Aedan's Story - 2. Chapter 2: Message in a Bottle

June 29 2017

I woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming into the room. I checked the clock. It was 9AM. Jake had already left the room. My stomach growled at the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen. I rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash my face before putting on a fresh t-shirt to be modest for breakfast.

I walked out to the kitchen and Jake was there making pancakes and bacon, still in his pajamas.

"Hey," I yawned.

"Morning," Jake said. "My parents went for a walk so I'm here making pancakes."

"Smells good," I rubbed my eyes. I sat at the bar along the kitchen island.

"Thanks," Jake laughed. "So, you wanna go hang out at the beach today?" Jake asked, flipping a couple pancakes.

"Mhm," I nodded, sipping some orange juice in a glass poured for me.

"Cool. We'll go around noon," Jake said, putting a few slightly burnt pancakes on a plate for me.

A few hours later, I was on the beach wearing white and blue swim trunks. Jake and I were playing with a frisbee. Jake wore bright yellow swim trunks. The beach was quiet, as this was a small town, hidden along Cape Cod. It was a cool, breezy day, so running after a flying frisbee wasn't making me too sweaty. One of Jake's frisbee throws was interrupted by the wind, and it landed on top of a 10-foot rock.

"Wanna help me get it down?" I asked.

"Nah. You missed the catch, so you gotta get it, dude," Jake stifled a laugh. I rolled my eyes.

I scaled the rock barefoot, but the rock wasn't too high, so it was relatively simple to reach a point where I could reach the frisbee. I grabbed it and threw it to Jake. I was about to turn around when, in a small crevasse in the rock, I saw a small glass bottle. It was green and wedged in the rock pretty tight. It was in the crack horizontally

"I found something up here," I called down to Jake, using all my upper body strength to try to remove the bottle.

"What is it?" Jake asked, interested.

"It's some kind of..." I grunted as I pulled. "Bottle!" I freed the bottle, but I slipped and began to lose balance. "Augh!"

"AEDAN!" Jake rushed over to help me as I fell onto the sand. "Are you ok?" Jake gently helped me sit up.

"I'm fine," I nodded. "Thanks, Jake."

"The bottle landed in the sand," Jake walked near the water's edge where the bottle landed. It had a few small cracks but it wasn't broken. "Woah, this is pretty cool," Jake picked up the bottle and walked back over to me. I sat down on the warm sand and pulled off the cork sealing the bottle. Out came a scrap of paper. It seemed very old. "What does it say?" Jake asked, sitting next to me.

I, Mr. Lance Goodman, being of sound mind, have passed away today on April 8 1919. I have no remaining family left, and so I donated most of my fortune to charity. The remainder I have hidden in a treasure chest somewhere in this little backwater town. I have hidden 10 thousand dollars and it is yours to keep if you find the chest.

Here is your first clue: The pier in town won't make you frown. At the top you must look down.

"Ten thousand dollars! Wow," I sighed. My family didn't come from money, so that large amount of money was almost unheard of to me.

"The top of the pier?" Jake asked. "The pier is south of here. It's not far. Just off of main street.

"Let's go," I said enthusiastically and smiled. Jake and I pulled on our t-shirts and sandals, and grabbed our stuff to begin our adventure.