Finders Keepers©

Male Ghost Stories

Written by American Author Sky Taylor

One may not always want to keep what one finds...

"What do you think that it is?" Jessica asked Sam, eyeing the golden object that was shaped like an egg.  It was so bright that she couldn't look at it for long, for it hurt her eyes.

"Dunno.  Should we touch it?" he asked, running his tongue over dry lips. Although the cave was moist, the intensity of the situation had completely drained him - that and the sheer exertion of making the way to the newfound treasure. Feeling a bit cocky, he joked, "Hey, maybe it's the goose's golden egg."

"Huh?"

"You know, the goose in that beanstalk story who laid gold eggs."

"Oh, yeah.  Ha ha," Jessica giggled nervously.  "Hey, I don't think that we should disturb it. Something's not....right. And my eyes hurt just looking at it."

"Yeah," Sam agreed thoughtfully.  "But....well, could be worth a lot of money."

"Yeah," Jessica echoed, wanting to make tracks to the open ground. Something just wasn't right about this....this thing.

"Okay, I've got an idea," Sam eased out, removing his safari hat and fanning it over his face.

Jessica thought it odd that they were cocooned in a 60-degree stabilized environment, yet were both hot.  And the nearer they stood to their find, the hotter it seemed.

"What's your idea?"

"Well, let's go back and tell the Professor what we've found - "

"Sam, he's devious and you know that," Jessica reminded. "He'll claim our find as his own."

"You think?"

"I think."

"Well, that may be a chance that we have to take - seeing as we're trespassing."

"Oh pooh!  Just because the Professor went through all the proper channels for the grant doesn't justify what happened, Sam. He stole this expedition from us from the moment we shared the information with him. That was our first mistake-"

"Perhaps," Sam halted her. "But we can't prove that. And I'd rather think that he's being generous rather than devious. Maybe he really was helping in locking things down. And he's been very forthright in encouraging us to explore."

"Yeah, at our own risk. Isn't that what he said?" Jessica reminded tersely.

"Well, perhaps he was talking about accidents. I don't think he's insured, yet.  Okay, what do you want to do?  Tell the Professor what we've found? Or not?  I just don't feel right disturbing it - whatever it is, goose egg or not. It's actually not our legal find."

One month later.....

"So, is this the area where you found it?" the Professor inquired, as he, Sam and Jessica snaked their way through the thin passages of the cave.

"Yeah, this is the spot," Sam assured him, leading the way.  

The Professor was lagging a bit behind but as they grew nearer and nearer to their destination, his pace seemed to be picking up.

"I still don't know about this," Jessica whispered up to Sam as she walked a hand's space away from him. "He's acting very greedy."

"Um hum," Sam eased out.  "We'll see what happens, k?"

"K."

Fifteen minutes later, they had reached the room where the find lay, it's brightness lighting the path.

The Professor was the first to reach the find, almost knocking down Jessica as he made his own private path.

"Oh, it's magnificent!" the Professor delighted, his eyes claiming the glow. "And it's all mine! I'm famous, mind you, famous!"

The room went suddenly quiet and he darted his gaze to Sam and Jessica. Defending his proclamation, he said, "Surely you'll agree? I'm the one who holds the grant-"

"You're a thief, Professor," Sam bit out, totally disgusted with the situation.

"You made claim before we could - only because we trusted you," Jessica filled in, just as disgusted with the situation as Sam.

The Professor averted the accusation, instead saying, "My, but it's hot in here."

"It's the heat radiating off the find," Sam drawled, wiping his mouth. He hated being this angry, this disgusted with human life.

She broke through his thoughts as she remarked to the Professor, "We think that the find must stay where it is.  It shouldn't be disturbed - at least not until we know what it is."

"Right," Sam echoed, straightening, but that was a mistake for his hat dusted the top of the cave's ceiling. Lucky for him it was void of stalactites.

That was yet another thing that had irritated him about the Professor. He had been touching every formation possible during the hike to the find. Idiot. One touch wiped out centuries of cave life.

"Nonsense!" the Professor announced, reaching for the find. "I'm taking it with me now.  Finders keepers-"

He emitted a tortuous scream as Sam and Jessica watched the find melt a hole right though his hand, then landed with a thud on his left leather hiking boot.  They could hear it sizzling from where they stood in shock as he pleaded, "Please - get it off!  I beg of you - "

Both Sam and Jessica ran to him, Jessica smartly wrapping his bludgeoned hand with the vest she had removed while Sam went to remove the find.

Sam was intent on not touching it, as he didn't want to meet the same demise as the Professor. That, and he didn't want to set off a further imbalance.

He was shocked as he went to remove the find with his the edge of his backpack and it virtually flew into his hand.

Sam's eyes widened, and he braced for the inevitable.

Nothing happened. The find felt as cool as a cucumber.

Jessica's gaze met Sam's, then he made haste to return it to where it had rested for eons, before disruption by the Professor's hand, which amazingly had almost completely sealed back up. It was as if his hand had never been injured. The only tell-tell was the top of his hiking boot which remained charred.

Sam calmed a bit, catching his breath. "The find will stay where it is - undisturbed.  And that's final, Professor."

For once, the Professor was speechless.

 

More Trinity Moon Ghost Stories

The Crying Veil

The Lace Curtain

Poisoned Ivy

The Sea Ghost

Chaldar's Conquest

Peeping Tom

The Tangled Web

The Fog

The Wishing Well

Moon Over Sea

 

Related Content, Free Love Stories

Complete Table of Contents of Love Stories

Site Map | About the Author

Trinity Moon | Copyright, Disclaimers