Stolen Heart

Chapter 18

"I think the top was a little rounder," said Jack.

Chloe sighed as she erased the top of the box she was drawing only to redraw it slightly rounder. "Like this?"

"Yeah, that looks right!" Lana said, excited.

Lana, Jack, and Jeremy were in Chloe's studio, watching her as she was recreating Lana's grandmother's box. Lana felt like she was at a police station, describing how the suspect looked to an artist, except this was just a small red box. Jeremy stood behind Chloe, giving her a back rub as if trying to make her 'focus'.

Occasionally, Chloe would get contradicting descriptions of the box, forcing her to pause and take a deep breath to prevent losing it.

"The bottom had an intricate, floral silver trim—"

"No, Jeremy!" Jack interrupted. "It was gold, and it wasn't intricate anything. Just a solid gold line."

"Yahuh!" Jeremy quickly grabbed a piece of scrap paper and one of Chloe's silver-colored pencils and attempted to draw the box with the lining pattern he remembered. But when he presented his drawing to the group, they all tilted their heads trying to understand it.

"What am I looking at?" Chloe asked. "Is that a coffin on fire?"

"It looks more like a square boat floating on water," Lana added. The group laughed at Jeremy's expense.

"No!" Jeremy said defensively as he pointed toward his drawing. "See—this is the top of the box, and down here is the silver floral trim!"

"Yeah..." said Lana. "Maybe we leave the art to Chloe... and besides, Jack's right. It was a solid golden line."

Jeremy shrugged, defeated, and continued massaging Chloe's shoulders.

"I wonder what will be inside of the box once we actually get it back," said Chloe as she grabbed a golden colored pencil, turned to her easel, and added the golden trim Jack had described.

"You can't open the box. I tried when I picked it up," said Jeremy.

Before Lana could say anything, Chloe responded, "Oh, that's because you didn't have the key."

"There's a key?" Jack asked.

Chloe stopped and turned around to face Lana. The eyebrow look she gave said, 'Oh shit, sorry. I didn't know you didn't say anything.'

Lana looked down at her chest, the necklace still there after wearing it for the past few days. "Yeah, I sort of got a key for it from my grandma a long time ago. Except we don't know for sure if it'll work."

Chloe added, "Yeah, well, I think it will! It seems to have the same print on it and have the same color."

"Do you know what's in it?" Jack asked.

"No, I don't. My grandmother didn't share much, and she died when I was young. All I remember are little moments here and there, like when she gave me this key."

Both Jeremy and Jack looked down at Lana's chest where the key was dangling around her neck.

"Oh my God, I'm so curious! What did your grandma say when she gave you the key? What if it's gold or diamonds or a big stack of cash?" said Jeremy.

"Jer! I was thinking that too! I think it's jewelry of some kind," said Chloe as she colored the edges of the box.

"Well, she didn't say much," said Lana, responding to Jeremy's question. "All she said was, 'You'll know when to use it when the time comes.' And I don't know; I just sort of felt like it could work when I picked up the box. But who knows? It could be just a note inside, or it could be empty."