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Gilded Greed
It was a warm and dry, but otherwise normal day with the family for Blake at the blue river campsite in Tishomingo Oklahoma. He had been there many times before, his family almost always made a summer trip to go camping by the crystal blue waters, unless they were rained out. His mom, dad, brother and sister all enjoyed floating the water and relaxing in the slow moving currents, but Blake loved to explore the underwater caves that are littered throughout the river and this time he found something in a cave he had never discovered before.
As Blake made his way through and around the river toward a large underwater cave he liked to hangout in, he noticed a gold shimmering flash of light from within a small waterfall out of the corner of his eye. As his curiosity moved him closer to the cascade the flash came from, he noticed a small hollow point, an opening that was maybe two and a half feet around, just big enough for Blake to squeeze through and find whatever was on the other side.
Blake started to try and wiggle his way into the small hole, but stopped suddenly. To his right submerged in a small puddle of water was a gold coin, barley bigger than a quarter but much heavier. He quickly stuffed the coin in his swimtrunks pocket and sealed it closed with the velcro strap, then zealously forced his way through the mouth of the cavern he had discovered.
It would have been pitch black in the cave if it wasn't for a small break in the ceiling, allowing a small amount of water and light to trickle down and out creating a little stream, but also creating a spot light aimed at a corpse. Yes a dead man. It was obvious he had been there for a very long time given his clothes and gear were from the eighteenth century.
Blake knew he should be completely freaked out at the sight of a dead man, but this particular dead man was grasping a metal pot full of gold tightly in his decaying skeletal arms.
The gold seemed to have a bright glow to it, almost enough to blind someone in the darkness. Blake found himself drawing closer and closer to it like a moth to a flame, until suddenly he found himself clutching the black metal pot full to the brim of gold coins.
As Blake began to stand up and lift the pot away from it's original owner he tried to be careful not to let one of the freaky dead hands touch one of his own, but just before he could pull it away completely, one of the hands snapped across his wrist and gripped it tightly.
The corpse crackled and popped as it sat up right for the first time in centuries. Dust, insects and cobwebs filtered out of his mouth and where his nose used to be before it rotted out as he exhaled his first breath since just as long ago. He then tilted his head upward toward Blake and began to speak,
"You dare take my gold?" he chuckled in between sentences
"Greed. It is an awful trait, I curse this gold with my final breath, whomsoever touches my coins shall be forever owned by greed!"
With that his body and clothes started to fall into dust, starting at his legs and moving it's way up to the hand that gripped Blake's wrist leaving behind a bright red mark in the shape of a hand.
Blake looked down at the gold and thought for a while about what the undead cowboy had said while he glanced at the mark on his wrist.
"Whomsoever touches my coins shall be forever owned by greed!"
The voice of the dead man echoed around the inside of Blake's skull. He wondered what he could've meant by that, or how a pile of dust could possibly harm him, but he also wondered how a man could be dead for so long and manage to speak to him let alone put a curse on him. He looked down at the pile of dust, then moved his eyes back to the gold.
...
As Blake made his way through and around the river toward a large underwater cave he liked to hangout in, he noticed a gold shimmering flash of light from within a small waterfall out of the corner of his eye. As his curiosity moved him closer to the cascade the flash came from, he noticed a small hollow point, an opening that was maybe two and a half feet around, just big enough for Blake to squeeze through and find whatever was on the other side.
Blake started to try and wiggle his way into the small hole, but stopped suddenly. To his right submerged in a small puddle of water was a gold coin, barley bigger than a quarter but much heavier. He quickly stuffed the coin in his swimtrunks pocket and sealed it closed with the velcro strap, then zealously forced his way through the mouth of the cavern he had discovered.
It would have been pitch black in the cave if it wasn't for a small break in the ceiling, allowing a small amount of water and light to trickle down and out creating a little stream, but also creating a spot light aimed at a corpse. Yes a dead man. It was obvious he had been there for a very long time given his clothes and gear were from the eighteenth century.
Blake knew he should be completely freaked out at the sight of a dead man, but this particular dead man was grasping a metal pot full of gold tightly in his decaying skeletal arms.
The gold seemed to have a bright glow to it, almost enough to blind someone in the darkness. Blake found himself drawing closer and closer to it like a moth to a flame, until suddenly he found himself clutching the black metal pot full to the brim of gold coins.
As Blake began to stand up and lift the pot away from it's original owner he tried to be careful not to let one of the freaky dead hands touch one of his own, but just before he could pull it away completely, one of the hands snapped across his wrist and gripped it tightly.
The corpse crackled and popped as it sat up right for the first time in centuries. Dust, insects and cobwebs filtered out of his mouth and where his nose used to be before it rotted out as he exhaled his first breath since just as long ago. He then tilted his head upward toward Blake and began to speak,
"You dare take my gold?" he chuckled in between sentences
"Greed. It is an awful trait, I curse this gold with my final breath, whomsoever touches my coins shall be forever owned by greed!"
With that his body and clothes started to fall into dust, starting at his legs and moving it's way up to the hand that gripped Blake's wrist leaving behind a bright red mark in the shape of a hand.
Blake looked down at the gold and thought for a while about what the undead cowboy had said while he glanced at the mark on his wrist.
"Whomsoever touches my coins shall be forever owned by greed!"
The voice of the dead man echoed around the inside of Blake's skull. He wondered what he could've meant by that, or how a pile of dust could possibly harm him, but he also wondered how a man could be dead for so long and manage to speak to him let alone put a curse on him. He looked down at the pile of dust, then moved his eyes back to the gold.
...
