InCITE prompt entry: Catey Chan

In the past year, I have learned the importance of resourcefulness in challenging and surprising situations.

The grand Kingsley mansion was the largest home in the city and an anomaly. Since no one had ever seen the inside, all the public knew was that Dr. Kingsley lived there and possibly his kids. Inside actually lived my twin brother Ben, my father Gareth Kingsley, and me. I’m Lucy. I remember when Ben and I were 11---even then dad was still worried about us even leaving through the front door. We were kept on the property, never to leave, never to be seen. He taught us Monday to Friday, like normal school kids. But when he taught us about the world, all he said was that it was bad and that we would die if we dared to leave the property. We didn’t believe him, but we played along.

When I was younger I had long red hair, always tied back into a braid. Ben had short brown hair; he was tall for his age, and looked like an adult. For as long as I could remember, we always woke up at 5, got dressed and made breakfast. After four classes we would have lunch and outdoor time. We always had the same lunch--a ham sandwich--and after eating, we were allowed outside to play in the courtyard. The only place we were allowed to be: outside. The courtyard had grass, a few large stones and one large willow tree. After playing we came in for 3-4 more classes, depending on how much father felt like talking. After we finished, Ben and I were free to roam. It was one Monday in May when we decided to stay in our room after class. Father had seemed stressed that day so we left him alone. At 5 we started to prepare dinner, and by 6 I called dad to the table but he didn’t respond. After a couple times we realised he wasn’t at the house anymore. Ben pointed out a note on father's armchair. It read “Dear Benjamin and Lucile, something has happened. I trust that you will live without me. I do not know if I will return. Love, Father. ” We just stood in shock, but Ben broke the silence. He reminded me of a time a while ago when a man started banging on the door. Dad had given us a similar speech before opening the door, we hid behind a pillar together and watched as the man and dad talked. I remembered hearing our names come up but we didn’t know why. Today we finally realised whoever that man was, he was looking for us.

Someone knocked, disrupting our conversation. Ben slowly opened the door and I hid behind the same pillar. It was the same man as before. The man didn’t question if he was a kid, he just said “Is Dr. Kingsley home?” He didn’t even say hi. Ben shook his head and said “No” then the man asked “Does he live here?” Ben said, “yes”. The last question was, “Do you live here?” Ben said, “yes”. It was a suspicious answer since it was assumed that no other adult lived other than dad. The man turned away to look at the car driver. He nodded and moved his pointer finger. We took the chance to shut the door, sharing a quick glance before he broke down the door. We both ran faster than ever. I followed Ben and we hid in the library at the back of the house. It would be impossible to find us. We went to a large tall shelf at the back of the room. I was looking through the books hoping to find a heavy one to throw for protection. Finally, I found a large book that would work great. Ben and I removed the book together, and that's when one of the bookshelves dropped down a chute. We both stared in shock as we looked over the gap that the shelf left, past it was a stairwell. It was damp, cold and very dark. Ben and I shared a look, we knew it could be our chance. I went down the stairs first and Ben followed behind, we walked cautiously and slowly making sure to hold onto the wall. Finally, we reached the bottom.

At the bottom was a small room, the walls made of grey stone and the floors made of dirt. Inside was a sewing machine on a small wooden table, a rubber ball and a small flashlight. Ben picked up the flashlight and cycled through the settings, it had white light, blue light, and a strobe. He gave it to me and I went to the sewing machine. We decided we were going to pop the ball so I removed the needle. Once I got the needle out Ben raised the ball up and I pricked it. The ball popped and inside a slip of paper fell out. Ben took the flashlight and turned it on so we could read what was written, nothing was there, Ben changed the setting to blue light. In the spy books, we read the blue light always revealed a secret, and it did this time. It said “Brace your fall” and then the floor collapsed. We fell for quite a bit and then finally we hit something.