Finding Myself - 1. Chapter 1: Beach Adventure

June 28 2017, Whalebone, Massachusetts

“Dude, this is gonna be great,” Jake said to me. Jake sat down on his bed in our room in his family’s beach house. The room had 2 twin size beds with a nightstand in between. The room had a beachy yellow color on the walls and sailboat pictures hanging.

“Yeah,” I grinned, hanging up a few shirts. “Thanks for inviting me, bro. It means a lot”

“No problem. This week was gonna be boring without a friend,” Jake laid down. “Ugh I’m tired after being in a car all afternoon.”

“I slept in the car, so I’m fine,” I giggled.

“Aedan, you can fall asleep almost anywhere,” Jake laughed, pulling his t-shirt off. Jake tucked himself under the covers and soon was lightly snoring. A few minutes later, I was done unpacking and I left the room to give Jake his quiet.

I went out to the kitchen and sat at the bar. “Hey, Aedan,” Jake’s mom said. “Did you get settled in?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I nodded. I had a country accent, originally being from Tennessee. My accent really stood out here in New England.

“That’s good. Help yourself to a snack in the fridge. Dinner won’t be for a few hours.”

“Okay. Thanks,” I responded, standing up. Mrs. Grant went to unpack her stuff. I opened the fridge and poured myself some orange juice in a glass and went out to the back porch. It was a warm breezy afternoon in Whalebone, a small town on the coast of Cape Cod. Waves lapped the sandy shore, which was dotted with rocks and boulders. My best friend, Jake, was so nice to invite me for this weekend trip on the cape instead of being back in Avalon. We had finished school a few weeks ago. I was glad to be done with the nightmare that was 7th grade. I was also glad to get away from home. My dad can get abusive at times, and I don’t enjoy being at home because of it.

Jake and I didn’t have a lot in common. We lived on opposite sides of town, I was more of an artistic guy, and Jake was more academic. His family was wealthy and mine was lower-middle class. We had only met through the ultimate frisbee team at our middle school, as we're both athletic.

I put my earbuds in and played some music while I relaxed. It was a perfect day. I was wearing a pink tank top, grey shorts, and green flip flops. A warm breeze was blowing. I took some time to bring my sketchbook out of my backpack to draw. Art helped me clear my mind. Almost as relaxing as sleeping. I drew a rough outline and added some shading for the grass textures, the dark blue water, and dark patches of the white puffy clouds. I rarely color in my drawings, so I left this one as just a pencil sketch. I grabbed my sketchbook and went inside when I was satisfied with my work.

Later that evening, after dinner, the sun went down on the western horizon, Jake and I were sitting on the back porch after we ate some pulled pork and baked potatoes for dinner. “So, why is this town called Whalebone?” I asked my friend. I was sitting on a deck chair with my knees up to my chest. I was working on another sketch.

“Let me show you,” Jake said, standing up. My friend wore a yellow t-shirt and grey athletic shorts. We left our flip flops on the porch and walked barefoot through the sand. It was a calm, quiet night. The moon above was the only source of light. A cool breeze rustled the dune grass and small waves lapped the empty, sandy shore.

“Where are we going?” I asked, walking a few feet behind my friend. The sandy section of the beach began to narrow as we walked south. Cliffs and rocks began to rise to the right, about twelve feet high.

“It’s not much farther. Only a hundred yards from the house,” Jake reassured me.

A couple minutes later, we reached a small sheltered cove. The area was surrounded by cliffs. The sandy beach was littered with large rocks that the waves splashed against. Partly submerged in the water were 3 skeletal carcasses of whales that had washed ashore long ago. Nothing remained of them except their bones, which had become weathered over the years.

“Woah,” I said, my jaw dropped.

“Welcome to Scrimshaw Cove,” Jake brushed his dirty blond bangs out of his face. “This place is how the town back there got its name.”

We walked towards one of the carcasses. The sand there was under a couple inches of seawater. All that remained of these poor whales was their skeletons. The skeletons had carvings in them through the last 200 years. “These carvings, scrimshaw, give the cove its name. Pretty cool, huh?” Jake asked.

“Yeah,” I laughed. “I’ll have to come down here more and get some drawings done.”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. The place is way spookier at night!” Jake teased, trying to scare me.

“Stop it, dude,” I giggled, kicking some of the wet sand at my feet at him. We ran back to the beach, with me chasing him. We both sat down, panting and laughing.

“I love coming down here,” Jake sighed, leaning back against a rock.

“We should prolly get back to the house,” I said. “Your folks are gonna get worried.”

“Country bumpkin,” Jake joked, elbowing me.

“Haha, very funny,” I teased.

We got back to the back porch of the house around 10 PM. Jake’s parents were inside, watching a Red Sox baseball game on TV. We used the hose on the driveway to wash off the sand and left our shirts to dry on the railing of the porch. Jake eyed the bruises on my ribs. “What happened, Aedan? You’re hurt.”

“Oh,” I blushed, trying to think of a lie. “Um, my brother and I were wrestling yesterday, and I guess I got a little bruised.” What really happened is that I was 30 minutes late for curfew last night, and dad beat me for it. I could never tell my best friend about it though.

“Um, ok,” Jake said, believing me, maybe. I grabbed a towel to drape over my shoulders and hide my torso from Jake’s parents, who would probably also be concerned.

“Boys! There you are. We were wondering where you went,” Jake’s dad greeted us. “And why are you soaking wet?”

“I took Aedan to see the whale bones,” Jake explained. “We got a little sandy so we washed off with the hose outside before coming in. Our shirts are drying outside.”

After the explanation, we grabbed cookies from the kitchen and went to our room to play video games. We played on Jake’s Nintendo Switch for a bit until we decided to sleep. Jake let me shower first. I then changed into a baggy pair of boxer shorts. I laid down in bed and read a book for a little bit while Jake showered. After a bit, Jake came out in his pajamas and a retainer in his mouth. He turned out the light. “Nice Superman PJ’s,” I laughed. They looked pretty dorky on him, but I definitely wasn’t trying to insult him.

“Haha very funny,” Jake climbed into his bed and turned on the lamp so he can read. “You sure everything is okay?” He asked, eyeing my bruised torso.

“Yes… i’m fine,” I sighed. “I’m not cold.”

“No, dork,” Jake giggled. “I wasn’t talking about you being exposed or whatever. I mean your bruised ribs.”

“Dude, I already explained it. Stop asking me.” I pulled up the covers to hide my chest. “Goodnight bro.” I rolled onto my stomach and tried to get to sleep.

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 nothing but 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,” 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. “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.

It was about a couple hundred yards south to the pier. There were a few people fishing off the end of the pier. On the boardwalk there were a few rigged carnie games and a few food restaurants in the square.

“Wanna eat first?” Jake asked.

“Sure,” I nodded, my stomach growled. “What do you want?”

“The deli is pretty good.”

I opened my string bag to get out money to pay for my lunch until I realized that I left my wallet with 20 bucks at the beach house.

“Oh crap, I don’t have money.”

“Don’t worry dude,” Jake patted my shoulder from behind. “I got you.”

“I’ll pay you back later,” I said as Jake opened the door.

“Don’t worry about it. I have plenty of cash.”

“Thanks, Jake,” I smiled and blushed. We walked up to the counter and ordered a hoagie and a soda for each of us. I got turkey and he got ham.

We relaxed and ate for a bit at a table outside. We finished our sandwiches, chips, and soda. “Did you like it?” he asked, in reference to the food.

“Yeah,” I stretched, my stomach feeling very full. “That was really good.”

“Ready to find the next clue?” Jake stood up and grabbed his stuff. We explored the boardwalk/pier area, which had shops and gardens and such. It was a pretty cool place to hang out for the day.

We began walking down the pier. Soon, we were out over the choppy water of the Atlantic Ocean. “Where is the highest point?” I asked.

“That would be the lighthouse tower,” Jake pointed to a tower structure.

We walked along. The tower was about halfway down the pier. We climbed up the wooden steps inside the tall brick structure. The top was about thirty feet up. We reached the top deck of the lighthouse, the square path that encircled the large lightbulb at the top.

“The note said we must look down. What the heck does that mean?” I asked.

“It means we have to look down, you doof,” Jake playfully punched my shoulder.

“I meant what does he want us to look down at?” I shoved Jake’s hand away. I looked down at the turquoise green water below. I saw something sparkle on one of the posts of the pier. I used a telescope mounted to the railing to get a better look. There was indeed another glass bottle tied to the post.

“How does someone miss that?” I asked.

“It was pretty well hidden. Nobody would think to look under the pier for anything but barnacles and saltwater taffy.” Jake said as we began to descend the tower and back to the boardwalk. “Do you remember which pillar had the bottle?”

“It was the fifth wooden pillar from where the water begins,” I replied.

When we got to the beach, Jake took off his shirt and waded out into the water. He had to swim a little bit to reach the spot. “I see the bottle, but it’s about 4 feet down!” Jake called out.

I gave him a thumbs up sign before he submerged under the waves. About ten seconds later he came back to the surface. A green bottle in his hand. He returned to shore, soaking wet. I handed him his blue towel from his bag before I opened the bottle to get the note. Jake sat down on the sand

“Here’s what the note says,” I began. “This next clue may strike you with fear. The place with bones can be found near. Go there at night, when the full moon is clear. Look for the chest that I found dear."

“That’s cryptic,” Jake sighed. “Place with bones could mean two things. The whale skeletons or the old graveyard.”

“The treasure depends on the full moon,” I reasoned. “I’m guessing it means the whale bones, since the tides are on the beach.”

“That makes sense,” Jake nodded. I placed the note in his backpack where the other one was.

“Cool,” I stood up. “Wanna head back to the house?”

“Yeah, dude,” Jake nodded.

About fifteen minutes later we arrived at the house. I changed into some basketball shorts while Jake took a shower to clean off the sand and salt. While he did that, I sat at the small desk in the bedroom and pulled out my sketch book. I improved on my drawings from the previous day. Jake came out, dressed in khaki shorts and a blue t-shirt.

“Hey,” he said, peering over my shoulders at my drawing. Jake sat on his bed, which was next to the desk. Jake pulled out his laptop while I continued drawing. “Woah! Come check this out dude,” Jake said a few minutes later. I put down my pencil and climbed onto the bed next to him.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The next full moon is Sunday night! That’s in four days”

“Oh, sweet. We can go get that treasure!”

“Yep. It’ll be awesome.”