From: The Gift Giver

Chase Grayson pushed open the glass doors of Willows Brook Christian Home. He entered the current date, 12-24-16, into the passcode, and entered the building. Upon entering, he noticed the elaborate red, green, and silvery blue decorations. Holly hung from the front desk and festive-smelling candles were lit all over.

            As beautiful as it all was, none compared to Nurse Emily Davidson. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, still curly after the long shift she had just finished. “Chase,” Nurse Emily exclaimed when she looked up from the notes on her clipboard. He gleamed at Nurse Emily’s eager, wolf-like eyes and tried to remember why he was there.

            “Chase?” She asked.

            “Yeah?” He replied.

            “You awake? Did you hear what I said?” Nurse Emily asked as she waved her hand in front of his face.

            Trying to play it cool, he replied, “Duhhh, ‘course I did. Mrs. McArthur, right?”

            “Right,” Nurse Emily replied. She handed him the clipboard in her hands. “All of my other patients are asleep right now. Mrs. McArthur is the only one that might prove difficult.” She hesitated for a second. “Are you sure you’re okay with taking my shift?” she asked, “It is Christmas Eve night, after all. Surely you have plans tomorrow.”

            “Nah, girl, it’s cool,” Chase replied. That wasn’t quite true. His parents didn’t know he was working that night and they were expecting him to spend Christmas with them. A male nurse that Chase didn’t recognize butted his way in between them, rushing to help one of his patients down the hall.

            “Okay,” Nurse Emily replied, once they were alone again. “By the way,” she turned to the counter, “There’s a gift here for Mrs. McArthur. Well, it doesn’t say it’s for her, but it says it’s from the gift giver, and she’s the only one here who gets gifts addressed like that. I’m not sure who brought it in. I was about to give it to her when you walked in.”

            “Don’t worry, I can do that,” Chase replied.

            Nurse Emily smirked. “Just to warn you, when you give it to her, she’s going to want to tell you the story behind it.”

“I’m cool with that,” Chase replied.

“Okay, thanks,” she said quickly, and then paused. “And thanks again for finishing my shift. It means a lot to me, and I owe you one.” Nurse Emily started to walk away when she shouted back, “Hope you have a good shift! Merry Christmas!”

            Chase watched as Nurse Emily left through the glass doors, took out her car keys, and trudged through the snow to her car. He then turned his attention to the clipboard that contained Mrs. Tracy McArthur’s medical information. Apparently, she had attempted to sleep earlier, but remained restless. Since then, she had asked to be moved to her wheelchair and has been sitting in it, staring out the window for quite a while.

            Chase glanced at the small gift box labeled “To: You From: The Gift Giver.” He snatched it up and headed for her room. As he walked down the hallway he greeted several of his fellow nurses, most of whom he didn’t recognize considering that he was working an odd shift.

            Chase reached the door number, 174, and knocked lightly before entering. “Mrs. McArthur?” He asked.

            “Charlie?” She replied. Mrs. McArthur’s room was dim, as most of the rooms were. The room was slightly decorated for Christmas, but only a few things that could easily be taken down. Mrs. McArthur sat in her wheelchair facing the window. “Could you turn me around?” Mrs. McArthur asked.

            “Absolutely,” Chase replied. He quickly grabbed the handles to the wheelchair and maneuvered it so that Mrs. McArthur faced away from the window.

            “I was just watching the snow pile up outside,” She explained. “It’s quite beautiful.”

            “Yes, it is, Mrs. McArthur,” Chase replied. “I have something for you.”

            “Oh?”

            “A present,” Chase handed the box to her. “Says it’s from the Gift Giver.”

            A smile big enough to encapsulate all of Christmas spirit shone of Mrs. McArthur’s face. “My husband,” she exclaimed.

            Taken aback, Chase sadly reminded her, “Mrs. McArthur, your husband isn’t here anymore. He’s dead.”

            Mrs. McArthur nodded. “I’m aware of that. I may have a lot of problems, but my memory ain’t one of them. Surely I’ve told you the story of the Gift Giver before.”

            “No, Ma’am, you haven’t,” Chase replied.

            “No?”

            “No,” Chase continued, “This is the first time I’ve worked with you. I usually work in a neighboring nursing home, but I’m covering for a friend.”

            Mrs. McArthur grinned. “You must really like this girl to take her shift on Christmas Eve night.”

“How do you know I’m covering for a girl?” he asked.

“I can tell by the way you’re blushing, my dear,” Mrs. McArthur commented before changing the subject. “Well, how about I tell you the story about the Gift Giver. I’m sure it would help me through the night. Do you mind?”

            “Not at all,” Chase replied. “All my other patients are fast asleep.” He turned and took a seat on the bed and prepared to listen to an old lady’s story.

            “Well,” Mrs. McArthur began, “The Gift Giver was a tradition that my husband came up with when we wanted something fun for our kids on Christmas, but we didn’t want them to believe in Santa Claus. One night, our five-year-old Gracie asked me about the Gift Giver. I remember that night was Christmas Eve in 1978. Jeffrey, my husband, was tending the fireplace while I was sitting on the couch reading a Christmas novel.” Mrs. McArthur’s eyes drifted into the past as she told the story.

             The staircase creaked as the little brunette girl crept down the stairs. She paused when she saw her parents in the living room and attempted to scuttle back upstairs. The girl’s mother looked up from her reading. “Hold on there, little missy,” the shapely lady called out to her daughter. The distinguished gentlemen turned and smiled up at his angelic daughter. “What do you think you’re doing up this late at night?” the girl’s mother asked.

            Having been caught, the little child, Gracie, trudged down the shag carpet stairs. “I thought I would see what the Gift Giver brought.”

            Tracy shared a look with her husband before beckoning little Gracie over. “Come sit on my lap,” Tracy invited her.

            Gracie climbed up onto her mother’s lap. “Now remind me,” Tracy started, “Did I ever tell you why we have the Gift Giver while the rest of the world believes in Santa Claus?”

            Gracie shook her head and leaned into her mother. “I know Santa ain’t real.”

            “That’s right,” Tracy said. “How could one person make his way around the world all in one night? Why would he do it? But the Gift Giver, who says there’s only one? Any family could have a Gift Giver. It’s just what someone calls themselves when they want to give anonymously. Do you know what anonymous is?”

            Gracie shook her head. Tracy was about to reply when another voice piped up. “Anonymous means that they don’t want you to know who it’s from.” Ten-year-old Charlie, with his tousled, dirty-blond hair and ugly, stripped green pajamas made his way down the stairs to join them.

            The rest of his family turned to him as Charlie continued to tell about the Gift Giver. “The Gift Giver remains anonymous so that the receiver thanks God for the gift instead of the giver.” Charlie sat down on the couch next to his mother.

            Tracy picked up where her son had left off. “The very first Gift Giver was God. On Christmas, we celebrate Jesus who was that gift. Jesus, in turn, was a Gift Giver, too. The gift He gave to us was his life. And just like we don’t know who our Gift Giver is, the Jews didn’t know that Jesus was theirs. By giving anonymously, glory is given to God, and not the human Gift Giver. So, anyone could be called The Gift Giver, and our Gift Giver could be anyone.”

            “So, the Gift Giver for our family could be me,” Charlie told his little sister.

            “Or me,” Tracy piped in.

            “Or me,” Jeffrey said, still crouched next to the fireplace.

            Charlie continued, “It could be one of our neighbors, or church members, or teachers, or friends. It could be you.”

            Gracie giggled. “But I know it’s not me.”

            Charlie smiled back at her. “Well, then, that eliminates one person.”

            Gracie giggled again. And turned to look at the tree next to daddy. It was decorated with plain white lights, red ribbon, and all the ornaments that hung were made by Charlie and Gracie throughout the years. Underneath the tree, a few presents lay ready to be opened. On the coffee table, a glass of milk and three homemade chocolate chip cookies were set for the Gift Giver to enjoy when delivering the anonymous presents.

            “I think our children ought to be in bed,” Jeffrey suggested, “don’t you think, Honey?”

            Tracy nodded. “Okay, you heard the man; off to bed,” she picked Gracie up off her lap and placed her on the floor. Gracie grabbed her mother’s hand and the three of them walked upstairs.

            Charlie said goodnight to his mother for the second time that night, and Tracy replied goodnight before she closed his bedroom door. Still grasping her mother’s hand, Gracie was led back into her bedroom. She climbed up into bed, and Tracy tucked her little girl in. “Goodnight, Gracie,” Tracy whispered.

            “Goodnight, Mommy,” Gracie muttered before turning over in bed. Tracy silently walked out of the room and turned the light off before closing the door.

With a smile on her face, she rushed back downstairs where she found Jeffrey placing the last of the Gift Giver’s presents under the tree. “I think the Gift Giver is the best tradition you have ever come up with, my darling,” Tracy told her husband.

            Jeffrey looked at his wife and beamed from ear to ear before giving her a holiday kiss. “You,” Jeffrey stated, “are an excellent story teller.”

            “Just one of my many talents,” Tracy replied. Tracy took in a breath and looked down at the floor before asking, “How’s your head?” she asked.

            Jeffrey shook his head. “Still having headaches. They’re not horrible; just annoying.” Looking at his wife’s worried face, he smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing serious.”

            “It better not be.”

***

            Mrs. McArthur shook her head. “Jeffrey always was a stubborn man. Psychiatrists are like that.  Throughout the new year, he continued to have headaches, and they got worse. He often wouldn’t tell me, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that he was growing fatigued and was slowly losing his balance. It wasn’t until December 2^nd of 1979 that he finally let me take him to the hospital after he had thrown up and couldn’t talk properly for about a minute.”

            Chase, still sitting on the bed, listened intently. Miraculously, not one of his other patients had need of him. “He had brain cancer,” Chase stated.

            Tracy smiled, sadly. “Stage four. Nothing could be done.”

***

            Tracy sat on the couch in front of the tree that Jeffrey had helped to set up right before the spell that sent him to the hospital. The fireplace was cold and dark. There were no presents under the tree. Tracy sat by herself and stared blankly at the Christmas ornament that Charlie had made for school two years ago. It was a picture of his parents, Jeffrey and Tracy, framed with multicolored popsicle sticks.

            It was Christmas Eve again, but this time, the seemingly perfect family was fractured. The family was told by professionals that Jeffrey wouldn’t live to see the new year.

            “Dad was the Gift Giver.” Tracy was startled out of her trance by the voice of her son. Charlie stepped down the stairs. “Wasn’t he?” Tracy nodded her head. “I’ve known for the past several years now, but I wanted to keep it a mystery for Gracie,” Charlie admitted.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get you two anything for Christmas this year,” Tracy practically whispered.

            Charlie looked at the ground. “It’s okay. I understand. Gracie might not, though. She’s too young.”

            Tracy bit her lips and tried to keep tears back. “I don’t know what to do.”

            Charlie smiled. “It’s okay. You should get to bed.”

            Tracy let out a little laugh through her choked up throat. “Since when did you become the man of the house?”

            Charlie glance to the side. “When dad asked me too.”

            Those words hit Tracy like a train. Not knowing what else to do, Charlie took his mother’s arm and accompanied her to her room. As they walked upstairs, Tracy said, “There won’t be any Gift Giver this year.”

            Charlie hid a grin. “You never know.”

            Tracy curled up in under the covers of hers and Jeffrey’s bed. “Goodnight, Mom,” Charlie said.

            “Goodnight.”

***

            “What happened then?” Chase asked to show that he was listening.

            Mrs. McArthur grinned. “My children happened.”

***

            Tracy walked down the stairs around nine-thirty in the morning on Christmas Day. She rehearsed in her head what she was going to say to her little Gracie about there being no Gift Giver this year. She had an idea of how the day would play out. First, disappointment from Gracie. Then they would pile into the car and drive to the hospital to spend what time they had left with their dad.

            Tracy turned to face her children in the living room when she received quite the pleasant shock. Charlie and Gracie looked up at their mother with gleaming eyes. The fireplace was roaring and several presents were placed under the tree.

            “Merry Christmas, Mom,” Charlie said.

            “Merry Christmas, Mommy,” Gracie exclaimed. Tracy clasped her hands over her mouth as tears of joy streamed down her face.

            “Breakfast is in the kitchen,” Charlie said, “When you’re ready.”

            Tracy realized that Charlie must had stayed awake all night to prepare for this special Christmas. For breakfast, he had made eggs, bacon, toast, and coffee. Gracie drank orange juice and kept looking back at the presents. Surely, she was anxious to open them, so Tracy quickly finished her breakfast so that they could start opening presents.

            The three of them curled up on the couch and Charlie grabbed the Bible. He read through the Christmas story with much expression to make it interesting for Gracie. He led them in prayer and thanked God for what He had given them. Upon closing, Gracie launched herself at the gifts.

            She grabbed a medium sized, neatly wrapped present and handed it to her mother. Tracy read the tag:

To: Mom

From: The Gift Giver

            Tracy’s heart was moved. Upon seeing this, Charlie told her, “They’re all addressed the same way.”

            “You did say that there are more than one Gift Giver,” Gracie said.

            Tracy smiled at her child. “Yes, I believe I did say that.”

            They opened their presents, and at long last, the only ones left under the tree where two presents addressed to Daddy from The Gift Giver. The family took the gifts and piled into the car to drive to the hospital.

***

            “Jeffrey died the day after Christmas,” Mrs. McArthur finished. “From then on, my children refused to write their names on any gift to me. It was always from the Gift Giver. It always reminded me to thank God for my children.”

            Chase smiled. “That’s a great story,” he paused and looked at the present still in Mrs. McArthur’s hands. “So, that present is from one of your children? Gracie or Charlie?”

            Mrs. McArthur shrugged. “Or my grandchildren. Honestly, though, it could be from anyone. I’ve shared that story with so many people, and they’ve all thought it was an excellent idea. The Gift Giver is my husband’s legacy, and that, I will carry on till the day I die.”

            Chase’s pager went off. It had been silent for so long, it surprised him. Mrs. McArthur noticed, and said, “Best be going, then, I suppose?” Chase nodded. “Before you go, could you help me into bed real quickly, dear?” she asked.

            As Chase moved Mrs. McArthur into bed, she said, “Thank you for listening to an old lady’s tale.” In turn, he thanked her for the story, and when to leave. “And Merry Christmas, Sir,” she called out.

            “Merry Christmas,” Chase replied. He carefully closed room 174 behind him before rushing to attend another, restless patient. Before he could even reach the door of one needy patient, his pager went off once again. With a sigh, he realized that this was no longer going to be a silent Christmas Eve night.

            Tired, and run down, Chase turned his house key at six o’clock on Christmas morning. He carefully crept up the stairs so as not to wake his parents. Upon seeing his bed, he collapsed on it and instantly fell asleep.

            Christmas pasted quickly for Chase. The presents were opened, food was eaten, and talk was exchanged. He continued to think about Mrs. McArthur’s story, and wondered how she was doing. As the Grayson family and in-laws where eating Christmas dinner, they heard the doorbell chime. Mr. Grayson wiped his mouth on a napkin and got up to answer the door.

            Everyone at the table listened to hear what the visitor wanted. “Yes, I see,” they heard Mr. Grayson say. He walked back to the table where his family looked up at him. He looked at Chase. “It’s Miss Davidson, Chase. She wants to talk to you.”

            Startled that Nurse Emily would come all this way, he jumped up and walked briskly to the door. “What’s up, girl?” He greeted her, “Want to come in?”

            Nurse Emily stood in doorway, bundled up in a warm, gray coat with fur lining the hood. Her brilliant blonde hair had bits of snowflakes in it. She was holding a little red package.

            Nurse Emily shook her head. “I’m not staying. My folks are expecting me at home.” She looked at the ground. “Mrs. McArthur died a few hours ago.”

            Chase was stunned. She seemed in such good health. Nurse Emily continued. “She wanted to let you know that she appreciated that you listened to her. She told me to give you this. She insisted that I give it to you today as her last wishes.”

            Nurse Emily awkwardly handed Chase the gift. He realized that it was the same box that Mrs. McArthur had received. He read the tag once again: To: You From: The Gift Giver.

Unsure what to think, he carefully pulled the ribbon loose and opened the little box.

The End

    ***

  Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Larry Pfahler.

An Issue of Faith: Should Creation be Defended with Evidence?

Please, keep in mind that I wrote this for a community college, and therefore to get a better grade I skewed my normal writing style. Overall, though, it essentially says what I want it to. Enjoy reading!

Have you ever wondered about the origin of the universe and everything in it? How did the solar system form the way it did in order to make Earth habitable? Then, though habitable, how did life come into existence on Earth? The oldest theory or belief, of course, is that God created everything all as it is within a six-day period. This theory was and is stated in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. However, within the last few decades, scientists have attempted to discover another possibility through gathering and analyzing evidence. A new theory that explained our existence was developed. It has been named Evolution because it proposes that human beings evolved through billions of years eventually into the beings we are now. This new theory was accepted and is now taught in schools. Yet, the teachings in Genesis did not die out the way belief in Roman and Greek gods did. The president of Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham, asked “The Science Guy,” Bill Nye in 2014 to debate with him concerning the topic of the creation or evolution of humans. However, Ken Ham should have been more careful during the debate because the Bible does not ask to be defended with evidence, but is to be accepted by faith.

            To begin with, what is evidence and theory in respect to science? Bill Nye, within the debate, used scientific evidence within his argument. Scientific evidence is something in the existing world that humans can sense. It must be something that humans can see, taste, touch tangibly, smell, or hear. Therefore, emotions or psychological feelings – as in having a bad or good feeling about something – cannot be used as scientific evidence.

            Such evidence is greatly used to promote a theory such as a theory concerning the origin of the universe. A theory is a hypothesis supported by scientific evidence. Many theories can be proved through direct observation. An example would be the theory that the earth is a sphere or ovoid rather than flat. This became a fact once it was proved through space travel and satellite photos. However, some theories can’t be or haven’t yet been proved. In addition to Creationism or Evolution, an example of such a theory would be the Tectonic Plate Theory. Scientists have observed the effect that the movement of tectonic plates have such as volcanoes and earthquakes. They have also gathered evidence that tectonic plates used to be different locations in years past such as similar fossils on different continents. Even so, while widely accepted in science and published in scientific journals and textbooks, it is still only a theory because it has not been directly observed. Scientists could discover today a new piece of evidence that destroys the theory of tectonic plates.

Therefore, even if a theory is widely accepted, we must keep in mind that it is indeed still a theory. Faith is when a theory is accepted as fact and is trusted to be true. Since traveling back in time is currently impossible, any personal stance about the origin of the universe is therefore faith no matter how much scientific evidence is gathered or debated.

With this in mind, it can be concluded that Ken Ham initially asked Bill Nye to debate a topic of faith. Evolution is the first scientific theory to challenge another theory attempting to use the same evidence or challenging the validation of said evidence. It is clear that the result of this debate proved nothing. Those biased towards Evolution say that Bill Nye clearly won. Patterson, an author for the Reports of the National Center for Science Education writes, “To the scientifically literate, Nye clearly won the debate…” Yet, those bias towards Creationism, my own Christian friends and family, say that Ken Ham clearly won. Therefore, what was the point of this debate?

This question is key because each person had a different motive for holding this debate. Therefore, each side “won” in different ways. Bill Nye came into the debate as a lawyer would enter a courtroom; presenting evidence and speaking convincingly to a jury. The website for Answers in Genesis posted an article that said, “Mr. Nye used the ‘skeptical method’ by the way, which is to throw out numerous arguments, true or false, and hope to deceive people into thinking he won… Mr. Nye admitted to using this method after the debate.” (Hodge). As such, Nye did win since the swaying of a person’s emotional opinion is how American society deems winners in arguments. However, this same article also explains Ham’s motivation for the debate. Answers in Genesis says, “But Mr. Ham didn’t lose the debate (and the gospel was spread to millions of people)” (Hodge). In respect to this, Mark 15:16 states, “He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’” The job that Jesus gave to those that follow Him is to tell, not convince. Therefore, each person won within their own motivation for participating in the debate.

So, creation should not be defended with evidence, yet Ken Ham, though his motive may have been to tell of the gospel, essentially ended up doing so because of Bill Nye’s debating tactics. Through evidence, a scientific hypothesis is either proved wrong or proved viable, not factual. Another hypothesis using the same evidence can also be viable, yet both cannot be true. Without evidence proving one wrong, the other cannot be proved solely viable. As far as evidence goes, both creationists and evolutionists seem to think they can defend their faith with the evidence provided.

This issue of creationists turning to evidence in defense of their faith is addressed in Reports for the National Center for Science Education. Patterson writes, “However, I think the Nye–Ham debate will unleash unprecedented divisiveness within the creationist movement. I expect that the ‘traditional’ creation-science ministries… will condemn Ham’s candor as a harmful blunder… because their less candid polemical debate strategy which tried to obscure the biblical roots of their assertions and pretend to have a scientific basis had been so successful for so long.” Essentially, Ham didn’t argue evidence as much as he did faith. He honestly stated within the debate which parts of his argument were evidence based and which were biblically based. According to Patterson, this was to the dismay of previous creationist movements trying to use scientific evidence over the faith required to believe in the Bible.

In this respect, nowhere is it stated in the Bible that God asks His followers to defend the Bible and its teachings. In fact, Hebrews 11:3 states, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” The Bible goes as far as to say that creation can’t be proved or disproved with evidence. Therefore, if we chose to believe creation, we must understand it by faith. John 20:29 states, “Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” When it comes to creation and the gospel, Jesus blesses those who don’t need evidence to have faith.

So, if creation isn’t to be defended with evidence, is Answers in Genesis before God a morally wrong company? Absolutely not. As stated before, any currently valid theory cannot be disproved with current evidence, and in turn any faith concerning that theory. The motive of Answers in Genesis, if pure before God, is to offer the Bible’s teachings to an evidence-reliant world as a still valid theory. Historical science can easily be colored since it is a branch of science that can only be theorized and a topic that one must have faith.

Outside of historical science, all other sciences come to similar conclusions despite the scientist’s belief about the origin of the universe. An Evolutionist will believe that the law of gravity applies same as a Creationist. The difference is in the motive for scientific discovery. An Evolutionist will discover a new species of fish for the glory of having been the one to discover it. A Creationist will discover a new species of fish to find out more about God’s creation.

In essence, creation shouldn’t be defended with evidence because God through His Word doesn’t ask for it to be. Both the Evolution Theory and the Creation Theory require faith because they reference the same evidence. However, Creationists should not use evidence as a defense, but rather as complimentary to their faith. As far as the debate, Ken Ham held this viewpoint fairly good despite Bill Nye pulling the debate towards scientific evidence. Ham held himself very well especially considering the fact that he is not certified as a scientist, but Bill Nye is. Therefore, when it comes to proving Christianity as truth, the faith and life of a Gospel-believing person is a better means of proof than scientific evidence.

Works Cited

Hodge, Bodie. "Feedback: Did Ken Ham Lose the Debate?" Answers in Genesis. Answers in       Genesis, 30 Jan. 2015. Web. 04 Aug. 2016.

Luskin, Casey. "The Ken Ham - Bill Nye Debate: A Missed Opportunity." Christian Research     Institute, 2014. Web. 4 Aug. 2016.

Patterson, John W. "A Reflection on the Bill Nye - Ken Ham Debate." Reports of the National     Center for Science Education. National Center for Science Education, Mar.-Apr. 2014.          Web. 4 Aug. 2016.

An Old Fictional Writing of Mine

Saved from Under the Ground

By: Rachel Yorty

1. Lehava Archeology High School

Gabriella was only thirteen when it started. Her family was moving to some place in Israel from her former home in America. It was nearly midnight and the van was still bumping along the paved road toward an archeology sight that they were going to.

Gabriella loved that her parents worked as being ones that rediscovered history from things that past people had left behind. Gabriella didn’t care about following in her parents’ work, but one day she happened to trip over a dinosaur bone that happened to be the one bone missing from a now complete skeleton.

This had not been long ago, in fact. It had only been about four months earlier. Her parents’ boss was so proud that they were given a promotion to go to Israel and rediscover stuff left from Bible times. As for Gabriella who had been the one to find the bone, was going to Lehava Archeology High School free of tuition charge. Gabriella was not thrilled.

Gabriella didn’t want to become an Archeologist. It was fine for her parents, but Gabriella wanted to become a simple American nurse.

Of course, this was not possible now because (1) Gabriella was fixed into being an Archeologist once she graduated from that School (or at least that’s what she would most likely get a job in), and (2) she wasn’t in America anymore, and she dearly missed it. She also missed her American friends that would speak English to her instead of the friends that she would have at her new school. Since she was in Israel, she would be forced to speak Hebrew morning and night; all day, everyday. This wasn’t a problem, though. Gabriella knew Hebrew. She had since she was five. It was the language taught to her as soon as she had finished learning English.

Gabriella started to doze off into sleep. She concentrated on trying to keep her eyes open, but it was no use. It was past midnight, and she had had a tiring day of traveling on a plane and then four hours in the van. If she could only sleep for an hour or so…

Gabriella was in a corridor. It was lit with seven flaming torches on each side that flickered against the dirt floor. Gabriella was wearing a long flowing dress that got dirt on it as she walked down the corridor. She didn’t seem to care how dirty the white dress got. The dirtier, the better, it seemed.

Gabriella continued to walk. Walk? No; she was now running, though she didn’t realize how she had gone from walking to running.

She was at the end of the dirt corridor. She looked around. There was no light in the room that she now stood. She realized that she must be underground. The lit torches in the corridor continued to flicker, but it seemed to provide her no light in the room.

Scared, Gabriella held her hand in front of her face, but it was so dark that she couldn’t see it. She quickly brought her hand down and looked around. Breathing heavily, Gabriella yelled, “Hello? Is anyone there?” No answer.

Gabriella started to run back to the corridor, but instead gave a yell of surprise as the corridor caved in. She was trapped in the room.

Gabriella whipped her dress around and pressed her body back against the wall that had caved in. She breathed heavily and slowly slouched down against the dirt, making her dress dirtier.

Gabriella started to cry, but looked up to see that there was some light ahead of her. There was also a man. Gabriella started to stifle her crying, and gave a choke of relief laughter.

“Who are you?” Gabriella asked the man. He had tidy brown hair, and wore a red robe. It was very clear that the light was coming from the man.

“Wake up,” The man replied.

“What?” Gabriella asked, confused.

“Wake up, Gabriella. We’re here,” the man said once again.

Gabriella forced her eyes open. She was laying her head against the window of the van. Her dad was on the other side with the door open. His short blonde hair was on the peak of turning gray. His blue eyes were looking weary.

Gabriella’s mother was behind him. Her hair was a curly brown with bright green eyes. Gabriella always loved the bright colored shirts she would wear to express how she’s feeling; today’s colored shirt was white (which Gabriella knew to be her ‘I’m tired’ shirt).

“We’re here. You need to get out and help unpack,” Her dad said.

Reluctantly, she stood up and walked out the open van door. Gabriella now realized that it was around eight o’clock in the morning.

Without taking a big look around the archeology sight, she sleepily took her pillow and two suitcases of clothes and small possessions of hers.

She walked up to the two buildings that seemed to be the only things that Gabriella had really noticed. One was the school building of Lehava Archeology High School and the other building doubled as apartments for adult Archeologists and dormitories for students. The school was on the grounds of an actual archeologist sight. Meaning that most of the students (if not all) had parents that were working on there at that sight.

Gabriella had been told that there would most likely not be many students there because it was a private school specifically for the archeologists’ children that worked on that sight. The building that served as the school was more like a tent than anything because every year the school would pack everything up into a moving van and move to a new archeologist sight to teach children there at that sight.

Gabriella pulled and carried her things from the van to the front desk that was stationed right outside the tented school building.

Sitting behind that desk was a woman that looked like she was in her late twenties or early thirties. Long, blonde hair flowed down to her waist and blown beautifully in the light morning breeze. The woman wore a smile and had her hands folded on the desk as she waited for them to come.

“Good morning!” The lady called as they reached the desk. “Was there any trouble getting here? We were expecting all arrivals at seven o’clock this morning. The staff was getting worried that you wouldn’t show up.”

Gabriella’s dad smiled weakly back at the lady. He placed down all the luggage that he had on the ground and reached out for a paper that the lady was handing him. As he wrote, he said, “No, there wasn’t any trouble. We just underestimated the time it would take to get here, that’s all.”

Gabriella’s dad put the pen back down and smiled again at the lady. “My name is Ms. Friar,” The lady started. Gabriella was hardly aware that Ms. Friar was talking to her. “This year, we only have twenty-one students. Normally we have at least thirty, but this number of students is fine, too.

“Gabriella, your dormitory is number 12. You will be sharing it with Olivia Corner. As for Mr. and Mrs. Kimberly, your apartment is room 11,” Mr. Friar smiled at Gabriella’s parents as if asking them to leave. When they didn’t, Ms. Friar plowed on.

“Now, this school has four teachers. Mr. Cannon teaches Science,” – Ms. Friar started to count the teachers off on her fingers – “Mrs. Cannon teaches Math, I, Ms. Friar, teach History/Archeology, and Miss Mukai teaches everything else, such as Hebrew, English, Art, Music, and Composition.

“So,” Ms. Friar pointed to the firm building and said, “You can bring all your stuff up to the apartment or dormitory. Term starts in one week. I suggest that you get some sleep. You all look exhausted.” Gabriella couldn’t help but hear a little laugh in her voice as she said it, though.

Gabriella dragged her two suitcases and pillow up to the building. It wasn’t very pretty inside, but that didn’t matter. The conditions were at least livable for a whole year.

There were no escalators, but instead many stairs, and the last thing Gabriella wanted to do was climb stairs. But she managed to climb two sets of stairs and then there was a fork in the staircases.

Gabriella looked at the signs on the walls. Over the left staircase was the word, “Dormitories.” Over the right one was the word, “Apartments.”

Gabriella looked at her parents. Now was the time that they split up. “Well,” Gabriella said, “I’ll visit the Archeologist sight tomorrow while you two are working.”

 “Yeah,” Her mom said, brightly, “Maybe you can find something to give us an even bigger promotion. If we’re lucky, something that proves what we’re out to prove.”

Gabriella was so tired that she didn’t really know what her mom had said and she had a feeling that her mom didn’t either. She began to climb the steps toward the dormitories.

Gabriella was now standing in a hall lit with round light bulbs. In between these wall lights were doors. On the doors were numbers in order. #1… #2…#3…Gabriella counted. She continued until she reached #12.

Gabriella opened the door and found that the room already had luggage in it. A window separated two beds; one that was occupied by who must have been Olivia Corner.

Gabriella carefully placed her luggage down on the ground so as not to wake Olivia. She then took her pillow and placed it on the unoccupied bed.

The sheets on the bed that she had set her pillow on was nice and tidy. Gabriella was thankful that the school provided the sheets because she had forgotten to pack some.

Gabriella tore the sheets away so that she could get under them. She then laid her head on her pillow and fell asleep.

Gabriella was back in the underground room. She was wearing the white dress and her back was against the dirt wall that now trapped her.

“Who are you?” Gabriella asked the man that wore the red robes, but shown white light. The man standing in front of her would not answer. “Who are you?” Gabriella shouted.

The man started to walk toward her. Gabriella flattened herself more against the pile of dirt getting it even dirtier. “Just call me Gabriel,” He said.

“I want your real name. Who are you?” Gabriella was starting to get annoyed.

“Who are you?” Gabriella continued to ask.

“I’m Olivia Corner; now wake up!” The man yelled.

Gabriella snapped her eyes open. She turned over in her bed and saw Olivia standing over her. “Why were you asking who I was?” Olivia asked, sounding a bit worried, “The lady at the front desk should have told you.”

Gabriella sat up and looked at her. “Sorry; bad dream.” Gabriella ran her fingers through her hair.

“Bad dream?” Olivia sounded excited, “I love hearing dreams! Could you tell me?”

Gabriella told her all about the lit corridor and the cave in. She also told her of the white dress that she liked to get dirty for some reason. She then explained that she was asking the man who he was, and that’s why she was saying that.

Gabriella waited for Olivia’s response. Olivia had a big smile on her face and said, “That sounds like a cool, and mysterious dream. I wish I had dreams. Well, I’m sure I do, I just can’t ever remember them.”

There was then some awkward silence before Olivia got off the bed and said, “You’d better get dressed. It’s eleven thirty-seven already. Lunch will be ready in eight minutes. I can’t wait to meet the other students. It’s always different each year. Of course, except Nick Cannon. He’s always here on account of his parents. So, get up! What are you waiting for?”

Gabriella got up and finally got a good look at Olivia. She had really short brown hair and a comical face. Her face shape seemed almost a perfect round and ears like an elf’s. She wore blue jeans and a brown T-shirt that read, Just digging up the facts!

Gabriella managed to pull on some Bermudas and a pink, plain T-shirt. She put some socks and shoes on while Olivia waited for her, which Gabriella wish she hadn’t.

After that, the two of them walked down the many staircases to the cafeteria. The room was filled with people and the sound of chatter. It smelled of pasta.

“Mmm…” Olivia inhaled deeply. “It smells good, doesn’t it? The school doesn’t have its own cooks, so they use the ones that originally just cook for the archeologists. Last year, the cooks were awful. I would hope that they’re better this year…”

But Gabriella was hardly listening to Olivia. She could instantly pick out among the many adults who the students were. They were at there own separate table on the left. There were indeed nineteen students sitting there as she had counted many times while Olivia rambled on.

“So,” Olivia stopped rambling, “Shall we go get some food?” Gabriella and Olivia walked over to the food line.

It was indeed spaghetti as Gabriella had guessed. They brought their plates over to the table of students.

“Hi there,” called a girl that looked of age thirteen. She had long, straight, black hair. She had the kind of look that made you know that she would want to get you in trouble for something. “My name’s Beth Grover. This is only my first year here, you?”

Gabriella swallowed a bite of spaghetti and replied by saying, “This is my first year, too.”

Olivia then said, “This is my third year at this school, but this is the first year that I’m attending it.”

Gabriella and Beth stared at her. “What?” Olivia replied to the stares. “I’m fostered by Miss Mukai. Is there a problem with that?” Olivia was not using her usual rambling tone of voice, but sounded like she really was offended.

“Sorry,” Gabriella said, “We didn’t know.”

“Oh, no!” Olivia exclaimed, “I’m the one who should be sorry. I can fly off the handle sometimes.”

There was a silence that followed that before Gabriella heard a semi-deep voice say, “You must be Gabriella?” – Gabriella turned around to see a very tan boy with black hair and wore a polo, black pants, and sunglasses on even though they were inside – “The one that found that missing dinosaur bone?” He put in.

“Oh, yeah, that was me,” Gabriella gave a small nervous laugh because now everyone at that table was staring at her. “I really just stumbled upon it. Literally.” Gabriella mumbled that last word.

“Modest, I like that,” He said, smiling at her. “My name’s Nick Cannon; fifteen years of age.” Nick offered his hand to her, but being nervous, Gabriella didn’t take it.

Nick withdrew his hand and said, “So, this is your first year here, correct?”

Gabriella continued to be nervous as everyone had stopped talking and was listening to the conversation. “Y-y-yes,” Gabriella muttered.

Some girls listening giggled. “Cool,” Nick said, and continued eating.

A cook leaned close to a megaphone and yelled, “Seconds!” As three girls got up from the table to get second helpings, they introduced their names to Gabriella.

There was “McKenzie Sutton” who had brown hair pulled back in a pony-tail and a chubby little nose, “Lilly Higgins” who had red hair pulled back in a very tight bun and looked sickly pale, and “Leona Jordan” that was Asian and had pitch black hair that went a little past her shoulders.

“See the kind of nutters that come to this school sometimes?” Olivia had leaned over to Gabriella and whispered.

“What do you mean?” Gabriella asked, thinking that none of the three girls that had introduced themselves seemed at all strange.

“You’ll find out soon enough. I’ve heard that Lilly Higgins thinks that she’s a teacher – that’s what I’ve heard at least,” Olivia added quickly at the looks on Beth and Gabriella’s faces.

“Well, I’m not going to sit hear and listen to you two gossip. Good day.” And with that, Beth got up and walked out of the cafeteria without even taking her tray.

Olivia and Gabriella stared at each other, shocked by this behavior. “Glad I’m not sharing a dormitory with her,” Gabriella whispered to Olivia. Olivia nodded.

2.    Bows on the Loose

That afternoon was quite boring. Olivia and Gabriella sat in their dormitory; Olivia was reading a magazine while Gabriella read through her Old Testament Bible.

Olivia put her magazine down. “Why are you reading that?” she asked.

Gabriella looked up. “What do mean?”

“That!” Olivia pointed to the Bible, “Why do you read it?”

Gabriella looked at the cover. “Oh,” she started, “Well, because it would be good to brush up on the history of what we’re trying to find. Since we are looking for stuff from Bible times, why not read about it?”

Olivia stared at Gabriella. “Well, not really. I’ve heard that there’s supposed to be catacombs in this area. That’s what we’re really trying to find if you ask me. So, you would be better off with the New Testament Bible. That’s around the date of stuff that we’ll be finding in this place.” Olivia propped her magazine up over her head again.

Gabriella tried to read again, but the thought that it wouldn’t help her in Archeology class made it less interesting. Gabriella set it aside.

The door banged open and Gabriella instinctively looked up. Standing in the doorway was a boy that looked like he should be in fourth grade, but obviously wasn’t. He had dirty blonde hair with a chubby little face and looked like a dare-devil.

Olivia gave a little scream, and Gabriella was puzzled by it. Olivia yelled at the boy, “These are the girl dormitories! The ones that are for boys are on your left staircase. What if you walked in on one of us naked? Out!”

The boy didn’t move, but looked annoyed with Olivia. “Have either of you seen my pet rattle snake? Bows got out of her cage again,” he said lazily.

Olivia and Gabriella’s eyes popped out. Gabriella spoke first.

“What do you mean, ‘again’?”

“A rattle snake?”

“Named Bows?”

“Why would you have a poisonous snake?”

“The school shouldn’t have let you!”

The boy looked from one stunned face to the other as they talked. Finally, the boy said, “I’ll just go ask someone else. Keep you’re eyes open for her. If you find her, just call for me.”

“And your name is . . . ?” Gabriella asked, because Olivia was still too stunned to speak.

“Jacob Lucki; and you must be Gabriella. Nick told me about you,” Jacob smiled, and turned before he could see Gabriella blush.

On that Tuesday morning, Olivia and Gabriella set out for the Archeology sight accompanied by Gabriella’s parents. They each had shovels and gloves.

As they walked out onto the archeology sight, the sun beat down on Gabriella more than ever. The four of them started to dig.

An hour later, they hadn’t hit anything except the end of their water bottles. “It’s so hot!” Olivia complained, letting her head drop back so that her face was facing the sky. Gabriella whacked her on the back of the head so that Olivia’s head was upright again.

“You’re free to go,” Gabriella said. Olivia looked strangely at her. Gabriella started to dig. “Say hi to Bows for me if you go, okay?”

At these words, Olivia started to dig faster and harder than Gabriella. Gabriella smirked.

Gabriella continued to dig for another two hours without finding anything. During that time, Gabriella was thinking. Why was she out here digging when she didn’t want to become an Archeologist, and school hadn’t even started? Because I don’t want to be inside with Bows, a voice inside her head answered; where is Bows? How should I know? What did her shovel just hit?

It took a while for Gabriella to register what she had just thought. Gabriella was about to plunge her shovel back in the ground, but thought best of it. What if it was breakable?

Instead, Gabriella got down on all fours and started to dig with her hands. Sure enough, her fingers brushed over something that wasn’t dirt.

Gabriella got excited. She looked around for her parents and spotted them over next to the water tent getting a drink. “Mom! Dad!” She yelled. Not only did her parents look, but also everyone on the archeology sight looked over at her. Gabriella didn’t care. “I found something!”

Her parents came running over to her, and Olivia who stood beside her beamed at her. “I told you that you would find something!” She cheered.

Her dad knelt at the place where Gabriella had been digging and her mom was standing over him with her hand on his back. Gabriella’s mom’s smile was comfortably warm and pleasant. The sun that beat down on them suddenly felt to Gabriella like going into a fireplace room after shoveling snow.

“Good job, Gabs!” Her dad smiled up at her. “How about you take Olivia with you and go up to the building? The adults will finish uncovering this. We’ll tell you tomorrow what it is.”

Gabriella, pleased with herself, walked away with Olivia at her side. She didn’t even think that there might be a damper on this terrific evening.

Gabriella opened the door to let Olivia through. The air-conditioned building seemed to wash over them giving Gabriella deep relieve that they had some electricity.

“I call shower first!” Olivia yelled and ran up the stairs to the dormitory.

Gabriella broke away from her thoughts and ran up the stairs after her yelling, “Oh, no you don’t!” The two of them laughed the whole way to the dormitory.

They calmed down when they reached the top of the stairs. Still giggling, they walked together to the dormitory. “But seriously,” Olivia started as she opened the dormitory door, “I get the shower first.”

While Olivia – who happened to be singing, Doodle all the Day, except that her lyrics were, digging all the day – took a shower, Gabriella thought that she would take a small nap. It wasn’t very comfortable, though, because she was all sweaty and she stuck to the sheets.

Either way, she managed to get to sleep for the twenty minutes that Olivia was in the shower.

Gabriella was back in the room. The man was standing right in front of her. Not knowing what to do, she started to dig with her nails against the dirt that had caved. The man just stood there watching her. He didn’t try to stop her, nor did he help her. Gabriel simply watched.

Realizing that Gabriel wasn’t going to stop her, she turned her back on the man and started to dig furiously with her bare hands. The man continued to watch. Gabriella clawed at the dirt. Though dirt fell on the floor of the room, she didn’t seem to be making even a dent in the mass of dirt.

Finally giving up, she retreated to crying on the floor. “It’s no use!” She sobbed. “No use at all! We’re trapped! We’re going to die in here!”

Gabriel screamed, but it sounded like a girlish scream. “I know, right?” Gabriella said, though she hadn’t expected this reaction to what she had said before.

Gabriel screamed again and said, “Gabriella! Help!” and gave another screech.

Gabriella opened her eyes. She realized now that it was Olivia that was screaming from the shower. “Gabriella! Here! Quick!”

Gabriella sprang out of bed and ran into the bathroom. She saw Olivia wrapped in a purple towel. She had shampoo in her hair, but shampoo wasn’t the only thing there.

‘P-p-please tell me that I haven’t found Bows,” Olivia pleaded. Gabriella stared at the rattlesnake that had wrapped some of itself around Olivia’s neck so that it wouldn’t fall off. The rattle was right in front of Olivia’s face, and the head poked over Olivia’s head. Bow’s forked tongue stuck out of its mouth and hissed at Gabriella.

“Don’t… move,” Gabriella said just above a whisper. Gabriella started to back away. Olivia gave a nervous whimper and turned her eyes up towards the snake’s head. Bows gave a loud hiss, and Olivia gave a muffled scream. “I’m going for help. In the mean time, act like a statue and don’t talk!”

Gabriella continued to walk backwards with caution. Not until she was half way across the dormitory did she break out into a run. Gabriella knew that the slower she took, the more time the snake had to decide whether to strike.

Gabriella’s bare feet pounded against the hard floor. She burst through the front door and into the dirt archeology sight. ‘JACOB LUCKI!” Gabriella screamed with all her might as she dodged holes in the ground and kicked up dust as she came towards the water tent. Jacob was there along side Ms. Friar. Everyone looked at her.

“Jacob I-don’t-know-your-middle-name Lucki!” Gabriella stormed. There were a few giggles from those that were watching.

“Yes?” Jacob asked.

“Your Bows is about to bite Olivia if you don’t take care of that stupid snake!” Gabriella stormed.

“Don’t worry,” Jacob smiled, “Bows won’t bite anyone or anything unless I give her the signal that she can. I’ve trained her by using her dinner mice.”

Gabriella’s eyes flamed dangerously. “Jacob Lucki! Olivia could be dead by now! Come on!”

Jacob and Gabriella ran back towards the building and up the stairs. The whole way there, Gabriella told herself, She is alive. She is alive. Though, she wasn’t too convinced of herself.

Gabriella and Jacob opened the door to the dormitory carefully so as not to alarm Bows into attacking. Gabriella listened for Olivia to say something, but she didn’t. Gabriella’s heart seemed to plummet.

The two of them reached the bathroom and Olivia did scream. “This time I am pretty much naked!” she screamed and pulled the towel up a bit.

“Olivia, don’t move. Now is not the time to be modest,” Jacob said. He pointed with his right hand to Bows. Gabriella and Olivia watched without daring to breathe. Bows watched him with hardly a hiss.

Jacob swung his pointing hand away from the snake and pointed towards Gabriella. Gabriella’s heart leapt out of her chest. Was Jacob telling the snake to bite her?

Bows looked evilly at Gabriella. Her eyes were wide with fear as the snake slithered down from Olivia – who gave another whimper – and started to slither towards Gabriella who started to back away.

Bows started to gain speed and opened her mouth to strike. Gabriella screamed; Olivia yelled, “No!” and Jacob clunked a cage right down in front of Bows who slithered into it.

Jacob slammed the cage door shut and lifted it off the ground. He stared admiringly at it as Bows continued to strike at nothing.

Gabriella’s heart slowed down. It had been beating so fast before. “What was that for?” Gabriella yelled at Jacob after the shock had worn off.

“Well,” Jacob smiled evilly at her, “One, I don’t have a signal for getting Bows off of people; and two, I don’t like you!”

“Why?” Gabriella asked.

Jacob smiled even more. “It’s because you shout too much. You really need to calm down sometimes.”

Jacob set the cage on a chair and took a mouse out of his pocket. He opened the cage door just enough to let the mouse through. Jacob gave the signal, and Bows bit into the mouse.

“Ewe!” both the girls cried in unison.

Jacob grabbed the cage and smiled at the two girls that were huddled in the crevice between the beds. “If that is all, I will be going then.” And with that, he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Like I said yesterday,” Olivia –who was still wearing her purple towel and shampooed hair – said, “this school attracts weirdoes.”

2. The Secret Catacomb

Gabriella woke up the next morning –Wednesday – at nine o’clock and went to breakfast with Olivia. The two of them found out through the day that many rumors had been flying through the school and archeologists. Some thought that Olivia was dead, and that Gabriella was in the hospital. The worst rumor was that Gabriella and Jacob were dating each other.

“I tell you, I am not dead! Do I look like a ghost to you? Don’t answer that,” Gabriella heard Olivia shouting to a blonde haired girl that was a year older. They were in the hallway outside the dormitories. The blonde girl had just bumped into Olivia and exclaimed, “You’re alive! I thought you were dead.”

Gabriella was in the doorway of the dormitory, and the two of them didn’t know she was there. Gabriella was glad for that because then she would probably be asked if she was dating Jacob, and Gabriella would fly off the handle worse than Olivia had.

The blonde girl cowered under Olivia’s rage, and ran for it. Olivia turned around to see Gabriella standing there. “Oh, hey,” She said.

“Hey,” Gabriella answered. There was silence. Gabriella broke it. “For the record,” She started, “you do look a little pale.”

Olivia laughed a little at this. Gabriella smiled. “So, who was that?” Gabriella asked.

Olivia looked back down the hall as if expecting her to come back. Olivia turned back around. “Oh, that was Jeannette Crowman. She was here last year. She’s in love with Jacob, so I wouldn’t come across her if I were you.”

There was more silence.

“Well, I’m going to go down to the archeology sight. Care to come with?” Olivia asked.

Gabriella bit her lips together. “You go ahead. I’ll meet up with you later. I need to get a few things.”

Olivia shrugged, said okay, and walked down the stairs. Gabriella went back into the dormitory. She really didn’t need anything except a few minutes alone. Gabriella lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She didn’t know how long she had laid there, but it was long enough for her to sleep for about ten minutes.

“Gabriel! We’re trapped!” Gabriella yelled to the man whose light was the only light in the room.

“That’s not true,” Gabriel said.

Gabriella looked up. “What do you mean? Of course we are!” she sobbed.

“I’m not trapped. I can get out.”

Gabriella forced her eyes open. She didn’t want to sleep now. She had to get to the archeology sight. Gabriella got off of the bed and walked out the dormitory and down the stairs. She paused at the bottom of the stairs. She heard around the corner two voices. One was Jacob, and the other was Ms. Friar. Gabriella listened to the conversation.

“Jacob, you get rid of that snake!” Ms. Friar yelled, “and when I say get rid, I mean kill it! I’d rather have a dead rattle snake than a hand full of dead students.”

There was a pause. Then Jacob said, “What if I just set Bows free? Eventually she would die because this place doesn’t have the mice that Bows eats. That way I won’t have to kill her directly.”

Another pause. “Very well,” Ms. Friar said, “but you set her outside without any food, water, and in a cage so that she can’t bite any of the students. You understand? Also, the cage that the rattle snake – “

“She has a name!” Jacob yelled making Gabriella jump.

“Very well,” Ms. Friar sighed, “Also, the cage that Bows is in is to be far away from the archeology sight.”

“Fine,” Jacob spat. Gabriella heard them walking towards the place that she was, so she backed up and pretended that she had just come down the stairs.

“Oh, Miss Kimberly,” Ms. Friar smiled up at Gabriella, “Your parents are waiting outside to show you the artifact that you found. I think you might find it quite interesting.”

Ms. Friar walked upstairs with her blonde hair swaying as she walked. Jacob had already left to go out onto the archeology sight. Gabriella did the same.

When she walked out of the air-conditioned building, it seemed hot and humid, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been the day before. Gabriella walked over to the water tent where she saw her mom and dad looking from an object to a paper on which they would write. Gabriella walked closer to them. Her parents realized she was there, so they stopped writing and looked up.

“There’s our little archeologist!” Her dad proclaimed with a smile.

Gabriella leaned over and whispered, “Dad, you’re embarrassing me!”

Mr. Kimberly looked up at her and said, “Well, then I’m doing my job!” He laughed at his own joke, and then looked back at the artifact. “Honey, you found a very important artifact that will most certainly help us. I am guessing that this” – he held up something that looked like a half of a pot – “was made by a Christian. Take a look at that sign at the bottom there.” Gabriella’s dad turned it over and pointed to a round symbol:

Gabriella looked back up at her smiling dad. “You see,” her dad started by pointing at the symbol, “The Christians that used the catacombs would identify themselves to other Christians by drawing a fish. If you look closely, you can see that the potter highlighted a fish in the middle. That way if a roman soldier got a hold of it, the fish would be camouflaged. They wouldn’t know what the fish in the symbol meant.”

Gabriella looked at her dad. She had found something very important to their search. Gabriella would have smiled, but the sun had drained all her energy. “That’s cool. But it’s hot out here. I’m going inside. Bye!” and Gabriella left with a wave of her hand.

On the next day – Thursday – Gabriella went out to the archeology sight after lunch that day. It was almost a pleasantly, cool day.

“Good day to be out, isn’t it? This is most likely going to be the coolest day of the season. Enjoy it while it last,” Olivia said as she plunged her trowel into the ground. They were standing outside at the archeology sight. The clouds hid the sun, and a slightly cool breeze blew enjoyably on Gabriella and Olivia who were the only ones outside.

“Do you think it’s going to rain?” Gabriella asked, a bit worried. It would not be nice if they got caught in a storm. A rainstorm there would mean really strong wind that would blow two girls any which way.

“It might. Maybe we should dig in the back so that we’re closer to the building if it does,” Olivia suggested. Gabriella agreed, and so they walked around the building to the back.

There was less cool wind there, but the wind level didn’t make much difference to the cool, morning dew. Gabriella hadn’t been in the back of the dormitory building the whole time she had been there. It was strange to see that there was grassy meadow on the horizon. Where they were standing, it looked like the archeology sight, only without holes in it.

“Are you sure we’re allowed to dig back here?” Gabriella asked.

“Oh, yes!” Olivia exclaimed. “The archeologists don’t think that much could be found in the back of the building, so they left it alone. Everything that was found has been found in the front, so…”

“Well, if they haven’t dug back here, then how do they know they won’t find anything?” Gabriella asked.

“Exactly. Let’s start digging, shall we?” Olivia plunged her trowel into the dirt once more.

The two of them dug for a while, and found nothing. A huge wind blew, and almost knocked Olivia off of her feet. “Okay, that’s it! I’m going inside before it starts to rain. Care to come with?” Olivia asked Gabriella.

Gabriella hesitated. Then, something caught her eye down in the hole that she had dug. Dirt blew over a symbol as the wind blew. It looked like it was made of metal.

“You go ahead. I want to check something,” Gabriella waved her hand, signaling for Olivia to go on. She had to shout so that Olivia heard her because of the wind.

“Okay; see you inside.” Olivia then entered through the back door, and disappeared.

Gabriella then turned back to her hole. What was it? She got down on her hands and knees and began to wipe away the dirt that covered the symbol. It was hard to see because the wind pounded against her eyelids, making so that she had to blink rapidly to keep out all the dust that was blowing around.

Gabriella squinted. Then she drew back and stared, forgetting to blink out the dust. She paid for that forgetfulness within less than two seconds when her eyes began to sting and water.

Gabriella rubbed the dust out of her eyes and looked back at the symbol. It was the same symbol as the one on the ancient pot that Gabriella had discovered the day before.

Gabriella felt a rush of excitement. She began to dig ferociously at the dirt surrounding it. It was hard work, and she was digging for about fifteen minutes.

Finally, she saw what it was. It was a square, termite-eaten, wooden trap-door. It looked just big enough to fit one adult through it. Two holes were in the trap-door where there must have been rope tied to it to open it up. The rope was gone now, so she couldn’t open it.

Gabriella used her trowel to pry it open. Instead of it opening nice and clean, the wood broke apart in pieces and fell into a dark hole underneath. It was not a hole that Gabriella, nor Olivia had made.

Gabriella didn’t know what to do. Should she go tell the others about it? If she did that, then they would probably take over it like they did with the pot. But if she went in, it could cave-in, and she would be trapped there.

Gabriella felt a trickle of water run down her arm. It was raining! It began to rain faster very quickly. Gabriella was way too far from the building. The wind would surely knock her back before she got there.

The rain mixed with her curiosity made up her decision. She sat on the dirt in front of the hole, closed her eyes, and before she could jump in it, the rain washed the dirt – and her – into the hole. Gabriella gave a yell of surprise, and landed in the hole with her face in the dirt.

“Phhhht; phhhht!” Gabriella spit dirt out of her mouth. She tried to look around, but it was pitch dark in there.

Gabriella got to her feet. Without a flashlight, she began to feel her way across the walls. Every few feet or so, she would feel a torch in a torch stand, but without anything to light it with, they were of no help to her.

Gabriella then felt something. It had the rough-cut of the symbol of the fish. Gabriella also could tell that it was a button. Gabriella closed her eyes, even though the darkness level was no difference. She pressed the button.

At first, Gabriella didn’t think it had down anything. She opened her eyes. She gave out a yelp as a torch flared up in her face. She leaped sideways and watched as one by one the torches lit themselves.

“Wow,” Gabriella couldn’t help mumbling under her breath.

Gabriella walked down the echoing corridor. Without thinking, she dropped trowel and stared open-mouthed at the room in her dreams with the only difference of a podium with a book laying on it.