Q: Why can’t you ever give Elsa from Frozen a balloon?
A: Because she’s always going to want to Let It Go…
Let it go! Let it go! Let it go…Oh hey everyone, Andy here. Too bad you can’t hear me singing really off key right now to this very annoying song. J Anyway, I’m back to share with all of you the next installment of my ongoing personal adventure in the woods. But before I do, I just want to say that I sure do hope each of you had an enjoyable holiday season. And just in case you didn’t know, Mr. Obsessive Compulsive felt he had to take his holiday decorations down a mere three days after Christmas, can you believe it??? What a Scrooge! LOL. But I guess they had to come down at some point? Ok, enough of me babbling let me get on with the good stuff. As always, here are the links to the previous three chapters in case you haven’t read some of them yet…
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-1/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/18/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-2/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/27/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-3/
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 4
The whole cave was shimmering now in an incredible display of purple beauty. I was so entranced by it I was completely ignoring the fact that the entrance to where I first entered my temporary prison was now opened. It almost felt as if the odd-shaped crystal that lay atop the tiny pedestal was slowly pulling me towards it one step at a time and away from that opening and my escape.
“I know I should leave right now while I have the chance…” I muttered to myself. Yet the glow and draw of the crystal appeared to be far more powerful than any sense of rationality I had left in my brain.
A few more steps and I’d be within arm’s reach from touching the shiny object that had my complete focus at the moment. Thoughts of Indiana Jones and Raiders of The Lost Ark quickly flittered across my brain, as it desperately tried to remind me of that huge rolling ball that chased Indy out of a cave once he took the sacred sparkly object from its place of long dormancy in the movie. None of that felt like it mattered though because the closer I came to the purple crystal, the more calm I seemed to become.
And there it was, right in front of me now. I could feel my right arm rising up, hand opened, ready to grasp onto its magnificence. I honesty couldn’t tell if I was even in charge of my own body anymore as I watched my hand reach up to take it away from its silent resting place. While my fingers gradually clasped around it, I noticed it felt overly warm to the touch.
For as much as I’ve watched Indiana Jones and various other treasure hunt based movies, you would think I’d have been more cautious taking this crystal into my hand, but heck I was a 12-year old kid! I didn’t know any better.
At the precise moment I drew my hand back towards me, crystal clenched within it, that very familiar grinding and crunching rock noise suddenly started. I looked over in horror to see the doorway beginning to come down ready to seal me back within this tomb. This time my brain jolted me with a huge surge of fear and adrenaline, which was enough to get me to race towards it.
“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!” my brain screamed at me. “RUN!”
For a moment, I truly thought I really wasn’t going to make it because there were only a few feet left before the cave was completely sealed once again. So I dove to the floor and rapidly rolled sideways watching as the bed of rock loomed just inches above my body. My right arm and hand, which was still clutching the glowing crystal, barely escaped from being crushed, but my trusty flashlight that had been a part of so many of my previous adventures didn’t fare as well. It had fallen out of my pocket during my diving roll and gotten smashed into smithereens when the doorway came fully to a close.
I didn’t care though. I WAS FREE. And I had my treasure…whatever it was…
I raced up the long set of stairs towards the dim light, grateful to be alive and not sealed away in some dark prison forever. Somehow I just knew that my birthday numbers wouldn’t have opened that doorway a second time. As I took several sets of steps at a time, I shoved the crystal into one of my pockets fearful I might drop or lose it on my ascent. And there it finally was, the sun, still glistening through the treetops there in the woods, except I could tell that it was now much later in the day.
I quickly looked down at my watch and saw it was 5:40pm.
“CRAP!” I yelled out quite loudly hoping that might help me somehow from getting grounded by my parents once I got home. At this point, I was going to be an hour beyond my curfew even running at top speed. I instantly started racing back into the woods heading towards my home, not even looking back once at the large rock, the rusty metal hatch, or my shovel that I forgot to grab, which had been resting on the second step just inside the hatch.
It was 6pm by the time I reached the edge of my backyard. I had already tripped and fallen a number of times that I’m sure with each, the animals in the woods and all the trees around me had laughed at my clumsiness. I had spent the entire 20 minutes getting there thinking of ways to explain why I was late, but honestly, I still had no idea what to say.
I sprinted up to my backdoor and attempted to turn the knob. It was locked.
“That’s funny.” I thought. It never gets locked until after I get home from playing outside. I wondered if this was a tactic to scare me because I was so late.
BANG. BANG. BANG. I knocked on the door rather loudly. No answer. BANG! BANG! BANG! I knocked again, even louder.
A figure then appeared that wasn’t my mother or my father. It was a woman I didn’t recognize.
“Can I help you?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face after opening the door.
“Who are you?” I responded as I started to walk in to my house.
“WHO ARE YOU?!” she said slightly perturbed pushing me back outside.
“I live here!!!” I said suddenly feeling a little scared.
If this was actually a joke then my parents were taking it a little too far I thought.
“I’m Mrs. Sampson, and I think you have the wrong house young man!”
“MOM! DAD!” I shouted into the house hoping they would suddenly appear.
“What’s your name son?” she asked in a much more inviting tone, noticing I was getting really scared.
“I’m Andy. Andy Dawson.”
Her mouth suddenly dropped with a look of shock.
“Andy…where…Oh My God! Harold! Call the police!” She immediately shouted into the house behind her.
“Andy, please come in. I’m so sorry for being a little rude…I…didn’t know it was you…” She reached for my hand to bring me into my house. As soon as I took a few steps into my family room, I saw nothing was how I remembered, causing tears to well up in my eyes.
“I don’t understand…” I said trying desperately to hold them back.
“Andy, I don’t know any other way to tell you this…but…you…went missing… three years ago…”
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson