Obsession
Both men were close to passing out. They had been playing this old millionaire’s game for years but were so close to throwing in the towel. Just then, David’s foot went from under him into a concealed pit. He screamed as he plummeted to the bottom. Was this the end that all their suffering had led them to?
He screamed in agony. “I’ve landed on something man!” he cried out to Ted. When he came to and managed to pull himself together he opened it up. His eyes watered at what he saw inside.
Lover Of The Great Outdoors
Ted Cranwell had always planned on making it big, some way or another. He had always been a huge dreamer with no real fixed aspirations but his main love had always been hiking and the great outdoors.
Ted was about to discover that his hobby was going to change his life in ways he couldn’t even imagine.
Dedicated
David was the kind of man who had to know absolutely everything about whatever he was interested in at any given point in time. Some would call it nerdy, he called it dedicated.
When he first met his wife, Angel, he was totally and utterly obsessed with her. That was until his attention was stolen away by an old man.
Pipe Dream
David and Ted were both real estate agents in the same company, men who worked to live but certainly didn’t live to work. One day while chatting over lunch, David started telling Ted all about his latest passion, the apparent hidden treasure of a rich old man named Forrest Fenn. Ted was utterly bored with life in his dead-end job and was drawn in by David’s enthusiasm and knowledge on the topic.
When he told him that the treasure was most likely in a remote place, David lit up. A chance to break out of his humdrum life with a chance of hiking? He was in. He would live to regret that decision.
Real-Life Indiana Jones
Forrest was almost like a real-life Indiana Jones type of character. He had made his fortune treasure hunting all around the world and was now an old man. He was now old and unable to adventure anymore but when he announced on his website that he had hidden some of his fortunes somewhere, nerds around the world went wild, David included.
His game had begun. However, Forrest had a sadistic streak in him and never expected that anyone would find his treasure.
Research
David had only started his journey down the rabbit hole and he was taking Ted down with him. They would hang around the office every day after work researching Forrest’s cryptic clues he posted on his website, trying to figure out what he meant.
David became so obsessed that his wife began to suspect he was having an affair. He assured her that he loved her but still, he was entranced by this treasure. After a few months of this, she became tired of his behavior and left him. David had lost the only woman he had ever loved for this treasure. He was utterly heartbroken but his dogged obsession raged on. Whatever it was had better be worth it.
The Journey Begins
The two men announced to their office that they were taking three weeks off work to search for this old billionaire’s hidden treasure. As you can imagine, this was met with much amusement from colleagues. Rumors swirled that David had left his wife for Ted and that they were eloping together and the treasure was their cover.
The two men couldn’t care less what the miserable old losers they worked with thought of them. David, in particular, had nothing left to lose. The two men set off on their epic quest. They would not be the same when they returned.
Perilous
Ted was so cocky going into the adventure. Having hiked across the Andes in South America in college, he was a little overconfident in his abilities. He was a great outdoorsman nonetheless and David felt blessed to have him by his side.
Despite his cockiness, Ted had no idea the kind of trail that Forrest was about to lead them down. His confidence was about to be shaken.
A Trap
The men had been hiking for what felt like days through the Rockies and they were utterly spent. They had not anticipated how far the trail would lead them and David was starting to panic that they had made a mistake.
Their boots were filling with blood from days of intense walking and Ted had even lost a toenail. The men were about to give up when disaster struck. While getting to the X that marked the spot that they had, David’s legs went from underneath him and he vanished into a well-disguised chasm in the road. Ted and David both screamed as he thudded to the bottom. Was their journey to end in tragedy?
X Marks The Spot
Ted screamed down at David “Man are you alive?”. “I-I am… I’m OK, I’ve landed on something though, it looks like a box” he stammered. “Aawh man, no way” exclaimed David.
“What is it?” asked Ted. “I think we’ve found what we’ve come here for” replied David tearfully as he lifted up a chest above his head. But what had the oddball billionaire hidden inside?
Treasure
Inside the chest, they found treasure that they couldn’t even begin to understand. All they were certain of was that it was made of gold and it looked like it was worth more than both their year’s salaries combined. Jewells that they had never seen before glimmered in the sunlight.
Ted snapped a photo of the two of them with their haul. They were about to go viral.
Congratulations
The second they posted the photo on the Forrest Fenn treasure subreddit, their post blew up. By the time they had made it back to civilization, their post had thousands and thousands of upvotes. People were making videos and posting them to YouTube about their treasure and when they went to his website, Forrest Fenn himself confirmed that they had indeed found his treasure!
He extended his congratulations to the two men. Needless to say, Karen in their office had the sarcastic smile wiped right off her face when they returned to work with the good news. Both men promptly quit soon after and their treasure was enough to sustain their lifestyles comfortably.