The Book of Aunt Fay

Avery Evans walked over to the window and reflected on his rough surroundings. He has always loved the desert and the mountains with its never-ending jagged terrain. It is a place that encouraged him to never give up, and to live life to the fullest.

Aunt Fay would have wanted him to keep that same attitude and motivation. Avery was not sure why she left a little black book, but will cherish it forever.

He saw a dark figure in the distance. It was Harper Hayes. Harper is a smart-Alec, and a jokester. Avery gulped as he observed his uncombed hair and bloodshot eyes.

The tapestry of pictures consuming his mind overwhelmed him so much he did not notice Harper sneaking up on him. Jumping up in surprise, he blurted out "Harper!". Mr. Evans was not prepared for what Harper had in store for him.

Harper quickly swiped the little black book out of Avery's hand, skimming through the pages. He jolted forward trying to grab the book back. Harper laughed as he dodged him, stopping at a page in amusement.

***

The book used to be my aunt's, but she had passed away a few days prior and left him a little black book. Some pages have code or rubbish poems, but much of them are unknown.

Aunt Fay was a noticeably quiet and a secret lady, always hiding out in the mountains. The most astounding adventures in the notorious mountains were with Aunt Fay.

***

Harper paused "Avery! Have you glanced at this page?"

He responded, "I did not look into this book well enough, let me view!” Harper let out a loud “HA!” As he taunted Avery, the book got snatched from behind.

He turned around and found his sister Emma holding it. “Hey, Emma,” Avery said.

“Harper stop teasing Avery, his aunt just died!”

Gazing down at the page, she announced, "These are coordinates, it is not too far from this spot, maybe 13 miles from here, come on guys!”.

“What are you talking about sis? There is nothing in that book. It is garbage,” Harper added.

He rolled his eyes, “thanks a lot” Avery murmured.

Emma finally realized all those geography classes paid off; scanning the rest of the book, she found the last page was torn off.

“Hmmm...” Emma paused, trying to decipher the code.

As Avery stepped outside peering out into the rainy desert from the porch, he started to wonder what his aunt's intentions were, what was she hiding, or better, yet what does she want me to find?

Emma grabbed Avery's bag and tossed it at him. “let's go!” she remarked. “But it's pouring!” Harper whined.

Smiling, she asserted, “not for long.” Exactly on that statement, the sun peaked through the dark blue clouds. Not expecting to go on a hunt, Avery reluctantly agreed to find the location with her.

"See Avery, we need to head west for 6 miles and then slightly north approximately 7 miles”. “Okay, Emma, let's take my truck.”

In the back of his mind, he could not help thinking that his aunt was pranking him, she could be up there laughing at how gullible her nephew is at this moment, believing there is something special for him.

Shaking off the thoughts, he grabbed his keys from his pocket, got into the driver's seat, and started the engine. Emma got into the passenger seat, while Harper hopped into the bed of the truck.

Harper slapped the top of the rusty blue truck a couple of times saying, “Ready! Let's get this over with.” He accelerated west. As they are reaching closer and closer to the location, the road turns into a rocky drive the last 7miles.

Emma announced, “Guys, we need to park and hike the rest of the way.”

Harper groaned, “Emma, I was not planning on a hike.”

“Fine. Then stay in the truck, we should be back before sunset.”

As Avery and Emma stormed off, Harper started to fidget with his watch, looking around, he heard howling and other ominous sounds echoing from the desert. Unable to control his tremors, he quietly removed himself from the truck and hollered. “Emma!! Hold on, I am coming.”

***

The gray, shaggy, bearded Joe heard his phone go off in the other room. He quickly clicked on his self-compiled application, “Well, well... It actually worked!”

“Now, I can get what is mine,” Joe declared.

He grabbed his jean jacket off the bed and headed out.

***

They ventured deeper into the canyons. After 4 miles of excruciating hiking and climbing, there was another dead end. “We should only have a half a mile to go!” Emma confirmed.

“This might be a waste of time, Emma. We have been finding nothing but dead ends. Where is this supposed to lead to?” Avery declared.

Scouting the area, they noticed the sun going down and the shadows started to overwhelm their view. Emma quickly scans the pages again, wondering if she has missed an important clue.

Avery stared out into the distance to find any hints. Harper hovered over Emma while she read the pages.

“Sis! Hold on, go back to the last page, follow?” Harper claimed.

The page has some poems with some depiction. The poem showed, “To the east, when the sun is setting, there will sit a silver arrow showing the way.” Turning the compass to the east, the canyon narrowed to a tight passage.

Avery, Emma, and Harper decided to continue this journey, there was clearly light on the other side; they threw their bags inside and squeezed through the crevice.

Meanwhile...

Joe climbed to the top of the rocks, scanning the area with his binoculars, “Ah, there they are, right on time.”

He skipped over a few boulders and gave the cue.

***

The cliff nearby reflected a shiny arrow that aimed south, this caught the attention of the gang. They grabbed their bags and intuitively ran up to the mysterious light.

Nudging the rock where the arrow lead to, it glided opened. Revealing the blue sky illuminating the cave. “Wow an actual bus, how did this get in here?” Avery acclaimed

Lounge chairs were spread out in a circle, a fire pit in the middle, and a small wooden bookcase off to the side of the bus. In amazement, Avery and Emma walked over to the bus and started to explore inside. They found a box of old books, maps, and materials.

“Hey Emma, give me that book! I would like to know if there is another clue.” Harper said.

Emma hands over the book and turns away. “Hey, Avery, examine this box, it is full of maps... Your aunt really loved to travel, these look authentic.”

“Yes, Aunt Fay loved to take me on excursions.”

***

Harper approached the bookcase and chuckled to himself. He placed the little black book into the dusty bookshelf. The shelves slid apart, revealing a small chest with a page. The page held the combination code for this safe. “He entered the code: 135865 into the lock.”

“There it is $20,000.” His eyes lit up and at that moment he knew what he had to do.

Harper tapped his watch a few times. A distant rumble echoed throughout the valley. The dust started to swirl around the canyon from above. Avery and Emma felt the roaring and struggled off the bus with the box of maps.

Joe appeared on a ladder above and swooped down yelling out Harper, “let’s go, boy! You did an excellent job!”

***

Avery and Emma in shock started to run after Harper.

He proceeded towards Joe at full speed with the special chest of $20,000. Climbing up the bus to the ladder, he jumped towards Joe as Avery chased after him trying to grab on to him, he missed; the three were swinging back and forth on the ladder.

Avery screamed “HARPER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP!”

He kicked Avery down, falling straight onto the roof of the bus. He laid there watching Harper and the helicopter slowly fly away from the canyon.

Emma sat there trying to register what exactly happened. She could not believe her brother did something so malicious.

The laughter of Joe and Harper echoed through the gully.

“They got away,” Avery shouted.

Emma eyed down, “Don't worry, I will help you recover what is yours.”