School was finally over, it was three days after the trip and it was officially summer vacation for Elliot. As for Bedrock Institute, good riddance he would say, he was finally free.
The only thing he missed about the school was his friend, Liam.
He wondered where he was now in South Africa now.
Elliot wished he could pay him one last visit but his house was far away from his.
Elliot didn't know what to do today. It was already sunrise. He stood up from his bed on his pajamas and looked out the window.
He thought maybe, to go outside and maybe get to know people around the neighborhood but it didn't interest him at all, the neighbors had a hint of how he was and he wouldn't want to associate with him.
So Elliot went inside to do some chores and then play video games. Elliot went to his laptop and sent Liam an email 'how are you doing in south africa' and he sent it but in his head it sounded completely irrelevant.
Mr James left for work and Mrs Jasmine was at home.
Elliot didn't know what to do today, infact he had no idea of what to do this summer except of course put his entire time on the screen, other than that is eat, sleep and do chores and Elliot was sure he will one day get sick of it.
Around noon, Elliot sat on the couch to watch something on the television when a breaking news popped up in the screen.
It surprised Elliot that the news was about the artifact theft.
'Breaking news,
My Name is Simon Lemworth and I'm here at the Wencetown museum where the FBI are investigating on a case of the missing artifact worth millions called the diary of the unknown.The museum owner Shem Wills came early in the morning only to see the artifact that was meant for research at the National museum was stolen.
Stole far they have no tangible evidence or suspects leading to this crime'.
Elliot was shocked,he saw in the screen where the FBI were investigating around the section of the museum where the artifact was stolen, the shocking part was that there was no evidence, no fingerprint, no DNA was seen.
Even in the camera footage no single soul was seen.
Elliot could see the museum owner overwhelmed talking to the police officer, that was strange. His mom came to the living room, she wanted to talk to him when her eyes caught the screen.
"What is happening there?" she asked.
"Someone or something stole an artifact from the museum we went to yesterday," replied Elliot.
Mrs Jasmine came closer to the tv "Oh my, the FBI is there that means it must be serious," she muttered.
Elliot couldn't understand too, why would they want to steal it, is it because of the gold quill or because of it's value? he couldn't get it.
"Anyway," Mrs Jasmine turned to Elliot and sat infront of him on the table.
"Elliot, your dad and I had been talking about something. We haven't had a vacation in a long while, we worked something out and we can actually go somewhere," said Mrs Jasmine. "Where?" Elliot asked
"In a state park, we've rented a cabin, a nice one. We can have some fun activities and you get to meet other people. There are many things you can do you know?" "Wow! that's great," retorted Elliot with so much anticipation. "Oh I thought you wouldn't be excited. We are going next weekend, your dad will come back and tell you more," said Mrs Jasmine gladly.
Elliot nodded.
"Okay I need to go back to what I'm doing," she was about leave through the door but turned back.
"In the meantime, meet other people in the neighborhood and maybe try and get to know them," said Mrs Jasmine and left.
Elliot blinked and his mind went back to the artifact theft, by then the news shifted to another topic.
Elliot decided to research on it in his laptop.
Elliot went upstairs to his room.
He opened the laptop and typed in 'diary of the unknown'.
The book wasn't that popular in the internet but he saw a webpage about the book, where it was found, in a chest underground in a deserted place, the glimpse of the pages in the book taken.
Elliot looked a little, he saw pictures, pictures of fictional monsters, societies that consisted of things like cars, unique flying transports, unique constructions people blasting fireworks from paint brushes, A picture of people flying in hoverboards in a field.
Elliot was awed, how does the writer know about this type of technology in the sixteenth century?
There was more to the book than he thought.
Elliot delved deeper into the info of the book, he saw a drawing of the cave with a crystal inside, an eagle man flying, that was the last info of the book.
Elliot closed his laptop and wondered, 'maybe the book was stolen because of the info inside, maybe they didn't want them to study it further,does that mean the things inside the book are real?'
Elliot was lost in thought before he thought otherwise 'it's not possible that can't be possibly real'.
Elliot got up shook his head in disbelief 'it's just a fairytale'.
Elliot took a stroll around the block and thought, thinking keenly on how his life will be like in middle school,one thing he was anxious of was his unusal streak of badluck in being in unusual circumstances but Elliot tends to think optimistic, new school new life and the school should be far away from here.
At dusk, his dad came back from work.
Elliot came downstairs to him "Dad I heard about the vacation stuff from mom is it true?"
"Sure is," said Mr James removing his coat and hat "Elliot,I have a lot of work to do this weekend so the questions should come be answered just wait till next weekend,okay?"
Elliot nodded, his dad went over to do his work at his work table.
Mrs Jasmine was in the kitchen.
Elliot gave her a hopeful look and Mrs Jasmine nodded "help me with the cabbages okay."
"Okay," Elliot said and went to the kitchen.
Elliot finally had a place to go to that is not Bedrock institute or his home or any other place that knew him for who he is.
Elliot waited impatiently for days to roll by but it seemed like his thoughts were loud and the days went on slowly.
Before next weekend he had packed his stuff and made double sure he wasn't forgetting anything. "Finally, something to do for the summer," Elliot said to himself.
Elliot forgot entirely about the dream he had.
The day finally arrived, on a Saturday, in the morning.
Mr. James made tons of phone calls. Mrs Jasmine prepared some food for the road. Elliot packed all his favorite things in his luggage, today was like a mix up as if they came unprepared.
"Have you packed everything?" said Mrs Jasmine as she hurriedly wrapped all the foods.
Elliot came downstairs with his luggage and went outside and waited inside the car "yes I did."
"Be careful with the boot of the car when you put your luggage close it gently," said Mrs Jasmine aloud
"Okay mom I will," said Elliot quickly and left the house, he kept the luggage in the boot and entered the car before his parents carried their belongings to the car.
Elliot tapped his knees impatiently till his parents finally got in.
"Uh we should have prepared early for this, didn't know that they'll call this early," he muttered to Mrs Jasmine and turned to Elliot.
""Are you ready for this?" Mr James asked eagerly. Elliot nodded, so they drove off.
They were going to the California state park.
It was a long trip to the park.
Elliot dozed off twice or thrice he couldn't quite recall. All he remembered was opening his eyes and they were at the parking lot of the park.
The place had a wooden fence with a written sign 'Campaka'. There were groves of trees behind the fences and a small house at the far end of the fence.
They got out and Elliot felt a little soreness in his left leg. Mrs Jasmine told him that it will disappear once he strolled a little. They walked to the small house beside the entrance.
They saw a man sleeping on a rock chair with a hat over his face to shield him from the brightness of day, he is a ranger. "Hello," said Mr James,the man stretched his body. He removed the hat from his face to see who it was. They exchanged handshakes. Elliot looked around, he saw groves of trees and behind them he spotted a hill which looked oddly familiar, it looked very much like the one in his dream, except it had grasses and was full of life. Flashes of the dream appeared in his mind. Elliot shook his head, Elliot started staring to space in anxiety.
"Elliot what's wrong with you? let's go," said Mr James.
Elliot got himself again but didn't let his eyes off the hill, he couldn't believe it, did he see the future.
The man led them to a cabin so far from the gate, Elliot saw other families and people his age but that hill made Elliot know he will never get used to this place he was filled with paranoia but controlled it not to get the attention of his parents.
They finally met a modernized cabin or so it seemed. It was comfortable to live in.
"This is the place," said the ranger.
"This place is great thanks for your aid," said Mr James and they exchange handshakes once more and the ranger left.
Mr James turned to Mrs Jasmine "you two should go inside, I'll get the car."
Mrs James walked away.
Mrs Jasmine saw Elliot standing still and suspected a hint of dimness in his face.
"Elliot what's wrong,Isn't this what you wanted?" she asked concerned.
Elliot shook his head "No mom I was just thinking about Liam."
"Oh don't be sad, the main reason we came here was for you to make new friends okay?" She said.
"Yeah," Elliot made a slight nod.
"Common I want to see a smile on your face," said Mrs Jasmine.
Elliot forced a smile.
They entered inside,the place was nice inside but quite smaller than the space in their house, it had red leather sofa,nice furnitures and for some reason a reindeer head was hung on the wall but it seems that
it was fake.
Soon Mr James came back with the car to the cabin. "help me get our things," he said aloud to Elliot and Mrs jasmine who were inside.
It took them almost an hour to get their stuff out of the car and unpack. The anxiety he got from that hill went out of his mind.
Elliot was eager to to go out and explore the surroundings.
Elliot came to the living room where his mom was.
"Mom, I want to step out for a while," said Elliot. "Be back before dusk," Mrs Jasmine said. Meanwhile his dad left a while ago.
Elliot went out, he saw many people, he saw the cafeteria and saw a field he assumed that's probably where the activities were to take place.
Time passed before he strolled through the pathway along the park,he bought a double scoop ice cream from an icecream man with the money he had.
He reached a certain place in a straight pathway.
Eliot saw a piece of paper on the ground which grabbed his attention.On taking a closer look, he realized that it was a piece of a comic book. Just as he stretched out his hand to pick it up his first scoop of ice cream dropped "dang it," a gush of wind blew the comic paper off. "That was quick," he said out loud. He followed the direction of the wind to see where it was going to land and it fell below a slope.
Elliot went towards the slope at to his suprise he spotted a cave down the slope and he recognized it.
He couldn't believe it, it was the cave that was drawn in the book artifact,the cave was real, how?
Then he felt people pass by him, he looked at them, It was obvious that the people who passed by didn't notice the cave, they didn't even glance at the cave, it was as if it was invisible and only Elliot could see it,it was crazy, Elliot wished that right now was a dream because he wasn't ready for what he was facing now.
The cave started to release some kind of eerie feelings to Elliot. He slowly stepped back and ran off without his remaining ice cream which fell on the floor, a gust of wind started to blow where the cave was before it stopped abruptly.