The storm had just exploded outside.

My thoughts started spinning inside my head ...... and I began to remember ..........

A piece of land in the middle of the sea! Who would have known that it was hiding a great mystery and the greatest of treasures that human eyes have seen?

First, before I continue, my name is Malay. That was the name they gave me when I was four years old.

To this story should not be removed or added a period or a comma.

I'm going to tell you how it happened more than fifty years ago. Although prudence tells me not to reveal the geographical position of that island because it is still full of gold, and greed is a bad adviser; His curse is very real.

Everything started like that, like someone who does not want things.

On a turbulent afternoon like today. Three friends played a bet. The agreement that would change their lives forever.

On my birthday, I ran away from home. I had no intention of doing it, nor do I recommend it to anyone.

That afternoon I faced a dirt road, the one I always used to take, but with other ideas in my head. I was going down the hill winding. My house, that of my parents, was left behind. It was just above the mountain. I had my twelve years and a backpack full of things that I thought I could use on the trip. I looked back for a last look and it seemed smaller than usual. And ... I almost got back because I started to miss it from that moment.

A heavy rain began to fall on my head and the cold crept under my clothes soaked with water, biting my bones. Normally I endure the cold well, but this time I started to tremble. I thought about going back, but the bet was made. And..…. a bet is a bet, and with it, my luck was already cast. I started running in the direction of the sea. Panting I reached the sand and, I took refuge inside the mangroves that grow wildly along the shore of that part of the beach. I wondered how they would be looking for me everywhere in those same moments. I must confess that I was a Mom’s child. I never strayed far from her side. This adventure would be the first and only one in my entire life.

The night besieged with falling earlier in the blackness of its storm clouds, and I felt a slight fear of being alone in the dark in the arms of the wet night. 

I was waiting for my companions of fortune. But I was hoping that they might forget about the bet and not come looking for me, and I could go back to my house as if nothing had happened. My slight hope soon died because I felt them arrive. Cheerful and boisterous, while I suffered quietly.

It was one of those black nights. The moon had not come out yet. We had only brought one strawberry cake and two sandwiches that we divided among the three.

“Did you bring what I asked?” Harry asked, the inventor of everything. The reason why we were there.

“No” I replied, “I didn’t have time, just had a chance to run away so they wouldn’t see me, and what did you bring?” I asked just to divert his attention.

"I didn’t bring anything, either". His answer eased me a little.

“Let’s walk to the bay without being seen”, he didn’t lose any time. He bit and chewed the sandwich while giving us the orders. “We will arrive to the inlet, and there our barkentine will be waiting for us”.

Harry was the leader of the neighborhood. His father had been captain of a ship and his uncle fisherman. Both died together with other members of the crew, in a tempest. His ship went under and they never returned to the port. That was all that was known about them. The other, Jules, was a year younger than me. His father was also a fisherman.

We were all fishermen's children. Our houses were located facing the sea. On an island caressed by the Pacific Ocean. There was very little or nothing happening. The biggest event was when my friend's dad's ship perished in the biggest storm that hit us, a year ago. They lost their lives and the rest of the men their jobs, because there wasn’t another big ship on the whole island. Nothing was the same since then. Maybe because of that, we, the young people, began to worry about the future of our families and, therefore; another of the reasons that led us to make the bet.

We got to the ship. A modern boat then, but old now. With its low boards and three poles; each with a topmast and a single crab sail.

A cabin boy of about my age helped us to climb onto the deck and hide in the hold while he was going to ask the Captain if he let us be on the ship.

We remained hidden in the belly of the ship and felt the waves pushing it off the coast, out to sea.

From our hiding place the air was rarefied, and we lacked. Our clothes were still wet and sweaty. There was great darkness. Jules brought a pack of matches and with great difficulty we could light one because they were a little wet. In the dim light and groping we discovered some boxes that, luckily, were full of food. We opened them and started eating hastily; hand over fist; almost choking us with the great hunger we had. I felt weak but the food was giving me back strength and it made me feel more animated. I don’t know how luck allowed us to find fresh water that we drank, and we lay down a little on our necks to refresh ourselves.

I also didn’t know how much longer we stayed hidden in the belly of that ship. Maybe a few hours because the clothes had dried due to the heat, although I felt very sticky from the great sweat that came from the tip of my hair and rolled down all over my face. I think maybe I would have fallen asleep. I'm not so sure.

We figured it was time to get out of our hiding places. The stomach had stopped biting us because we had quenched the hunger a little.

We were half hidden and still hesitating if we should peek or not, when we heard the cry of a sailor:

“Come out!”

“Come out all! Why are you hiding?” the Captain shouted. A lad of fourteen years.

What I discovered later filled me with amazement. The schooner called "Amparo" was full of children without knowledge of navigation. They did not even know the exact position of the ship.

It turned out that there was an islet belonging to the same archipelago nearby. That islet was arid and strewn with volcanic rocks without vegetation, a desolate refuge for some sea birds. It had drinking water because a river ran through its center, that's why it was the most infamous and terrible of all the prisons. To that prison they sent the hardened and most feared criminals and bandits of the time. Due to the shortage of prisons in the surrounding area, they also sent other less dangerous prisoners regardless of their ages. Many of the latter were orphans and scoundrels who, because of their poverty, lived in the streets in gangs.

A young prisoner spoke, saying that he was aware of the place where the map of a great treasure was hidden. He said, moreover, that he himself had held it in his hands and had hidden it in that place.

Such treasure had been from immemorial times, subject of conversation of all, especially of the pirates and corsairs aspiring to his possession. Immediately his words reached the ears of an infamous and very fearsome corsair who was passing through the prison. The sight of that man was frightening. His face was weathered by the intense sun of the seas and oceans; with cooked skin the color of bronze. His giant hands, full of scars, and his black and broken nails. A great pirate, but without the bird on his shoulder. He was missing a leg and instead had a wooden leg. His clothes discolored and dirty. His eyes a penetrating and inquisitive blue that gave terror to hold his gaze. You had to look away because it had the power to strike down any daring.

When the lad gave him some key details that only a true knower could manifest, the pirate swore by the beards of Neptune that very soon all that gold would be his, and from that moment he agreed with the lad to plan the escape. The boy put him on condition that he had to include in the escape plan his fellow inmates, a small group of ten children. The old sea-wolf had no objection to his request because he thought it would be more useful to put them to work on the ship instead of their old marine cronies because they didn’t consume run or demand payment in gold. His greed had increased: He wouldn’t have to share the booty with anyone.

One of the fugitives was Harry's brother. He sent a messenger to tell his brother where the schooner......

By Ann A. Guerra

From: United States

Website: http://www.Amazon.com/author/annguerra

Facebook URL: http://www.facebook.com/angela.guerra1