The next morning, the sun rose over the large mountain tops with light streaking across the green tree tops. Sanford is in the kitchen as he finishes packing a small bag of food and medical supplies for Rebecca. The sound of the stairs creaking grabs his attention as he looks back into the big room and can see Rebecca coming down them before appearing at the threshold of the kitchen.
"I packed you a little bag to take with you."
"Dad I told you I'm not going with em."
"Rebecca, my dear this is everything you've been working towards and now you're just going to give up, and never know what happened to your parents or the treasure."
"Dad, please."
Sanford was hoping to break through to Rebecca as he slid the little baggie across the table to her, only to have Rebecca plead with him and stare at the baggie with no intent on taking it.
"Rebecca. I can't control what you do, but I'll be disappointed if you don't do this for yourself to see you waste all this time looking for something that you are now so close to finding. Sorry but I won't just sit here and watch as you give it all up, besides you're already up and it looks like the boys are already on their way over here."
Giving her his iconic old man smile, he continued to push the baggie toward her until she finally picked it up.
"Fine I'll go with them."
Rebecca crouches down and opens her back pack and tosses the baggie inside and zips it back up as the door opens up and the three boys walk in.
"Good morning Sanford."
Miles led the greeting train this morning as the other boys walked to each of his sides.
"Morning boys. Good news, Rebecca's decided to go with you today."
"Splendid, I look forward to working with her."
Rebecca exchanges a death glare with Miles only to get his sleazy smile in return. Rebecca wasn't looking forward to working with these two middle aged men, hopefully Kevin was right and the two of them could evenly match the brothers.
"Well then looks like you're all set, and remember most accidents happen close to home so make sure you have something to protect yourself."
The old man hobbled over to his daughter and wrapped his arms around her, and held her close as if it was the last time he'd see her.
"Be careful out there."
"I will Dad, love ya."
She reassured her father before he finally released his embrace around her and smiled. The team all left to enter the forest and Sanford was left standing at the big houses door waving goodbye as the group entered the tree line.
***
A couple hours of hiking passed as the group made their way through the jungle like ecosystem, Miles and Jared took the lead, while Kevin and Rebecca brought up the back. Everyone was silent with only the sound of crunching leaves blow them. As they walked side by side, Kevin looks over at Rebecca.
"You doing okay?"
As Kevin asked the question, Rebecca jumped a little as eh asked the question clearly she was lost in thought and residing in her mind.
"Hmm ah yeah, yeah I'm fine, Actually I do have a question."
"Go ahead shoot?"
"Why are you even working with these guys?"
Kevin takes a moment to think about the question, a little taken back by it as he tries to word his answer in his head, while he could feel Rebecca looking at him.
"Yea about that, When I was a kid I had a father who was a treasure seeker, and I looked up to him but then one day he disappeared leaving my mom and I to deaf for ourselves. That's when I saw these guys ad looking for an intern and thought that this might be my last chance to follow my dream and follow in my fathers footsteps."
"Wow that's rough, so we're basically both looking for our parents."
Rebecca acknowledges their shared reality as Kevin turns breaking eye contact with her. No longer making eye contact with the boy, Rebecca looked down at her feet watching where she stepped while beside her Kevin looked up the hill. At the summit Miles and Jared had stopped and were looking down at Jared's tablet. While Rebecca and Kevin inevitably met them at the top.
"We're close it should just be down there."
"Well then let's go."
Miles pointed down he hill, but was a little slow as Rebecca pushed her way though the brothers, an gave Miles an additional shove as she walked past him causing him to stumble back. Kevin followed closely behind Rebecca as they left the brothers standing at the summit of the hill.
"Calm down bro, just remember we only need her for the key."
"Yea let's make that happen sooner then later."
The leaders tone was colder then ever as he sauntered down the hill and into the clearing with the two kids, with Jared close behind trying to get the tablet back into his bag. With the whole team down in the clearing now, the four of them separate and start scouring the area for any potential oddities. Minutes of searching led to no leads until Jared took a step and hears a metallic clang come from beneath him.
"Everybody I think I found it."
Jared crouched down and began to brush off all the plants and grass until he uncovers the lock with a handle right beside it just in time to have the others form around him.
YOU ARE READING
The Mine
Short StoryRebecca seemed to be your typical run of the mill girl, living on an island with her step-father except she had a wicked sense of adventure and curiosity. The most captivating story that had her curiosity though was the hidden island treasure that h...
