Treasure at Midnight

Your parents have insisted that the whole family spend a day at the waterfront visiting

the aquarium, the shops, and the old pirate ship anchored in the harbor as a tourist attraction.

You board the ship and step down into the cramped sleeping quarters where the pirates once

bunked. Suddenly, on a shelf above one of the hammocks, you notice a small

sea chest carved out of dark, oily wood. You look to see if anyone is watching, then pick up

the chest. It is locked, so you set it down, but as you do, one of the legs falls off. You pick

up the leg to insert it back into place, and a tiny tube of paper drops out. You quickly push

the leg under the sea chest, put the paper tube in your pocket, and leave.

At home in your room, you unroll the paper and find a sketch of the pirate ship, with an

“X” is drawn near the bottom of the ship, below the waterline, and directly beneath the ship’s

steering deck. You are sure it is a treasure map, and you will have to investigate or go crazy

by noon tomorrow. You tell your friend Jordan, who doesn’t believe you but who agrees to

go along anyway.

It is moonless midnight. An almost-tropical breeze wafts off the ocean. You slip into

the water and swim under the dock, where the pirate ship is tied. No guards are insight.

You and Jordan steal aboard the ship and make your way to the sleeping quarters where

you found the map. As you step into the darkness, a deep, mournful voice calls out, “Why

have you come?” You freeze in terror as Jordan turns and races back up onto the deck, My

body becomes numb and I can't move an inch as the steps slowly make their way in my

direction. Jordan was out of sight. It is only you and that voice you just heard.

"Why have you come?" It repeatedly said.

You clenched your fist as you tried to grasp the situation you got yourself into. Your

thoughts screamed, "What are you trying to prove, Ezia?!"

You tried to move your leg slowly, but a cold wind brushed your hair. You convinced yourself

that this matter---- is a part of the fun park show---- and the wind has nothing to do with that

the scary voice that caused Jordan to dumped you.

You decided to run away. But you knew if you let go, and go wild...everything else will be in

vain. So you choose to lift your spirit up. You looked around to find the voice who tried to

contact you. Nothing is inside the room, neither no one is.

The voice yet again appeared, "Why have you come?"

"I came to find you." You dashingly replied. The voice did seem to hear you, but it pretended

to did not understand you.

"I see."

"Where are you?" You asked.

"I am but inside of you."

"How come? I want to clarify your presence, and what this is to me?" You demanded.

"Stop scaring me like Jordan. I am not a chicken."

The voice laughed. "Okay."

And so it appeared, a white figure, it is a man.

"Who are you?"

" I am... I am the one you just heard." He said.

"I am but only a man." And then he smiled.

You walk slowly to him. Shivering and scared. Realizing...he is a man but only a soul.

"You seem to found what I had hidden."

"Yes, it seems so I do." You replied.

"Does it peaked your interest?" He asked.

"Yes."

He then again smiled.

"I have come to know you long before you knew me now. You were once my wife."

"Pardon?"

The man laughed, "Forgive me, it has been a hundred years since I set foot on earth, and then

died a terrible heartbreaking death."

"I'm sorry." You consoled him.

He faintly smiled. "No need to take pity."

The man waves his arms at you. You looked at him, his arms looked like a transparent film

flying in the air. He stretched his hand at you and wiggled his fingers to hold your hand.

"Leave the stupid boy, I know what you are looking for."

And he took you somewhere, a place you knew.

"We are in...the cemetery?"

"Yes." He replied.

You looked around, trying to figure out his deal out of you.

"You're weird."

The man agreed, he then chuckled. "It is time you know."

He gripped your hand as both of you started to walk past the tomb of dead people. The aura

of the cemetery gives you a feeling of oddness. Yet what the oddness feels more is his

presence has become a more human man now.

"Why?" You asked him.

"I will behold you great treasure. Just make sure to hold me while you still can." He said.

"You passed the test. The scaring method was just simple, as not easy as it sounds."

Passed across the cemetery, you saw a stable black figure of a pointed roof vertically

standing. He pointed out his finger, asking you to understand him that he is trying to take you

out into an Asian restaurant. You questioned him again about his odd demeanor. The man

smiled and resisted. As you walked out the front gate of the cemetery, you found out that all

the electric lights are down, and you and that man's presence became a center show lighting

for the moon to brag. You came to a conclusion that there are a lot of stores and entertainment

centers at this place.

"Why is this place have no light?" You asked.

"We are almost there." The man changed the subject.

"Do me a favor."

"Give me the answer to my question first, I just can't understand this now."

"You will know." He said.

"Please have common sense."

"You are so mean." You told him.

"Isn't that why I am a ghost though?"

As both of you walked, you saw that all of the establishments are hunged open. Suddenly, the

man stopped walking. He asked you to lookup. A huge building with magnificent ancient

interior designs and writings is presented. He let go of his hand.

"Get inside." He told you.

"What?"

"This is the only place where I can only deliver you." He explained.

"I can't go inside."

"But why?" You asked. The man did not reply. He can only again, smile.

"You are a teenager...please remember that. And whatever lies ahead...only walk ahead like

what you did to me. Get the box----it is the treasure where you have been longing for, it will

satisfy your curiosity. And then get out, and come back to me."

"Will you not come?" You asked.

"I wished so." He replied.

"If I would, then, no man would ever wait for you here again, unless that Jordan-boy would

flip his wings for you."

You laughed. "Is it illicit now?"

"Yes." He sadly replied.

"We will meet again."

Before you could properly say goodbye, the bark of the huge door gulped you up the whole.

The man tore. You finally realized you shoved a big mess at yourself. You arrived at a long

corridor, with a wooden floor and dim lights of green. Strange noises came in and out,

laughing, and crying themselves to death. You could not understand what was happening, but

you understand what it is to be done.

You told yourself, "Strong straight. Box. Out."

You moved your feet and started to walk the cold wooden floor of the corridor. A laugh

appeared. You walked confidently. Not wasting any attention to what it is given unto you.

"Simple, but not easy." You quoted, as you remembered from someone. At another step you

took, you heard an angry cry. A woman seems to be. But you could not give any sort of offer

as you know that the box is your goal. You moved along. A few steps after, a painful mourn

appeared.

"Ah!" You heard it shouted.

You felt a chill strike inside your body. Curious... You wanted full-grown attention to its

detail. "Strong straight." You told yourself, and you left that seems to be a bloody sight of a

couple making out. At the last steps you were about to make, you saw the box of which the

ghost man told you about. You get excited, and you run towards it. However, the more you

ran to it, the farther it seems to be. Then a voice again appeared. It was the woman.

"Why have you come?" You heard her saying.

"I came to meet you." A man...you heard. The familiarity struck you.

"Why?"

"Because of you and the child. I want to meet you. It's been so long."

The woman laughed. "You are an idiot. Did you know that?"

"Can I at least attend my son?"

"No, you cannot."

"Why? May I ask?" The man told her.

"I would ask the same thing." The woman said.

The whole matter is absurd. The box is farther, and you cannot leave the corridor. As you

tremble from fear and frustration of yourself. The temptation of curiosity grew and your

dedication to this 'uncover the truth' widen. You shook yourself up, and you walked slowly,

forward. Trying to learn the first step you got from the start. The box now seemed closer, but

your curiosity got deeper.

"What did you mean? Have I not made it clear for you? My feelings and my dedication.

Please...come back to me." You heard the man talking.

The woman scoffed, "Why?"

"What?"

"Are you not ashamed of yourself?! This son and your dirty little tricks of making me long

you! Are you not ashamed?!" The woman shouted, and a vase, you heard, shattered.

"Eizya..."

"Shut up! If you truly love me, then do not make me wait for you! Let me go! I do not want

to stay here!"

"Anymore...just not that."

"Why?!" The woman shouted.

"The world is not good for you."

"Ahh! Again, with that sentence! I have already given you what you always wanted! A love,

a wife, a son, and a life! So please! Please, let me have mine too!"

You could not agree with yourself. As you took the box, the dedication...you look back. You

saw the man who was trying to argue with the woman, it was the...the ghost? And the woman

who was you. Everything turned around and spin like crazy. You get hold of the box and

yourself, but you could not find the exit to whom you promised to come back. You struggled.

It seems can not to find any place to escape.

"I'm sorry." You said, trying to imply on someone.

You slowly closed your eyes, and you walked away from the terrible world you have seen.

When you opened your eyes, you found yourself in your bed. Everything else was shining

brightly, and the box you held was right behind where you were sleeping. The door opened

and you saw your mother bringing some bread with her. When she found you, she was

shocked dead and flopped the bread on the floor. Your father was behind her, and he learned

about your mother's odd behavior. Your father opened the door wide open. Like your mother,

he was shocked to see your eyes wide and open. Both of your parents covered their mouths

with disbelief and you called out to them, curious as what it seems to you.

"Mother?" You called. And you realized your voice changed. So like them, you covered your

mouth with disbelief. You heard yourself like a mature person.

When you stretched out your arms and legs, you had found out that you are growing taller

than you were. Your finger's nail is well polished, and so are your hairy legs. You do not

seem to recognize yourself. When you look back to find your parents. They cried and throw

themselves at you.

"Our daughter!" They cried earnestly and hugged you tightly.

"Mother? Father?" You called.

"We missed you so much, child! Where have you been all this time!" Her father said.

"I could ask the same thing," she told herself.

Then she remembered her friend, Jordan.

"Ma, Pa, where is Jordan?"

Her parents looked at her, and at each other. And again they cried.

They told her, Jordan had been in a coma for five years. After the incident, and his

awakening, his parents flew him off to Seoul and listed him as a military soldier. They did not

see him again, but they knew, Jordan could only remember himself and does not know

anything about you, Ezia. You were very shocked to hear this. But to your surprise, both you

and Jordan were together on the same adventure. If Jordan woke up after five years, then how

long have you been sleeping all this time? You asked your parents about this. Both of your

parents looked at each other again.

"Child..." Your mother started. "After we found you, almost looking seventeen hours for your

whereabouts. You were lying in the side of the ship, unconscious, and almost laid half-naked.

"You were cold wet, but not out of breath, and we could still find your heart beating."

"And you were white as a rabbit." Your father added.

"We could not understand what is in that moment, but we knew something was wrong. We

knew something was wrong with you, where you got yourself into. The whole community

was involved in it, and so, teenagers like your age, were lost, unlike you, they were not

found."

"Your siblings ended up having married after the long years, and your unconscious body was

dragged along those scenes. We would not dare not to tag you along." Your mother also

added.

"You slept for 15 years straight, Ez. See how much you and your body have grown. We could

have sworn this is all a joke, but it's not. Yourself is the evidence to it all."

"...15 years?" You asked.

"We are so sorry, Ezia." Your parents told you. "If only we had been paying close attention to

you. You would not have been ended up like this."

As the hugs are tightly close and the emotions are getting piled up, your thoughts are

disarranged at the moment. You are mourning, sad, angry, and confused. Fifteen years. Damn,

that fifteen years of stupidity.

"Grandma?" A voice appeared.

"Are you in here?"

Inside that moment, a boy suddenly appeared. Tall and handsome. You froze, you could tell

him by his face and that aura of him. You knew who was that boy.

"Ma, who is he? And why is he doing in here?" You told your mother.

Again, your parents look to each other. Your suspicion grew.

"Ma, Pa, stop doing like that! You are looking at each other often. Is there something I need

to know about?" You told your parents.

"Child--"

"Excuse me, grandparents." The boy who was standing went up to you and sat beside your

mother. He held his hand unto you. You looked at him.

"Why have you come?" A voice you knew scram inside your head.

"Mother." He told you and kisses your hand.

Your eyes bolted, and you looked at your parents.

"Child, Ezia..." Your mother gently said. "This is Ohio. Ohio. Ezia, your son."