Tabula Rasa

There was someone in the house and he knew where his father had hidden the map. He strained his ears, desperately trying to hear over the sound of his pounding heart. There! The scrape of a wooden drawer being eased open. Someone was searching through the dresser downstairs. He eased himself slowly off the bed, still fully dressed. Since his parents had passed away he had fallen asleep most nights readings their correspondence from when his father’s time in the Pacific Research Institute. He crept slowly to the door way and looked towards the stairs leading down. The bottom was briefly illuminated and he froze, before the torch beam swept away again and he edged out towards his father’s study. The door clicked softly behind him and he allowed himself to breathe. He quickly crossed the room and took down the frame hanging on the far wall, placing it on the desk. Grabbing a letter opener he eased the back of the frame off. There it was, the map that his father had alluded to in his letters. He grabbed it and stuffed it in his pocket as he heard the handle on the door behind him turn.