Timecapsule

The abandoned room was mostly covered in shadow, with light hitting the dirty floor through broken windows. A brown and white fox pawed at a pile of rubble, tilting their head as they looked at the pile. Winter stared down at a piece of smooth metal poking through it. They pawed at it, trying to dislodge the rubble enough to grab it. A quiet voice broke through the silence. “You dingus, are you ok?” Radar’s voice could only partially be heard, being muffled by the walls. “I’m fine,” A voice responded. “I just tripped on some of the rocks here.” Winter perked their ears at the commotion but after things quieted down they went back to trying to get a shiny bit out of the rocky debris.

A few minutes later Kurai peaked his head into the room Winter was in. “We found a wooden box full of treasure!” He spoke with a sudden loudness. Winter flinched at the unexpected burst of sound but quickly flattened their fluffed-up fur. “You found a box of stuff?” Winter asked intrigued. Kurai nodded his head and motioned for Winter to follow him. They walked out the door following Kurai’s long, navy-blue tipped tail.

“Have you opened it?” Winter asked.

“No,” Kurai responded. “Radar and I found it in a pile of rocks when some were displaced”

Winter chuckled quietly, they probably found it when Kurai tripped over those rocks.

When they entered the room Kurai nodded to Radar and motioned for Winter to walk over. Radar held the small wooden box between his front paws. The box was dirty and darkened from being in the musty room. It looked fragile, like it would break if you dropped it. It had intricate metal details adorning the lid, now starting to rust from weathering. Winter looked at it closer, noticing a padlock on it which looked to still mostly, be intact. “Do you have a key?” Winter inquired. Kurai looked over at Radar who shrugged. He shook his head at Winter. Winter got up and started digging at a pile of drywall and rocks. “Well, we should probably find it to open up that chest,” they suggested.

After a while of searching through dusty rubble and broken furniture, Radar, popped his head out of a pile of cloth scraps and wood pieces. “I found it!” His voice was muffled by the key he had in it. Kurai took one look at his now dusty friend and started to chuckle. Radar pinned his ears back. “What are you laughing at, I found the key!” He dramatically motioned with his head to show he had the key. “Heh,” Kurai chuckled, “it’s not that. It’s the fact that your fur is now scruffy and dusty from your search.”

Radar’s eyes widened slightly with embarrassment and he quickly shook out his fur dispersing dust into the air causing Winter to sneeze at the onslaught of dust. Radar quickly cleared his throat. “Well I didn’t know that,” he grumbled under his breath, not looking Kurai in the eye. Kurai chuckled light-heartedly, “yeah, yeah. I forgive you.” Radar gave one more embarrassed shake of his fur before trotting over to where the small chest was. He dipped his head down and put the key into the hole. With a twist of his small paw it clicked open and the lock fell off of the chest with a clang. With bated breath Winter and Kurai watched the chest’s lid slowly being opened.

The lid slipped out of Radar's paws and hit the back of the chest suddenly causing the group to flinch. A puff of dust rose in its wake causing Radar to cough and squint his eyes against the dust. He swiped at the air with a paw to disperse it. When he opened his eyes, the dust has settled and the contents of the small box could be seen. One by one Radar reached in and grabbed its contents. There was a dented leather-bound book, a rusting coin, and a beat-up spy glass in the wooden box. It smelled musty and there was a prominent feeling of dampness within it.

The group stared down at the contents now in the open. Winter looked at Kurai and then to Radar. They both seemed confused by the contents. Winter cleared their throat and got the attention of the guys. “Its not what I was expecting…” Their voice drifted off at the end, not knowing what else to say. “Yeah,” Radar chimed in. “I thought there was going to be something more exciting here. Like someone’s stash of wealth!” Radar let out an evil cackle, thinking of all the things he could do if he had that stash of money.

“Well,” Kurai spoke, interrupting Radar’s fantasy of richness. “There does seem to be a small piece of moneyhere.” He grabbed the gold coin with a paw and slid it closer to Radar for him to inspect. Radar’s tail started to gently wag in excitement, disturbing the dust, making it fly away in all directions. He picked it up between his claws and started to inspect it closely. Winter watched as he moved it around, looking at it from all different sides trying to figure out what it’s worth would be. They looked over at Kurai who was messing around with the old spyglass, trying to figure out exactly how it worked. That left the leather book for Winter to explore, a light layer of dust covered the surface of it, having gathered there in an escape from the disturbance of the ground. Winter lightly blew on the cover to get the dirt off the cover and slid it over to look at it better.

The cover looked like it was once engraved with some words that had long since been dented and rubbed away beyond legibility. They opened up the book which creaked, having not been opened in what seemed like years. The pages were yellowed and stained with mildew but the words were still mostly readable. It looked like it was once someone’s diary. As Winter scanned over the page they noticed at the top corner of it was a date. The journal was dated to be over 50 years old. Winter's eyes widened and they ran a paw gently over the frail paper. They flipped pages in the journal until they found a page that wasn't stained by water smudged ink.

Winter began to read the page slowly, the handwriting being hard to decipher.

6/25

Today was a rainy day and we weren't able to work on the garden. The sky's clouds are not pouring tearfully anymore but it still looks dull and gray. Even with the dreariness of the sky I do not feel held down as I would have many years gone. My children are safe by my side, and my beautiful wife is in the other room cooking us supper. The thought that this is the life I can live fills me with joy, something I never thought I could feel. I sometimes still think about the past and my family gone but these days I don't have the time to think of such tragic things. I think that it is a true blessing. My wife has called us for supper so I must not keep her waiting. Good night, and here's too another page tomorrow.

Winter stared at the page after they finishing reading it. They read a page of someone's life, a life that was looking up. They lifted their head looking at the ruined room in a new light. What happened in-between the time of writing and the present day. Winter stared at the ceiling as they thought about the life that the writer could have had. When they looked down they found Kurai staring at them with an odd look.

"What?" Winter asked confused.

"Nothin." Kurai gave a quick answer.

"Come on it's got to be something." Winter pestered

"Nope." Kurai responded.

As Winter was about to respond Radar cut in. "Quit it you two, it's getting late." He pointed to the sun starting to set through the broken glass window. "We should get going." He spoke as he started to walk towards a hole where a door would have been. Kurai got up and followed him while Winter followed suit. As they reached the exit they looked back at the messy room thinking about the diary one last time before they left the house far behind them.