Ghost Island by Max Seeck

Author:Max Seeck [Seeck, Max]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

The handwriting is clearly a child’s, although it’s unclear how old it is. But if Jessica’s intuition is right, if the room has been left untouched all these years, the words might well be Maija’s.

Jessica stares at the writing. At first glance, it looks like some language related to Finnish, like Estonian or Sami, but all the words begin with “ve” and end with “de.”

Vedekieli! Jessica remembers speaking and writing it herself as a child. It was pretty easy to get the hang of, and grown-ups often didn’t have a clue how to decipher this simple code. Jessica pulls her notebook from her pocket, flips to a blank page, and writes down the words.

Verinsuude . . . How did it go again? Get rid of the “ve” and the “de” . . . Rinsuu. Reverse the order of the syllables: suurin. “Biggest.” Jessica jots down the translated text, tongue lodged firmly in her cheek. My treasure. My biggest treasure . . . is in the woods behind the orphanage next to the egg . . . shaped rock. Jessica rushes out into the corridor, notebook in hand, and hurries to the front door. The door opens easily with a twist of the handle, and she steps back out into the fresh air; breathing it feels heavenly after the few minutes she spent in the moldy orphanage.

Jessica circles the building, spots a tool rack in the corner closest to the road, and on a whim grabs a badly rusted spade. She hugs the building toward the backyard. She sees a few battered trash cans, a metal barrel, rusted bicycles, and an ancient push mower. A jumble of things has been piled against the wall of the orphanage: fuel canisters, blue plastic crates, a chicken coop. The sagging gutters reach groundward, and the recent rain burbles along the stone foundation. The dense and surprisingly tall forest rustles ominously behind the building.

In the woods behind the orphanage next to the egg . . . shaped rock.

The old orphanage is tens of meters long, but for some reason Jessica is certain Maija has hidden her treasure somewhere around the building’s midpoint so it would be easy to find later. Jessica walks halfway down the building, then dives into the woods. She advances slowly so she won’t miss the rock. In the end, she doesn’t even know what size it is: maybe the stone is not only egg shaped but also egg sized. She hears a bird croak at the crown of a spruce, and then the air is split by the flap of wings. The heavy branches darken the sky. On this part of the island, nature feels desolate and unfriendly.

Jessica keeps going deeper into the woods, pushes aside branches, and is thinking there’s no way the rock can be this far from the building when she suddenly notices a mossy, knee-high stone that truly resembles a bird’s egg embedded in the ground. Jessica squats down next to it. There’s a dip in the ground next to the rock.

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