Text Hunter

Chapter 5

"Run back to the house," I said. "Get help." 

"In the dark?"  

I pulled Marissa from the edge of the pit. She was shivering.  

"Follow the path. You'll be fine. Wake everyone up and get them here. Quickly!" 

Marissa hurried back down the path. Part of me wanted to follow her, run away from this mess, hit respawn and start all over again. Anything to stop this game spiraling out of control. 

The forest drew in closer around me. Up until now, this whole thing had felt like a game. Gramps' stories, his text adventure, sneaking out in the middle of the night in search of hidden treasure. None of it had seemed real. Until now, with my cousin lying at the bottom of a pit. 

A moan came up from the hole in the ground. I scrambled to the edge.  

Rod's eyes were open. He rolled to one side, like he was trying to wake up from a bad dream. He looked up and let out a curse that would have sent him to the principal's office.  

"Get me out of here, Pinky!"  

All compassion for my cousin flowed out of me when I heard that name. Even when he needed help, Rod was a bully. Part of me wanted to leave him in that pit to rot. That door in the cave tugged at my curiosity. Marissa would be back with our parents soon. They could deal with Rod.  

My cousin moaned again from the bottom of the pit. He might be a jerk, but I wasn't. I couldn't just leave him down there.  

I let out a curse that would have landed me right beside Rod in the principal's office. 

"Hang on," I called into the pit. "I'm coming." 

I dragged a fallen branch from the woods. I lowered it into the pit. Rod, now on his feet, grabbed the branch. He clamored up the dirt wall, trying climb out of the pit. He pulled on the branch with all his donut and hockey puck weight. My feet slid on the wet ground. 

"I'm not ready!" I shouted, but it was too late.  

I toppled over the edge and fell into the pit. I smashed into Rod on the way down. Together, we crashed on the muddy ground.  

"Get off me!" He pushed me away like an annoying puppy. He scrambled to his feet, huffing and puffing. His face red and covered in mud. "What did you do that for! You idiot. Now, we're both stuck down here."  

I jumped to my feet. Blood burned through my ears. 

"We're down here because of you, Rod." I jabbed my finger into his big belly. "Just because you are bigger than everyone, doesn't mean you know everything! It's time for you to shut up and listen." 

Rod stumbled back and fell against the muddy wall of the pit. If this were a boxing match, the ref would be in separating us. But down here in the pit, it was just him and me. I stayed close and kept talking. "It's your fault we're down here, Rod. It's your fault we're not going to find Gramps' treasure before your stupid father sells this farm. It's your fault!"  

Rod's rage quickly melted. He stared at me, blinking like he had something stuck in his eye. He wiped his face with a dirty sleeve and sniffed.  

"Marissa told me to slow down, but I didn't listen." he said eventually. He slumped against the muddy wall of the pit. "My dad is right. I'm a total screw up." 

The pounding in my ears slowed. I thought about having a dad like Uncle Ross, always yelling and angry. I guess having a bully for a father, turns you into one. But it didn't have to.  

"You're not a screw up," I said. "You figured out where I would be tonight. That was smart."  

"That was Marissa," Rod said with a sad laugh. 

"Um, okay," I said. I searched my brain for something nice to say. "Um, you've got a pretty good left hook. That counts for something. I guess." 

"Give it up Aaron. My dad is right. I can't do anything right." Rod banged his fist back against the muddy wall.  

A clump of dirt broke free and landed on his shoulder. Then another. With a low rumble, the whole section of muddy wall collapsed, sending Rod sprawling onto his back, mud raining down on him.  

"See!" he said, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. "I can't even lean against a wall properly." 

"Wrong," I said. "You did it exactly right."  

Behind Rod, where the dirt wall once stood, a narrow tunnel stretched into the darkness.  

"You found us a way out."