The Secret of Abingdon

The Secret of Abingdon- by LMG

Chapter 1

"What's taking so long? The train will arrive soon and you know that your father doesn't like to be late."

"I'll be down in a minute!"

I still couldn't believe that we were about to move and that I was never going to see our house again. Tears were running down my face as I remembered the first time I entered the house for the very first time. I was happy and impatient at the same time. Even thought I was only three years old at that time, I couldn't forget how perfect it seemed to be. At first glance it seemed to be nothing more than a house like any other, but as soon as I stepped in I had the feeling that I was in some kind of a hidden castle. After I crossed the endless and sumptuous hallway, I got into the living room which was also the kitchen, my mom's favorite room. The walls were so flowery I thought that I was on a field. Every room was so beautifully colored and full of old furniture...But that is not what made it so special, but the attic. I was spending the most of the time up there playing with my toys and watching the whole city from my little dusty window. The car's horn brought me back to the reality. I took my luggage and got in the car, looking for the last time at my castle.

"Did you got everything?"

"Yes, mum! You've already asked me this twice."

"And your train ticket?" my father asked.

"Yes! It's in my pocket. Can we go now?"

The car started  and a new beginning was waiting for us...

Chapter 2

When I woke up we had already reached our destination. We got off the train and there we were: in the famous Abingdon. The train station was not very good looking, but after my dad rented a car and we drove around the town I realized why it was so famous. The streets were so clean, there were flowers, trees, fountains and sculptures all over the town. It gave me a pleasant feeling but something was strange and I couldn't figure out what it was.

After a long way we came to our new house: The Wellington mansion.

When I saw it I asked myself why we had to move here, but then I remembered why. My grandfather, Jules Wellington, lived here until he passed away and left it to my father. I never knew about him or the mansion until recently. He was a discoverer or at least that's what he thought. I also heard that he went crazy and haven't left the house since then. Anyway my parents decided to move here. I never understood why some houses have names even if my mother told me that this means that the owner is rich and the house costs millions of dollars. But this house didn't seem to be like that.

The mansion was covered with ivy, some of the windows were broken and the garden...well, the garden was actually a swamp now. It was kind of spooky.

"It doesn't look as I remember, but I am sure that after we are going to clean this up it will look better. What do you think? Elisabeth? ", my father asked me.

"We will have a lot of work to do. For sure!"

Chapter 3

First day at the mansion. We woke up early and started our work. Maybe I should just say that we started to work because I did not sleep at all. The floors were creaking and the branches of the trees around the house were knocking insistently on the window of my room. Only in the morning when everything seemed to have gone into a deep sleep I managed to close my eyes until my family woke me up and told me to get dressed because they wanted to go to the local store and buy all the cleaning stuff that we needed. The store was not very big, but we found everything on the list very fast. We were ready to pay when the cashier asked us why we needed all that stuff.