The alarm clock rang. Sarah opened her eyes and yawned, "Ooh, yes, it's Saturday! I'll have a nice long lie - on …..oh, no, I promised Mum I'd clean out the attic, well I suppose I'll get up then ". Sarah was seventeen. She had blond hair, blue eyes and lived with her mother and grandfather. Her father had died in a horrific car crash two years before.
Sarah rolled out of bed and staggered lazily over to her wardrobe. She rummaged through her clothes and picked out a pair of blue Levis and a cream jumper. She put on some socks and slippers and left her room. She stood on the top step of the stairs, yawned and rubbed her eyes while stepping on the second step. Unfortunately she placed her foot on the edge of the step where it curves and slipped. She fell on her back and slid right down the stairs. Her back continuously slammed against the edge of each step. It was over in a few seconds but the pain remained longer. She looked around, good, no-one had seen or heard her. Sarah grabbed the banister and pulled herself up.
An aroma of eggs and bacon drifted from the kitchen into the hall where Sarah was standing. She put her hand on her back and walked into the kitchen. The aroma was at its strongest and almost immediately, pains of hunger fell on her like a tonne of bricks. Her eyes gazed towards the frying pan, but the frying pan was empty. She turned towards the table. Her mother and grandfather or Joe, as she called him, were sitting at the table munching away on bacon and eggs. Sarah took a box of cornflakes from the  press over the sink, took out a bowl from the next press and a spoon from the cutlery drawer and then sat at the table.
She poured her cornflakes into the bowl and picked the milk from the table and poured it over her cornflakes. Her mum finished her bacon and eggs and sat back. "Fall down the stairs again, did you Sarah?" "I don't fall down the stairs all the time!" exclaimed Sarah. Her mother burst into laughter, "That was the third time this week," she said wiping tears from her eye ducts. Sarah's mum was a generous person with a great sense of humour. No matter how sad her jokes were, she could always get a smile out of Sarah. She had brown hair, green eyes and worked at the local bank. It was called "Wise Saving" and was the only bank in the town.
The town they lived in was called "Phort Fharraige", which was an Irish name. Although it had an Irish name no one knew a word of Irish. It was situated on an island far away from any civilisations. In fact, it had no contact with any country at all. Also, the name, which means seaport, was also a puzzle. It wasn't a port town. In fact, it was a few miles away from the coast. There was a large reservoir, which was the town's water supplier. The food was grown on farms around the town. The harbour, a few miles, away brought in shiploads of fish, which was usually stored up.  
Sarah's grandfather, Joe, had grey-white receding hair, green eyes and was on his pension. He was a good listener and problem solver. Sarah finished her cereal, washed up after everybody and was heading towards the stairs when the doorbell rang. Sarah ran to the front door and opened it. Her best friend Lyina walked in "Are you ready to clean the attic?" "Never been more ready in my life", replied Sarah. Lyina was a daring, afraid of nothing and ready for adventures kind of person, with shoulder length hazel, brown hair and blue eyes.
The two girls went upstairs. Sarah retrieved the ladder from the spare room and put it against the wall beside the hatch. She climbed the ladder after she had positioned it properly and made sure it would not slip or move, and opened the hatch and pulled herself through the hatch. She fumbled for the light switch. Lyina climbed the ladder and pulled herself through the hatch. Just as her eyes adjusted to the dark, the light turned on. She could clearly see after a few seconds.

The two girls looked around. A musty smell seemed to hang around the attic. "Phew," said Lyina, " For God's sake, crack a window Sarah". Sarah went over to the small window but. It was completely covered with dirt and dust and cobwebs. Sarah pulled at the window but it was stuck. "We'll have to put up with it," she said. Lyina took a penknife from her back pocket and cut open a sealed cardboard box. Sarah took out her penknife and opened a separate box in the corner. "Not much in this box" said Lyina. "Just some tin buckets and a hoe". "Nothing in this box either, just some old, small clothes," said Sarah.
Sarah stood up and walked around. She noticed the corner of a box in the dark corner. She walked over to it and pulled it into the light. It was sealed up tightly with tape. Sarah dug her penknife into the box and cut a line through the centre of the top. She then placed her hands inside the box. She could feel something hard and square. She pulled it out. It was a piece of wood with an inscription on it. It said, "north of where I stand, the land shakes beneath your feet". Lyina was now beside Sarah wondering why she was so quiet. She saw the wood and inscription. "Weird" she said. "I wonder what it means," said Sarah.
The girls turned around. Both thinking as hard as they possibly could. Sarah stood where the box was in the first place. "Which way is north?". "Well" said Lyina, "your house faces the west of the island so,….that way". "Okay" said Sarah "Now I wonder what should shake beneath my feet". "Uh, I know, the…floor thingies..you know, the floorboards".
Sarah walked northwards and after a few paces, felt a slightly loose board. She bent down and put her longish nails through the floorboard. She could see nothing so she put her hand down the gap. "I feel something". It was rectangular in shape and she grabbed it with her hand and pulled it up through the floorboards. It was a flat - type rectangular box, like a monopoly box, except not as wide, and it was made of wood, and had the carving of a hand on the front. "Let's bring it to my room and take a close look at it" said Sarah. The two girls left the attic.