Big Book '99SURPRISE!
by Rebecca Warren
Hi! My name is Rebecca and I am thirteen years old. I am going to tell you a story that happened to me very recently; on my thirteenth birthday, which was the 29th of July, to be exact.
Well, every Sunday I visit my grandfather and grandmother at their old haunted house. It was just another ordinary Sunday. I got up, got dressed and went to my Nana’s and Grandpa’s house. I was sitting there and I really needed to go to the toilet. I said to my gran, "Gran, I need to use your toilet." "Sure love," she replied, "Just don’t go up to that second door on the left. OK?"
"Yeah, sure," I told her but I knew I was going to have just a little peep. I walked up the creaky old stairs to the toilet. I saw that second door on the left and I decided to open it. I opened the door and stepped inside. There was nothing in there, just a bare old room. I heard footsteps and a loud voice saying, "You didn’t get lost did you deary?" I ran towards the door, stepped out of the room and bolted to the toilet. "No, I’m fine thanks Gran!" I yelled out. "Just checking darling," she replied in an old, friendly voice.
"What was so good about that room?" I thought to myself. I finished up in the toilet and I thought I would just check that room once more. I walked up to the door and to my surprise the door was locked. I decided not to worry about it and check it out next time.
Six days later….
The phone had just rung. It was my grandma. She wanted me to visit her that night because she was feeling ill. I went around to her house and she was in bed. She looked fine. She told me she felt better and was considering going to Bingo for a while.
Fifteen minutes later, she was gone. I jumped on the phone and I dialled my friend Jackie’s number. I was talking to her for around half and hour. When I hung up from Jackie, I ran straight up to that room. This time it was open. I walked into the room and it wasn’t empty. This time it was filled with party things, balloons, streamers and the works. In the middle of the room was a box. It was more like a suitcase but it looked old and damaged. I opened the box and inside there were stacks of CD’s from all my favourite bands. I just started looking through them when I heard the car drive up the driveway. I quickly packed up the CD’s and ran out of the room.
The next time I went back to the house was on Sunday 29th July, my birthday. My parents didn’t even give me a present. They gave me a kiss and a "Happy Birthday," the same as my grandparents.
My parents had gone for a walk and they left me with my gran and grandpa. I sat there for half an hour and I decided to go and see what was in that room. I told my Nan I needed to use her toilet. I ran upstairs. I ran up to the door. It was unlocked. I opened the door and all there was to see, was the chest. This was no ordinary chest. It glowed as if it was hiding something. I went up to it and gave it a hard kick. It didn’t move. So, I kicked it even harder. It was dusty so I blew on it. I read, ‘DO NOT OPEN!’ I was so curious, I opened it a crack, then a little more, then the whole thing. "BOOM!" It was as if a bomb had hit the Earth. My mum and dad, aunties, uncles, grandmas and grandpas jumped out of the case and yelled, "Happy Birthday!" I so was startled.
We had a huge party and we listened to my favourite CD’s. I asked my Nana how she knew I would look in the chest. She said she knew how sneaky and determined I am. So to this day, I don’t know how they all fitted into that chest and I’m not going to ask either.