The Silk Diamond

II: The Box Inside The Ground

In the dead of night, a resounding TING rang pure through the dark canopy that stretched out infinitely all around. Sy Harry's shovel had hit something.

"Found it?", Said Arthur Kirian. Kirian was the architect of the expedition to the cemetery.

"Not sure yet", came the gruff voice of Ibrahim Samuel from inside the ditch (in the ground).

A shovel full of dirt sailed over Sy's shoulder, and landed just shy of Arthur's face.

"Dude, watch it".

"My bad", Syman apologized half heartedly.

After another fifteen minutes passed, Ibrahim shimmied down ladder to behold what was awaiting him at the bottom. Sy had been attempting to pull it from the ground for the last five minutes, chopping at the roots which had been growing around it, with gusto. They were nothing if not persistent.

Ibrahim rolled up his sleeves and pushed an out of breath Sy aside gently.

"Take a breather, Syman."

Syman kindly obliged, nodding.

Ibrahim heaved. When they had finally hoisted the thing from the ground it was abundantly clear that it was something wooden beneath the debris that had grown atop the body and the roots and worms clinging on for dear life. After a few deep breaths, Ibrahim had the box out of the ground and it revealed itself to be, in fact, a chest. The casing was decorated with an intricate filigree. The front had some sort of latch mechanism as well as as cast iron lock, of the ye olde variety. It was roughly the size of a basketball, even including the corners.

A chime rang out.

Kirian patted his pockets still outside the ditch. He pulled out a sleek cellphone and tapped away at it.

"Really Kir, you're texting right now", Syman questioned.

"Xander wanted to see if I was okay. And he also wanted to see if I wanted Thai or sushi?"

"You two can't go an hour without being in touch, can you?"

Kirian pouted and folded his arms over his chest, "If only I had a brother who supported me..."

Syman rolled his eyes and Ibrahim just sighed.

"Hope there's enough takeout for the rest of your team", Ibrahim muttered.

Kirian smiled, "what kind of brother would I be if I didn't share?"

This time Ibrahim rolled his eyes and Syman sighed.

"Dude you're such a princess", Syman said jokingly.

The three guys had known each other nearly their whole lives. They were, for all intents and purposes, a family... even if not quite brothers by blood. Kirian was there the day Ibrahim had graduated from University. Both Kirian and Ibrahim were Syman's best men at his wedding—that was before his marriage had imploded after two months. And his brothers had been there to pick up the pieces. They had each other's collective backs. They always had.

Since Kirian had started dating, the youngest of the trio, his older brothers had been a bit less than over protective and a bit more like helicopter parents. But, who could blame them after rescuing him from an abusive alcoholic father, as soon as he was old enough to request emancipated minorship.

Once the box was above sea-level, the surrounding grounds lit dimly by the softly diffused lights provided the perfect backdrop.

"Let's take it inside".

"Nah man, I didn't just spend hours digging so I could carry some creepy box into the place we're going to be living. Heem, back me up!"

"I'm staying out of this one. I'm Switzerland," Ibrahim said his hand raised, backing up.

"You're always Switzerland", Syman whined.

"Tell you what, how about you flip for it. Whoever wins gets to decide where we open it. Deal?"

Syman and Kirian met eyes and agreed.

Ibrahim pulled out a quarter from his pocket and placed it on his thumb.

"Call it in the air."

"Tails", Kirian called out before Syman had the chance to utter a single sound.

The coin jumped into the air glinting in the moonlight, flipping so hard it looked like a mini disco ball until Ibrahim snatched it out the air once it got level with his head. He smacked the coin onto the backside of his left hand. The two brothers huddled close to Ibrahim to see what was underneath Ibrahim's hand, still covering the coin. Slowly, he removed his hand to reveal the coin's face. It was tails.

"YES!"

"Shit", Syman cursed. "I demand a recount! This game is fucking rigged!"

Ibrahim levelled his gaze on his younger brother. "You know the rules, don't be a sore loser", Ibrahim said with disdain.

Syman Sighed.

"Fine whatever. Let's get this bitch inside. I can't wait for my share of the treasure, I'm buying myself a goddamned helicopter."

"That's my older brother", Kirian remarked. "Ever the pragmatist. C'mon guys, it's creepy out here., I'm getting the heebie jeebies, plus it's cold as a witches tits."

"—Wearing a brass brazier", Ibrahim added.

"—Rolling around in the snow", Syman finished, shivering himself, his hoodie doing little to protect him from the wind blowing through the darkness. "Remind me why we traded California for here, it's fucking freezing".

"We were barely making rent", Ibrahim said flatly.

"That was before Einstein over here became an overnight success."

"It was not overnight, that shit took years to put together", Kirian said, not masking his offended tone. "Just because you didn't see it until it was public, doesn't mean I wasn't working on it. Every day, in between shifts at that shitty coffee shop at that bougie country club!" Kirian punctuated his anger with finger jabbing.

"Down puppy", Ibrahim said, grabbing Kirian's shoulder. "You'll wake the dead, yelling like that..."

Kirian glared at his older brother. "Funny, Heem", he said in a tone suggesting that it was anything but.

"Let's get this inside before you two bite each other's head off. I'm not cleaning that up." He added as an after thought, "again".

Syman and Kirian, the two most excited and invested in what was inside the box, lifted it together. It was heavy enough that it merited a team lift. Ibrahim pulled out his phone and checked his messages while pushing ahead, after all, someone had to open the heavy front door. The walk through the grounds towards the Silk Manor was quiet to say the least, the only sound being the bats and the shuffling of Ibrahim's footfalls and the labored breathing of the other two men carrying the chest.