Episode 3

TRACY

I stared at the clear blue sky, almost void of any cloud at all. The sun was still rising and so wasn't harsh at all. It looked as though it peeped through the sky.

I had woken up a few moments ago and I had immediately gone to look at the sky. What else could I do? I didn't have a morning routine so I always did whatever came to mind. Today's was staring at the sky so intensely that one would think I was trying to see what was beyond it. Meanwhile, I was simply asking the sky how my day would go. Don't judge me— a popular actress did the same thing in a movie, and it worked!

Someone knocked on my door. Yeah, it was time to start my day.

“Come in!” I sang. I literally sang the words with my bad voice.

It was Mrs Abigail, my house cleaner. She came thrice a week to clean up the whole duplex mansion. She was very well paid and didn't mind doing it all by herself.

“Good morning, ma'am,” she greeted me.

“Good morning to you too.”

“Aidan is here. He has already treated himself to wine and some biscuits.”

Mrs Abigail has stayed with me long enough to know most of the people I worked with. In fact, she and Aidan were quite friendly.

“I don't know whether to scold you for taking wine before noon, or having it chocolate biscuits.”

“Good morning to you too, Tracy,” Aidan smiled, as he stared at me walking down the stairs.

“Where is the Pandora's box?” I asked, restraining myself from laughing.

Aidan grunted as he raised the box and put it on the table before him. Man, it was as though he used every ounce of strength in him.

“How heavy is it?”

“Very,” Aidan managed to say, breathing shakily as he regained his composure.

Aidan told me that he wanted to pay the owners for handing him the box, but they adamantly refused. They wanted nothing from the box because it was “cursed”. Thank the heavens I didn't have to pay a dime for this because I knew this was just a media-made-up bullcrap.

Aidan left a few minutes later, taking a few packets of biscuits with him and a bottle of red wine.

I stared at the box, not really looking at it as my mind had more important things to worry about. I would break it with a hammer later.

I heard the sound of the SUV getting into my compound. I ran to the window and saw Justin come out of the vehicle with two men—his driver and bodyguard, I assumed.

I was damn excited to see my little brother. It has been what, four years? Or more? Or less? I wasn't sure, but it had been long. He was my only sibling and somehow we had stopped contacting each other.

“Your house is beautiful, I'm so surprised,” he admitted as he got in and sat on a dining chair beside me.

Yeah, you're surprised that I can live a luxury life without living off Dad's wealth? I will try to not argue with him. Won't be easy though.

I forced a smile and I didn't like that I had to because I was genuinely happy to see him. “Justin Richie Clarke, it's nice to you.”

“Long time since I saw a fellow Clarke, so I'm very happy myself.”

We talked and we asked each other about life and stuff. However, I didn't want to spook him by asking him about school or what he was doing with his life. Or if he was doing anything with his life. Instead, I asked what fun stuff was happening with him. He told me he had been travelling across the globe and it was an “unforgettable” experience. When I asked what he learnt from spending so much time travelling, his response was, “Do people learn things from travelling? How does that make sense?”

I wanted to tell him to get his ass back into a classroom but that would only earn me some insulting words and then he would leave and not talk to me for God-knows-how-long.

I noticed that he wanted to tell me something, but he couldn't bring himself to. This boy was still a kid. A kid! Mum left us years ago, hopefully to a better place, but that meant we had to grow on our own. I would like to think I turned out fine. But Justin? Not so much. He needed someone to talk to but had no one. Our father was out making headlines and being on the front pages of major newspapers …but he couldn't be there for either of his children.

“It is Sarah …she broke up with me.”

First things first …who's Sarah? We hadn't spoken in years so I hadn't a clue. Since I heard “broke up”, I took the safe guess that she was his girlfriend.

“Those things happen, it's life, Justin.”

He shook his head vehemently. “She is not just anyone. She is not just any girl. Sarah was there for me when no one else was. She loved me and then she said ….”

He burst out into tears. His face sank to the table and he began to sniffle as warm tears ran down his cheeks. What a sad sight! This reminded me of that one time that nincompoop broke my heart …a heart I had wholeheartedly given to him.

“Have you tried to settle things with her?” I asked.

“She doesn't want to settle anything. Her sole reason for ending things was that I had no character. What does even mean? She went on to say that she was done with me and didn't want to spend her life keeping up with bullshit.”

I was speechless. What was I supposed to say? That she was going to come back to you? Or that it will stop hurting? I wasn't sure if either of that was true, especially the former.

I told him to take heart and just move on. It was easier said than done, but so was every other thing. This was the best thing he could do for himself at this point. You can't force a relationship, sadly, many don't realise this when they start dating and it hits them painfully hard when they do.

I stared at my phone and it was noon already. Wow. They say time passes when you are with someone you truly loved. While I rarely ever showed it, my love for my brother ran deep. I didn't care much for my father, so my brother was all J had. At least, at this moment I felt that way.

I made some pasta for him and threw some already cooked canned fish on it. As he ate, I began to see something I hadn't seen in the past. And that was Justin's strength. He was very strong, much more than kids his age. Even more than kids who weren't as privileged as him. He had learnt to grow without a parent or guardian— that was some adult shit he was doing and didn't even know he was.

“What's this?” Justin inquired, pointing to the box on the dining table.

“Oh, that's some stuff from work.”

I began to tell him everything about the cave and how I got the box. Surprisingly, it was a long ass story.

Justin's eyes widened and his face paled with fear as he listened. “It is all, uh …overwhelming, to say the least.”

I let out a chuckle. “I can't blame you, it's a scary story, but remember that it made-up one too.”

“Oh, okay. So what's in it? What if there are treasures in it like the farmers thought?”

“You would have more luck finding a treasure in my laundry basket.”

Justin and I pushed the box to the ground and it was like pushing a goddamn car. To appease both our curious minds, I went down to the basement, got a small hammer and began taking swipes at the box.

It wouldn't break.

I got a bigger hammer and it took me a good ten minutes of constant hitting before the lid of the box gave way.

All that was in the box was an envelope. Yes, an envelope. I picked it up and before I opened it, something occurred to me. Why was the box so heavy? I bent and raised the broken box and it was regular wood and wasn't heavy.

I was very perplexed. “This shit was heavy and now it's not.”

Justin was out of words. He just stared in utter confusion.

I saw the whole, but I can't explain how it happened. As I opened the envelope, it suddenly become so hot and bright that I had to drop the envelope. So bloody hot that it burnt my hands.

Justin embraced me, both of us having our eyes shut because the light emanating from the envelope was violently bright.

When we opened our eyes, there was a door in front of us. Yes, a bloody door though it had no knob. Slowly, it opened and but all that was there was …whiteness.

“We should call the police,” Justin said.

“And tell them what?”

“Tracy, look at all that just happened! There is so much to tell, hell, I can write a goddamn essay on this.”

It made no sense, but I was going to do it. I loved archaeology so much because it provided me with a different kind of purpose. While this had nothing to do with archaeology, I felt the same way right now. Or it was just my curiosity. Whatever it was, it didn't matter because I was going in.

“You are not thinking of going in, are you?” Justin asked, pulling me backwards.

I held his hands and told him to be calm. And that I was going in to check what was behind it.

“Good luck, but I'm not going in with you.”

“I am not asking you to. Just video the whole thing on your phone.”

As I approached the door, I felt it was pulling me in slowly. I wasn't going to do this, I decided. Justin was right. Let's call the police. As I turned, my right hand grazed the whiteness and it held on to me, pulling me in with a force I couldn't compete with. I managed to hold on to one of the legs of the dining table.

“What's happening?“ Justin yelled out in utter fear, as though he hadn't witnessed the whole thing.

I couldn't get much grip on the fat leg of the table so my hand slipped off. Justin quickly held on to me with all he had. He was pulling me with every bit of life in him. I was very impressed by his efforts though it couldn't be more futile. The force of whatever was behind this door was too much so it kept pulling me in.

“Let me go!“ I yelled at him.

“Never in a million years,” he said under his breath, his breath shaky as he spoke. “Not this time, Tracy.”

“You can't pull me out, it will pull you in with me.”

“I'll hold you till forever,” he said, his voice clear and calm, but his eyes were scared.

This wasn't the time to be a sweet brother… just save your bloody self, I thought to myself.

“Forever is going to come real fast, let go of me,” I pleaded. “You cannot help me.”

“Doesn't matter, I'm not letting go.”

And that was it. We were sucked into the door— and it vanished with us.