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What You're Searching For

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    prologue

    I walked through the remains of the old city. It was empty and abandoned, like me. I was here for one purpose and one purpose only, to know what I was meant to do. I had tried everything in life, nothing worked out. Now I am lost, alone, and broken. Life has broken me, it’s hard and will beat you senseless.

    I had heard tales of a being who was all knowing. That was what I was here for, I thought they might be able to help me. I had no idea what I was going to find, the creature’s appearance changed with every story I had heard, so had the location it was found in. I have been to city to city searching for it, who ever they are or whatever they are.

    People think I’m crazy searching for something that is just a legend. I would have thought what I’m doing is crazy, key word is ‘would have’. After losing hope of anything else, I went to doing the last thing I could think of, believing a legend.

    Chapter: 1

    The first place I had gone to was Mor City, it was huge and bursting with life. Most of the stories said that the being would be somewhere abandoned, but I wasn’t quite ready to go all the way. I stayed there for awhile, in fact I had even made a friend and got a job. We worked at the same place, a seafood restaurant. He was a chief, I was just a dish washer. He was the closest person I was too since I dropped out of college.

    He was called Jeff, and he always left out the leftovers for stray cats and dogs. I remember one day when he told me about seeing a kitten abandoned by a mother cat. He said he was taking care of it. I saw the cat once, she was gray, and like all cats, cute. He had named her Nemo, but he couldn’t take care of her for long. He lived in an apartment where they weren't allowed to have pets.

    After he let her go she always came back for the leftovers, they were still really close. I still wonder where that cat is now, I don’t know, it’s been awhile. I remember one day in particular about the time I was there, it was the reason why I had to leave. It started off as an ordinary day, I went to go to my job to earn some money and see my friend. When I got there things were quite different, there were police there and do not cross tape blocking the way to the restaurant and the alley next to it.

    “What’s going on?” I had asked one of the men there

    “You don’t know?’

    “Well I’m asking you aren't I?”

    “There was a murder here, and we’re investigating, I have to ask you to leave”

    “Okay, but who died? you see I work here and I think that's something important for me to know”

    “You work here? then you might not like this, one of your co-workers was killed”

    “Who?”

    “Some fellow named Jeff”

    I couldn’t stay after that, who could, I don’t know if they found who did it but I didn’t wait around to find out.

    I never stayed anywhere for a long time after that. I mostly started searching abandoned places recently. The last place I was at wasn’t very far, it was a old abandoned farm, it actually rather nice there, well as nice as old abandoned farms go anyway. Nothing really interesting there.

    Now I’m at another city, an abandoned one at that. It’s eerie seeing all these empty buildings standing around. This city used to be a powerhouse but after a incident with a nuclear bomb the city was evacuated. No one ever really came back, even far after it was reported to be safe.

    It was not completely empty though, but all of it’s new inhabitants were animals rather than humans. I could see that nature was slowly taking back the city. All sorts of fauna and flora covered the city, Mostly it was ivy and moss and small animals but once and awhile I saw something rather cool.

    I knew I should probably check the inside of one of the buildings but it’s just so, creepy. There’s not much to see around here, but there might be something. Something is all I need.

    I have been walking for awhile so I decided to stop for a rest. I sat with my back to one of the old buildings and took off my backpack. I made sure to always stop in any town I come across and stay there for a bit before moving on. Before I leave I always get a job and save most of the money up for supplies when I leave. When it comes time to pay the rent that is the time I leave, yes I know, it’s a bit underhanded but I have too.

    I got out my lunch, which today happened to be canned beans. I started a fire with some old leaves and a lighter and then opened the can with my can opener. After I ate the beans I got up and put the backpack on again.

    I still hadn’t seen anything when it started getting dark. I knew that I should go into one of the buildings now, so I slipped into the nearest apartment complex.

    The carpet was red and faded, with spots of grass that had grown through the stone. I walked up to where the reception desk was. There was a computer there, I tried turning it on, but it was well beyond woking. There was a shelf that had the room numbers with the keys for the room under it. My eye landed on one of my favorite numbers, 13. The key was under it, so of course I headed off to that room. The door was already unlocked so I just went in and locked the door behind me.  

    The room I found myself in was a typical small size with a T.V., bed, bathroom, and a safe to keep my stuff in. I put my bag down and layed on the bed. I tried the T.V. but like the computer it was a lost cause. Next I tried the showers and the toilet to see if they worked, neither did. So I just went to bed.

    I was a great adventurer, fighting my way through a pride of lions on my way to an ancient temple. The door to it opened up slowly after I used the key. Inside there was a maze of tripwire. I tried making my way slowly through but I brushed up against the wire causing it to set off. Arrows shot at me from all directions but luckily I ducked and laid my shield on top of me. After I was sure the beradge was over I got back up going through the temple more carefully than ever.

    I faced many hazards, giant man eating plants, a giant dog made out of cats, and a faceless beast. I made it to the finale room where a tile pattern was seen on the floor. I went down the correct path to the golden egg shining from the pedestal, finally the phoenix egg was mine.   

    I examined the stand and the golden egg. I couldn't see anything, but just to be safe when I grabbed the bag I layed down a bag of pennies, a really big bag. I thought I was safe but then suddenly a dragon came out of no where and breathed a hot, fiery breath a me and things went up in smoke.

    Chapter: 2

    I snapped awake to find myself in a bed in a hotel room just where I had fallen asleep the night before. I was not on a quest to get the golden egg of the phoenix like I had dreamed. I was a bit disappointed at first, but it was alright, if I was Jaena Fletcher I would be dead via dragon breath.

    I got up and grabbed my stuff and then left. I put the keys back where I found them, I know I didn’t need to do that, but I wanted to. I left the building and looked outside, I think I slept in a bit, it looked darker than normal.

    I started walking for a bit, I didn’t think I would see anything. I never saw anything. I was feeling a bit lonely and was starting to plan where I would be going next. I stopped and took out my map. The nearest town was rather far away, of course it would be with how freaked out the people were after the bomb. I sighed, I couldn’t stay here for long if I wanted to make it there without starving.

    I started to walk in the direction of the town just like how I had done so many other times. I felt a drip of water, then another, and another. It was raining, well that wasn’t useful at all. I ducked into the building at my left and watched as the rain got heavier and heavier.

    “Hello” said a voice behind me

    I jumped and stared at the figure behind me. It was a old woman, not quite what I was expecting.

    “Who-who are you?” I said backing up “and what are you doing here?”

    “I could ask you the same thing”

    “Well, my name is Frankie and I’m here looking for someone”

    “Well I’m called by many things, you can call me Amber, and if you’re looking for someone I would advise to not look in a abandoned city, that is unless you were looking to find me, which I highly doubt.”

    “Yeah, I wasn’t looking for you”

    “Okay, but who were you looking for, I might be able to help you. I've got lots of connections you know”

    “Um, I was looking for……” I paused, if I told her who I was really looking for she might think I was crazy.

    “Well, come on, speak up”

    “I was looking for…….. the being who knows everything”

    Amber looked confused at first and then a look of realization popped up into her face “The one from the legend?’ she asked me.

    “Yeah…”

    “You know right, that there is not such a thing as a person who knows everything”

    Yeah…I do”

    “Then, why”

    “Why what?”

    “Why are you looking for them when you don’t think they even exist?”

    “Well, it’s not like there is much else I can do”

    “Down on your luck?”

    “Yeah…wait a second, you still haven't told me what you’re doing here”

    “I’m a traveler, and a collector of stories”

    “A collector of stories?”

    “Yeah, that’s what I said”

    “Could you clarify that for me?”

    she rolled her eyes and said “I collect stories, that’s what that means”

    “I’m still confused”

    “Well, I go from town to town hearing peoples stories and writing them down for future generations to know”

    “I... see”

    “Good you do, because I don’t particularly enjoy explaining things for a long time”

    We were both silent after that for awhile, just sitting side by side as we watched the rain tumble slowly down to earth from the atmosphere. I was starting to get sleepy, the sound of the rain always soothed me to sleep. I was starting to slip when I heard Amber talk again.

    “I’m wondering, why are you looking for a being who knows all”

    “I want to know something”

    “Well, what do you want to know”

    I was silent again, and then answered “I want to know my purpose”

    “Your purpose?”

    I smiled and said “Yes, that is what I said”

    Amber smiled as well and then said “Well it’s true not one alone person can know everything. Many people together know a lot, you might not have any all knowing person, but you do have be and I know a lot because i've been collecting all this knowledge”

    “Why do you collect knowledge?”

    “I wanted to know everything, Well now I know I can’t do that,it isn't possible” Amber chuckled “I learned that, and many other things from these stories, It’s a good thing though”

    “And why is that?”

    “When you reach your ultimate goal, what do you do next?”

    I paused with my mouth open, and I then closed it slowly. That made me think, what was I going to do if I ever found a being who knows all? I guessed that after knowing my purpose I could know what to do next, but what if I don’t

    Chapter: 3

    Amber fell asleep before me, she was a snorer, which didn’t help at all. It was dark and the rain was still falling, I was hoping that it would let up soon. I needed to get to town. I barely got any sleep that night, I just couldn’t, not even with the rain.

    I thought about just up and leaving, but something held me back.I fell asleep and had another one of my dreams.

    The lions roared as I fought them back, I knew that if they caught me I would be eaten alive. They roared and slashed at me as a gracefully dodged to the side. Ha, ha, ha silly lions they could never catch me. Then a slim old lion slowly walked forward to the front of the group. All the lions stopped what they were doing as she passed through.

    I also stopped what I was doing, I had never seen anything like it, you could hardly blame me. I saw it walk up and it looked me right in the eyes, I stared back. I don’t know how long we stared at each other before she slashed me.

    I opened my eyes, and got up. Amber was reading a book, one of the books I brought with me. Wait one minute here that is my book, my backpack was zipped open.

    “HEY!” I yelled. She jumped and then turned around to face me. It might have been my own imagination but I think she was blushing.

    “Good choice in stories, I see you like books” she said

    “Yes, but you’re not supposed to read mine, you already have so many stories”

    “It’s been awhile since i've read this one though”

    I had no response to that, but I can tell you, I was rather angry.

    “Well I need to leave now”

    “So do I” We both walked out of the building. I looked at my map again and continued on my way to the town, it was called Cherry town, I heard that it was very pleasant there are I was starting to look forward to going.

    As I walked I felt like someone was following me, my suspicions were correct when I turned around and saw Amber.

    “Why are you following me?” I asked

    “I’m actually going to Cherry town as well.”

    “Then why aren't you walking with me?”

    “I’m an old woman for pete’s sake! and you’re walking as fast as a cheetah!”

    “Well how else am I going to get there before I run out of supplies”

    “Fair enough, but could you slow down? besides I also have supplies I could share some with you if you run out”

    “And if you run out?”

    “You could share some with me, that’s how it works. I got an eye out for you and you got an eye out for me”

    “I like having both eyes to myself”

    “Fine, but i’ll still look out for you”

    “Yeah, yeah, yeah”

    We walked on for awhile, I had slowed down so that she could catch up with me. The ground was gravely and crushed under my sneakers, and I could smell spring on the breeze. The birds were singing their songs, and sun shined on my skin. If you hadn’t been in the rain earlier you would have doubted it even happened.In fact it was so bright I had to squint my eyes.

    “You need some sunglasses” I turned my head and saw Amber handing me a pair

    “What about you?”

    “Don’t worry, I brought spares” Amber then pulled out another pair of glasses

    “How many of those do you have”

    “just these two”

    “....Thanks”

    “you’re welcome”

    I looked ahead and saw some hills up ahead of us. I sighed inwardly, I hated climbing. I looked back to see how she was doing. I had to go even slower for Amber not to fall behind. I breathed in and smelled that amazing smell you smell after it’s rained. I could also smell lavender and honeysuckle, I loved those smells.

    By the time when we reached the top of the hill, it was mid day. I could have climbed it a lot faster if I wasn’t helping Amber. In fact I would almost be a cherry town already.

    Going down the hill was much easier than going up it. Amber was still taking her time. I went up the hill again and this time ran down it, I used to do that all the time with my older brother back at our first home.

    I seemed to fly over the ground with the speed I was going at. I flew right past Amber again and made it near to the bottom of the hill. I felt my foot hit something hard and I saw the earth rising towards my face. In just a few second and it was over, I was sitting at the bottom of the hill opening my fist aid kit to bandage my face.

    “Are you okay?” Amber asked me when she joined me on the bottom

    “Yeah, I’m just fine, but that was really stupid of me though.”

    “Yes, it was”

    “Come on let’s get going than”

    The gravel path was far behind us now and the only sound we could hear was the sound of grass crunching as we walked, that and our breathing.

    We made it to town by nightfall, it wasn’t what I expected at all. I had heard this town was friendly and welcoming. It wasn’t when we got there, all I saw were some guards and people rushing into houses.

    “HALT!” yelled one of the guards. We both stopped as the guard walked up to us. “State your business” he growled

    “We’re just hoping to pass through” I said.

    “You can’t come in”

    “Why not? it’s not like we’re going to do anything”

    “I can’t tell if that’s true or not but if you really don’t know, there is a guy who just escaped from a nearby jail” he paused “A jail with some of the craziest, most violent prisoners you can imagine. The one who escaped was a master at disguises, so how can I tell if ether one of you is him?”

    “Well if you’re not letting us in then. I guess we got to go around” Amber said  

    “That’s right”

    Amber dragged me along away from the guard and walked on the outskirts of it. All around there were guards keeping us from just sneaking in. I felt like anyone of them could shoot me any minute. Probably because they could, all of them had a gun, and all of the guns were pointed at us. If we made one wrong move to show we were a danger, we would be done for.

    I felt stiff and my clenched my sweaty hands . My heart was beating a mile a minute. Why couldn’t it be over? It seemed to just keep on going and going. Why did Cherry town have to be so long? My forehead was sweating, I would have wiped it but I felt I couldn't do anything but walk with the cold glare of the guards on us.

    YES, I almost wanted to scream out, we had walked to the end of the town and we were still going. I wanted to scream up to the heavens that I was alive. The guards stare was still on us so I didn’t. It was a long time before I felt we were safe again.

    I reached into my backpack and pulled out my map. Cherry town was a rather secluded place. Another town or city were miles away.

    “What are we going to do about food?”

    Chapter 4

    “Not sure but there’s plenty of farmland around here” Amber said

    “There is?”

    “Trust me I know this place like the back of my hand”

    I got out my sleeping bag and turned my head to her. “Looks like we’re sleeping under the stars tonight”

    “That’s nice, I like stars”

    “Okay” I smile. I was so glad that we were out of the way from the guards but… “What about that serial killer the guards mentioned”

    “Well it’s true about the prison being around here, after all this is a very secluded place. If someone got loose from there they wouldn’t have many places to go.”

    “Okay...but what if-”

    “It’s going to be fine, don’t worry yourself”

    “O-kay” I said then went to bed.

    When I woke up light flashed in my eyes. No dreams for me that night it seemed and if i did have one I completely forgot about it.

    “morning” I heard Ambers voice. I got up and saw she had made us both breakfast.

    “Thanks” I said. I wondered how many times I was going to be thanking her. She kept on doing these nice things for me, it’s not like I was ungrateful,I really was glad she did these things for me. I just felt like I was taking and not giving back. She has never given me the chance too. It was then I decided to do something for her.

    The waffles tasted great, Amber turned out to be an amazing cook. She had all sorts of things with her for every situation. I had no idea why someone would go journing with a waffle iron, but she did it.

    “What sort of things are you carrying around with you?” I asked “and why do you have a waffle iron?”

    “Well, you never knew when you might need something”

    “Yeah, but a waffle iron?”

    “Yes”

    “Well, okay then, we should be going, so we can get to a town that isn't locked up”

    “Yeah, sounds good to me”

    We took a look at my map to know where to go next, the nearest place that wasn’t Cherry town was Wicker Farms, maybe they could help us out? I hope anyway.

    We were silent the whole way there, as we normally were. I thought about what I could do for her to thank her for being generous and when I should give it to her. I decided that I was going to give it to her when we have to go on our own ways. I wasn’t sure what to give her though. In fact I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go on a separate path from Amber. Maybe my gift would be that-

    BOOM!!!

    What was that!

    Me and Amber ran to where the noise came from, of course I got there first and what greeted my site was a colossal tree. It was part of a forest of course, but this one was far bigger than any tree I had ever seen and far bigger than any other tree there. I just had no words for how huge it was, i had seen it from a distance but seeing it so close up and in person, I was speechless.

    I turned my head and saw that Amber had caught up to me.

    “That, is, very, bad” She looked really worried.

    “Wha-what’s the matter?”

    “That tree was being worshipped by a bunch of wack job locals, and I don’t want to be here when they realize what happened, in fact they should know. LET’S GET OUT OF HERE” She grabbed my hand and ran faster than I thought she could. I stumbled a bit but then kept up with her running.

    We jumped behind a small hill and squatted down. We were both silent, I could hear me own breath, and that was it.

    I was finally starting to relax when I heard angry shouts coming from the direction we ran from.  There were also gasps and I could hear crying as well. I had no idea how safe hiding behind a hill would be, but I wasn’t planning on moving.

    It had gotten dark and we could still hear the angry shouts. My eyelids were heavy and started to drop.

    I stared around me as fins circled through the water. I was still, and hoped that I would be safe but I knew I wasn’t. The raft under we would hardly be able to protect me from a sea full of bloodthirsty sharks.

    They were so bloodthirsty that they started attacking each other. My little raft somehow made it to shore. All because the sharks could not get along.

    I opened my eyes and saw that Amber was still sleeping, this time I had woken up before her. Things were quiet again but I didn’t dare move. After some time Amber woke up, and quietly looked out from behind our hiding spot. She motioned for me to follow, and i did. We saw that the tribe was still asleep, for it was very late but I had a pretty bad feeling that they would wake up soon.

    As we sneaked on we saw several other camps, they all looked rather different. Then while we were sneaking past what i thought was the last camp, we were spotted.

    I had to think fast, true, they didn’t seem as hostile as the ones we heard earlier but they still looked pissed. An idea began to form in my mind from the dream I had and from the different camps.We were surrounded, and someone who I assumed was the chief walked up to me.

    “Do you know what happened to the tree?” His stare was cold as steel looking for any dishonesty. I wondered if I should tell the truth, that we had no idea, but I felt something bad would happen if I did.

    “You see” I began already getting more confidence “We were on our way because we do know something.”

    Amber stepped in and continued with saying “we wanted to tell you, because we know you are the most honorable of all the tribes” She then motioned for me to tell them ‘what I know’

    “You see we were heading through the forest on our way to Wicker farms when we saw one of those other tribes”

    “Which one?” He asked

    “The red one” Amber said. I was about to say blue but she beat me to a answer.

    “Yes, we saw a par of the red tribe gathering around that trees base and they were having some sort of conversation but I wasn’t able to make out everything they said”

    “What did you hear?”

    “um… we heard ‘tree’ of course and ‘cut’ also ‘they wouldn't know’”

    “really? well that is at least what we thought we heard we don’t know for sure”

    Red” He spat “I knew we couldn't trust them those barbarians. Is there anything else you know?”

    “No, i’m afraid not sir”

    “Okay, you are free to go, but I warn you, if you are lying then we will track you down”

    Me and Amber hurriedly left the scene. We decided that it might be best to tell some of the other tribes that someone else was being sneaky to cause a fight. Well be we, I mean, me, Amber didn’t like the idea.

    She let me still go on with it though, she just didn’t take part. I just made all sorts of different messages. All of them said so and so was being suspicious. I was able to get to every camp before they woke up and left the message on something there.

    I got back to where Amber was, and not long after that, I could see that the tribes were gathering around each other arguing over who did it. It was actually kinda funny but Amber didn’t let us stay long.

    Chapter 5

    We left and continued to Wicker Farms where we were greeted much nicer by the farmer. He said we could stay for as long as we wanted, just as long as we helped with the chores. He just wanted Amber to watch his kids, I had to do the actual labor.

    It wasn’t that hard, it just sucked having to wake up early. The kids were kind of annoying but cute. The farmer’s wife was very nice as well.

    One day the farmer left to go to Cherry town to sell some things. His wife said that he always left to that once and awhile, he was later than normal when he got back. He was acting kind of strange and the wife noticed it, the next day she had disappeared as well as the children.

    That was a major red flag, so as soon as we found out they were gone. We were out of there.

    Well we went on going to our next destination, a town called springfield. Nothing much happened there really we only stayed a couple of days. Next we headed to camp a bit in the woods, we had the supplies and that Springfield town was right next to us. Amber thought we needed a break.

    We stayed at a cabin that was for rent , we were only going to stay for five days then leave but we left after three days after the man when was letting us rent it disappeared.

    From place to place we went people would start to disappear. I was feeling like I was being hunted down, Amber said she felt the same.

    Then at one point we saw some people from that tribe we talked to in one of the towns we were in. They were looking for us, I don’t think we got away with tricking them it seems.

    Well Amber is very mad at me, that doesn’t help anything. Also I realized It’s been a long time since I really thought about finding that being with all knowledge, guess i've been busy thinking about other things. You know like angry tribes and being hunted down plus an angry friend. I've been very, very busy thinking indeed.

    Friend, yeah, haven’t thought much about that either, she’s my friend now. I think i’ll stick with her on her traveling. I like having a friend again after such a long time. I try not to think about how my last friend turned out. Kind of spoils the whole friend thing, doesn’t it.

    Amber says that we can’t keep up with this whole hunting down thing, that we should find a true way out of this instead of just running away like we have been doing. With the whole hunting down thing, I don’t think it’s the tribes, sure the’re crazy but I don’t think they would be the kind to go on a killing spree. I think it’s that killer we learned about while we were trying to get into Cherry town. That was quite awhile ago now, 3 months I think, never been able to keep track of time.

    I recently started one of those diary things, you know, just in case something were to happen to one of us. I've written down everything so far about around the time I met Amber, a bit before I met her was where I wrote my story. I haven’t had much of the heart to write about what had happened before in my life. Oh well, anyway I rather enjoyed writing, I found. I was deep into writing about when Amber and I were walking to Cherry town when I noticed it getting rather late. I decided to continue tomorrow morning, or whenever I get the chance.


    Chapter 6

    I was going to go to the shop by myself to buy some sort of surprise for Amber. You see it had been about 6 months since we first started traveling. It had also been a long time since I updated my journal, about a week, maybe? Reason why is because there has been nothing to say. I had no idea what I was going to get her, I thought about what sort of things she likes. She has been collecting and selling stories as we move from town to town and I get some sort of small job.

    She really liked stories didn’t she? I thought about getting some books from the store but it didn’t feel like the right gift. I got another journal instead and I started to write, no, not another story about me. I wrote about a dog, a dog who got lost after his family moved away but eventually found them again.

    I might take a bit to finish it though, but I knew she’ll like it. I think i’ll continue writing for more than just this little story though. I really enjoy it, right now that little brown dog was just left behind at the old home. I wonder what else I should write about? for now I will stick to my journal and writing that little dog story.

    We can’t seem to stay in one place without someone dying in the next hour and Amber thinks that we should stay in one place until we find out how is doing this. I’ll stay, mostly because she is staying, if it were my choice we would be out of there in a flash.

    Well now i’m keeping my journal on me at all times. If I know i’m going to get into some trouble i’m going to write it down. If something were to happen of course I have something to show about it. That is unless it gets destroyed, which would really suck.

    The town’s almost empty, most people have disappeared or left due to the people disappearing.  Some of those tribe people showed up in town. Also we are staying at some random motel, we have a friendly neighbor who started staying the day after we did. He hasn’t died or left yet, in fact he seems relatively unfazed about it all. He is kind of creepy, I don’t like him, not one bit. He keeps on trying to ask me out for a date, which I really don’t want to do.

    I wake up to another day wondering who was going to be dead in town now. I reach over and grab my journal and get out of bed. I put on some clothes, brush my teeth, ect. Amber was on her bed reading one of her countless books, I wasn’t sure which one, and frankly I didn’t really care.

    “I’m going down to get breakfast” I said to her. She nodded, not paying that much attention to me with her nose stuffed into the book.

    I walked down the stairs to the room where they served breakfast. I grabbed some hotcakes and syrup and sat down at one of the tables. I was busy enjoying my breakfast when I saw someone come in through the entrance of the motel. I gulped, I bet right there and then my face turned white, I don’t know because I can’t see my own face.

    I ran back up to my room as fast as possible I left the hotcakes behind, this was far more important. I almost broke down my door even though I had just unlocked it. The first thing I noticed when I entered my room was that Kevin was there.

    “What are you doing here!”

    “Amber invited me in for a bit of tea” He then smiled his creepy smile and took a sip of tea.

    I turned to Amber “WHY?”

    Amber walked over to me and said in a hushed voice “I was thinking I could convince him to get the hell out of here. Also what are you doing back so soon?”

    “I saw those tribe guys again, they just walked into the motel!”

    “Well, I guess we might have to leave now” Amber said

    “Yeah let’s get our stuff ready and go”

    Amber and I turned our heads in confusion to Kevin “what did you say?” I asked

    “I said let’s get our stuff and go”

    “Umm… when we were talking about leaving we just meant the two of us”

    “Well at least let me help you, after all you need to return the keys and you two can’t go out there”

    “Okay... “ I walked up to him and handed my keys to him and Amber did the same.

    After he left the room to return the keys for us Amber and I quickly grabbed our stuff and hightailed it out of there. We were hoping we could get out before Kevin got back so we could avoid him asking to come with us.

    We thought that we could get away but Kevin was faster than i thought, he is also carrying his stuff.

    “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked glaring at him

    “Didn’t i already tell you? I said I was coming with you guys”

    “I don’t want you coming with us! can’t you get that through that thick headed skull of yours!”

    He just smiled and kept walking as we were running away from the site. He is doing this on purpose, the bastard! I didn’t continue asking him to go away though, that could wait till later, then I would really give him an ear full.

    Chapter 7

    As we rushed out of the city we could hear angry shouts behind us. I didn’t need to look behind, nor did I want to to know that they weren't far behind us. This was far worse than that time at Cherry town.

    Amber is barely keeping up with me, we can’t do this for long I know. That creepy guy is still with us, I wish that he would just go away. While we were running I realize that they are gaining ground on us.

    I looked at Amber, she getting farther and farther behind, I bit my lip, what was I going to do? I turned my head and then looked at Kevin, I glared at him again and I noticed that he seemed deep in thought. He ran a bit faster up to me, I would have ran faster so I could keep him behind me but I didn’t want to leave Amber in the dust.

    “I think I might know a way to get them off of you” he said

    Oh yeah, and what’s that?”

    “I’ll do it if you promise that you’ll go out with me on a date if this turns out well”  What? a date, a date! He’s asking me, in the middle of all this to go out with him on a date? I looked Amber again but, still, if whatever he is thinking of works, we’ll be okay.

    Fine, but what are you doing anyway?”

    “Oh, that doesn’t matter, we just need to get them to think that one of you fell somewhere dangerous and the other one is running along without them but after falling someplace else as well” I was confused, what was he going to do?

    “Pretty much, we need to get you both out of sight, one of you should fake falling somewhere very dangerous so they won’t follow you and they think you’re dead, so they stop looking for you”

    “Okay and that other part?”

    “The other one just has to fall somewhere and I’ll lead them away by tricking them to think it’s me”

    “What about them knowing you're running with us?”

    “Oh, don’t worry I will also pretend to fall off a cliff but I’ll sneak into the ditch with that cavity and then when Amber falls  into the ditch she hides in the cavity while I lead them away pretending to be her”

    I almost stopped right there and then, it sounded like he had this whole thing planned out already, and a cliff, a cliff. I didn’t really like the sound of it, but it sounded better than anything I could have come up with. I slowed down so that Amber could catch up and I told her the plan.

    Well Kevin and I are going to be the ones to fake run of a cliff. I’m worried about Amber but she has to run on her own a tinsy bit. Luckily the cliff is really close, the two of us separated from Amber to the cliff.The tribe people also split up behind us, most of them were following us. Kevin ran up ahead of me, I could see the cliff he had been been talking about earlier.

    I saw him disappear over the edge, I really didn't want to jump off of a cliff, but it was a bit too late for that. Step by step the edge came closer, until it was right under my feet. The world seemed to freeze around me as I slowly fell, it felt like I was floating on air. My fall stopped abruptly when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into a small hole in the cliff, big enough for a person but very tight for two people.

    I heard people above us, I then saw a couple of people fall right past my face. I didn’t look but I still heard the sound of bodies hitting the ground, crack!.

    Kevin told me to stay for now until Amber joined me, I didn’t argue. He had made some sort of safe path down the steep. He slowly climbed down, I made note of where he put his hands and feet for when I would climb down.

    He was gone, the noise above me was gone as well. No one was there but me. I remember when I was watching him climb down I saw the lifeless bodies of the tribe people that fell down. True, there wasn't any blood or anything but I could hardly stand to look at it. I think there was about 5 of them who fell but I didn’t really give it a hard look.

    I was waiting, waiting for Amber, or even Kevin, as much as I hate him. It was very quiet in that tiny hole, I whistle a bit and rolled my thumbs. I tried not to think about what was going on with Amber, was she okay? I heard a couple of birds chirping in the distance and  it smelled like honey here. It would have been really nice if I weren’t in such a situation. I slowly breathed in and out to try to calm down.

    “Frankie? are you up there?” called a familiar voice

    I looked down and saw Amber, she was safe! “I’m coming I called. I slowly got out and tried to continue the path I saw Kevin had traveled earlier. I felt my stomach leap when I misstepped and slipped down the steep by a couple of inches. Finally I felt my feet meet the ground and I slowly got down and turned around.

    “So what happened!” I asked

    “Well I jumped in that hole and that Kevin guy was there. He was already wearing a disguise that looked like me, just like me and then he ran off. The tribe people were none the wiser”

    “So I guess that’s just it?”

    “I guess it is”

    Chapter 8

    We haven’t seen Kevin since the events that happened that day nor have we seen anything of any tribes, so I guess his plan worked. I still wonder what happened to the guy, at least I don’t have to go out on a date with him. I do what to thank him for helping us, as creepy as he was. We are still traveling from place to place and no one has died since all that happened. It’s been kind of slow lately, it’s not that bad but still the only thing really interesting that has happened recently is finishing that book.

    After working for awhile I was able to finish writing my gift for Amber, sure it’s way overdue but I know she’ll like it. I wrapped it up to make sure it was nice and made a card to go along with it.

    “Um...Amber” I said

    “Yeah?”

    “I have something for you”

    “Okay, and what’s that?”

    “This” I handed her the wrapped up present

    She unwrapped it and read the card, the card read:

    I made a small story for you

    I know how much you like stories

-Frankie

    She looked at the journal that I had put the story in, on the cover it read ‘The abandoned puppy’

    She looked up from the notebook and said “You wrote a story?”

    “Yeah, I wrote just as a gift for you”

    “That’s...really sweet actually, thank you”

    “Your welcome”

    She started reading my story right away, it seems to have cheered up our general mood. Before, the craziness of that day hung over our heads like some sort of dark storm cloud.

    We’ve been heading east, back to Cherry town. It’s interesting to see the places we have already been too. Sure my gift has made things a bit lighter, I still feel weighed down. I really want to know what happened to those tribe guys. Did they really fall for it? How did Kevin trick them anyway? They don’t seem to be the type that’s easy to trick.

    Amber still is kinda slow, in fact I think she’s gotten slower. I wonder why I still hang out with her, she’s slow and her tongue is sharp. I really want to get to Cherry town but she’s slowing me down. I could leave her behind if I want...but I don’t want too. We have been to many places, and I know i couldn't leave her behind.

    Nothing much really happened on our way there, well so far anyway. We are taking a quick look at Wicker farms, we wonder what happened since we left it.

    It’s empty, another abandoned place then I guess. Amber is busy setting up lunch, I’m going to take a good look at this place.

    It looks just like it had before, a big old wooden barn, it was empty though. The last time we were here it was filled with hay and all sorts of animals. I felt a bit bad that me and Amber left without having a thought about the animals. I wonder what happened to them?

    The barn smells just like old hay, which is expected of course. I wandered around a bit, there really wasn’t anything in the barn, and by that I mean the barn was literally empty.

    I checked the house next, as I was standing in the doorway I felt very uneasy. I still walked in, I wished I didn’t. I walked into the house and walked up the the room we were staying at while we were there. It looked just the way it had when we left it when we ran off. I checked all other other rooms, still, there was nothing that weird.

    I was starting to wonder why I felt so uneased before, I was going to leave Whicker farms to join Amber when I noticed that there was a cellar door next to the house.

    I really shouldn't have opened it, that was stupid of me. The cellar door creaked open and opened up to darkness. I walked slowly down the steps, the sound echoed across the cellar.

    I carefully walked down to the bottom and squinted my eyes, then I saw what was on the bottom of those stairs. I found the farmer and his family. I ran back up those stairs and shivered about the sight I just saw.

    We headed straight to Cherry town after that, Amber asked why I was in such a rush. I didn’t want to tell her, so I didn’t, I just want to forget about what I saw.

    It took awhile but we got there eventually. We were allowed in this time, because they thought that the killings would continue west, which was the direction we had been traveling. We haven’t moved since we got here. We have stayed here since the events of that day.

    Amber has finished reading my gift to her, she really likes it and says that I should really write more, I also let her read my own personal journal. She hasn’t moved much from bed, I think that she’s sick. She’s almost done with my journal already.

    Since she got sick that was the main reason we haven’t moved from Cherry town. I’m writing some other things since I have nothing to do but go to my temp jobs. I wish I could move around again, that made me really happy, but I also really love writing as well. It sucks having writers block, I hope I can overcome it soon and get motivated again.

    Chapter 9

    Well I didn’t think it would happen, but guess it would have happened one day. Sure, i’m sad but it hasn’t struck me as hard as it struck me when that old friend of mine died. Guess that’s what happens when you befriend an old woman, seems i forgot that.

    I moved on on my journey, I’m not looking for any all knowing being anymore. I’m just traveling, I realized that this was what I always enjoyed, traveling without any danger, going from place to place. I’ve gotten over my writers block and i’m writing again. I've really been enjoying that, it’s given me a really good time.  

    I’m almost out of pages of my personal journal, I guess i’ll have to get a new journal don’t I? I saw that there was something written on the last page. It was from… Amber, she wrote something in my book.

    Dear Frankie,

     If you’re reading this, then that means you either finished your journal or you just flipped to the last page. I hope by now you found what made you happy, I knew I did. I think I knew what you enjoy as well, and I think you know what it is as well. If you are wondering when I wrote this, I wrote this while we were here in Cherry town. I hope you found whatever your purpose was, I don’t know if you’ll keep roaming or not. You might just stay in one place, but if you’re anything like me, or like what I think you are like you’ll go from place to place. Like we have been doing for so long.

    yours truly, Amber

    Since then I have been going from place to place, like Amber predicted.  I still don’t knew what happened to ‘Kevin’ all that long ago and I miss Amber. I have most of the stories that Amber had including the story I wrote for her, and I carry them with me still. I’m glad though that I met her, it really did brighten up my life.

    One day I ran into someone who was journeying from place to place. She was younger then me. Now i’m almost out of pages in my journal. I wish that anyone who reads it is doing the thing they love. If not I would advise them to make a change, but I guess i could be difficult for anyone to do something new and that’s just fine. I’ll just keep doing what I enjoy and they can do whatever it is they’re doing.

    I’m just glad that I can be doing what I love and I hope they are doing it to. In traveling I can’t carry anything big and heavy, and I don’t need anything big and heavy. I just need my stories, and that’s all. I hope they have enjoyed my story and maybe, just maybe if they don’t have it now they’ll find what you are truly passionate about.  

    Life goes on

    wherever you may be

    or whatever you may do

    you can’t stop time

    but if you could, would you?

    Things would go dull and rather dreary

    I don’t know about you

    but doing the same thing

    would be rather boring.

    So live your life

    wherever you may be.

    and maybe, maybe one day you will see.



    The End


This is a story I wrote for my LA class, I've got to say, I like the way it turned out. I wrote this awhile ago and have been meaning to put it up here for awhile.
© 2015 - 2024 Shadowonwater
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CHi3fster's avatar
This ended up being a really cool read. At first I approached it the wrong way and it felt awkward, but I just kept reading and it sounded out nicely. Good job! ^.^