Solitary Existence

Solitary Existence - Pobble
March - 10th

Six months earlier, Ben had lived in the city. Life had been busy; a constant buzz of people and traffic. In some ways, living in the city had been comforting, as if he was part of an urban family, a melting pot of people of all ages and all walks of life. However, Ben had tired that life; it was now time for a change of direction. Standing on his porch, Ben drew breath. As the clean, cool air filled his lungs, a smile spread across his face as he looked around him, he was surrounded by a lake. In the distance he could see the sun rise with its warm glow, Ben yawned “well, I’m up” he said to himself as he shuffled inside. His house was wood planks, furnished with a small kitchen and a bed, and a chest of draws. Not much but it will work if you’re living the middle of nowhere.

Ben settled himself on the bed looking at an old map he was given when he moved out of the city. Ben sighed still staring at the map nothing interesting here what shall I do now he thought. Grumbling he sat up and made a beeline for the door. Floor boards creaked as he moved. Outside the sun was high and the birds were awake singing their songs, “that's cold” he said feeling the water with his hand, “still I’m still going to kayak.”

Splash, Splash, Splash…. Went the paddles as Ben went to the middle of the lake to go fishing. Now don’t ask me why he goes fishing on a kayak but that's how he survives, because there are no super markets around his area “Ohh, there's a live fish on my line!” He shouted reeling it in, it was huge, that's lunch  Ben thought paddling back home.

Back at home the smell of cooked fish filled the air, as Ben cooked the fish he looked around a saw something out of place in the wall. One of the planks corners was pushed forward further into the wall. That was strange, very strange. Ben walked over to the wall and pushed the corner, the plank fell down into the, passage? Or was it just an opening in the wall.

Ben carefully placed the plank back and looked back at the pan it was filled with smoke, Uh Oh!!! Fire!!

For the next half an hour Ben was using the fire extinguisher to stop the fire. Oops that's lunch gone, back to the passage he placed his index finger and it fell away instantly, Ben rummaged through the dusty draws trying to find his flashlight.

Finally after finding his flashlight in the kitchen draw he squeezed through the passage (or hole in the wall) and shone his torch down. Sure enough there was a deep dark (pitch black) hole, but there was something else other than the hole, there was also an old wooden ladder leading down, down and down.

Ben cautiously climbed down not knowing when it will end. Maybe it will ending the middle of the earth……. He thought about going to the middle of the earth with steaming lava and the heat (man that would be hot!), nah silly idea. Finally the hole ended, he looked up and the top of the hole was a little dot (like one point perspective) “oh well” he said walking through the lit passage,  noticed I said lit, well there were torches that were still going well some of them.

Cautiously Ben walked down the passage full of curiosity, down a winding path he went stopping every now and then to catch his breath. It seemed like the passage would never end, but it did in a clearing in the forest. Ben took a deep breath of fresh air. He could hear birds chirping as the golden sun sunk deeped, “oh great the sun is going down” he said starting to run back down the passage and stumbling up the ladder, clumsily fell out of the hole in the wall.  

Ben cooked up a stew and ate it up. Ben looked out the window, rain drops were shooting out of the sky like bullets, lightning flashed in the distance, thunder rumbled loudly overhead. Ben flopped on his bed and fell asleep.

At first light Ben was awake and the smell of bacon, eggs and mushrooms was filling the room. As soon as he had gobbled up his breakfast he was on his way down the passage to the clearing he found yesterday, before long he could see light at the end of the tunnel. He stepped into the clearing and took a breath of fresh air. It was getting pretty dark, the day had gone so quickly because the passage was long. Ben decided he’ll come back tomorrow.

The next day was raining unfortunately so he ended up staying inside for the day. All he did was clean the house and sleep. After lunch he was quite bored of cleaning and sleeping so he went to the passage to see if there was anything he has missed. Slowly Ben walked down the passage looking on both sides of, about half way he stopped to see and old iron door that was covered in moss so it couldn’t be seen unless you are looking for it. Ben gave the door a sharp nudge and the door flew open revealing a pitch black room. Ben feeling way more excited as he was before ran back to his house to grab a flashlight then ran back to the iron door.

The flashlight made a big difference, a fountain glowed as the light bounced off it also there were stone statues along one side of the room and big chests along the other, Ben walked over to the chests and stroked it gently but as he did it the chest crumbled and a waterfall of gold coins and jewels spilled out. Ben thinking how rich he would be (old money is worth a lot more now) ran up the passage and clumsily climbed the old ladder. Ben phoned the police to come now, while he was waiting he cooked a lunch for him and the police it was buns; jam; butter; coffee and biscuits. The police came right on time, “Hi my name is Sergeant Jonathan and this is James” he pointed at James and shook hands.
“Welcome” he said and paused “why don’t we have lunch then we could explore” The sound of laughter filled the room as they joked, “tell us about how you found the passage and how you discovered the door” James said in the middle of laughing. Ben managed to tell his story in between laughter.

Soon they were down in the passage (Ben stifled a giggle because the Sergeant Jonathan and James struggles down the ladder) and examining the room. Sergeant Jonathan and James whispered to each other Ben only caught snippets of words like ‘million dollars,’ ‘rich’ and quite a bit more. The police turned around and stared at Ben “do you realized how rich you will be if you gave us the gold” James said quite amazed about all the gold “yes I have realized” Ben answered.

“Will you hand the gold over? You can keep the jewels though” Sergeant Jonathan said “yes I will hand the gold over, but tell me how rich I will be”
“With five chests of gold and jewels you will have three million dollars” James replied
“WOW” breathed Ben. After a long talk the police left Ben was alone, he went back to his house a cooked dinner and went to bed.

The next morning the money had arrived, Ben thought about what he could do with all that money, he thought of building his house in the clearing and use the one in the lake for an office or something. He could store all his valuables in the room in the passage. Don't tell anyone. A lot of planning was to do because he was going to do all the things he thought of building new house, etc. He decided that the house was sort of like a cottage but bigger. He was building it himself.

A year later Ben had settled in his new home, stored his valuables and made his office. Now Ben was known as the millionaire who lives in the middle of nowhere.