Treasure Hunt

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. The first line of the sci fi book Johnny loaned me is running through my head for some reason. Darkness surrounds me. My eyes come slowly into focus as I regain awareness. I struggle to look at my surroundings. At first everything just looks green. As my vision clears I can see Johnny laying a few feet away. He is also trying to get adjusted to our new surroundings. I can hear him moan as he tries to fight through the fog in his head. Then he calls out to me, “Are you okay, Aaron?”

“I’m not sure yet. I think so. How are you doing?”

He answers with a “thumbs up,” but I can tell he doesn’t feel any better than I do.

I quickly reach the conclusion that I probably shouldn’t stand up yet. I have baby deer legs. As I look around at our new surroundings I think back on the last 24 hours. Yesterday at this time I was still at school...

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I slid into my chair in English class. One more class before finals week, I thought. I remembered the class was supposed to write down questions to ask the teacher for last night’s homework and I had forgotten to do it. No problem, I thought, I’ll just check the index for a couple of topics and write questions about those. As I was flipping through the index pages a piece of paper went fluttering to the floor. “Is that a note?,“ asked the teacher. “No, Mrs. Devon,” I said, “It’s just a page of notes I wrote.”

Luckily the bell hadn’t rung yet so she didn’t insist on seeing the paper. I actually didn’t know what was on the paper because I had never seen it before, but I wanted to check it out before she could take it. It looked kind of old. I put the paper in my pocket so I could get my questions written out.

I didn’t remember to look at the paper until I got to the park after school to skateboard with my best friend Johnny. We were sitting on a bench taking a break while he tried to convince me to read his latest science fiction novel. I finally take the book, read the first line, and put it in my backpack to placate him. Then I felt the paper in my pocket, recognition dawned on me and I excitedly pulled it out and opened it.

“What’s that?” asked Johnny.

“I don’t know. It fell out of my English book.”

“Oh,” he said. “It’s probably something boring then.”

I politely chuckled at his joke as I carefully unfolded the paper. At first I couldn’t comprehend what I was looking at because I was expecting to see a page full of writing. When I got over my initial surprise I realized I was looking at some sort of hand-drawn map.

“Is that a treasure map?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“Who do you think put it in your book?”

“I have no idea. The teacher numbers the books to check them out to students, so there are no names written in them. It could be anyone who ever used the book.”

“Look!” Johnny practically yelled, “there’s an X marked on it! It is a treasure map!”

“But what area does the map show?” I wondered.

We spent the next couple of hours looking through maps of the area. We figured we could only go hunt for the treasure in the near future if it was nearby. Finally we found a map of an area of forest just a couple of miles from my house that fit perfectly with the landmarks on the treasure map.

“We need to leave first thing in the morning to go look for the treasure,” Johnny said. “We can’t risk having someone else find it first.” I didn’t mention that I assumed the person who drew the map had probably gone back and gotten the treasure long ago.

We spent the evening getting together food, supplies, and a tent for our adventure. Our parents decided we could go camping on our own for one night since it was a warm weekend in May and we were both 16 year old former boy scouts. We gave them a map of the area where we planned to camp.

Johnny and I set off at sunrise on our bikes since neither of us owned a car yet. The whole trip went really well until we got to where we thought the “X” should be on the map. The area where the treasure should be was full of thick brush. Even though we had brought shovels I didn’t know how we were going to go about digging for the treasure with all the roots that must be in the ground.

After carefully walking around the area to see if we were missing anything we decided to take a break and have one of the peanut butter and honey sandwiches we had brought. We sat down by a large, ancient-looking tree. The last thought I remembered having was that I was going to lean back against the tree and rest. The next thing I was aware of was laying on the ground and feeling disoriented…

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As I look around I notice the plants we are surrounded by are not the same types of plants we were just looking at. The vegetation looks like it belongs in a tropical forest. In fact, the plants all look like giant versions of vegetation you would find in a tropical forest. The air feels different, too. It feels hotter and more humid than it did just a few minutes ago.

“Where are we?” Johnny asks, “When are we?”

I roll my eyes at Johnny’s geeky sci-fi reference. He’s so obsessed with science fiction that he is taking an elective class on science fiction literature. On purpose. But then I realize that Johnny’s knowledge could actually be a valuable resource in this situation and not just something I politely listen to as a good friend.

“Johnny, do you have any idea what might be going on here?”

Johnny’s face lights up like a toddler on Christmas morning. “Well, judging by the atmosphere and plantlife in the area we are no longer in the same time or place we were a few moments ago. If I had to make a preliminary assessment I would say we have travelled through some sort of portal. We have either travelled to a different time in the same place, or a different place on Earth in the same time. Or,” now his eyes shine with the light of 1,000 candles, “we could also be in the multiverse on a different version of Earth. Or,” mad scientist enthusiasm at this point, “we could even be on a completely different planet. Maybe even in another universe!”

I stare blankly for a moment at the monster I have just created before asking, “I guess the most important thing to know here is whether or not you know how to get back home.”

“Oh. Don’t you think maybe we should at least look around a little bit before we try to leave? This is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

I decide to try to reason with Johnny on his level instead of arguing. “But what if the portal is only open for a limited amount of time and it doesn’t open again for several days, or even months or years? Don’t some of these things coincide with moon phases or star alignments?”

He looks at me like I have just slapped him across the face. “You’re right! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Okay, the most likely place to find a return portal is right around here where we just came through. It doesn’t always work that way, but it’s probably the most logical place to start.”

We both start wandering slowly around the area making gradually wider loops from our starting points. We are both so focused on looking for the portal that we don’t see the station wagon-sized wasp flying toward us until it is almost on top of us. Johnny lets out a scream worthy of an old-time horror movie and we both run into the nearest group of giant trees. The huge black wasp is so close I can hear its wings buzzing as it flies. The wasp is quickly getting closer and closer as we run, but it suddenly stops in mid air. We continue to run until we are sure the wasp is no longer coming after us.

When we are certain the wasp is no longer in pursuit we stop and look behind us. The wasp is still floating in the same spot, but it seems to be wiggling too. As we watch in horror, a giant spider approximately the size of a military tank comes down from the tree canopy and crawls toward the wasp on what I now realize is a web. The spider has a round body and long, thick legs. Its body is covered in an exoskeleton of shiny black armor.

Johnny and I are frozen in terror as we watch the spider make its way toward the wasp that is engaged in a hopeless struggle for its life. The spider reaches the wasp and starts wrapping up its meal like a package of white cotton candy. I know we should be running before the spider finds time to chase us, but I can’t look away from what is happening on the web. Finally Johnny grabs me by the arm and motions with his head that we should leave. As quietly as possible we circle around the way we came into the forest, being careful not to get too close to the spider and its feast. My legs and lungs still burn from our panicked sprint through the forest.

Our journey back to where we think the portal might be takes much longer than it did when we were running for our lives. We are also a lot more careful to watch for any creatures that might be lurking around in the forest. When we finally walk out of the forest we feel like it’s safe to speak again. The first thing out of Johnny’s mouth is, “You’d better not tell anyone about how I screamed back there.” I just smile because it seems like such a ridiculous concern compared to what we’ve just been through.

“I've been thinking,” Johnny says as he looks around, “I’m pretty sure the tree we sat against earlier was actually the portal. Maybe we should check the trees in the area to see if one of them is the return portal.”

“Good idea,” I say, feeling hopeful. We decide to stay together in case we find the portal. There is a very real possibility that one of us could fall through it and not be able to tell the other one where it is.

We start searching for the place where we landed on the ground earlier, but neither of us is sure where it was. We finally decide that I will close my eyes and spin in a circle for five seconds, and we will walk straight forward from that point to begin our search.

When I open my eyes there is a large, thick tree straight in front of me. We walk toward the tree and I reach out to touch it, expecting to find a solid surface. Instead, my hand passes right through the tree. Before I can figure out what is happening I am falling through space.

When I open my eyes everything around me looks green. I struggle to look for Johnny with my blurred vision. “Johnny!” Just a few feet away Johnny answers, “I’m right here. You don’t have to yell.”

“Are we back?,” I ask, feeling cautiously optimistic.

“There’s only one way to know for sure,” he says, examining our surroundings. “The trees look right, but we need to get back home to make sure we’re in the right time and place.”

As soon as we are steady we walk back to where we left our bikes. We ride back to town as fast as we can.

We decide to check my house first. When we walk in the door my mom says, “Hey guys! How was your camping trip? Was it cold last night?"

“We just left this morning, Mom.”

She smiles and says, “Very funny! Have you boys been watching sci-fi movies?”

Instead of arguing we go to my bedroom. “What do you think happened,” I ask.

“Well,” says Johnny, “obviously time passed differently in the other place than it does here. We’re just lucky we didn’t spend any more time there than we did. Our parents would have had the police looking for us by the time we came back.”

Before Johnny goes home we decide we probably shouldn’t tell anyone else about our experience. “Nobody would believe us anyway,” I say.

“Definitely not,” Johnny says. “Well, I’d better be getting home. I have to write a short story for the final project in my Science Fiction class, and I think I have a really good idea for a story.”

“Doesn’t it have to be fiction?”

“Who’s going to know it’s not,” he asks with a sly smile.