p. 1

the key molly alford

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p. 2

mia stared at her mother appalled how could this be happening she felt tears coming and she turned away quickly b-b-but she was only s-sixty-nine mia stammered i know darling sometimes it happens and you ve just got to move on no one was expecting it mia flicked her dark hair carelessly out of her face and wiped her wet eyes that sparkled with tears she reached out and hugged her mother who was still in her painting smock the funeral is on wednesday so we will have to go to that tomorrow i thought we could go to her house and clear it out mia s mother croaked now we have no grandparents sobbed mia into her pillow you d better get some sleep replied her mother sadly and she left mia in her room.

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p. 3

when mia her mother her father and her baby brother dylan reached her grandmother s house the next day mia s mother got out of the car first she pulled a loop of keys out of her handbag and flicked through them finally after much waiting from the rest of her family she found the right key a large old silver looking key and fitted it in the matching lock the wooden door swung open and the family stepped inside the abandoned house it smelt old and musty and a layer of thick dust had settled on all the surfaces mia s grandmother had been in hospital for quite a while before she died therefore the house had been untouched for a few months let me see mia s mother croaked again mia can you do the attic my back is sore okay mia replied sadly and ran down the hallway she climbed the ladder into the attic this room probably hadn t had anyone in for years because even before her grandmother

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p. 4

went to hospital she would have been too old to climb the ladder the attic looked as if it had nothing in it when mia first entered it but once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness she noticed a shadow in the corner of the room and walked over to it she identified the object as a large case she felt for the buckles and flicked them open she felt inside the case but it was no use it was just too dark then mia remembered the camping torch that was kept downstairs in the cupboard with the bulbs within the minute mia returned to the case with the torch and shone it the inside the case it appeared empty but as she looked more closely she noticed a small key stuck in the lining she picked it up and turned it over in her hand it was cold and about the size of her little finger.

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p. 5

after placing the key in her jeans pocket mia closed the case with a snap she leant it up against the wall stood up and climbed down the stairs once more before returning the torch mia had to find what that key would unlock mia passed the bedroom and went into the kitchen and lounge she tried the key in many places including her grandmother s writing desk and the cabinet under the television but the key didn t fit in any of those places whatever her grandmother wanted to keep locked up was probably in her bedroom mia needed to find a way she could get her mother out of the room while she investigated she d think of a plan later she walked down the hallway and past the bathroom she stopped when she got to the old wooden desk in the hall it felt almost magical on the desk were a few things including writing

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p. 6

paper and envelopes a couple of photos and a keep-safe box she tried to prise the box open but the lid would not budge then mia noticed the box had a keyhole excitement boiled up inside mia as she pulled the key out of her pocket and with a shaking hand slowly pushed her tense fist towards the lock the key was the perfect size mia turned it and the box clicked then opened inside was a necklace and she held it up to the dim light it was a gold locket with a delicate golden chain she admired it for a couple of minutes then prised it open tucked into the curves were two people on the left was a younger version of her grandmother and on the right a man mia faintly recognised she d seen that face somewhere who was it mia ran into the bedroom where her mother was spread out on the floor surrounded

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p. 7

by picture albums and photographs she looked up and mia held the open locket out to her where did you find this mia s mum asked on the dresser in the hall mia replied i figured it is grandmother on the left but i m not sure who the stranger on the right is mia s mother flicked through some photos in a pile next to her knee until she came to the one she wanted she passed it to mia your granddad she said plainly my granddad mia exclaimed is that him yes he left when i was five why asked mia mia s mum shrugged he just left and never came back mia looked down at the picture there was a dark-haired man in the photo standing next to

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p. 8

a much younger woman that mia could recognise as her beloved grandmother suddenly mia recalled where she had seen the face the photo in her mother s purse mia compared the photo from the album to the photo in the locket the men were definitely the same other than that i have nothing to tell you announced mia s mother quietly mia woke up on the morning of the funeral feeling depressed she dressed and went down into the lounge she played with her breakfast pushing it around her plate mia s mother loaded the car with all the flowers and then the family drove off dylan was the only one making any noise and because he was too young to understand why everyone was sad he kept asking was matter was matter when they finally got to the funeral a noticeable air of sadness and sorrow hung over

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p. 9

the grounds there were a couple of people standing here and there with tears running down their faces she noticed her aunt and uncle cousins and some family friends then nancy one of her cousins came over to her hi how are you nancy mumbled mournfully how do you think i am mia retorted she smiled feebly hey do you know who that old man is over there he s annoyingly chatty he keeps coming up to me and trying to hold a conversation no sorry wait mia pulled off her backpack and pulled out the photo of her grandfather i know there is a couple of years difference but do you think that s him mia asked nancy as they compared the men well there s only one way to know for sure go and ask replied nancy.

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p. 10

mia nervously left nancy behind and slowly walked towards the man he had dark hair and was quite tall mia walked past the coffin which was yet to be buried over to the shady tree the man was standing under h-hello what s your name mia stuttered mark how do you do said the old man sadly good thank you did you know this woman mia asked as she gestured to the coffin yes many years ago though i m her granddaughter mia is this you mia shakily pulled out the photo very slowly and carefully the man examined the photo yes once upon a time i lived with your grandmother then i made a big mistake and ran away could mia detect tears in his eyes?

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p. 11

why she asked although she wasn t completely sure she wanted to know the truth well i went to the doctors one day for a check-up as you do and they discovered i had a brain tumour i found myself getting violent and angry and i didn t want to hurt my family i knew your grandma didn t have the time to look after me as well as you so i ran away but i did do one good thing i let surgeons conduct a difficult almost impossible operation on me surprisingly it was a success but i could never face going back to my family especially after i had run away from them anyway until a little while ago what do you mean well it was when she was sick i went back to her when i inherited the money from my rich father when he passed away i also found myself struggling at work so i sold my business and retired it had always been my work that

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p. 12

had taken my mind off my family my workmates to keep me company but when i was alone at home for the next few weeks after i had retired it was then that i longed to see my family once more share my retirement money with her when i saw your mother in the paper for that art award i knew i had to go back and apologise suddenly he burst out crying and now it s my fault your grandmother s dead don t cry it s not your fault mia replied comfortingly yes no don t be silly you might feel that way but it definitely wasn t your fault mark shook his head she just mia hesitated died no i went round to her house to apologise and she got angry at me furious the next day she went into hospital she got very sick and two months after that she was dead

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p. 13

no trust me it s not your fault she just got old mark looked at her i thought i d better come and pay my respects but after that i am leaving everyone thinks i m a bad person so i d better not stay long but you re not can t you at least come and say hi to my mother no it wouldn t be fair i left when she was only five but people will believe you wouldn t it be nice to reunite with your family once more well i suppose so come home with us tonight maybe please then mia s mother came strolling over wiping her wet eyes with a hanky mia come on,

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p. 14

it s about to start she glanced over at mark then back at mia without batting an eyelid mum this is mark it s good that you re talking to people but we ve got to go if you want to see the funeral hi susie mia s mother looked at mark and then back at mia a confused expression on her face hi well this looks like a good time to introduce you both to each other mia said mum this is mark your dad and mia s mum gasped dad yes it s me mia s mother walked up to him and hugged her father will you come back with us she asked him okay he wept.

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p. 15

the funeral came and went and although the sadness was still there it was not so intense she couldn t help being excited and after all she d lost one grandparent but had also gained one once they had taken mark home mia and her family got ready to celebrate his arrival they set up the spare room for mark and then made mini pizzas mark and the rest of the family had a whale of a time talking and eating everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves but after a couple of hours it was soon time to go to bed as mia s mother came to say good night to mia she watched mark walk into the spare room and close the door she sighed with happiness then walked into mia s room good night mia night mum mum i m still sad

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