up…
She closed the book, shocked at her find. She felt guilty for breaking the age old taboo of reading someone’s diary. She placed it back in the box on top of the others and shut the lid, hiding it from view, but it didn’t hide her excitement at finding them. What if they contained undiscovered clues as to what happened to his friends? What if she found a confessional? She imagined herself solving the mystery after all these years. Would the truth make things any easier on Shane and the families of those who had lost their loved ones? Or would it make things worse for everyone? Try as she might, she knew there was no way she could leave those books alone.
After a minute she opened the box again and this time she extracted another note book with ‘Finding Heaven’ scrawled on the front. She opened it and discovered that Uncle Shane had written his own novel. This was much safer than, and almost as interesting as, the diaries, so she decided to placate her nosiness with this instead.
Mankind had been exploring the Galaxy for over one and a half thousand years before they inadvertently found Heaven. For centuries the search had been to find another planet as habitable as Earth but to no success. When Gyrocor #43 came into the recently discovered planet they realised something was amiss…
Jennifer stopped reading when she heard her dad’s voice booming up the stairs. She knew she’d be in trouble if he found out where she was so she stayed silent. She stayed there for three hours while her family searched for her, reading Uncle Shane’s attempt at his own sci-fi story.
Finally, she heard the sound of her dad’s car start up. She put the novel back in the box with the diaries and vowed to retrieve them as soon as she could. Then by yelling and stomping her feet, she eventually managed to get the attention of Angela who came up let her out.
The hatch rattled and a beam of light shot into the dusty attic.
“You scared the life out of me.”
“What took you so long?” She peered down at the nervous face of her twin.
“I didn’t know where the banging was coming from, did I?” Angela replied defensively. “What’ve you been doing up here anyway?”
“Hiding.”
“For all that time? I don’t believe you.” Angela had her hand on hips as Jennifer climbed down.
“Well I was. So there,” She grinned and closed her bedroom door.
She packed away the papers into her purple folder and stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom thinking about Uncle Shane’s Star Wars box in the attic. She would’ve liked to talk to Angela about it but she looked up to their dad and took her opinions from him, especially where Uncle Shane was concerned. Jennifer thought that was stupid because they had only met Uncle Shane a handful of times since they were born.
She picked up a silver handled hairbrush and stood in front of the full-length mirror on her wardrobe. As she brushed her chestnut hair she thought about her gran. It didn’t seem possible she was gone. She’d been dead a week now and there were traces of her everywhere. It was as though she’d just gone out to the shops and would be back any moment. I wish Mum would pack her things up, she thought. Gran had used this brush when she’d been little and had told her and Angela about it almost every day for as long as she could remember.
Until last week that was, when Mum had found her in her bed; she just looked like she was asleep, peaceful like someone had just flipped a switch. The hospital said that it had been a stroke. Angela had taken it badly and at any point would burst into tears. Obviously she had been devastated too, but after the initial shock, Jennifer tried to be grateful that Gran didn’t have to suffer much or end up like Old Mrs Langston up the road.
When they were little Mrs Langston was always round the house at twelve o’clock sharp for tea and toast with Gran. She remembered the way she would take off her trademark navy
She closed the book, shocked at her find. She felt guilty for breaking the age old taboo of reading someone’s diary. She placed it back in the box on top of the others and shut the lid, hiding it from view, but it didn’t hide her excitement at finding them. What if they contained undiscovered clues as to what happened to his friends? What if she found a confessional? She imagined herself solving the mystery after all these years. Would the truth make things any easier on Shane and the families of those who had lost their loved ones? Or would it make things worse for everyone? Try as she might, she knew there was no way she could leave those books alone.
After a minute she opened the box again and this time she extracted another note book with ‘Finding Heaven’ scrawled on the front. She opened it and discovered that Uncle Shane had written his own novel. This was much safer than, and almost as interesting as, the diaries, so she decided to placate her nosiness with this instead.
Mankind had been exploring the Galaxy for over one and a half thousand years before they inadvertently found Heaven. For centuries the search had been to find another planet as habitable as Earth but to no success. When Gyrocor #43 came into the recently discovered planet they realised something was amiss…
Jennifer stopped reading when she heard her dad’s voice booming up the stairs. She knew she’d be in trouble if he found out where she was so she stayed silent. She stayed there for three hours while her family searched for her, reading Uncle Shane’s attempt at his own sci-fi story.
Finally, she heard the sound of her dad’s car start up. She put the novel back in the box with the diaries and vowed to retrieve them as soon as she could. Then by yelling and stomping her feet, she eventually managed to get the attention of Angela who came up let her out.
The hatch rattled and a beam of light shot into the dusty attic.
“You scared the life out of me.”
“What took you so long?” She peered down at the nervous face of her twin.
“I didn’t know where the banging was coming from, did I?” Angela replied defensively. “What’ve you been doing up here anyway?”
“Hiding.”
“For all that time? I don’t believe you.” Angela had her hand on hips as Jennifer climbed down.
“Well I was. So there,” She grinned and closed her bedroom door.
She packed away the papers into her purple folder and stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom thinking about Uncle Shane’s Star Wars box in the attic. She would’ve liked to talk to Angela about it but she looked up to their dad and took her opinions from him, especially where Uncle Shane was concerned. Jennifer thought that was stupid because they had only met Uncle Shane a handful of times since they were born.
She picked up a silver handled hairbrush and stood in front of the full-length mirror on her wardrobe. As she brushed her chestnut hair she thought about her gran. It didn’t seem possible she was gone. She’d been dead a week now and there were traces of her everywhere. It was as though she’d just gone out to the shops and would be back any moment. I wish Mum would pack her things up, she thought. Gran had used this brush when she’d been little and had told her and Angela about it almost every day for as long as she could remember.
Until last week that was, when Mum had found her in her bed; she just looked like she was asleep, peaceful like someone had just flipped a switch. The hospital said that it had been a stroke. Angela had taken it badly and at any point would burst into tears. Obviously she had been devastated too, but after the initial shock, Jennifer tried to be grateful that Gran didn’t have to suffer much or end up like Old Mrs Langston up the road.
When they were little Mrs Langston was always round the house at twelve o’clock sharp for tea and toast with Gran. She remembered the way she would take off her trademark navy
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