The Secret of the Staircase

“Run Elise!” His legs felt like rubber, sweat poured into his eyes. “Steven, I can’t run much longer.” She was exhausted, the bare sun beating down on her felt like carrying 50 pounds. “We have to keep running. We can’t let them take us.” He gasped for breath, never looking back, praying they’d lost their pursuers, knowing it was unlikely. The Agency was after them, the small corporation that had slowly but surely taken over the whole world. Claiming it was for the greater good, but the documents Elise and Steven had taken proved otherwise. They wanted the documents back, and they would never stop chasing them. At the top of the hill, they saw an old barn, with no other structure in sight, it seemed the only reasonable destination. “Head for the barn!” “Are you crazy? They’ll find us there for sure Steven.” “They’ll find us sooner out here, and we can’t run forever.” “I’ll barely make it there, I sure can’t run past it. Ok” . Sweaty and gulping for air they reached the old wood doors.

Steven cautiously slid one open. It was too dark inside to see much of anything. Inside seemed safer than outside so they went inside and shut the door. Gradually their eyes adjusted, what they saw was exactly what would be expected, farm tools and decomposing bales of hay, It seemed safe for now. Elise peeked through a crack in the wall towards the direction they had come from. No sign of The Agency, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Steven, I need water. I’m going to be sick.” He knew how she felt, he felt the same. He wondered what they could possibly find to drink in an abandoned barn, the place looked like no one had been there for at least 50 years.

They moved further into the barn, realizing how large it actually was. They passed many stalls, a storage room, an equipment room, a tool room and in the far back corner in a tiny room with a tiny window they found a well! An antique rope and bucket well. It was better than nothing, and the bucket on the rope seemed to be in good condition. Slowly he lowered the rope. It went down, then down until he wondered if the well had gone dry. Finally they heard a splash and the rope went slack. They raised the bucket again. Taking turns because they were both so exhausted. When it came back into their view, the top of it shimmered in that old familiar way. Elise found a dipper next to the well, and dipped out some water. She gave it to Steven to have the first drink, after all, it was his quick thinking that helped them escape The Agency. He sipped it, it was the cleanest, coldest water he could have asked for. He quickly gulped down the rest of the contents of the dipper, took another dip and passed it to Elise. Taking turns they drank until they could drink no more. “Well, we escaped, for now.” Elise said wistfully “But what good will it do us if we stay here and starve to death? We’re trapped here.” Steven knew she wasn’t wrong, but they’d had no choice. No one taken by The Agency ever returned. There were rumors about the fates of the taken, and they were not cheerful tales. This was the only building for at least 30 miles in any direction, surely The Agency would find them eventually. They had gone from being running fugitives to sitting ducks.

“Let’s check out the rest of the barn before it gets dark.” He hoped they had missed something, anything, that might help their situation. Carefully, stall by stall, room by room, they went over the barn. Everything seemed normal, all the usual stuff, nothing notably helpful. Finally they went up in the loft. More old hay and a dirty blanket, likely from a romance long ago. Along the back wall, Elise noticed an intricate carving of a horse. “This is an odd thing to find in a place like this.” Curious, she examined it closely. The bridle was a separate piece of wood, laid over the carving. As she looked, she noticed a faintly visible hinge, she lifted the bridle gently and WHOOSH! A panel opened in the wall. “Steven! Come look at this!” Excitedly he ran to her. It was dark inside the opening, he took his flashlight from his pack and shined it inside. Stairs, leading both up and down. “what in the world?” he wondered. “Let’s go up.” “No.” She said “It could be dangerous, Lord knows what’s up there.” “Well, we haven’t found anything helpful down here beyond the well. And there must be something important there to go to this much trouble to keep it hidden.” She loved how well he reasoned things. “Ok. Fair point. We go, but be careful.” As they stepped into the staircase, the panel behind them closed. Up they went, carefully. Steven went first since he had the flashlight, and it was his idea. At the top of the stairs was a wall, why have a staircase with no exit? He wondered.

Carefully he shined the light on the panel that should have been a door. Covered in dust and cobwebs he saw a small etching of a horse, about three inches wide. Again the bridle was a separate piece, but this time no hinge, it looked like a button. He pressed it. WHOOSH! The panel opened. They stepped cautiously out onto what appeared to be the roof. “Great, why don’t we just send up a flare? We are totally exposed up here.” Elise was angry and afraid. Steven walked to the edge and put out his hand, he hit something solid. “This is curious. Elise, look.” She reached out and also touched something solid. It wasn’t glass, or plastic, nothing was visible, but something was there. “Amazing” She marveled for a few minutes then started walking around the seemingly empty roof. Halfway across, she tripped and fell. “Are you ok?” Steven rushed to help her up. “Yes I’m ok. I tripped over something.” “There’s nothing there.” “Yes. There is, my foot hit it pretty hard.” She stood up and they examined the spot. Steven felt around on his knees. Sure enough, he found something. He ran his hands around it and found it was box shaped. Great, an invisible box in an invisible room on the roof of an antique barn in the middle of nowhere, could the day get weirder? He wondered.

“How do we open it?” She asked. “I don’t know. Surely there’s a way.” “I wonder…” Elise started to feel around on the back wall. “Wonder what?” he asked. “If it’s an invisible chest, maybe there’s an invisible key.” Directly to the right of the sliding panel she felt something, it didn’t feel like a key, more like a marble on a chain. She took it, and brought it to the chest. Feeling the surface of the chest, she found a round indentation, the same size as the marble, she placed the marble there and the chest popped open. The inside was visible, lined with lush blue velvet. It contained two golden horses with silver bridles, about two inches wide attached to gold chains. “What could these be?” Steven wondered out loud. Elise put one around her neck, pressed on the bridle of the device and vanished. Steven panicked. After the day they’d had, the sudden disappearance of his wife was more than he could take. “Elise? Elise?” He called for her. “I’m right here, are you ok?” “Am I ok? You’re the one whose gone invisible.” “Have I?” She looked around her. “I can see the chest, and the walls of this room!” “Elise. These objects make the wearer invisible!” Steven was stunned, this was exactly the item to help them escape The Agency for good. He took the other one, placed it around his neck and activated it. Instantly he could see her, he could also see the chest and the walls. Plain wooden walls, very similar to the rest of the barn, except for being invisible to those not wearing the objects.

They searched the whole room carefully, in the far corner they found two small wooden crates. Inside they found two plain, small bags with writing stitched on them. “Invisibility Powder”. Each of them tied one to their waist. Elise closed the chest that had contained the objects, and picked up the key. Now she could see it, it was like a large marble, only far more beautiful. Inside looked like a glowing blue galaxy, that she felt sure was spinning when she stared at it. “Well, shall we see what is at the bottom of the stairs now?” Elise felt brave, emboldened by the discoveries upstairs. “Yes my dear, let’s” He was excited at what may lie at the bottom, considering the treasures at the top. They stepped inside the panel, and it closed behind them. Down they went, down and down, a tight little spiral staircase, that seemed to go on for considerably further than the barn was tall. Finally at the bottom, another panel. This one had what looked like a keyhole that matched the marble key. Steven wondered if it was visible all the time, or only to them because of the objects. Elise took the key from her pocket and placed it in the door. WHOOSH! Again the door slid open.

Inside, they found what could best be described as a high tech bunker. Lights illuminated the ceiling. Assorted devices covered a table along the far wall. There was a bed with soft and clean blankets, sheets and pillows. There was a shower and a sink. There were towels, clean clothes, soap, toothpaste and an amazing color changing water fountain about 20 feet in from the door. It was cool and comfortable inside, not like the dry searing heat of outside, or even in the barn. The walls were either brick or metal, they could not tell which. They looked at the objects on the counter, each had a label on it and a handwritten instruction booklet next to it. One item was a food maker, It was like a 3d printer, only for food. You typed in the food you wanted, and it made it. They tested it and typed in spaghetti, pressed the start button and within seconds they had a big hot plate of spaghetti, hesitant but hungry, they tasted it. It was delicious. Further in they found a communications and media center, the gentle lights of assorted devices surrounded them. It was a place they could safely share the information they had stolen, which would be the demise of The Agency.

The bunker was as big as the barn above it, and had everything they could ever need for survival. In the far back corner, they tucked away the folder of stolen documents. They had a safe place, and a plan. Elise and Steven took showers, put on the cozy pajamas they found in the well stocked closet and climbed into the bed. Smiling at each other, finally able to relax in peace, they fell asleep in each others arms. For the first time in a very long time, they were excited about the future. Elise dreamed of picking flowers with a little girl who smiled just like Steven. Steven dreamed of the fields surrounding the barn lush with crops ready for harvest, and a little boy chasing chickens in the yard. Soon they would make their dreams come true.