Moe: What are you going to give your little brother for Christmas this year?
Joe: I haven’t decided yet.
Moe: What did you give him last year?
Joe: The measles.
Hi everybody! It’s me, Andy, signing in again! I’m going to make this introduction short and sweet because Captain Serious said I could continue my story today. He’s actually going to be busy (more like lazy LOL) the next few days since he’s headed to see his sister’s family outside Nashville, TN for their annual holiday get together. So be prepared for some more great thoughts for the day this weekend as I’m in charge of looking for several Christmas-based ones to cover his blog until Tuesday. Oh, and by the way, I also hope you’ve liked my story so far, but if you haven’t gotten a chance to read the first chapter yet, here’s the link.
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-1/
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 2
At first I thought I was just imagining I had hit something with my shovel. I mean after all there were plenty of small rocks I had come across already in my digging process that had made similar noises. But sure enough, after clearing away enough of the dirt, I discovered a large rectangular piece of metal that reminded me quite a bit of my next door neighbor’s outside entrance to their basement. It appeared to be about 4 feet wide and about the same in length.
It was definitely very corroded and I began to wonder if that’s all my buried treasure was going to end up being, just some rusty piece of metal that had lay dormant below the earth for years. But as I brushed away the last bit of dirt off the top of it, I noticed something else. There was a small bent piece of metal raised above the rest that looked a lot like a handle to a door.
I’d seen many movies previously in life where someone had discovered some hidden cave or secret passageway and it never seemed to turn out well for those who ever explored any of them. My heart was beating a mile a minute and every rational sense in me said to leave it alone and cover it back up with all that dirt lying around me in piles. But I didn’t, almost as if my right hand were on autopilot.
My fingers clasped the cold raised piece of metal and pulled upward while I pondered the thought that it would probably be too heavy for me to lift. Ironically, it was just the opposite. It felt as if I had temporary super strength as I watched the large piece of tarnished looking metal fly straight up in the air and come to a rest against the huge rock wall behind it. A square of darkness was all that remained now in front of me and from what it looked like, several steps descending down into it.
My heart was still racing a mile a minute, but since nothing scary had flown out at me, I could feel it starting to calm down a little. As my fear subsided, anxious curiosity of what lay below me replaced it. I quickly glanced at my watch to see how much time had passed and saw it was only 3pm. I was grateful I still had two full hours to explore. At twelve years old, I really felt like I was a young Indiana Jones ready to take on his first true adventure.
Thankfully, I always carried one of those LED flashlights on my keychain so I knew I wouldn’t have to begin it in total darkness. I swiftly clicked it on as I took my first step downward. The gravel and dirt on the steps grinded beneath my shoes and echoed slightly into what I was descending upon. I moved my flashlight left and right with each step I took, counting them aloud as I proceeded.
“1…”
“2…”
“3…”
“10…”
“15…”
It felt as if the steps were never going to end. I turned around to see the light from where I had entered and it was growing dimmer with each step.
“20…”
“30…”
“31…”
“32…”
“33… Whoa!!!”
I fell forward and landed on a cold surface realizing I had finally reached the bottom of whatever it was I had entered. Moving my flashlight around in front of me, I saw there was a large cavernous room made completely of an uneven white rock-like surface, which also appeared to be of the exact same dimensions as the huge boulder that lay right above it. I took my first footstep forward heading into the room when a number “1” abruptly began to glow in a purple light directly beneath my left foot. As I shined my flashlight onto the floor, I noticed the rest of the room appeared to be filled with many more numbers sitting in the center of various odd-shaped tiles. I decided to immediately try stepping on another one, an “8”, to see if it too would glow purple, which it did, much to my delight.
You would think a kid like me who loved Indiana Jones so much would have been a lot more cautious having watched all the perils he faced in each of his treasure hunts. But I wasn’t being that at all as I hurriedly stepped on a “19” directly to my right. This ended up creating so much of that purple light that my flashlight was no longer needed. After clicking it off, I glanced around me and saw lucky number “77” waiting nearby. As soon as my right foot came to a rest upon it, all of my delight rapidly turned to shock as a wall slammed down to the ground blocking my exit to the steps above.
And if things couldn’t have gotten any worse, they did as I watched in horror while each of the numbers I had stepped on suddenly began to extinguish one by one plunging the whole room back into complete darkness…and me into total fear…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
