Harold Wellington's Lost Fortune

Prologue:

It was a dark night. Two people were running through the forest as fast as they could. One of them was carrying a small black book. Behind them was an armed mob carrying lanterns, pitchforks and even guns. The mob was on hot pursuit but the two were faster and losing them ever so slightly. The two now had a lot of ground on them. They kept running until they came upon a well hidden bunker. “Quick, let's hide it. We’ll come back for it!” The older guy said. “Where?” The younger guy asked. “Where they won’t find it!” The older guy answered back. Then the younger guy climbed into the bunker and after a short while came back up again. ”Come on, they’re catching up!” The older guy said. Then they ran out into the forest. “There they are!!” Someone in the mob yelled. Gun fire rang out. “BANG!....BANG!” Then the two fell down. “Where's da book?” A guy from the mob called out...

Jake was sitting in the family car. Dad thought it was a good idea to have an adventure this summer. So Dad bought some property out in a town called Greenstown all the way up in Michigan out in the boonies. The land up there apparently cost near nothing. Anyhow it might be a fun place to spend the summer before 10th grade.

We live in Georgia and we are driving to our new summer house. What’s unfortunate is that I have car sickness. Unlike my sister and brother. Brook who is 7 and loves traveling and Alley who is 12 also likes to travel too. I guess I am the only one that hates traveling. Dad really, really likes to travel. He’s been to almost every state in the U.S. besides Arkansas.

“Are we there yet?” Brook whined for the 13th time in the past 10 minutes. “I bet Dad will tell us when we get there.” Alley answered. “We’re almost there, another hour at most.” Dad said.

I stopped listening and looked out the window. We were way out in the boonies. Nothing but farms and woods with the occasional river or lake. Then we kept driving until we reached a really old and slightly creepy town. Then we drove past an old falling apart sign that read “WELCOME TO GREENSTOWN!”

“Were moving here?!” Brook asked in a horrified voice. “Yeap! Look so much to explore!” Dad answered cheerily. In my opinion I no longer think I want to be here. Bunch of houses and business with the windows boarded off. It didn’t look like many people lived there though. It was like it was abandoned.

Our Prius then stopped in front of a red brick house with a lot of overgrown trees behind it. “We’re here kids!” Dad said. “I kinda thought the house would be less… Well… Creepy.” Alley said.

“It will be fine,” I said. Alley and Brook didn’t seem too sure. ”Last one in’s a rotten egg!” I said as I grabbed my bag and hopped out of the car. “Hey!” Brook hollered. Alley was fast though and beat me to the door. “How did you beat me?” I asked. “Because I’m faster.” Alley answered. Then suddenly the door flung open and Brook ran inside. “I win!” Brook squealed. “No, I got here first!” Alley argued. “Look who’s inside and who’s on the porch.” Brook pointed out. “Okay you win Brook.” I said.

“But that’s not fair!” Alley complained. I really didn’t listen and I stepped inside. “Now you lost because you kept complaining.” I said to Alley from inside. His only reply was a grunt. I looked around. The house looked like it was from the 1800s. It had redwood floors and ceilings, no carpet that I could see. Dad then came in with his stuff. “Hey, let’s go set up our rooms!” I suggested.

We all ran upstairs. There were 4 bedrooms. “I claim this one!” Brook announced. “Don’t be dumb, the biggest one is Dad’s.” Alley pointed out. “Sure…” Brook rolled her eyes, ”You just want it for yourself!” “Do not!” Alley said back. “Do too!” Brook argued. “Stop arguing!!” Dad hollered from down stairs. “Yeah, stop arguing Alley!” Brook teased. “Also the biggest room is mine!!” Dad yelled from down stairs. “Fine I get this one!” Brook said. “Fine!” Alley answered back.

So then we all set up our rooms. I got out all my stuff and set it up how I wanted it. When I finished up packing, I sat down on my bed and looked at my new room. “Kids! Lunch is ready!” Dad hollered. “Coming!” Alley said. We all walked down stairs and sat down at the table. ”PB&J?” Asked Brook. “I haven’t finished unpacking yet. Tomorrow’s meals will be better.” Dad explained.

We didn’t say anything else while we ate.

“I’m Bored!” Brook complained after we took care of our dishes.

“We could explore the woods.” Alley suggested. “Dad can we go exploring?” Brook asked. “Sure, just be home soon.” Dad answered. So all three of us walked into the woods out back. We stopped occasionally to look around but for the most part we kept going. “Hey look a pitchfork! Arg!” Brook said “Pirates didn't have

Pitchforks!” I laughed. “Oh yeah?” She said as she swung the old and rusty pitchfork. “Walk the plank matey!” Brook said to Alley. “Oh no! Please have mer...Hey what’s that?” Alley asked as he pointed to a grayish white thing in the distance. “Let’s go!” I said. We had to go back in a while so We had to cover as much ground as possible.

Alley ran and reached it before us.” It looks like a fort!’ Alley said. Sure enough when I reached it was a fort like thing. “Let’s see what's inside!” Brook said and climbed in before either of us could react. We climbed inside the fort and looked around. There was a lot of old stuff in there like maps and books.” Hey what’s this?” Brook asked as she pointed at a chest old and weathered. “Open it.” I said. Brook then opened it and all that lay inside was a small black book. I picked it up.

It was quite small and old and definitely well used. “What’s it say?” Alley asked. When I opened it looked like a travel journal with some sort of map and I started to read it aloud.

“I recently came into a small fortune with me and my friend Will. The town found out now Will and I are now being hunted. I wrote this because I might not make it back here. Follow the map good luck."

-Best wishes, Harold wellington

“Where’s the map lead?” Brook asked. “It seems somewhere around here.” I answered back. I took out my phone and looked at the time. It was almost 7 o’clock. ”Let’s head back.” I said. When we arrived there was an old guy in overalls and a sky blue shirt talking to Dad. “Welcome to Greenstown folks! I have this..” He stopped mid sentence and stared at us then at the book. “Where’d ya get that?!” He asked in a rather scary way. “We found it!” Alley answered. Then he reached over and tried to grab it from us.

Dad then shoved him onto the ground. “How dare you! Get off my property and next time I won’t go easy!” Dad said as he stared coldly at the injured man. He got up and glared at Dad. “I won’t either!” Then he walked away. “What was that all about?” Dad asked. “We found a treasure map.” Alley said. I handed the book to Dad. “Harold Wellinton’s fortune?!” Dad exclaimed. “Millions of dollars! We set out tonight!” Dad said then he ran inside to grab stuff.

“Isn’t it late?” Brook asked. “No! Now grab what you need.” Dad ordered. I grabbed food and bags and other stuff we might need. Everyone else was already waiting. I pulled out the book and took a picture of the map. ”Let's go!” Alley said. We followed the map until we came to another fort. Dad looked behind us to see if we’re being followed. Then he said “Hurry get in!” We climbed in the fort. It was like an Mayan-Aztec building. Dad held his flashlight and looked around.

Then I spotted a puzzle-like thing on the wall. ”Maybe the book will tell us.” Brook said. I opened the book and sure enough she was right. It had a picture of how we needed to make the blocks look. Then we started to arrange the blocks into place. Alley then put in the last block. “Click!” Then there was a weird creek and the walls started to slide open and revealed another room. “Okay there are three challenges according to this book.” I said to everyone.

We walked into room two. This challenge was a riddle on the far wall. We walked to the riddle. It read: WHAT DISAPPEARS AS YOU SAY ITS NAME? “Oh I know my teacher tells us this all the time,” Brook said. “Silence!” “Okay” Dad said as he punched in silence.

“Creeekk!” Then the walls started to move apart. “We didn’t even need the book for this one!” I exclaimed. We then moved into the next room. There was a keyboard like in the last one but, all it said was: PASSWORD. I opened the book to look for the password. “Okay the password is...” Then I was interrupted by footsteps. “Yes, What da password?”

I turned around to see the creepy Guy in the sky blue shirt and overalls. “I’m not telling you!” I yelled back. Then he took a couple more steps toward us and pulled out a handgun and cocked it. “I would think again. Everyone gave up and moved on but me!” He said in that scary voice. I took a step back. “I killed more people to get dat an y'all ain’t going to take that away from me!” He went on. “Here, take the book.” I started to take steps toward him. “No, don't!” Brook cried. “It’s for the best.” I sighed and walked over to him and as he went to grab the book I grabbed for the gun.

“Why ya little!” he said as we fought over the handgun. He was still a little weak from earlier today and I managed to tilt the gun toward his right shoulder. Then he accidently pushed the trigger and then, “Bang!” He was shot in the right shoulder then he let go of the gun and fell to the ground. “Nice try but the bad guy never wins!” Dad sneered. His only response was a weak groan. Then I handed the book to Dad then He typed in “HWYDOCX”. It was the best moment of my life when that door opened. There was money for what I could see with a flashlight.

The summer before tenth grade was the best day of my life. The bad guy got arrested and We got the money. Even though We didn’t get to spend it then,(Because Dad invested it.) We sure do now! So you never know what something new will hold, maybe it will be the best thing in your life! Brook, Alley, Dad, and I live happily ever after!