A Family Secret

Catherine Lysenko

13 years old

Saint Petersburg High school №105

Russia

A family secret.

There are interesting stories, secrets and mysteries in every family. There is one secret in my family, too, that I want to share with you. Since many years ago our family has owned a country cottage. We don’t go there too often, because strange things happen there. At night we hear mysteries rustling sounds, the floor is creaking and things are falling down with a crash. We believe that the house is guarded by its former owner Rodion Georgievich. He had travelled around the world looking for the books for his collection. As a result there is a very big collection of books in the house. One night he was reading a book before going to sleep. Turning over a page he discovered a map in his book. It was a map of a place where a treasure had been hidden.  The next day he set off in search for the treasure, as the place was not far away. The treasure hunt went on for one week. And Rodion Georgievich was lucky to recover it. He took the treasure home, hid it in a secret place in the library. A strange passerby caught a glimpse of the shying treasure and wanted it. The next day he came for it, broke into the house and was met by Rodion Georgievich who started a fight with the stranger. The man killed the master of the house, but he couldn’t find the treasure. The murderer ran away, leaving the body in the house. Many years have passed, but the spirit of Rodion Georgievich cannot leave the house protecting the hidden treasure. Some time ago my sister and I were in the house and wanted to read a book in the library. The moment I put the book on the shelf, I heard a click and the shelf shifted opening the way to the secret place where the treasure had been kept all the time. When we saw the treasures, we were amazed by the amount and richness of what we saw. At the family council, it was decided to pass the treasure to one of the cities museum. After that the spirit of Rodion Georgievich was calm and left the house. This is the story of the treasure in the library that we has kept in our family.