THE TREASURE MAP

THE TREASURE MAP

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the sky was filled with white clouds. Ahsan woke up rather lazily and trudged into the washroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and gazed at his face. With a fair complexion, a pointed nose, round brown eyes, bushy eyebrows, large brown eyes and flabby lips, Ahsan looked quite scholarly. Ah! It was a great day. The three month long summer holidays had finally begun. No more school, at least for a period of three months. No more having to wake up early in the morning and rushing off to school. No more of having to hear his mother scream at him and urging him to prepare for school. Ah! Now he was free as a bird. He was lost in his thoughts when he heard his father calling out to him. Ahsan made a rush for the bedroom door. In his haste, he slipped on the bathroom rug lying outside the washroom. As he lost balance and tripped he let out a whooping yell and landed flat on his face with a thud. With great difficulty, he pulled himself up. As he pulled himself up, the bedroom door swung open and in walked Puffy, his white Persian Cat. Puffy looked up at Ahsan rather bored. Ahsan was lost in thought and contemplation when the ringing mobile phone brought him back to reality. He picked up the phone. It was one ‘Ali; one of his best friends at school. Ali sounded really excited as he blurted out that whilst browsing through a chest placed in his attic, he had discovered a white scroll of paper which had a map drawn on it and the word ‘Treasure’ written on it. Ahsan could not believe what he had just heard and let out an exclamation ‘wow’. Ali urged Ahsan to hurry over to his place. Fortunately Ali’s house was located on the same street where Ahsan’s house was situated. Ahsan quickly slipped into a black t-shirt and colored Bermuda shorts. He ran down the flight of stairs towards the front door but just as he was about to open the front door, he heard the booming voice of his mother calling out to him. “Have you had your breakfast?” asked his mother. And all Ahsan could do was protest as his mother pulled him by his ears and dragged him to the kitchen. It was only after Ahsan had a bowl of cornflakes that he was finally allowed to go over to Ali’s house. Ahsan ran as fast as he could and nearly tripped because one of his shoe laces had come undone. However that did not stop him. He was soon up in Ali’s bedroom peering upon a large white rectangular sheet of paper that lay on a wooden desk. Carefully sketched in the upper left hand corner was the common sign and symbol of “Skull and bones”. Drawn in black ink was a map. Scribbled in dark black letters were written the words “Defense Housing Society”. How strange? It was a map of the very residential area where Ahsan and Ali were living. Now Ali and Ahsan could not contain their excitement. Their eyes were now fixed upon the words ‘Cemetery’ and the area representing it on the map. Dotted and arrowed lines led from the Western portion of the cemetery towards its dead center. Written below the dotted and arrowed lines was “thirty paces east”. A huge ‘X’ marked the central part of the cemetery and the words “Treasure” were written below it. Now Ahsan was really curious where Ali had found the map. Ali told him that he had been rummaging through stuff at a junk shop located in the city and had come across this map. He had bought it cheap. Ahsan had suddenly become quiet and Ali noticed that. Ahsan looked up towards Ali and exclaimed “In all probability this treasure map may really be nothing worthy of any significance and worth.” For a brief while there was total silence within the room. Ahsan finally looked up and exclaimed that they had nothing really to lose. Ali let out a whoop and yell. He disappeared into the store room located next to his bedroom and reappeared with two flashlights, two shovels, a pair of sneakers and a duffel bag. “So when do we go out hunting for treasure”, asked Ahsan. “Tonight”, said Ali.

Ahsan looked a little scared and Ali noticed it. “You aren’t afraid are you?” asked Ali. Ahsan pulled up a brave face and replied “Certainly not”. “However the question is what we are going to tell our parents about going out late at night”, said Ahsan. Ali looked up, smiled and added cheekily that they might slip out together without letting their parents know. Ahsan looked up at Ali and added that it was a brilliant idea. However the idea of strolling out into the graveyard at night gave both ‘Ahsan’ and ‘Ali’ the creeps. It sent shivers down their spines. However both of them tried their best not to look or sound ‘fearful’. Ahsan then left for his home. At his house, he thought about all the untoward incidents that might happen. His sixth sense warned him that things could go wrong. So he decided to scribble a message telling his parents about his heading to the nearby cemetery for a treasure hunt. He stuck the message on the fridge and stealthily made his way out of the house.

In the darkness of the night led by the moonlight, he steadily made his way towards Ali’s house. As he reached the front yard of the house, a figure emerged from behind the large oak tree. It was Ali who was carrying a duffel bag in one hand and the spade in the other. The cemetery lay about four miles from where they were currently standing. They slowly trod their way and made their way towards the cemetery. In the darkness, they could hear owls hooting and dogs howling. It was indeed a very eerie feeling that they had. About twenty five minutes later at exactly ten thirty at night, they stood before the iron gates that led into the cemetery. Though the moon shone, they could barely make things out in the cemetery where there were a lot of big oak trees. They took the map out and figured that they were standing in the southern part of the cemetery. It took them about five minutes to reach the western edge of the graveyard. They were busy studying the map when they heard voices. Quickly Ali and Ahsan both jumped into the middle of some bushes that lay nearby. Peering through the bushes they spotted two men standing about three hundred meters away from them. It looked as if Ali and Ahsan had unwanted company. Barely five minutes had passed when they heard the screech of a car. They heard the thud of the doors being slammed and then they saw three more men entering the cemetery. Meanwhile the two men that Ali and Ahsan had seen earlier disappeared just as they had emerged. Ali and Ahsan remained hidden where they were. They saw three men carrying shovels making their way behind some trees that lay about four hundred meters away from them. Ali and Ahsan stealthily made their way from one bush to another as they crossed row upon row of graves. They were wary of the fact that the five men whom they had come across may indeed be very dangerous. So Ali and Ahsan tried their best to remain as quiet as they could. They had just crossed a tree when they heard voices behind them ordering them to drop what they were carrying. Both Ali and Ahsan froze in their tracks. They turned around and stared into the revolvers being carried by two men wearing dark colored masks that hid their faces. About three minutes later, three more rough looking men appeared. It was apparent that the five of them were one gang. Five minutes later, bound and gagged, Ali and Ahsan were thrown into the back of the jalopy. They tried to kick and scream but could manage neither. Both of them recognized that they were in serious trouble. They earnestly wished that they had never come across the treasure map. However just as things seemed to go out of hand, they heard police car sirens blaring out. Five minutes later, they were sitting in the police station with their parents. It was Ahsan’s message that had been read by his mother who had gone to the kitchen to drink a glass of cold water. She had immediately notified the police and they had been quick to send out police squads to the cemetery. The police inspector told them that the five men who had been apprehended were actually a gang of men who kidnapped young children and men and then sold them into prostitution. They had purposely placed the treasure map in a number of libraries, toy shops and junk shops purposely to lure young children and men. Hearing this terrified Ali and Ahsan and they were quick to realize how foolish they had been. They were just glad and happy to be alive.