As Avery woke up the next morning, she could not get the garden out of her mind. Her dreams were filled with thoughts of the gate, the crows looming in the background, and the twisted trees hiding the secrets that lie within. It was like the garden was calling to her, she couldn't help but feel the need to explore it. It was decided, she had thought to herself, she was going to find a way in. She would uncover the secrets of the garden.
She quickly made her way downstairs after she pulled on some clothes, ready to get the day started and find her way into the garden. Grandma Jane was sitting in the dining room, sipping her tea as she read the morning newspaper. When Avery walked in, she gave her a smile "Good morning, dear. Help yourself to some breakfast and juice. I am about to head into town to do some shopping, but you are welcome to stay here and explore some more."
"Good morning, Grandma Jane, and thank you," Avery replied with an excited smile. "Do you know anything about the key to the garden? Or why it is locked up? I want to try to get in." She grabbed one of the bagels that lay on a tray in the center of the dining room table.
Grandma Jane looked a bit somber, setting down her newspaper. She took a long sip of tea before saying, "I'm afraid that the garden has been locked up for a long time, ever since your great-grandmother passed away when I was a little girl. No one has been in there since." She seemed a bit sad, but Avery didn't know if it was about the garden or about her mother.
Avery looked a bit discouraged, but she knew that the key must be somewhere in the house, which was something that she could work with. She quickly finished the rest of her bagel before asking, "Do you have any idea where I might find the key to get inside the garden?"
Grandma Jane sighed and shook her head no, "I'm afraid I don't know. I haven't been in that garden in years. When my mother died, it was like the garden itself locked away from the house. I haven't seen the keys since the last time I went inside, and that was with my mother. I have no idea where she would have put the key, if she had put it anywhere."
Avery felt disappointed, but she wasn't going to let something as simple as a missing key stop her from getting inside and seeing what the garden looked like. She chugged down a glass of orange juice before making her way into the backyard over towards the garden. She walked around the perimeter of the wall, checking to see if there were any other ways inside or a place where a key would be hidden.
When she found nothing, she sighed and made her way back to the gate. She gently grabbed the lock, examining it to see what type of key it may need. The lock was old and rusty, like it might come off with a bit of force. That gave her an idea, so she made her way away from the garden and past the entrance to the house towards the other path that led around the house to the front.
When she saw the old storage shed, she grinned a bit. She hoped she could find a pair of bolt cutters, or even a hammer, so she could bust the lock to get inside. Her excitement to get inside the shed died when she noticed that there was a lock on the shed door as well. She groaned and kicked the door in frustration, just making the lock squeak but the door stayed in place.
She turned and looked around, trying to find any way that she could make her way into the shed. She glanced down the road and saw a flash of curly brown hair in between the trees. She contemplated it for a moment before making her way down to road to the other huge house.
"Hey, Leo!" Avery called out to Leo who was working in the garden. "Can you come over to my house for a second?"
Leo glanced up and pulled off his gloves, wiping the dirt off of his pants as he stood up, "Sure, what's going on?"
Avery pointed to the shed that was just visible from his yard, "Do you think you could help me get the shed open? It's locked and I need to get inside."
Leo raised an eyebrow at her, "You want to break into the shed?"
"It's not breaking in if we have permission," Avery said with a grin. She watched him to wait for his decision.
Leo laughed. "Alright, let's see what we can do." He made his way over with Avery to Grandma Jane's Victorian house, leading Leo to the old shed. He went to the door of it and tugged a bit on the lock, examining it. The lock creaked a bit when he tugged, so he grabbed a screwdriver out of his pocket, "Let's see."
Avery laughed a little bit, "Do you always keep a screwdriver in your pocket?"
Leo laughed a little bit, "No, but I was doing some work on the fence surrounding our garden and I needed a screwdriver. Just luck that I had it today, I guess." He wiggled the screwdriver a bit into the lock which caused it to pop off.
Avery grinned excitedly and pushed the door open. The walls of the shed were lined with tools and gardening equipment. Closer inspection showed that all of the tools were covered in a thick layer of dust as if they hadn't been touched for years. Avery made her way inside, searching for a pair of bolt clippers while Leo curiously looked around.
Avery started to get a bit frustrated when she couldn't find anything that she would be able to use to get inside. "Avery, come take a look at this," called Leo from the front of the shed. He was holding a small yellow journal.
Avery took the journal into her hands and started to flip through the pages. They were all filled with notes and different sketches of a beautiful garden filled with so many different plants and flowers. The main garden was surrounded by a layer of trees, right before the wall that locked the garden off from the house and the backyard.
Avery grinned, "This is amazing, look at all of the plants and flowers that grew here." A rush of excitement went through her as she kept reading through the pages, "I don't know if we are going to be able to use this to get inside. I can use this though to restore the garden once we get inside."
Leo grinned and nodded, "The book can be a great blueprint for us to be able to restore your grandma's garden."
"We?" asked Avery.
Leo grinned, "Well I do know a lot about gardening, and that garden in your backyard is pretty huge. I figured you would like some help."
Avery felt herself smile, grateful that she already had a friend, "I would like that."
The two of them spent the next hour going through every page of the notebook, reading all about the different plants that inhabited the garden as well as any other little notes that were written down.
Leo soon got bored, shaking the notebook, "Cant this give us anything useful?" He fell silent as a little key fell out of the back, clattering on the ground.
Avery slowly bent down and picked up the key, examining it, "I think this might be the key to the garden!"
Leo grinned, "Let's give it a try," His interest was piqued again, making his way out of the shed with her. Together, they made their way back to the garden gate. Avery slowly inserted the key and turned it, anticipation running through her as she waited to see if the key turned. With a loud click, the lock popped open.
Avery slowly pushed the gate open with a loud creak. Avery and Leo exchanged a look of triumph and walked into the garden. As they entered the abandoned garden, Avery was immediately struck by the sense of neglect and abandonment that the garden had faced.
She could tell that the garden once must have been beautiful, but now it was desolate and forgotten.
They both made their way further inside, stepping past the wall of trees and into the main part of the garden. The lawns were overgrown with weeds and tall grass. The flower beds were choked with dead leaves and the withered remains of plants that once were tended to with care. The garden paths, once lined with carefully laid stones, were now cracked and broken, covered in moss and weeds.
Avery and Leo made their way past the flower beds, glancing up at the trees that were dying, their branches twisted and gnarled. The wooden benches that sat just outside of the path were rotted and collapsing from years of rain and weather damage. The fountains at the very center of the garden were covered in moss and grime, the surface dulled by time and neglect.
Avery stood in the center of the garden and slowly spun, taking it all in. Despite the decay and overgrowth, the garden was still beautiful. Avery didn't know what to think, but she knew that she wanted to know about the garden's history and what events led to its ultimate demise. She glanced at Leo, "Ready to rebuild and explore?"
Leo grinned back at her, "Let's get to the bottom of your family'ssecret garden."