Welcome Back! In today’s episode Magpie and Lucas finally get together to explore the secret attic Magpie discovered a few days prior. What secrets are hidden in the previously sealed-off room? Listen on to find out!

Music: Nightbridge by Cannelle (www.cannellemusic.com)

Find The Skylark Bell online: www.theyskylarkbell.com

Instagram: @theskylarkbell

Twitter: @melissaoliveri

Patreon: www.patreon.com/melissaoliveri

TRANSCRIPT:

Things with Wings Productions, with the support of Whimsical Productions and Collected Sounds presents: Episode 8 of The Skylark Bell.  I am your host Melissa Oliveri.  

In our last episode, Magpie’s alone time at Mirror Pond turned into a disturbing vision where a mysterious man and his unusual horse seemed to be trapped in a snowstorm.

In today’s episode we continue our adventure with Chapter 8 – The Attic, where Magpie and Lucas finally get together to explore the secret attic Magpie discovered a few days prior.

So get comfortable… grab a blanket, and a warm drink… are you read? Let’s get started...

“I’m home!” calls Magpie, walking in the door and hanging her backpack on the coat rack, leaving her sketchbook with the drawing of the mysterious man and his horse inside. The house remains completely silent.  Magpie, puzzled, walks to the kitchen. There is a note from her mother on the counter:

Magpie,

Ran out of supplies, driving to the city to get refills, they don’t have what I need at Pocket General Store.  Back by dinner time.

Love you!

Mom

A knock at the door makes her jump slightly. She walks through the dining room to the front door. “It’s just me!” says a familiar voice.

“Hi Lucas!  I thought you were coming over this afternoon!” she exclaims, swinging the door open and waving him in.

Lucas looks at her like she’s from outer space.  “Magpie, it’s 2pm,” he says.

“Oh… I must’ve lost track of time while I was sitting by mirror pond” she says, embarrassed.  Her visions have never made her lose track of time like this before; she finds it unnerving. 

“Who’s this?” he asks, noticing the cat sitting on the dining room table.

“This is Scarlet! She appeared at the back door one rainy day and I didn’t have the heart to leave her outside.  She’s very friendly,” answers Magpie, happy to change the subject.

 “That’s odd, I’ve never seen her in the area before.  I’m sure I’d remember, she’s so unique looking.  I wonder where she came from?” he says.

“I don’t know, but she was very thin.  I don’t think she’d eaten for a while,” explains Magpie. 

Finally, unable to contain himself any longer, Lucas excitedly asks, “So, the reason you invited me over today - you said something about a hidden room?  An attic?”

“Yeah!  I couldn’t believe it!” she says before launching into an explanation of how she accidentally discovered the trap door.  “It was so dark, I didn’t really stay in the attic very long.  I figured since you know so much about the town’s history maybe you could help me dig around up there!” she adds, skipping the part about the vision she had of the festivities at Meadow Lane.

“Wow, I can’t wait to check it out!” he says eagerly.  They make their way upstairs, to the back of the closet, through the trap door and up the creaky steps to the attic. Scarlet follows closely, never leaving Magpie out of her sight.

In the daylight, Magpie can see there are actually two round windows, one at each end of the vast, cluttered space.  She and Lucas make their separate ways to opposite ends of the room and clean off the windows to let in more light.  As their eyes adjust to the light, they are amazed by the quantity of belongings left behind by previous owners.

“Look at this mirror, it’s got to weigh two hundred pounds, how did they even get it up here?!” wonders Lucas, staring at a huge antique mirror framed in ornate silver.

Magpie carefully pulls up the corner of a sheet so as not to lift too much dust.  Underneath she sees an antique dresser with handles of coral coloured shell.  She tugs at one of the drawers and, with a little convicing, it slides open.  Inside she sees an antique hairbrush and a silver plaited handheld mirror, the initials ‘C. C.’ ornately engraved on the back.  “I wonder who all these things belonged to,” she says, holding up the personalized mirror for Lucas to see.

“I don’t know, I can’t believe anyone would leave all their furniture up here!”  he says, turning the mirror over in his hand before placing it gently back in the drawer.

Magpie walks over to a small wooden cradle and gives it a gentle nudge with her finger, causing it to swing softly from side to side.  She bends to look at an etching on the side of it and runs her finger over the letters carved into the wood: J-A-M-E-S.  The cradle stops swinging, restored to its decades-long state of immobility as if the interruption caused by Magpie’s touch had never happened.  Magpie turns and takes a few steps further into the immense room, the sound of her shoes echoing on the old floorboards. “Look at all these trunks!  I wonder what’s inside those!” she says excitedly, pointing to stacks of wooden trunks strewn about the attic.

“There’s only one way to find out,” says Lucas, a sparkle in his eye.  

They make their way to the largest trunk in the center of the attic and are about to open it when Scarlet lets out a loud meow. Startled, they turn to see her sitting on a smaller, dark blue trunk in the far corner of the room.

“You want us to open this one first?” kids Magpie. 

“Let’s indulge her,” says Lucas, walking across the dusty floor toward the trunk, “Maybe she knows something we don’t,” he adds with a wink.

Magpie pulls her sleeve over her hand and frees the top of the trunk from a thick, clingy layer of dust.  On its cover, the same initials ‘C. C.’ are carved and filled in with gold paint.  A large, rusty lock looped through the lid of the trunk hangs open.  “Well that’s a stroke of luck!” says Lucas, sliding the lock off the trunk.  “One, two, three!” he says as, together, they gently lift the lid.  The hinges squeak loudly and a thick cloud of dust lifts in the air, surrounding them.  They sit still, waiting for it to settle before peering into the trunk…

Thank you so much for listening.  Join me next week as we continue our adventure by reading Chapter 9 of Meadow Lane and the Skylark Bell, where Magpie and Lucas make a bone-chilling discovery inside the old trunk in the secret attic.

Before I go, I’d like to thank Phaeton Starling Publishing for this fantastically eerie story, and Cannelle Elanion for composing equally fantastic and eerie music for this podcast.

 

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/theskylarkbell/exclusive-content

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy