What Was Left Behind

Adventure

Mathew-Age 16

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"Curiosity only does one thing, and that is to give. And what it gives you are clues on the incredible scavenger hunt of your life."

-Elizabeth Gilbert

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Earth- 

     Matt had let himself get caught by the guards, but only so he would be able to look at his fathers reaction. As expected, when he got home he was greeted by numerous amount of punishments. But all that seemed to do was prove to him that whatever was behind that door was valuable, and only made the lad want to go back. Just the thought of what he could find was enough to fill him with encouragement. And he would go at this very moment if his bedroom door wasn't locked from the other side. It was just another one of those things that was on the list, but it was easy to tell that his father wasn't paying attention when he made the set of rules.

           Since hes always busy, he didn't really pay attention to the fact that there was a window high up on one of Matt's walls. That could easily be his escape, but not until he actually found out how to get up there. What he needed more than anything, was a ladder, but the only things he had that were close to that were a few sticks that rested on his shelf. And those obviously wouldn't work, along with other ideas that came to mind. The lad even tried to climb his bookcase, but he soon realized that the attempt failed when the window was still a few feet from reach.

              "Just think....." Matt said to himself as he buried his face in his palms. He became frustrated with the lack of ideas and was going to try and open the door again, when he saw something shiny poking out from under his bed. And this was when a plan suddenly dawned upon him. The object was  a pocket knife that the lad had received from his father about two years ago, but not for any particular reason.

           He grabbed the blade and searched high and low until he found a little case in his drawer. He had stashed this away for a few years, and it wasn't until now that he actually needed to contents.Because of everything that has happened over the years, nobody could be trusted. So he came up with the idea of hiding a knife in his drawer, seeing as how it would be one of the only ways he could protect himself.

            His plan was to use these to climb up the wall, even though he knew how ridiculous this sounded, but it was all he could do, besides stay in here and do nothing. So after grabbing the two blades, Matthew stuck the first one into the wall, followed by the other. 

                       It didn't take long for him to almost reach the window, but the problem was that he would be forced to use one hand to open it. The lad wasn't too keen on the idea of only one hand holding him up, even if it was just for a few moments, but he took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the glass window. An afternoon breeze swept in the as he hoisted himself on the window sill, careful to make sure that he didn't look down.

                Mathew took a second to position his body correctly in what little space was provided. Against his own judgement, the lad immediately looked down at the pavement below and instantly regretted his horrid decision. By the looks of it, his only way down was to climb the vines that clung to his house like weeds. He couldn't help but feel the fear rushing through his body, which didn't help the situation as he reached over and gripped the vines firmly. Matt swiftly moved down, avoiding the areas where the vines ended, and firmly planted his feet on the ground once it was in reach.

            "Finally...." He whispered to himself as the lad took off toward the cemetery again. It was still bright as day out, but nobody would pay any mind to him if he took the short cut. He quickly sprinted into the woods, dodging the occasional tree branches and logs in his path. If Matt remembered correctly, the building wasn't much farther down the path.

                       Every inch of this area was familiar  to the lad since he came down here nearly every day because he didn't want to risk his father seeing him. But he decided to push that thought aside as he was approaching his destination and was finally able to see the cemetery off in the distance. 

                But as he reached the fence, Mathew noticed guards surrounding the perimeter, which made him instantly stop in his tracks. This must've meant that his father didn't want to take any chances of another "incident" happening. He tried to think of a plan, but the one that came seemed to be nearly impossible. In order for it to take place, he would have the to climb the fence up ahead. This task might seem easy enough, but the whole this was covered head to toe in barbed wire. Probably to keep anyone from coming in without going through the front gate

    "Quickly.....Quickly....." Matthew mumbled to himself as he ripped off pieces of his shirt to wrap around his hands. He knew perfectly well that this might not work, but all he could do was try and hope that it would. So after preparing, he slowly started to climb the fence. He could already feel the bloody slithering down his arm, the pain from the wounds were unbearable, but the lad kept moving up. Matt was able to see the entire place from up here, and was relieved to find out that he had only one obstacle to overcome before he reached the destination.

                He hopped down on the other side and crouched down on the ground below. The dirt was felt soft against his skin, as he realized that it would stay silent as he crossed. But he would need more than that to sneak past the guard in front of the building. Matt would try and take out the guard, but his bloody hands wouldn't allow it, no matter how hard the lad tried. Which left only one option, and that was to outsmart him. So as soon as he came closer, Mathew stood up and faced him.

          "I was sent here by my father, and I was told to get in here at once...I must hurry." Matt said, trying to hide the fear in his voice
           "ID please." The guard responded.

       Matt froze. He tried to think of something to say, but all that came out of his mouth were a few mumbles. It didn't take long for him to find out that he would be forced to do plan B. So without giving it another thought, he jabbed one of the blades into the guards thigh and ran for the door.

"Hey! Come back!" The guard yelled as he tried to stop the blood, but he was too late.

  The lad entered the building to find it just the way he left it. The books he had found were still opened up to the same pages, and it still looked deserted. He frantically looked around for anything that he could sneak home, and made his way over to the bookshelf. It took him a few moments to realize that all the books looked new, except for one that was torn around the edges. He studied the golden words that were written on the crimson binding, but couldn't quite make out the words. 

          He quickly looked over toward the doors to make sure that the guards hadn't regrouped yet, and turned back when the coast was clear. He took a deep breath as he realized that this just may lead to nothing, but he also new that there would be no turning back. So he lightly gripped the book, and pulled.