The writing prompt was: “You’re cleaning out your closet when you see a peculiar note etched into the back of the wall.
The Note
Did I ever tell you that I hate spring cleaning? I hate going through all the clothes that don’t fit society’s norm anymore and clearing out all the dust balls that have accumulated over the winter’s long and tedious sleep. Not fun at all.
Well, there was that one year when I was younger and more curious, a year before we moved into a new house. My job was to clear out the closet. There were plenty of clothes that needed discarding and donated away. That’s when I found the note etched into the back wall behind my bell-bottom jeans.
It was a simple note. “Save Me!” that’s all it said. Like I said, this was when I was curious. Who writes a note like that and leaves it there? The interesting part of the note was that it was not a dust-filled seam, hastily cut, that was written long ago. My parents had lived in this house for 20 years. This note was clear and freshly cut. But who would have written it?
I would have asked my parents about it. However, I didn’t want to be blamed for making it.
So, I decided to do some investigating. I searched other walls in other closets in the house to see if I could find any more clues. There was nothing.
I traced the note on a blank piece of paper using the side of a pencil’s tip to get an impression of the note.
I searched the room and closet, looking for an implement that might have been used to carve the note. I had no luck there.
It was a futile search. So I went back to pulling at clothes to discard before the move.
Then, I accidentally turned the bell-bottom pants that had covered up the note over, and my old pen knife, which I thought I had lost years before, fell out of a pocket and landed on the floor. When I picked it up, I noticed the blade had pieces of sheet rock stuck on it. It matched the etching on the wall.
I’m not sure what made me do it, but I pocketed the knife, covered the note with some paper that matched the wall color, and put my bell-bottom jeans aside, not to be discarded.
I’m older now. I never did figure out who or what left that note. However, I’m glad I didn’t get rid of the pants. When bell bottoms came back in fashion, I was happy I had something to wear that was original and still fit me.
