3 am

Chapter 3

(13th Jan Friday, 3am)

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" both of them shout in exasperation. They were so close to the exit but now they are back in the trap.

They calm themselves down and look around to see where they are teleported to. This time they are in an abandoned room which has a nasty smell. The walls are damaged and everything is covered in dust and dirt. Amongst the dusty things, a diary catches their attention. It's on a table beside them. Their intuition tells them that reading what's inside is essential. Shriya picks up the diary and dusts it off. She then opens it and they both start reading it.

'This diary belongs to,

OLIVER SMITH'

"The O is in bold. Another letter!" exclaims Srushti.

They turn the page of the diary and continue reading.

'I am Oliver Smith. My family has disowned me. They say I am not capable of doing anything and I am criminal minded'

'I have somehow managed to buy my own house with a garage and a basement. I love travelling in my own car. It's small but it's my own'

'I am an archaeologist. My dream is to find something so unique that it gets displayed in a museum so that I become famous and everyone appreciates my discovery.

'My life changed as I found an old dungeon once. I found a very beautiful box there. I sneaked and brought it home. There was a shiny black bracelet in it. I wore it and it gave me magical powers. There was a note inside 'The more you destroy, the more power you get''

'And then my dream changed. Now,

I WANT TO RULE THE WORLD'

And there was nothing else written inside.

"Hey, do you remember what we read on that museum label about the wizard?"

"Yes, I do. The man who the wizard defeated; his name was Oliver. So do you think this diary is related to that man?"

Srushti nods and says "Yes! And the places that we are teleported to are also related to him!"

"Absolutely! First, we were teleported to the dungeon. That should be the place where he found the box and gained magical powers. Then, we were teleported to the graveyard. That must be where the wizard killed him. After that, we were in a museum where he wanted his discoveries to be displayed. Next, we were in a basement, then a garage and now this room which should be his"

"You could say so. But I am still confused about the random letters that we are seeing everywhere"

"What could those letter mean? Do we have to make word out of it?"

"I think so. Let's see. We will start from the building. We saw only A lighted in Crystal Palace, R on the stone walls of the dungeon, C on the tombstone, H on the wizard's staff, A in the locket in the basement, E on the car and now O in Oliver. Even if we form a word out of it, we get ARCHAEO. What does this word mean?"

Shriya has no idea about the word. They both begin to think of all the possible words that can be formed from the letters but, nothing seems to make any sense. Suddenly, Shriya recalls something.

"Hey do you recall, the intricate design on the emerald locket spelled out the word Dig, and the word Logical was written in bold in the label beside the wizard's statue?"

Srushti nods

"So, do you think we should use these words?"

"We could. I just remembered that ARCHAEO means 'ancient'. So, it is a right word, I think. And, if we add logical after it, the word becomes ARCHAEOLOGICAL"

"NIce one Srush! You are brilliant! So, similarly we should add DIG as well. I feel DIG after ARCHAEOLOGICAL makes more sense"

"Me too. So, it will be ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG"

As Srushti says this, a grey portal opens in front of them and they are sucked inside. They both shriek and close their eyes.

When they open their eyes, they realize that they are in some sort of dark cave dug by archaeologist. The exit of the cave is shut by rocks so they have no way out. They turn on their flashlight this time.

"I am not going to do the same mistake again" says Shriya and Srushti smiles

They start exploring. A few seconds later, they see a bone under their flash light. When they move the flashlight up, they realize that it's not just a bone. It's a SKELETON!

They both are terrified by the sight of it. Under the flash light it's looking even more terrifying.

"Srushti! We need to hurry!" says Shriya her voice quavering "I don't want to end up like the skeleton!"

"I know, I know. Let's keep looking for some way out"

They continue their exploring. Almost an hour passes but they don't find anything.

"I am so tired! I need water!" Srushti cries out

"Me too! But where are we going to get water?"

Shriya leans against the wall to take rest. As she leans, a part of the cave gets pushed inside revealing an opening through which Shriya falls down her screams echoing.

"Shriya!" shouts Srushti

'What am I going to do?' she thinks.

'I have to do this. For her' she thinks and jumps through the opening.