The Silver skulls of Aldea

It was a warm summer night on the Street of Aldea. I was taking one of my frequent climbs up my favorite tree, to get away from my parents fighting. This was a very tall redwood, that took a good twenty minutes to climb to the top. Once at the top you could see the entire neighborhood, and I was looking forward to the peace and tranquility. I had almost reached the top when I heard the voice......" Brandon, don't be alarmed ." Someone was already at the top of my favorite thinking tree with me. I was shocked at first , but He said very soothingly ..." Don't fall, I can't catch you if you fall and she would want me to catch you."

"She who"? I replied. "Your grandmother of course , who else silly? This man was very nicely dressed for climbing a tree at night time, and I felt no hostile energy towards Him. " My Grandmother? You knew my Grandmother?" " Yes, I knew Her very well. Do me a favor Brandon and stop climbing , I must keep my distance from you. Do you still have the locket she gave you when She passed away?" Who are you?!" I replied . "How do you know she gave me a locket ? How do you know my family? " "My name is Alex, and I was a friend of your grandmother, He replied. "I gave her that locket to give to you because I could not give it to you directly." It's pure silver and from Romania." "She never spoke of you, I said." Alex replied, " I asked her not to. I wanted you to have this fortune completely to yourself." Fortune"? " This locket is not worth a fortune , it's maybe one ounce of silver"?? While the man was talking to me , His eyes were fixed on the moon, and He never stopped looking at it. "No Brandon my boy, not the locket , the locket was just....meant to keep my kind away from you. No, the fortune I speak of is berried at the bottom of this tree, and once you climb down you can dig it up. I imagine it would be worth more than enough now to get away from your toxic parents who are constantly fighting , that is the reason you are in this tree to begin with, yes???" I said, " How could you possibly know that? I don't tell anyone." He replied , "You tell this tree, and this isn't the first time I've seen you up here, this is simply the first time I've let you see me."

I started to get a little creeped out, and I made my climb down. As I was making my descent , I could hear in the distance...." Be careful." Again, I was confused but not scared at all. The man was not hostile. I went home into my room and pulled out my telescope to see if the man was still in the tree. He was not, and I decided to go to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to the normal sound of my parents fighting, and this was a bad one. Things were being thrown , glass was breaking, and I could hear my mother scream: " Cops are on the way" . I decided to leave to go to my climbing tree , but first picked up a shovel from my dads tool shed to see if the mysterious tree climber was telling the truth about this fortune berried at the bottom of the tree.

I started digging , and after about ten minutes, I did in fact hit a wooden chest. It was not locked and the word " ALDEA", was spelled out on the top of the chest. I opened it, and it was filled with small silver skulls. Each one weighed a different weight. Some were five ounces and some were twenty. All together I counted 63 silver skulls, that weighed a total of 400 ounces of silver.

I cashed in some of my silver skulls , and was able to move out of my parents home. I never again saw Alex. I visit that tree often, and still climb it from time to time, but He never shows up. I hope He knows how grateful I am for the amazing gift He gave me.