At the Playground

On a warm, sunny day, Illya and his friends Nikita and Lisa gathered at the playground in their courtyard. It was their favorite place: swings, a slide, a sandbox, and even a small wooden cabin where they often hid from the rain or set up their "headquarters."

The playground looked especially lively today. Lisa had brought her new sand molds, and the friends started building towers and tunnels. Illya was digging in the sand with his small shovel when something shiny caught his eye. He leaned down and uncovered a small, dirt-covered object that looked like a piece of metal with unusual patterns.

“Guys, look what I found!” Illya called out excitedly. Nikita and Lisa immediately came over to him.

“What is it?” asked Lisa, examining the find.

“It looks like some ancient artifact!” added Nikita, thinking of the adventure movies they had recently watched.

Illya decided that this wasn’t just any object but something important. The three of them sat down on the swings and started discussing where this artifact might have come from. Each suggested their own theory, and their imaginations grew wilder by the minute.

“Maybe ancient inhabitants of our yard left it here long ago for us to find,” Illya proposed. “Or maybe it was a kind of talisman that protected them?”

“Or it’s a piece of a time machine,” Nikita added. “They probably traveled through the centuries and decided to leave part of their mechanism here.”

Lisa looked at the find with wide eyes:

“What if it’s a key to some secret place? Maybe there’s a hidden shelter under the playground!”

The three friends exchanged glances, excited by the idea of a secret hideout. They began searching around the playground, peeking under the slide, behind the wooden walls, and even digging in the sandbox in hopes of finding a “secret entrance.” But they found no shelter.

After a long search, Illya suddenly had the idea that they could “activate” the artifact by placing it in the sunlight. They returned to the sandbox and set the find on the sand where the sunlight would hit it. For a minute, nothing happened, but their excitement only grew.

“Maybe it will start ‘speaking’ to us?” Nikita suggested with a serious expression.

Illya and Lisa watched the object closely as if they expected it to reveal a secret. But, of course, it stayed silent. Nevertheless, their game was becoming more thrilling by the second.

“Let’s call it the ‘Artifact of the Guardians,’” Lisa suggested. “And let’s make it the symbol of our ‘Order of the Playground Guardians!’”

The friends were thrilled with the idea. Now they had their own “order,” and each took a vow to protect the playground and only share its “secrets” with trusted friends. Nikita came up with the idea that they should start looking for similar artifacts that might be hidden in different parts of the yard.

Soon, other kids joined them, and Illya shared his discovery, telling everyone his theories about the artifact’s origins. All the kids were excited, and the game turned into a real adventure. They created theories, imagined how “past generations” might have used the artifact, and laughed at the most fantastical ideas.

At the end of the day, Illya hid the artifact in a secret spot on the playground so that he could continue his “excavations” the next day. He realized that it wasn’t always necessary to know the real purpose of an object—sometimes, imagination could make every day exciting and special.

As he walked home, Illya smiled. This day had been special, and he was already looking forward to what new “secrets” the next day on their playground would bring.