Fingers Crossed

*A torn page with scattered water marks shoved between the cover and front page of a faded black journal*

Chances are it's my skeleton smiling at you instead of me... Oh god... I hope it's my skeleton, please let me be a skeleton by the time you find me and not a halfway there, all bloated grossness... yuck. Forget that imagery please. Fortunately, there are so many little critters around I think they'll make quick work of me. I wonder if the venom in me will kill some of them. Does venom work on insects or worms or whatever? If I do get eaten and break down I am technically recycled which I'm all about so, I guess I like that better than the typical coffin situation. So, I am either dead or we are laughing over this wine in hand. Let’s see... What could save me right now? Chaac left for help right after I got bit, we are three days out from a town that maybe has a phone, so best case scenario he gets there and calls an emergency heli evac to find me in this dense jungle, needle meet haystack. What else... someone much more prepared than me who packed the correct antidotes for this region's venomous creatures happens by this secluded grotto, that would be nice. Orrr I internalize this venom and it makes me stronger like Poison Ivy from Batman! Please door number three! If I had to put odds on it, a thousand - a million? - to one I'm a goner. Goner is a funny word am I right? It's weird, I know I'm basically done for but somehow I'm in a peaceful place, just reflecting... could be the morphine I injected to numb the terrible burning pain coursing through my body but, here I am, calm as a cucumber staring up at the chef’s knife. Great idea alert, someone should sell this. Who needs a cocktail or a beer just take two parts venom, one part morphine and three parts dehydration bake in Mexican jungle sauna for a few days and voila! Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a bummer, I. Am. Bummed. A little more time on this big beautiful world, that would have been nice. I haven't even entered the "real world" and I'm already saying my goodbyes which is total BS. This trip was supposed to give me the greatest thesis ever and the doors of every curator and museum would fly open! They would pay me to travel the world exploring and looking for artifacts of past civilizations. Instead I go on my first trip and screw it all up. Anyway, sorry if my last words are weird, I'll make up for it right now, we found it! If you are traipsing around these parts then you probably know what I am talking about and I guess we didn’t “find it” find it, we found out where it definitely is which is just as good if you ask me. Well, at least it should be there. There is no way anyone found the guide post, the area was in total ruin, no one had been there in decades and it's the only thing that points to the final resting place of the artifact. Maybe it's the delirium or the venom eating my brain but I think it would be fun if you had to solve something instead of me just handing it to you on a silver platter. Yea, I had to work for it, and now you do too! Just, think about where you are the people and the heritage. OK, ready?

Cortes holds the shield of Christ, tosses the dice, the fate of many a soul

The waters run red, the indigenous fled, escaping their control

City of wonders, city of cinders, families flee in fear

Forced out, going without, what treasures to hold dear

Careful now, not a word, not a breath and keep a tight patrol

For if you leave a whiff and the conquistadors sniff we will all hear the bell toll

Towards where the sun falls asleep, stop at the river deep, up the bank from there

Walk half a day, arrive at the misty spray, behind it a deep dark lair

Far inside, treasure does hide, clutched in Itzamná's granite grasp.

I think it's been about a week since I've showered so the whiff line really resonates with me right now 😃 Seriously though, did you like my poem riddle… my poeddle… my riddloem? Ding-ding, riddloem wins! Anyway, I don't care about the reward for the artifact and lucky you the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Mérida is paying a reward of 450,000 pesos, just over $20,000 US! Hooray! You get to have fun with the money that was going to help pay off my school loan! All I ask is whomever you are that has this journal, if you're not my family or friends please, please, please send it to the address on the inside cover. I know this is a lot to ask considering where you found this journal, but consider it my dying wish and so important to me that my family knows what happened. I can't promise a reward for sending it but soon you will have the artifact and the reward for that so maybe we can call it even? If you send it to them you will have my eternal gratitude kind person. If for some reason you decide not to send it, know that you are betraying the last wish of a dying woman and daughter and that's 1000 years bad luck for you and your family and I'll curse you forever and ever from the grave! But, I know you'll do the right thing so thank you so much! Tucked in the back of this journal are two letters, one for my parents and one for Niko, the man I love. Please make sure they are with the journal when you send it. My parents will send Niko's along. And now I need to sleep before I fire off my last signal flare and hope, fingers crossed I wake up as Ivy, fingers crossed I wake up.

*Inside the front cover of the Journal*

IF FOUND RETURN TO

Katherine Hawkins

555 Townline Rd. Lake in the Hills, Illinois, 60014

Lover of adventure, dogs, trying new things, the smell after rain and lots of

other stuff!

*First Page of Journal*

Jan 6 2020: We have landed in Merida and I couldn't be more excited. I can't believe I have never been to Mexico before. I have studied ancient civ for so long and there are so many great sites in this country. I'm kicking myself but when did I really have the time? Anyway, I have dreamt of this for so long and I'm here and that's what matters. Here looking for ancient artifacts no less! Doesn't get cooler than that! Would have been nice if I didn't have to dream quite as long as I had to. Stupid permits took for effin’ ever but it was all worth it. Never mind, step one of this journey is complete, the eagle has landed!

Jan 9 2020: Been prepping for a few days and taking in this vibrant city. I wish I had weeks to explore the cultural treasure that is this place! I wish Niko was here to share it with. Well, just one more day until we leave. My guide Chaac is nice enough, a man of few words but he looks like he knows what he is about. We were supposed to meet with the head of the outfitter that’s kitting us for the trek but he has been delayed. He is the expert and he is stuck on a mountain or who knows where. He really needs to get here before we leave. His assistant is good I’m sure but, I want to be ready for anything, even if my pack is heavy I want answers for any questions that get thrown at us out there. I don’t think I have ever been so nervous but excited but also nervous -insert nervous laugh here- DEEP BREATH... better. Back to it I guess, will keep updating as we progress!

______________________________________

*Water damaged letters found folded in the back of the journal*

Mom and Dad,

You have always been and always will be my two best friends. I love you both so much and my biggest regret about dying is knowing how devastated you will be, and now I'm crying... Thank you for trusting me to make my own decisions about my life and supporting me in anything and everything that interested me whether you fully agreed with me or not. The summers of driving me around when I couldn't decide what sport to stick with so I played them all. Taking me to ALL the museums ALL. THE. TIME. when I knew I loved history. So many kids' lives were only what their parents wanted them to be and I am so glad that I am not one of them. Even though my life is ending I got to live it how I wanted pursuing what made me happy and the freedom to do that came from you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dad, Mom needs extra cuddles, foot rubs and wine for the foreseeable future. Mom, Dad needs the same but double. I love you always and I'll hug you in heaven (mom) AND/OR I'll high five you when you wake up from this simulation (Dad), we can compare notes and see what we can do better next time 😉 . Please give Niko his letter below, I know he is worried.

Love you both,

KitKat

P.S. Triple treats/cuddles/brushes with his favorite brush for Zucchini when you tell him the news.

________________________________________

Niko,

Knowing you has been one of the greatest gifts I could have asked for in this life. Your kindness, generosity, understanding and just how much you care about everyone in your life is beautiful. The few years we've had isn't the lifetime I wanted. I know we haven't talked about marriage, we are just finishing up with university and starting our lives but I'd be lying if I said the idea of us together hasn't been my deep desire for a while now. In my dream the impossible dream moments gazing up at the stars or more likely gazing at the warm glow of the microwave light as it heats up leftovers of something delicious you made I would think of what our wedding would be like, how we would explore every inch of this world and try all the things and go to all the places together. I love you and everything about us and I am sorry if this is a lot to take in but, I'd rather die knowing I shared it all than for you to never know how I feel or I guess by the time you read this it will be felt? I just wish we had more time and there's not much more to say so I'll stop before I ramble on and on... yea. Well, good bye baby, I love you.

P.S. Check on my parents for me please and make sure Zucchini is getting extra treats.