A Letter Leading to Nowhere

“You don’t suppose she’s watching us, do you?”

“No, it isn’t possible… Why do you ask?”

“She was the one who sent us here, remember? It was in her last letter; the instructions were extremely specific. She even specified which tree, out of thousands. Isn’t that a little strange to you?”

“No, she was always particular. It’s probably the exact center point of the forest or some weird math calculation. She was obsessed with calculating the center of everything, so it makes sense.”

“I guess you’re right, but I still can’t help feeling like something’s off here.”

“Oh come on now, Ell. You’ll say that anytime you don’t know what’s going to happen. Like when we’re driving late at night and someone is following close behind. There goes Ell saying, ‘something feels off.’ We’ll be fine. Has anything actually ever happened when you’ve had one of these hunches?”

“Well yeah, remember the time… with the car?”

“No, that doesn’t count. Nothing happened to us, remember?”

“You wrecked your dad’s car; doesn’t that count for something? He had to sell it afterwards because it wouldn’t drive. Come on Kit, would you stop being delusional for just a second. This isn’t just some treasure hunt; it could be serious.”

“If you’re too scared, I’ll go by myself. I mean, I practically was raised in these woods, and I’ve been on every trail a hundred times on this side of the mountain. I’m serious, I’m going whether you’re coming or not.”

“Ugh, fine, I’m coming too. But please Kit, can we be careful?”

“It’ll be more of an adventure if we’re not, right?”

“Would you quit messing around? Please, I’m just trying to save us some trouble in the future.”

“Messing around? Ell, you’ve got to let loose a little, come on. It’s only potential trouble, there’s a difference, besides, I’ve got my phone if we have to call for help. You have yours too, right?”

“Yep, I got it, battery’s low though, and it won’t last all day.”

“You worry too much. I’ve got it covered, mine’s fully charged, and I’ve got a power bank and chargers in my backpack too.”

“Right, I should have known. That’s so typical of you. The great and mighty Kit, always ready for an adventure, but can’t leave the house without packing a whole supply store in her backpack.”

“Ha-ha, you know me too well. See? We don’t have to worry about anything. I brought a rope, a flashlight, even some extra batteries, and…”

“Snacks?”

“Obviously.”

“Nice! Doritos? Please tell me you brought Doritos.”

“I mean, we haven’t been besties for 5 years for nothing, of course I brought your favorite chips. Oh, and I got a whole jar of pickles in there somewhere, man I love pickles.”

“Ew, gross.”

“If you don’t want them that means there’s more for me. Hey, why don’t we stop for a break, I’ve got some water in here somewhere too, let me just try to get this backpack open. Shoot, of course the zipper’s stuck. Why can’t I ever have anything nice in my life.”

“Oh quit complaining and pass it here, let me try. Maybe I’ve got the magic touch.”

“Hey thanks, here, catch.”

“Oof, that’s got to be like 50 pounds! No wonder you wanted to stop!”

“No, I just thought you needed a break. You were starting to look a little out of breath back there, grandma.”

“Hey, come on, I was right beside you the entire time.”

“I’m just kidding, you don’t have to get all worked up.”

“Such a meanie.”

“You still love me though.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Here I got it open.”

“Dump everything out. There’s no point in digging around in there, you’ll never find anything.”

“If you say so... whoa, Kit! I really don’t know how you do it; you literally packed this thing as full as it gets. You even brought swimsuits? What on earth for?”

“I thought maybe we could stop for a swim on the way back, it gets pretty hot in the afternoon and there’s a lake about 15 minutes off the trail.”

“You know I don’t know how to swim right?”

“Right, I always forget. Well, there is a beach and it’s pretty shallow for a ways out… pass me a granola bar, would you.”

“Here, catch. I guess we could. But it depends on if our ‘mission’ is successful or not.”

“Ooh, a mission, that sounds so serious. What do you think is out there anyway? I bet it’s buried treasure.”

“I doubt it. That’d be too cliché. Anyway, you ready to get going again.”

“Absolutely. Gotta pack this thing up first though. You mind giving me a hand?”

“On it.”

“Hey Ell, look at this, did you bring this map? You know I don’t need a map, right?”

“Um, no, I haven’t seen it until now. Where did you find it?”

“It was inside the backpack. I thought you dumped everything out?”

“I did. That’s strange. What kind of map is it.”

“It’s of this mountain but it’s almost empty, none of the trails are marked or anything. Well, I guess I’ll just stuff it in here too. We could get fined for littering if we just throw it away.”

“What do mean ‘almost empty,’ what’s on it, Kit?”

“There’s just some old pencil marks here, and it looks like someone tried to erase it. It’s pretty close to where we’re headed. I wonder how it got into my backpack?”

“Maybe your mom put it in there? You know how she worries about you getting lost.”

“I really don’t think she would do that. She didn’t even know where we were headed, unless she knew about the letter.”

“You didn’t tell her, did you? We promised not to tell anyone else.”

“No, of course I didn’t. Hey, look we’re getting close now. The map shows that we’re supposed to go off the trail here.”

“Is that a cabin? Whoah that’s so cool!”

“I can’t believe that it’s been here the whole time and I’ve never seen it. We’ve got to go inside.”

“No way. I’ll wait out here.”

“Alright, I’m going in.”

“Be careful and tell me if you find anything.”

“You have got to come in here! It looks like someone lived here recently. I promise it’s completely safe.”

“Wait, this is actually insane! Is that a letter on the bed? What does it say?”

.      .      .      .      .

Dear reader,

           When you find this letter, I will be gone already. Either you have followed the instructions on the corresponding letter, or you have simply stumbled upon my late home. If the former is correct, warm welcomes to you, Katherine and Ellinor. And if the latter is correct, congratulations to you, for finding a small piece of an enormous mystery. If you are a stranger, you will never know the remaining parts of the story. Katherine, speak only to your mother about this, she will give you the necessary answers but nothing more.

Good luck and thank you for attending my funeral.

The deceased - Ezra Thatcher