Unlock your Dreams

         "What're we looking for up here?" asked Jeremy.
         Elise sighed. "Didn't you even listen? We're getting the flags for my mom."
         "I know that. It's just small talk, Elise. Lighten up."
         "Oh, I'm sorry, Jeremy. It's just that tomorrow is the family reunion and my mom is trusting me to help her. I don't want it to be a disaster like last year.
         Jeremy chuckled. "You can't deny it was funny. Watching your dad drop the cake on your mom would've made anyone laugh - even you."
         "I'm glad I didn't see it happen. My parents are fools," she remarked, "but this year will be different. Now where did my mom put those flags - oh! there they are." Elise pulled the flags out from a cardboard box and held them up to the light that shone through the attic window.
         "My cousins made these when they were younger and we display them each year at the reunion," Elise explained.
         "Alright, then, let's get out of here," Jeremy said.
         The two of them started on their way out of the attic but not before Jeremy knocked over an old, dusty vase.. He always did that. Just that morning he had dropped his glass that he was drinking from.
         "Sorry... again," Jeremy said, shaking his head, "I'm such a clutz."
         "Tell me about it. I'll go an get the broom and dustpan down stairs. You're lucky that vase was just a waste of space, anyways," she said as she walked down the stairs.
         Jeremy could hear talking downstairs. Who was Elise talking to? It was just the two of them supposed to be in the house. Jeremy looked back at the dusty attic and got creeped out being all alone. Where was Elise? Jeremy looked down at the vase he broke. Something was shining amidst the shattered remnants. Jeremy bent down and looked at the shiny thing. It was key. Attached to it with a silken ribbon was a note: unlock your dreams, it read.
         "Huh...," Jeremy muttered.
         "What was that?" someone said. Jeremy turned around. Elise was standing there, a broom and dustpan in her hands. "You've gone loopy, haven't you? I just saw you talking to yourself." She saw him holding the key, and before he could respond she said, "hey, what's that?"
         "Some key I found in that vase I broke," Jeremy said, holding out the key. Elise snatched the key out of his hand. "Unlock your dreams," she whispered. "Cryptic," she exclaimed. "Let's try to find what it unlocks." And with that she dashed out the door, the key in her hand.
         "We forgot to clean up the vase and bring down the flags to your mom," Jeremy shouted to Elise.
         "Was I the one that broke that the vase? You clean it up."
         "What about the flags?"
         "Bring 'em downstairs to my mom," Elise said lamely.
         After Jeremy finished these two things, he found Elise sitting in her bedroom with the key and a book in her lap.
         "Jeremy, this key is magic," Elise shrieked.
         "Magic isn't real, Elise. How could it even be magic?" Jeremy asked.
         "It opened my diary. How could it do that when I lost my key for it when I was like eight?" Elise wondered.
         "Not sure," Jeremy responded.
         "It's magic," Elise insisted.
         "Maybe it's the key you lost for the diary."
         "Then could it do this?" Elise stood up and pushed the key against the keyhole of the the music box on her dresser. Then Elise turned the key and the top of the music box popped open and music began to chirp through the room.
         "That isn't right," Jeremy said.
         "Tell me about it."
         They were silent for a few moments, then Jeremy spoke, "I'm still wondering what that ribbon meant. Unlock your dreams...what could it mean?"
         "Is it supposed to be a riddle?" Elise suggested.
         "Maybe. We should go ask your mom."
         "Are you crazy? She'll take it from us."
         "Well do you have any other ideas?" Jeremy asked.
         "Well...no. I have noth - wait! My lunchbox!"
         "Seriously, you shouldn't have called me loopy before. The things you're saying make you sound like a crazy person."
         "Oh shut it, Jeremy. I have an idea," she jibed. Elise was near her bed and it seemed she was pulling out something from underneath it. Finally, with one last great tug, Elise pulled out a lunchbox. It was blue, rusted, and seemed like trash. Why Elise kept it, Jeremy didn't know.
         "How is this going to help us," Jeremy questioned.
         "Look at the cover."
         The cover read dreams and underneath it in smaller letters: just a wish your heart makes.
         "It makes sense for the riddle. Unlock your dreams," Jeremy commented.
         "Walter McNash -"
         "Oh, I hate him," Jeremy added.
         "Well, he stole the key for my lunchbox when I was eight. I had a brownie in here that I wanted so I never threw it out. I've kept it for at least five years under my. That brownie is probably nasty now."
         "Quit chatting and open it up, Elise!"
         Elise took the key and put into the lock. She turned it and the lock clicked. She lifted the cover and a nauseating odor escaped.
         "What was that?"
         "It's the brownie. It's probably all moldy now. Jeremy, go throw it out - I can't stomach that stench."
         Jeremy went to the bathroom, took a wad of toilet paper, put it over his nose and removed the age - old brownie from the lunchbox.
         "P-U," Elise moaned, "I'm glad that's over."
         "Same," Jeremy said.

THE END