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“You don’t understand,” Rene sniveled, “I feel like I need to do this for myself. I need to find that box. I need to see what’s inside.”
“If you feel that way, we’re behind you all the way,” Hyde pressed his hand gently on her shoulder.
He could feel her trembling a little. He wanted to do this for her, so she didn’t have to, but that wasn’t how these things were done. She needed to find out on her own.
Rene leaned in, and looked inside. All she could see was a dark, deep cavernous blackness that seemed endless.
“I can’t see anything,” she lifted her head back up, and glanced at Hyde. “Am I supposed to see anything?”
“I doubt it,” Hyde shook his head. “As far as I know, no one has ever gone in there and reached the bottom. Some people went in so deep that they couldn’t see daylight any longer and they would pull the rope that was attached to them, and signal the others to pull them up.”
“How deep is it?” Rene wondered, frightened at the obscurity, which seemed so overbearing, as if it would spread out of the well and into the surrounding area.
“No one knows,” Hyde replied. “Old people say it’s the entrance to Hell.”
“So, why would my mother tell me to find the well which is considered to be the entrance to Hell?”
Now, she was confused all over again. What kind of a place was this? Was it a place of good or a place of evil?
“Maybe what you’re looking for isn’t in the well,” Jesse suddenly interjected, pointing at a nearby tree.
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking in the same direction.
“Look at the roots,” Jesse emphasized. “They’re heart shaped, intertwined, just like the story says.”
“It can’t be,” Hyde shook his head.
All three rushed over to the tree, inspecting it closely. Its roots were old, ancient looking. The tree itself resembled the tree underneath which the well lay, almost like they were mirror images. The branches gently swayed in the wind, which sent chills down Rene’s spine.
“Is that what she meant?” she asked, her hand pressing against her chest where the pendant key lay hidden.
“Maybe she wanted you to find what your father died to keep secret,” Hyde suddenly figured it all out.
“What are you talking about?” Rene eyed him strangely.
“Can’t you see?” he smiled. “That was what she wanted to tell us, before tragedy struck. Your father must have found the coins. And, being the good man that he was, he didn’t want Culore to find them, so he probably hid them here. I’m sure Culore threatened him to reveal the location of the coins, but I’m also sure that your father died as he lived, an honorable man, who vowed to keep the secret of the coins, preventing them from falling into the wrong hands.”
Rene listened to this story, with tears in her eyes. It all made perfect sense finally.
“That was also why your mother had to flee the country. She didn’t stay in the States because she loved it so much. She stayed for the same reason we escaped, to survive. She gave you the key, which she probably got from your father, but she didn’t tell you what it was for. I’m guessing she was waiting for the perfect moment, which never came, until that fateful day when we appeared in her room, and memories came flooding back.”
“My sweet mother…” Rene sobbed, and Jesse rushed over to hug her.
“We need to find that box,” Hyde urged them. “Don’t cry. There is no reason to cry. You come from a long line of people who gave their lives for what they believed. That speaks tons about who they were. Be proud of them, always.”
“I will,” she wiped her tears with her sleeve. “Let’s find that box.”
“I’ll run back to the village and get some shovels,” Jesse said, rushing back.
Hyde and Rene remained hugging, in front of the old tree, waiting. Jesse returned in less than fifteen minutes, his face all red from running, carrying two shovels.
“This is all I could get,” he explained apologetically. “They were looking at me all weird for asking them if they’d lend me some shovels, but after some silly explanations, they shrugged their shoulders and were like, OK.”
“Not like I was going to dig anyway,” Rene joked, shaking her head.
They all laughed. It felt good to laugh. They were all excited, their hearts full of enthusiasm and the endless possibilities that might open up before them.
Smashing heavily into the muddy ground, the men began to dig fanatically around and underneath the roots. Each time they took out a little more dirt, the tree seemed to sway its branches, in silent protest. Rene watched the two men work, hopeful that they would find what they were looking for.
