It had these red rims, which were so flawless that when the sun shined on them, it looked like his tires were on fire. When I got in it, I saw that it was one of those manual shift cars. I always wanted to drive one of those. I didn’t have my driver’s license yet but Craig taught me how to drive automatics when I was only 12.
The interior was also completely black and even had a plastic spider hanging from his rear view mirror. I guess black was his favorite color. Larry pushed the car key in the ignition and turned it on. I sat in the front passenger’s seat and as soon as we drove off to school, which was only one block away, I started wishing Larry had taken the long way this time. I have to admit; the ride was totally awesome.
I imagined I was in one of those Fast and The Furious movies. The neighbors stared in awe as we drove by which only had me thinking that if Kate saw me riding in this baby, I could give her a good impression.
I know. I’m a dork. What can I say?
The football players from the other day were hanging outside the campus. There were like 10 of them. Some were smoking while the others drank root beer.
They were a wild bunch.
The guys from the baseball field were also there waiting on us. Larry parked the car a few yards away from where his team was, and as soon as we pulled over, they all rushed over to us.
Jimmy spoke first.
“What’s up, big man?” He gave me a pound.
“Hey Jimmy! Hey guys!” I waved at them. They all waved back.
“You did pretty good yesterday,” Patrick said.
“That’s exactly what I told him,” Larry said while he wrapped his right arm around my neck.
“You came back for another round then?” Luis asked with a smile.
“Actually he had other plans,” Larry responded as he pointed at the football crew who were all staring back at us.
I overheard one of them utter something like, “Guys! Check it out. It’s Larry!”
If they knew Larry, then that only meant I was hanging out with the popular kids.
Knowing that had me growing a lot more confidence. School had not started, yet I was already getting to know the big dogs.
“Sup, girls!” Larry said. I saw one of the guys walk down our way. This one was some brawny Johnny Bravo type of dude. Hair was even combed that way too. He had blonde hair and green eyes. He was also taller than me.
Christ! Everyone around me was a lot taller than me.
“Sup, home boy. Where the hell have you been? Still playing with them sissies?” he said, staring at my guys.
Ouch!
Did he just call Larry and his baseball team a bunch of sissies?
Larry didn’t seem to get ticked off at that remark, so I’m guessing they were pals.
However, Jimmy and the rest of the gang were heated.
“When was the last time you won a game? 2 to 3 years ago?” Larry teased.
“Whatever man. Cut me some slack. We only lost once to the Patriots but that is not going to happen this year. Trust me.”
“Sure. Till then, I’m better off playing with Jimmy than with you losers.” They both chuckled, then the guy looked at me.
“Who’s the new kid?” he asked.
“Mike, this is Erick. He’s new in town. I’m giving him a ride around the block,” Larry said, introducing me. I glanced at Mike. He didn’t acknowledge me. He had a weird smile on his face.
Man, if he ever auditioned for the Freddy vs Jason movie, he’d so nail the Freddy character.
“He’ll be going to this school?” Mike asked.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Larry answered. “I’m trying to get him to join our baseball team too,” He said.
“Actually, I wanted to play football this season,” I said, joining the convo. Mike and Larry both glanced at me, surprised. It’s like they weren’t expecting me to say something.
“He spoke!” Mike teased. I guess that was more of an understatement.
“That’s not all I can do,” I said as a comeback.
“You hear that guys? This water boy here wants to join the team. Should we test him out?” Mike mocked. Everyone on the team laughed too. He still had that weird smile on his face. I wanted to punch it out of him.
“So? What do you say? I ain’t got all day,” I said annoyed. Larry laughed. He was enjoying this. My guys were surprised at my approach as well. Mike didn’t like it though. He got serious.
“Okay then,” he said while glaring at me. He got in my face, daunting me. I stood my ground and stared at Mike straight in the eye. I was ready for another comeback. One thing I was good at, I was witty.
“That’s why I love this guy,” Larry broke in, breaking the tension. “I’ve seen him play and I think he can beat you” Mike looked at Larry but kept glancing at me.
“Alright!” Mike finally said. He kept his cool. “We’ll have a football game this Friday. If you want to prove your worth for this team, you better impress. This will be your time to shine, water boy,” he said with a smirk. This time he was all business.
The first impression is the only thing that counts. I accepted the challenge. No way in hell was I going to back down from this one. No sir.
As Mike walked back to his guys, Larry winked at me proudly, then patted me on the back.
“That was awesome!” Bruce exclaimed.
“I can’t wait for Friday,” Jimmy said.
“Me neither,” Larry also said.
We started heading back to the car. After I said my goodbyes to my friends, I stopped halfway. I was looking for someone.
Larry noticed.
“Ahh! That’s right.”
His eyes started darting around too, then he motioned me to get back in the car. He drove me around the school but unfortunately, there was no sign of Kate.
BUMMER.
“Looks like she isn’t practicing today but lucky for you, I know what street she lives on,” he said with a sly smile.
“Is there anything you don’t know?” I said amazed.
“Well there is one thing. I just can’t tell you yet or I’d have to kill you.”
I couldn’t tell if he was just joking or really serious about that comment. With Larry,
It was really hard to tell what he was thinking. Getting to know him was like detective work. He saw the frightened expression on my face and he chuckled.
“I’m just kidding, kid.”
“Oh, okay, cool,” I answered with a sudden relief. My cell phone rang.
I looked at the phone screen and it read: MOM.
I felt my stomach shrink. Was she back from work and found out I wasn’t there again? I picked up the call and motioned to Larry not to speak.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, hun! GBI approved the loan!”
“That’s fantastic!” I exclaimed, excited.
“Jack asked for us to pack immediately. Craig already made arrangements to go to Africa tomorrow morning.”
“Do what?” I couldn’t believe this. This can’t be possible. This wasn’t happening.
“By the way, your grandmother called,” Mom continued. “She said she misses you very much. I’ll see you soon, hun.” She hung up. I only started blankly at nowhere for maybe 10 seconds. Larry drove but kept looking at me then back at the road.
“You’re in trouble or something?” he asked.
“We have a problem, Larry.”
“What? You gotta go home?”
“I do, but that’s not the problem,” I said quickly.
“What is it?”
“I won’t be able to make it to the game on Friday.”
“Oh?” Larry said, confused.
“My reputation is at stake here!” I shouted.
I didn’t know if I was angry because once again, my father’s career got in the w
ay of me finally having a normal life or I was just nervous at the fact that I was going to partake in one of the biggest expeditions of all time and my father was going to become one of the most important figures in the entire history of history.
Larry and I didn’t speak the whole way after the phone call. He must have sensed I was upset, so he left me alone in my thoughts. We finally arrived at my house and I got out of the car. I made my way back to the house slowly, when he finally shouted and said, “You know, if time is what you need, I can always ask Mike to change the game for another day or you could just change your mind and play baseball this season.”
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
“And one more thing, chief.”
I turned slowly. “When you’re finally ready, come find me. We’ll get the Others,” he said.
He winked at me, then drove off to I don’t know where. What was he talking about?
What Others? The only thing that was on my mind was the expedition. How long was it going to take? Was it going to take months? Was I going to be able to start school next month? Was this going to end up being a dead end, just like the rest of the excavations so far? All these questions kept popping in my head and were making my head hurt.
Chapter 4
Home
After sitting in my room for about an hour contemplating my thoughts, I decided to start packing my bags. Maybe this way I would be able to forget about my issues and keep my mind busy.
Then right on cue, I heard something. Then there was a screeching sound, like if something was scratching the surface of a metal wall. I stopped what I was doing for a second and tried to listen carefully. I wanted to know where it was coming from. The sound stopped for a moment, then I heard it again. This time was louder.
Was it a burglar?
I slowly creeped towards the hallway and tried to listen closely. Then I heard it. The sound was so intense it hurt my teeth. I went back to my room and quickly scanned for something I could use to defend myself from whatever it was. I spotted my baseball bat, which was lying on the floor in a corner of my room.
YES!
I grabbed the bat and made my way to where the sound was coming from. As I kept creeping down the hallway towards my father’s home office, I was a bundle of raw nerves. If anyone so much as farted, I was going to make a jump out a window and run like hell. The closer I got, the more my hands were shaking. As I made my way to the door, I turned the doorknob. My cell phone rang. I freaked out. I glanced at the screen and it read: Unknown
I didn’t pick up. But I turned my cellphone off. I sure didn’t want to give away my location to whoever was in my house. I got myself together, took a few breaths and quickly pushed the door open.
The room was bright and shiny from the morning sun that came from the office window. No sound either. It was quiet. I went back to my room but then my cellphone rang again.
How?
I jumped and reached into my pocket and grabbed the phone. It was the same unknown caller again but that’s not what freaked me out. It was the fact that it was still ringing even though it was off. I picked up and listened carefully. At first there was static, then there were whispers.
“Ethasus,” I herd a voice say. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“Who’s this?” I asked, frightened. “Larry? This isn’t funny. It better not be you?” I said a little shaken.
Then the scratching sounds started again. This time it was so loud it hurt my ears.
Then I woke up.
CHRIST.
Thank god It was just a dream. I must have fallen asleep for a minute.
I got up from my bed and started walking around my room. I was still a little shaken. Then I started having the strangest feeling that I was being watched. I never experienced such a thing before but like I said, I felt like there was an unknown presence in my room. It was such an unnatural feeling. I looked around but there was no one there of course.
I heard a dog barking.
It was so loud and clear as if the animal was inside my house or in my head.
I ran out of my house.
Was I going insane? I think I was hallucinating. I thought of a billion possibilities and explanations but none would explain what just happened. How could I tell my parents? They’d freak out and take me away to a mental institution forever. I sat on my front porch for almost an hour when my parents were back.
I was so relieved.
“Erick? What are you doing out here?” Mom asked as she got out of the car.
“I was taking out the trash and decided to get some fresh air,” I faltered with a lie and she believed me and we all went inside.
Hours later, my parents started packing too. This was my opportunity to ask my dad when we were coming back home. I went into his room.
“Dad?” I called. He looked up and stopped what he was doing. He looked pretty tense, I guess from stress. After all, this was the moment he was waiting for all his life.
“How long is it going to take?” I asked, as I sat on the edge of the bed.
“Don’t know. It may take a while. It all depends.”
“It depends on what?”
“On what we find and how long it will take.”
“I thought you knew where Satu was.”
“Yes, but those are just speculations from our previous findings, Erick. I can’t really tell you for sure. At least not yet.” Dad grabbed a pair of socks and a T-shirt and placed them on top of the bed.
“Then what do Craig and Nathan say about that?”
“Nathan doesn’t think Satu is in Africa. He insists he’s on the island.”
“That’s strange. Maybe he knows something you don’t,” I said.
“Maybe, but lately he’s been keeping things from me and Craig. I don’t even know where he’s getting these ideas from.”
“What’s he saying?”
“Things about a temple and an underground passage.”
“An underground passage?” I exclaimed, puzzled.
“Yes, but the thing is, we’ve been to the island before and we’ve never found anything of that sort. As a matter of fact, we’ve spoken to the Detarrunians and they’ve never mentioned anything about a temple. I don’t know where Nathan is getting this information from. I mean, it’s definitely not coming from the manuscripts. All I know is that this is our last shot and I don’t want to risk it. I don’t want anybody interfering with this research,” he said, lost in his thoughts.
It was really strange hearing my father speak that way about Nathan but I guess it was for a good reason.
“Do you think the Detarrunians might be hiding something?” I asked.
“I think so.”
“For what reasons?”
He looked at me for a moment. He had a pretty good idea of why.
“Satu enjoyed torturing and killing innocent people and used to collect their souls, to gain more power from the underworld. Trading souls for power was one of his ways to gain immortality. For years, the Detarrunians were slaughtered and enslaved. They were tortured in the most horrific ways that some preferred to end their lives. In some cases, out of desperation, they sacrificed their loved ones to the gods, so that one day, they can be set free. The Detarrunians, to this day, still believe in this legend which is why they live in fear. They believe Satu will return with a vengeance and destroy mankind.”
“That explains it.” I said.
There was a long pause. I stood up for a moment and then turned to him.
“Dad?”
“Yes?” He looked up with a pair of shorts in his hands.
“Do I really have to go on this one?”
My father looked back at me. I wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or sad. I can’t believe I just asked him that either. I tried to make something up quickly.
; “I start school soon” I said trying to fix the situation,
“I know,” he finally answered in a sad voice. “If it takes longer, I’ll arrange your flight back with Clara, but I’ll have to stay behind. I won’t get any more funds, so I really have to make this one work.”
“What happens if you don’t” I said, being realistic. My father took a moment to answer.
“If I don’t, then I will not continue with this research anymore,” he uttered.
Simple as that.
It’s hard to believe that he was willing to give up everything. All of his findings, his passion, and hard work. I felt sorry for him, in a way, because he didn’t have a choice.
We got so distracted talking about the research that we lost track of time. It was already 8 pm. I went downstairs and sat on the living room couch, thinking of all the negatives. The only thing that turned out to be good, at least for the moment, was Kate Anderson. That one moment, where I saw her for the first time. The most stunning cheerleading captain I had ever seen. Thinking about her, made me doze off and fall asleep till the next morning. That Monday morning, when I’d start an adventure, I’d never forget.
The Flight
Morning came fast. Really fast!
I don’t remember falling asleep on the couch or how I ended up there in the first place but I slept really good. I heard a conversation coming from the kitchen. My parents were already up. I got up and headed to the kitchen where I met with my parents and their guests, Nathan and Craig.
“Well good morning, Erick,” Nathan said with a welcoming smile.
“Morning, everyone.”
“Morning,” they all responded. I gave Craig a pound, then we did our signature handshake.
Dr. Craig Halloway. He sure was a funny dude. You’d never go bored with him. He was the type of guy that could find fun out of anything. Always energetic, and sports was his main hobby. He wouldn’t stay still for one minute. We would go scuba diving, snowboarding, skydiving, exploring caves and rock climbing with my parents all the time. He was young too. Early thirties, built but average. He had black short hair and dark brown eyes. He’d been my dad’s best friend since college. He usually got in trouble a lot with the cops and most definitely the girls. His weakness was the ladies. My mom hated him for that. She thought he was a bad influence for me. Craig and I actually grew really fond of each other. He always said I was the nephew he never had. So he fixed a few rebellious habits for my sake, but to me, he was still the old Craig no matter what.
Detarru Island Page 3