Oaklee woke up this morning just like any normal day. She dragged herself out of bed and went on with life like any other day.
When she got home her mom said that she had a surprise for her. She sat on the couch and couldn’t wait to talk to her parents about it, “Come on hurry, please tell me. I can’t wait any longer.” They looked at each other with smiling faces and then the moment that she had long waiting for her mom said, “You’re going to your Aunt Alyssa’s place for a week!” In her mind she had no idea what was going on. Who was Aunt Alyssa? More questions started rolling in her head. Do I have to? I don’t like being away from home. Why does this have to happen to me? After a minute she asked her mom, “Who is Aunt Alyssa?” Her mom’s face, still very happy and excited, “Come on Oaklee, you remember don’t you… She’s is my aunt we saw her last summer at the BBQ. She owns a dress company and wants you to model for them and she’s making it a huge deal. You’re going to down in California for a whole week we are flying you out tomorrow!!!” “Wow!” That was all that Oaklee could get out of her mouth. What else could she have said. She went up to her room with a smile on her face. She didn’t want to seem sad to her parents but she didn’t know how to react. The emotions inside of her couldn’t be explained. Sadness because she had to leave her family. Happiness for the opportunity to go explore California. Most of it as confusion. Not just one part of it but all of it was new to her. The questions went through her head. “What am I going to do while I’m there? Where am I going to stay? Modeling?” so many question rolled through her head. “Well, are you excited?” Tyson asked her while he dished up some mashed potatoes. “I think so. I’m still in shock about everything and would like to know a little bit more.” Oaklee said making sure that she won’t offend someone. “What would you like to know?” her mom asked. “Will I be alone on the flight? Will someone be there to pick me up? Where will I be staying? Can I call you while I’m there? What will I be modeling?” Oaklee tried to cram all of question in that she could. “Woah, lots of questions,” her mom said, “I can try but I’m not sure if I know all of the answers. Let’s see, yes, you will be alone but the second you get out of that flight Alyssa will be waiting for you. You will stay with Aunt Alyssa in her spare bedroom. Dresses of course. It’s Alyssa’s Amazing Armour you’re modeling for. Now go and get packed because you are leaving tomorrow.” She felt that this trip kept getting worse each time someone everyone said something. The next morning came faster than she hoped. Next thing that she knew she waved good-bye to her parents as she boarded herself on the plane. The plane ride seemed fast for only an hour and a half. After she had gotten of the plane Alyssa stood there so excited with a sign with ”Oaklee” written on it. All she could do was walk over there with confidence in hopes that this week wouldn’t seem too crazy. Let’s just say she had no idea what to expect. “Welcome to California Oaklee. Can I start calling you Oak?” Alyssa asked. “Sure,” Oaklee said hesitantly. “Great! Well we can’t waste any time with all that we have to do. Come on hurry up now Oaky darling. You’re slow just like your mother.” As the drive slowly came to an end Oaklee could see the building. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.” Oaklee stated trying this attention in. As she said this she looked out the window and saw a huge building with Alyssa’s Amazing Armour. “Well you better get ready we are entering the lot now.” Aunt Alyssa said this so calmly. As we pulled up to the doors everyone gathered around us. People with headsets, walkie-talkies, and others with name tags. “Wow,” Oaklee in shocked at everything couldn’t say what she wanted. Everyone surrounded her like she was the only thing in the world. So many names and introductions, she couldn’t put any names to faces. She really did feel that the world now revolved around her. But deep down inside her she know that this wasn’t her. She wanted to go to be alone for the rest of the night and get used to everything. For her it was just a long day of traveling. Once the huge groups of people started to slow down she had a chance to finally talk to Alyssa when she didn’t seem too busy. “Hey! Can I ask you some questions?” Oaklee said with as much confidence as she could. “Sure as long as it is quick because I have some exciting news that I would love to tell you. Come on hurry darling we don’t have all day.” Alyssa quickly said as if she had 3 seconds till the world ended. “Can we have dinner soon? Do I have a room? Can I have more details on the modeling?” “Sure! Whatever you want is what dinner is, you can have my butler and any room service you want since they all work for me. Your room is easy, come,” she walked up the staircase and showed me my room. “Here is your personal assistant, Hannah, also we will start modeling in the morning so please look at the stuff tonight and see what you like and what fits. I probably won’t see you again tonight so I’ll see you in the morning.” “Hi, I’m Hannah and I will be your personal assistant, please tell me if there is anything that I can help you with or get for you.” Hannah said with a very big smile and nice face. “Thank you, do you mind helping me with choosing some dresses? I’ll even let you try some on if you want to. “I shouldn’t try any on but thank you for the offer but I would love to help you with picking out some dresses for you to try on. Let’s get started before it gets too late.” Together they picked out quite a bit of dresses they liked so they could have many options depending on what looked good on Oaklee. After about an hour of trying on dress after dress they finally found a few of their favorites. In the closet a red dress sat with a rose on the side that went to about knee length, a white one that went to her feet made with tulle with sparkles in the material, and blue with a white silk underneath it and flower lace on the top half. “Hannah, will you please just try on one dress that doesn’t fit me just to see what it looks like on someone else?” Oaklee asked hoping for an affirmative answer. “I really can’t though. This is all for you and only you.” She said very confident in her answer and Oaklee didn’t think that it wouldn be an easy task to change her mind. “Will you please? That’s is what I am asking you to do and you told me that you would do whatever I asked of you. So…” Oaklee said hoping to outsmart her. “Fine. But only to do what you ask of me.” Hannah said with a defeated attitude. Oaklee picked out coral ruffled dress that would go down to her feet. She told her to try it on. As Oaklee waited she bursted with excitement that it was still a decent time for her to play around in the dresses. She still had the white dress on and she couldn’t wait to explore into it more. After what felt like forever Hannah came out and she looked stunning. “You look gorgeous. Now what do you want to do in these dresses?” asked Oaklee hoping for a fun response. “Let’s just talk and hang out if you don’t care.” “Sure!” Oaklee exclaimed as she started running over to the bed. “Yay! So question are you excited to be here? You are so lucky to have Aunt Alyssa to be your aunt. I can’t even imagine just coming here to model.” Hannah said with real intent and excitement wanting to learn more. “To tell the truth I didn’t really want to come her but here I am,” Oaklee said with a little bit of a more somber attitude. “Well then while you are here we will make the best of it. Just the two of us.” As Hannah said this she stood on the bed getting ready to jump on the bed. They both started jumping and to Oaklee this trip was not as bad as she thought it was going to be. If the rest of the trip happened like this she couldn’t wait. Just her and Hannah together made the world seem normal. As they laughed and goofed around Hannah had tripped over her feet and started falling to the floor. The floor started to come closer as all of the sudden she landed on the other side of the bed by the pillows. We both screamed just at the thought of what had happened. “Did you see that?” asked Hannah with a fearful face. “Yeah I did, does that one have special powers?” Oaklee trying to take her anxiety away. As she said that her her white dress seemed to shimmer. “Oaklee this is weird but I can’t see you anymore. Where did you go?” “Hannah please stop messing around this is really scaring me.” Oaklee asked with fear in her voice. “I’m not messing around with you Oaklee, I really can’t see you. You must be invisible.” Hannah said as if she had just found a new discovery, which she did. “Does that mean that Aunt Alyssa’s dresses all have super powers. That would explain why they are called ‘Alyssa’s Super Dress Set,’” Oaklee said excited. “Well then we better get a good night sleep and see if we can photoshoot tomorrow then change the world after that,” said Hannah will a discrete laugh. When they woke up in the morning they couldn’t excited to see each other. They woke up at the crack of dawn. At there door Alyssa had left a note that photos started at 9 a.m. Hannah carried her dress down to the studio and Oaklee sat down and got her makeup and hair all done so that she got ready by at the strike of 9. Alyssa came down the second it stiked nine o’clock. She never seemed that she would accept being late. We started the pictures and within and hour and a half we had finished. Hannah and Oaklee walked back to the room and started to make a plan. “We need to ask her,” said Hannah, “She would know better than any of us. She was the one who designed these.” “We will but first I want to try a couple more of them on just ot make sure that it wasn’t us just being crazy late at night.” So that is exactly what they did. They tried on a red one and sure enough Oaklee could see through her closet into all of the dresses. The blue on had the power to move things with her mind. It reminded her of the force from Star Wars. She moved a vase from one table to the next, them played a song on the piano even though she stood 10 feet away. Hannah and her finally started talking more about they could say. “I think I’m ready to aske her,” Oaklee spoke courageously, “Let’s just ask her if the dresses have superpowers.” “What if she says no?” Hannah inquired not wanting to sound stupid around her boss. “Then we will simply say that we were just messing with her.” Oaklee stating trying to think of a legitimate reason, “Okay, let’s go.” As they walked down the stairs their hearts were beating a million miles a minute. When they had finally got down they could hear her voice but didn’t know where it came from. In the middle of the crowd they finally found her. “Aunt Alyssa,” Oaklee started, “I have a really weird question for you.” “Go ahead darling, you can ask me anything you want to. You should always know that I am here for you darling,” she said not “Alright, here I go. Do your dresses have superpowers along with them?” The pause seemed extremely long and Oaklee started to shake. Her mind rolled on and on with possible questions and embarrassment that she could ask. “The truth is,” she paused, “It all happened with special effects.” Oaklee’s face was in shock “I knew that you weren’t super excited to come so I was trying to make the trip better by making it more enjoyable,” Alyssa said so calmly. “What?!?” Oaklee said sad to hear the truth, “But I had so much fun and it’s not true?” Hannah jumped in, “Well we still have all the memories.” “I guess that’s true!” Oaklee said as she hugged her new friend.
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The cool night air of the African jungle came out of Antankara’s mouth in small clouds of white. About a quarter mile from home he started to sprint knowing that the most dangerous predators were now ready to hunt. He returned to his small village just outside the jungle before the sun had crawled away to sleep. The children were gathered around the fire listening intently the elder of the village telling a story. Antankara walked over and decided to listen in.
“... it’s hair is as thick as the jungle, it’s skin as hard as rock, has the strength of a whole band of gorilla’s and the speed of a zebra, but,” said Chief, the elder, “ the scariest part about this beast is his eyes.” Antankara interrupted, “Such a beast does not exist. I have hunted every beast in this jungle and not one comes close to the description.” “Nice of you to join us, Kara. If you don’t mind, the children would like to hear the rest of my story.” Chief said in a joking manner. “Sorry,” said Kara (Antankara) knowing he was disrespectful to the chief, “you were talking about it’s eyes.” “Ahh yes, thank you. Its eyes are cold, black, and dead. They tell you a story and drag you deeper and deeper in. Some say the only way to flee is to have no fear; the only thing that can kill a beast like that is another beast. Next thing you know, you’re being savagely attacked; with so little effort it can rip you apart in seconds.” “Chief!” shouted one of the children, “How would you know this if you haven’t seen it?” “Who said I haven’t?” replied the chief. He turned around and removed some clothing that revealed a giant scar on his back stretching from his right shoulder blade down to his left hip. The children gasped and some of the other male elders faces were grim, seeming to be scared at the story the chief was telling. “The hell bound beast you described surely would have done worse. Was it a gorilla that did this?” said Kara “The beast got to me,” said Chief, “I was on a gorilla hunt to prove myself as a Chief. Just as you’ll do soon Kara; but you’ll have no problem because of your natural ability to kill. Anyways, I had been stalking a band for a couple hours and dark was creeping up on me, so the first chance I got I took at a young male. My arrow passed right through its eyes and the majestic creature dropped. I heard my elders cheer from where they had been hiding and watching me. They arrived just seconds before the band of gorillas did. They acted aggressively as the alpha walked up challenging me. My elders had taught me to hold my ground. Just as I planted my feet he backed down and grunted as they all fled. I thought we had won and took a deep breath in when the smell of the blood-stained air ran through through my nose. I let out a cry of victory and we started to celebrate when I got a monstrous roar back that sent chills down my spine. Maybe I should finish another time.” said Chief with a dramatized look on his face as he remembered what had happened. The kids all started to beg. Chief agreed to finish the story if they would let him go to bed right after and stop bugging him. “The roar was one of an animal I’ve never heard. It was deep and seemed to shake the entire earth. I was petrified when the big black figure, that looked like an oversized gorilla, emerged from the dense jungle. I didn’t see any detail, except in its eyes. I don’t know what happened, but I couldn’t look away. All but the chief, before me, were stuck in its killer gaze. It approached me, and I couldn’t move. It was about to strike when my chief struck it with a stone. It charged him while we were all still frozen. There was no escape, but he fought and fought, seconds seemed like an eternity, but the creature was too fast and too strong. It took his life and slashed my back while running away with the Chief’s body and the young gorilla.” Suddenly the children didn’t seem so intent to hear the story. Hearts were heavy on the gloomy night. Antankara now knew there was something out there, something more than just an over sized gorilla. Tired from a day of trek through the harsh jungle, he went to bed. Dreamt of a beast like the one chief had told him about. It came to the villages and destroyed anything to get in the way. He was one of the last left and tried to go stop it, but even in a dream, the eyes hypnotized him. The beast crawled over him and there was no more hope. The beast raised his powerful arm, but hesitated. This gave Kara time to stare deep into its eyes. The beast showed no weakness, no flaw, it could not be stopped. He woke from his dream that seemed all too real. Shouting woke him up. Confused at all the confusion around him, he ran outside. Chief told him that something was attacking a neighboring village and they needed all possible help. He grabbed his bow and arrows and ran to the village. He got there and saw a big black figure that just disappeared behind one of the houses. In an all out sprint, he ran as fast as he could going to warn Chief of the Beast he just saw moving towards them. He finally got there, but everyone seemed to be calm. He told Chief what he saw, but he affirmed him the shady figure belonged to a band of gorillas. “They were just curious; wanted to see what all of the commotion was about. Saw the torches and decided they wanted a closer look. All we had to do was shift them away.” Still not convinced, Kara argued, “Chief, the figure I saw was about 100 yards from this group.” “That must have been your imagination playing with your mind. The beast I spoke of hasn’t been seen in over 20 years since I saw him. You were a year from birth when this happened. We will be fine. Now go get some rest.” He stared into the deep jungle for about 10 mins after the chief left. Finally convinced nothing was there, he started his walk back to the village. Alone in the dark just outside the jungle, he started to get scared. He felt like he was being watched, stalked. Like something sat there waiting for the perfect moment to attack. Getting nervous, he started to run.The fear coming off of him was see-able. Out of nowhere, a loud roar that at first sounded like thunder cracked in the air. Kara looked back, and again saw the same big, black, powerful figure running towards him. He was about 50 yards from his village and the figure 150 yards behind him. Kara started to scream. The beast used its speed to close in on him. Kara thought to himself, “This is it.” He entered the village and still didn’t look back. People started to emerge from their homes. Fear struck the face of everyone that looked. Chief jumped out of bed and saw the beast. He screamed, “Everyone except men inside now! Grab your weapons!” Kara made it back to his house unsure of what he just saw; he grabbed his weapon and went back out. Two men froze where they stood. Kara stayed at a distance but didn’t have a clean shot. The creature smacked one of the men to the ground. He didn’t get up. The man was Chief. Enraged, Kara ran closer firing arrow after arrow and hit it many times, but they just bounced off. He got too close and looked the beast right in the eyes, but quickly froze. It grabbed Chief’s limp body and started to run. Kara fell out of the trans; he grabbed arrows as fast as he could and kept firing. The beast let out a cry, but this time it was a high pitched yelp. It was a cry of pain. Kara had hit the beast in the same spot twice; the first opened a small hole, just big enough for the second to bury in his hard back. The beast dropped Chief and ran off into the jungle not wanting to get hit again. Kara realized this was the first real time it had felt pain. Without thinking, he ran to Chief to see if any life still lingered in him. He knelt by Chief’s side, his eyes full of tears. “Chief! Chief!” he cried with agony. There was no response. Kara yelled back at the other men still petrified, “Help him! Hurr-” his voice was cut off by his own sorrow. Chief had been the only father figure Kara had known. He laid next to the limp, unmoving body crying. The next morning there no one made a noise. No talking. No stories. No chief. One of the men finally spoke up, “What do we do now?” he said looking at Antankara. He didn’t respond. Kara could only think of the death of his friend, Chief, and father. People in the village started to talk more about who the next chief would be. They all ended up suggesting Kara sooner or later. He was previously selected by Chief and was weeks away from proving himself. “The Chief is supposed to be able to protect his people. No one can protect us from that,” Kara said. “But you did,” said Chief’s wife, “ if it weren’t for you more would have died. Kara, you’re all we have.” Over the next couple of days, he thought about this and about how much he cared about the people. After allowing for some grieving time, a new bitter feeling controlled his thoughts: revenge. Kara went and talked to the eldest and told them he would be Chief if he was able to prove himself by killing the beast. The idea got quickly rejected, but Kara kept asking. He told them to prove he could protect them; he needed to take this beast’s life instead of a gorilla’s. Slowly, Kara convinced them. Finally, he got them to approve the hunt. On the morning before the hunt, Kara had no words and sweat poured out of his body like a cascade, nervous for the day ahead of him. He knew he couldn’t let the beast take anymore lives, so he went forward with his idea. Finally having everything ready, he would head off into the dense unforgiving jungle not knowing if he would return. He covered his body in paint made of mud so he would be harder to smell. He had only his bow, 24 arrows, and a spear. Kara knew he had to give it his all or he might never have the chance again. The sun crept over the hills and Kara knew he should head back, but the thought of revenge took over his mind. He headed off the path, deeper into the jungle, looking for signs. He found nothing and decided it was time to head back for the night. He looked back for the trail, but it had disappeared. He had wandered off too far and the light of the sun’s light had receded just enough so he couldn’t see where we had come from. He panicked and ran in the direction he thought he came from. Because of the panic, he ran farther from home and deeper into the jungle. A ground-shaking roar shook the earth below Kara; the beast had found him. He got the feeling of being watched again, but this time he knew the beast was there. The eyes burned your skin as they passed over you. Kara ran not knowing the beast hovered above in the trees. Studying his every move waiting to attack. Kara stopped under a tree waiting for any signs of movement or sound. There was a slight cracking noise above him. Kara looked up and a branch came hurling down at him. He quickly jumped out of the way and looked up trying to find where the beast was. He spun around searching and searching when all the sudden the beast dropped making a thud when he hit the ground. Kara turned around slowly knowing the eyes of the beast were there waiting to control Kara. In a desperate attempt to look away, he dove into the earth, covering his eyes. This surprised the beast and it took him a few seconds to realize what happened. Kara jumped up while the beast stood there, confused and Kara grabbed his spear; he thrusted it as hard as he could into the chest of the beast. It was no use; the spear snapped easily on the hard skin. Astonished at the sudden move, the beast didn’t know what to think which gave Kara enough time to hide behind the thick trunk of a tree. The beast knowing Kara had nowhere to go, climbed a nearby tree and got ready to make the kill. Meanwhile Kara was trembling in fear, which made it all to easy for the beast. Kara had an arrow knocked in his wooden bow, ready to shoot. He heard movement in the trees and saw the beast leap towards him. Kara aimed for its head and let the arrow fly. Even in mid air the beast’s eyes caught Kara’s. Kara didn’t know what would happen next when the arrow struck the beast right in the eye. There was a cry from both of them as the beast crashed into Kara’s body, breaking his bow and cracking his ribs. Now the beast was angry; it ripped the arrow out of its eye and roared. It crawled over the top of Kara but he closed his eyes. His life flashed and he thought it was over. He remembered Chief and how he died and how he described the beast. Kara no longer feared death or the beast or anything. Completely calm he waited for his death, but it didn’t come. He opened his eyes and saw the blank stare of the once terrifying creature. It looked confused and got off of him, looking around like it had lost something. Then Kara remembered one specific thing that Chief said: “Some say the only way to flee is to have no fear…” that was it. The cold, dark eyes of the beast saw fear. It fed off of it and used it to hypnotize you. Kara stood up calmly waiting to be hit, but nothing happened. He walked over to his broken spear head and picked it up. He stepped on a branch and the beast ran over to see what made the noise, but it saw nothing. Kara ran at the beast and shoved the spear head deep into its good eye, all the way into its brain. The beast made one final cry, then it dropped. Kara woke up to the children laughing in the village. He went out and had breakfast with the elders. The rest of the day he did his normal work as chief and payed his respects to Chief’s grave. Late at night, the children gathered around the fire listening to Kara’s story of how he killed the beast. When it was time to sleep, he returned to his home and looked up at the head of the beast hanging over his door. “Great,” Bruce thought, “things are NOT going according to plan.” Their plan, that had run smooth as clockwork, had exploded into chaos, like a watermelon hurled off of an eight-story building. The whole situation had gone down the drain, forcing him to sprint with his band of master criminals for his life because of some rookie mistake that the new guy made. As he ran through the slick, bumpy streets of the city, he considered his crucial decision to hire another man. He had opposed the idea of recruiting the new guy in the first place, but his most trusted friend and advisor, Rick, had insisted they needed him for the plan to succeed. He was carefully evaluating his team’s performance while on the job, when his train of thought was brutally derailed by the new guy.
“Guys! Hold up! I need to catch my breath,” he gasped. They dashed into a claustrophobic alleyway, the walls so close together, it seemed as if the buildings themselves had swallowed them whole. Like a band of Big Bad Wolves, everyone huffed and puffed to try and catch their breath. Bruce seized the new guy by the collar and slammed him into the ice cold bricks that made up the street of the pitch-black alley where they concealed themselves. “You had one job! One!” He yelled, his hands a whirlwind of gestures, “And you went and messed everything up! All you had to do was disarm the security system and emergency response, but did you? NO! You had to go and trigger both of them!” “But I, I, I...” the new guy stammered, Bruce’s hot breath rolling over his face, like a dragon assessing its prey. “You what?” bellowed Bruce. “I triple checked the program,” he said, cowering, “it should’ve worked perfectly!” “Well obviously it didn’t.” stated Bruce. The new guy put on a look of defiance, or the best he could muster considering the circumstance at hand. “I’ll prove it works,” he said. He whipped out his laptop, fingers flying, checking and rearranging lines of computer code, and, just like that, the sirens in the distance ceased their piercing cry. “Someone must have triggered the security system before I had the chance to disarm it,” he suggested. “Who could’ve tripped the alarm?” Bruce thought, “we’ve been planning and rehearsing the heist for months.” While these thoughts raced through Bruce’s head like a bullet, he felt the cold, unforgiving steel of a barrel being pressed to his head. “Sorry, Brucy, old boy,” said Rick in his smooth oily voice, a smirk plastered on his face, “the cops got a hold of me months ago, told me they knew we were up to something, something big. So they gave me two options. I could refuse to say anything, and head to the slammer the rest of my days, or, I could help them apprehend you and your crew, and walk free as a bird, my pockets more heavy and full than the Queen of England Herself. I could live out the rest of my days a free man.” He walked around Bruce, who was precariously crouched next to the new guy, and knelt in front of him. “Guess what I chose,” said Rick, clicking the gun’s hammer into firing position. The boat hit the oceanside with a small thud. The gravel shore scratched the bottom of the boat bringing the men to a screeching halt. The men got out of the boat and hugged the shore after their long chore of fighting the harsh wind trying to keep a sinking boat afloat. They finally made it. The peaceful island looked uninterrupted. Behind the shore with rocks and thorns a forest stood filled with plants and animals. Above the trees lay desolate mountain with a large crack near the top. “I see it.” exclaimed one man looking at the climb. “We must find shelter and rest. We will go to the mountain just before dawn” said Bob.
Morning was cold and dark. The blue skies had no clouds at all. The men got up from their slumber ready for the hunt that awaited them. They packed up and headed for the forest. The forest was very dense of insects and bush. The sailors wondered why there was no one here and why no one talked about it. As the sailors reached the start of the mountain, a chill rushed down their spines. A thick fog rolled in making it hard to see where they went. After a long climb they made it to the top. The men loaded their rifles and kept a close eye on anything the interior. SIlence, the room filled with silence. Out of the corner of a sailor's eye he could see a large arm pick up a heavy rock. “FIRE!!!” screamed the sailor as the men bombarded the wild beast. The beast started throwing rocks. One after another picking off every sailor in its path. Captain Bob saw that he had to make an escape. Captain bob hid behind a rock hoping the beast would not track his scent. But nothing could hide from the barbaric figure that lay before him. Bob was dumbfound as he peered into the eyes of this devil. He knew why everyone feared the area. He knew why his commander did not want to come. And now he knows why this place was called the crack of dawn. I took one last step and breathed deeply. The air thin and cool, I gazed out at the vast, green valley beneath me. I looked back to see where Ben was at. His panting was hard and fast, looking as if he had the time of his life. His soft yellow paws ran up to meet me as I whistled at him, “Come here boy,” he came to my side jumped up on his hind legs and licked my face. I scrunched my face and gently pushed him down. Looking around, I spotted a boulder.. I walked over and promptly sat down, quite exhausted. I gulped down the remainder of my water bottle, immediately regretting not bringing a spare.
Unzipping my bag to grab a snack, I heard a loud clap of thunder. My head shot up, “Uh-oh,” The wind suddenly picked up and whistled in the trees. I looked behind me and saw the dark, monstrous clouds glide closer, and closer. “Of course,” I said aloud, “just my luck.” I sighed as I zipped up my bag again and stood up. Frustrated and tired that I couldn’t enjoy the view longer, I began my trek down the hill, Ben at my side. A sudden gust of wind hit my back and I stumbled. The trees leaned towards the bottom of the hill as if to say, Hurry up. I picked up my pace, worried that it would begin to rain. The wind got stronger, and I began to feel little drops of water on my forehead. I set my bag down on the ground and untied my jacket from around my waist. Ben whimpered when he saw I paused. “It’s okay buddy, we’ll be alright,” I assured him as I zipped up the light jacket. As soon as I lifted my bag to my shoulder, a lightning bolt struck the hill to my right. Ben whimpered some more. Frightened, I began to jog down the hill. Ben was a few paces ahead of me, “Ben! Slow down!” Another bolt flashed. I worried, knowing I had about three miles to go before we reached the trailend. It began to pour. I looked up at the sky, squinting. The pale blue sky now completely enveloped by the black vicious clouds. Drenched and cold, I said a little prayer in my heart that we would reach the car in safety. I began to jog again. Ten minutes swept by, then twenty, the rain growing heavier, the wind forceful as ever, my heart beating faster. I realized that Ben had stopped. Then I saw it. It was gigantic. The brown fur all mudded from the rain and dirt. Eight feet of pure muscle. Ben was staring at the creature right in the eyes. I froze. No, I thought, no no no no. My mind was blank, I had no idea what to do. I didn’t even have a pocket knife. I didn’t even know bears were in these parts. Ben whimpered, the bear growled. A tear fell down my cheek. The harsh reality hit. This was it. I was done for. I saw the headlines flash in my brain. Local Girl Killed by a Bear. Bear Kills Girl on a Hike. Girl and Dog Murdered by a Bear. Without thinking, I sank to my knees. I heard the bear snort, but I was too afraid to look up. Time passed, all three of us still. The clouds roared, the lightning flashed, the wind raged, and yet it was the most quiet moment. Five minutes, thirty, two hours? I didn’t know. My eyes were glued to the ground. I finally looked up. The bear’s dark lifeless eyes met mine, as it went back down to four legs. I panicked, I feared it would charge at me. Ben’s poor legs shook. I stared hard at the bear, glaring, hoping my stance would turn him away. More time passed. My back ached, my legs sore, yet I stared hard. Then a miracle happened. A lightning bolt flashed and crackled, hitting the bear right on head. Ben and I flew back from the impact, my vision went dark. The soft ringing in my ears brought me to my senses, I opened my eyes. The sky shown pink and orange through the trees. I sat up slowly, and winced in pain. My head pounding against my skull, I brought my hand to my forehead. I felt a wet, thick liquid and a gash in my head. My fingers now covered in blood, I vomited at the sight of them into the grass and dried leaves. I sobbed as I stood up, my jacket ripped, my hair matted, and my head blazing. I began to walk in a circle looking for my dog. “Ben?” I wheezed, “Ben?” After a couple minutes, I gasped as I saw a heap of blonde fur laying on the ground five feet away. I rushed over sobbing more. I knelt down beside him and petted his fur. He lay motionless on the ground. My tears fell on him. I rolled him over and put my hand on his stomach. He wasn’t breathing. My sobbing turned into silent, jerky motions. I brought my hand up to my mouth, completely devastated. The sun sank lower behind the hills. It grew dark and starry. Still, I cried. Finally, I used up all my tears, gave my sweet puppy a kiss goodbye, knowing I didn’t have the strength to carry him down. I began to try and find the trail. I spotted it after find the mass of a bear, motionless on the ground. I walked around it slowly and cautiously. When I cleared it, I sprinted the remainder of the path, eager to be home. It was pitch black by the time I got to my car. There were leaves and muck all over it. I got the keys from my lanyard around my neck, unlocked it, opened the door, and plopped down on the seat. I turned it on, and brought down the mirror from the ceiling. I gasped at my cut in my head, it stretched across my forehead. The pain grew worse from the sight of it. I flipped back the mirror, not wanting to look at it anymore. I put the car in drive, and sped down the mountain. Days later, with stitches in my head, and my dog’s body retrieved and given a proper burial, I rethought the events of that day. I prayed again, thanking God for the times I had with Ben, that I was protected from the bear, and that I was able to drive home. People always tell me that I’m crazy, that the events of that day are nothing to be thankful for. But I know in my heart that they are, my own foolishness brought me on that hike, but He brought me home. I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory is this where it gets me on my feet several feet ahead of me? I see it coming do I run or fire my gun or let it be? There is no beat, no melody. My first friend, my enemy maybe the last face I ever see if I throw away my shot is how you remember me what if this bullet is my legacy? Legacy what is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see; I wrote some notes at the beginning of a song someone will sing for me. This man sent for me, He let me make a difference, to found a place where even illegitimate, orphans can lay their fingerprints and rise up. I’m running out of time and my time’s up wise up. Eyes up. I catch a glimpse of the other side the man I love leads a soldier's chorus on the other side my son is on the other side he’s with my mother on the other side. My love, take your time I'll see you on the other side.
I aim my pistol at the sky “WAIT!” I feel the bullet enter through the skin of my skull I sat there staring at the blank screen. Staring at the blinking cursor, hearing the ticks of the clock next to me. I had been like this for hours now, and now had a massive headache. My eyes burned from staying up too late and staring at the bright screen. Finally, I had had enough. I closed the laptop and leaned back in my chair. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something. Anything! Nothing came to my mind. I looked up at the clock and watched the pendulum swing back and forth, back and forth. I sat in that chair watching the mesmerizing pendulum swing and listening to the sound of silence and the ticking clock. Tick tock, tick tock. Each tick seemed to put me under a spell. Somehow, in those few moments of watching the clock, another hour had passed. I checked the time- 2:37AM. Here I sat, in a big black chair, in an office, in front of a now closed computer, not able to think of anything. All I needed was one idea. One plot line, character’s name. I became very frustrated. Why couldn’t I think of anything? Tiredness tried to pull me under again, so I got up and walked to the kitchen and poured myself another cup of coffee. Caffeine is my best friend at times like this. Normally, I couldn’t sleep because my mind raced with creating scenarios that would never happen in real life. But, of course, as soon as I have to write down a story, I can’t think of anything. You’re such a failure. You’re so stupid! Why is it that I can’t come up with a simple plotline but I can think such irrational thoughts? I sat back down in my chair and opened the laptop. I looked at the blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the blank page. I sat there staring at the blank page, listening to the ticking clock, which slowly drove me to madness.
We looked out across the wide expanse of black nothingness that stood between us and our goal. We had come a long way. No doubt our journey will not have been in vain. Much prosperity awaited us; if we could but overcome one challenge more. Hopefully, it wouldn’t prove as difficult as the journey itself. Migration had never seemed as onerous in all of history. It had taken well over a century. Many had grown up and died on this voyage of risk and uncertainty, but our leaders had decided it would be for the best. Much thought and planning had been put into it. Now, if we prevailed this one last challenge; we could start again on this perfect land with every resource imaginable. We had to remove the dominant species off Earth. We knew little about them, but the scientists called them Earthlings, after their planet. Earth floated from the their sun at about the same distance as Flagstaff (our previous planet), and had about the same chemicals in the atmosphere, so we decided to head there. We worried profusely as we saw our precious Flagstaff stripped bare of resources and filled with waste. Our kind had lived there for many millions of years. It had served us well, but, like all things, it eventually died. Too many of our species lived there to let us die with the planet. So, forward to Earth. And we had arrived. It shone in space like a big, sparkling, blue and green jewel. We landed and got out, weapons in hand, and battle armour on. The Earthlings screamed and ran wildly down the streets in a sea of chaos. Then something made us all stop and stare, as still as statues. When the Earthlings realized we just stood there, not doing anything; they started trickling back to where we stood, motionless, and utterly in awe. They kept their distance, but their terrified faces slowly changed to one of confusion and wonder. Why had we stopped? We all looked at each other and made a silent agreement. We would not destroy them. In unison, we dropped our weapons, and removed our helmets. The earthlings all seemed to gasp at once. They bore our likeness, and we bore theirs, exactly.
“Dad, will you tell me a story?”
“What kinda story?” “A story about something that happened to you when you were younger, I need it for my History assignment.” “Alright” It was the week-long scout camp in the summer of ‘82. Me, Tyler, Shaun, and Dillin all went. Now, I wasn’t as smart as Tyler, but I was getting closer. I did stupid things just like Shaun, but not as stupid. But there is one thing that I was and have always been known for, no matter what’s going on and what's happening, I always keep my promises, always. We were at our week long camp, and that meant that troops from all over the state came. We drove up and settled in and the whole camp had a meeting. This camp we were at was a brand new re-opening, apparently a few years ago kids were being kidnapped, so they shut down the whole camp. So we all got a little freaked out. At the camp meeting each troop that was there, probably about a 70 or so, got a camp buddy. Our camp buddy was the best camp buddy you could possibly hope for! His name was Steve and he was strong, active, had an amazing sense of humor, and could do almost anything! We asked him questions while we walked to each activity, he was probably the smartest person I had ever met. Apparently he had been working here during the kidnapping, he said that is was super freaky and that they never caught the guy who was doing it, but he didn’t like talking about it. The camp was huge, there was a lake, an outdoor basketball court, indoor restrooms, 3 big obstacle courses, a huge rockwall, and a huge mess hall to have camp meetings. But I’d have to say the best thing there, were those amazing cookies! Deep in the woods, there was a small cookie factory where 3 or 4 of the camp workers made cookies. They put it out there so the kids wouldn’t break in and ruin and steal the cookies. They had these cookies at every activity and gave out a ton at camp lunches. Everybody wanted to know where the cookie factory was so that they could go take every last cookie. Dillin decided that he wanted to find the cookie factory, so he got us all together and talked it through with us. We all decided that we wanted those cookies! On the 4th night of camp, all the troop leaders and staff had to go to a 2 hour meeting. So our troop and about 3 other kids met up and made plans on how to find the factory. About a half hour later we decided which routes to take. We all split into threes. I was with Dillin and another kid from another troop named Broc. We all went our separate ways, each group had a walkie-talkie. After another half hour, Dillin decided to check in with every group. First he checked in with Bravo Squad, Tyler and Shaun’s group, they were good. Then he checked in with Charlie Squad, no response. This raised a lot of concern, we didn’t know if they had been caught. By this point we had totally forgotten about the kidnapping! We had been so focused on those cookies that we had forgotten about everything! We decided we needed to meet up with Bravo and all get back to camp and tell the leaders. We called Tyler but he didn’t answer! We knew we had to get back to camp asap! We had forgotten which way camp was! We started to run as fast as our legs could go! All of a sudden a figure stepped out of the darkness! We were scared for our lives! We shined our light on him and were relieved to see Steve! We told Steve what happened and he said we weren't far from the cookie factory, we could get there and call the Camp Director. At this point we had all started running to the Factory. When we got there we quickly ran inside! Steve told us to go downstairs while he called the Camp Director. But our views of the Cookie Factory suddenly changed when we got downstairs. There were cemented walls, tools, and it was very dark! We heard crying, we ran into the next room and saw about 10 jail cells. Each had about 2 or 3 kids in it! And there sitting in the first jail cell were Tyler and Shaun! Tyler was freaking out! All the other kids were crying and freaking out too! We turned around and saw Steve and a couple other workers walking down the steps! They grabbed Dillin and Broc and threw them in a cell. Steve grabbed me and looked me in the eye, and told me, “Well this is gonna be interesting! You see, the cookies you love so much aren’t made with your regular ingredients. We use a special ingredient, and if you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s the brains of you little teenagers. That’s right, you’ve been eating brains! And you love it! We’re going to be the best cookie company in the world! I see potential in you Roy, I really do. You could be a Cookie Factory Worker, you could probably be the best we’ve ever had. Now here's what's going to happen, you're going to promise me that you're not going to tell anyone about this, you're going to go back to camp, you're going to live out the rest of your life and come back here and get interviewed for a job, can you promise me that?” “Wow Dad, how long did it take you to make up that story? I asked you to tell me an actual story from your childhood.” “I did! I wasn’t finished, I’ll tell you more when I get home, it's my first day at my new job, and Steve won’t like it if i'm late.” BOOM! The sound of the drums drowns me. In a dark feeling, the blanket of fear draped over all who could see. BOOM! The light leaves consumed in the sound of the drums. Its low, dull sound ebbing away at the hope of peace. BOOM! How could one survive such a feat as to hit the drums over and over again? I thought. When would they lose themselves in the sound of the drums? BOOM! Who would survive the horror that came from the drums? When would those who once helped us betray us to the drums? BOOM! I can hear it. The moving of the drummers hitting and hitting. The speed increases as the drums struck over and over. BOOM! The drums will not stop not for any. Not if the drummers stopped, the drums would sound, loud and clear, never ending. BOOM! The drums hit their fastest pace as I realize there remained only one way to stop this never ending cycle of the drums. BOOM! I run and when the others see they rush toward me to stop me, but they never will. I will stop the drums, they shall fall. BOOM! I see them in my red tinted eyes, the big devils that have caused so much pain and anguish. I rush toward them preparing to stop them. BOOM! I fall to the ground the world spinning, the sound of the drums fade into the darkness. My side burned but I cared not, I had done it. I listened to hear the sound of my success…. boom. No! It could not be! The drums had failed, they failed! I then realize I fade into the floor still hearing the sound of the drums. BOOM! |
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