Derryl did not believe magic existed. Until that day everything changed.
Summer break had started days before. The brothers celebrated their high school graduation where there were no more summer breaks for them. One last trip before Clarence left for college, that's what they agreed on. Although not necessarily an adventure as they'd trek the woodlands and cliffs they have a hundred times before outside of the neighborhood. It satisfied him enough.
The morning light glared into the back door window, streaming in the thin hall with the coat and shoe racks. At the front door were all the everyday gear, at the back were the camping gear. Derryl slipped his favorite boots on and swung his large hiking pack on his back. It had supplies in there for whatever obstacle they may face like dad taught him to pack. He wondered if he should have exchanged his jeans for cargo pants like Clarence but shrugged it off.
Clarence huffed, struggling with his large pack with wiggly noodle arms, hardly managing to slip it on. When he did, he yanked his old black, holey beanie on his head in frustration. Short brown coils popped out of the edges. He wore that old thing year-round. Winter or summer, cold or hot, shivering or sweating, he wore it. He didn't like his hair in his face, while Derryl let his own wild mess of curls flow freely.
Derryl eyed the metal detector leaning against the wall next to the back door. Mom got it for Clarence when he declared he wanted to be an Archaeologist, then quickly changed his mind to studying History when he figured he'd have to be outside to find artifacts. They'd been meaning to take it for a spin in the woods, but school graduation and college applications got in the way after their birthday. Excuses, as far as Derryl was concerned. He grabbed it and tossed it to Clarence, nearly toppling him over into the coat rack.
"Let's see what we find," Derryl said.
"I'm not carrying this thing up a bunch of cliffs," Clarence argued, staring at the thing as if it were some alien artifact. His brow furrowed at his brother. "Do you know how heavy this is?"
"Wussy." Derryl threw the door open, the backyard opening up in the sun's ascent. He deeply inhaled the fresh morning air. Derryl smiled, stroking his hemp-knot bracelet his brother had made him. He made him one, as well. The bracelet reminded him of a promise they had made.
They headed through the backyard. Clarence fiddled with his new toy, pushing buttons and flipping switches. Derryl marched ahead, ready for what the day brought, when the detector slowly beeped. He halted and whipped around to see. Clarence hovered it over the ground and proceeded to go where it beeped faster, and faster, until it was one long high-pitched noise. Right smack dab in the middle of the yard where grandma planted all her flowers next to the old shed. The summer flowers were in bloom, filling the air with a thick floral haze. They slipped under a giant purple hydrangea bush, and trampled the daisies scattered about and sprigs of forget-me-nots. They used to be Grandma's favorite. Mom had been doing her best to upkeep them but half of them were either wrinkling into themselves or wilted brown. She didn't carry the green thumb gene, apparently. The long noise became unbearable to the ears.
"Buried treasure found, I repeat, buried treasure found!" Clarence exclaimed. A big ol' goofy grin spread across his face, his metal braces shimmering in the sunlight. Derryl chuckled at the thought of the detector going off on his face as an alarm clock one morning when they first got the thing, but he refrained. Grumpy morning Clarence was already bad enough.
He shut off the detector and motioned him to the shed. "You're digging."
There was one shovel, and one small spade in the shed. Derryl tossed the spade to his brother. "Have fun," he teased.
"You're stronger anyway," Clarence said.
Derryl had been going on hikes since he was old enough to walk the trails with dad; he had a strong back and legs, but it didn't do much for his arms. Throwing his pack aside, he dug. And dug. He continued for what seemed like hours. Clarence watched and moved the dirt with the small spade in a pile away from the hole. He wondered how angry mom would be when she found a giant hole in her flower garden.
Clank!, the shovel rang, its spade penetrating the soft earth. Derryl raised a brow. He tossed the shovel aside and nursed his forming blisters. He'd been digging so long he found himself surrounded by four walls of dirt. Sweat trickled down his temples. The sun rolled down into its descent by that time, peeking over the edge. Metal shined from the dirt where the shovel had met an impasse. He brushed it aside with a leap in his chest.
"What did you find?" Clarence called out from above. His face peeked over the edge of the chasm. Derryl convinced his brother to help dig for a small while, then he refused to dig any further down for fear of getting stuck down there, appointing him ladder duty. The possibility of mortal turmoil made Derryl want to do it more. The more danger, the bigger the thrill. Digging was more exhausting than thrilling, though. Finding something was the most eventful thing to happen all day. So much for camping.
The metal tuned out to be an awkward sphere. Brownish-orange and grey with clumps of dirt clogging the cracks.
"A piece of junk," Derryl said, presenting it to his brother. After the ladder slid down and he ascended above ground, him and his brother huddled together at the edge of the pit. In the distance, past the backyard fence, woods dense with tall trees with fluffy and pointed tops went on as far as the eye beheld. Many a day he spent in those woods, and many a memory made. He hadn't made it out there lately, and it looked as if he wouldn't again before his brother left.
Clarence nudged him. His eyes smiled, genuine joy over their shared treasure. They brushed the dirt off it in unison, revealing deep and intentional crevices in the sphere. It separated segments of the brownish orange from the grey in a complicated patchwork.
"It looks like another one of grandma's antiques," Clarence said. He spun it around in his hands.
"Why bury it in the backyard?" Derryl wondered.
"Grandma hid these things everywhere like a gremlin, dummy."
"Dummy, huh?" Derryl pursed his lips and reached for the sphere, but his brother kept it out of reach. He took off for the house, inciting a chase. Since they were little, they've played the chasing game. One of them ended up hurt by the end every time. Clarence wasn't much for horseplay anymore with his nose always buried in books safe inside the house. Perhaps he did it then to make Derryl feel better. An attempt to bring back the old times before he left for school or reconnect after dad died. They had grown distant in the last few months. Whatever the case, he fully embraced the play.
"Give it back, Clarence!" Derryl shouted, giving chase through the backyard.
Clarence flashed his tongue. "The metal detector was my birthday present. It's mine by right!"
"But I did all the hard work!"
They circled back around the yard from where they came. Clarence shot glances back at Derryl, a toothy grin so wide it stretched from one side to the other. Derryl hadn't seen it for a while by then. It inspired his own smile.
Clarence tripped on a loose rock. Tumbling into the dirt, the sphere bounced from his hand back into the hole from where it came.
"Guess who's going down there to fetch it," Derryl said, catching his breath. He helped his brother to his feet.
Blood dripped from Clarence's nose onto his shirt, and he wiped the rest on his hand. His eyes widened seemingly from the prospect of venturing down, the green in them turned minty from the sunlight. A strip of freckles over his nose and cheeks became prevalent in the light.
Derryl shoved him in. It wasn't that deep. He had not noticed his brother clenched his shirt until he fell alongside him. They crashed at the bottom, body aching. The sphere lay there, mocking him. As he plucked it back from the dirt, he realized a gaping gash in his arm trailing down onto the sphere. His arm must have caught a root or rock on the way down. . .The blood vanished as soon as it leaked onto the metal, almost as if it were absorbing it. He rolled over to see Clarence lying beside him, eyes closed.
What had he done?
The lines of the sphere glowed, a bright luminescent light filling the deep dark pit. The world then shrouded in blackness, shadows creeping in from all sides. He felt light as a feather floating through space as fast as a hawk soaring through the skies. Then, a bright blinding light leaked in through the darkness again. The fabric of reality stretched and their existence here or there were put into question. Derryl held Clarence's hand so tightly he feared it'd break in two. He didn't dare let him go. But, his hand slipped away, and they separated. The floating feeling transitioned to falling, much like the feeling like falling into the hole before and an abrupt stop, busting through a bunch of wooden boxes.
They were not in the backyard anymore.