A Mystery To Be Solved

The Treasure Trove

After moving on for about half a minute, they came across a 90 degree turn. But only a metre ahead lay a dead end! Now what to do?

"This tunnel is meaningless. It ends so abruptly! What was the purpose of it, I wonder!" Rohit was at his wits' end. But something clicked in Avantika's mind. "Exactly! It ends so abruptly, that it's perfect to fool people. Remember, this is a secret tunnel? There could be more secret doors here, after all, it's such an old house! Maybe something valuable is hidden here, like some kind of treasure? Let's check." The four were thrilled by the idea.

Pooja, Kartike, Avantika and Rohit went to work immediately. On closer observation, Rohit recognized another brick on the right wall of the brick-lined passage, protruding just like the one before! He pushed it, and another panel of the wall slid back and up!

They waited with bated breaths and upon seeing what lay in the room that the entrance revealed, their joy and astonishment knew no bounds!

The room was filled with gold—ornaments, coins—and even precious gems! But above all that, inside, sitting in a corner hugging her legs and sobbing quietly to herself was Aisha!

Never did any of them before feel so happy to see Aisha of all people!

"Aisha!" they all chorused, and Aisha looked up. A big smile lit up her pale and teary face as she ran toward Avantika, hugging her tightly. "Thank god you all found me! I'm so happy I can't tell you! I was so afraid that no one will ever find me here, I'd lost all hope of ever getting out of here!"

"Relax, Aisha. We're here now. You're safe. Don't worry, we're all with you." Avantika soothed Aisha, rubbing her back, still wrapped in an awkward hug.

"But first of all, tell us how you ended up here. We all got so worried about you! If it wasn't for Avantika, we would have never found you or even come to search for you!" Pooja demanded.

Aisha hesitated, and Avantika sensed that something was wrong. She said to the others, "First of all, let's go back. People in the village would be worried for us by now. We can talk later, can't we?" Rohit, Kartike and Pooja groaned. They wanted to know the reason for Aisha's behaviour.

"But what will we do with this treasure? We can't leave it here." Rohit said.

"For now, we will leave it. Anyway, who do you think will come all of a sudden to rob this wealth?" Avantika replied sternly. The others nodded, taking in Aisha's state.

The group hurried down the stairs, into the hall, and out to the front porch. They were glad to finally leave this mysterious house, and at the same time were thinking about the reactions of the villagers when they would tell them how they discovered the wealth this bungalow had hidden for so long!

But just as they stepped into the wild garden, now even more forbidding because of the twilight, they saw a soldier, completely clad with armour and a metallic helmet, dashing toward them from the shack! His arms were raised as if he was coming to catch them!

But what frightened them was the fact that its eyes were glowing red from under the eye slit in the metal helmet!

Thinking that it was a ghost, the children ran in all directions. The ghost warrior chased them all around the field, shouting for them to stop in a remarkably human-like voice.

Like anyone would stop running, if a ghost was after them!

As the five scattered in different directions, the armour-clad apparition seemed confused for a second on which one of the children to pursue. Finally, he started chasing Avantika, who ran as fast as her legs would carry her, completely terrified. How she wished it was only a nightmare, and that a second later someone would pinch her and she would wake up from this horrible dream!

But the ghost warrior had almost reached Avantika when suddenly, she tripped and fell down on her knees, having stumbled against a stone hidden in the long grass.

At the same moment, Aisha, who was nearest to Avantika, instead of going to her help or distracting the ghost, screamed shrilly and ran away from the approaching red-eyed soldier.

Rohit, who was hiding nearby behind the tin yard, saw everything with his own eyes and, not wasting any time, rushed to Avantika's side.

"Avi!! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Avantika, get up! The ghost is coming near! We need to get away from here, and fast! Aviiii..." But Avantika had grazed her elbow and her knee, so she could not stand on her feet. She was so tired that she was fast losing consciousness, too. As soon as Kartike and Pooja realized what had happened, they too ran all the way from their hide-outs to help Avantika.

"Avantika! Quick! Please try to get up!" Rohit said, but his words echoed in Avantika's mind as though they were coming from far, far away...