Hidden Hollow Five--The Secret of Annabelle

by James R. Lewis

  Chapter 2 Discussion Questions

  K – 2nd Grade

  Kim doesn’t like unpacking. What’s a chore you don’t like?

  Do you have a playroom at home (or, if you don’t, can you imagine a dream playroom)? What toys are in it?

  3rd & 4th Grade

  How do you think Erin and Kim felt when the secret door slammed shut on them the first time?

  What do you predict is in the playroom?

  5th & 6th Grade

  Why do you think Erin felt a shiver of fear when she saw the old woman in the window? Would you be scared?

  Describe the scene where Erin and Kim discover the secret door. How are both of the girls brave in their own ways?

  Chapter 3:

  Annabelle’s Playroom

  “Wow!” said Kim. “Look at all this stuff!”

  Inside Annabelle’s playroom were all kinds of toys and furniture. Everything in the room was covered with a thick layer of dust. Clearly, the room had not been used for many, many years, but it was evident that the room had belonged to a little girl just like them.

  “Who owns all this stuff, Erin?” Kim could barely contain herself as they climbed up the last two steps into the room.

  “Annabelle. Whoever that is.” answered Erin. “It was her playroom, after all.”

  The girls walked over to a large wooden cabinet and opened the heavy wooden doors. Inside were three shelves filled with beautiful dolls. On the bottom of the cabinet was a drawer with beautiful brass handles dangling in front of it.

  “Oh!” exclaimed Erin, staring at the wonderful collection. “This one is so beautiful.” She picked up a porcelain doll with a long lace and red velvet dress. The doll had very long, soft hair that someone had brushed and braided carefully.

  “I think I’ll name her Annabelle after her owner,” she whispered. She hugged the doll close to her chest.

  Kim reached up and grabbed a doll dressed in a stunning evening gown. “I want this one.”

  She also hugged the doll closely to her chest, copying her big sister.

  Erin reached down and opened the bottom drawer of the cabinet. There, neatly folded, were dozens of dresses and outfits, waiting to be put on the dolls. There was every imaginable accessory a young girl could wish for. There were even tiny ivory brushes and combs to groom the dolls’ hair.

  “Why would Annabelle leave all of this stuff in here?” asked Kim, her arms gesturing around the room. “Why wouldn’t she take any of it with her?”

  Erin scrunched up her face, deep in thought. “I don’t have a clue. Maybe she died a tragic death with her parents and we are the very first ones to find her secret playroom. Or maybe she just left and didn’t have time to take all of her stuff with her.”

  “Na-ah,” said Kim with absolute certainty. “She would never leave all this stuff here on purpose.”

  “This mystery is getting more and more interesting. We will just have to discover what happened for ourselves.” Erin rubbed her hands together with a big smile on her face. “Let’s start looking for some clues.”

  They carefully placed the dolls back into the cabinet, and for the next few minutes, the girls made a quick search of the room. In the center was a small, child-sized table with four chairs. The table was set for two with big, beautiful china plates, covered in a thick coat of dust. In fact, there was a layer of dust on everything in the room. Kim picked up one of the plates and blew on it. A small cloud filled the air around them.

  “Oh no, Kim! Look what you’ve done.” Erin coughed, waving her hands in front of her face.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. She couldn’t help but giggle. Erin had a layer of film on her face, making her look rather silly and as pale as a ghost.

  “Quick, open up one of the windows,” Erin sputtered, wiping her cheeks.

  Kim went over to one of the windows and tried to lift the heavy latch. She grunted and groaned, but no matter how hard she lifted, it wouldn’t budge.

  “Erin, I need help.”

  Erin walked over and the two of them lifted with all their might. The window screeched as it slowly slid open. They stuck their heads outside and gulped in the fresh air. Erin looked over at the old woman’s house. She could see her staring at them out of the second story window.

  “Look, Kim!” exclaimed Erin. “There she is again!”

  Kim looked up just in time to see the old woman disappear behind the curtain.

  “I wonder why she keeps watching us,” said Erin, thinking out loud.

  “I don’t know. But she gives me the creeps.”

  They stared at the old woman’s house but neither of them saw her again. After a short time, Erin stuck her head back into the room. The dust had cleared enough for them to continue their search for clues.

  “Come on, Kim. Let’s keep looking.”

  Along with the chest full of dolls and the table, chairs, and china set, they found a large dollhouse in one corner of the room and a carved wooden chest in another. They walked over to the dollhouse and peered through the detailed windows. Every single part of the dollhouse was exactly the same as their new home.

  “Look!” exclaimed Erin. “It’s this house! It even has furniture! I bet this is the way the original furniture looked in the house.”

  “And look,” pointed Kim. “Here is the secret playroom.”

  Erin slid around to the side of the dollhouse where Kim sat. Sure enough, there was the playroom, complete with the same hand-carved miniature furniture. Even the turret room and windows were identical.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” said Kim in a dreamy voice.

  “It sure is,” said Erin. “Come on! Let’s keep looking.”

  Erin tugged at Kim’s sleeve. Kim reluctantly turned away from the dollhouse and continued the search with her sister. They crossed the room and stood over the wooden chest. On the surface were beautifully carved flowers and some carefully-etched lettering.

  “What does it say?” asked Kim.

  Erin reached down and wiped away the dust. “It says, ‘Annabelle’s Hope Chest’.”

  “What’s a hope chest?”

  “That’s a chest, in olden days, kids would fill with all kinds of useful items they might need when they got older. Like blankets, pots and pans, silverware—you name it.”

  “Oh,” said Kim not really listening to Erin’s explanation. She reached down and lifted the lid of the chest.

  Inside was a hand-knitted comforter and a fancy set of silverware. There was also a full set of plates, cups, and saucers wrapped in tissue paper. The girls carefully took out and inspected each item.

  “What’s that?” asked Kim, pointing at a book wedged in the bottom corner of the chest. She reached down and pulled the book out from under the remaining plates. It was thick and looked like it would be expensive. The cover was leather with flowers imprinted on it. She opened the cover and inside, neatly lettered in pen and ink, were the words, To My Darling Daughter, Annabelle, on her Eleventh Birthday, September 17th.

  “That’s my age and birthday!” exclaimed Erin. Standing next to Kim, she had read the inscription out loud. She stopped reading and glanced over at her sister.

  “This is toooooo spooky,” said Kim. She handed the book over to Erin. “I’m getting out of here.”

  Erin tucked the book under her arm and the two of them went down the stairs to their bedroom.

  When they got back into the bedroom, Erin shut the secret panel and crossed over to the bed. “I’ll bet the answer to the whole mystery is in this diary,” she proclaimed, flipping through the pages.

  Over half of the pages in the book were faithfully filled in by a girl who the girls assumed could only be Annabelle. Each new entry had a month and day printed on the top of the page.

  “We’ll read this tonight after we go to bed.”

&nb
sp; Erin took the book and slid it under the mattress. “Don’t tell Mom or Dad about this book until we’ve had a chance to read it and solve the mystery.”

  “Let’s show Mom and Dad the secret room!” said Kim excitedly.

  “Not yet,” said Erin, putting her hand on Kim’s shoulder to hold her back. “Let’s wait till we’ve read the diary first to see if there are any clues about what happened to Annabelle. We can show Mom and Dad the secret room anytime. But first, we should solve the whole mystery.”

  Chapter 3 Discussion Questions

  K – 2nd Grade

  What is your favorite toy and why?

  If you found a secret playroom in your house, what would you do?

  3rd & 4th Grade

  Why do you think Erin wanted to keep the playroom a secret from their parents?

  Have you ever kept a secret from someone you loved?

  5th & 6th Grade

  Make a prediction: What do you think the diary will say?

  Why do you think the owner left all of the items behind?

  Chapter 4:

  The Diary

  That evening, Kim could hardly contain her excitement. At the dinner table, she kept hinting to Mom and Dad about the secret door and playroom they had discovered. But Erin had sworn her to secrecy, and it took a swift kick under the table to get her to keep her mouth shut. Mom and Dad exchanged a quizzical look but didn’t try to guess what was going on.

  After dessert, Erin stretched and yawned loudly. “Boy, I’m really tired,” she proclaimed. “I think I’ll go to bed early tonight.”

  She glanced over at Kim, hoping she would take the hint and follow her lead. Kim just stared at her without saying a word.

  “How about it, Kim? Shall we go to bed nice and early tonight so we can get an early start on our room tomorrow morning?” she urged, hoping Kim would catch on. “I’m not tired,” answered Kim.

  Erin gave her another swift kick under the table. This time Kim let out a howl and grabbed her leg.

  “Okay,” said Dad. “What’s going on?” He looked from one girl to the other.

  “Oh, nothing,” answered Erin, trying to sound as innocent as she could. “We’ve got a surprise for you and Mom. And Kim was about to ruin it.”

  She hadn’t really lied because she figured when they finally did show their mom and dad the secret playroom, it would actually be a surprise.

  “A surprise?” asked Mom, raising one eyebrow. She looked first at Erin and then at Kim. “The only surprise I want to see is your room straightened up and the rest of those boxes emptied. By the way, where were you two this afternoon? When I came up to check on you the first time, you were not in your room. You were supposed to stay in your room until it was finished. There were at least a couple of times we could have used your help.”

  Erin didn’t know how to answer her mom. She didn’t want to tell her about their discovery just yet, but by the look on Mom’s face, it was clear she expected an answer. Mom must have come into their bedroom while she and Kim were up in Annabelle’s playroom! Just as Erin was about to tell her the whole story, Mom held up her hand and, exchanging a look with Dad, said, “Never mind. Keep your surprise.”

  “One question,” Dad interjected. “Will we like the surprise?”

  “Oh, yeah!” they both chimed in.

  “Okay,” said Dad. “There will be plenty of time tomorrow to finish your bedroom.”

  Erin let out the breath she had been holding. Kim smiled at her. They knew their secret was safe for the time being.

  “Can we be excused?” Erin asked, jumping up and grabbing her plate.

  Without waiting for an answer, both she and Kim put their dishes in the sink and raced up the back stairs to their bedroom.

  The large, white canopy bed was set up against the wall directly across from the circular room’s windows. There were no curtains on the windows yet, and a huge moon splashed a bright white glow throughout the room.

  “Don’t turn on the light, Kim,” Erin said as she crossed the room to the windows. She hung her head out the window and looked down at the lawn below. The moon was so bright that it almost looked like daytime outside. The shadows from the trees danced back and forth across the grass, pushed by a gentle August breeze.

  “Gee, Kim, the moon was never this bright back in Racine. Half the time we could hardly even see the stars! Just look at all of them up there!”

  Kim stuck her head out the window and looked up. “Wow! Are there more stars here than back at our old house?”

  Erin giggled. “No, silly, there are the same amount here as back in the city. It’s just that we can see them much better because there are a lot less lights here compared to Racine.”

  They sat there for a long time, staring up at the sky and pointing out the different types of patterns the stars made.

  “Come on, Kim,” said Erin, poking her head back into the room. “We’ve got to find out what’s in Annabelle’s diary.”

  The two of them quickly undressed, got into their pajamas, and brushed their teeth. A few minutes later, they were snuggled together in bed, with Erin holding the old diary and Kim shining the flashlight.

  “We’ve got to read Annabelle’s diary closely and look for any clues that might help us figure out why she left all her stuff here,” said Erin.

  “Then start reading!” squealed Kim.

  For the next two hours, Erin read all of Annabelle’s entries. They found out that Annabelle had gotten the diary for her eleventh birthday from her real father and that she had a best friend named Kristina. Annabelle and Kristina did everything together. They played with their dolls and had tea parties up in the secret playroom for hours and hours. In the summer, they would go down to the river and fish off the dock. They would even sneak down and swim alone in the river (even though Annabelle’s now adopted parents forbade them from swimming without an adult because the current was too swift). There were also many sharp rocks and deep pools in the river, but Annabelle and Kristina believed they were good enough swimmers to stay safe.

  “Why didn’t they listen to their mommy and daddy?” asked Kim. The part about sneaking out to the river and swimming without permission really bothered her.

  “How am I supposed to know?” answered Erin. She had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. “Let’s keep on reading.”

  They heard their Mom call from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you two in bed yet? It’s way past your bedtime!”

  “Come on, Mom! Can’t we stay up just a little longer?” Erin whined. “It’s summertime.”

  “Yeah,” said Kim reinforcing her sister.

  Mom and Dad came upstairs and entered their room. Erin quickly slipped the diary under the covers before they noticed.

  They came over to the bed and sat on the edge. “You two have had a really big day,” said Dad. “It’s time for you to go to sleep. There will be other nights for you to stay up late.”

  He bent down and gave them each a kiss and hug. Mom tucked them in and noticed a lump next to Kim. “What’s this?” she asked, tapping the flashlight.

  “Oh please, Mommy,” pleaded Kim. “Can’t we have a flashlight on our first night? Please!” She sat up in bed and put her arms around her mother’s neck.

  “You’re not going to read, are you? I really want you two to go to sleep. Tomorrow you have to finish this bedroom.” She gestured toward all the boxes that the two girls had not yet opened.

  “Just an extra ten minutes,” said Erin. She gave her best pleading look, first to Mom and then to Dad.

  Mom nodded her head. “Ok, just ten more minutes. But what are you going to read? The books are still packed away.”

  “I know exactly where they are,” said Erin, jumping out of bed and rushing over to one of the boxes. “Right here,” she said pointing down.

  She
ripped the top open and looked in. Inside were knickknacks and pictures. “Oops,” she said. “Wrong one.”

  “Why don’t you read this one,” said Dad, reaching down under the covers and picking up Annabelle’s diary. He started to glance through it.

  “No!” shouted Erin, startling everybody in the room. She ran over to her father and snatched the book away. “That’s my diary, and you can’t read it.”

  “Well, then, why don’t you put an entry in your diary tonight if you can’t find a book?”

  Both Kim and Erin looked at each other and smiled. This was perfect. It couldn’t have worked out any better if they had planned it. “Good idea, Dad,” they both said at the same time.

  Mom and Dad tucked the two of them in and left the room. On their way out, Mom reminded them again that they had only ten minutes and then lights out.

  When they were finally gone, Erin opened the book to where they left off.

  “How much more is there?” asked Kim.

  Erin paged through the book to the end. They only had about twenty pages left.

  “That’s strange,” said Erin. “Most of the book is empty. If we’re going to find any clues about what happened to Annabelle and why she left all of her stuff up here, the clues had better be in the last few pages.”

  “Well, then, start reading!” prompted Kim.

  Once again, Erin began to read the diary. There was just more of the same about Kristina and Annabelle.

  “No clues so far,” she said, turning to the second-to-last page.

  “Today is the worst day of my life,” she read out loud.

  Kim, who had been lying on her side and dozing off, sat up straight in bed. “What did you just say?” she asked.

  “I think this is it,” said Erin excitedly, reading on.

  “Come on, Erin, what does it say?”

  “Let me read it to you,” answered Erin. She could feel the prickle of tears in her eyes.