The Treasure of Morreville

Crick, crack, crick, crack. “What was that?” asked Emily, spinning around wildly, trying to spot the source of the noise. “Oh! Um it’s probably just a bird.” Said Jenna, trying to reassure her best friend (even though she needed a little reassuring herself)..... Confused? Well it all started when Mr. Michael, said.......“I am proud to announce that we will be having a field trip to the town of Morreville!” exclaimed Mr. Michael. “Ooooooohhh” went the whole class in unison. “But what’s so special about Morreville?” asked Jenna who was always curious about... well everything. “Well I’m glad you asked Jenna. You see, Morreville once used to be a very cheerful and welcoming town. But then, the townspeople built a huge wall around Morreville, which none was allowed to cross!” explained Mr. Michael simply. “But if none is allowed to cross the wall, then how are we supposed to go there?” asked Emily who was kind of a worry wart. “Are we going to blast our way in?” asked Myron excitedly. “No, no,” said Mr. Michael with a laugh, “We’re not going to blast our way in, the people of Morreville have already broken the wall and now are the most cheerful and welcoming people in all of Italy!” explained Mr. Michael.“Aaaaaaaawww.” Everyone said, disappointed.

The night before the field trip, nobody in the 8th grade class could sleep. Some, like Jenna, couldn’t sleep because of their excitement. Some, like Emily couldn’t sleep because they were worried if the people of Morreville really were as nice as Mr. Michael had described, and some just thought that if they slept, they’d be late for the flight! The next morning, everyone got to school early
“Is everyone well rested?” asked Mr. Michael. “Yes,” they all lied. “Well then let’s go!” exclaimed Mr. Michael.

After the long trip from school to the airplane, and it was after they had sat down on the plane that they’d realized how long it would take to get from New York to Italy. So after three hours of sitting still in airplane, they finally got to Rome, Italy. “Children, we have reached Rome”, said Mr. Michael, excited. “Rome? I thought we were going to Morreville?!” said Myron “We are Myron, and we’re going to get there by ...” “Ohh nooo...don’t tell me we’re going by...” “VAN!!!” everyone cried together. “Well yes!” said Mr. Michael, sounding surprised. “How did you know that? Well, that doesn’t really matter, so let’s go!” He exclaimed. Everybody groaned.

Once they sat in the van, they could barely breathe. The van was super duper small!! Usually his huge height was quite a bit of an advantage, but in this van it was more of a disadvantage than an advantage. His glasses kept falling off his nose and luckily because he was so skinny, he was able to bend down and pick them up before anyone stepped on them!

A short while later, the van dropped them right outside the gate to Morreville! It was a great big stone arch and at the top, you could see the word “Morreville” carved into the grey stone as if it were nothing but clay! Soon they saw a small figure stroll towards them, but as it got closer, they realized that it was a tall slender boy who had fair skin and blonde hair, and he looked to be about 14 years old. There was no need to ask, all the girls were in love and you could tell by the looks in their faces how jealous the boys were of him....but all of that changed, when he spoke “Eelo eberybone”, he said in his donkey voice and super weird accent. At that moment, all the girls snapped out of their love trance and looked at him, disgusted, and on the other hand, all the boys were relieved, surprised and proud, all at the same time! “I em Pablo, and I em yoor toor guide vile you are here” he said “Okay then Pablo, take us to our motel please.” requested Mr. Michael.

When walking to the motel, the children discovered why this place was called Morreville, the more you looked, the more you saw! Everywhere the unaided eye could see, there were the glass domes of the shops, glittering in the sunlight, tall buildings towered over them and the lights flashing at them were being made by huge TV screens which were displaying advertisements. The vehicles were making a huge racket.

After walking a little further the kids saw the homes of the people living there, some were big, some were small, some were tiny and some were humongous! They lived in houses that were made from cement, concrete, colored glass and colored stone! Everyone was so amazed by this scenery that they didn’t notice how exhausted they were. Then, after walking all the way from the gate of Morreville to their motel (which was right at the center of Morreville), they suddenly realized that they were famished, from walking sooo much! So they headed straight to their dorms to change, so that they could go down and eat.

After devouring the food that was served, everyone happily staggered on to their rooms. Jenna and Emily were sharing a dorm, (mostly because there weren’t enough rooms available, but also because Emily was such a fraidy cat, that she was too afraid to be in a room, in the dark all alone.)”What’s up Emily? Why are you so quiet all of a sudden?” asked Jenna, worried about her best friend. “Oh, it’ nothing, I was just thinking about tomorrow, I don’t think I’ll have fun” she said, sounding glum, “But why? This place is so beautiful and it’s got lots of flowers too and we all know that you love flowers” exclaimed Jenna. “It’s not that, it’s just that I don’t think that the people of Morreville will be as nice as Mr. Michael thinks” explained Emily. Jenna sighed, “Look Emily, I know you feel afraid of what will happen tomorrow, but do you see any reason that the people of Moreville would be bad to us?” “Well no, but...” “No buts’, it’s already pretty clear that the people of Moreville are very nice, and if you want more proof, then we’ll get it tomorrow. But that can only happen if we can wake up in the morning, for which we will have to sleep!!! Good night!, and with that she turned the lights out.

The next morning they headed out for the outer ring of the village. A short while later, they reached, then all the 5th graders went in different directions and started to explore! They admired the beauty of the village and examined the plants and the environment. Meanwhile, Jenna was searching for the answer to the question she’d had since they first took off for Morreville. She would find out why Morreville had become so aggressive and what caused it. So she set off to interview some people. One after another, she went to the houses and huts to search for the answers to the question that had been haunting her for so long, but got nothing but ‘I don’t know.’ as an answer. She had almost lost hope when she got to a small but cozy looking house, where she saw a pretty, young lady watering her garden. She ran over to her waving her clipboard and saying “Hey, Hello, Excuse Me?” The woman looked at her and said warmly, “Hello, How may I help you?” Jenna feeling hopeful once again, asked, “Do you know why Morreville became so aggressive all of a sudden?” “Well, I am not sure but legend has it that our ancestors built that wall to stop thieves entering and stealing the priceless treasure of Morreville, which the God themselves had gifted to us for our good nature” said the young woman. She continued “None of us knows what it is, but rumor has it that our ancestors have put powerful enchantments on the treasure to stop people from stealing it, and anyone who has ever tried, either never came back, or has suffered terrible losses.” Jenna said “Wow, that’s amazing. Thank you. Bye” and with that she ran off to find her friends. She met Emily near one of the benches, where they discussed the bits of information they received, and they all seemed to contain some kind of treasure!

It wasn’t long before Jenna had a bright idea, “Emily!” She exclaimed with a gasp, “What?” asked Emily, alarmed. “Why don’t we go and look for the treasure?” Jenna squealed. “But...” began Emily. “Just think about it Em, we won’t steal the treasure, all we want is to know what the treasure is and what is so grand about it that the people of Morreville could become so aggressive all of a sudden to protect it!” She pleaded. “Well I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around...” she admitted, as she too wanted to solve this mystery. “Great! Let’s start in the forest, because this town doesn’t seem so convenient to hide a treasure like that...” and so they made their way towards the forest in search of the ancient treasure.

They made their way through the thick branches and thickets of the dense forest. Suddenly the sky above them darkened and they saw a fork of lightning overhead. It wasn’t long before they heard a loud roar of thunder.” Oh no “whispered Emily. “ Don’t tell me it’s going to ....” But she didn’t need to continue. The words had barely formed on her tongue, and rain splattered down on them. “RUUUUN!!!!” both girls screamed together and they ran off in search of shelter. Then, after what seemed to be hours, but might have been minutes, they found a large, arched rock, beneath which they could curl up and wait for the rain to stop. So they waited, drenched to the skin, and with their teeth chattering, for the rain to stop.

After a whole lot of waiting, the rain stopped and the sky cleared, revealing a bright yellow sun. “Right, let’s go” said Jenna, whose spirits were not to be dampened by a bit of rain. “But, what?!” spluttered a perplexed Emily. ”Let’s go and find that treasure.” Repeated Jenna determined. “Um.. Jenna, I really don’t think we should go deeper into the forest, look at how dense it already is and we’ve barely been walking minutes! Plus there’s bound to be lots of dangerous wild animals and ....”
“Ohh.. Emily, don’t worry. We can handle whatever comes our way, please?” requested Jenna, but when Emily still didn’t agree she huffed and said, “Fine, If you don’t want to come, I’ll go alone” and with that she stamped off going deeper into the forest. It was then that Emily realized that without Jenna, she was stuck all alone in the forest and she said “On second thought, Jenna wait for me.” And thus began the search for the treasure of Morreville.

Emily and Jenna walked together through the dense forests. As they walked they could hear intimidating sounds and the already frightened Emily got more scared and she clung to Jenna. Jenna too was now feeling worried...Where are we going to go now? What if some animal attacks us? As these worried thoughts drifted across her head, they heard a distant rumble and growl... “What was that?” asked Emily as she whirled round and round trying to spot what made the noise. Then they heard the same low growling noises from all around them. They were surrounded by 5-6 feet long crocodiles. The crocodiles were all baring their sharp teeth which looked to be at least 2 inches long. As if being surrounded by savage looking crocodiles wasn’t enough, one of the crocodiles opened up his mouth in a yawn so wide that it seemed to be big enough to swallow the both of them whole.

One of them, a dark green wrinkled crocodile, which seemed to be the leader of the group, growled something incomprehensible to the rest of the crocodiles and they all slowly began to come closer. Jenna thought, “Ohh No, I should have listened to Emily, Now we are surrounded by this huge ....” as if waiting for the right moment, a memory from her previous social studies class echoed through her brain... “A crocodile can be very vicious sometimes, but if you manage to get to the tail end of the crocodile, you’ll be safe because the crocodile’s legs are quite stout and thus the crocodile is not able to turn around quickly, or run as fast as humans.” Jenna stared around for some way to go around the crocodiles and that’s when she spotted a long sturdy vine. Without pausing to think, she yelled, “Emily ! Grab on tightly” Emily didn’t need telling twice. Emily grabbed onto Jenna in a grip so tight that it hurt but now was not the time to stop. So Jenna moved backwards a few steps, ran forward and jumped with all her might.
They swung forward with a cool air whipping their faces. “Wahoo...!” yelled Jenna. Even Emily, forgetting her fright, yelled, “Yeah!”. After a few minutes of swinging from vine to vine they landed in a middle of a muddy puddle with a huge splash. “Guess adventure camp came in handy after all...huh?” said Jenna. Once again feeling emboldened by her success. “Yeah but it won’t help in getting this mud of my skirt and shoes. These are the designed ones, you know?” said a thoroughly confused Emily, attempting to brush off the mud. Both the girls laughed openly finally forgetting their worries.

The girls continued on foot for some hours, and then it began to get dark “Listen Jenna, Its getting dark and we don’t have any means of getting light or going back to our motel, and if we continue in the dark it won’t be anything short of dangerous. So I’d say, we sleep for the night and continue tomorrow.” suggested Emily. “Yeah Em, I was thinking the same, but where should we sleep?” asked Jenna. “I saw a small underground cave near the brook and it only looked big enough for a human to fit through so I don’t think any animal will be able to get in.” She replied, “Good Idea” agreed Jenna, knowing that if Emily was suggesting it then it really had to be quite small and indeed it was. In fact both Emily and Jenna who were surprisingly skinny had to squeeze through in order to get inside. Once inside, they found a small fire flickering in the cave, as if someone had recently left. “Umm..Jenna, I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s go some other place to sleep” , she said turning around. “No Emily” said Jenna who had just climbed in after Emily. “It’s already dark outside and there seems to be a pretty good chance of raining so even if we do take light from the fire it would probably go out in seconds” said Jenna sternly. “Well, okay. But remember what happened the last time you didn’t listen to me.” And with that they both huddled up next to the fire and slept.

In the morning they awoke to scary grumbling voices of a tribe of men, and it didn’t take them long to realize that they were both tied. Emily was on the verge of screaming for help but luckily, Jenna was able to keep a clear head and stopped her by whispering, “Don’t scream Emily, if you do, these guys will know we are awake and they might harm us in one way or the other”. This seemed to scare Emily enough to keep her quiet but she spoke to Jenna in a barely audible whisper, “I told you, didn’t I? Now this is the second time we are stuck here because of you”, she accused Jenna. “Okay, Okay. I admit that it was my fault that we are tied up here. But if you want to get free as soon as possible, then keep quiet and listen to what they are saying”, snapped Jenna. A man with a low growl voice said “These two have a very tender flesh, we won’t have to go for hunting for quite a few days if we eat them!”. “No” said a second man in a more intimidating voice, “Eating them will only help us for a couple of days, but imagine if we use them as bait! Animals will love these 2 for food, and it will make it easier to kill them. Plus, even if something does happen to them, it won’t make any difference to us now will it?”He said in what seemed to be an amused tone, at this, the men cheered, signalling how much they liked the idea. “Okay, it’s settled then, we’ll use these 2 as bait, but now let’s go get some water, our supply is running out!” Then the girls opened their eyes by about millimeter in order to squint at what was going on. Once they were sure that everyone was gone, the terrified girls began to talk in low voice, “What are we going to do? We’re tied and we can’t anyone for help and obviously we cannot run away, and ...” “Ohh..Stop blabbering and let me think!” snapped a frustrated Jenna. She tried to think of some way to escape when she a heard a loud “Oww!” “What happened?” asked Jenna. “It’s nothing, I just got cut by a very sharp rock.” Said Emily sarcastically.
It was as if someone had flicked a light on in her brain and Jenna cried, “Brilliant!, Do you know where exactly was the rock”. “Yes” said a perplexed Emily. “Great, now rub the rope against it”. Emily did as she was told and the rope broke at once. “Now untie me!” said Jenna, her excitement mounting. Once both of them were untied, they climbed out of the hole and began to run as fast as they could. They ran and ran until they slumped to the ground, exhausted.
“Oh, No now we’re lost in the forest and will never be found again!” said a depressed Jenna. Then a blinding white light appeared and said “You have passed many tests and proved yourself worthy of the priceless treasure of Morreville!” Without another word, the light began gliding away from them. As though in a trance, the girls followed the light, their one last ray of hope. It led them to a clearing in the woods where there was a mirror. The light easily floated through and disappeared. The girls looked at each other, clasped hands and entered the portal at a run.

It felt like being thrust into a pool of ice cold water but the sight they saw afterwards was marvelous beyond words!!!
The portal had led them to a world of PURE NATURE and it was amazing. The smell of fresh fruit and the wonderful flowers filled the air! There were so many colors, it was nearly blinding, and they could hear the melodious chirping of the birds coming from all over the place. Butterflies gracefully flitted around the green grass and the tall trees. A fruit fell on to Jenna’s head and when she bit into it, It tasted like heaven! Sweet Juice flooded her mouth and the taste of the fruit was beyond either of their explanations. The air they breathed was so pure and pollution free that it made them realize, how wonderful the world could be without pollution. This place was beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and imagination. This bizarre sight made them realize that pollution free nature was truly the biggest treasure of the All! Then suddenly they heard the same melodious voices that had brought them here say “You now have a choice to make, you can either stay here forever or go back home.” With a pang, the girls realized how much they were missing their Family! As if it had read their mind, the voice said, “Good Bye and remember not to tell anyone about this wonderful treasure” And all of a sudden they found themselves back on the bench where it had all started.

The thoroughly perplexed girls heard Mr. Michael call “Okay Class, Back to the Motel !” As they walked, the girls promised themselves that they were not to tell the secret of the treasure of Morreville to anyone, but keep the memory treasured in their heart for ever.