LET IT BE

Olaf bent down to get closer to his partner's ear and whispered, "Any luck?".

"Patience!", Len barked back, almost as if he was sure that no one was in the vicinity, "I only got two hands!"

"Here, use this wrench."

"What the...you had this with you all along?"

Olaf stifled a sheepish smile, but was unable to conceal his embarrassment. He'd always had the reputation of being quick on his feet and not too quick in his thinking.

"All I need to do now...", Len said to break the awkwardness, "...is to give this a li'l twist, and...", there was a click and a clang and the door to the cellar creaked open.

The sight inside the cellar left the men spellbound. Scores of boxes lay strewn across the floor. They were all half open, partly revealing what they concealed. The men could make out gold ornaments, wads of currency notes and other valuables. They seemed to be at least fifty years old. There were also scores of well-sealed bottles of rum on the floor. This was nothing like what they had ever seen in their ten years of burglary. Len picked up one bottle from off the floor, forced it open and took a long swig. He had heard that rum rarely ever went bad, and that statement never felt truer than today. He coughed as the strong alcohol cut into his throat, and offered the bottle to Olaf to take in a few sips.

"How old must all this stuff be?". Olaf enquired, after quenching his thirst.

"At least 70 years old", Len shot back, "This is probably from around the time the Second World War was on."

"And what's that?", Olaf asked, pointing over Len's shoulder.

It was an eerie looking wooden chest, with a ghoulish looking lid, corners and metal mounts. It was almost as if the chest was itself warning onlookers to stay away.

"Treasure!", Len retorted in excitement, "Wonder what's in there. Well, it's time to find out.", he said as he gripped the wrench and began to get ready to work on it.

"Wait", Olaf protested, "What's that carved on the lid?"

Len looked at it carefully. "Well, it says 'Let It Be'"

Olaf was beginning to have a bad feeling about this. "Well then, let's leave this one untouched."

"Are you crazy?", Len laughed, and got back to work.

It took Len and Olaf almost 20 minutes to open the chest, and the creature inside only a few seconds to swallow them whole.

By and large, it is better to let bygones be bygones.

Besides, can't say they hadn't been warned.

Previous posts in the A to Z Challenge - April 2016:-

A - Arsenal

B - Bruce Dickinson
C - Colourless
D - Dope
E - Ecstasy
F - Feast of Burden
G - G Spot
H - Horror: The Genre of Genres
I  -  Illusions
J  - Judas
K - Kuwait