Salem's Pit

“The past might have been forged by humans as it fits them”. That’s the first line our history teacher, Mr. Harrison told us at the start of our session. There were around ten students in our group at that time but they were more than enough for Mr. Harrison as he was new in the teaching field. Everything was going smoothly for some months until he came back. Our previous teacher, Mr. Andrew who, along with being our history teacher, was also an archaeologist in his free time. As someone who worked with my dad ‘who is a well known archaeologist of our time’ on the discovery of the lost records of our ancestors in Brighton that helped the scientists and archaeologists to prove the co-existence of some small sized dinosaurs who survived the impact of an asteroid millions of years ago with the ancestors of the animals we see today along with some species of apes that later evolved in humans, he was my idol. This discovery was a breakthrough that my dad wanted for his entire life. Two years ago, Mr. Andrew got news about some place that had been abandoned by humans since the witch trails in the past, so he decided to explore that part by himself to know the real truth about what those trails were really started for. His belief was that it was a conspiracy of the government there at that time in order to obtain the land occupied by the people there, as it might contain some kind of buried treasure that the government of that time wanted no one to know about. That’s the thing. It was two years ago and just a year ago we received the news that he had disappeared and had not been seen by anyone from then, until now. “Hey, who is this man? Is he our new teacher”, Peter asked me as he hit my arm with his elbow. “He was our history teacher before Mr. Andrew and my father’s friend. But he disappeared a year ago on one of his expeditions.” I said while I messaged my dad about his arrival. Peter was one of the new students who had just joined us in this session, as many students unrolled from this course saying it was not having any promising future, which was a bit harsh but true. As us humans are evolving into the future, we are forgetting our very own past from which we arise. There was an awkward silence in our room as no one knew what to say in this situation, as no one other than me was actually related to him. Even though he was my dad’s friend, we never actually talked that much, which could create a bond between us. “I know, I was about to message you but got lost in my work. He met me this morning at the coffee shop near our house.” Dad messaged me while I changed my seat with Marren so that I could sit with Scarlett, my love. She joined our ‘Swindon College Of Arts And Archeology’ for this session along with Peter. At this point, we were already bored to death as teaching was a way far Mr. Andrew didn’t utter even a single word, which was not like him. As I was about to sit down, I saw that Scarlett had just pushed a piece of folded paper to my side and started reading her book. I pick up the paper and looked at her smiling, thinking that it might be another personal love letter by her to me, but to my surprise it was blank and only one line was written on it.’SAY YES, WHEN ASKED’. Thinking that it might be a prank by her, I just tear it down and throw it in the dustbin at the end of class. After some time, I started talking with Scarlet and Peter, as it was practically our free time, everyone was just wasting their time, so I thought. Why not us too, also Mr. Andrew seemed not to be bothered by any of us, as he was just lost in his own dreams. It was around 3:20 and class was about to end, so we all started packing our books, which usually are no more than three since the arrival of Mr. Andrew, as all the equipment that we needed to study was provided by him every day. As we were all about to leave the room, Mr. Harrison said “I have a new expedition in two days, and I want some of you to go with me. Its not mandatory if you don’t want to just reject it” while he wrote down the names of students on board. “Think about it and give me a proper answer tomorrow, I will be at my office” he said while he left our room and went upstairs rather than going down to where his office is. “Say yes when asked, is that what it meant” I mumbled while I left the college building. The sky was bright and clear, the sunlight on the surface of buildings was so shiny that it made the buildings look like pieces of crystals that reflect the sunlight while shining. Our college was situated on Beckindale Street, while my home was at Wavemeet Street, which was about 30 min. far by bus, but mostly I walk back and it takes me around 40-50 min. But it’s worth the time as it’s much relaxing walking near parks and museums where I usually spend 5- 10 minutes learning about history through the eyes of people who had already lived it. But today was different. I was in no condition to enjoy them and I was in a hurry to go home, so that I could discuss this situation with my dad so I took the bus. To my surprise, Scarlett was also sitting as she usually goes by herself in her car. I took the liberty to sit beside her and looked at the paper that she was looking at, with a surprised look on her face. It was a same paper as mine with “SAY YES, WHEN ASKED” written on it. As soon as I looked, I was surprised as I thought it might have been her who was messing with me. That look on her face while looking at the note erased all kinds of doubts in my mind involving her as a prankster. “What are you reading there, love?” I asked her while keeping my end of the story a mystery. “Look at this paper, Quark. I think it’s related to the question Mr. Andrew asked us.” She said, while the scared look on her face told me everything. Hell, even I was scared out of my mind when I related it with that question. “Hey, don’t worry, it might be nothing. First tell me who gave this letter to you in the first place?” I asked her while I hold her in my arms so that she might feel somewhat relaxed. “ I don’t know, I just remember that I got an envelope delivered at my home today, in which there were two folded papers. One was for me and on the other your name was written”, she said while she looked at me and suddenly sat straight. “You also got one right, I handed it over to you, remember” she asked, while her eyes were wide open as if some ray of hope was sparked in them. “Yup, and it was similar to yours. Not a word more than that” I was confused as to why would someone want us to take the expedition with Mr. Andrew. “But we are not the only ones. Peter was also among us. Did he get the paper”, I mumbled as I took my mobile out and called Peter to confirm my theory. “No, I didn’t get any letters today. Well, what is this letter about” he said. He was so excited that only from his voice, I could picture his all proud full face, as if something different had happened to him from us. “Well, I’ll talk with you tomorrow. It’s nothing I thought I might have left your address for the job in museum to contact me.”I lied as I didn’t want him to be involved in this matter. As the call end we reached our stop. We walked to her house and after confirming that she was fine, I asked for her paper and kept it in my bag. As I was about to leave for my house she rushed and hugged me. For a moment there, I forgot about the existence of everything present there and hugged her back. We stood there with each other in arms for around 5-10 minutes. After she went inside, I went back to my home and found that my father was not there. I searched everywhere but not a single sign of him anywhere. All I found was a letter from him for me that was placed on the couch as if he was in a hurry to leave. “Suddenly, got a work at the confidential place might come within 3 months. Love DAD”. That’s all that was written in the letter. He had never been a man of many words. At that point, I knew I had to make a decision for myself for that expedition. I wasn’t able to sleep at night because of this mysterious letter, whose sender was more likely to be Mr. Andrew himself. Luckily, it was Sunday tomorrow and I usually do my work or study some digging sites on which my dad had worked as practice for my practical knowledge. ‘Suddenly the phone rang. Due to the speakers, the loud ring gave me a scare. I turned the light’s on and checked the time. It was around 3 am, I went to my desk where I usually place my phone at night while assuming who it might be at that hour. “Hey dad, any news about your working site?” I spoke without even checking the name of the caller. My assumption of him being the caller was because he usually called me at night whenever he had been on expeditions in the past. ‘No reply came from the other side for about two minutes, so I was about to cut the call, when all of a sudden the weeping sound came into my ears. It was so low that the caller might have been crying for the past two minutes and I might not have noticed it’ I checked the name of the caller and it was none other than Scarlett. “Scar, what happened, sunshine? Is everything fine?” I said while I washed my face in order to be active. “I … I’ve .. ‘She snorted’ got another letter” she said while she tried to control her tears. “ Don’t worry, it might be the same letters he delivered last time. Should I come to your house?” I asked while I changed my clothes and took some ice cream from the refrigerator. “He, did .. Did you say he? How do you know it's he?” “Um mm .. You know, it’s just one of my theories regarding who the sender might be.” I reluctantly said while thinking I might have screwed everything. “I’m coming over. Don’t worry, I will explain everything. Just tell your parents as its late and they might not feel comfortable ‘cuz of me spending the night with you?.” Tried to change the atmosphere for a bit so that she could feel relaxed till I went there, if they allowed. AFTER TWENTY MINUTES… I went to her house, but as soon as I went inside, I was surprised to see her whole family in the guest room, as if they were waiting for me, which was the case actually. She received me from the main door and informed me that she had told her parents everything. I could understand her fear, as I was also at her place that previous evening only. I looked at her face, which had changed into a red color because of the whole crying, and watching her in this condition, I could not help but felt sorry for her. “I’m sorry, sunshine” I said while wiping the tears from her cheeks. While I tried to hold mine. She held my hand while giving me a smile and took me to the guest room. Just from a quick glance, I was able to comprehend the difference between us. As I approached them, the feeling of being watched by eight eyes at the same time gave me shivers in my body. I greeted them while I stood there in one corner like I was at some major interview. “So, Scarlett told us you know the sender?”her father asked, as he pretended to be a tough guy while he actually was terrified for his daughter. “Yes Sir, I thought that our expedition leader, Mr. Andrew was the one behind this.” “But that was until Scar called me and told me about the new letters”, I said while I was checking on Scarlett and trying to see if the new letters were on the table placed in front of me. “Scar… didn’t know my girl had her name changed?” her grandfather asked me while he patted her head as he laughed. Even though the atmosphere was quite tense a second ago, now I could relax for a second as I observed Scarlett getting shy and smiling. It was at that moment I saw the letters placed under the newspaper cutting that was making it hard to find the place where I was standing. To my surprise, the letters were all changed as the messages for both of us were different this time. “SAY YES AND KNOW THE REASON YOU WERE SELECTED” Scarlett’s father read the one that was meant for her after he saw me seeing the letter. It wasn’t my fault as it was already late and all I wanted was to go there and get the letter so that she can sleep a bit comfortably. Well, it wasn’t the first time that everything hadn’t worked out as I thought. So I decided to just let everything flow as it wanted and see where and how it ends. Everyone was looking at me as if they were waiting for any kind of explanation regarding that letter. “Read yours, Dear. We are eager to know what is written inside it.” Scarlett's mom said. While she herself was looking tense. She was mesmerizing the moment I saw her, it was like seeing a goddess right in front of me. “Um… yeah, sorry about that, it’s just that I never thought someone more beautiful than Scar would be here on our planet.” I just spoke like that. It was like I didn’t even know what I was speaking or to whom after I said that. But something unusual happened for a second as I thought I saw Scarlett’s grandpa slightly patting her mother's back. And in response she just closed her eyes and laid back while saying sorry to him in a very low sound. “So, you don’t think it's that Andrew guy anymore?” Mr. Stevenson, Scarlett's father, asked me, as he got closer to me, as if he wanted to have a secluded conversation with me. “With respect sir, there are many possibilities, as for now, so I can’t blame anyone without any kind of proof regarding them” I said when I remembered that the ice cream was all melted and at that point I immediately asked Scar to put that bag in the kitchen. As soon as she left, her father rushed me to read my letter as he didn’t want Scar to hear it. I was also very interested to know about what the sender had to say to me this time, but as soon as I opened the letter I was shocked to see that it was different from Scar’s. The name of the sender was written on it even though I didn’t think that it was the real name. “HELP THEM… Seeker”, I read the letter out loud. Everyone was in deep thoughts as no one knew what to make out of this letter as it only asked me to help them but to help who wasn’t mentioned, so I just crumbled the letter in my hand and put it back in my pocket. “What… who was the sender? Again?” Scar’s grandpa asked me, but this time, he wasn’t cheerful anymore. Instead there was a hint of sadness in his voice, as if someone who had separated from him for a long time had just come in front of him. “Seeker, it’s written seeker. Grandpa are you fine?” I asked him while I sat near him and looked at Scar’s father and tried to ask him, but no one knew the reason. We all sat quietly and watched Scar’s grandpa while he just sit still as if he was remembering some nice memories of his childhood. It was already 5 in the morning, so I got up and asked the permission of everyone there, so that I could go back and have some rest before making a decision for myself regarding that expedition. “Quark, can you please show me your letter for a second if it’s fine with you?” Grandpa, asked me while I was not able to comprehend the connection between the letter and him. I looked at Scar as she slightly nodded to me telling me to show that letter to him. I took out the letter and pressed it between my hands after opening it so as to make it readable. The moment he got the letter and read it, tears flowed into his eyes while his face was smiling. Everyone was shocked as they told me they had never seen him crying in their whole life. Watching him like this, Scar was getting emotional again, so I asked her to have some rest before we could go on that expedition tomorrow. I decided to leave that letter with him as it might have meant something to him, and leave for my home. It was already around 5:35 am and I was exhausted, so I took a cab to go home as I was in no condition to walk there by myself.