Page 30 of Protecting Gina

He hoped she would fit in when she started working in California. They were leaving in two days, driving across the country since they had Gina’s stuff that she wanted to take with her. Cass was a little sad that they weren’t flying, but she was excited about seeing different parts of the USA.

“Hey, Aaron,” Cass called from her bedroom.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I need some help.”

He headed back to her room, unsure what she needed. When he stepped into her room, he didn’t see her. “Where are you?”

“In the closet.”

He moved to the closet door and saw her up on a stepstool, poking her head in a hole he’d never seen before.

“An attic entrance? Did you know that was in your closet?”

She stepped down one step, her eyebrows raised. “Do you think I would have slept in this room if I knew there was a hole in here?”

He couldn’t hold back the laugh. “I guess not. What was blocking it?”

“Mom put a box up there. It was big. I never pulled it down because I thought it was just her old clothes.”

“What did you find?”

“I don’t know. A box and I can’t get it. It’s heavy. Can you get on the stepstool and pull it down?”

“Sure.”

He moved past her into the closet and stepped up on the stool, shining the light from his phone around. The attic space wasn’t big, only about five feet high and maybe six-by-six wide.

He grabbed the box and pulled it to him. He was glad there weren’t a bunch of spiders up there and no rodents. He hated missions when they ran into mice. He thought those were some of the grossest creatures. Rodents were crazy destructive, and mean. At least the ones in the wild were.

The box wasn’t big, but it seemed like it was packed full of something. What was in this box that his mom kept hidden in a tiny attic space that she kept clean? He hadn’t known about this, and neither had Cass. It was weird to think she had hidden secrets she didn’t want them to know about.

Cass stepped closer to the stool as he stepped down. “What’s in it?”

“Not sure yet. I haven’t looked.”

“It’s odd, don’t you think? She had this up here all this time, and I never knew.” Cass ran her finger over the top of the box. “It’s not dusty either. Like at all.”

It was weird that a box in an attic space had no dust. Attics were notoriously dusty, and yet this space was very clean. When had his mom last cleaned it? She had to have already been sick. Had she planned for them to find this box? “Yeah, a little odd. But whatever it is, it probably doesn’t matter.” He said that last bit to make Cass feel better.

“Maybe.” Cass twisted her hair through her fingers. “It might matter. Like what kind of secrets could she have?”

He shrugged, still trying to downplay what they found. “The older people get, the more secrets they have.”

“It’s weird.”

Cass stepped back, and he set the box on the dresser. His sister moved to him, bouncing on her feet.

“This is exciting.”

“Yes, I guess it is.”

Gina stepped into the room. “Did you find something?”

Cass spun to her. “A box that was hidden.”

“Oh, what’s in it?” Gina asked.