Jillian Chantal

Today, the writers of Tuesday Tales are writing to the word prompt silvery. This is my new story set in the southern USA. The one I started sharing last week.

Check out the other tales here.

Using my fingers, I dug around and hit something hard and square. Or rectangular maybe?

I cleared a little more dirt to find a piece of wood. Pulling it out, I wiped the grime off it and flipped it over. It was a light color, smooth on one side and carved on the other. It didn’t look big enough really to do much with. Perhaps it wasn’t a complete piece of whatever it was.

As I inspected it, I realized one end was jagged so it must’ve been longer at one time.

“Let’s see if there’s anything else here.” I dug around a bit more and found another piece of the same kind of wood. The carving was interesting and ornate. How it got under the tree at my grandparents’ home was a mystery. I’d have to ask her what it was if she even knew. What if it had been there for years? It sure looked like it had been buried a while. But such a pretty thing to bury? How odd.

I found a few more pieces of the wood.  I couldn’t tell if it was broken when it was buried or if it was disintegrating in the soil. I used the stick to poke around some more. Something sparkled as one of the clouds overhead scudded away from the sun and some rays penetrated through the leaves. “What have we here?” I asked the world at large in the voice of a Bond villain.

I broke a nail trying to grab hold of the item. It was almost like it was suctioned to the earth around it. It’s a good thing I’m not one to go for a professional manicure or nail veneers. It was just a bend to the quick. I’d survive.

Eventually I was able to get a grip on the shiny object enough to pull it out of the soil. I scrubbed it across the thigh of my jeans before inspecting it.

A silvery colored charm of some sort. It reminded me of the lavalieres that some of the frat brothers used to give their girlfriends in college. It took me a minute to remember my Greek alphabet and recognize the letters. Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Something about that fraternity sounded familiar. Other than the fact I knew it existed. Like it had been on the news. For something not good.

“Wonder what else is down here?”