The Wooden Mystery Box

• Milla Cohen, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2019

Lily has an invitation to visit her Great Grandpa’s house. He is in his 90’s so he doesn’t talk much and lives alone as Lily’s Great Grandma died a long time ago.

Lily arrives at his house with huge excitement and starts to explore. She finds an old wooden box which she opens. At firsts she thought there was nothing inside, then she sees a message written faintly on a piece of paper which has a tear on the right-hand side. The message says; “ say this word out loud”. The word is “Lily”. Lily wonders why the word is her name but she says it anyway. Nothing happens at first, but slowly the box begins to glow.

A portal appears in the old wooden box. Lily leans forward to get a better look but with this falls in. Her bones clench together with fright as she falls deeper and deeper. Lily hits the ground with a thud and finds herself at the bottom of the wooden box. Her eyes adjust in the dim light, and to her astonishment she sees her beautiful old Great Grandma sitting in her much loved worn armchair. “Perfect timing Lily,” says Great Grandma. “You’re just in time for a warm cup of tea and a slice of homemade sponge cake”. Lily shares a special afternoon tea and they exchange many wonderful stories. Finally, Lily’s Great Grandma hands Lily an envelope. In it is a message written faintly on another piece of torn paper which reads “in the box”. This time it has a tear on the left-hand side, and when Lily says the message out loud, she whizzes away back to her Great Grandpa’s house.

“Where have you been?” says Great Grandpa in a rather puzzled tone. Her Great Grandpa would never believe what has happened, in fact Lily questions if it ever happened at all too. To Lily’s surprise, she looks down and realises she is still holding the message with the tear on the left side, as well as the message with the tear on the right side. She puts the two together and they read; “Lily in the box”. Lily keeps the message forever to remind her always of the wonderful adventure she experienced that day, visiting not just Great Grandpa, but also the spirit of her Great Grandma too, in the magical wooden mystery box.