The Road

     We stood alone in the middle of the dark, stony road. The only thing surrounding us was the deep, thick darkness of midnight. The only light was from the moon. Though the moonlight was dim, we could see quite clearly. We could feel the damp, dreary fog growing thicker by the minute. As we walked, the leafless trees cast long, claw-like shadows on the gravel. The only sound was the "click, clack" of our shoes on the cracked, stony pavement.
     We'd seen the road before from my bedroom window, but had never been on it. Tonight we'd got up the courage to sneak out and explore the road. Now, as we walked through the thick, cold night air, the road seemed to go on for miles.
     As I gazed into the darkness ahead, something glinting in the moonlight caught my eye. A miniature skeleton key. The key was small, gold and looked new. Attached to the key's handle was a dozen tiny rubies and diamonds. "What's a brand new key doing out here? It looks as if it was never touched," I wondered aloud. "Maybe if we take it with us, we'll find what it goes to," Joe suggested. "Yeah, maybe," I agreed as I slipped the key into my pocket. As we walked, we continuously discussed what the key could go to.
     A while later, we came to a trashed coffee cup that was ripped and covered in coffee stains. It looked as if somebody had purposely dropped it and crushed it under their foot. Seeing the cup, Joe absentmindedly kicked it aside.
     Unexpectedly, the path ended at a gargantuan tree whose trunk appeared to be at least eight feet around. It's massive branches were covered in huge green leaves and many different types of fruit. A few feet from the tree, a clear, narrow streak trickled across the road. We stepped over it as we approached the tree. Together we examined the trunk of the tree to find some clue as to why the path let us there. Suddenly, Joe called out, "Hey is this a key hole?" Tripping over the trees gigantic roots, I scurried over to see what he was pointing to. Sure enough, on the trunk of the tree there was a tiny key hole. Next to it "Path to Ruby Mountain" was carved into the trunk of the tree. "Maybe the key we found will fit in the hole," I said taking the key out of my pocket and easily fitting it into the hole. Suddenly the key turned in the hole all by itself and a door appeared on the side of the tree.
     Instantly the door vanished to reveal a long corridor carver completely out of wood. On either side of the corridor were beautifully carved pillars. Some of the pillars bordered small archways that led into empty chambers also made of wood. It didn't take long for us to reach the end of the massive corridor and when we did we came to two large pillars that bordered a wooden wall with lots of carvings on it.
     Then I noticed that one of the carvings was in the shape of a human hand. So I slowly listen my hand and placed it in the carving. When my hand touched the wood, the corridor began to shake and the sawdust on the floors rose up in a thick cloud blocking our view of the wall. As we stood there the wall crumbled to pieces before our eyes. When the dust settled it revealed a wonderful sight. A new chamber.
     The hole where the wall had broke gracefully became a colossal archway that made the chamber look more magnificent than before. Like the corridor, the chamber was carved out of wood. It looked like w gargantuan entrance hall and was full of gold and treasure. Unable to contain our excitement, we dashed into the extensive chamber and grabbed as much gold and treasure as we could carry and left the tree. Before we left we made sure to grab the key on the way out.
     Now because of the treasure, Joe and I have become very rich. We are married and are living in a five story mansion. We have a hot tub, a fifty two inch flat screen TV in almost every room in the house, a pool, and a pool table. We still talk about the day we found the treasure and we still have the key locked in our massive solid gold safe with what's left of the portion of the treasure that's not in the tree. We don't have to worry about running out of money because there is still lots of treasure left in the tree to last us a century. Though we haven't gone all the way to Ruby Mountain, we go back to the tree whenever we can. The last time we went to the tree we were able to get far enough into the chamber to realize there were about a million colossal chambers leading off of the main chamber that were twice as large and all of them were filled with twice as much treasure.
     Joe and I both agree that the day we found the treasure was indeed our best day ever.