Chapter 1: “It Wasn’t Me!”
“I’m so bored,” said Carrie to Kye. It was one of those rainy days when everyone and everything felt gloomy. The trees moaned, the clouds wept, the wind whined and the parents were upping their coffee game.
“Let’s sneak a ginger-bread man!” Suggested Kye.
“Mum moved it to the top of the cupboard after our last seven failing attempts.”
“ Let’s play baseball, that way we can be entertained and get exercise,” Kye said hopefully.
And that’s how the game began. They played intently, none of them wanting to get the humiliation of losing. It was Kyes swing (he had the advantage as he was a year older than Carrie and had been playing for longer than her). He swung as if his life depended on it, Carrie missed it and knowing there was nothing else to do watched it hurl and whirl and twirl through the sky, every now and then scraping the ceiling. There was an almighty CRASH as the little ball came to a halt in the forever- locked cabinet, which had been passed down for generations.
“It wasn’t me, they did it!” Shouted the children to their natural instinct, even though their parents were at the supermarket.
Chapter 2: The non-biscuit biscuit tin
Inside the cabinet was a biscuit tin.
“Finally, something to eat around here,” said Nick, who constantly seemed to be lost in a world of stomach and food only but to Nick’s major disappointment it was abandoned of any cookies. Instead there was a picture of an old man and a scroll. The old man was accompanied by a scarlet macaw and a classical pirate costume. At the top was a name written in swirly writing. It read: ‘Captain Jack Fawley’.
“No way, that’s Grandad Jack’s parrot Chatter. It must be, because Granny and Grandad’s surname is Fawley,” said Kye, little did he know that Carrie was paying no attention to him instead she was absorbed in that little scroll. It was a map marked in the same swirly handwriting: ‘The Unfound Treasure’. Just at that second they heard a key turn in the lock at the front door. Like little mice the children scampered and scurried frantically trying to put everything away, they managed to finish a second before their mum entered the room.
Chapter 3: Don’t Hold A Grudge
“Kye, how could you?” Said the mother immediately assuming it had something to do with him. This wasn’t because Carrie never did anything naughty, (no, she had her share of that) it was more to do with the fact that she was good at covering up her tracks. This didn’t go down well with Kye. He grumped all afternoon and when it was time to go to bed he didn’t let go. Their parents were running the bath and the children were on their way up when Carrie retried to apologize. Instead of taking his chance to accept Carries comment he gave her a gentle shove. Carrie lost her balance and fell right through a hole in the railings and landed with a THUD on the floor under the stairs. Kye dashed down stairs to help his weeping, aching sister. The noise alerted their mum and she came charging down like a rhino, she picked Carrie up and took her to bed leaving Kye all alone. He looked around he thought he saw a door, he saw it again but before he could look at what’s behind it, his mother beckoned him up the stairs.
Chapter 4: Into The Cellar
Later that night, when Carrie and Kye’s parents were asleep, Kye tiptoed into Carrie’s room and whispered: “Carrie, I’m so sorry, but to make it up to you let’s play a game. We used to play pirates and make a map but now we’ve got one and I know exactly where to use it.” So they set off in their pyjamas with only a candle to see with. Kye led Carrie to the cellar and cautiously they entered. They started walking cheerfully at first, Carrie ran her little fingers along the brick wall until it became a smooth slab of stone.
“Why this cellar goes on forever,” pondered Carrie.
In the distance they heard a door slam and an almighty wind blew and put out the candle with ease. The children tiptoed along clutching each other.
It was freezing and dark and just as the children were about to fall unconscious, the floor beneath them dropped away revealing a natural and painful water park. They slipped and slid before landing on their bums in a dark cavern. The children rang out their night clothes.
Chapter 5: Aaaaaahhhh
There was a moment of silence and then some little high pitched squeaks and scuttling noises began. At first it was too quiet to notice, but as the sound began to bounce off the ancient cavern walls, it grew louder and louder until it was loud enough to be heard by the human ear. The children looked at each other and slowly rose to their feet. They began to scan the cave but nothing was found so they cautiously sat down clutching each other.
There was no noise, that was until a little shadowy figure stepped into a tiny slither of light. Carrie let out a scream as hundreds of thousands more of those tiny little figures scampered forwards. They had rough grey fur that stood up on their arched backs; their wet pink noses covered in a mysterious goo; their fang-like teeth were yellow and covered in blood and scraps of meat; their scaly tails which used to be pink but now were black and worst of all their bloodshot red evil eyes were so sharp they could control minds and penetrate souls. The rats had, their prey cornered their only chance of surviving a little hole in the far wall.
The rats moved closer, licking their chomps as Kye was madly rattling his brain to try and find a way out of their unfortunate position. Carrie let out another scream as one of the rats lunged at her foot sinking its fangs deep into her skin. Tears started rolling down her cheeks as a red patch appeared on her new white socks. Kye grabbed Carrie’s tear stained hand and told her the only plan he could think of.
“RUN!”
“Through the rats, you’re insane!”
“Fine you become dinner then!” He shouted before sprinting through the rats. When another rat lunged at her, Carrie fled after Kye.
They didn’t quite realise how small the hole was but managed to worm their way through. Kye lugged a giant rock over to the hole and blocked it just in time.
Chapter 7: It’s Real
Once the children had got their breath back, they looked around and found themselves in a cavern illuminated by glow worms. Through the middle trickled a spring. They limped along the side until they arrived at the end where a chest awaited them.
“I can’t believe it!” Carrie picked up the light-weight chest and they carried on walking until they were back where they began.
They dashed to their room and decided to open it in secret.
“One, two, three,” counted Kye and with that they opened the box revealing… another scroll. This one read: ‘The real treasure of life is the adventure’.
From that day on Carrie and Kye did not let the lockdown stop them from having adventures.