The Treasure Box
Explosions went boom, grenades getting deployed. Why are they destroying our peaceful town, what happened to it? Who are they and why are they doing this, where did they come from?
People crying at the highest volume and screaming nonstop. The library rapidly gets bombed by the enemy, books burst and shredded into pieces. Slowly falling down one by one, shelves tilting making tumultuous sounds. Dad gave me this special box, inside it was a book about our past, about the people in the village. After packing our stuff as fast as we could, we quickly joined the humongous line of helpless villagers.
The feeling about my mother is distressing me. Where is she, where did she go? I want mum to come back, had she been kidnapped, is she hurt? What if she’s already dead? But still I need to focus on this right now. As the village is getting bombed people secretly escaping feeling fear and terror, marching and walking all day long, nowhere to go. I feel concerned about dad oddly coughing relentlessly and having painful headaches. While we walk in the dark freezing evening, we sleep on the side of an abandoned road.
As the cold night has come, we all cuddled together lacking heat as the temperature going down so quick as how fast my father is coughing non stop. I hold my father’s hand and feeling cold and chilly, I keep his hand warm till the last moment I'll never be able to go talk to him again. His last words were “keep the box Peter, I will always love you” and he slowly closed his eyes. Instantly I felt broken and crumpled feeling on the inside like I’m tearing apart into pieces. I cry salty tears that slowly fall on my face as my father’s heartbeat slowly stops. Straight away the other villagers comfort me but it doesn’t do anything to stop the feeling of depression and misery.
The day of my father’s burial turns out to be the worst day of my life. I tumble down beside my father’s grave feeling empty and heartbroken. We had to be quick before the enemy finds us. I questioned myself, Why did my dad die, I have lost my only one who’s going to care for me? Where will I go now? Who’s going to be there with me for the rest of my life? The men quickly buried my father’s body as I tightly hold the box. The villagers feel anxious and worried, they tried to convince me to leave the box but I’ll never break the promise I gave to my dad.
I plan to leave the others and leave my suitcase other than leaving the box, it’s more valuable than anything else. I want to start a new life in a new town. I went to the next village. It was more peaceful and colourful, no bombings, no gun shootings, no killing people it’s the totally opposite from where I have come. The colours of the buildings are as bright as the yellow sun, people are peaceful and joyful, as vibrant as flowers blooming from their stem, the snow is as graceful and elegant as people dancing to a folk song around the centre of the village.
I find a good place to bury the box, I can’t keep this box forever so I need to hide it, I find a linden tree forest. Winter trees shiver in the freezing wind, naked branches covered with snow. Clusters of twigs, twisted and bent, extended like the hands of an old man, ready to catch the soft falling snowflakes. I dig up a hole next to an enormous linden tree, I gradually put the box into it and bury it with the cold freezing snow. Against the dark mossy trunk the brilliant white snow drifts in small chunks and falls to the frosty ground. I lived in the village next to the linden tree for many years, I turned from a kid to a young adult but I still remember the iron box that my father gave me.
One day I decided to find the box, I wanted to see if it was still there. I went back to the linden tree forest, it was in the middle of spring and linden trees were blooming, dazzling brightly upon the shining sun, the grass was as abundant as the white humongous clouds in the sky. I remember where I hid it. I dug it in next to the biggest linden tree in the forest. I saw a little girl playing around the tree. I went to her and told her all about the iron box, she helped me dig up the box and read the book to her. This evening I told her to go home before it was dark.
I choose to return the book to the library. I wonder if people are still there in the village? Did they rebuilt the buildings, the library? I know it would be a very long journey to get there so I ride on a carriage as it would be faster than walking. I wrapped the iron box with a cloth. It took 2 nights and 2 days to get there. I arrived in the village and it was astonishing. It was as peaceful as ever, all the people were happy and joyfully communicating with each other. I ran as fast as a flash of lightning to the library, I looked at it, it was back to its original form. I went inside, heaps of people reading pages of amazing books one by one slowly, row after row of neatly placed books, dust everywhere as far as you can see, fictional books orderly arranged in alphabetical order. And this is where I placed the book on the shelf.
