The Hidden Room

The door came open with a solid push of my shoulder. It was old and gave way without much resistance.

At first glance there there was not much to see, just the hollowed out alcove in the corner that took me sometime to see as my eyes grew used to the darkness.  I walked over to the window to open the blinds, only to be confronted with thousands of spider webs which I walked through as if navigating through some foreign space plasma.

I threw open the curtains, only to be confronted by a window enclosed by shutters, through which I witnessed vague intimations of daylight.

I forced the window open and pushed open the shutters. The wind caught them and forced them back on to the sides of the of attic dormer. They banged against the shingled side.

I cursed myself for doing this, knowing that if I were ever to get any sleep that night, I would have to fix them before I retired for the evening, which judging by the angle of the winter sun would be in about six hours.  The cold wind quickly made me close the window again.  Now the twilight filled this forgotten room.

The focal point of this room was the alcove, which sat plain and surprisingly clean considering the state that the room was in. It was scalloped shaped and indeed appeared designed to reflect that very sea shell, complete with the subtle ridging of the shell.

It was cream coloured with an antique small wooden table set within its recess. On top was a chromium object, very shiny, not at all touched by the dust of time that permeated the rest of the room.  No cobwebs were attached to it, and the area had a strange clinical sterility to it.

My first impulse was to reach out and touch the object.  It had a large enough base to hold it stable which narrowed into a remarkable fine and thin middle section and then expanded again at the top to match the extrusion at the bottom.  To my eye, it looked perfectly symmetrical.

I found my hand getting closer when suddenly there was a strange buzzing feeling that ran up my arm as my hand approached it.  I immediately withdrew my hand.

I stood and stared at  it for some time, unsure of what to do next. There was no pain associated with the feeling and, as I stood there, I felt an increasing sense of security and joy enveloping me.

I thought about what the real estate agent had said about the previous owner, an elderly widowed gentleman, whom no-one saw much, but from all reports, a kind man and good neighbour who kept to himself but did not avoid contact with his neighbours.  She was unclear about his previous occupation, but it had all seemed harmless enough, having met his daughter at the real estate closing of the house.

I screwed up my courage once again and finally took hold of the object.  For a brief instant I could hear the winds ripping the shutters against the walls of the dormer, but as soon as I took hold of the object, it seemed to take possession of me.

I don't know how long I stood in that spot, transfixed as the object seemed to transmit its current through my body.  All I can remember is glancing out the window when I came somewhat to my senses and noticed that the winter sun had set and that darkness had descended upon a cold clear black night.

I could see the stars above me, but then it was the strangest thing that happened.  The back of the alcove had become completely transparent and same view I could see out the window, I could also see through the alcove.  The view was exactly as if the back end of the alcove had become a window. 

This seemed interesting enough but offered no clearer insight into the darkened sky than the view from the window, and although fascinating enough soon became ordinary and that if I wished to view the stars, I could just as easily peer out the window instead of standing in front of this alcove holding this strange object in my hand.

Knowing that the purchase of the house to be completed and that the dwelling  and everything in it to be legally mine, I thought to return the object to its place and ponder it at some future date with all it implications.

It was as I was replacing the stick back on the table that I noticed that the view through alcove changed and the stars I was looking at moved closer. I withdrew it slightly noticing that likewise the stars withdrew. I peered out the window and saw no such apparent change in that view.  I appeared to be holding a kind of cosmic joy stick.

Just as that thought went through my mind a faint apparition appeared transposed across the darkened sky.

"You have no idea" it whispered at me.  It was of a younger man in his late 30's early 40's.

"Yes you have found it. No one from my family wanted it or bothered to find it. It is now yours.  I know you have a million questions pulsating through your mind. Perhaps in time they may all be answered"

He paused for some time fading in and out of view.

"It is enough for you to know that you may explore all of the cosmos, indeed all of creation with that device you hold in your hand. You may gain knowledge, but in computer jargon, it is a read only device, you can write nothing to anything you observe, that is you can not change anything you may see or interfere in any way with your observations. Enjoy it, I surely did.'

And with that he was gone and I was left wondering if I held the instrument that would unlock the secrets of creation.


1000 words