Her parents had always cautioned her to avoid it. "The attic is off-limits," her father would tell her. But the key seemed to vibrate in her hand as if it had been waiting for her to discover it.
Mia inserted the key into the lock, and to her amazement, it turned. The door groaned open.
Inside, the attic was lit with a single, flickering light bulb. There was dust in the air, and old furniture stood like ghosts. But across the room in the corner stood something that did not belong - a wooden child's rocking chair.
It was rocking, creaking back and forth very slowly.
As Mia came closer, she heard the whispers once more. They were louder this time, and they weren't emanating from the chest. They were coming from the back of the rocking chair.
Mia breathed in deeply and, with a combination of fear and curiosity, moved forward. She moved the chair out of the way to expose a trapdoor in the floor, large enough for a child to squeeze through.
The entrance to the other world had been opened.