The Mystery Letter

Chapter 1

"There. I found another one." Kevin exclaimed in delight.

A translucent triangle shaped, shinny arrow was sitting on an oak tree pointing towards the right. Kevin Walker, one of my three best friends, is the kindest person I've ever come across in my seventeen-year-old life. A tall boy with green eyes and black hair, he is the most innocent and most audacious of us all.

"Three reflectors in a row. Have you been on this trail before?" I asked him.

"No." he scoffed.

After a month, finally Michael Spencer, my other best friend found us a new geocaching site. Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt that starts from a specific GPS coordinate. A small trail reflector is placed at a strategic area which points in the direction of the next reflector. At the end of the trail a 'container' or a 'cache' is present. A cache contains a small logbook where the finder enters the date they found it and signs it with their code name. It is like a trade, if you take what is present inside the container, you have to put something back in it, like an exchange. I call it 'the treasure.'

"Three-nil. Three-nil." Michael repeated. "Concentrate Lucy. We are losing."

Michael, to make this game more interesting came up with the idea of dividing us four into two pairs. The team who finds more reflectors gets to keep the treasure. Today I was paired up with Kevin and Michael was with Lucy.

Where Kevin is the shy one, Michael is a flirt. He has flirted with every girl in our school including Lucy-the final member of our four-piece group- and I. His big blue eyes are a plus to his charming looks.

We started towards the right. I saw a bunch of sparrows that seemed to be enjoying their day. The sun was out and the wind was slightly blowing.

"Oh my God!" Lucy shouted.

"Ah!" Michael screamed and cupped his hands to his ears.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Are you two alright?" Kevin assured.

"She shouted in my ears." Michael told us. "Are you insane Lucy?"

"Sorry. I just found another reflector." Lucy replied sheepishly.

We all sighed in relief. Lucy Lockheart, my closest and dearest friend of all, is a fabulous person. A happy-go crazy girl with curly hair, I've known her since I started crawling. Since then she has always been a constant companion.

"Three-one. Three-one." Michael and Lucy both started to dance. Kevin and I just laughed at them.

It was almost evening and the sun was setting down. We had found six reflectors in total with a score of three each. Every geocaching trip has been worth it. It brings different adventures with new surprises every single time we go geocaching. It just gets better and better and all of them are special to me in some way or the other.

Something gleamed in my eyes breaking my thought. The light came from across the road. Since a road in between divided the forest I cautiously rushed to the other side.

And there I was standing in front of a reflector, which pointed directly towards the cache hidden behind a bush.

My friends caught up with me and saw where I was looking.

You found it Giselle. We won." Kevin sounded extremely happy.

He pulled me in a tight hug and I hugged him back. Michael and Lucy were a bit disappointed but at the same time they were happy for us and glad that another geocaching trip was successful.

"What are you waiting for?" Michael asked. "Go open it."

"Lady's first." Kevin said being a gentleman.

I expected something that might surprise me but I didn't expect to get a shock of a lifetime.

The cache this time was a simple green colored plastic box. I opened it and handed the logbook over to Kevin. All three of them circled around me.

I was taken aback when I saw my name on top of a perfectly wrapped gift in move, my favorite color. How could a person, who came before us, possibly know that we were coming here? Rather I was coming here? Did somebody do it on purpose? If yes then, who?

So many questions flooded my mind. How could somebody do that? How could somebody do that for me?

Wait. I forgot to introduce my self.

Hello! I am Giselle McLean. I am a seventeen years old leading a completely normal life. I am a short heighted girl with hazel eyes and mid-waist blonde hair. I love to read books and to travel around the world is my dream. I am not one of those pretty girls and I am not as kind as Kevin.

The question aroused in my mind once again ' Who could have done that for me?' I looked at my friends for some answers but they held a same expression like me, i.e. shock.

Lucy finally broke the silence "What are you waiting for G? Open it." Her voice was assuring and I got the courage to open the gift.

I was astounded to see a book of favorite novelist, Noah Jones. I couldn't get hand of the book myself as it got out of stock as soon as the sale started. I was overwhelmed. Holding it in my hands, a signed copy of it in my hands, I couldn't contain my joy and I started jumping.

"Snap out of it." Michael said shaking me back and forth.

I came back to my senses and Michael handed me a letter. It must have fallen while I was celebrating. I opened the letter and started to read it out loud so that my friends could hear it as well.