Drafts Of Her Heartbeat

The Treasure Hunt

It's been two nights since I have received the gifts from Him. To be truthful I miss him alot. Wierd, right? But not for me. When you are in love with your husband for three years, but you are forced to suppress those feelings for two years, and then he comes back apologizes and fights for you tooth and nail, you can't help but let those feelings bubble up again. The only difference? I am sure this time my heart won't be broken by him. The sincerity in his eyes and voice tells me it, assures me if the future.
The competition will end soon, but then the question will arise, what's next? How will things unfold. There are still some things that needs to be discussed between us. And then there is my team, who still doesn't know who my husband is? Let alone the fact that he is trying to win me back! That revelation will be like a bomb-blast. And I can certainly wait for the it. Then they say the sooner the better, but here I feel they later, the better.
Here I am in middle of the last round pondering over my personal life. No I need to get myself together and focus on my game plan. We are in a camp zone type area. All the five teams are here, sort of survival and treasure hunt. We all have limited resources and inorder to survive here, we need to keep finding our survival aids, at the same time we gotta keep up our chase to the final treasure, a set of eight medals for us. It's our first night here. We have a single tent, so girls are sleeping inside while the boys are out in the open.
"So here we go. Our food." Riddhi said passing me a pre-wrapped aluminium foil containing paratha we had made before we left.
"So yummy" Axel said.
"It's heaven" Siddhant added sarcastically.
"If I were in your place I would surely consider it one. Getting the paranthe in camp zone where you don't know you can complete the task in one day or you may have to stay as long as one week. Hence, better keep that sarcasm out of here Sid." I said in a stern voice. It is needed as a captain for me to keep them in their place, whether it's by politeness and friendship, or by using the captain card.
"Well you know we can opt and look out for other clues during night too, that way we may finish earlier than others." Rahul said.
"Yes we may, but remember rest is the key to energy. If we want to give it our all, we need to rest too. And moreover we won't be able to locate anything clearly in the night. So we make the best use of it by resting." Abhimanyu said.
"I guess the Aussies are continuing their trail right now also." Arjun added.
"Let's do what they want, and let us go how we were trained to. Remember number one rule of Vidyut sir? Hurry brings up situation that will make you worry." Riddhi said.
And saying that we ate in peace and then retired to our respective sleeping arrangement.
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"Hey look there, a batch code?" Axel said.
Immediately our IT team was at work. Piya scanned the code while Arjun processed in our tab. There was a pattern code encoded in it. Axel took out his pen and notebook from his rucksack and started decoding it.
"Sign of peace,
The best board to bleed,
Pictures keep changing,
Seeing off Aneas
Dido stood on her palace top.
If you can find it,
You will acheive your wish."
Today was our fourth day. We all were tired and hungry. Our packed food was now empty. We were deep inside the camp area, and maybe a bit slow comparing to the other team.
"Now what is this shit? You decided it right Ax?" Abhimanyu asked.
"You can never doubt me in decoding the codes. Vidyut sir kept me up nights breaking those damn codes." Axel added.
"Let me concentrate guys. I can do this. I know it. Its like it's here and still it isn't. Axel give me the notebook" I asked, grabbing it from him. Reading and re-reading the lines. It cannot be impossible, it's just too clever. After brainstorming for some time I realised the answer is, "White. The answer is White." I screamed.
"What? But how?" Rahul asked.
"Look see the lines and observe them. The first line says 'Sign of peace' what is the sign of peace? White clothe or a white object. Then second line says 'The best board to bleed' where can you find the clearest and darkest shade of blood? On a white base. Then the third line 'Pictures keep changing' where can the pictures keep changing? On a canvas. And canvas is" I was explaining
"White" Arjun finished for me.
"Then the fourth and fifth line, Aneas was the lover of Dido, and when he left her back in her kingdom Cartherage and left for his own kingdom, Dido bid a bye to him with a willow in her hand. And willow signifies fulfillment of a person's wishes."
"If you can find it,
You will acheive your wish." Ridhi read the final lines of the code.
"And our wish is?" I asked.
"To win the I.C. and that can be if we get the medals." Abhimanyu said.
"So we will have to find a willow tree or flower now?" Siddhant questioned.
"No. Willow is not to be found in this area. All the clues signify white so it has to be related to white." I said wondering what it can be.
"White flowers?" Piya offered.
"It can be, but no the clue won't be so simple" Rahul said, dismissing the ideas.
And then it struck me, "Axel pass me the map."
He gave me the map. Looking at it I found the area. "This is the place we need to go. White area symbolises barren land. This is the barren zone here. We need to get here to complete the trail." I said. Getting up, we started following the map. We reached the area by evening. And there it was, an artificial willow near a certain place. We knew we were in the right zone. Looking around and sneeking about we finally found our treasure.
Finally the I.C. got it's winner and we received our medals.