My utopia… my sanctuary… my home away from home. The long ago forgotten mansion, next to my small cottage seems to be where all the action was in my life.

All the drama started the other morning when I found it. The one thing in my life I actually thought had any meaning. Opening…. that….. box.

I had brought the last box of my junk into my old deserted day house. Band aids, pens, paper, cookies, Cheetos, books and of course, a flashlight. Because there was only a week left of Christmas break, I was spending as much time as possible in the old house.

I inhaled musty, damp air as I pushed through the secret trap door concealed in the back of the house. As silent as a leaf falling from a tree, I passed the sleeping family of raccoons on the second floor. I tip-toed over to the master bedroom down the hall, keeping in mind not to wake the sleeping raccoons. As I attempted to silently close the door, the hinges squeaked. Once safely inside the dark room, I gently plopped down the box kicking up dust, and clicked on my desk lamp sitting lazily on the dirty floor. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something under the bed frame, left there by the previous owners. I whipped my head around in the direction of the object dreading something unpleasant like a rat or a snake.

Slightly laughing at myself for thinking something so outrageous had been in the room I found a box, small and made out of maple wood. Slowly I had picked up the tissue sized box and examined it closely. As I ran my finger along the top of the smooth wood, I felt an indentation. The initials read M.M.L. my initials… Although the box looked ancient, the edges were still sharp and the wood felt new.

My freezing hands instantly became warm as they molded around my petite box. On the bottom side, I had noticed, was a scrambled picture, rough and rigid. I knew at that moment it must have been a puzzle lock. All I had to do was arrange the pieces to form a picture to unlock the lock. Though this sounded simple enough, it took time and patience.  As soon as I realized that my box had a puzzle lock, I started the thousand piece puzzle right away. Grabbing my pen and pad, I headed down to the small private beach only a block away.

Once there, I sat on the cold sand, the box still enwrapped in my hands while the crisp salty air gently taps on my face. I tried to figure out the puzzle a few more times. I still couldn’t seem to crack the code. Feeling upset and beaten down, I head back to the mansion. In the dusty, splintery room, I took the box in my hands and wished and willed for it to open, of course, it didn’t. With low hopes I tried for the last time very slowly. When I finished I heard it, CLICK! The box was finally opened!! My heart did flips and my stomach churned. I peered inside the box to find… a pen and paper? My heart sank into my chest as I unfolded the paper. In neat cursive I read, your future is unwritten… write it!