STAGE ONE: ATTIC

“Ooh! It’s is like a videogame! That’s so cool!” Theo exclaimed enthusiastically after he had quickly read the list of rooms and information on the quest at hand, given to him by his father. The list was adequate for him to get a decent enough understanding of where to start.

He naturally noticed that the first stage of the hair-raising quest was up in the hat of the house. Theo thought it was a bit uncanny since he wasn’t assuredly aware of what sort of stuff awaited him up there. It was worrying for him, not knowing what to anticipate when climbing up the steps so he paced back and front in uneasiness rubbing his forehead in the hallway. As he made an effort to recall the last time he been up in the attic.

His trip down memory lane seemed to pay off as he was able to remember the most recent time someone went up to the attic. It was after a ghostly night when Robert pack away the costumes that were used by the family to send shivers down incoming kids’ spines. However, Theo hadn’t seen everyone been up to the attic, ever since that day so he felt a bit unprepared.

But optimism still clasps on firmly to Theo’s hand, because he knew that the sun shone through the moon-shaped window illuminating the room as a small gleam came off of the old vases that were left abandoned to become bust collectors. Hence, why he wasn’t afraid of climbing up the chilling attic steps and enter searching for the puzzle pieces.

Although, the journey had already kicked off. Theo hadn’t got his hands on the VR headset to grant his mind the access it needed to be transported into the enchanting world of simulation, considering the headset was placed up in the attic. So, he had no other choice but to make the attic his first stage to explore if he wanted to full thrill of the quest.

The younger explorer skipped gracefully on his way to the attic, as he was exhilarated to know that he had something to look forward to, in this dry as dust time of isolation. Theo set off on his animated series of thrilling events, as he was both mentally and physically to dive headfirst into the sea of mystery.

Upon arrival to the attic access, it didn’t take long for him to realize that he was too short to reach the cord which opens up the entrance to the attic. Though, it wasn’t easy for a child his height to reach something that high, he still gave it his best shot to pull open the attic access door. This was his first challenge.

Theo resorted to all sorts of strategies that he could use to reach the tall hanging cord, such as running through the hallway and leaping up in the air with his hand stretched out to reach the cord. After that method proved to be unsuccessful, he tried using a broomstick to wrap the cord around then giving it a powerful tug. But even that didn’t work out in his favor.

He was already up to two failed attempts in his task of getting into the attic. The cord for the attic door was the first obstacle in his path to the virtual world. Nevertheless, these failures didn’t discourage Theo from his endeavor due to his adrenaline that kept him matching on persistently to achieve his goal.

“Ah! I got it,” stated Theo assuredly.

He turned to the stuff Imp and voiced, “If I use Linos to hold me up then I will be able to pull the string and ope………... ugh who am I kidding, your too tiny.” He soon realized that his plan was impossible and proceeded with his previous idea.

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Skipping and hopping up and down like a bunny rabbit, pushing and pulling all around like a wet jacket. He rose and fell, not giving in to defeat. Because curiosity prompt Theo to not surrender to the cord seeing as he was keened on getting his sweaty hands on the updated VR headset. Hence, why failure wasn’t an option at this early stage.

But with all that jumping he did, perspiration eventually began to take its course. His heart speeded-up and his breathing became heavy. This was a clear sign that he needed to have a temporary rest to recover his lost energy.

“Haa…haa…haa…. this is harder than I thought,” groaned Theo frustratedly, as he took a seat on the floor with the wall being his backrest.

“Ugh, only if I was taller then I would be able to reach the string. Then I could get all the cookies I want, and sweets too. And then and then I could be soooooo big and tall like a giant and touch the sky so I could hold up the sun a teensy bit longer so that Mama come home and play with me all the time. We could have so much fun with Dada and Linos,” Theo despondently yet cheerily thought to himself while resting up.

Theo was always mindful of his height. Being the shortest child in his class and all. Along with his classmate not allowing him to forget this little fact, since they call him all kinds of names relating to his height. Such as Mini-me, Small fry, Missing half, Teeny, and some other names about his shortness. Which meant that he was minuscule and got ridiculed.

This made him feel very self-conscious about his height. So, when he saw tiny Jellymint from Adventure Buddies for the first time, he got the impression that both of them had something in common with their dumpiest. That made it all the better picking him as a favorite character for Theo. After-all, Linos was knee-high to a grasshopper so this gave Theo somewhat of a superior complex and boosted his confidence as he was taller than the stuff Imp, Linos.

“Alrighty, time to get back to adventuring,” said Theo while he stood up with all his beliefs hanging out his pockets.

Giving himself another attempted to open up the attic access cord to open it up and get inside.

He leaps.

Fall.

“Again!”

He leaps once more.

And falls even more.

“Again! And again!”

He leaps and falls again and again.

“Ouches that one hurt.” He whimpers.

“Aw, and I was close that time too.”

However, this time when he fell, the list with the note in the back of it that Robert gave to him dropped out of his pocket.

Theo slowly got up and dusted off his clothes, keeping his spirit high by reminding himself of the prize at hand, the new VR headset to go on a magical journey. This made him persist in getting up and not forfeiting at such an early stage.

“I’m getting closer so that’s goo………ah,” Theo unintentionally caught sight of the note on the hall floors. He checked his pockets to figure out whether or not it was his.

“Oh, the note fell out. Hmm is there anything good on this that I can use?”

He took another read of the note, however, this time around he read it more carefully.

“Ah, now that I think about it, I’m not tall enough to reach the sink when I’m brushing my tongue shields so Dada put a stair for me to walk upon.”

Theo pause in place for a second until it finally hit him.

“THAT’S IT!” suddenly exclaimed Theo without warning.

He swiftly scurried to the bathroom for his step stool. When he arrives in the room and picked up the step stool, he saw a little note that reads, “Good job using your head rather than your hands and feet *smiley face*”

Theo laughed the note off and went back to his quest. He placed the step stool down below the cord.

“One step for adventurers…...”

Steps.

“And another step for adventures.”

When he reached the top of the step stool, Theo reached out his arm far from his body to at last pull the cord to open up his long-awaited journey.

“Huh, what’s this?” asked Theo as something came falling out, hitting the top of his head and landing on the floor.