X marks the spot

CRr, CRRr, CRRRr, CRRRRR, CRACK, TRASH, ow, BAM, ow, BOOM, ow, THUMP—were the sounds Rekha made as she tumbled down off the tree she once climbed. After 30 sections of black, she cautiously opened her eyes to let the light in. Looking upwards, she wagered she had fallen about 5 meters.

“What a klutz”, she muttered, scolding herself as she attempted to move and sit up.

As she inspected her body, she could see red welts begin to form and faint bluish-purplish blemishes against her brown skin. The palms of her hands were caked in dirt and leaves, while her arms and legs were oozing blood from the micro-cuts she had acquired as she tumbled through the branches.

She quickly assessed her injuries and decided that she had not broken anything and that it was time to stand.

Using the tree that nearly took her out, she propped herself up.

“All this to catch a view”, she reflected as she stood up and closed her eyes imagining a more peaceful reality of being able to view the mountains against the setting sun from a secure tree branch.

As she brushed the leaves off the back of her pants and picked up her backpack, she heard leaves rustling and twigs snapping around her.

Spooked by the idea of being surrounded by hungry animals and impending nightfall, she knew that it was time to go.

She pulled her phone out her pocket and reviewed the map. Realizing that she had only wandered three minutes off the trail, she set off towards it.

While still in the brush, she began to make out the shapes of two individuals dressed in silver jumpsuits—how unusual for an Autumn hike, she mused. Their clothes looked like they were from the future or maybe even from another planet.

“What could they be up to?”, Rekha pondered. Knowing that she was intruding on something, her curiosity had gotten the better of her as she continued to spy on her new silvery companions.

As she slowly walked toward the two – men? women? -- she wasn’t sure yet-- she began to make out details of a silver backpack on the floor between them. She stopped when she saw them pulling out a pill shaped item. She couldn’t quite make out what it was from this distance.

The two set the item down and began to dig a hole right under the largest tree for miles. Their movement seemed methodical as though they had done this exact same thing, in this exact spot, before.

This tree was at least twelve meters in circumference and was noted as a site to see in her trail guide—"Dougie the Great” as it was colloquially known. She had heard things about this tree but was not able to appreciate how large it really was until today. Surely, it was at least eighty meters tall! Towering over all the other trees—Rekha was in awe.

“Back to these crazy folks”, she thought as she glanced over to the base of the tree.

As they continued to dig, Rekha listened in and heard the following exchange between the two:

“It’s that time of year again Neiam!”, announced Ary.

“X marks the spot, Ary”, Neiam confirmed.

“I love that we have a chance to be a part of history”. Neiam continued, as he dug.

“I wonder who will stumble upon this?” Ary questioned, as she helped him move the dirt out of the way.

“Someone who’s mind can suspend disbelief and give in to their imagination, I hope!” – Neiam exclaimed as he paused and put the shovel down. “Ok, the hole looks deep enough. Ready to drop it in?”

“Bombs away!” Ary shouted as she dropped the pill looking item down the hole.

“It’s getting dark, time to get outta here” Neiam hurriedly spoke as he began to cover up the hole.

In silence, the pair completed the job and stood up.

Rekha gasped for air, not realizing that she was holding her breath in anticipation of the strangers’ next move.

She starred in disbelief as the pair disappeared behind fog that seemed to come out of nowhere. As quickly as the fog descended onto the forest floor, it was gone—as were the silvery pair.

Rekha’s mind could hardly keep up!

“Now what? Do I just head home? But the strangers are anticipating someone finding the item, no?”, she pondered.

“Do I dig it up and find out what’s inside? I mean, I have the biggest imagination there is! Surely, I would be a good candidate to open the item!” She continued.

“But it is getting so dark outside and what if I can’t find the trail and am stuck out here all night!” Rekha’s imagination was getting out of hand as fear and indecision began to take hold.

“OK, OK—I either leave now or dig up the item and open it up. I mean, it shouldn’t take that long to see what is inside of it, right?” She said aloud with trepidation.

Letting intuition and the shovel in her backpack lead the way, she headed towards Dougie the Great.

Once she arrived at the base of the tree, she looked around and saw an abundance of colourful flowers, mushrooms and ferns—it looked almost magical! Especially in comparison to the bases of the neighbouring trees beside Dougie the Great.

“I wonder how old this tree is?” She contemplated.

As she took out her shovel and began to dig, Rekha remembered an old tale she had heard in town. It was that a cup of tea from a single pine needle from Dougie the Great could cure any ailment. In fact, she had known of several town folk who previously hiked up here whilst sick and came back happier and healthier than ever.

Rekha felt good standing near Dougie the Great… great even! And even more so excited to open the item up and see what treasures awaited her inside.

Fueled by eagerness, Rekha was able to dig up the item in just a few minutes. As she sat the item down, she inspected what appeared to be a capsule. Smooth to the touch, an inscription on the side read “X marks the spot—your deepest desires can be found here”.

She recognized this shape from her childhood. It was a time capsule. Rekha remembered making one of these and burying it in her backyard when she was 10—back in the late 90s. She filled it up with her sister’s holographic necklace, a Backstreet Boy cassette, her favourite Fear Street book, a few POGs, a slap bracelet, a troll doll, boxes of Popeye Candy Sticks, a Tamagotchi, a Yak Bak with a welcome recording, and a letter to the new owner discussing the significance of each of her prized possessions.

As her thoughts transported her to her time capsule, her hands grazed the edges of a touch screen on the exterior of the capsule as she tried to find an opening. She touched it and it suddenly lit up.

[Simply set the year, place, and time, and off you go!], it read.

“Off you go. What does that mean?” She muttered. Little did Rekha know; she was about to find out.

Since she was reminiscing about her childhood, she decided to put in the year, place, and approximate time she buried her own time capsule—give or take a couple hours.

Rekha closed her eyes and waited, expecting the worst and hoping for the best. The first thing she noticed was the smell of the fresh fir trees disappeared and her nostrils were accosted by the smell of freshly cut grass.

“That’s strange”, she thought.

Next, she began to feel increasingly warmer as the seconds passed—"it feels like summer”, she noted as she began removing her jacket. She also felt the rays of the sun on her body as though the sun was coming back up and the forest trees that once provided her with shade had vanished.

She opened her eyes and was amazed to see that she was no longer in the woods. She was in fact at her childhood home that she had not seen in at least 20 years.

She starred in utter disbelief as she touched the grass of her old backyard with her fingertips. She ran to the front to see if their bright pink garage was indeed there. It was. Everything was just as it had been when she had buried her time capsule all those years ago.

“I’m in the past! I’m in the past!!” She shrieked, as a kid on his BMX bike stared at her as he rode by.

She ran back to her backyard and picked up the time travelling capsule and put it in her backpack just in case.

Her mind was running at a million miles per hour as she tried to grapple with her time travelling reality.

She knew what she needed to do next and took out her shovel. She began digging to find her own childhood time capsule. After a few minutes of digging, she found the freshly buried time capsule.

Taking a seat on the grassy floor of her childhood backyard, she rummaged through the contents of the time capsule to remove her sister’s old holographic necklace. She paused for a moment as a wave of sadness washed over her when she held the necklace. She put the rest of the items back.

 The back door of her childhood home slowly opened revealing her older sister and the child version of herself.

As Rekha stared at them, they quickly saw her and stared back. Quick on her feet, Rekha apologized and said that her son had thrown a ball over the fence.

The two children were studying her and looked at each other, clearly communicating with their eyes, before looking back at Rekha.

“OK” Naila, Rekha’s older sister said.

“But please Miss, always come ring the doorbell first so my parents don’t freak out” Naila cautioned.

Her eyes were kind and very familiar. It brought tears to Rekha’s eyes. As she looked away, taking in the voice of her older sister, she wiped her eyes and turned back—facing the kids. 

“I couldn’t find the ball. It must be in someone else’s yard. Sorry again kids” Rekha quipped, deciding to leave. She had heard tales of not upsetting the time space- continuum, but this situation really seemed to break those rules.

Not sure of where to go or how to get back to present day, she turned away from the children ready to walk away when she felt Naila’s tiny hand on her leg.

“Miss, you look sad. Are you ok?” Naila asked.

“I’m just very happy”. Rekha replied.

“Happy?” Child Rekha questioned.

“You both remind me of my dear sister and I.” Rekha announced lovingly as her eyes began to tear up again.

“We were as close as you two were, but unfortunately that is not the case anymore as she is up in the sky now.” Rekha continued.

“So sorry Miss. I love the sky. I bet she is enjoying her time up there.” Naila stated, nodding her head confidently.

“We have to go now” Child Rekha chimed in. “Goodbye Miss”.

Smelling Naila’s CK One perfume in the air as they hurried off, Rekha remembered the events of this day. Something she had blocked out because the pain was overwhelming. Today was the day that a car crashed into her parent’s car—instantly killing Naila and leaving Child Rekha in a coma for weeks.

Rekha recovered, however blocked the rest of the events including her sister’s death from her memory… until now. She reached for her chest as she began to feel a physical pain when the memories of the crash came flooding back.

She often daydreamed about seeing or hearing her sister again. In fact, it was a deep desire of hers. Maybe this was why her thoughts led her to this particular moment in time.

With tears streaming down her face, Rekha took the time capsule out and programmed it to go back to the future.

Rekha began to smell the pine needles of the Douglas Fir again; nightfall was once again imminent, and her feet were now firmly planted on the dirt at the base of the magical Dougie the Great.

She opened her palm and found the holographic necklace that Naila and her had buried years ago.

Her fingers found the string of the necklace and put it on signifying her deepest desire fulfilled—meeting her sister again for one final time.

As she searched for the time capsule, she realized that it had disappeared. Her desire now being fulfilled. X truly did mark the spot.