We moved in our new house. The house has cathedral ceilings up and down, and the only attic¹ space was in the adjoining wall from my son’s room, which is above the kitchen. It is about twelve feet long, and its highest point is about five feet, and then it tapers² down from the angle of the roof...

 

The first thing I noticed that was odd was that it had been nailed shut. Not just with a few nails but about twelve long ominous³ ones…The former occupant was either attempting to stop someone getting in….Or out.

　

The house is in a very nice neighborhood with a creek⁴ nearby, the mountains nicely within view and a multitude of parks… It was upon the third night that we first heard something out of sorts…A scratching noise above the kitchen. I told my wife and son that we must have a trapped animal in the attic space, perhaps a rat. Yet, for some unexplainable reason my imagination kept considering a far more sinister⁵ prospect⁶... Whatever the course I was going to have to investigate…

 

That Saturday my wife went off shoe shopping and left me and my son to attend to a variety of 'honey do's". Towards the top of the list was investigating the attic.

 

It was the last task I completed that day. Finally I could no longer procrastinate⁷, and retrieved⁹ my tool box from the garage and, with Jonathan eagerly at my heel we slowly marched upstairs. My dog Tasha was as usual also by my side…

 

We went into Jonathan's room and into the corner where the wood panel is nailed into place. The angle from the attic continues up in my son's room, so there is only five- foot height outside the panel...

 

I sighed and set my tool box down, and banged my head in the process. This entertained my son but only irritated me further. I pulled my hammer from the box and with much effort I eventually pulled out the first nail…It was six inches long. The strange thing was after that first nail got out, Tasha started whining¹⁰ and licking my hand…Eventually she was so much of a distraction¹¹ that I had to ask Jonathan to take her downstairs…

 

It must have taken three quarters of an hour to get the first eleven nails out…It was a warm afternoon, and my salty sweat was starting to drip down my forehead and burn my eyes…I was just drying off my eyes when I thought I heard something from inside the space… A rustling¹² noise and the noise however slight, was a noise nonetheless, this could only mean one thing that something was moving in there, just a few feet from where I was now sitting. The look on my son’s face was transformed to a bored look, to one of slight fear. Perhaps he was somehow in tune¹³ to my thoughts, or maybe he could also sense that things were not quiet right with this attic. I considered simply nailing the board back into place…Yet part of me could not do that. I simply had to know…

 

So I took a deep breath and worked on the last nail. As it slipped from the place it had obviously been situated¹⁴ in years, the board came free. The first thing that we became aware of was the smell…It reminded me of rotting meat. As there were no lights put into the space, I sent Jonathan back down to the garage to retrieve⁸ the most powerful flashlight I own…He raced down with the exuberance¹⁵ of a ten year old and was back moments later.

 

Jonathan looked at me.

 

I looked at Jonathan.

 

"Well," he said, "are you going in or not?"

 

Now surely I could not disappoint the only person who considered me afraid of nothing? I edged into the space and fired up the flashlight…I was completely taken aback by the sight that met my eyes…And quickly exited. I had noticed three things…a baby’s rattle¹⁶, an old-fashioned teddy bear and what looked to be a baby…

 

As I re-entered the attic, with a more rational mind, and discovered what had appeared to be a baby was only in fact a doll. I sent Jonathan to get my camera and we took this photograph. I chuckled¹⁷ to myself at how my mind had twisted the situation…We left the door unnailed, just resting against the gaping¹⁸ hole, and continued on with the day. We did not think much more of it until that evening whilst we were watching television; we once more heard the noise. But this time it was significantly louder.

 

That morning, I once again stuck my head in to the attic, and this time I almost screamed…Not from what I saw, but from what I did not see. The doll had vanished.

 

I quickly nailed up the panel again…And to this day I have never again ventured inside our attic…And yes, on occasion, we still do hear strange noises coming from that space.#p#分页标题#e#

 

Was it really just his imagination?

 

I am not so very sure…I suspect that my attic might hold a sordid¹⁹ past…

 

我们搬进了新房子。房子的天花板就像教堂上尖尖的屋顶一样从中间向边上倾斜，紧邻着我儿子的房间是一间阁楼，也是这所房子里面唯一的一间，位于厨房的上面。这间阁楼差不多有十二尺长，最高的地方有将近五尺，屋顶从尖角的位置向下延伸开来逐渐变得宽阔，就像圆锥那样。

 

第一件让我奇怪的事情是阁楼的门被钉死了，而且不是用的几个小钉子，而是十二根很长的，让人有一种不祥的预感。看起来房子先前的主人是想阻止什么人进去，或是出来…

 

房子四周的风景很美，附近有一条小溪，几座景色宜人的大山还有很多公园…但是，住进来的第三天晚上我们听到了一些让人不大高兴的声音…厨房上面传来了一阵噼里啪啦的声音。我就和妻子儿子说肯定是阁楼里面关着了什么动物，也许是只老鼠，但是，不知道为什么我的脑海里总是出现一些不祥的预感。究竟是怎么回事呢？我打算去看看…

 

那个星期六妻子出去逛商店买鞋了，留下我和儿子在家做一大堆的“亲情劳动”，妻子列出了清单，第一件事就是检查一下阁楼里面是什么。

 

但那是我那天做的最后一件事情，最后我实在是不能再耽误了，于是从车库里找来工具箱，缓缓地走上楼去。乔纳森紧紧跟在我后面，我的狗塔莎像往常一样跟在我身旁。

 

我们进了乔纳森的房间，走到墙角钉着木板的地方。四周并不是竖直的墙壁，屋顶还在继续向外倾斜着，因此钉着木板的地方只有五尺高。

 

我叹了口气，放下工具箱埋头苦干起来，一不留神脑袋撞在了墙上，儿子觉得很好玩，但是我的火气越来越大。我拿出来锤子，费了九牛二虎之力终于拔出了一根钉子…居然有六寸长，看起来很不错。可是奇怪的事情在我拔出钉子以后发生了，塔莎开始低声呜呜的叫着，并且不断地舔我的手…它搅得我不能专心干活，于是我就让乔纳森把它抱下楼去了。

 

我用了差不多45分钟才把前十一根钉子拔出来，那天下午很暖和，汗水从我的前额淌下来流到了眼睛里，我正揉眼睛的时候，觉得听到了什么声音从里面传出来…好像是一阵“沙沙”的声音。那声音很轻，但是却很清晰，离我现在坐的地方几英尺以外的阁楼里一定是有什么东西在动。我儿子脸上无聊的表情消失了，此时看上去似乎有点害怕。也许是他看出了我在想什么，或者他也感觉到了阁楼里面并不是正常情况下的安静无声。我本想简单的再把木板钉回去了事…但是我不愿意那样做，我想要看个究竟…

 

我深深地吸了口气，去拔最后一根钉子。当我从墙壁里面把它抽出来的时候，木板掉到了地上，明显能看出来这块板子被钉上去有很多年了。接下来的第一件事就是我们闻到了里面的气味…就好像是一堆烂肉所散发出来的。阁楼里面没有灯，于是我让乔纳森下楼去车库把最亮的手电筒拿来…他以一个十岁孩子最快的速度冲下楼去，不一会儿就回来了。

 

乔纳森看着我。

 

我也看着他。

 

“你真得要进去吗？”他问我。

 

此刻我决不能让儿子对心目中天不怕地不怕的父亲形象失望，于是我把身子探进去，打开手电筒…看到了里面的情景后我猛然间向后一缩，随即迅速退了出来。我看见三样东西…一个小孩子的玩具，一件老式的玩具熊，还有一个东西好像是个孩子…

 

第二次进去的时候我有了心理准备，这时发现那个似乎是孩子的东西其实是个洋娃娃。我让乔纳森去拿照相机来，给这些东西拍了照片。我笑自己怎么会把情况想得那么复杂…随后我们离开了，并没把木板钉回去，而是就立在了洞口的地方。那天接下来的时间就这么过去了，我们都没再想什么，直到晚上看电视的时候我们又听见了那个声音，而且这次的声音明显比以前大了。

 

转天早上我又把头探进阁楼去看个究竟，当时我几乎尖叫出来…并不是因为我又看见了什么，而是因为我没有看见的东西。昨天的那个洋娃娃不见了。

 

我赶忙把木板钉了回去…并且至今为止我也没有再进到阁楼里面去…不过，有时我们还能听到那个奇怪的声音从里面传出来。

 

难道这是他的灵魂吗？

 

我不知道到底是怎么回事…我只是在想，也许阁楼里面当初发生过某件不光彩的事情。

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