The Lost Treasure

The Shack

"What is it Ben?" I asked as we all rushed over to him.

  He was pointing towards an overgrowing of ferns between two trees. "See this? This part can be pulled aside to make an entry point!

It took a moment for that to sink in. A hidden entryway! How exciting!

  When the ferns were pulled apart they created a tunnel to wiggle through. It wasn't big, but it wasn't too small either. A grown man could probably have fit through it, so that made things easier for David, who was basically built like one.

  I went through first. I, being a fan of cozy spaces, was already loving the small tunnel. It could be the perfect spot to read in peace and quiet. There just had to be a light source and I would be good to go.

"Ibrahim?" I heard Charlie ask behind me. "Something wrong?"

  "Oh, it's nothing, sorry" I apologized, realizing I had stopped halfway through the tunnel. "The tunnel is just so amazing from the inside."

Sunlight poured in to the little passageway from the other end. I was almost there.

  I wiggled out of the tunnel. The first thing I noticed was the dense forest canopy overhead. It was so dense that only a few rays of light were able to pass through it.

  There just enough light for me to make out my surroundings. Everything seemed fine, tall grass, huge rocks, but then I saw something which definitely did not belong there.

A shack

"Am I seeing what I think I am seeing?" asked Ben looking confused.

"Yeah, you are" I confirmed.

"What is a shack of all things doing here?" inquired David.

"Well, it definitely isn't for tourism purposes, that's for sure" joked Ronan.

"Let's investigate!" suggested Charlie excitedly. "We might find something cool!"

  It was a tumbledown shack, the type you would find in traditional areas. At the very least it was a hundred years old, maybe more, I couldn't tell. It was made completely from wood, which is what you'd expect, but I was amazed at how it was still intact. Wood structures aren't the safest or longest lasting, so if we went in, we had to be very careful not to upset anything.

  I carefully pushed open the door and cautiously stepped inside. At first I couldn't make out much, the light was even dimmer inside the shack, which made it even harder to see.

  Gradually, my eyes adjusted to the light. I looked around the little place. Nothing really struck me as odd at first. The floor creaked like I thought it would, and the furniture was obviously very old. There wasn't much in here, a table, three chairs, and a few shelves lined in to the wall opposite us.

  It seemed normal, and yet, a shack shouldn't have been out here, no matter how old it was. It made no sense for it to be here, unless, of course, the person who lived here back in the day was seriously anti-social.

That was doubtful

  I gently slid my finger across the surface of the table and rubbed the pads of my index and middle finger together. I expected to feel dust, but I didn't.

  This didn't make sense, this shack was at least a century old, and no one could have possibly come here...

Unless, someone had come here.

  It couldn't have been more than a day, otherwise the dust would have settled on to the furniture.

  My senses immediately went on high alert, trying to make out any noise that could be produced by this mysterious person. It could only be one of two people, it either was a very anti-social person.....or it was someone who had secrets to hide.

"David?" I asked slightly scared. "We aren't the only ones who have been here recently."

"What! How do you know?" he asked also looking around him in worry.

"Dust, there's no dust."

The others looked towards me, they were clearly worried.

"What do we do then?" asked Charlie. "Should we high tail it out of here or investigate?"

"Investigate" we all answered in unison.

  "But what if this person comes while we are searching? We'd be caught red-handed! Who's to say that it's just one person? It could very well be more, and they may be dangerous!" Ben was close to freaking out at this point, which was something I had never seen him do before. He was right though, we couldn't leave ourselves to be caught from the behind.

  "Ben's right" I said. "I'll keep lookout. If you guys see anything remotely suspicious or out of place, you need to point it out."

Everyone nodded and I took my position outside.

  I lay against the ground, with my eyes locked on the entrance of the tunnel and my ears trying to detect anything that could indicate the approach of an individual, or multiple individuals. This wasn't the best lookout spot, but it was the best I could think of, and I could alert the others quickly if someone came.

A few minutes passed of silence passed, no sign of any person arriving.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I jumped up and spun around, expecting to see the inhabitant of the place, but it was just David.

I sighed, "Geez David, you scared the heck out of me."

"Sorry Ibrahim, but we found something. You have to check it out."

"You did?" I asked in excitement, "What is it?"

"Not sure, it's a piece of paper with a name and numbers on it" said David.

  "It could be a clue to something!" I said thrilled. Before David could say anything else I dashed in to the shack.

  Charlie and the others were gathered around the table, bending over the piece of paper. It was parched and beige in color, just like a treasure map.

  "Hey, let me see that." I said, trying to make way for myself. The others stepped aside and I took a good look at the paper.

60,6 TrHt

What could this mean? '60,6 TrHt', what does 'TrHt' stand for?

  We'd have to see if David's mom or dad could help. For now though, it was time to head back home, it was getting late.

That's when we heard a loud coughing from beyond the wall of trees.

Dang it.