11-07-2011, 05:02 AM
This is my journal for Mr Mayor's Storyville Challenge. I haven't written anything in a long time and I don't know if I'm going to be able to write something for each day but I am definitely going to try!
I've labelled the requirements in each entry as follows:
Words - bold
Phrases - italics
Tasks - red
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Today I have finally begun my journey. I left my small hometown of Franklin to visit Menewsha to celebrate Halloween with my cousins. I had never left Franklin before so my parents were fretting something fierce. To leave the sanctuary of Franklin, travel through the mountains to the big town of Menewsha was something they never thought I would want to do. In fact, I probably never would have left Franklin if it not for the letter I received last Spring from my cousin, inviting me over for what she said was 'The best Halloween of your life'. To be so excited over a holiday that was 6 months away and it being my favorite holiday, how could I refuse? After that letter, I made it my personal mission to convince my parents to let me go which did, in fact, take me all 6 months.
I spent the wee morning hours packing with my mother, ensuring I had clothes, my map, and her special potato stew to eat along the way as well as some other essentials. By mid-morning I was aboard a train to travel south-east to the edge of the mountain, from there I would travel the route my cousins mapped for me through the mountains to a small town named Miner's Conflagration to catch another train to Menewsha.
The train was soothing and I caught myself enjoying a bit of people watching as the scenery flew by. There was a small family that looked to be out for a picnic, an elderly man asleep under his newspaper, and a young couple just across the aisle. The girl wore a ring but the man did not. I wonder what happened to her husband? I had thought while stifling a grin.
The ride was uneventful for about an hour, and then the shouting started.
'Watch out!' screamed the young boy from the picnickers.
'OMG, is that a llama!' shouted his sister.
Sure enough, a llama was on the tracks and unfortunately, the train could not stop in time. With a bone-jarring THWACK we hit the noble creature. And sadly for us, the llama decided to take us with it. The shock of the collision caused the train to topple off the tracks.
The old man, who had been thrown against the window to his right end over end, demanded from his prone position "What the hell happened? What was that noise!? I demand to speak to someone in charge!"
There was chaos for several minutes as people attempted to right themselves. The conductor had broken his leg under a particularly large crate but that seemed to be the worse of our injuries. We helped each other out of the flipped car and gathered amongst the trees to collect ourselves and let the engineer assess the damage, and there was much damage to assess. The conductor had the task to calm us passengers down, with the elderly gentleman screaming obscenities and demanding his money back, saying that he would not be bamboozled by some youngun who couldn't even drive a train.
I think it might have been the concussion but I believe I recall spying another llama in the bushes eyeing us with extreme malice, or perhaps it was the same one that was on the tracks but I hate to think how he managed to flip our train. It couldn't have possibly been a trap set by an evil llama surely!
Since it was growing apparent that we would be here awhile, I decided to look for some food. Since my potato salad and other food was strewn across the train car, I decided to climb a tree and see what I could find. There was an apple tree not too far away and decided that was better than nothing. I tossed down a few ripe apples I could find but to my surprise, the two children from the train were below snatching them up. I shouted down at them but they ran away. Looking back I saw one more green apple a little higher up. Oh well, I've got another one, I thought but as I reached for it a bird flew down and pecked at my fingers, causing me to lose my balance and topple to the ground, hungry.
Angry, I started walking ahead, away from the train wreck and the people. Looking back it wasn't the smartest thing to do. I left my map and other items back at the train and after a short while found myself very lost. I began to run away from the sun towards what I prayed was East. I came across a small shack after about an hour and ran to the door. With my luck, I was expecting a smuggler or axe murderer to open the door, so when I saw an elderly woman standing there I broke down into tears.
She let me in and gave me a meal of hot stew as I told her my story. She didn't interrupt and exuded a calm that seemed to wash over me. I asked her if I was even going in the right direction and she smiled and handed me a map. I realized I was only slightly off course, that I had travelled slightly north, towards the rocky caves but was still moving east towards Menewsha.
So here I am, in an old woman's house, sojourned for the night. I'll leave in the morning for Menewsha; I've written a letter to my parent that the old woman has already promised to mail.
Tomorrow will be better. No crazy llamas or hocus-pocus, right?
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I should have stayed asleep, the kind old woman I met yesterday has disappeared along with her home. I woke this morning to find myself on the forest floor, freezing, with the taste of grass in my mouth. I screamed into the forest, terrified, patting the ground; it seemed solid enough. I paced around where I thought the shack should be muttering to myself 'It was here a moment ago, I know it was!' over and over again.
After a few minutes of hysterics I slapped myself to try to gather myself. 'Think!' I scolded myself, 'Maybe you walked in your sleep or you dreamed last night'. It was silly but I accepted it, and the more I stood there, the more I felt I should get out. I began walking East, picking an arbitrary mountain top to head towards.
By mid-day, I had passed large trees and sporadic outcroppings of berry filled bushes that I gorged myself on and was well into the rocky terrain leading to my mountain top. Even after eating the berries I found myself day dreaming of food, of pumpkin pie and home made custard.
When I heard a voice in the distance, I thought I was going mad. It wasn't until the third time that I heard what it was asking.
“Excuse me, could you tell me where I could find a pig, please?”
'Yup, I have gone insane' I thought as I neared the source of the voice. Behind the next rise in the cliff I came across a young girl about 6 years old and dressed in frills and lace the color of pink roses and a small feather in her bonnet.
“I'm sorry little one but what did you say? I must have heard you wrong” I told her as I approached, trying not to frighten her.
She huffed and said, “I'm trying to find a pig. Stretchy needs a friend.” She held out her arms to show what used to be an adorable stuffed giraffe but has now been faded and elongated to ridiculous proportions.
I let myself laugh a little, 'Of course she's looking for a stuffed animal, why would she be looking for the real thing. Especially this far out into the wild'. Then it hit me, 'why was such a young child out here'.
“My mother taught me it's rude to ignore those talking with you” she scolded and began walking away.
“WOAH! Wait up!” I shouted after her; strange or not, I couldn't let a young girl travel further into the mountains alone so I chased after her.
I climbed over the edge as fast as I cold to reach her then clasped my hand around her small arm. As I reached her, the porous rock collapsed under our joined weight. As we fell I reached my other arm out to grab hold of anything, we plummeted several feet as I struggled for a grip. Just as I was about to give up, my hand landed on a small outcropping of rock and I grabbed hold, the girl's weight jerking my shoulder fiercely. I gasp for air and chuckled as my already tired nerves gave way a little more, “Wow, that was close. Where did that hole come from?” A whimper below me was my only response.
I looked around us using the dim light from the hole above and saw a larger cliff a little further below us. “Alright,” I said in as brave a voice as I could muster, “I'm going to drop us down to that ledge over there. Don't worry,” I said over her protests, “I won't let anything happen to you. Just brace yourself for a little tumble.” And we dropped a few extra feed to the ledge.
The little girl moved towards the cave entrance at the ledge, shaking and watching me cautiously. “Are you OK?” I asked but she only nodded. Figuring I should concentrate on getting us out of here, I looked around for something to light our way. There was no way I could climb up the cliff with the girl in tow and down was certainly not an option, so I braced myself for the cave. There were some twigs from trees that fell with us, I gathered a few, ripped off a sleeve from my T-shirt and used my lighter to make a fire. Lucky thing that was in my jeans and not my pack. I just hoped this wouldn't be a beacon to any smugglers or wild animals saying 'Free Dinner Here'.
The girl edged closer once the fire was lite and held up some nuts, “Here.” she said quietly and placed them in my hand. “Thank you for saving me,” she muttered and stepped back again.
I looked closer at the nuts in my hand and realized she had handed me peanuts. “Thank you but I can't eat these," I said as nicely as I could, "I'm allergic sweety.”
Then, she began to cry; a shrill, monstrous, inhuman cry that made my ears burns and my insides freeze. Quickly, I threw my hand back and pretended to eat the nuts while they flew behind me. With them gone, she changed from demon to angel and walked into the cave. I followed, wiping the sweat from my eyes and then stopped. I realized my mistake just as the swelling began. Everywhere my hand touched expanded 3 fold. Within seconds, my world turned pitch black. “Hm, I appear to have gone blind...” I muttered as I heard the tiny footsteps get further and further away. Once again, I was alone.
Today, I have learned to never help small children. I want to go home.
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