The Time Capsule

Jamal, Naomi, Dakota and I have known each other since middle school. Occasionally, we’d all meet up at the treehouse in my backyard. One day, we created a time capsule and dug it up years later. Upon digging, we discover a black book hidden beneath it. Little did we know that it would change our lives forever.

Flastforward 4 years, the gang and I are ending our school day in English class.

“Page 265 is due next week! Enjoy your weekend!” Miss Davis says.

We proceeded to walk down the steps of the building, and made our way to the parking lot where Dakota parked his BMW.

“I call shotgun!” Yells Jamal.

We all hopped into Dakotas car and made our way onto the backroads. We finally reached my house, greeted my mother and headed straight for the backyard. Behold, the old rustic treehouse. Naomi was the first to climb the ladder and into the treehouse, then Jamal.

“Pick up the pace yo!” Jamal demanded.

As I placed my foot on the first rod, I heard a thud behind me followed by Dakota grunting.

“What was that?” Dakota says while picking himself up.

I spun around and looked in Dakota’s direction, stepped off the ladder and ran over to get a closer look. The ground wasn’t leveled; it looked as if something was stuck underneath it.

“Guys, come here! I shout.

Naomi and Jamal quickly make their way down the ladder.

“Look! Do you see that?” I point. ¨It looks like some sort of a box.” I say.

We all looked at each other, clueless.

“Are we all just gonna stare at each other or figure out what it is?” Dakota questioned.

Naomi takes a knee and starts digging up the object. We all follow her lead. Finally, we get the box free.

As I reach to open the box, Jamal interrupts.

“Wait, guys what’s this?” Jamal asks.

We all peek our heads over the hole and there it was.

We were greeted with a black book. Not just any black book, an old, damp, and obviously used black notebook.

Jamal opens up the book and we all examine it.

“Well…? What does it say?” Naomi asked.

“I'm not sure, this definitely isn't english. Russian maybe?” Dakota answers.

Naomi pulls out her phone and begins to decrypt the first page. It reads as follows…

“If you stumbled upon this book, congratulations. You were the first to come by this opportunity. There is a reward hidden somewhere in your town. If you succeed, you may claim it. If you do not, you may never know.”

“Bro, we have to find out what the reward is!” Shouts Jamal.

“What if this is all just a joke?” I ask.

“It was written in Russian, Rhegan. I’m positive it’s not a joke.” Dakota states.

We grab the box and the black book and head up into the treehouse. We split up the pages, and were just about to begin until Jamal interrupts once again.

“Yall, we should look inside that box we found. Maybe it will help us with the stuff written in the book!” Jamal states.

“Yeah, let's open it!” Naomi replies.

Naomi removes the lid from the box.

“You guys? I think we just discovered our old time capsule.” Jamal announces.

We all began looking through the box, reminiscing. It felt good to remember those old and fond memories of ourselves. But, that soon came to an end.

“Guys, why don’t we just take our pages home and translate them? It's getting late.” Dakota mentions.

“Yeah, we should get going.” Jamal answers.

Naomi, Jamal and Dakota all leave after saying goodbye. I grab my pages and head to my bedroom.

I began translating some of the pages using my laptop. I completed 3 pages before getting tired. I collected back up my pages, placed them inside my nightstand and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up later than usual. I rushed downstairs to find my mom preparing breakfast for my brother and I. I sat down and began working on the last 2 pages.

“Whatcha’ working on?” My mom asked.

“Nothing, school project.” I quickly responded.

“If you say so, hun. Now hurry up, your waffles are getting cold.”

“BEEP-BEEP-BEEEEEP!”

Dakota aggressively honks on the horn while Naomi waves out to me.

“Cmon, Rhegan! We got stuff to handle!” Yells Dakota.

“I’m coming!” I shout back.

I hop into the back with Naomi and Dakota begins blasting the radio as we drive away.

Meanwhile, at school, we all walked in and headed to my locker where we tend to hang out before class.

“Did you guys complete all of your pages? I asked.

“Yup! I finished last night.” Naomi says.

“So did I, Jamal has one more page and then we’re clear.” States Dakota.

The bell rings and we all disperse.

In history, Jamal could barely keep his eyes open. Not much time passed before Jamal fell asleep. After the bell rings, Jamal jerked up out his seat, started picking up his things and quickly walked out the door, not realizing he left one very important thing behind.

Later on that day, we met up at lunch. We’re putting all the clues together and soon realize we’re missing one page. Eventually, we track it back to Mr. Lewis’s class. Jamal left his last page.

“My bad, y’all. I had a long night.” Jamal says apologetically.

We all forgave him, but went the rest of the day thinking about how we could get that page back before anybody else stumbles upon it. We woke up bright and early the next day, and began questioning everybody. Soon, we stumbled across the janitor, Mr. Harris.

“Hey, Mr. Harris, did you happen to see a folded up piece of paper in Mr. Lewis‘s class after school yesterday?” Asks Dakota.

“I'm a janitor. I see a lot of folded up pieces of paper. Now scram… glupyye deti.”

That night, Dakota was up thinking. He tried recalling every response given. That’s when he remembered that Mr. Harris mumbled something under his breath. It was something in Russian. He immediately texted our group chat informing us, picked us up and we went searching for his house.

“This is it.” Says Dakota.

“Are you sure?” Replies Naomi.

“It has to be.” Dakota responds.

“Can we just make this quick? I’m exhausted.” Says Jamal rubbing his eyes.

“We have to think of a plan.” I explain.

We went up to Mr. Harris the next day informing him about a “Community service event” we had to do for our neighbors. He was hesitant at first, but eventually gave in. We arrived at his house after school.

Mr. Harris greeted us outfront, and explained the work he wanted done. Eventually, he went back into the house and left us alone.

“He has security cameras placed all throughout the house. He also has a cellar. That could be our only way in.” Says Naomi.

“We’ll need some form of distraction though.” Says Dakota.

“Hmm. Mr. Harris!” I called.

“We’ve been out here for two hours in the blazing sun, would you mind fixing us some lemonade?” I say with a smile.

Mr. Harris groans and makes his way into the kitchen and begins preparing our drinks. That’s when Naomi slips away from the group, and makes her way to the cellar, finds her way up and out the basement and gets to work on the cams.

Mr. Harris finishes up and approaches us.

“Hey kid, wasn’t there another girl with y’all?” He asks.

“Yeah, she went to the corner store for some flowerpots.” Says Jamal.

“Well she needs to hurry, These flowers aren't going to plant themselves.” He replies.

Suddenly, we hear a soft bang coming from the side of the house.

“Naomi!” I say.

“The cameras are off. What now?”

“The page! Did you see it anywhere in the house-” I ask.

Suddenly, Mr. Harris’s front door swings wide open as he storms out the house with an angry expression on his face.

“What was that noise!?” He asks.

“My shovel accidentally bumped up against the house. My bad.” Jamal responds with a nervous chuckle.

“Mmm.” Mr. Harris says.

“Hey, you’re back. Did you find any more flowerpots?” He points towards Naomi.

“...No, they ran out! She answers playing along.

“Well would you look at the time?! We’ll come back tomorrow to finish things up.” Dakota announces.

We all headed back to Dakota's car and waited for Mr. Harris’s lights to shut off. We wasted no time and rushed towards the house. Naomi is the first to enter, and unlocks the front door for us.

“We should all split up.” Naomi stated.

We all begin searching different parts of the house. We look everywhere; drawers, cabinets, shelves, vases, everywhere!! Still no paper.

“Woo, I gotta pee.. I’m sure Harris won’t mind if I use the bathroom real quick ” Jamal whispers to himself.

As Jamals looks around, he begins to search the bathroom. He wasn’t expecting to discover anything.. that is until Jamal lifts up the tank lid.

“Holy crap.” Jamal said excitingly.

Jamal immediately texts the group chat, telling us to meet up in the living room. He flushes the toilet and runs out.

“Guys, you will not believe what I foun-”

We all stop in our tracks.

Mr. Harris must’ve heard the flush because we hear a groan and a thud come from his bedroom.

“Aww crap. HIDE!!!” Demands Dakota.

Dakota and I made a run for the backyard while Jamal hides in the nearby closet. Naomi, on the other hand, hid still behind a tall vase in the living room.

Mr. Harris makes his way towards the bathroom where he heard the noise.

“Huh?...maybe it's just the pipes.” He says.

Eventually, he decides to forget about it and heads back to his bedroom.

When the coast was clear, we quickly sprinted out the door, hopped the metal fence, and ran back to Dakota’s car. We see a silhouette peering out of his bedroom window as we drive away. Mr. Harris lives alone. He watched us leave.

When we finally get to the treehouse, Jamal pulls the page out of his pocket and sets it on the floor. Dakota pulls out his phone and begins to decrypt it.

“So what does it say?” I ask.

“245 lake street road.” Dakota read.

“What? We did all this work for an address to the library!?” Naomi questioned.

“This could be where the reward is!” Jamal says.

“Let’s go!” I interrupt.

Finally, we arrived at the library. You will not believe who we saw.

“H-Hey… Mr. Harris. Crazy seeing you here. Jamal says nervously.

“Yeah, just looking for a new book. How about y'all?” He replies.

“Just researching.” I answer.

He walks away and we head off to the computer section.

“So now what?” Naomi whispers.

“Let me see the page.” I say.

I examine the paper and notice in very small print the following information…

“I soar high in the sky, yet I'm low on the ground. I'm very close by, question is, will I be found?”

I look around for any clues that could lead to the reward. And there it was, the eagle statue. There was a combination lock on the back of the statue, I began punching in different combinations, hoping it’ll crack open. Jamal decides to stay behind and examine the paper.

“…245...245...TRY 245!!” Jamal says.

I try the code, and hear a click. I swung the door open and there it was. $20,000.

Months passed and we disregarded the situation. One night, the gang and I were heading back to my house and while walking through the door, I drop my bag as well as my jaw.

“Hey baby, there’s somebody I want you to meet!” My mother states.

“Hello, Rhegan. I’ve heard a lot about you. Pleasure to meet you.”