All At Once

What a day – getting to spend an entire afternoon at the beach! We had been packing for this trip weeks ago…What could possibly go wrong?

Yes, readers, that is exactly what the O’Neil family believed in. They had been planning for this trip for a long time, and as soon as they got there, they ‘marked their territory’ by propping up their umbrellas and putting up their beach benches.

Lindsay O’Neil, her spouse, Trevor O’Neil and his sister, Nikole O’Neil lay down and read magazines or applied sunscreen. In the meanwhile, the children, Daphne, Alyssa and Diego had been seeking for a clear sandy pit to build sandcastles on. They loved exploration.

“Mummy, could I please just go with Sissy and Brother over there to build sandcastles?” Alyssa, the youngest one presented her mother with a question.

“Of course you can,” Lindsay O’Neil shrugged while moisturizing her entire arm with sunscreen. “Just make sure that you stay safe and don’t stray away!”

Daphne, Diego and Alyssa scampered off to hunt for the perfect spot. They had been searching for ten minutes when they found a sandy gravel, leveled out smoothly amidst towering sand dunes.

“Chef’s kiss!” Diego punched the air with an aura of victory. “Alyssa, I want you to go and fetch me a shovel.”

Alyssa grabbed it but Daphne pushed her and snatched it; they tried to run, got their feet tangled and fell on the floor with a THUD and CLANG.

Alyssa immediately started weeping but Daphne got up and caressed her scratched arm. Diego came over to help them get up, yet Alyssa ignored him. She had a broken tooth and bleeding cheeks. Daphne tried to hush her for she had been wailing for two minutes solo when she decisively ceased the flow of tears. Diego came to Daphne and said “Look, if you guys fell on sand, neither you would have been injured and nor there would be a clang; I have a gut feeling there’s some fishy here.” Then Diego and Daphne immediately began scraping away the sand when suddenly Daphne’s nails scratched something metallic. She blew up the sand, which, unfortunately got into her eyes. There was a huge metallic trapdoor, which was rusty and mossy. There was a symbol on it that consisted of a Greek or Latin goddess’s carving, some ancient language handwriting and three emeralds incrusted in a bizarre pattern. Alyssa pounced on it and began jumping on it.

“Alyssa, no, stop! This ancient base will open!” Daphne cried.

“No, silly, it’s not a base!” Diego giggled. “It’s maybe a…a…well, kind of a medieval castle entrance, or an ancient war room or maybe even a -”

Diego cut his speech short as the trapdoor underneath them creaked, opened and engulfed them in pure darkness. As soon as they were inside, the door banged shut.

All around them was dark, pitch black. There was just a sensation that they were falling; indeed they were, but it felt like a bottomless pit, an infinite tunnel…

Diego gasped. “It’s the Minecraft void – I told you it was real!”

“Oh my god, NO!” Daphne shook her head in disappointment. “It’s not the void, or else you had been dying! It’s – just – a – tunnel.”

They fell for like half an hour, when suddenly, they collapsed on the ground. A pile of leaves broke their fall, or else, they would have certainly died. They got up, and had been finding each other in the dark when suddenly, a ray of light broke in from a crack. Daphne turned her head to see a pale, long face standing just behind her; most definitely she shrieked, and obviously, the person was startled.

“Hey, calm down. I’m a person!” the voice said. “I’m basically your guide. I know this place like the back of my hand!” It was a boy with long black hair, a white shirt stained with blood and a sinister smile. He had a menacing, disturbing impression around him, which made Diego feel butterflies in his stomach.

“Alright, we trust you,” Daphne folded her arms. “Lead the way outta here.”

“But Da -” Diego and Alyssa tried to prevent her from following the boy, but she winked at them. “Oh no, not one of her crazy ideas,” Diego was scared.

The boy took out a map; out of nowhere, looked like he summoned it. He turned back, waved his hand, and marched forward.

The trio trooped behind him, but there was one thing; while the boy paced on, his feet weren’t even touching the ground. “I don’t like this!” Alyssa murmured.

At ground level, Nikole, Lindsay and Trevor were chatting and had been having fun. Of course, they were unaware of what great trouble the children were facing.

***

The kids had been trailing across the Doom Desert Temple for over one hour, and near to striking two.

“My feet are sore, when will we stop?” Daphne queried in a demanding and domineering voice. Alyssa was in her lap, fast asleep.

The boy led the way for a few steps ahead, when they faced a wall.

“NO! TWO HOURS FOR NOTHING?!” Diego yelled.

The boy swiftly spun around, stared at them with null, empty eyes, and spoke very unexpectedly. “From here, you are to choose your path. Rather press this button or pull that lever,” he said in a cold, reverberating voice. “Good luck finding your way out; you’ll need it.”

The children looked around them. They were in a room with no exit. There was no back, no up, no down no front. Just a terrifying decision.

“But wait,” Diego and Daphne said, trying to achieve his map. They turned around to see the boy wasn’t there. “What in the world?! Where did he go?” Diego panted.

“The more important question is, how did he go?” Daphne was worried.

“Only one way to find out,” Diego said, staring at the lever and button.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Daphne grinned, as she bended forward to choose an option.

“I know there’s gold and gems either way out!” the greedy children had been wool gathering of this statement for hours. Fame and money; the yearned those.

“When life gives you lemons…”

“…You make a lemonade!”

Daphne pressed the button and Diego pulled the lever at the same time. They heard the tinkling of coins, and a door opened in front yet the floor escaped from beneath their feet; the lever was supposed to bring them down and the button was to open a door; yet greed blinded them, and the unstable roof collapsed upon them, ending the story of the three adventurers. They unknowingly freed the others trapped inside, as a sacrifice, for they had been stuck as a result of the same mistake like Diego and Daphne. Now, they had to wait for someone else to make the same blunder…

And Nikole, Lindsay and Trevor still don’t know what happened to their kids.

Moral: Greed is the downfall of many; never let greed, victory or pride bling you with its sheer glee.