Gairloch

• George-Alexander Flabouris, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2013

James’ phone rang. Like usual, within a matter of seconds he answered the phone. “Hey Peter, how are you going,” James asked. Peter replied, "James, this is very urgent. I can’t discuss it over the phone so meet me at Scotland International Airport in two days at 0700 in gate 13. Bring Simon along too.” Then Peter hung up.

Two days later, James and Simon were patiently waiting exactly where Peter asked in gate 13 and at exactly 0700, Peter arrived. James and Simon were very inquisitive. They were bombarding Peter with questions. Finally, Peter revealed what had been happening. "Unfortunately, Scotland doesn’t support encrypted messaging so I had to tell you in person. My grandparents accidentally found a secret passage in their castle, Gairloch, in the Scottish Highlands." “Wow!” James and Simon replied in unison. Without delay, they departed from the airport and headed for Gairloch.

After driving for several hours past amazing scenery they finally arrived at Gairloch. It was the most spectacular, striking and superb castle James and Simon had ever seen. Inside the castle, they were all greeted by Peter’s grandparents. “Oh, it’s lovely to meet you. Now, I would like to show you what we found.” Peter’s grandparents showed them the secret passage. They were all very intrigued. “How did you find this?” Peter’s grandparents replied, “It was all by accident. This castle has been in the family for over 500 years and we’ve only just discovered it.” Immediately, James, Peter and Simon entered the long, dark and damp passage.

They had only progressed three metres into the passage, although it was already as dark as the end of the universe. With only one small source of light, they had to be very reliant on their other senses. On their way, Simon noticed a small encryption on one of the rocks he nearly tripped over. “James come and have a look at this.” James came over and inspected it but completely disregarded it. Then suddenly, they all went tumbling forward as they heard the vicious sound of all the doors locking.

It was now pitch black. Peter asked, “What's happened?” Unfortunately, the large fall had a monumental effect on the torch. In fact, it was now broken. However, even in pitch black, they were still determined to keep going.

They had now been traveling through the horrendously dark and damp passage for an hour. James then screamed, “I found something!” He was so excited. He noticed there was a specific area where he could enter a code. “James I think it could be the code on the rock.” Fortunately, James remembered the code. In the damp cave, they found a whole chest of historical jewelry. More importantly however, was an exit.

“I’m so relieved you got out safely,” Peter’s grandparents stated, “and the jewelry is amazing.” Once they were out, they were so excited about their findings, that they continued to search around the castle just in case there was anything else lying around.