Follow Me

Follow Me

By Britney Behanna

David lived in a small town his whole life, he walked the trail over the railroad tracks behind his home frequently. Today as he was beginning to take his usual walk, he was crossing the tracks and seen something unusual sticking out of the rocks and dirt, it glimmered and called to him. At first he was skeptical but went for it anyways. He picked up the object, it was a little black notebook, dusty on the outside but the ring that bound the pages is what caught his eye. David began to open the book, it contained a story of riches. He was puzzled at first but began to read, the lettering jumped from the pages under his skin, goosebumps all over, it was directions, but to what?

He then followed the words onto the trail, the fallen down tree a quarter mile down the path and make a left off of the trail. David was shaken but he took the journey. The next step was to look for the pink marker tied to the trunk of the tree. Once he reached the marker, it gave a clue, look down and tie your shoe. His shoes were both tied, he wondered what the next page had to tell. The writer in the book asked if the ground was soft. David started to feel sick, his mind started to wonder if he should involve the authorities. Instead of reporting the fresh dug dirt, he ran home. He took the book with him and called his friend Paul, he told him what he found. Paul said laughingly "You are crazy dude, I am on my way." The two men spoke of all the non sense in the book, Paul did not want involved anymore, he gave David advice to take a shovel with him and dig it up. He was unsure of what action to take but it was getting late and no way he would return into those woods in the dark.

He placed the book on his bedside table and got himself ready for bed.

The next morning he awoken with the vivid dreams he had during the night. An old man, with a familiar face, rough beard and glasses spoke to him about that book he found. David then remembered the old man, he lived a couple blocks away. His name was Drake Mallard, he put his name in a search engine to find an obituary. Drake had passed away almost a week ago, he had no family or friends but he lived right by the train tracks and the trail. David's mind began to wonder if this was really Mr. Mallard's book. He wanted to sneak into his residence to compare hand writing. That's exactly what he did, he made sure the neighborhood was quiet and went through a window he found unlocked. In the home, it smelled like old musty man but he bared the stench and continued before anyone noticed. David began to look through his belongings, he found paperwork about Mr. Mallard's cancer. Still nothing with this man's writing on it! Then he heard a voice that said "follow me." It came from his kitchen, not a person in the house but he looked at the refrigerator door, "a shopping list!" David exclaimed. He then compared the writing, it was an actual page from the book and the same handwriting. Carefully, he left out the way he came in, shutting the window. As he was walking away from the home, a neighbor had saw him and asked what was he doing in Mr. Mallard's home. David had to think quickly, "I knocked on his door a few times and never got a response, I thought he may have fallen or something because I have not seen him sitting on his porch during my walk." The neighbor said that was a nice gesture but he had passed away recently. David gave his neighbor his condolences and got out of dodge. He knew he couldn't proceed his journey back onto the trail after her seeing him climb out of the window. Back to his house he went, but not without some company. Along came the sheriff of the community to question him. David did not stumble his words and told the exact story. The sheriff gave him warning about his actions and went on his way. David was relieved but still curious what could be in the ground! He spent the rest of that day preparing to go into the woods that night and to not be seen by the nosy neighbor again.

David had a bright headlamp, a portable shovel, gloves and a back pack. The items were all placed in the bag, he was ready to go. There was a problem, it was not dark out yet but the anticipation was eating him alive! He decided to call Paul and take his mind off the journey. He did not speak of Drake Mallard to Paul, he tried to keep the conversation light since he no longer wanted to be involved. Then Paul asked, "Did you dig at the dirt?" David responded with a lie, "No, I threw out the book, I do not have any curiosity what could be in the ground anymore." Paul said that would be better to not know. Finally it was late enough to start his travel to find the trail. He got his back pack and went across the tracks and onto the trail. Being so familiar with the trail he used the dimmed lighting from his phone until he reached the fallen tree. At this point he unzipped the bag and grabbed out the head lamp. He stretched it onto his head and turned it on then walked off of the trail following the same instructions in the black book. David was confident that what Mr. Mallard buried was nothing to be concerned about. He walked until he saw the pink marker around the tree. Then he looked down at his laces and said "they are still tied, Drake!" He heard a faint laugh and began to put the portable shovel together. David started to dig under his feet, he dug about 2 feet down until the tip of the shovel hit something. His heart was in his throat, nervous and excited that he actually found something! He got down on the ground to look, it was a black briefcase, he dusted off the dirt and began to open it. A page from the small black notebook was on top of a pillow case. He began to read the note, " I could not take this to the grave with me so I left it for you." Please enjoy my savings and take a vacation." David put that note in his pocket and began to look inside the pillow case, it was full of cash. He then put the little black book into the hole and began to cover it. Finally he was set to go home and get cleaned up. As David came across the tracks he whispered " Thank you Mr. Mallard!" The wind blew across his face and whispered back "you are welcome."

David got cleaned up and emptied the bag onto his living room floor. He began to count one hundred, two hundred, three hundred... he got to a thousand and made a pile of every thousand. Twenty thousand dollars that Mr. Mallard left in that hole. David was very grateful for finding that book and actually going through with the dig. Also could not stop thanking Mr. Mallard over and over again. He put it in his safe and never spoke of his findings to anyone. He did not want anyone to take advantage of the old man's money or him. David was exhausted, so he headed to bed. He awoken to his alarm blaring in his ear, then he began to think about a vacation. David booked an Alaskan cruise that morning and packed his bags. He called into his work and told them he was taking a vacation and to fire him if that was not allowed. His boss allowed it, he was a hardworking man and deserved the break. He loaded up the car and asked Mr. Mallard's spirit to join him for the fun! Off to the airport for his flight.