The Rattle

In the sweltering attic of her great grandmother's old house, Kayla had to stop to catch her breath for a second.  As she sat on a filthy old rotted box of disintegrating books, she reflected on the strange turn of events her life had taken over the past year.  Her 6 month old son was taking an afternoon nap downstairs while her young husband was busy at work in the basement, sorting through mildewing stacks of clothing and God knows what else.  Kayla smiled at the thought of her family.  At only 20 years old, she grew up an only child and she could remember wanting her own family for as long since she was a little girl.  Her mother had been raised in a series of foster homes, never knowing her real family, and died when Kayla was in high school.  Kayla married her high school sweetheart and after just one year had the baby she had always wanted.  When little Spencer was just one month old, she was contacted be an attorney saying that she was the sole heir to her grandmother's estate and would need to decide what she intended to do with the property.  Kayla had been stunned.  She never even knew she had any living relatives. The only relative her mother had ever spoken of was an older sister named Emily that died in an insane asylum many years ago.  Now she found herself across the country, in a state she had never been to, sitting in a house she now owned that had belonged to a woman she never knew.

A box in a corner caught her eye.  It was different from all the other cardboard cartons, as this was made out of metal and had a lock on it.  Kayla was intruiged and walked over to it.  As she squatted down, she could see a key hanging from a silver chain on the wall next to the metal box.  She took the key and after a little fumbling with the lock opened the box to find a very old but beautiful silver baby rattle.  Kayla had never seen anything like it.  Although it should have been tarnished after so many years of neglect, it gleamed so she could see her reflection in the round bulb shaped top.  She stared at the rattle with fascination.  It was obviously very valuable, and so far everything that they had found in the house had been cheap and junky.  Her husband Matt's head suddenly appeared amid the papers and trash on the floor.  "Boo!"  he said laughing.  She laughed back and reached over to kiss his mop of dusty hair.  She showed him the rattle and he too was impressed.

"Speaking of babies" he said "someone is paging you down here."  Kayla grinned at the thought of sweet little Spencer who was just experimenting with first words.  She could faintly hear him downstairs chanting his latest mantra "ma ma ma ma ma ma ma."  She gave the rattle a quick shake and was surprised to hear a strange noise rather than the standard shaking beans sound that comes from a rattle.  "Did you hear that?"  she asked Matt. 

"Yeah" he said "what is that like a chime?"  Kayla shook the rattle again.  They heard the same strang unidentifiable noise .  Kayla said "It almost sounds like one of those noisemakers that they put inside baby dolls that makes them sound like they are crying when you pick it up.  I used to have one when I was little.  Kind of creepy if you ask me." 

Matt said "well how about I take it to Spencer and get an expert opinion while you finish up?"

"Okay.  I'll be right down."  Matt's head disappeared back into the hallway below.  She heard him go into Spencers room and say "Look what Daddy's got for his big boy!"

Kayla returned to the metal lock box.  Under where the rattle had been stored was a leather bound scrapbook.  She pulled it out and gingerly opened the cover.  The album was full of newpaper clippings, the first one was a picture of the house that Kayla was sitting in along with a headline that read "Infant kidnapped from home in quiet neighborhood!"  Kayla was shocked.  She quickly turned the page.  From downstairs, she heard Matt leave Spencer's room and go into the bathroom.  On the next page was a story about how a baby, her cousin she supposed, had been discovered missing without a trace at the age of 4 months.  The police were stumped, there was no sign of forced entry and no leads at all.  The mother, Emily, had to be sedated and they were waiting for her to wake up to answer some questions.  The articles continued to tell a story about a fruitless search that never recovered a single sign of the baby boy and a mother who it seemed had snapped in the process.  The only thing that she ever said to the police and doctors was "He's in the rattle.  My baby is in the rattle."  After 6 months she was committed to a mental institution, where she died years later without ever saying anything other than "My baby is in the rattle"

The realization of what she had just read slowly started to dawn on Kayla.  Surely, Emily was truly insane.  But what if........?

"MATT!  MATT!"  She couldn't get down the ladder fast enough.  He met her at the bottom, drying his hands. "Kayla.  What? What is wrong with you?"

"Spencer!"  she screamed  "The RATTLE!"  She raced down the hall with Matt right behind her.  As she flung the door to the bedroom open she saw..... an empty crib.  Empty excep for a beautiful gleaming silver rattle.  When she picked up the rattle and shook it she could hear quite clearly "ma ma ma ma ma ma ma"  She looked at Matt who was frantically looking for Spencer and said "The rattle.  Spencer is inside the rattle."  Then she passed out.

Word count 1000 words