Read Online SUMMATION by Daniel Syverson - Free Book Online

had been
pent up behind the wall then gushed, leaving an opening in the wall nearly
three feet wide, running from the ceiling almost to the ground.
               He could see straight through the wall from
where he stood, the light illuminating not just the opening, but well inside
it. To his surprise, he could see another wall just about two feet behind this
one. Puzzled, he set the hose down, and walked in to take a closer look.
               Sure enough, there was a second wall. Leaning
inside, he could see the wall went the full width of the room, making a
complete hollow area at the end of the room, one that no one would ever notice.
Certainly he wouldn't have.
               Pulling the little penlight from his belt, he
looked inside. Water had filled the bottom, where it was still probably six
inches deep or so, slowly draining through the opening where he stood. Apparently
this area had been better sealed, as there was very little of the mold and
attending creatures on this side of the wall. Empty. No wiring, obviously. No
plumbing. Just a wall.
               Seemed a little odd.
               He looked again, the other direction. More of
the water had drained, and then he saw it. A box.
               What the hell?
               He tried to reach it, to pull it out, but couldn't
quite grab it. Because he'd had to carry both the hoses and the shop vac, he
hadn't brought any other tools, nor his regular cart. All he had were the
pliers and the wire brush. Big help they were. He stretched a little further,
but just couldn't quite reach it.
               He shined the light on it again, trying to
figure out what it was. He could see some kind of decorations hanging on the
sides, and tried to figure out what he was looking at, as the water continued
receding. Finally, it was clear.
               An old metal lockbox, with some kind of old fashioned
padlocks, nothing like he'd ever seen, fastening the hasps on the two sides that
he could see. Multiple locks. Definitely unusual. Looked like a couple in the
front, and one at this end, perhaps one at the other. Guess they didn't want
anyone getting in that one. He couldn't see a hinge from where he was, but it
looked as if the lid was separate, with locks probably on all four sides. Some
kind of ribbon was wrapped around it, kind of glued on at spots, but most of it
had rotted away, leaving one only able to guess at its original color. Maybe
yellow, or orange. White? With all the mildew, anything was possible. There was
a reddish spot where the ribbon was touching the box. No, not a spot, it was
raised. Almost like it was hot glued, though he knew that wasn't the case.
               He changed position, leaning further inside,
trying to get a better look. The light was weak, and getting worse, but he was
able to see at least a little clearer. He could see where some of the spots had
cracked and fallen off, but a few were still intact. What was in it? Still
trying to figure it out, he tried getting a clue from the box itself, but
knowing nothing about history or archeology, he had no clue.
               He was just able to make out a symbol on the
side of the box - looked like a capital "E", almost. Not quite, but
almost. More angular. Kind of like, what, Egyptian writing, or Latin, or
something like that.
               That was about it.
               One thing he did know. You didn't take out the
day's garbage in a box like that.
               Something valuable was inside, and no one, but
no one, knew he knew. No one knew he'd found it. In fact, no one knew it was
here. No one knew it even existed .  He climbed out, turning off his
penlight.
               He sat down to consider his options. Whatever
was in that box had to be valuable. No one would know. How could they? This was
his chance, finally. Nobody would miss it. Nobody even knew it was there.