Four friends on a nature hike discover a deep cave, complete with running water. As they go deeper and deeper into the cave, they find strange objects–human skeletons, an old computer from the early 80s, a gas mask, and strange mango-sized orbs that emit a glowing blue light. Write a story that incorporates the scenario. The story should be a minimum of 1000 words, due at the end of class on Tuesday. Remember to split your post into several sections to fit it on the blog.
I had enough. All I wanted was to go home…I don’t even know why I agreed to going on that hike. My boyfriend insisted on me going on that nature hike with his friends knowing that I’m easily frightened out by things others find completely natural. As natural as it is for a human’s skin to decay and disappear—leaving bare bones to be seen—I do not appreciate the view. The human skeletons were not the only strange objects we found on our journey; we found random things like a super old computer and a gas mask. It’s funny because I honestly thought we were not going to make it out alive. Everything was perfectly normal. We were climbing hills, walking endlessly and doing all kinds of things that were making me sweat a ridiculous amount. I was ok with that because originally I took it as a work out mentality. I was ready to burn off calories and do some bonding with my boyfriend. But when my boyfriend brought up the idea of investigating the depths of a cave that we discovered, I wanted to break all bonds and pretty much break him. Obviously, his dare devil friends did nothing but agree with him and not remembering my way back, I opted to tag along. This deep cave had water running through it and as we were entering I felt annoyed, tired, and apprehensive. The gas masks and skeletons we clashed with were the cherry on top of that ice cream!
ReplyDeleteYou would think that as soon as somebody saw evidence of death that would make them in the speed of light head back, but that was not the case with the stupid people who I was with. The idea of potentially dying, if anything, gave them more reason to keep going with the hike. I was probably crying, I was freaking out, and my drama queen ways did not convince my boyfriend to head back. I was too afraid to head back on my own, so I had to stay with them. I am not very fond of that kind of adrenaline, to be honest. I was praying inside of me. These guys were crazy. We kept on walking and for some time everything was fine with the exception of some weird looking bugs we encountered with. As afraid as I have been of bugs, seeing them in the cave provided me with relief. The running water, the creepy crawlers, and our breathing surrounded me with a sense of life. I was still alive. For a good hour I felt serene, I was holding my boyfriend’s hand and the boys with picking up rocks and looking at them. For some reason they seemed fascinated with everything they picked up. It was so obnoxious.
I was tranquil and to some extent enjoying what we were doing; I felt like part of a science quest or something. This was all ruined when I actually got involved and tried to do some exploring of my own. I saw something that looked like a fire safety blanket and I lifted it up. Underneath the blanket was where we found the gas mask. I shrieked. The guys rushed to me and asked if I was ok. They laughed at me and mocked me when they realized I got scared by a gas mask. It was so aggravating; did they not understand why I was so afraid? Obviously, if someone came in this cave with a gas mask in hand it was because they hoped to survive. But if there were skeletons in here it was because they obviously didn’t. We were completely unprepared to face any near death experiences. All we had were water bottles, trail mix, bars, and a can opener. At that point, I was completely unwilling to keep going with the hike. I sat down on a rock and refused to keep going. Jacob, Eden, Kevin, and even Frank kept on going. They really left me there. Alone. I was making plans after our survival; I was planning out a way to break up with my boyfriend. I did not need to be going through this. I did not want to die. I was hot and tired and full of fear. It was so unfair. I stopped hearing their footsteps and all of sudden I remembered it was Jacob who was carrying the flashlight. I had the batteries in my back pocket. We were going to need each other pretty soon, especially because the battery of the flashlight Jacob had was giving signs of wearing out. When I opened my eyes and wiped away my tears my heart dropped as I saw the darkness that I was surrounded by. I wanted to stand up but at the same time I didn’t. I decided to walk forward. As I was walking I saw something that looked like a blue light. I started to imagine that someone else was in the cave with us. I tried to get to the blue light and the closer I was to it, the stronger the light became. I finally found where it was coming from. I found myself picking up an orb and it was like holding a ball of light. It was not too hot but rather warm. I used the light it gave off to lead the way and surprisingly I found three more blue light orbs. I was rather fascinated by this but at the same time I was desperate to find my boyfriend and his friends. Suddenly, I felt blue rays of light hit my face…three rays to be exact. I guess the boys were guiding themselves back to me. Natural flashlights. At least something about this nature hike was pleasing, even though there is nothing normal or natural about blue light emitting orbs! I was extremely relieved to see them again and even more grateful in noticing how afraid they seemed to be. Apparently they heard a girl’s scream and in order to make sure I was safe they ran back to check up on me. Yeah right. They were so scared that they wanted to get out of that cave. I know it even though they will never admit it. My boyfriend didn’t even hug me…”let’s go!” he said and encouraged us to run back out the cave.
Deletecomma after "friends"
Deleteget rid of "out" after "Frightened"
comma between "Things" and "Like a super"
daredevil one word
comma between "walking" and "and"
comma between "fine" and "with"
comma between "and" and "to some extent"
comma between "tears" and "my heart"
comma after "apparently"
comma after "said" and "and encouraged"
This was fun.
“What is this?” Julie asked.
ReplyDeleteShe reached over and touched the skeleton. Suddenly something grabbed her leg. Julie looked up into the deep cave. Her face was blank. There was no type of emotion. Her face began to change suddenly.
“Julie what’s wrong?” Rose asked her.
“Something has my leg.” Julie responded.
Everybody looked down. From the ground it looked like there was a skeleton under the ground and was grabbing her leg. Everybody looked at her and stepped back. Suddenly another arm came from the ground and grabbed her leg. They tugged on her and half her body went through the ground. Her arms and upper body was the only thing that was sticking out the ground.
“Help me you guys.” Julie pleaded.
Dan stretched out his hand and grasped it. Julie looked deep into his eyes with desperation. Dan pushed her and her body slowly began to budge. Then finally Dan let go of Julie and the ground quickly swallowed her up.
“Julie! No come back.” Dan pleaded.
Dan began to dig up the spot that Julie had been sucked through. It seemed as if the ground finally swallowed her up. Dan found nothing. Then suddenly the ground began to shake. Dan fell to the ground and then moved back. The ground looked like it suddenly spit something up. Julie’s necklace rose to the surface. Dan moved close and picked it up.
“This is Julie’s. I swear the Earth just swallowed her up.” Dan commented.
Everybody stood back and looked at the ground where Julie had just went through the ground. Everybody took a deep breath while their legs trembled. Atom stepped up in front of everyone.
“You guys I know that what happened to Julie is very surprising and we can’t control what happened but we have to continue with our path. I know that my father would love to be here so in the name of science can we please continue. I want to go home and tell my family about what I found.” Atom said.
“Of course the Scientist son would love to learn about this. Oh God.” Rose mentioned.
“Well we were the ones that came up with the bright idea of bringing him with us. We could have ignored him and left him but my mother thought of the bright idea of calling Proton and inviting Atom.” Dan said.
“Dan c’mon we both know that his name is not Atom. His name is Anthony. He is unlucky that his parents decided to give his middle name as Atom. Proton isn’t Proton we just call him that. Proton’s name is Peter. So let’s stop and let’s get out of here. Please. Julie is gone we can’t afford for another one to let this cave eat us up.” Rose mentioned back.
Rose and Dan began to follow Atom. They saw an old computer from the early 80s and a strange mango-sized orb that emit a glowing blue light. The kids were not interested and continued on their trail. Then they saw a gas mask. Atom walked over and began to touch it. Dan and Rose stood back afraid of what was going to happen. Atom stood up and turned to them and his hand was slowly getting filled with red spots. Atom began to gasp for air. He grabbed onto his throat and the other kids stepped back in fear. Atom began to walk towards them and he fell to the ground. Dan went over and went close to his face to check for breathing. There was no type of air coming out of his mouth. He pulls out a tissue from his back pocket and begins to do thirty chest compressions with two breaths. After two minutes Adam checks for sign of life and still nothing. Dan got up for he had gotten weak.
“Dan what were you doing?” Rose asked him.
“I was giving him CPR. I put the tissue on his mouth for no diseases could be passed.” Dan responded.
“Dan I’m scared.”
“I am too.”
“What are we going to eat?”
“I don’t know but let’s get away from Atom.”
“What do you think happened to Atom?”
“I don’t know but whatever as on that mask must have caused him to die. If we get back home ever how are we supposed to explain this to the parents?”
“I don’t know Rose. Let’s just think about our safety and try to get out of here.”
Dan and Rose traveled some more until Rose feet began to hurt Dan picked her up. Damn traveled for more than ten minutes feeling his surrounding for he wouldn’t trip. Dan finally saw a sign of light at the end of cave. He began to run for he was willing to get out of this cave. Right when he could feel the sun beating against his skin he fell down onto the ground. He could feel that whatever her hit ripped his pants and also ripped his skin. Rose was next to him still moaning from the unexpected fall. Dan grabbed his leg and began to scream in the intense pain. Rose eyes opened and felt the ground around her. She felts dirt and looked everywhere she could feel heat next to her face.
Delete“Dan?”
“I’M NEXT TO YOU. ROSE HELP I GOT CUT. I WILL BE ABLE TO WALK BUT THE PAIN IS SHARP SO ONLY FOR A LIMITED AMUOUNT OF TIME. HELP ME GET UP.”
Rose picked up the Dan who couldn’t help but scream. Rose helped Dan hop over to the entrance; there they saw that they have finally reached the outside world. The sun was directly above which meant that it was about noon. Rose dragged Dan to a big piece of a rock. She put his head on her lap and began to stroke his head. A tear fell from her eyes. Dan reached over to her face and wiped the tear away. Rose moved down and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.
“Oh, Dan I have always loved you. Please stay strong I will help you.”
“Rose, I’m sorry to tell you this but I don’t like you I liked Julie. But now the Earth took her from me there is no point of living.”
Rose got up and moved to the corner of the rock and saw the ground was a long reach to get there. She gabbed Dan and pulled him over to the corner. His head was dangling off the cliff now. His eyes were wide opened looking at death starring straight at him in the face.
“Say you love me.” Rose screamed.
“I love you.” Dan murmured.
“Say it like you mean it!” Rose yelled at the top of her lungs.
“I love you!” Dan said.
“I don’t believe you!” Rose shouted.
Rose pushed Dan off the cliff. He fell to his death.
“AHHHH! NO THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!” Dan shouted.
Dan got up and looked around. He was back in his room. He took off his covers to see that his leg was perfectly fine. He looked around to see that it was still the night. He looked over to his clock to see that it was five in the morning. He laid back down on his breathing gasping for air.
“Oh God it was just a dream. God, I should be extremely nice to Rose from now on. I also have to cherish Atom. My Julie, I have to proclaim my love to her…….I can do this after I get a good night rest.” Dan said while laying down again and closing his eyes.
This is cool, but it seems rushed. Lot of errors in punctuation make it hard to read. Make sure that you proofread your work before you post it.
DeleteI walked into the woods with my friend Arianna. We were lost and we were trying to find water and shelter. The thunder rolled in the distance. I felt a drop of water hit the top of my head. I looked up and saw no leaves on the trees; they were all by our feet. I noticed the clouds getting darker and darker. I saw a lightning bolt and it lit up the sky and I heard Arianna screech. I looked around looking for a place to stay. Then I heard a twig crack, but it was only the other part of the group. It was Jake and James. They told us they found water, we followed after them.
ReplyDeleteWe walked through the woods for a long time before we got to where we needed to be. We came to a cave. It seemed really small but when we got in there, it was extremely big. We walked in and the first thing we saw was falling water. It looked really pretty and the water echoed throughout the cave. The cave was really dark and it only lit up when there was lightning, but it was a dry place to stay while the rain was coming down. We stayed in the cave for a little while and I closed my eyes.
I awoke from my nap and I looked outside the cave. The rain had stopped. I looked back and I couldn’t see James. I wonder where he was. Jake woke up and asked me where James went but I told him I didn’t know where he was either. I was hoping he would have known where he went, but he didn’t. Arianna awoke startled. We asked her what was wrong but she didn’t want to speak, so we didn’t force her too. I got up and noticed James walking in with a pile of sticks.
“We are going to need these” James said as he dropped the wood down on the ground and walked back outside to get more. I followed after him.
It was now dark outside and the fire was going on. We sat by the fire not talking. Then I noticed that there was a little light coming out of the rocks. It was blue and round and I couldn’t figure it out. It looked like it was hovering around something. I got up and so did Jake, he saw it too. We walked over and when we got there the blue light flew away. We then looked at the ground and Jake stepped back. I looked closer and then stepped back in shock. I was looking at the bones the used to belong to someone. Me and Jake both grabbed James and Arianna and went to go show them. We continued walking into the cave until we couldn’t see the fire we made anymore.
We were walking through this trail. We walked for a pretty long time. While walking we would see more and more skeleton pieces laying around and Arianna was becoming more and more uncomfortable. Arianna didn’t like it one bit and just wanted to get out but everyone else wanted to keep going and it left Arianna no choice but to keep going.
We walked into this big open area. It looked as if someone was recently in here and Arianna didn’t like that. I was looking around the big open space and I looked down and noticed something shiny over on the other side of the cave. I heard water drops echo throughout the cave as I walked over with Jake.
. Arianna stayed behind with James. James started to comfort her and hug her telling her everything was going to be okay. I walked closer and then stopped as a blue light that was saw come in front of us and stopped. It just stayed in front of us and didn’t move. Arianna then called, “Are you guys okay?” then it was quiet.
ReplyDeleteI stood there starring at the blue light and I decided to walk up to it. Then it flew up into the ceiling of the cave and then it was gone as if it was never there. Me and Jake continued to walk up to the shiny object and then noticed what it was. It was just a computer, a very old computer. It looked like a computer that they would use in the 80’s, like something my mom would use. Jake walked up to it and tried to pick it up but there was no use. Arianna started to walk over with James. I think James convinced her to finally walk over. Arianna looked at the computer with a confused face and then asked what it was. I told her that it looked like a computer they would have used in the 80’s. It was starting to look really creepy to look at because we didn’t know why it was here in the cave. Why are there bones scattered all over the cave. We wanted to know the story behind everything but we didn’t know.
We decided to stop and stay where we found the computer. We were all tired from walking around the cave. Arianna fell asleep once again and she lay on James. James started to fall asleep as well. Me and Jake stayed up and looked around the cave a little more. As Jake was walking next to me, he fell. Jake got up rubbing his knee. I asked him if he was okay and after that we both turned back to see what he tripped on. We noticed something under the sand so we dig it up. It was a gas mask they used to use in the war. I remember learning about it in history class. Arianna came up from behind us and scared us. She looked startled and began to cry. We went over and asked her what was wrong and slowly she said that James was gone.
We ran back to where we left James and sure enough he was gone. The blue light appeared again and stopped in front of us. This time there was more than one. There were about five blue lights flying around us. I looked down and remembered that I still had the gas mask in my hand. Arianna started screaming and crying out for James. I then took the gas mask and threw in away and the blue lights just disappeared. Every time I found something new, the blue lights would appear and I realized that they didn’t want us touching there stuff. James ran out from another entrance and Arianna ran up to him and hugged him. She was really excited to see that James was okay. Me and Jake ran up to James and asked him where he went but he said he was only looking for me and Jake. Arianna wanted out so she led the way back to the front of the cave. When we got to where the fire was when we first walked in, the fire was dead. The water had stopped falling and it was like we never even stopped in here. We walked out of the cave screaming help. Nobody answered. I turned around and I couldn’t believe what I saw, it was a blue light coming out of the cave. The blue light went flying by and we all watched. Then it was gone again, into the night sky.
Mary-Ann was never one for nature walks. She was more of a shopping kind of girl; Lyla was the nature-loving, adventurous one. Lyla was also the one that was able to maintain normal friendships with guys, which is why Mary-Ann was on the hike in the first place. Lyla’s best friend, besides Mary-Ann, was Chris and they were practically twins. He wasn’t such a big fan of Mary-Ann, which was probably due to the fact that the two girls were polar opposites. They were able to look past these differences since they were six, so neither of them saw anything odd about their friendship. Chris’s closest friend was Zac, and he was the reason Mary-Ann had agreed to give the hike a try. She had always admired him from afar but never puckered up the courage to even say hi. Lyla was hoping to give her a chance at romance by inviting her. Zac was an athlete and rarely enjoyed putting his season at risk with other activities. But Chris thought the hike would be good for his stress levels and, in truth, it was! Zac was smiling for the first time in weeks and laughing for the first time in months. That is how these four companions ended up together on this adventure.
ReplyDeleteLyla wanted to begin the hike as soon as the sun rose. She wanted to have enough time to get to all the pinpoints on her map, there were a lot of pin points. She had packed three meals, snacks and lots of water. She packed for two, knowing that Mary-Ann would forget all these essentials. Lyla’s older brother has warned her that it was going to rain, and that it would be bad. He tried to get her to postpone, but this warning was based off a tingling in his ear. Postponing was not an option, especially if the newscasters didn’t say there would be rain. Lyla packed a raincoat and a couple small umbrellas just to get him off her back. After checking and double checking that she had everything, Lyla got into her mud-covered jeep and drove to Mary-Ann’s house.
Mary-Ann had been up all night trying to decide what to wear. Around 1 am, she had finally decided on the perfect outfit. She had borrowed her mom’s Tims and a pair of skinny jeans. She had dug an old flannel out of her closet and accessorized it. Before going to bed, she had curled her hair so that in the morning in would look naturally wavy. Right before falling asleep, she took her dad’s survival backpack. It had a canteen of water and some protein bars in it. Mary-Ann was pretty sure that there was also a flashlight and rope. There was a list pinned to the front, and it was pre-made. Less work and she would still come out looking like she knew what she was doing. She fell asleep, feeling completely prepared for the next day. If she felt fully prepared, then why was she panicking when Lyla’s jeep pulled up to her driveway, waking her up? Lyla beeped, which meant she had already called Mary-Ann and texted her several times. If she beeped that meant that Mary-Ann only had two minutes before Lyla walked through the door.
ReplyDeleteChris had packed his meals the night before and put them in a small, portable cooler. The cooler attached to his bag, and he loved it. It made hiking so much easier; it was a gift from Lyla. In his bag, he packed a couple blankets, in case of a spontaneous pic-nic. He also had a filtered water bottle and his usual: a compass, a map and a camera. His camera was full of pictures of him and Lyla on all of their other hikes. This camera was actually reserved for his hikes and, even though this hike wouldn’t be any different, he still wanted the memories. He brought a jacket for himself and an extra for Lyla, because he knew she would be too concerned about Mary-Ann remembering everything to remember. Lyla’s brother, Josh, had called warning him of rain so Chris brought a tarp so they could still pic-nic.
Zac was pacing around his room that morning. His entire future relied on how he performed during games. If he didn’t get sports scholarship, he wouldn’t be able to go to college. He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about the things that could go wrong during the hike. He could get bitten by a snake; Chris told him to wear long pants and that wouldn’t happen. He could trip over a tree branch and twist his ankle. Chris had laughed at that one and said that no athlete is that clumsy. Zac had brought his gallon jug of water mixed with pedialite. He emptied out his book bag and threw a first aid kit in there and a football, in case he got bored. His mom warned him to bring a snack so he just brought some protein bars and then threw on his jacket. He got in his car and drove to Chris’s house to pick him up and then to meet the girls. He liked Lyla; she was really cool and laid back. But her friend, Mary-Ann was gorgeous, so at least he had that to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteAfter thirty minutes, Lyla was finally able to usher Mary-Ann out of the house. When she found how long it took Mary-Ann to pick out an outfit, Lyla was astonished. But when she saw that bag Mary-Ann packed, she was impressed. That is until she realized it was the pre-made survival kit that belonged to Mr. Trawny. In the car, Mary-Ann used the passenger mirror to do her make-up, while Lyla discussed travel routes. Lyla knew Mary-Ann didn’t care about the routes, but she still listened and pretended to be interested when it mattered. That’s what matters the most to Lyla; that the two didn’t have to have the same interests to care about what made the other happy. That was why she was dragging Mary-Ann on this trip; she wanted her to be happy. All the other guys that Mary-Ann showed interest in were bad news. Chris was a good guy, but there was no way that anything would work out between Mary-Ann and Chris. But Zach was a good guy and just Mary-Ann’s type but Lyla could only go as far as getting them to meet each other. The rest was up to them.
Mary-Ann was in such a rush that she had ended up doing her make up in the car. That just never happens, but she couldn’t let Zac see her without make up. So, hey, desperate times right? Lyla had been the best friend and remembered everything she forgot, just like always. Lyla was always the one taking care of her; Mary-Ann didn’t know what she would do without her. The drive wasn’t long, and Mary-Ann could see the beautiful camero parked on the edge on the woods. It was a sleek black and would have made her dad drool. She knew right away it was Zac’s, there’s no way it could be Chris’s car. She took a breath and shared a glance with Lyla, hoping for the best to come from this hike. But she had no idea.
ReplyDeleteChris watched as the girls pulled up and parked the jeep. Compared to Zac’s camero, the jeep looked utterly messed up. It was filthy and much more down to earth. Chris liked it that way; there were a lot of good mudding trips in that jeep. The girls walked over, with their bags strapped to their backs. Lyla led May-Ann over to Zac to get them introduced. Then she came towards Chris to talk logistics. It was the usual routine for them, except Chris usually got a ride from Lyla. As much as he knew this trip wouldn’t be any different, he kind of hoped it would be. Yes, this was one of those ‘the guy falls for his best friend’ things. Chris hated that this stereotype had become his life, but what’s not to like about Lyla? He shoved the thought out of his head as Lyla moved in for a hug. Her map was crumpled in her hands, full of different colored pen marks of trails they had already taken. “Today’s looking like a really good day to explore,” Lyla explained and then continued on about how she wanted to walk this new trail she found on that map. Of course Chris agreed, as long as they had time for the pic-nic.
Zac watched Mary-Ann step out of the filthy jeep and took note that she looked out of place. Her Tim’s looked like they’d never been worn and her jeans didn’t have a single tear in them. He realized she was being pushed into this too. She never did stuff like this, not like he assumed she did since she was friends with Lyla. He moved away from the security of his car and walked towards her. There’s no harm in trying to make this work, even if it’s just for a day. He didn’t usually have time for a girlfriend. It’s not that girls weren’t interested or that he wasn’t interested in girls. The problem was that there was no time to actually meet a girl and hangout with her. Yet, here was a beautiful girl walking towards ready to spend an entire day with him. She went in for a hug when he went in to shake hands. Uh-oh, it was already awkward…this is going to be a long hike.
ReplyDeleteLyla had told Chris about the new trail she wanted to try. He agreed whole-heartedly; he must have seen it on his map and wanted to hike it too. They were a pair of great minds when put together. She waited with Chris while Zac and Mary-Ann got acquainted, she could feel the awkwardness from her spot next to Chris. She made a little joke about it and then Chris did and they just started going back and forth. Lyla brought up when they first met, in middle school, and how awkward that had been. Chris had been getting picked on and Lyla stood up for him…it wasn’t the most macho story for Chris. Even though he showed appreciation for it now, back then he just yelled at her. She laughed about it, but Chris hesitated and when he did laugh, it sounded like a nervous laugh. Before she even had the chance to ask him if he was okay, he called Zac and Mary-Ann over and then headed into the woods.
Mary-Ann was off to a bad start with Zac and it had only been five minutes. First there was an awkward hug-handshake thing. Then she messed up her own name, like an idiot. He had laughed in cute and adorable way but still, it was embarrassing. She was grateful to Chris for calling them over. Mary-Ann had practically run over to Lyla’s side. When she got there, Lyla looked confused and Mary-Ann wasn’t sure if she wanted to know why. Chris was walking way ahead of them and Zac was moving pretty slowly for a star running back, amongst other things. Mary-Ann stopped walking and decided that this was her chance to make a better impression on Zac. “Guys, I think we should maybe walk together…as a group…as we planned to.” That came out really stupid and lame and Mary-Ann just felt worse. She didn’t understand why she was having such a hard time. Trying to make a guy like her was never usually this hard. Mary-Ann’s sulk must have been showing on her face because Lyla pulled her close and whispered, “Don’t try, just be you. For all our sakes.” Mary-Ann smiled, took Lyla by the arm and the girls kept walking together.
ReplyDeleteChris couldn’t believe Lyla could still remember their first encounter. He regretted that day so much! This cute, small girl had come to defend him before anybody else and it shocked him. He had reacted so coldly that he still felt bad. The fact that Lyla laughed at it made him feel worse. He didn’t want to explain this to her, so he decided to walk next to Zac in the back and let Lyla lead the way.
….
They had been walking for a couple hours and Chris was impressed it had taken Mary-Ann so long to start complaining. He had expected to stop multiple times in the first twenty minutes, but she had been able to keep up fairly well. He assumed it was probably an act for Zac but she didn’t even show a sign of struggle in her face. Chris was actually ready for the break when Mary-Ann plopped onto the nearest tree root. Zac moved next to her and offered her some water. Chris was just about to do the same for Lyla, but she was already chugging some and staring at the sky. Chris moved next to her and looked up to see what had caught her attention. He was hoping it was a bird or something he could snap a picture of, but was just the clouds. They were dark and ominous looking, Josh had been right.
Zac could smell it before it happened. His parents had always said his sense of smell was impressive but this was new to him. Then he heard it, the pound of raining coming their way, the others must have guessed at it, because they were looking towards the source of the noise. Everyone had their bags in hand but they weren’t taking any action to find shelter. Zac’s leadership instincts kicked in and he pulled Mary-Ann from their tree root. He was hauling her towards a cave when the crash of thunder hit and with it the wave of rain. Mary-Ann screamed in shocked and Zac decided he never wanted to hear that sound again. He held tight to her hand, when he had to start tugging on her, he realized she was reaching back for Lyla.
ReplyDeleteRain is not something to be afraid of, Lyla knew this but this felt different. The smell of this rain was metallic and the clouds were the darkest clouds she had ever laid eyes on. A drop of the rain had hit her hand and it burned…uh oh. Chris was close behind her and she wasn’t very far behind Zac. She was actually clinging onto Mary-Ann, who didn’t even seem to notice Zac clinging to her. The thunder shook the Earth and she was hesitant about entering the cave. What if it caved in? As Chris ran past her and another drop hit her shoulder, she forgot all of her worries. The final wave of the rain came down hard and she was pulled into the cave by Chris. He checked her over, tears brimmed his eyes. Lyla felt uncomfortable and pushed him away; she didn’t like when guys cried. Instead of checking herself over like everyone else was doing, she started digging through Mary-Ann’s bag.
Lyla had to be insane, Mary-Ann decided. Several rain drops had landed on her pant leg and sizzled through to her skin. It hurt and if Mary-Ann had figured out that this was an acid rain storm than Lyla definitely knew. What would possess her to stand out there like that? Mary-Ann wanted to check her over, but the way Lyla had pushed Chris away changed Mary-Ann’s mind for her. Lyla wasn’t one to be looked after, but she did get lost in her thoughts sometimes. Mary-Ann was the one that would have to bring her back, like right now for instance. “Lyla, that rain will flood the mouth of the cave. We should move a little further in,” Mary-Ann suggested, hoping it would put Lyla in one of her survival moods. It did, Lyla was already digging through Mary-Ann’s bag and then she stopped. Her face was pale and her face stoic, “No.”
ReplyDeleteChris didn’t understand why Lyla was acting like this. First she had pushed him away and then shot down one of Mary-Ann’s rare good ideas. Maybe she was afraid the cave would collapse in on itself, or they would get lost. Chris looked around hoping to find something to use as proof that the cave was safe. He looked further into the cave and saw an orb of light. It had to be the other side of the cave, “Lyla, see that orb of light? That’s the other side, we’ll follow it and it’ll probably lead to a dry meadow or something.” She didn’t answer or even look up; she was too focused on her map with Mary-Ann’s flashlight. He slung his bag over his shoulder and signaled the other two to do the same.
Zac was worried about Mary-Ann because she was worried about Lyla. Lyla was an odd girl, but it was a good kind of odd; the kind of odd that made it hard for someone not to like her. But Zac had never seen her act like this, like an obsessive zombie over something stupid like rain. He looked down at the sleeve of his jacket to roll it up, but noticed something else. There were tiny burn marks, like cigarette butts. He looked around and saw similar ones on everybody else’s clothes. The shock overwhelmed him, but he knew he was late to the party. He pulled Mary-Ann over to Chris; he still hadn’t let go of her hand. The three stood close to the orb, waiting for Lyla to join them but she never did.
ReplyDeleteLyla’s head was pounding. How could this be? This cave wasn’t on her map, or Chris’s! It shouldn’t exist. This wasn’t a safe a place, she’d rather be in the acid rain. Places that aren’t on the map are the places where people die and are never found. Lyla ignored everyone’s pleas to go further into the cave; she couldn’t tell them her suspicions. Finally, out of frustration, Lyla crumpled the map into a ball and shrieked. She pushed herself up against the wall of the cave. Something round had jammed itself in between the wall and her back. Lyla grabbed it with the intention of throwing it, but this was no regular object. It was a skull, a human skull with designs carved into it. The scream the erupted from her lungs was something she didn’t think she was capable of.
Mary-Ann had never heard any particular feminine sounds escape Lyla. This was a sound she wished she had never heard. The scream is something that sounded like it should have been coming from a woman being murdered. When Mary-Ann saw what Lyla was screaming at, Mary-Ann screamed too. Zac wrapped his arms around her and turned her away. If the skull hadn’t been so grotesque, she would have swooned. Chris hadn’t snapped a picture of Lyla holding the skull with his stupid camera. She could have smacked him, but it wasn’t the only thing he was taking pictures of. Mary-Ann was now, for the first time, taking in the cave as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThe skull had been disturbing but interesting nonetheless. The flash on the camera had revealed lots of other things. Dino-aged computer monitors and bicycles from the WII era were there too. After a couple more flashes, Chris saw something even stranger than human skulls; there were more orbs of light. There were everywhere and appearing slowly, one by one. The cave was lighting up itself and Chris couldn’t help but be amazed. The orbs were almost everywhere now, Chris snapped as many pictures of them as he could. The orbs revealed grass and moss growing around the entire cave and Lyla huddled in the corner with her eyes shut and tears streaming out of them. He couldn’t understand why she was so upset in such a wondrous place.
Zac felt nauseous from seeing that skull, it was horrendous. He held onto Mary-Ann, hoping to be able to be strong in her presence. Chris was clicking away with his camera and, as annoying as it was, Zac couldn’t blame. As off as this place seemed, it had this mysterious quality to it that made you want to see more of it. His grip on Mary-Ann loosened as an orb of light floated his way. He stuck out his hand to touch it, but Mary-Ann’s reflexes were shockingly quick; she smacked his hand away. “You don’t know what that thing is,” she warned him, sniffling away the rest of her tears. She looked more terrified than amazed, but nowhere near as terrified as Lyla looked.
ReplyDeleteLyla couldn’t be here, the orbs were growing in numbers and she knew it was nothing good. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but she only cried. She knew that this was place where they would all die, and she couldn’t stand it. She ripped into Chris’s bag and tore out his tarp and wrapped it around herself in a panic. It all happened too quickly for anyone to react. She leaped into the acid rain storm and let the acid burn her. The tarp gave her a moment to turn back if she so wished, but she didn’t. She stood there and let the rain burn through all of her layers. Eventually it burned through her and her last regret was not being able to save her friends as well.
Mary-Ann couldn’t believe what just happened; she had watched her best friend commit suicide and just stood there. It took only seconds for her death to sink before Mary-Ann began her fit. She wailed and stomped at the ground. She made a run for what was left of Lyla but Zac’s hold on her only tightened. She pushed at him and spit nasty words but he was a statue. She continued to scream until exhaustion hit. She collapsed to the ground, full of emotion. She was angry at Zac for keeping her from Lyla and despair for the loss the world will suffer when they realize that they lost her. She kept crying until there were no more tears and she ended up dry-heaving. Chris patted her back, but there were no tears. She didn’t understand it. She knew he was in love with her so why wasn’t he a mess?
ReplyDeleteChris knew he should have been upset but he wasn’t. Lyla was a wonderful person and the world will be lesser without her, but how could he be sad in a place like this? He patted Mary-Ann’s back for a short period of time and then when back to taking pictures. The cave was so tempting; he wanted to explore more of it. But he couldn’t do that without Zac and Mary-Ann, they deserve to see this. They were the chosen few to have this blessing.
Zac was in shock. He couldn’t understand why Lyla had wanted to escape such a beautiful place in such a horrid way. Chris hadn’t been very compassionate towards Mary-Ann, so Zac felt obligated to continue holding on to her (even thought he only wanted to further explore the cave). When Mary-Ann finished her tantrum, he helped her to her feet. She held to his hands with all of her might. He pulled her deeper into the cave but her feet were dragging. Zac would not let her stop him from seeing the rest of this cave. Chris kept snapping photos and Zac wished their positions were switched.
Mary-Ann’s world felt like it was crumbling in around her. She didn’t want to be in this cave, it was a bad place; this was the place that drove the most important person in her life to commit suicide. It was oddly foreboding; this place could only lead to death. Why couldn’t these guys see it? They were dragging her further into the cave; her feet seemed to disobey her body with every step. Zac’s grip had started off tight but it loosened the further they dove in. Mary-Ann’s heart was in her stomach and she couldn’t even muster enough emotion to argue with Chris. The orbs looked blue and bright on the outside, but as they floated closer, Mary-Ann could see a pitch-black core. When the orbs got too close she could feel herself become void of all of her energy. It was too much, she dropped to the ground. Zac didn’t even seem to care. He let go and inched closer to the orb, as if he thought he might frighten it away. Before she could recollect herself and stop him, Zac reached out and put his hand into the orb. There was a bright flash of light, then another, a scream and then he was gone. On the ground where he stood was a pile of bones. It was his skeleton; on his skull was an intricate design of swirls. All the emotion came rushing back and Mary-Ann erupted into another fit; Chris didn’t seem to notice and if he did, then he didn’t care. “That was magical! Did you feel it?! That surge of energy?” Mary-Ann shook her head, but it was a lie. The moment the first light flashed, all the energy that had been used up that day came flooding back to her. It was the only reason she could muster up any more emotions. Chris didn’t seem interested by it though, he sounded power-hungry. Before the fear had time to register in Mary-Ann’s head, he was charging towards her. He pulled her up by her wrist and tugged her to the nearest orb. She was stronger than anyone gave her credit for, though, so his task was a difficult one. But she couldn’t win this battle. He flung her hand into the orb; a searing pain shot up her arm and spread throughout her body. It felt like an inner fire at first, but then it stopped. It turned into a feeling she could only compare to a towel that was being wrung out. Everything went dark and the short struggle was finally over.
ReplyDeleteNow, it’s supposed to be Chris’s turn for a point of view. But power is usually the end for everyone. In his attempt to gain more power, his hand grazed the orb and that was enough. He went with Mary-Ann. His camera dropped to the ground, the last picture taken was on the screen. It was the inside of the orb; a cruel looking face with red eyes and jagged teeth in a cruel smile. The cave was full for now and could wait quite a while. It could wait years for the next group to wonder to close and get caught in an acid rain storm. Then it could fuel the weaker ones to become curious, in-charge and power hungry. The strong ones would be drained along the way and perish just like the rest. The camera was just enough to intrigue the next unknowing victims, like a worm on a hook to a fish.
Why there was an old picture in the basement asked George while walking in to the kitchen. As he smelled the baked chicken in the air he said “I don’t know let me see” he took a long stare at the picture with confusion . ill ask my dad when he gets here. Later that night while eating the baked chicken that jonny made he showed his dad the picture and asked what the picture was about. His dad was so excited that he asked and went into deep detail about what the picture was about,he described what everything in the picture meant and how the picture was there for a very long time. He wanted his son jonny to keep it for a long time and one day give it to his son and describe what everything meant in the picture. A few years went by and jonnys father soon passes away. One night after dinner he had a quick though about his dad and decided to take a look at that picture and he had thought about everything his dad said and wondered if what his dad said was really true and he wanted to see for himself. Jonny had a lot of money saved up from when his dad passed away so whats better then a vacation..? especially the place that was in the picture. As him and his wife sits in the bed before bed they sit and talk about when the trip is going to take place. “sooner than later” jonny says. Pretty soon the the time comes for jonny to take that trip so off he goes on the road with his old friend George. As jonny waves goodbye to his family he drives off into a long journey on the road. “what time does the plane come..?” George asks , “I don’t know it should be around here around 12:00. As they pull up to the air port at11:30 jonny pulls the picture out of his pocket with a big smile on his face and just stares at the picture with his survival bag. He takes a look at George and says “lets make it happen” and gets onto the plane. First class with the kind of music he likes he sits in his seat and immediately falls asleep. The
ReplyDeleterubber on the tires of the plane his the ground loudly and wakes jonny up. “ahhhhh its time to make this happen” with a huge smile on his face. He walks off of the plane and looked up at the sun and sky and took in a deep breath and enjoyed the wonderful smell of nature. He hops into the jeep and just starts driving wherever the wind takes him. “ take a look at the compass” he told George. “where going the right way” says George. While driving they hit a lot of unusual bumps but not jus any bumps it was a path just to the tunnel they was looking for.”that was easy” says George. They slowly and cautionly walk into the tunnel and just stop at a rock. The rock didn’t look normal the rock was a unusual rock butt they didn’t pay much attention to it as they go deeper in the tunnel they see a skeleton laying there . george jumps with fear and backs up slowly. “ come on and stop playing”. George walks pass the skeleton while looking at it quickly and walks deeper into the tunnel . jonny looks to the side and sees some unordinary dust sitting on this weird lookin table, he walks over to it and blows the dust off and finds a weird looking object, he wasn’t really sure what it was but he put it in his bag and kept it moving. As they went deeper into the tunnel they began to move slower and slower and more cautious. As they continue to walk the ground begins to feel a little different so they start to job through, suddenly they stop and George takes one more step and falls into a pile of what felt like dirt. But according to the tunnel it wasn’t dirt it was quick sand. Before he could sink all the way jonny grabbed his hand and pulled, he was expecting something to go wrong he just wasn’t sure when. They look up and see a flashing light coming far from the tunnel so they slowly start walking towards it, a noise came from in that direction they kept approaching it with caution. When they got closer the light disappeared so he kept his flashlight on and saw something run buy but wasn’t sure of what it was. RING RING RING as a alarm clock went off his mom walked in the room and tapped his sholder,”wake up jonny its time to go to school” as he got out of bed with a confused liik on his face he realized it was all a dream.
ReplyDeleteJohn, Connor, Annie and Kerry took a hike up a mountain one day and came across a mysterious and suspicious looking cave. John and Connor were all for going in and exploring the depths of this hole on the side of a mountain. However, Annie and Kerry were a little more hesitant with their decision. Nonetheless, the four friends ended up walking in to see what lies within. As they walked further and further in, Connor and Annie started pointing out all of these miscellaneous and rather old items. There was a computer that dated back to the early 80’s, a gas mask, and this strange baseball-sized orb that shed a blue light. Then all of the sudden John screamed out, “Is that a pile of human bones?!”
ReplyDeleteThe group looked over to the corner John was referring to and collectively said, “Oh my…. What is this place?”
When they were finally able to get their minds off of the bone pile, they were focused on the orb that was emitting a blue
light. “What do you think it is?” Kerry questioned.
Since John was such an empty-minded guy answered with, “I have no idea, but I’m going to touch it!”
“Wait, if one of us is going to touch it, then we should all touch it. If something happens, then at least it will happen to all of us.” Connor reasoned.
Not being able to argue with that logic, the group counted down on five, and at one, they would all put one hand one the orb. That is exactly what they did and once the last person put their hand on it, they all disappeared.
The four friends all stumble into what seemed to be another dimension. “Ugh, where are we and what just happened?” Annie said painfully.
Kerry came to the conclusion that they glowing orb was like a time machine and it sent the group back to the year 1986. With them came the old 80’s computer simply because it was around during this time period.
“What are we doing here and how do we get out?” John said worriedly.
Staying calm, they began to ask around to try and get some information on where they were, what year it was, etc. They came back together and found out that they were in the year of 1986 and were in a small town called Dunellen. Since there were no records of them yet because none of them were born yet, they decided to have some fun. The four friends all attended the same college, Alvernia University, but that is all the way in 2013. So they figured that they could enjoy a little more time of not being forced to go to school. They were all hanging out, enjoying the nice cool weather, but most of all, experiencing the life style of the average person back in the day. They did not have a cell phone to communicate with one
another, there were not many computers, but one of the better things that John and Connor realized was that food was much cheaper back then than it is in present day 2013. They were having a blast and saw these technological setbacks as a positive. For the short amount of time that they were stuck in the past, they did not have to answer to anyone or be home at a certain time or anything like that. They were completely free and independent and were having the times of their lives.
ReplyDeleteThen one day, something felt extremely unusual. Nobody felt normal and there was a weird vibe in the air. Suddenly, the wind kicked up and trees were swaying heavily and you saw streaks of lightning in the sky, yet no rain. Confused, the friends looked around and at each other but not one of them had even the slightest clue as to what was going on. “Does anyone have a clue?” Connor asked.
Nobody answered, “I guess I will take that as a no then.” He said again.
They sat there under the roof of a condo that they had found on the first day they arrived. Staring out into the world, into nature, wondering what was happening. Out of nowhere, a man came sprinting towards them screaming, “Hurry! Get out as fast as you can! A black hole has been created and it is sucking the world in. We do not have much time!”
Now everyone was going into a panic. However, they realized how far away this hole was and knew that they had some time to come up with a plan. “Everyone relax and stay calm, we are going to be okay.” Annie reassured the group.
“How can you say that when there is a black hole coming to eat us all alive?” John said back to Annie.
Annie paused and again said, “You still cannot argue with that logic.”
Waiting for a light bulb to go on inside one of their heads with a plan for them to escape, they sat and pondered. Looking at their surroundings and the few objects that had come back in time with them, Connor saw the glowing blue orb that was lying in the corner of the room. “I know exactly what we have to do!” he shouted.
“What??” they said simultaneously.
Connor began to explain his plan. “Okay, so you guys know how we went back in time by all of us touching the blue orb right? Well maybe if we all touch it again, it will take us back to the present!”
It was the only plan anyone had come up with so it was their only hope and chance to go back where they came from. One by one, they all began to touch the glowing orb once more. As
Connor put his hand on, the blue glow went up into their bodies and they disappeared yet again. A few moments later, they were thrown into a dark room with nothing to illuminate their surroundings to see if the plan had worked. John and Annie headed for the small opening at the end of the tunnel they were in. “It worked guys! We have finally returned to our normal lives, safe and sound!” the two shouted back for Kerry and Connor to hear.
ReplyDeleteRelieved, the group walked out of the cave and down the mountain that they had come from. They were silent, trying to comprehend what exactly happened to them the past few days, Connor and John broke the silence and said, “We are definitely going to miss how cheap the food was to be honest. It was so convenient.” They all looked at each other and laughed and continued their much wanted walk back to their normal lives.
This is a good time. Wild stuff.
DeleteRyan P. Tunison
ReplyDeletePart 1
In this my love for such beauty I narrate,
Vast inspiration that I take into account,
For all I wish is to love and be loved, to rate
Not my intentions of the emotion to recount,
Only do I sing this rich ballad in my last attempt
To win Her heart; a goddess painted in fine ink.
Goddess-like indeed! A triumph of beauty to tempt
The brimming rage of lust, never do I think
That with Her I would be one, always a friend
Do I begin, never do I feel Her fair skin,
But now I carry on in rhyme till the end,
Determined to hold Her close in romance. In
This I shall tell that tale, seemingly of old,
Yet of new it will be, and wrong was I
To never think myself so bold.
Ever a fool in love do I
Rejoice such gleeful tidings, now with wealth
Do I hold them so dear, and Her dearest of all!
And always I repeat that I ensure Her health,
For Her body and mind stands most tall
In the actions I only wish to be of service,
To promise my assistance when She falls ill.
And never do I hurt, always to forbade vice
That would so deem Her unwell, with will
I intend to keep such an image pure,
To hold myself least of all when Her
It is to be saved; a beauty for ages to endure.
And in the present do I write, not to refer
Any words of ill against that name,
Such a chime of three that holds dear
To my heart and my vibrant soul; to tame
Would be futile, to forever ring in my ear!
Now, ahead of myself do I find,
So simple was it to forget such a detail
To which setting is allowed to fall behind.
Ever was it a theatre that held vast retail,
In entertainment it is claimed best,
Draped with curtain upon a broad stage
On which a thespian could reign over the rest,
But now a projector stood to define their age.
A rustic machine indeed, for a theatre fallen
Behind in what could improve, was still such
A sight for wanderers in the night, yet befallen
Was conscious with that strong liquor
Of the tavern standing beside, much
Of which the locals could take roar
With many a drunk cry. Apart it was to
The theatre where I stood guard, always
Was I present to an extent, for well into
This job did I take pride, never in sways
Could I be convinced that it was so poor,
Although such could be true, even I saw
A lack of paint upon the door, but I do deplore
Such threatening accusations, for she gives aw
In my life; such a theatre that stood!
Very intense. Your style is a nice tribute to Keats, Shelley, Byron. It weaves a beautiful, nebulous mystery. Nicely done.
DeleteRyan P. Tunison
ReplyDeletePart 2
A chip indeed was the old, worn door!
Such a factor to see, such a factor to the wood
That had no color! A lowly place it was, but I do implore
For others to take kindly, in which such a place did I
Meet such a lovely girl! That be my joy, that be my comfort,
She is mine, yet She is not. I hold Her close, yet I
Cease to touch Her. Why do I find love such a tort?
Beautiful and free now I find, but why not take Her as mine?
Such a name will I find shame, never to be spoken
By lips of mine, for in secret my emotions must be in line,
To forever remain within. She is love's purity, my dear token
That will stay unsaid by title, rather hollered by name
Of fiction than by that of reality, for only Her to know,
That be my fair Savannah, of congruent chime not to tame
That which holds true! But in the past of now
Did that talk bring forth such news, of what do I call
If Her name belongs to many another, for Savannah is writ
Unique in the words that I speak. It is what I recall
Such information presented between Her and I, it
Being one talk of many, such facts I cannot bring
Myself to forget, to remember each delicate ring
Of Her soothing voice! For it could never be a great ding
To the ear that would prove a nuisance, but always to bring
That sweet comfort of Savannah that I hold above
All. Of all that my beautiful Savannah speaks
I shall take to heart to recall, in ever such a love
Do I feel so strong! But when my turn I prove meek
To forever hold my tune, never able to love with words
Spoken from my feeble mouth, yet I broke each rule
In each speech to be casual, to give my romance to words
Written upon such bright parchment. And such blinds with duel
Rays that breech my cerulean eyes, losing my every sight
That could so easily define my rich vigor for romance!
Such love does carry heavy in my heart, so is it my right
To ramble with my endless promises of beauty in romance
That ever stands tall and deep within my vast heart,
To forever repeat in poems of old that great beauty!
In Savannah there holds such magnificence in art
Of Her figure and Her eyes do shine such purity,
And never could I forget those that amaze
With such spectrum, an abstract of fine coloring
In those fine tools that forever entrap, absorb and gaze.
Such wonder indeed do I perceive in a figure glimmering
Such pure light through such great radiance brought by the sun,
Savannah marks each wondrous landscape with a breath of air,
She brings day as night recedes, those who cannot love always run.
I stay still to take in that sight, Her features and Her lengthy hair
That I find the greatest of all, rich streaks of light and dark,
That which bears nature holds the art of dye,
Draped upon Her shoulder's straight does it mark
In each fall, or a snaking braid with untamed curls at the eye,
But ever so simple and of beauty is it worn as a bun
Crowned at the top of that fair and generous visage,
Like an aureole burning as bright as the fiery sun,
In honor of Her physical youth, factoring out all age,
And Her nose that so presents a silver spark
To enlighten Her beauty ever with an artist's interest,
Never should Her purity be defied by hindrance in the dark
And unforeseen insecurity of night. In a rally the best
Of Savannah's features remain to be all, ever so pure
And supreme is Her beauty! With skill does the painter
Make ink upon Her skin, the form of a rose to endure,
The beauty of art inflicted upon flesh. And never
Do I find any I prefer, Savannah always held high in my heart.
And ever do I wait for that kiss upon such a lip
Of Her's, ever sweet do they taste, not the least tart,
With that mark forever upon Her hip!
Ryan P. Tunison
ReplyDeletePart 3
Upon that splendid day did we meet,
Such a time that fell to the end of May,
And such acquaintance of new did we greet,
To mark ever an entry of little note on that day,
For such a love did not begin so early in my heart,
But rather did She enter as a muse to my eye
With that great beauty the pinnacle of the divine’s art.
But ever did they grow as my emotions ceased to lie,
Finding that romance within myself it was Her I yearned
Before all else, and never could my mind comprehend
All that from Her my heart had learned.
Yet subtle I remained, for to Her I was a friend,
Wanting such a relation to last I did not take action,
Ever with that persisting fear of Her rejection,
To receive such an undesired reaction
That would deem my forbidden love contagion.
Such little time does the clock censor,
To put caption upon the imaginative answer,
So for a tale too long, for now I must end my rhyme,
Ever limited by that great hand called time.
“WAKE UP!” Jenna texted the group chat. Today she and her friends were finally going on nature hike they had been planning for months.
ReplyDelete“It’s only 9!!!! Are you crazy?” Answered Steve while getting more comfortable in his bed, he would’ve been okay with not having to wake up this early.
“Pick everyone up in less than 20!” was Lisa’s text before she began getting dressed.
“How long is this gonna be?” Jake texted having the same idea as Steve.
In half an hour the four friends where eating breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. Enjoying their food, they sat around talking excitedly about their upcoming adventure.
As Lisa drove her friends they passed through an hour long highway and finally took an exit that hurried them up through the mountains.
“Where is this trail?” Jake was losing the excitement that they had put in him during breakfast. Although she ignored him, she was beginning to lose patience herself. The GPS started making them drive around in circles and they couldn’t find the park they were looking for. Finally the navigation lost all its signal and none of their smart phones could connect to the internet. Having to resort to their final option, Steve rolled down his window and asked an old man walking by for directions to Woodlow Park. The old man suggested that they stayed away from that park and hesitated to give them directions, but seeing that they would not listen and were inclined to go he finally did. The kids continued along and in a few minutes reached the park. It was a public park and there were children and families playing around. The group of friends parked the car and walked around the area. They knew that to get to the hiking trail they would have to go into the small forest. When they were as far away from the playground as possible, not wanting to attract attention to themselves, they discreetly slipped behind the nearby trees. Staying together, they crossed all the plants until they reached a path. They spotted a piece of wood by a tree that read “HIKING TRAIL” written with spray and decorated with graffiti. This trail had recently been discovered by other friends and they wanted to keep it unknown from others, and a complete secret from parents. This was why the group of friends had been secretive about it. Although, now they doubted it was a secret because of the sign and all the different graffiti on it. They continued along their trail. At first it was straight and clear, only trees surrounding it. Finally, nature began to take over and it was obvious that it had been left unattended for a long time. As the path began to curve, the group of friends was forced to climb over branches and large roots from trees that sprouted out from under the dirt. After fifteen minutes of playing around and racing through the trees, the path disappeared and they were forced to jump over and bend under all the nature that grew around them. Half an hour later, a new mountain path appeared before them, happy that they had found a guide they followed it. Climbing up the mountain, they were unaware of how steep it was becoming. They had never imagined
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ReplyDeletethere would be any danger in their hike. The area seemed to evolve quickly and immensely. The group of friends lost their sense of direction and did not know from which way they had come. Seeing the sun high up in the sky, they figured that it was still early and that there was no reason to try and turn back yet. The sound of a river drew the friends to walk towards the middle of the forest. They were amazed by the size and beauty of the river and continued their walk along its path. Growing tired the friends were looking for a place to lay out their blankets and rest, but Lisa noticed how quickly the river had decreased in size and insisted they continued along a little further. After some yards the friends discovered that the river went into a cave. Right in the entrance the river dived into two and in the land in between and along it there was land and trees. Curiosity drew the guys in and the girls, not wanting to be alone, followed behind. The inside seemed clean and spacious with the running water soothing the silence. The all agreed it was a perfect area to rest before continuing along their path. Setting up their area, they shared a small picnic together. Dozing on and off the friends recharged their energies. Outside the sun wasn’t as bright but this didn’t stop the friends from continuing their expedition. As it began to get darker in the cave, blue lights appeared. The friends imagined a calling from something within and set up plots that fit in the scene. As they got closer, they all hid their fear. When close enough it was obvious that there was nothing around. The light came from mango-sized orbs. Picking it up carefully they discovered they worked perfectly as flashlights. Together they continued inspecting the cave. Thinking they wouldn’t find anything else they did not expect to see an old computer set up perfectly on a rock. Intrigued by it, they went to examine it. They were surprised to find it dated from the 1980s but were not surprised that there were no wires on it. Badly hidden, they discovered a gas mask behind the computer. The friends wondered why any of these objects would be here. Not dwelling on it, they began to play around and take pictures of these interesting findings. The friends took turns passing around the gas mask when suddenly; they felt the noise of a rock rolling. Looking up at the walls they were frightened that the cave would come down on them. Soon they realized that nothing was wrong on the walls, the noise came from deeper into the cave. Growing afraid, they waited impatiently. They stayed wide-eyed but yet couldn’t see when the skull of a head appeared nearby. The four friends were frozen in shock and began to see all the camouflaged skeletons on the walls, mixed in with the rocks. Without saying a word, the friends glanced at each other and quickly made their way out of the cave, running all the way until they made it back to Woodlow Park.
ReplyDeleteyou didn't care about this, did you? Oh, wait, yes you did. Sorry
DeleteIt was a stormy after noon and Tefani, Lisa, Cheeto (Lisa’s cousin), and Roberto were hiking in a remote area in México. They were riding on talking donkeys. One donkey said “Estoy cansado! Pudeo parar?”
ReplyDeleteThey headed over to an enormous cave near a small stream. Once inside Cheeto screamed like a little girl, he saw the skeletal remains of humans. He also found an old computer from the 80s and a backpack full of gold bars and hundreds. He called to the others to come see what he had found but suddenly something grabbed his arm and he was gone. Roberto tried to grab him but he was taken too quickly. Next Roberto grabbed the bag of money and started to count the bills he was amazed to find that it was over 50 million pesos.
Lisa and Tefani were still grief stricken over Cheeto being taken. Roberto kept yelling “Somos ricos!”
The girls walked in the cave and sat down near Roberto to look at all the money to see if he was telling the truth. They began to wonder what happen to the people that died here and why they had so much money and what happen to Cheeto. They were scared they would never see his face again.
They walked farther into the cave; against the wall they saw another skeleton with a letter on his chest. The letter read:
Dear Rosita,
I am writing to you as I am trapped in a remote cave. I am unsure where but I will assure you that I will die here. I was bit in the leg pretty badly. I hope this letter gets to you but I don’t think it will. Just remember that I love you.
Always,
Rodrigo
After reading the letter the three were even more confused. Lisa decided to take the letter with them in case they did leave the cave alive. As they walked farther they heard a barking and out jumped a rabid dog. The dog latched on to Tefani’s leg, she was bleeding profusely. Lisa and Roberto tried to pull the dog off but were unsuccessful. Tefani was killed by the dog there was nothing they could do so they walked on. Two were gone and there were only two left this was very real for Lisa now, she didn’t know if she would make it out. It seemed like the walls were closing in they ran as fast as they could. They came to the edge of a cliff that over looked a pool of lava the rocks started to fall. Roberto lost his footing and fell down. As he was falling he grabbed on to a ledge. He handed up the bag of money to Lisa to make it easier for him to hang on. Lisa slipped the letter into the pocket of the backpack and reached out to try and pull Roberto up.
Roberto was just too heavy for Lisa to hold. His other hand slipped and Roberto fell 50 feet into the pool of lava. Lisa was so scared she was the only one left and did not know how much farther she had to go. She saw a bridge a couple feet away that led across the lava. She walked very slowly over the old bridge. She was being very careful not to fall in. When she reached the end of the bridge, she was so relieved. She still didn’t know how close to the end she was. As she kept walking the floor started to shack. Her body began to quiver back and forth and fear spread through her body quickly. The backpack fell out of her hand. She was really worried she was going to lose it. Once the ground stopped shacking she picked it up again and started running as fast as she could and didn’t look back. She didn’t realize that there was nothing below her and she fell into a dark hole. When she hit the ground she could not see anything. She found a flashlight on the cave floor and turned it on. She was amazed to see from floor to ceiling the room was cover in gold.
Delete“Ay dios mio!” she called out.
Lisa walked through and looked at all the fine pieces of gold and jewelry lying about. She tried on the diamond crowns and fancy jewelry. It was such a magical place she had stumbled upon. She thought that maybe the gold bars in the backpack were taken from here and the men just never made it out. All she knew is that she had to make it out now. When she got to the end of the cave from she saw the light from the sun. She had finally found an exit, she was so relieved.
When she walked outside she saw a group of people camping. She asked the people where they were. The people were surprised to see her. They told her they were in the Apache forest. This really confused Lisa because that is where they started their hike.
Lisa had no clue how she found a way out of the cave. All she knew was that she was safe now but was still horribly sad over the loss of her cousin and friends.
“Y mis primos y amigos….ya nunca van estar conmigo…..adios te quiero!” Lisa said sorrowfully.
Lisa walked to the exit of the Apache forest where they parked when they first got the forest.
She drove all the way home to tell her family of the tragic tale. She thought that no one would believe her since it was so ridiculous. When the rescue team went back the Apache Forest to try and resume the bodies they could not locate the cave again. Lisa’s story was very hard to believe at this point. They didn’t understand where she got all the money from. For years and years Lisa never got over the fact that she could never again find the cave that took her friend and was full of gold and treasures. Lisa tried for years to track down the lady Rosita from the letter but was unsuccessful.
What can I even say? This is fantastic and horrifying at the same time.
DeleteI sat praying while I waited for people to arrive for the baptism. At about five minutes after the clock struck noon, an old man arrived all by himself.
ReplyDeleteI walked up to greet him,” Mr. Harrison,” I said sticking my hand out towards him.
He grabbed my hand with his, more firmly than I had expected. “Father,” he replied.
In description of his physical appearance he looked just like any stereotypical old man ought to. He was a shortish man with a slight gut, a wrinkled face and thin greyish white hair. But there was something about him that was different, not just from any old men I’d ever seen, but from all men in general. I’d noticed it when he first walked in. Something about the way he walked, with a confidence, as if the floor were laying itself out with every step the man took, just for him. And when I took his hand, my eye caught his, and I couldn’t help but notice the depth that they held. He seemed, without having spoken hardly any words to me, to be the wisest man I’d ever met.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” I said as we released each other’s hands. “I have to admit I’ve been very curious to meet you.”
“Oh,” he said,” and why is that?” he asked as we walked up onto the alter.
We stopped on either side of the podium and faced one another. “Well it’s just that,” I paused, unsure what to say for a moment. “I mean, I’ve probably done a hundred baptisms before, but this would be my first with a man of your age. But, better late than never I guess,” I said chuckling.
“Yes,” Mr. Harrison said, his face unchanging. “Shall we start this then?”
“Oh, is no one else coming?” I asked, looking around the church to see if anyone else had entered without my noticing.
“No, just me,” he said and coughed. “Can’t imagine why anyone would want to see an old man get water splashed on his face.”
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t sure what to say, so I simply grinned in response. I grabbed a bible from the shelf behind me and opened it, but as I went to begin, I couldn’t help but find myself unable to start. “Mr. Harrison?” I said looking up from the book to meet his eyes. “I must know, what made you decide to do this?”
The man stared back at me for a moment without saying a word. He seemed frozen in time, and though his eyes were looking directly into mine, I knew he wasn’t really looking at me. But after what felt like an eternity of silence, he finally answered. “Do you have time for a confession Father?”
If it hadn’t been for his unchanging serious expression, I would’ve taken his response as a joke, but it was obvious that the man was not kidding. “What better time for a confession than before a baptism?” I said smiling, but the man’s face still remained the same. “Should we go over to the booth?” I started to turn but the man grabbed my arm.
“No,” he said firmly. “I want this confession to be face to face.”
“But Mr. Harrison-,” I started, but the man put up his hand to stop me.
“Father,” he began, and sat down on the pew in the first row, “I’m old. Much too old for secrets, and this is a secret I wouldn’t really like to keep any longer.”
“Well Mr. Harrison,” I said, taking a seat next to him. “You’re secret is safe with me, whatever it is.”
The man snorted to himself. “As if I’d be worried about that after all these years.” He’d said it out loud, but it didn’t seem as though I were meant to respond. Mr. Harrison leaned back and laced his fingers across his stomach. “My story starts back in the late 1920s,” he said. “No one had any idea what they were in for. Back in the twenties, no one had a care in the world. All anyone did was party and drink and buy things they couldn’t really afford. Everyone felt like they were on top of the world, like nothing could stop them. Until the day something did stop them: the day the stock market crashed. Everyone lost everything. People were turned out onto the streets. Drastic measures had to be taken to stay alive, and sometimes it was just plain easier to turn to crime.”
“Crime?” I inquired.
“Yes,” the man replied, staring straight ahead. “But my story doesn’t start in crime,” he continued. “It starts in a church. This one actually. It was right after the run on the banks, when my father found out that our money was gone. He had come home in a fit of rage. He started drinking and when he drank my father became violent, so my mother sent my sister and me to the church. At the time, we only lived just around the corner. My mother always sent us there when our father came home drunk. She used to tell us that it was time to pray, but I never did. I just used to sit there and stare at the statue of Jesus on the cross, the one mounted right there,” he said pointing behind the podium, “and I would wonder to myself, how could you let someone do that to you? Nail you to a piece of wood and put you on display. How could you let someone beat you down that way?
I always used to sit in the back row of the church when I did this. I sat there because whenever I wondering about Jesus on the cross, I was staring at Charlotte Baker. All I could ever see of her from the seat was the back of her head, but it was always on hopes that she would turn around and I’d get a glimpse of those big green eyes. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, but I knew she’d never want to be with a guy like me. She was perfect, and though her family was probably hurting from the stock market crash too, she still had more money than I did, and besides she was a good church going girl and I was just a boy who sat and wondered how a man that couldn’t even stand up for himself was someone that we worshipped.
captivating so far. Please, actually keep working on it.
Delete(ORIGINAL STORY—NOT FOLLOWING THE “CAVE” ASSIGNMENT. INSTEAD, THIS IS A REPLACEMENT FOR IT)
ReplyDeleteSaturday, January 6th, 2012: 6:15 AM
My eyes opened and the pang of the inevitable headache zinged throughout my brain matter. The great feeling I had experienced last night had worn off and I had to work on recouping from its relentless consequences. My body was able to bounce back—thank God—after only a couple cups of coffee and a greasy egg breakfast because I’m only twenty-four years old and this shouldn’t be that hard yet. I had went out last night to celebrate my coworker Chelsea’s big promotion at the law firm and due to Chelsea’s frustrating persistence, we decided to make a huge thing of it all by joining a bachelorette party seated next to us at Pachanzi’s. But she didn’t have to go to work at eight AM on Saturday morning like I did.
It took almost all of my willpower to put my coffee down and peel the covers off so that I could get ready to leave. I had been watching Will and Grace while forcing down my eggs—a cozy morning in bed—but I took too long and I couldn’t be late again. I jumped in the shower and began my ten-minute body-scrub-down. I was in the middle of soaping my hair when the doorbell rang—twice—in a row. Ding! Dong! It rang a third time, then a fourth and a fifth, and I was getting angry. First of all, it’s seven-ten in the morning, and second of all, that just might be the world record for most doorbell rings in less than five seconds. I was clearly not in a chipper mood at this point, so I quickly rinsed my soapy hair, flung the shower curtain open, and threw on my bathrobe, not even bothering to shut the water off or close the curtain.
I marched to the door indignantly and pulled it open wide. Before me was an adorable little elderly woman with a miniature gray afro and twigs for arms and legs. She was donning pink footie pajamas with a tiny flower design and there were lime green headband in her hair. Dammit, she’s adorable, I thought. My anger immediately dissipated and I said to her, “Hello. What can I do for you, ma’am?” Yeah, yeah, I have a soft spot for cuties.
ReplyDeleteShe spoke ever so sweetly and I felt the urge to give her hugs and invite her inside to bake oatmeal raisin cookies. Clearly I have grandma issues because I never got to meet mine and I get this way towards all adorable elderly folks.
“Hi sweetie, I hate to bother you because I see that you’re getting ready, but I live in the apartment right below you, and I believe your shower is leaking onto my couch. You see, my grandson, Benny, was sleeping and he started feeling some droplets on his face, so he figured that the shower from the apartment above was leaking, and that’s your apartment.”
I frowned, concerned about the inconvenience for the poor little lady and worried about how I was going to find the time to fix it. I really had to get going for work. Crap! I realized that the shower was still running.
“You’re welcome to come inside real quick. I actually left it running so let me go and turn it off.” I swiftly ushered her inside to the living room area as I took care of the shower. When I returned, she told me, “You know, sweetie, Benny is very good with plumbing and whatnot. Let me get him up here to take a look at it.” Before I could protest, she said, “No, really. I insist.”
The little lady—her name was Leah—left to get her grandson and I quickly threw on my white dress shirt and gray pant suit. I had to finish some paper work before my meeting at nine so whatever this Benny guy was going to assess or fix had to be speedy.
There were a couple knocks on the door and I yelled for him to enter. When I didn’t hear an answer, I decided to just get the door for him. When I pulled it open, he sort of flinched, but then his expression relaxed and I observed him for a brief moment. Man, Leah did not mention how handsome her grandson was. He just had one of those friendly, charming faces. I pulled my scattered thoughts together and held out my hand out saying, “Benny, right? I’m Faith—Faith Burrows.” He shook my hand and made some great eye contact, if I might say so, but his expression was strange; he didn’t appear to understand me at first.
ReplyDeleteBenny smiled and I swear that his pearly whites were so dazzling and pearly white that the entire room seemed legitimately brighter; or it could have been the sun peeking out from behind a cloud. “Yeah, and you’ve got a leaking shower, right?” He then proceeded to march right through my living room and into the bathroom without a word. His tool box jingled and jangled at his side; and since his legs were much longer than mine—he was probably six and a half feet tall—I lagged behind a little. I then noticed that he was wearing a priest get-up, which made me disappointed and curious. I didn’t think that priests could take a fine young lady such as me out to dinner. In fact, I know they can’t, but I had to inquire, especially since he refused to say much.
“So how long have you been a priest? Leah didn’t mention that you were one. Man, I’d hope that you at least get a couple casual Fridays each month because that get-up must be really uncomfortable.”
He had stepped inside the shower already and was pulling out an array of tools. Benny didn’t respond so I decided to switch the topic, not that he would notice.
Ok. I took all the time to get involved in this story, and now you tell me that you're not going to finish. You're evil.
Delete“How much longer are we going to keep walking? I can’t stand this anymore?” Kat questioned.
ReplyDelete“Oh stop talking you’re the one who planted to go on this “hiking” trip.” I said.
“Fine” said Kat
We kept walking for a few more hours.
“Look over there, a cave” Heather said
We all started walking towards it and found water running out of the cave. We figured it would be a good place to stop for a few hours and rest. We walked in to find the little river that ran through it. We walked toward the sound of running, and it took us another hour.
“Alright, we walked all the way through toward what we herd running water and still no river what now.” Kat said
“Look another tunnel to go through.” Kate yelled.
“Great another hour walk to go find this little river.” Kat said sadly.
As we continued walking it became creepier, more bugs, spiders, and other weird insects became to emerge from rocks and cracks in the cave.
“Can we just go back this is creepy and I can’t continue” Kat said.
“Just lets go we came her to hike and experience new things, so now we are. Let’s go.” I siad.
The cave kept going and going. We have been walking for three hours and still haven’t reached the end of the cave. Tunnels began to become longer and narrower, and more began to appear. We finally reach a tunnel and the ground looks like it disappeared, it turned into a slope full of rocks. Slowly step by step we all followed down the slope to hopefully reach an end. The slope continued for a while, then we reached the end only to find another tunnel, but this one was flat and we knew we finally reached an end. We took one last tunnel to only find another flat tunnel. We lost hope that it didn't even connect into the cave anymore, but then we heard a noise that sounded like running water. We ran through the last tunnel to find a river of running water and a big area of rock and path ways to other areas of the cave.
“Finally we found something. It only took us five hours.” Kat said happly.
“We are staying here for tonight it looks safe and I don’t want to take a five hour walk to get out of here.” Kate said
We all ran over to the river it was clear and clean and knelt down beside it and put our hands in. After enjoying the water we decided to walk through one of the paths. As we were walking we noticed a box like thing in the distance. We walked up to it and looked at it.
“What is this?” Heather questioned.
“I don’t know let’s look” I said.
We found a computer keyboard and a mouse we realized the big box looking thing we found and realized it was a computer monitor from the 80’s.
“Wow a computer. I wonder how that got here” Kate said.
We picked all the things up that we found a brought them back to the main area of the cave. We walked down another path and found an old gas mask lying on the ground. We picked it up and brought it back to where we were staying.
Delete“I wonder what this use to be.” Heather said.
“Probably nothing.” Kat said.
“Well it had to been at one time from ages ago. I mean we found a computer from the 80's and a gas mask.” Heather said
We walked down other paths but found nothing else. We decided to take a swim in the river to cool of considering we were walking for hours. We all went in and I found a place near the edge of the river that was just rocks and I tired to sit on one, but it slipped and as it fell I looked down at in and it was not a rock. It was a human skull. We all ran out screaming and at that time these blue glowing orbs came glowing out of the sides and the top of the cave. Then we realized this cave was not always a cave it was something else at one time in history.
"That's it were leaving." Kat said
"No were not." I said
"Yes." Kat yelled
"No were not were going to stay here and figure out what this was, plus those blue orb looking things shouldn't hurt us, they just glow." I yelled back
"Fine, its all ways your way." Kat explained
"No its not and were not continuing this conversation. Were staying that's it." I replied
"Now lets go investigate what this is." Heather said.
We calmed down and walked around looking for more human bones, and anything else that can help give us an idea of what the cave use to be at one point in time. After hours of searching still no answers. We were unsure if we should stay the night because of what we found, but we did anyway. The next morning when we awoke the blue orbs were still glowing and we were all safe.
"Do you think I can touch it?" Kate said.
"Um I guess its safe just don't get hurt." Heather said.
"Okay." Kate replied.
Kate went up to the blue orb and touched it, and it disappeared.
"Did it hurt you?" I asked.
"No" said Kate.
"What did it feel like?" Kat asked.
"It felt like nothing it was just like air." Kate explained.
"Touch another one to see if it disappears also." I said.
Kate touched another one and it disappeared, we all joined her and touched a couple and they disappeared. We stopped touching the orbs and yelled to get them to come back and they did. We gathered our things and took the computer and the gas mask. No one wanted to touch the human skull. Before we left we took another walk around all the paths in the cave to maybe find an answer to what was there at one time. As we were walking we found a sign barred in the rocks and covered with rust. We pulled it out to see what it said. It was to hard to read because it was all dusty from the rocks. We brought it back to the river and put it in to see if it would clean it off. The dust and rock fell off and allowed us to read the sign it said in big letters warning. We put down the sign gathered our things and found our way out and never looked back.
Our curiosity has full control of us now. The light from behind slowly faded as we crept deeper into the cave. Even though we were all shaking nonstop because of what we had discovered in this abandoned timeline. There was something so intriguing that kept pulling up farther in. What we were finding was incredible, but yet creepy. It makes me wonder what has happened here in this cave. Why on earth would there be this many skeletons, and why are they here? All four of us were dying to search for the answer. It’s just crazy how our day turned out to be like this; I would have never expected this, I don’t think any of us did actually.
ReplyDeleteThe day started out as normal as could be. The most that we thought was going to happen was us seeing a bear. Little did we know that we would be in this fantasizing cave. My friends; Jay, Christie, Jerry and I had planned for this trip for so long. We were going to spend the weekend down her at the camping ground and then go over to the lake that was nearby for a night. It’s not like we have never been here before so I don’t get why we never discovered this cave in previous visits. Now that I look back at it I thank Jay for being so adventurous. He helped us discover this cave I just hope that we don’t regret it. It’s just crazy that this place is actually real. I didn’t believe Jay one bit and neither did that rest of us. He went out on a morning jog on a new route and came back ecstatic.
“GUYS!!! You will never believe this! There’s a cave and it has things in it, and its dark...and guys it’s just really cool looking and we have to go check it out more.” Jay proposed as he ran towards us
At that moment it was just so hard for me not to laugh in his face. Jay is a clown; therefore it’s hard to believe anything that ever comes out of his mouth. The way he described it as if it was a scary movie just made it so hard to believe. It didn’t make sense that we have never heard about this cave since we come here about every year. At first we all dismissed Jay and just cracked jokes on him, but then we finally went with him to check it out because we couldn’t deal with him annoying us about it any longer.
The annoyance level of Jay was at its peak. It felt as if we were walking for days. I knew that we shouldn’t have come because it was all a joke. He was just having us walk in circles around the entire forest. My feet were ailing and I was hot and sticky from this heat. And then it all changed, the moment I saw that cave. I couldn’t believe that there was actually one here. It was huge; I imagined it quickly to be something much smaller. I didn’t show my excitement yet because this could still be a joke. For all I know, nothing could be in there, it could be empty and infested with creepy, disgusting bugs. While hiding my excitement I stood there shocked, while waiting for the others to respond.
“This is insane Jay! I can’t believe you actually found it” said Christie with astonishment.
“I told you I wasn’t lying guys, come on lets go in. I even came prepared with flashlights. Here.” Chuckled Jay as he handed us the flash lights.
Jay ran ahead of us and we all slowly followed behind. As much as I wanted to go and run right besides Jay I was just scared. I thought that this was a huge joke. I didn’t want him to see me get excited and him have the benefit of tricking me. I was also scared that if it wasn’t a joke, some crazy animal would jump on me or a crazy killer would come run out. As we kept going in I could just see the look of fear grow on every ones faces. It even was on Jays; at that moment I realized that this was no joke. Even though we were all scared, our curiosity kept us going. We all knew that we were bound to find something interesting in this crave.
Delete“Quick guys! Come here. Look at this!! Its looks like some time of bones.” Yelled Jerry from across the cave.
We all started to dig and we just couldn’t believe what we found. It was bones from a human body! Christie and I both managed to seep out a yell. However that didn’t stop us from wanted to see more. We figured that if one was in here, there were going to be many others. We wanted to find more to try to put together a story as to what might have happened. As we kept going wed were finding the most peculiar arrangement of items. There was all typed of old electronic things that we had no idea how to work, and even some that wed had no idea what they were.
We all wanted to know what happened here; something happened, and it was something big. Could this have maybe been a place of hiding? Or maybe it was a place where people would come together and hangout. I would also be the birth place of untouched technology. It could be almost anything. What we feel that happened here is solely a figure of our imagination. Depending on our imagination, it could make this place something so simple or could make it so extraordinary. We just will never know. I rather it that way though because I would hate to find out the truth and it disappoint me because what I imagined was highly better. This cave is for those who knew about it to know, and for us that visit to imagine.
“So tell me again why we’re out here?” Bridget asked me for the millionth time since we entered the forest.
ReplyDelete“To enjoy nature” I answered in a dull tone.
“But I hate nature” She complained pushing her bangs away from her eyes. I groaned trying to dull out her whining and looked around us.
“Bridget shut up already!” Jaxson yelled glaring back at her.
“Shut up Jaxson” She snapped back glaring at him.
“Or else what? You’ll annoy me to death with your screeching?” He asked with raised eyebrows. “Oh so scary!” He threw up his hands then turned away looking back ahead of us.
“Come on you guys let’s not argue. Look around us.” Adam beamed while spinning around. “We are surrounded by the most natural art you’ll ever see.” I looked over at my friend and smiled shaking my head at his seriousness.
“We’re not all nature lovers like you Matt.” Adam grunted while walking in sync with us. “I would rather be playing Call of Duty instead of out here humping nature.” Matt snapped his head at Adam and stuck his tongue out. Adam shrugged and then looked down at his phone. “There is no service out here!” He groaned shoving his phone back into his front pocket.
“It’s because we’re out in the middle of nowhere!” Bridget complained again.
“You know that we are barely out of the city’s limit?” I asked smirking at her.
“Lies!” She accused pointing a finger at my face. “We are stranded out here! Matt dragged us a million miles away from civilization and you want to know why?”
“Not really.” I muttered glancing up at the birds passing by us.
“It’s because he’s a psychotic murderer and is going to kill us and leave our bodies buried somewhere under a pile of leaves!” She exclaimed her eyes wide showing how serious she was.
“Way to be melodramatic Bridge.” Adam snickered. And then the bickering started again leading to me zoning again. I walked up next to Matt and Jaxson trying my best to ignore the brats in the back.
“I think we should find a place to relax for the night.” Jaxson suggested glancing up at the sky. “The sun looks like its about to set soon.”
“Yeah I agree with Jax I think we should find somewhere to sleep. Knowing those two they’re going to start complaining about being tired soon.” I said nodding my head to the pair behind us still in a heated quarrel.
ReplyDelete“Alright I think I see a cave up ahead. We can stay the night there and then keep traveling the woods. We’ll probably start heading for where we parked after tomorrow.” Matt said leading us ahead near a river.
*15 minutes later*
“I’m tired.” Bridget groaned dragging her feet across the grass. “I want to go to bed! When are we stopping? It’s getting dark now, we won’t even be to see the w“So tell me again why we’re out here?” Bridget asked me for the millionth time since we entered the forest.
“To enjoy nature” I answered in a dull tone.
“But I hate nature” She complained pushing her bangs away from her eyes. I groaned trying to dull out her whining and looked around us.
“Bridget shut up already!” Jaxson yelled glaring back at her.
“Shut up Jaxson” She snapped back glaring at him.
“Or else what? You’ll annoy me to death with your screeching?” He asked with raised eyebrows. “Oh so scary!” He threw up his hands then turned away looking back ahead of us.
“Come on you guys let’s not argue. Look around us.” Adam beamed while spinning around. “We are surrounded by the most natural art you’ll ever see.” I looked over at my friend and smiled shaking my head at his seriousness.
“We’re not all nature lovers like you Matt.” Adam grunted while walking in sync with us. “I would rather be playing Call of Duty instead of out here humping nature.” Matt snapped his head at Adam and stuck his tongue out. Adam shrugged and then looked down at his phone. “There is no service out here!” He groaned shoving his phone back into his front pocket.
“It’s because we’re out in the middle of nowhere!” Bridget complained again.
“You know that we are barely out of the city’s limit?” I asked smirking at her.
“Lies!” She accused pointing a finger at my face. “We are stranded out here! Matt dragged us a million miles away from civilization and you want to know why?”
“Not really.” I muttered glancing up at the birds passing by us.
“It’s because he’s a psychotic murderer and is going to kill us and leave our bodies buried somewhere under a pile of leaves!” She exclaimed her eyes wide showing how serious she was.
ReplyDelete“Way to be melodramatic Bridge.” Adam snickered. And then the bickering started again leading to me zoning again. I walked up next to Matt and Jaxson trying my best to ignore the brats in the back.
“I think we should find a place to relax for the night.” Jaxson suggested glancing up at the sky. “The sun looks like its about to set soon.”
ay soon. Come one you guys! Stacey make them stop walking I’m tired.”
“Dear God shut up Bridget! I swear I will toss you in this river if you say one more thing!” Adam yelled clearly ticked off.
“Bridget we are literally seven steps away from relaxation.” I said pushing her forward. She groaned moving slightly faster.
“And here we are!” Matt exclaimed tossing his duffle bags on the ground. “Cave sweet cave right?” He asked turning around to us. Jaxson and I dropped our bags and looked around the cave. It seemed pretty simple looking. There was a stream that passed through the middle of it and the ground was covered in a soft dirt. There was a large hole at the top that probably would provide us with a large amount of sunlight in the morning, but now gives us a clear view of the moon. The whole room was illuminated with a light blue color from the moon’s light reflecting off of the waters and it’s pretty warm in here at least 70 degrees in my guess.
“Eh not the worst place I’ve ever slept.” Adam said with a shrug glancing around the room again. “We’re sleeping in the tents I presume?”
“Yup yup” I said cheerfully while digging through my bag for all the things needed. Everyone else joined in and started unpacking their bags. After having to put up Bridget’s, Jaxson’s, and my own tents we started to move onto dinner. “So guys what are we eating?” I asked sitting down in front of the fire Adam made,
“Well I actually went all caveman and got us some fish from that stream over there” Jax said hooking his thumb at the running waters. We all dug in, well all except for Bridget who sat scowling at her plate.
“What’s wrong Bridge not hungry?”I asked pointing at her plate.
“No I just don’t like fish. Isn’t there somethign else we can have? Like a burger or a slice of pizza?” She grumbled poking at the animal. In an instant Adam had her over his shoulder and started walking to the water. Within seconds she was tossed in and water splashed everywhere.
“What the heck Adam?” She screamed swimming back to the surface of the water.
“I told you it was going to happen.” He responded smugly.
“I could’ve drowned!”
“Minor details.” He chuckled while walking back to us. “Ow what the? “ He looked down and saw a bright blue orb at his foot. “Throwing things Bridget? That is so preschool don’t you think?” He asked picking it up and quickly dropping it back to the ground.
“Shut it! And what too heavy for ya?” She taunted while swimming to the edge to climb out.
“More like too hot. That thing is like a million degrees!” He exclaimed tapping it with his foot.
ReplyDelete“Guess that’s why the water is so blue.” Matt said looking down at the glowing ball. “Bridget where did you find it?”
“At the bottom. When idiot over here tossed me in my foot hit it.” She said now joining the group surrounding the orb.
“Are there more down there?” I asked crouching down toward it. “This thing is pretty cool.” I reached out and lightly touched it to quickly yank my hand back. “Sheesh Bridge how didn’t you notice how hot this thing is?”
I wish we had something to look it up on.” She said staring deeply at the orb. Out of no where a computer dropped down next to the orb. “What the?” I asked looking up to see where it came from.
“Well then let’s see if this dinosaur is any help” Jax said while turning it on. As soon as the screen lit up the image was already portrayed on the screen. “Isn’t that helpful?” We all quickly scanned the summary and the only word that caught my attention was gaseous. And once again an item came from the sky, only this time it was gas mask. Within seconds a blue smoke came up from the orb and stream filling the room with blue smoke. It rose up and started to burn my nose and throat. We all scrambled to try and put on the gas mask, but none of us could get it.
We all fell to the ground clutching our throats gasping for air. Out of the corner of my eye I could see skeletons lining up where we laid. I let out a few last coughs and then everything went black.
“Stacey wake up! Come on Stace we’re leaving.” I jumped up from my spot in the tent and saw Bridget in front of me trying to pack some of my stuff away. I rubbed my face and let out a groan.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You at that stupid fish and it wasn’t fully cooked. You started to hallucinate and broke out into a cold sweat. Me and the guys brought you here and you’ve been sleeping for maybe 10 hours.” I shook my head trying to understand what she just said.
“Oh well I’m good now.” I said standing up.
“Good” Bridget beamed “We’re going to be seeing a little more nature than back to civilization! You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be!” I said with a small laugh and walked out of my tent.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAlthough I was never one to enjoy nature or being outdoors because of my great fear of bugs and all things that crawl around, I agreed to going on a hike with a bunch of friends. I was very hesitant at first but they talked me into it, convincing me that it would be a fun experience and it would help me get over my fears. They prepared for this trip for days, I personally dreaded it. I enjoyed the long car ride there though. I got to take a nap, read a little, and forgot about the trip as we sang and laughed our way there. We parked the car, hidden from oncoming traffic because this was a restricted area and we did not want to get in trouble. We left our cellphones in the car since there was no reception in the woods, and only brought some necessities to not be overloaded— water bottles, flashlights, granola bars, other snacks, a first aid kit, and a camera. They told me we wouldn’t be there all day and Austin promised to walk back with me whenever I wanted to. So then we began our nature hike.
ReplyDeleteI was very alert of my surroundings. It was actually a lot nicer than I thought it would be. There were flowers that I had never seen before and pretty butterflies. I could hear the birds chirping and it gave me a sense of security and made me feel at ease. We walked for about thirty minutes and it was very pleasant. Sophia and Aiden walked up ahead, eager to reach our destination, while Austin and I stayed a few steps behind enjoying the scenery.
I gave out a loud shriek and almost began to cry at the sight of a huge spider, my absolute biggest fear. They all laughed at me, which made me feel worse, but I decided to keep moving along. The pretty scene soon turned dreary and became what I had originally pictured. There were nasty bugs crawling everywhere, mud was getting all over my clothes, huge trees blocked all of the sunlight, and strange sounds came from within the woods. We soon approached the cave that they were so frantically searching for and I became uneasy. It was dark and I could not see what was at the end, if it even had an end.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” I said, gripping on to Austin’s hand.
They were so anxious and I really did not want to ruin their excitement. We went on, deeper into the cave, and soon needed the aid of our flashlights. I took a picture of a huge crystal that stuck out from one of the rocks and the flash must have frightened them as hundreds of bats flew out and hovered over us. I was completely terrified. I knew Austin would not want to turn back now and he was doing anything to try and comfort me, so once again, I kept on going.
There were all sorts of strange things in there; it was a complete change of scenery from the outside world. I had a sort of dreary feeling. A cold, crisp air surrounded us and there were creepy noises coming somewhere deep within. The walls were covered with a sort of sticky goo and water leaked from the rocks. I envied Sophia’s inability to feel fear for such an environment and for her ability to find enthusiasm in such a place.
We soon came to a halt when Aiden discovered an old computer; it seemed to be from the 80’s. How could that have possibly gotten in here?! It was severely damaged and too heavy for any of the guys to carry back out for examination. Then, just a few feet away, was a gas mask. That is when I became extremely uneasy and began to freak out. Was a gas mask needed to come in here? Could I be inhaling toxic substances? I just wanted to get out of the cave as soon as possible.
“Guys lets go back,” I insisted “this isn’t a good idea anymore. We don’t even know what’s in there…”
Aiden and Sophia did not even budge at my request and kept walking deeper into the cave. Austin seemed irritated with me and said that if I wanted too, I could go back by myself because he was actually enjoying the trip. I was overwhelmed with fear and anger all at once. He had promised and he that I did not know the way back and that I would not want to walk back alone anyway. I did not talk for the continuation of our hike and ignored any of Austin’s attempts at starting a conversation.
Delete“Whoa! What is that?!” screamed out Aiden, pointing to a glow that came from a dark, narrow tunnel through the cave. “Let’s follow it!”
Aiden and Sophia ran to find the source of light and Aiden pulled on to my hand and insisted that I go along.
“I am not going. I’ll stay here by myself,” I told him.
“Okay, if you really want to stay alone, in the dark, surrounded by bats… Go ahead.” I had no other option but to trudge along, or my fear would eat away at my insides if I waited for their return.
As we got closer, we noticed that the glow was being emitted from two mango-sized orbs that emitted an azure light. I was both intrigued but scared. The orbs began to float up, and around our heads. I could see the fear in my friend’s eyes but their curiosity persuaded them to investigate the orbs. We tried to reach for them, but they would move away, disallowing us to get a hold. The orbs began to move further into the tunnel. It seemed as though they were a sort of presence, ushering us and trying to somewhat communicate with us and signal us to continue into the tunnel.
We proceeded and were led to a small opening in the cave, in which we had to go in one by one.
The orbs glowed over a certain spot and suddenly disintegrated into the ground below them. We went over to look, but there was no sign of the orbs. We shone our flashlights over the area and assumed that this is where they wanted to bring us. The dirt seemed intact, as if there were something lying beneath. Aiden and Austin began to excavate and both gave out a loud shriek once they realized what they had uncovered.
“Bones!” yelled Austin, “those are human bones! People died in here!” he ran to a far corner, away from the sight. I followed, too scared to even react.
“Let’s dig them all out!” exclaimed Aiden, “we can take them back and examine them! We could solve a mystery! And become famous!”
“No, I am getting out of here!” I followed Austin through the opening in which we arrived from. We hurried our way back and soon heard Sophia and Aiden running out.
“Run!” he yelled “the orbs came back out!”
“They’re following us!” said Sophia with immense terror.
I took a quick glance back and could see the orbs floating towards us. Austin held on to my hand and pulled me to run faster.
We made our way out, with scrapes and bruises from constant falling, but safe. We remained quiet for the entire ride home, still in shock from our previous experience.
I decided to never go on a nature walk, ever again.
ReplyDelete“Guess what”, Kenny yelled at his three friends.
“What”, replied Doug, Kevin, and Steven.
“I found this awesome trip to a remote island that has a creepy cave we can explore.” He proclaimed to his friends. Therefore the four friends looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and packed their bags. When they were over the island on the plane the trip already took a step for the worse.
“Listen up okay all four of you need to parachute down to the island because I can't land right now but I will be back in a few days to pick you guys up.” The pilot screamed at us because of the roaring winds from the open plane door. The four friends manned up and jumped once they landed on the island they watched from a distance the plane smoke and shoot down. They all flipped the switch into panic mood. However they were still smart enough to pull out their phones to call for help. However they were dumb for not realizing they were in a remote island where no signal can be found. They just sat down waiting for help to come but when they realized it wasn't coming nightfall was approaching them. So they take off into the cave. The keep walking, following the steam of water going down. While they are walking down suddenly Kenny yelled like a girl when he was staring at the cave floor and the rest come over and see a human skeleton. They gasped in fear knowing that someone died right where they were. Still walking along the water they encounter more and more skeletons losing fear of them by each one but gaining thought of no escaping. They were all scared but they see a beam of a blue light in the distance they all run to it to investigate. They walked into the small room where they found a round blue floating orb but like always there is a dumb enough person in the group to touch the orb; Doug. On contact the orb just loses the glow and goes dull. They lose interest on the orb and continue walking when all of a sudden Doug collapses and died on the spot. However no one noticed because he was all the way at the back of the line. They continued down the path with the non-ending supply of water streaming down.
“Oh no you guys look at this skeleton it’s in a toxic waste suit with a gasmask I do not think it would be a good idea to touch those orbs... But Doug already touched it.” said Kevin. They all turn around together. However he isn't there anymore so they run back and found his dead body, and it was practically already decayed. Without knowing the orb they found was nuclear waste they were all exposed to. Therefore Steven the smart one mentioned that they were exposed to it so they run the chances of dying. They all start to panic in the entire ruckus Kenny collapsed and also died. Steven runs to Kenny puts his index and middle finger on the back of Kenny’s jaw to look for a pulse but the problem is he doesn't find one. So Steven and Kevin start to run back up scared that they just saw two of their dead friends. But as they are running back they notice that they are not running up but running in one spot. They are hallucinating themselves running back up but they cannot move. Then Steven collapsed too and dies. Kevin is at this point is freaking out yelling for his life. However he falls but is still alive when two men wearing gas mask pick him up and take him to a secret lab deep within the cave.
ReplyDelete“Sir this one didn’t die. What should we do with him?” said one of the men.
“Kill him he has seen too much of this orb and of us. He is now a danger to exposing this new element and us who are harvesting its energy for a new nuclear bomb.” proclaimed the head of these people.
“No No NO NO! Don’t kill m…”
“These are some of the stories about this cave that we are going into.” said Kenny.
“So they had the same names as us?” asked Doug. They all face palm, “No Kenny just placed our names in there instead of having the other names.” So they all still agreed to go.
By the time I was even half way done packing, I knew my friends would be rushing me to leave. I am not a camping kind of girl; I would rather be going to the mall. I left my phone on my desk because I know my friends would be texting and calling me nonstop. I dreaded going on this trip. My friends are so excited. We’re going in the middle of nowhere to an abandoned camping site. I always thought when five teenagers go camping in the middle of nowhere; it would turn into a horror movie. I guess we’ll see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI heard a honk from my friend’s car and I waved them in to help me with all my bags. As they came in my house, they looked at me like I was crazy. I know I’m going camping but I still want to look decent. As we got into the car all I could think about was how dumb this trip is going to be. Being in the middle of nowhere, with no Wi-Fi and no people does not sound like a good idea to me. I’m not going to say anything out loud because it would make my friends mad. This is going to be a long car ride was all that I could think.
We pulled up to a place that seemed like a bunch of homeless people would stay. As we stepped out of the car, Madelyn says “this place gives me the creeps”
I could not agree any more. We finally stopped at an empty space so we can pitch our tent up. I just watched the boys put them up because I was not going to get dirty. I guess going to a campsite is the worst place to go if you hate being dirty. All my friends loved adventure and getting dirty but I’m not about that adventure life. I walk towards a bunch of bushes just to look around. This place really freaks me out and I can’t believe I was forced to be here. After they put the tents up, they wanted to go on a hike. Of course I went because I did not want to be left alone. There was a trail but I guess my friends want to get lost so we took a different way. The boys said that they would remember how to get back to the tents but I doubt it. We walked around looking at all the different plants and all the animals. I was actually starting to enjoy myself.
Brandon, who is the leader of this hike stops short and startles all of us. He points to what seems to be like a giant rock. We rush over there and we are all confused. Brandon walks around and screams “guys come over here, I found a way to get in” I was hoping that no one would want to go in there. All I could think in my head was that this is the beginning of the horror story I was thinking about earlier.
We went into the cave not knowing what we were going to see or do. It was very dark so we had to use the walls to keep going. I was very scared and I wanted to go back to the tents. Brandon saw a light and we all walked towards it. It was like a secret room. It looked like an evil scientist’s lavatory. I had a bad feeling about this. We found a computer and a gas mask. Brandon wanted to take it as a souvenir but I thought we should keep this place the way it was just in case a crazy man comes back and gets mad. The cave seemed like it was never ending. We just kept walking in a dark hallway. It looked like this person made this their secret hide out. I was scared to see what we were going to find. In the back of my mind, I thought that we were going to find bodies or animals.
DeleteWhen we entered the next room, my heart dropped. Brandon says “I think those are human skeletons” we couldn’t believe our eyes. Was a crazy person hiding people in here and letting them die? Everyone else got very freaked out and I was happy that I wasn’t the only one scared anymore. We decided to try and find a way out of here before we regret this whole trip. No one is talking because no one knows if someone is in here with us. We walked fast trying to find an exit when we heard a man talking to himself like he was frustrated. Everyone instantly freaked out and we ran the other way. I knew that our lives would soon be over. We’re stuck in a cave with a crazy man who is probably going to kill us if he finds us. I thought of my family and all my friends. I knew this trip was not going to end well.
His steps seemed like they were coming closer to me as me and jasmine hide in a ditch we found. We were both shaking and as much as we tried to stop it, we could hear us breathing heavily. If I lose my life tonight, at least I am with my best friend. I wondered where the boys were hiding and if they were going to be okay. The man seemed to be in the same room as us and we both put our hands over our mouth to keep us quiet. I hear him mumbling about something but I can’t understand him.
Out of nowhere I see Brandon sneaking up behind him. My eyes were open wide and I was scared for Brandon’s life. He puts his arm up and he hits the man with a pipe in the back of his head. I hear him scream to us and tell us to run. We crawled out of the ditch and we ran with our hand on the wall even though we had no idea where we were going. We ran for what seemed like an hour. We finally see a light and we run straight towards it. I’ve never been so happy to be out but now where hiding behind a tree hoping Brandon would come out. We waited and ten minutes later he comes running out with blood on his hands.
We ran back to the tents, got our bags and drove back home.
His lungs stung as he inhaled the stale air of the cavern. Although it was a hot night, the walls of the cave still managed to send cold chills up his spine. Was it the temperature, or was it the memories of this place? He didn’t want to think about it, mostly because he already knew the answer, and he really wished it wasn’t summer so the temperature option would make more sense. The faint glow of the moon reached past the mouth of the cave and grew closer every minute, which forced the darkness surrounding him to shrink away and provide less comfort than usual. Unlike his brother, light wasn’t his forte.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall stood before him giving just the same amount of pressure and fear as he’d felt as a child seeing it for the first time, if not more. Back then he didn’t know what lied beyond it. Now that he knew, being this close to it was certainly a less than desirable situation. Not only that, but it was nowhere near as well maintained, and that was saying something. He remembered seeing the Wall discolored and moss spotted, thinking that to be bad enough. Now few spots without moss remained, vines hung from the top of the cave over the face of it, and the rocks surrounding the rectangular outline had been severely eroded to the point where he thought it could crumble at any moment.
Cautious not to touch beyond the outline, he ran his hand along the broken down Wall. For the first time since he’d left, he opened his mind and let the memories flow. He saw himself astounded at the way the Wall opened up, the immense Academy that was hidden below, his test to see which school he belonged to, all wonderful times. Then the darkness came. Burning. Explosions. Screams. Death. Pure decimation. He pulled away from the wall and opened his eyes, panting with his hands on his knees. Something in the back of his mind told him to run and forget this whole ordeal, that it wasn’t his problem, it wasn’t his place to intervene. He straightened up and took a step back towards the Wall. This was his place. If there was anyone else that could deal with it, he didn’t know them. Anyone who could possibly be able to get through the Wall was either fighting, hiding, or dead.
He took a deep breath and removed his glove, placing it in his pocket and raised his hand. He glared at his palm and began to focus his energy into it. Please he pleaded, I know it’s been years, but I need you now. Just give me something.
The cave grew darker, the moonlight was retreating for some reason. No, not retreating. It was being sucked away. A smile grew across his face as he said a silent prayer under his breath. He watched as the black void spread over his palm, an ooze that couldn’t be washed away. He urged it to spread up along each of his fingers and create the symbol of his school on his palm; a mind pierced by a streak of darkness. He’d start there, at his school, then work his way to the others. He turned his palm outwards, now covered in the dark liquid, and closed his eyes as he prayed once more and slammed it in the center of the outlined rectangle.
ReplyDeleteHe opened one eye. Nothing.
He sighed and pulled his hand away from the Wall. He jumped back and yelled as the texture of the Wall ripped off of the rectangular outline like a blanket and stuck to his hand. Why was that the way that that spell had to work?
The blanket dissolved and he was left staring at the dark swirling void before him. He’d seen it before, it wasn’t an unfamiliar sight. In fact, from all of the times he’d entered through the Wall it should have been routine by now. The circumstances of why he was at the Wall now was probably what made things darker. He let out a deep breath, closed his eyes and passed through the portal.
The ruins that stood on the other side split his heart in two. The place that he’d learned his art, the place that raised him and taught him wrong from right, his entire childhood, reduced to rubble. In its glory, the Academy had looked similar to a Mayan temple. It was made of blocks of the most valuable gems any human could think of because of the transmutation mages that could convert the mossy stone to gold or emerald or whatever they wished. In fact, the alteration school of magic, where transmutation was taught, was constantly changing what material it had been made out of. Unfortunately the magic had worn off and each of the buildings had been reduced to stone ruins.
He looked around to get his bearings, making sure the room he’d been teleported to wasn’t going to collapse over him. Rocks hung from the ceiling wrapped in vines, the walls had holes in them about ever two feet, it didn’t look good. Not good, but stable enough. He counted on his fingers the schools he’d have to get to:
He was in the School of Shadows, his native school. He had to check the schools of Celestial Magic, Elemental Magic, Manipulative Magic, and Alteration Magic. All of them were close to identical as far as design went, so finding the tomes wouldn’t be too much of a chore.
He tip toed out of the portal room and looked around what had been the central hall. It was completely destroyed. The ceiling had crumpled down, most of the walls no longer stood, and all that stood of the statue of the schools founder, Lucifer Hexxus, were his feet, planted on the few remnants of his podium. He bowed to the remnants of the statue and climbed over the rubble to the Council’s room. He pushed the door open and
“You guys!You have to see this, come on!” Zach yelled at us from up ahead the trail.
ReplyDeleteBrandon ran up to Zach in excitement. “What? What is it?”, Brandon asked.
“They’re probably gonna scare us or something.” Hailey said, rolling her eyes.
“Yeah I know.” I sighed.
Hailey and I climbed further up the trail, trying to catch up with the boys.
“Guys! Wait up!” I called after them.
Brandon came running back down the hill and nearly crashed into us.
“Woah! Watch it Brandon!What happened?!?” Hailey asked in worry.
“N-nothing. Zach found this cave and we wanna check it out. Come on slow pokes.”, he said trying to catch his breath.
“What Ella?” he complained when he saw the face I made. “Lets just check it out.”
“I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling, but fine lets go.” I said.
Brandon beamed at me and led us up to Zach, who was already at the entrance of the cave.
“Ella I’m not feeling too good about this either. Maybe we should just let them go inside.”, Hailey whispered to me in fear.
“I know, but we can’t let those two bozos go by themselves.” I responded.
She sighed but didn’t say anything else. Zach smiled and waved, motioning for us to come closer to him.
“Hey! There you two are!” , Zach laughed.
Hailey and I both smiled and rolled our eyes at him.
“Wooah.” I murmured once we reached the entrance of the cave. The mouth of the cave was small but it opened up into a vast space that reminded me of large concert halls. I could also see clear water dancing in between the rocks. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the cave.
“Ella,...Ella!”
ReplyDeleteI turned around in a daze and stared at Brandons worried face.
“Babe are you okay?” he asked holding my shoulders. I stood there for a second, gathering my thoughts. I felt like I was half asleep. What was going on? I finally answered him and said,
“Yeah! I’m fine. I just feel a little dazed, sorry.”
“Here drink some water. Do want to sit down for a little bit? Zach and Hailey are having a stupid fight again.” He passed me a water bottle, then sat down on the ground.
“Sure, what happened?” I sat next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.
“Oh I don’t know. I think Hailey doesn’t want to go inside. They’ll be done in second.” , he confirmed. He wrapped his arm around me while we waited for them to be done. My attention went back to the cave. I couldn’t stop staring at it. It felt like something was urging me to go inside. I gasped, a blue ball of light had shot through the mouth of the cave.
“Brandon! Did you see that?!?”, I stammered.
“What? What was it?” he asked, holding me tight against him.
“No, it’s nothing bad;I think. I just saw this blue orb zip through the cave.”
“Ella? Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?” he asked while waving two fingers in front of my face.
I pushed his hand out of they way and said,”Brandon, I’m fine. I’m telling you I saw it!”
He sighed and nodded his head, but he didn’t look convinced. I looked back at the cave, maybe I didn’t see it. I turned my attention to Hailey and Zach who were walking over to us.
“Are you guys good?”, Brandon asked.
“Yep. We’re fine.” Hailey responded flatly, while giving Zach a dirty look.
“Sooo are we going inside?” he asked again.
“Yeah, come on guys.” Zach said while walking inside. He went to grab Haileys hand but she snatched it away quickly. We all followed him into the cave silently. Our feet splashed into the water as we walked ahead. I couldn’t get over the strange feeling the cave gave me with every step we took. I looked at Brandons face to distract myself. The sunlight rained down on his face, making his green eyes sparkle. He looked at me and grinned.
“What?” he laughed.
“Nothing.” I said
He wrapped his arm around my waist and joked “I know I’m handsome it’s okay.”
I laughed and punched his arm lightly.
“I think we should take out our flashlights it’s starting to get dark .” Zach called to us.
ReplyDeleteI flashed the light all around the cave when I saw something that stopped my heart cold. I stopped and stared at it.Hailey then screamed and turned around, hugging Zach. Zach held her tight and looked at me with wide eyes. It was a skeleton laid across the cave floor.
“Wooah. How long do think it’s been there?” Brandon asked looking at the skeleton.
“Who cares?!?”, Hailey whimpered.
“Why don’t we just keep going?”, I said. Everyone seemed to agree so we left the skeleton behind and kept walking. I held onto Brandons hand tightly;I had this gut feeling that something bad was going to happen.
“Look!” Zach said flashing his light onto the side of the cave.
“What is it?” Hailey asked curiously.
“I think it’s a gas mask.....but what is it doing here?” I said.
Brandon walked over to touch it, but I held his arm back.
“What?!?”
“Don’t. I-I just have a bad feeling.” I stuttered.
He looked like he was going to touch it anyway, but then he turned back to me and said,
“Okay.Let keep going then.”
We walked for another ten minutes, when suddenly we saw a green glowing light up ahead.
“Can we go back, please? I don’t like this. C’mon guys.” Hailey begged.
“Nah, I wanna check it out. It looks like a t.v or computer screen.” Zach replied.
He walked ahead of us, to the glowing light.
“Zach! Come back!” Hailey pleaded.
He ignored her and kept walking until he reached the light.
“It’s an old computer! Probably from the 80’s!” he shouted.
“Bro, come on! I think we should go back! It’s probably getting dark out!” Brandon yelled back to him. Zach stared at the computer in wonder.
“How do you think it got in here?” he asked.
“I don’t wanna know.” I mumbled.
Suddenly a thousand of blue orbs flew through the cave circling around us. I held onto to Brandon and screamed, “What’s going on?!?”
“I don’t know!” he screamed back.
The orbs circled faster and faster, until they looked like a blue blur. Then all at once the balls of light exploded, blinding us. I uncovered my eyes and looked around the cave once the lights had stopped.I gasped. The cave was empty, all except for me.
Not my best, but ya :/
DeleteAlternate Assignment for Article:
ReplyDeleteThe Dunellen Education Foundation (DEF) had their 16th annual 5k race and one mile fun walk on Saturday September 29th. This is an event that is held every year to raise money for Educational purposes in Dunellen. Many of the runners were from Dunellen but some have come from all over the state to run in this race. The fall season is known to competitive and recreational runners as race season, so September is a perfect time of the year for the DEF to have their race.
Race day is a very hectic day in Dunellen. Almost half of the one mile square town shuts down for the race. All of the roads in the north side of Dunellen, starting at Dunellen High school, up to Madison Avenue, and from Washington Avenue to the Middlesex, Dunellen boarder, are closed off for the two races.
When the buzzer goes off at the high school at 9:30 am, the fun walk begins. A half an hour later the 5k starts in the middle school parking lot. But the race day does not start there, race day workers are out at six in the morning setting up cones, barricades, and barricade tape. After that, High school volunteers arrive around 8 A.M. to cut fruit and bagels for the participants and workers. The next step for setting up the race begins around 8:30, when the DEF board members and the volunteers set up the finish line, microphones and speakers, trophies, and stage. Finally, the water tables that are scattered throughout the race must be set up and the cups must be filled for the runners and walkers to grab as they pass by.
Many of Dunellen’s Teachers and Coaches came out to support the Dunellen Education Foundation. Mr. Lynch, the High School Principal, Mrs. Albertson, Mr. Hummel, and Mr. Santiago, some of Dunellen’s teachers, Coach Buggey, the Cross Country, and Mr. Tobin, Tennis Coach and High school Math teacher, all participated in either the walk or the 5K. The Girls Tennis Team and the Cross Country Team also ran the 5K. For these teams and coaches, not only was this a good way to be active, but another incentive to join was because the money made at this race goes right back to the students and teachers. The DEF has given grants for countless projects and programs, including, but not limited to, various Smart Boards, an annual grant for the Public Library, and an improved sound system for the Auditorium. They have also given a grant to start the Dunellen Report, created by DHS alumnus, and current Town Councilman, Jason Cilento.
The Dunellen Education Foundation’s mission is to support “educational, nonprofit, and community related programs that would provide the knowledge and skills to face the challenges of an increasingly complex and technology driven world”. Without the Dunellen Education Foundation, the schools would not have as much to offer the students.