The house stood at the end of a short avenue, a hundred yards from it's nearest neighbour, and  quarter of a mile from the sea.  It was an old house, surrounded by a small white fence, with a large tree in the front garden, it's pre-war architecture two storeys high, with a circular attic window.  Three steps led up to the front door, with a rotting wooden hand rail at each side.
    In front of the house stood a removal van, with several small boxes and items of furniture littering the path by the side of it.  A young man climbed down and began pulling a large oak dresser from the back of the vehicle.
    CRASH!
    One end of the dresser crunched against the road, while the young man who was holding it tumbled backwards, hitting the ground with a soft thud.
    "Careful Pete," came a shout from inside the van.
    Somewhat dazed, the young man clambered to his feet.  "Sorry Geoff, I tripped on something," he said, looking around for the culprit.  A few feet away lay a roller skate.  "Jamie strikes again," he laughed, rubbing his thigh.  "That kid's gonna cause a serious accident one these days."
    Geoff Lacey jumped from the back of the van, "Linda's gonna cause a serious accident if theres any damage to this dresser!"
    "Looks okay to me," said Pete.  "Stand it near a wall and she'll never notice."
    "Linda notices everything," said Geoff, with a smile.
    "Hey, you don't need to tell me.  I grew up with her, remember," Pete pointed out, jokingly, "o-oh, speak of the devil."
    Just then a cream estate car swung neatly round the corner, pulling slowly up to the kerb.
    "Quick, grab the end, we'll get it in the house before she sees it," cried Geoff in desperation.
    Both men heaved the dresser up and carried it as quickly as they could toward the house.  As they neared the front doorstep, a familiar voice called out behind them.
    "Geoff!"
    The two men stopped in their tracks, gently lowering the dresser to the ground.  Linda was coming up the path towards them.  She was a short, blonde-haired woman in her early thirties.  In her arms she carried a large cardboard box with a table lamp protruding from it's open top.  Behind her, a dark-haired girl in her late teens was pulling another box from the back of the car.
    "Where's Jamie?" Linda asked, scrutinising the dresser.
    Pete stepped close, in an attempt to conceal the slight damage it had received.
    "He's inside, exploring," Geoff replied.
    There was a silent pause.
    "What's that?" she asked, nodding her head down toward the dresser.
    "What's what?" said Geoff, innocently.
    "This!" she said, shoving Pete aside, pointing down at the chipped corner.
    Geoff glanced down in the direction that she indicated.
    "Oh...erm," he paused, trying to think up an excuse, "that's been like that for ages, hasn't it?"
    "Well, I've never seen it before," she said, eyeing him suspiciously.
    "That's because it's always been stood against the wall," said Geoff, his reply coming more quickly this time.
    "Um," she muttered before heading into the house.  Again, the men lifted the dresser, and hurriedly followed her inside.
    The interior of the house was in very much the same condition as the exterior, with rotting woodwork, and damp patches on the walls and ceiling.  On the left stood a wide staircase which led up to the first floor, and beneath it, a small store cupboard.  The main hallway stretched out before them, two doors leading from it - one led into the kitchen, and the other into living room.
    "It needs a bit of work," said Pete.
    Geoff inspected the walls and door frame.  "Nothing I can't handle," he said.
    Just then, a small boy, seven, maybe eight years old, came running towards them from the kitchen.
    "Dad! Dad!" he yelled excitedly.  "There's a cellar in the kitchen.  Can I play in it?'
    Geoff looked thoughtful for a moment.  "Yes, I suppose so.  But just you be careful, and mind you don't break anything," he shouted.  The boy was already at the kitchen door.   "Hold on a minute Jamie.  Where's your mother?'
    The little boy stopped, and turned briefly.  "She's in the garden," he said, and then vanished out of sight.
    Geoff gave a small sigh, then glanced at Pete, "I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm just going to see what Linda's doing."
    "What about this?" said Pete, looking down at the dresser.
    "Oh, I'm sure you can manage that on your own... maybe Janine'll give you a hand," he said, pointing to the dark-haired girl walking through the door.
    With that, he went into the kitchen and out into the back garden.

"What a beautiful view," said Linda softly as Geoff came up behind her, "we'll be able to watch the sun rise over the water."
    "It'll be terribly draughty in the bad weather," said Geoff.
    "Maybe," she said, "but a house by the sea is my dream come true."
    "Yeh, but let's hope the cliff doesn't collapse, or we'll end up in the sea," he replied.
    "Don't be a spoil sport," said Linda, gently prodding him in the ribs.

Down in the cellar, Jamie was tipping the contents of some old boxes onto the floor.  He found them in a dark corner beneath the stairs.  They contained mostly old newspapers and books, some dating as far back as the nineteenth century.  He gave a small cough as a cloud of dust rose from the particularly large, leather bound volume that he was currently thumbing through.
    Silly old books, he thought.  Full of boring writing.  Didn't they have any comics in those days.  He threw the book onto a pile with several others, then reached back into the box and pulled out another.
    As he lifted it, a large folded sheet slipped from between the pages and dropped onto the floor.  Putting the book down, Jamie grabbed the sheet of paper and opened it out.
    It looked like a map of a house.
    Not a house! Jamie thought.  It was a room! A cellar! This cellar!
    The plan of the cellar occupied only half of the sheet, the other half was taken up with diagrams of what looked like a hinge, or a door.
    Jamie looked more closely at the plan of the cellar, then he spotted something odd.   The plan showed a door beneath the stairs, and what looked like another room - but there wasn't a door there, he thought.
    The little boy stood up and walked back to the stairs, looking again.  No, definitely no door, just the plaster-covered wall.  Maybe it's a secret door, he thought, like in detective films.
    Clenching his fist, he gave a firm knock on the wall.  There was a soft thud as his knuckles rapped against the plaster.  It sounded okay - but then, what was it supposed to sound like?
    He ran over to another wall and knocked on that as well.  Again there was a quiet thud.  It did sound a bit different, he thought.
    Looking at the plan again, this time studying the diagrams more closely, he noticed something else.  At the bottom of the picture of the door, there was a long rectangle with seven small circles evenly spaced along it.
    Going back under the stairs, he began to feel about on the floor, and there, right next to the wall, he found a loose floorboard.  He tried to squeeze his fingers down the side, in order to pull it up, but the gap wasn't big enough.
    "Um, need something thin," he said out loud.
    Jumping to his feet, he ran back up the stairs and into the kitchen.
    Geoff and Linda came in through the back door, hand in hand, just as Jamie burst out of the cellar, nearly knocking them over.
    "Whoa! Slow down son," said Geoff, catching him, "what's the hurry? Seen a ghost or something?"
    "Sorry Dad," Jamie replied, heading for the front door.
    "Hold on, Jamie," shouted Linda, "where are you going?"
    "I'm just gonna get my torch," he answered.
    "What do you need your torch for?" she asked.
    "There's this really big spider in the cellar... I'm gonna try and catch it," Jamie replied, grinning at his father.
    Geoff went a little pale.  "If you catch it, put it outside," he said, "preferably over the cliff."
    "Go on then, Jamie," said Linda, "but you be careful on that road."
    Jamie rushed out of the front door, and up the path toward the removal van.  Pete was in the back, passing a coat stand down to Janine.
    "Hi Jamie!" she said, as he approached.
    "Hi Janine," he paused, "did you bring all of dad's things out of the garage?"
    "Yes, I think they're in the back of the car, why?" she asked.
    "Oh, no reason!" said Jamie.  "You haven't seen my torch have you?"
    "I think that's in the car as well." she said.
    Jamie walked to the rear of the car and began searching through the boxes.  In the third box that he opened, he found what he was looking for - a large, yellow and orange, plastic torch.  He put this down on the road, then began pushing the boxes aside until he found his father's tool box.  Opening it, he reached in and picked out the longest screwdriver he could find.
    Pushing the screwdriver up his jumper and gripping it under his arm, he picked up his torch and began to walk slowly back toward the house.
    "Did you find your torch, Jamie?" asked Janine as he passed her on the path.
    "Yeh," he answered, lifting the torch, still walking.

Inside the house, Geoff and Pete struggled with a wardrobe, carrying it up the stairs, while Linda stood at the top shouting instructions.  Jamie passed by them unnoticed and went into the kitchen.
    Once he was in the cellar again, he flicked his torch on and crawled back beneath the stairs.  Using the screwdriver, he prised the loose floorboard up and shifted it aside.
    Jamie shone his torch into the gap.  Along the floor, about a foot down, lay a flat board with seven wooden pegs stickingfrom it. He looked again at the plan of the cellar and the diagrams of the hinge.  Maybe, he thought, the hinge is the door, and the pegs are holding it closed.
    Slowly, Jamie pulled the first peg from the board, leaving a large round hole, then, more quickly, he pulled out the rest.  Nothing appeared to happen, so gently, he pushed against the wall - it moved.  He pushed again, harder this time.  The whole section of wall swung inwards and upwards, like a huge cat flap.
    After a brief moment he let the door swing shut.  He glanced around; he needed something to prop it open with.  Shoving the door open again with his shoulder, he wedged the floorboard that he had just removed beneath it, stopping it from falling closed.
    Shining his torch into the small room, Jamie peered inside.  The room was no more than five feet across, the floor was thick with dust, and large cobwebs hung from the ceiling. In one corner there was a hole, about two feet wide, and a rusty metal ladder led downwards.
    "Wow!  A secret tunnel," Jamie whispered to himself.
    With that, he crawled through the doorway, and over to the hole.  He gave the ladder a sharp tug, making sure that it was safe, and then began his slow climb down, into the darkness.

Geoff and Pete were sitting in the kitchen when Janine walked in, carrying a box of pots and pans.  An electric kettle lay across the top.
    "Ah, we can have a coffee at last, eh Janine?" laughed Geoff.
    "If you can find the coffee, I'll make you one," she answered, putting the box down on the table.
    Geoff turned to Pete.  "When are you going to marry my Janine then, Pete?"
    "Eh?" exclaimed Pete, as if he had just been woken from a deep sleep.
    "Well, I married your sister, so it's only fair that you marry mine," Geoff said with a grin.
 Janine turned red with embarrassment and quickly left the room.
    "Oh, come on Pete, you know she likes you," he continued.
    "It's just a teenage crush," said Pete, becoming uncomfortable with the conversation, "I'm too old for her."
    "Only about seven years - in ten years time, who's gonna care," Geoff replied.
    "I hope you're not match-making with your sister and my brother, Geoff?" said Linda, standing at the door.
    "They know I'm only joking," said Geoff.
    "Well you shouldn't, let them go at their own pace," Linda smiled.
    A few minutes passed before Janine returned, carrying a large basket.
    "Looks like dinner's arrived," said Pete.
    Geoff stood up and walked over to the cellar door.
    "Jamie, dinner's ready," he shouted.  After a moment, when there had been no response Geoff shouted again, "come on, Jamie."
    "He is down there, isn't he?" Linda asked.
    "I'm sure he was," replied Geoff, "I'll just go down and have a look - he's probably after a game of hide and seek."
    Geoff walked slowly down the stairs, into the cellar.  What a mess, he thought, seeing the books littering the floor.  He glanced around the large dimly lit room, and then his gaze fell on the dark opening beneath the stairs.
    "Come down here, quick!" he shouted.
    There was a loud clattering as Linda, Pete, and Janine came running down the stairs.
    "What is it?" cried Linda.
    "It looks like a room," said Geoff, the others crowding around him.  "I think there's a ladder in the corner."
    "Oh my god," gasped Linda, the fear apparent in her voice, "he's gone down there - you have to get him out Geoff!"
    "I'll find him, don't worry," said Geoff, barely able to hide his own fear.  "Pete, go and get my torch from the car, it's in the glove compartment."
    Pete rushed up the stairs, out of the cellar.
    "Jamie!" Linda screamed into the darkness.
    A few minutes later, Pete was back, carrying two torches.  "I found two," he said, handing one to Geoff.  "I'm coming with you."
    Clicking the torch on, Geoff crawled into the small room, Pete following close behind. Shining the torch into the hole, he began climbing downwards.
    The ladder was longer than either of them had expected - about thirty feet.  When they reached the bottom, Geoff quickly scanned the area with the light - they were in a long tunnel, about sevven feet high and four feet wide.  Planks adorned the walls, floor, and ceiling, with supports every five or six yards.
    "Looks like some kind of mining tunnel," said Pete.
    "Linda?" Geoff shouted up the ladder.
    "Yes?" came her faint reply.
    "Call the police, love!" he shouted.  "We might need some help."