A wish come true

Redeeming myself

My house is... not luxury. Its not good at all in fact, but it does what it needs to: give me warmth, shelter and a place to sleep. Everyone had their guilty pleasure, and if they say they don't then they're lying. Unfortunately i was gifted with a guilty pleasure that is well known yet widely detested. 

Of course, i wish that it wasn't, but who wouldn't want their guilty pleasure to be accepted? But, for now at least, I had to keep it a secret.
Until last month. Here, I tell you the story of how I gained, and then lost, access to my guilty pleasure.

You see, I'm an archaeologist (great job choice, I know) but I find it really interesting, You get to see places that have been hidden for centuries, you could be one of the first to view a place that had not been seen by the human eye, or any eye for that matter, for hundreds or even thousands of years.

When people think of archaeology they think of dusty temples and broken pots. When I think of archaeology I think of unimaginable wonders just waiting to be discovered .Yesterday we were digging around near Egypt when I clanged against something solid, yet mobile. I bent down on my hands and knees and sure enough, a piece of stone was blocking the way.

Hoping that they didn't hear or see what I just hit, knowing they would laugh at my incompetence if it was just a rock, I pulled it out, but not before I glimpsed things etched into it.

Looking around, I quickly took a quick glance at the writing, or at least, if you could call those etchings writing. It looked ancient, and yet decipherable so I skimmed over it to try find symbols I understood. Now, I'm not fluent in whatever language Egyptians used back in ancient Egypt, but I did learn a bit from my friend so I would know if i had found treasure. and as my eyes passed over the tablet of stone, I had to suppress a childish shriek, etched near the beginning of the stone I saw the symbol I had been waiting for my whole life.

Treasure.

My heart started pounding, I wanted to keep this stone to myself. Not to be greedy, but to show those smug fools that I call my co-workers that I'm not useless, also so they couldn't steal the glory of my find. I hid the surprisingly light tablet of stone in my backpack, before heading over to the boys. They gave me an earful about how useless and lazy I am for not finding anything despite their glaring lack of a find themselves. I managed to ignore their jibes however, the tablet had lifted my spirits up too much to care this time.

As soon as i got home I dropped the tablet onto the fragile desk, regretting my decision instantly as the table collapsed beneath the tablet and i heard a crack as it hit the ground.

Inspecting the now broken tablet, i discover the crack only unveiled more than what I previously saw. A map, surprisingly centred around my home. At the time, the strangeness of how a tablet from so far away could be related to something so close to me didn't occur, as my focus instantly went towards the prospect of possible treasure at the end of this map.

I began planning near instantly about what I would do with the treasure at the end of this trail, untold amounts could take me out of this dump and buy me luxuries that before I could only ever dream of. Then I realised, there may not even be any treasure at the end of this map.

My hopes dashed, but not completely destroyed, I gathered the debris and gently laid the precious tablet upon my chair, being careful not to break it, before calling my friend who was currently on the other side of the world. The phone rang... and rang... and rang... and just as I thought he was never going to answer, he picked up.

"Hello?" My friend asked in a tired voice

Trying to stay calm, only just remembering what time it must be for him, I responded, "hey Jordan, uhh.. you know how you owe me a favour?"

"Not really, but what do you want?"

"Well, I sorta found another map but I cant decipher it..."

"...and you don't to bring it into the office to decipher it there because of our co-workers?"
he interrupted.

"Well..."

"This better not be like that Bruce, remember what happened last time you did this and asked me for help?"

It was hard to forget that, no matter how many times I try it always haunts my memories. Jordan doesn't help either with how many times he reminds me. Last time I did something like this, the "artefact" I discovered turned out to be an intricate placemat that a local diner gave out for children, and if that wasn't embarrassing enough, it took me weeks to realise my mistake, and everyone else thought it hilarious.

"No, I promise its not like that Jordan. I know with absolute certainty that this is a genuine artefact," I said, bending the truth slightly to persuade him to help.

"Fine, I'll help. Before I do though, you have to promise me one thing. If this turns out like last time, I have every right to laugh in your face."

Pausing for a second to contemplate what this might mean, I replied with forced enthusiasm, "Of course, thank you so much for helping me."

"Whatever you say, just send me the photos" 

"I promise you wont regret this," I said a moment before he hung up.

I brushed off the stone gently before snapping some photos, making sure it was clearly shown so it could be as fast as possible