/lit/ - Literature

/lit/, I come to you here on my fucking knees. you faggots are my last hope to solve this question that has plagued and haunted me for over 20 years.

some backstory for my insanity:
>be me, 7 years old, 2000 or so
>love I Spy books, dad helps me solve the riddles I get stuck on
>have every book
>going through Treasure Hunt for the first time
>get to page pic related
>find everything on the page, except the 2 coins, can only find one
this is where my descent into madness begun
>finish entire book, find everything except second coin
>ask dad for help, we spend about 20 minutes on it
>he is stumped as well
>thisissnotgood.webp
>sister tries to help, also can't find it
>this has never happened before, the riddles are really fucking easy
>upset about it, but eventually forget because whatever
>fast forward like 13 years, in highschool
>moving across the state so I'm cleaning out my garage looking for stuff to donate to goodwill
>find my old books, goosebumps, animorphs, i spy
>all good shit
>continue looking through i spy books, suddenly that riddle from 13 years ago hits my mind like an ICBM an all the memories come flooding back
surely I just missed the second coin right? it can't be as hard as I remember?
>decide to give it another shot, skip right to the page
>fucking dumbfounded again, it is just as hard as I remember
>literally scan through each section of the page with my eyes right to the paper for about a half hour
>can't find shit
>mom asks for everything I'm getting rid of, donate mostly everything except Treasure Hunt
>thisisn'tfuckingover.bsp
>go off to college, leave book behind and forget about it again
>come home because covid
>sister asks me to babysit cousin
>looking for stuff for him to play with, go into attic and find old books and toys
>nostalgia tripping hard
>moving through my legos, feel something hard underneath them
>it's the fucking Treasure Hunt
>am immediately overcome with an ape-like primal rage
>frothing at the mouth
>no, this is just what the book wants, compose yourself
>calm down, think to myself maybe cousin can do what I couldn't, bring book down
>going through it, solving the riddles
>get to the Page
>1000 mile stare on my face, pretending I'm not bitter
>begins looking for the two coins, immediately finds the first under the fountain
>remembering when I was just like him, so naive
>he gives up and moves on
a failure to be sure, just like me.
>we complete the rest of the book and he goes to bed
>I wonder to myself if I've doomed him to insanity like me through my actions

I won't let this FUCKING children's book claim another innocent soul, I won't let those rat fucks jean marzollo and walter wick get away with it again, call me schizo, call me autistic, just help me find this goddamn motherfucking coin and end my curse.