may shatter on impact (tronnor)

79. Thirteen Years & the Same Ground

The tree I sit beneath seems to bend in the wind, its old age giving way to the youthful gusts of wind. Leaves take flight, scattering through the air like birds flying away. I close my eyes, letting the wind take the tears from my cheeks. I sit on the same ground that Tyler broke his legs on, on the same ground that we first kissed, on the same ground where we buried a treasure chest for someone to find in a hundred years.

Without thinking, I move, raking my hands through the dirt. I move a thin layer of dirt and leaves around the trunk of the tree, feeling the rough bark for three small slashes in the wood. I find them, my fingers cutting through the bark along the scratch where Tyler had dug a Boy Scout pocket knife through the trunk of the tree to mark where we buried the treasure. One thin horizontal line, two vertical lines going through it: two 't's for Troye and Tyler. Like an 'H' but better, he had said.

"It's our symbol. Like...like the, uh, Deathly Hallows. Two t's connected. Troye and Tyler."

I nod. "Put it on the tree!"

He frowns, little lines forming on his forehead. "Why?"

"To mark the spot, so we can find the treasure again."

"But I thought we were burying it for pirates? Or...or something."

"Yeah...But like, if one of us ever became a pirate and wanted to find it again."

"That's a good idea!" he exclaims, and I smile, grateful that Tyler had accepted the idea. He had always been the more creative one and having my ideas shot down by him was like being shot.

I've dug a hole in the ground and there's dirt caked into my fingernails, but we didn't bury it very deep, and there's no way -

I hit something.

My fingers slide across a plastic box, wet paper ripping under my touch.

It's been thirteen years.

And it's still here.

I dig it out, pulling the plastic tupperware box and dropping it onto the ground.

"What're you writing on it?"

"Just our names."

I sit box on my heels, staring at the box next to the small pile of dirt.

TYLER AИD TROYE

"I think the 'N' goes the other way, Ty."

"...Oh. Well, whatever. It looks cooler like this anyways."

I pick at the duck tape that has somehow kept the tiny box shut for years, not quite remembering what's inside. I finally get the box opening, carefully placing the cover next to my, the tape split apart, one half on the cover, the other half on the box.

I pick up the first thing - a letter.

Dear woo-evr-reads-this

This is Tyler and Troye! We ar 5 yeers old and liv heer! We are varie good peeple and left this box for yu to keep! It has manie good items for yu! Ther is a pensl and paypr and snaks and things!

I laugh softly at the spelling, glancing into the box at the granola bar that somehow isn't moldy or anything. There's a bottle of orange juice, and I'm pretty sure that there's a colony of bugs living in there.

We hope yu lyk it and that yu hav a verie good life like we hav had and that yu hav a frend like Troye is for me!

That's when I burst into tears.