The Adventures of Tim and Janik. The magic chest. Aliyah Meirbek
his arm.
“What if she finds out and never comes again? Do you know what Father will do to us then?”
“You donkey. You scared me. We’ll just take a look and put everything back in its place.”
Janik quickly reached into the pocket and pulled out the forbidden key. He tiptoed over to the trunk, holding the key to his chest with both hands in anticipation of something unknown. He put the key in the lock, turned it, and opened the lid. Tim also crept up to the trunk. It was dark and hard to see anything. Janik bent over and ran his hand along the bottom, but the sword was nowhere to be found. The chest was empty.
“No sword, no body,” Janik said. “Why is it so heavy then?”
“Of course, there’s no sword. You lied as usual,” Tim turned his eyes from the chest to the sleeping Grandma and back.
Janik, unwilling to give up, decided to climb into the chest and search for the sword.
“Don’t step on anything,” whispered Tim.
Janik first put one leg over, moved it along the bottom and, finding nothing, got the other leg over. Suddenly he fell into the darkness.
“Janik, Janik!” Tim called his brother in a low voice, but there was no answer. “Hey, donkey, where are you?”
But nothing broke the silence except his heart, which was pounding so loudly that it seemed like the sound of it could wake all the neighbors.
“Where are you? Janik, Janik! Shoot.”
Tim thought about waking the parents, but quickly changed his mind. What would he tell them? He sat on the edge of the chest, turned to look at his grandmother, who was sleeping peacefully. Then he jumped into the darkness. A moment later, he was falling down and thinking how just a few minutes ago he was a happy boy, lying in his own bed, and that this time he would definitely hit his brother hard. That is, of course, if he ever sees him again.
The Valley of Happiness
Tim felt like he was flying for several minutes at a cosmic speed. He had experienced something similar on the water-park slides, but this time he felt nothing underneath him but air. Suddenly he realized that he had fallen into a deep puddle. It was still dark. It seemed to him that he was not in an open space. It smelled damp. The boy could hear water dripping in the distance and feel rocks on the ground. He concluded that he must be in a cave. Then he thought that every cave must have a way out. He found the wall and walked along it, calling his brother from time to time, but his calls faded in the gloom. At last, he saw daylight in the distance and went faster towards the exit. Blinded by the sun, at first Tim could not understand why the colors were so unusual. He touched the grass – it felt completely normal, but it was blue! There was not a soul around. Only strange trees with brightly colored leaves. Huge planets floated across the sky, sometimes covering the Sun. Tim recognized Mars and Saturn. The planets were moving low and steady, like airplanes. Tim was very scared. He looked around. He began to call his little brother, first quietly, and then louder and louder.
“Janik! Ja-a-anik!”
“Tim!” he heard from around the trees.
Tim ran to the sound and saw his younger brother. They hugged and even shed a few tears.
“Where are we?” asked Tim trying to get it together.
“I don’t know. I was looking for a way back, a hollow, a pit, something. But I didn’t find anything that looks like a way back into the chest. There’s nothing but this strangely colored forest.”
“Why did you climb in here? We don’t know where we are or how to get back home!” Tim was very angry with his brother.
“How could I have known that this chest was some kind of a black hole?”
Tim knew there was no point in arguing, so he went towards a wide trail. Janik ran after him. The forest was amazing. The children were curious about everything they saw around them. They stopped from time to time to watch the strange local creatures. Tim was showing in every way how angry he was with his brother. He frowned and did not talk to him. But he was constantly looking back, to make sure Janik was following him. Janik however did not seem worried. He marveled at fluffy white jerboas2, an army of ant-size green elephants, and cute monkeys that mimicked his movements. They came upon a yellow river and saw a tortoise the size of a car crawling along. Janik ran around it excitedly, making sure it was safe to ride. Then he jumped up and climbed the reptile`s leg and up to the shell. It was a little steep, but the boy gripped hard and managed to climb to the top. He was riding a tortoise.
“Whoa! Tim, get up here!”
Tim tried to climb the shell, but could not. Janik laughed loudly.
“Come on, use your floppy muscles!”
Tim turned away and proudly went along on foot.
“Oh, come on. I’ll help you, give me your hand. Come on, Tim, please!”
Tim was acting offended, but he really wanted to try riding a tortoise. Janik jumped around like a monkey, but still helped his brother climb on the shell.
From up there, the boys got a better view of the area. The nature was beautiful, with lush trees everywhere and funny forest critters, but the absence of people was frightening.
“Look, someone’s sitting there! It’s a person!” Janik pointed at the top of the hill.
The brothers jumped off the tortoise and hurried towards the top. When they came closer, they saw a teenage girl. She was sitting on the edge of a cliff in the lotus position. Her eyes were closed and her hands cupped together on her chest. A tiny yellow bird was flying around the girl, sometimes sitting on her feet and shoulders.
As usual, Tim was the one to start a conversation. He had good social skills, could easily find common ground, brag a little and lift everyone`s spirit.
“Excuse me, may I ask you a question?” Tim said.
The girl opened her eyes and looked at the strangers. Tim noticed that she was pretty, with messy bright red hair and big green eyes. She was wearing tight pants and a short maroon linen dress with long sleeves. On her feet she had flat maroon boots. Tim noticed that she had a sword and a necklace with a large silver heart. She also had an adorable dimpled smile. The girl glanced at the brothers and looked up to the sky.
“Thank you!” she said.
Then she turned back to the boys and smiled.
“You’re here already? I’m very glad!”
“Do you know us?” Tim and Janik were very surprised.
“I asked the Universe for the courageous saviors. And here you are.”
“We’re here because of you?” Tim felt like now was the time to get angry.
“I don’t know how you got here, or who you are. I just asked the Universe for the saviors of our Valley, and here you are. But I expected the saviors to be bigger and older.”
Tim, who preferred diplomacy over force, found this encouraging.
“My name is Tim, and this is my brother Janik. We live in Almaty. We don’t know how we got here. We only know that we are children and, as you can see, just in our pajamas. We can’t save anyone, we’re not warriors or wizards. And we really need to get home.”
The girl`s smile faded.
“If you aren’t the saviors, then go home,” she said in a sad voice. Then she sat back on the edge of the cliff, put her hands to her chest, and began to whisper something as if forgetting the boys were ever there.
Tim went up to the girl.
“I’m sorry, but what are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care,”
jerboa – a hopping desert rodent;