Crazy COOL! What was she going to tell her parents? Wait- was she going to tell her parents? What if they forbid her from finding out where it goes, who put it there, and, most important, forbid her from going through it?! She couldn’t risk it, she would just have to go with Jessie and Parker.

As she crept into the hallway, a million things were swarming in her head like bees in a hive. Where did this secret door go? What if it just led to her parents room- would she tell them? What if it went somewhere else? Did the key and the secret door have anything to do with each other, or did the bin just get placed there by chance? A secret passage, a key necklace, a weird nightmare- wait how did that last one count? They don’t have anything to do with each other. Do they? Audrey

The floor creaked under her foot. Audrey looked around desperately, silently praying that no one had heard. After waiting a few more seconds to make sure that her cover wasn’t blown, she continued sneaking to her brother’s room since it was the closest. 

Once she got there, she looked down at her brother, sleeping peacefully in his bed. Her mind wandered to the note that was covered in little keys. What did it mean? She knew it was silly but she had a strange feeling that they had something to do with each other. What if the tunnel was dangerous? She was suddenly having second thoughts about going in the strange passage.

“P-Parker?” Audrey whispered, half hoping that he wouldn’t hear her. His eyes remained closed. No, I have to do this. As soon as the thought came into her mind, she knew it was true. As much as she didn’t want to admit, she was a mix of terrified and exhilarated. She decided that she was going to do it.

“Parker,” she repeated again a little louder. She winced. She hadn’t meant to say it that loud. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was there. No one was. Then she looked down at him and saw his eyes flutter open. “Whaduyouwnt?”’ He mumbled. He didn’t like getting up that early, Audrey knew this, but she also knew from a little voice in the back of her mind that this investigation was even more important than sleep. 

She started again, “Parker, do you want to go on an investigation?” Now Audrey had his attention. “I just found this secret door in my closet and I thought that you might want to, maybe, explore it?” 

“ARE YOU-“

 “shh, shh, shh! Mom and Dad don’t know yet. And I intend to keep it that way,” Audrey whispered to her brother. Parker was ecstatic. He was sitting up like a rod. 

“When do we go?” He asked, more quietly this time. 

“I was thinking that we could leave now. After we wake up your sister of course.”

Parker jumped out of his bed and ran to his drawers. “You go get Jessie, and I’ll get my clothes on,” he told Audrey, “I’ll be ready in 5 minutes.” Audrey decided against telling Parker about the note and key necklace. She didn’t want him to make any assumptions. 

“Oh, and Parker?” She turned around to face him. Her face was serious, “don’t tell anyone about the secret door. Not even your best friend. Got it?” “Yep. Got it,” he responded. Audrey knew that she could trust him.

She sneaked silently towards Jessie’s room. She heard a creak behind her. She spun around. Jessie was standing right behind her. 

“OMG! You just about gave me a heart attack!” Audrey whispered screamed. 

“Sorry. I was in the bathroom getting some water, and I overheard you talking to Parker about some secret tunnel in your room. I hope you were planning on including me,” Jessie told her matter of factly. She was only 9, but she was smarter than most of her class. “Although, it may not be such a good idea. I read in a book that that would be the prime nesting place for black widow spiders. And not just that, there are probably tons of rodents living in there too.”

“I know. But we have to do it. And yes you can come if you want to. Actually, I would love it if you were there,” Audrey knew that it might be good if Jessie tagged along, not just because they were siblings, but because Jessie had more impulse control than both her and Parker. Well, it was a tie between Audrey and Jessie. But just in case Audrey was about to jump into something head first without thinking about it, Jessie would right her.

Once they were all in her room, with bug spray on, and they had all made sure the door was closed, Audrey told them the plan.

“Ok, guys. Here’s my plan: I open the secret door, you crawl through it, then I follow. It’s that simple,” Audrey said in the best leader voice she could. She was actually very impressed that her voice sounded so brave. 

“One question,” Jessie said, “do you have spare batteries?” 

“Yes, I do,” 

“no, I don’t,” Audrey and Parker said at the same time. 

“I was asking Audrey, Parker,” Jessie muttered.

“Yes, I do,” said Audrey by herself this time.

“Good. Now I’m ready,” Parker said, ready to leave.

They all walked into Audrey’s closet and stared at the bump. Was it really a secret door?

“Are we sure this is going to be worth it? Mom and Dad will kill us if we don’t have an amazing reason for cutting a hole in the wall,” Jessie said. She looked like she was having second thoughts about going along with her crazy siblings. 

“Well then let’s go get that good reason!” Said Parker, more than ready to get started on their adventure. Parker knew that his little sis was not as adventurous as them, so he usually tried not to push her. But he also knew that he had to go through this tunnel. Nothing was going to stop him. 

“I guess we’re really doing this,” said Audrey, “lets go.”

Audrey bent down to open the small door. Once it was open they all clambered in after each other into the black abyss.

 

Chapter 3

 

When Audrey turned her flashlight on, her eyes made out a small tunnel. It looked like an air duct. What if I got my hopes up for nothing? What will I tell Mom and Dad? She knew that she was a major optimist, so there was definitely a chance that this was just an air conditioning system. And if it was she would be in hot water.

They all continued down the dark tunnel for what seemed like forever. Finally they came to a tiny room that looked like the on and off switch for the electricity in the house. 

“I think that this just controls if any of our lights work,” Parker said.

Even though she had already figured it out Jessie decided to play along, “And how do you figure, Dr.P?” He shot her a distasteful glare. He was a really smart kid. Especially good at math. He hated when they made him sound like a baby. It wasn’t his fault that his sister was a kid genius and that his big sister was three grades older than him. But he kept up with them both pretty well. He did often teach them things. 

“I think that we should prank Mom and Dad! We could turn the power off, so then they would have to do everything in the dark. And maybe if we act scared enough, they may let us stay home today!” Parker said. He loved pranking people. Especially if it meant he got to skip school. Though, that rarely happened. 

Jessie looked at him appalled. “And why in the world would I want to skip school?!” She was very disappointed in what her brother had just suggested. She loved school. Jessie looked at Audrey for support. Audrey had zoned out. She had a worried look on her face and her jaw was clenched. 

“Hey Audrey. Earth to Audrey,” Parker waved a hand in front of her face. Her eyes darted to him. 

“What?” She asked him, startled.

“You had this really weird look on your face. The same one you always get when you are disappointed your assumption about something is wrong and you know you will be in big trouble when our parents find out,” Parker explained.

“Oh,” she said halfheartedly. This was her biggest lead on a so-called “mystery” yet. She was so disappointed that it hadn’t turned out the way she hoped. Not only did it not lead to some underground secret base, she was pretty sure that if she told her parents that she had cut a hole in the wall today, she wouldn’t be able to go to the dance this evening.

The dance!!! Audrey mentally kicked herself. She had completely forgotten about it. She didn’t even have a dress to wear. Well that doesn’t really matter anymore, does it? Audrey thought. I probably won’t even be able to g- wait! She had an ingenious plan on how to get around missing out on the dance. Well, it wasn’t ingenious exactly. It was really a very basic plan. 

“Hey guys,” Audrey got her siblings attention. “You remember that I have a really big school dance tonight, right?”

“Yes, of course we do. You talk about it all the time!” Parker complained. He had to suffer through his older sister rambling on about how excited she was for this school dance. How could he forget? “Well, get to the point. What are you trying to tell us?”

“I need you two to not tell Mom and Dad anything. Not about cutting a hole in the wall, not about finding an electricity-place-thingy, not abo-“ Audrey was cut off.

“Did you seriously just call this place ‘an electricity-place-thingy’?!” Jessie exclaimed. She was very serious about correct grammar. “This amazing place is called a control room. Now continue.”

“Ok, thanks. What i was going to say is that neither of you can tell mom and dad about coming here. If you tell them we will be grounded for life. But if you absolutely have to tell them, you can. Just not today. You got it?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning on telling them. That would ruin the fun I would have by pranking them. They wouldn’t even know it was me if the light went off all of the sudden. If they found out that I was here, they would forbid me from coming ever again! That would be terrible,” Parker agreed.

“And I guess that I won’t tell them if it is this important to you two. And I do want to find out how it all works. It may be a little too advanced for me though,” Jessie complied. 

“Ok, good. Now that we are all in agreement, we should put something in front of the door. That way they will never know about me cutting a hole in the wall,” Audrey continued. They all looked around the room one last time before they had to leave.

“Wait, why do we have to leave now? It’s only 6am! Mom and dad won’t be up for, like, another two hours. Why can’t we explore?” Parker asked. He wasn’t quite ready to leave.

I guess i don’t have anything better to do. It’s not like the mall is even open right now. I’ll have to ask mom to take me when she gets up. “Ok, if you want,” said Audrey. She did want to explore this room a little more. She realized that she wasn’t quite ready to give up the search for a mystery. She didn’t really know what to look for though. 

“Well, you guys can explore, I need my beauty sleep,” complained Jessie, still a little groggy. When she got to the secret door, she realized that it was closed. “Hey, Audrey!” Jessie yelled back down the short tunnel sounding, a little desperate, “Did you have to unlock this door when you first opened it?” 

“No, I didn’t have to do anything except pull. Just try to push before we start calling for help,” Audrey hollered back. When Jessie pushed on the door it swung loose.

“Whew! It opened. Apparently I was being a little paranoid,” Jessie yelled to Audrey.

“Shhhhh!” Audrey whisper-screamed. “You can’t wake the parents!”

“Oh yeah, sorry,”Jessie whisper-screamed back. Then she softly let the door back down when she was back in Audrey’s closet. 

She quietly crept back through Audrey’s room toward the hallway. When she got to her own door, she jumped back startled. 

“Mom, Dad!” She yelped, hoping that she yelled loud enough to warn her siblings to get out of the tunnel. “What are you doing in my room? Well, that doesn’t matter. I was really hoping for someone t-to . . .to explain my new theory for how to correctly turn a page in a book. You have to be careful not to creas-“ 

“Why were you in your sister’s room?” Her Mom asked her. 

“Why was I in my sister’s room?” Jessie repeated. She quickly came up with a reason, “What a silly question to ask. Audrey and I were playing with dolls.” Then she cringed mentally. She never played with dolls. And neither did Audrey. 

“You and Audrey were playing with dolls? You never play with dolls. What were you really doing in there? And you were with your brother too, weren’t you?” Her dad pushed.

“Yes, Parker was in there too. We were playing with dolls. Well, not exactly playing. We were doing a crazy experiment with them,” Jessie wasn’t used to lying. She had never been especially good at it. Whenever she didn’t tell the truth her face got really flushed and she started having a nervous breakdown. 

But then Audrey and Parker showed up right behind her. Oh, thank goodness, Jessie thought. 

“Jessie’s telling the truth,” Parker told his dad as calmly as possible. Parker and Jessie were very close. Especially since they were twins. One of the only major differences between them was that Parker could usually get away with a lie. 

“Yeah,” echoed Audrey. “We were just cleaning up. Parker already threw them out. Like in the trash. Outside. Under a bunch of cardboard.” 

“The experiment gave proof that standard Barbies can only be jumped on about 10 times before their head pops off,” Jessie told her parents. She had actually researched this once in the 1st grade. 

“Why exactly were you all up at 5:30 in the morning?” Their mom asked. 

None of them knew what to tell their parents this time. Audrey felt her face growing warm. She decided to tell them the truth- kind of.

“I had a bad dream and I didn’t want to wake you two up. And I was just so excited to start working on the experiment that I woke up Jess who woke up Parker.” Parker elbowed her. He gave her a look that said just let me do the talking, ok. 

Audrey could tell that her parents were not quite satisfied, but she hoped that they were too sleepy to remember this tomorrow. If not . . . Well, she just hoped that they would forget about it.

“Any way, mom, this gives up plenty of time to go to the mall and pick out a dress for me,” Audrey managed to squeak. Her fears of them figuring out about her little discovery still weighing on her shoulders. 

“I never agreed to go to the mall,” her mom pointed out.

“Aw, Mom. But i don’t have anything good to wear! If we don’t go get something I will regret it for the rest of my life.” Audrey knew that she was overreacting, but that was her best chance of convincing her mom to let her go to the store.

“Well, even if I did agree to go, which I haven’t yet, the mall opens at 9:30. It’s still 5:30,” Audrey hated it when her mom made a good point that she totally disliked. 

“Fine,” Audrey mumbled, “but since we are all already awake can we eat breakfast?”

“Sure, but I’m not making it,” dad replied. He was the chef in the family, but he was not a morning person. 

“And don’t go crawling into any secret tunnels,” their mom muttered under her breath. She didn’t think that anyone could hear her but Audrey did. Audrey heard her loud and clear. 

 

Chapter 4

 

“What’s wrong with you?” Jessie asked Audrey after they had eaten and returned to Audrey’s room.

“-What?” Audrey asked, startled.

“You keep zoning out and staring at the wall,” Jessie pushed.

“I do? I didn’t notice. I was just thinking about something Mom had said earlier. She said something about-“

“Shhh! Here she comes,” Jessie whispered. Audrey whirled around to see her door opening. 

“Hi, girls,” their mom said, “i hope i am not interrupting anything.”

“No! Not at all,” Audrey stuttered, ” I was just telling Jessie all about the new dress that i want to get for the dance.” 

“Audrey wants it to be long and flowing with a lot of pink tulle,” Jessie added. She was starting to sweat. She was not used to having to fib so much in one day.

“Well i don’t have a dress like that, but i do have one that i hope will be acceptable,” their mom told Audrey. The sisters then noticed that their mom had brought something into the room. 

Audrey watched her mom take the protective canvas cover off of the hanger.

“It is a bit old and it has a few holes, but i am sure that we can patch them up,” Mom volunteered, “do you like it?”

“Yes! I love it!” Audrey squealed, “it is perfect!” It was everything Audrey wanted in a dress. It didn’t even look that old fashioned.

“Well, you don’t need to accept it since i know that it is not quite a long pink tulle dress. We can go to the mall and pick out a new one,” Audrey’s mom made sure that her oldest daughter liked it.

“No, Mom. It is amazing,” Audrey assured her. It went down to just past her knee, was red, gold, orange, and went off the shoulder. It also was longer in the back and shorter in the front. But Audrey’s favorite part of the dress was that it also had built in shorts. 

“I am glad you like it!” Mom said, sounding a bit relieved. 

“Thank you so much! Now i just have to pick out a hairstyle, shoes, and what makeup to use,” Audrey said, starting to wonder if she would be ready in time for the dance. 

“Well then i guess that it’s a good thing that the dress was not the only thing that i have to show you today.”

“What?! Really?! You have more stuff for me?!” Audrey gushed.

“Yes, I do. I don’t know if the shoes will fit, but you can try them on along with hair clips,” Audrey’s mom answered, pulling more pieces of the outfit out of the canvas bag.

“Oh. My. Gosh!” Audrey praised, “they are all so cute!” Her mom had put two really tall platform heels next to her dress.

“They are gold too!” Audrey added. Then she looked next to the shoes and saw a small jewelry box. When she opened it she found a silver necklace with a matching bracelet and a bunch of beautiful hair clips. They were red, copper, gold, silver, and orange. They looked like little flowers and leaves.

“I didn’t know that they had fall dances when you were in sixth grade,” Audrey teased her mom.

“They didn’t,” her mom told her, “but they did my first year of high school.”

“Huh? Then why is the dress my size?” Audrey asked, slightly confused.

“You have already had your growth spurt. I didn’t have mine till the end of my first year of high school. It came super late and I didn’t even grow very much,” her mom explained, slightly embarrassed. Audrey knew her mom had never been very tall. Her mom was actually only a couple inches taller than her.

“Well I don’t care what grade you were in. All i know is that this is super cute and i really hope that the shoes fit!” Audrey said.

“We will get out so you can try everything on,” her mom offered. 

“Thank you so much!” Audrey told her, forgetting about her suspicions about what her mom had said.

 

“Oh! You look so grown up!” Audrey’s dad said, getting a little misty eyed.

“Yes, she does look way too big,” her mom agreed, “and i am so glad that the shoes fit! All that is missing is the clips for your hair. We may not want to put them in right now so that you don’t lose any before the dance.”

“Yeah, i agree. But what if i-“ Audrey was cut off.

“I sincerely do not care if you lose any at the dance. They look pretty, but they only cost like $5 when i got them,” her mom assured her.

“Bu-“

“No. Really Audrey. I don’t care. I only wore them once, so it isn’t like they hold many memories either.”

“Ok. Phew. Good,” Audrey sighed, still looking slightly nervous about losing any.

“Oh, and Grandma Penny will be here any second so you may want to pick a few of your things off the ground in the den before she arrives,” dad reminded Audrey and Jessie, who was still sitting there being quiet as always.

“Can you tell your brother too?” Their mom asked, “he is probably in his room reading that elf book again.” Audrey and her siblings all loved reading. Some parents have to force their kids to read, but Audrey’s parents couldn’t get any of them off their books. They even got in trouble for reading sometimes. 

“Sure,” Audrey replied. She started walking down the hallway, but then she turned back.

“Do you want me to keep the dress on so Grandma Penny can see me in it?” She asked her mom.

“Yeah. Please do. I want to see how she reacts to seeing the dress that she surprised me with on the day of my school dance,” her mom laughed. Audrey smiled and walked back down the hall to try and get her brother to stop reading.

 

“Hey, Parker? Are you in here?” Audrey called for her brother. His room was dark, but Parker had gotten a new reading kindle for his birthday, so he could read in the dark. She wasn’t quite sure what her parents were thinking when they got him that gift.

“Parker! Mom and dad want us to clean the den up a little bit before Grandma Penny gets here,” Audrey tried again.

“Parker, seriously. I don’t want to have to look for you,” Audrey was getting annoyed. But she did not get too exasperated with him because she knew how he could go into the “book world” where you can’t hear anything but the story. She zoned out too when she read. 

Parker still wasn’t answering. She checked in Jessie’s room just to make sure that he wasn’t in there putting fake bugs in her bed. When Audrey didn’t see him in there she decided to check in her own room. 

“Parker, are you in here? We need to help clean up the den,” Audrey was now getting a tiny bit worried. It wasn’t like her brother to disappear besides when he was reading in his bed. She checked in her bed (he may try to prank her, he is a boy), behind her book shelf, then finally in her closet.

“Parker! Do not try to scare me right no-“ Audrey stopped, mid sentence. The big black box was in the middle of the walkway.

He didn’t go into the control room place, did he? Audrey wouldn’t put it past him. Then she noticed a slight draft coming from a certain “secret door” in her wall.

He did go! Audrey got down on her hands and knees and stuck her head into the slightly opened tunnel door. 

“Parker! Come up here right now!” Audrey shouted as quietly as she could manage. After a second Audrey heard a few thumps and bumps coming from the tunnel.

“Coming!” He shouted back. After a minute he popped his head through the door.

“Why are you in my room without asking me?!” Audrey asked him a little more than annoyed at him. She had told him to ask before going into her room many, many times. 

“Well, um, I thought that now the secret door is in your room, I could come in and check it out some more,” Parker replied. He sounded like now that he thought about his decision more, he was starting  to see that it was not such a good idea. 

“Nope. The rules have not changed. Now get out before I tell mom and dad that you snuck into my room. Again,” Audrey told her brother, impatient. 

“Fine be that way,” he teases, but not before he hoped out of the tunnel and ran through her open door. 

After Audrey finished putting the box back and closed her closet door she met him in the hallway.

“We have to go clean up the den before Grandma Pen- never mind,” she sighed as her brother tore through the hallway, went down the stairs, and bolted to the window when he heard the doorbell ring. He always tried to see who was at the door.

“Who is it?” Parker yelled through the door. 

He already knew who it was even before Grandma Penny answered, “Land shark!”

Parker opened the door to let his grandma in. He jumped back in surprise to see a little dog greet him instead of his grandma.

“You got a dog?!” He exclaimed.

“Yes, I did. And I figured I would introduce him to you today,” Grandma Penny laughed.

“Hi ,Grandma Penny!” Audrey said. “What is his name and when did you get him?”

“His name is Laden and I got him yesterday,” Grandma Penny explained as she pulled her oldest grandchild into a tight hug.

“That dress, I remember it from your mom’s days as a child,” she said as she stepped back to examine Audrey. 

“Yeah. Mom gave it to me this morning!” Audrey told her grandmother. 

“Well, it looks absolutely exquisite on you, my dear,” Grandma Penny smiled at her, shutting the door. Mom and Dad both walked into the den from the kitchen, where dad had been making little sandwiches for a quick snack.

“It is so good to see you!” Said dad as he hugged his mother-in-law. “And your new dog!”

“Yes, good to see you!” Audrey’s mom said as she led her to the couch.

“I was thinking that the children would have fun with Laden, but now I see that you want to talk to me too,” Grandma Penny joked. 

“We always want to talk to you Grandma Penny!” Jessie said as she came down the stairs. 

“I know. I was just kidding,” Grandma Penny assured Jessie.

“Come see the new puppy!” Parker advised his sister, “he is soooo soft!”

“Ok, sure. Um, Grandma Penny, are you sure he has all of his shots and everything,” Jessie cautioned, not leaving her spot on the stairs. 

“Yes, I am sure. I wouldn’t bring him if he didn’t.” Grandma Penny knew that Jessie wasn’t a big animal person, so she didn’t want to force Jessie into doing anything she didn’t want to.

“Ok. Fine. I will pet the dog, but if he licks my face and gives me rabies, I will hold you accountable,” Jessie said.

“I’m sure you will,”Grandma Penny muttered as her grandchild walked slowly down the stairs.

 

Chapter 5

 

Three hours later all of the kids were on the carpet talking to their grandma and playing with Laden when Grandma Penny announced that she wanted to see her grandbabies rooms.

“Sure, Grandma Penny. But there isn’t much to see. They are pretty much the same as when you came last time,” Parker told her, never the one to turn down showing off his “awesome” man-cave. All of the kids ran up the stairs with Grandma Penny and Laden right behind them.

Once they were in Audrey’s room (their parents were still down stairs doing grown-up things) Grandma Penny asked to see Audrey’s new dress again.

“It is just so pretty!” Grandma Penny told them. Audrey went into her closet and got her dress, which she had taken off right after Grandma Penny had gotten there. 

“Just like I remember,” Grandma Penny sighed, thinking back to when she was still young and her daughter still lived with her.

“Yep. There is one small tear in the train, but it isn’t noticeable,” Audrey added. Grandma Penny smiled and nodded. Then when she knew that none of her grandchildren Grandma Penny stuffed a note in the dress pocket.

“Hey, Grandma Penny!” Parker announced, suddenly getting an idea. “What if we do our own party tonight when Audrey is at her dance?”

“What a wonderful idea! We should do that. But what do you want to do at the party?” Grandma Penny questioned.

“I have an idea,” Jessie ventured. “What if we had a reading party? It could be kind of like a book club where we read a few chapters of one book and then we talk about it together.”

“Boring,” Parker interfered, “we should do a video game party! We could do a Battle of the Gamingist!”

“Gamingist is not a real word,” Jessie informed.

“Spelling schmelling. What do you think, Grandma Penny?” Parker wondered.

“Both of your ideas are wonderful, but I think that we should go over to the new bowling alley over by my house,” Grandma Penny answered, a fun twinkle in her eye.

“Yes!!” Jessie and Parker agreed, simultaneously. No matter how much the two youngest siblings disagreed, they both thought that bowling was really fun.

“Aw, no fair,” Audrey wined teasingly. She loved bowling too.

“You can come next time,” Parker told her, “you get to go to a dance tonight. Not that i am very jealous. It is probably boring.”

“Well have fun. And tell me who wins!” Audrey made them agree. She was a bit envious of her siblings’ time with Grandma Penny. 

“Come on! Let’s go to my room next!” Parker moved on.

“Sure, Parker,” Grandma Penny agreed.