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A Great Adventure

Little Black Book

By Sarah FeldkampPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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A Great Adventure
Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

“Thud!”, “I’m running away, and never coming back!”, Jack yelled vexedly from his room. He had just gotten in an argument with his mom about where he could, and couldn't go. Jack wrapped his swiss army knife, a pencil, a black notebook, and his teddy bear in a red blanket, tied it to a stick, and set off.

After Jack had made it out of town, he reached a forest. Walking into the dome of trees apprehensively, Jack made sure to take precaution with every step. Jack made his way towards the middle of the forest to the point where he couldn't see the road anymore. When Jack sat down to rest, he heard a scuffle coming from nearby bushes. Jack prepared himself for what may appear.

While pulling his knife out, the creature appeared. It was tall, dust colored, furry, with horns. Behind it emerged two other creatures. They had similar appearances to the first, but were different in color. “ Is that a boy in the forest?” asked the first monster in a deep grumpy voice.

“Y-yes,” Jack said, feeling panic-stricken.

“Now, what ade boy yur’ age beed doin’ in the forest?” asked one monster.

“Ya, shouldn't you be at home with your mother, boy?” asked another. Jack didn't answer. He simply pulled out his notebook and started drawing.

“Answer us boy!” yelled the dust colored monster.

Jack simply answered, “I ran off.”

“Ran off!” shrieked one of the three monsters. Jack continued coloring silently. After a moment of standing there, the monsters invited Jack to dinner. Jack, having forgotten to pack food, accepted. They arrived at a damp, dirty cave with dim torches providing light. That night Jack ate venison. It wasn't very good in his opinion, but it was all there was to eat.

After supper, Jack decided it was time to go. So he packed up his stuff, and said bye to the monsters. The monsters didn't like that Jack was leaving. They yelled and roared! One bellowed, “Jack come back!”

Another screamed, “We’ll kill you if we see you again!” But Jack didn’t care. He ran as fast as he could.

Jack arrived at a body of water after hours of walking. At the edge of the water there was an abandoned sailboat. Jack climbed into it and set sail. Jack, knowing it would be a long ride, got out his pencil and black notebook, and started to draw. He drew for hours and hours, until he saw bubbles in the water. Out of nowhere, a colossal squid emerged from the sea. It wrapped its large snake like tentacles around the ship. Panicked, Jack grabbed his knife and prodded the beast in the glazed, green eye. The squid screamed in agony, while submerging back into the water.

After days on the sea, Jack arrived at a sun-dried desert. He knew there would be little life there. When he made it ashore, Jack tied up the old boat, and began his new journey through the desert. While walking through the water deprived land, Jack found a shaded cave and decided to rest and draw a picture in his black notebook.

While craving a hydrating, cold, majestical glass of water, a sweeping wind came up over the wave-like sand dunes. Jack packed up his stuff, making an effort to run; but was swept away and thrown into the air like a rag doll. After what felt like an hour, Jack’s bumpy ride ended. Jack was deposited in what looked like an abandoned town. Jack roamed the streets, looking for some kind of life. After thirty minutes of searching he heard voices coming from the center of town. He walked over cautiously. As he made his way to the crowd of people a voice called out, “Ah just in time! Jack Stirman everybody!”

Jack looked around wondering what was going on. Suddenly a spotlight shone on Jack. “Don’t be shy, come on up.” The man was now making hand gestures for Jack to come on stage. Jack did as he was told. “Come on now,” the man said in a semi-threatening voice. Jack walked up to the tall, bearded man, who suddenly clenched ahold of Jack’s wrist. Surprised, Jack tried pulling away but the grip was too tight. The man raised Jack’s arm up and announced to the crowd, “Behold! The winner of the $20,000 dollars!”

Stunned, Jack barely reacted as the man placed a black leather briefcase in his arms. The crowd suddenly started to boo and Jack was regretting coming on stage. “How come a boy gets that money!” yelled a woman.

A gruff looking man piped up. “Yeah! A whole lot of us could have used the money.” Suddenly there were murmurs in the crowd. The bearded man suddenly snatched Jack’s notebook and began scribbling in it with a pen he had pulled from his suit pocket. Jack made an effort to grab the notebook from the bearded man but did not succeed. The bearded man smiled and then handed Jack the book back. Jack checked to see what the man had drawn. It was a picture of Jack getting chased from the land. In the drawing, the crowd of people were behind him with torches and signs Jack didn't wish to see.

The crowd began to riot. Jack teared up, “I wish I was home!” he exclaimed, feeling so much regret about arguing with his mom. All of the sudden Jack was back in his bed. He felt grateful to be under the soft sheets in his own room. Jack was sweating profusely and realized it was just a bad dream.

He glanced at his notebook laying on the nightstand beside his bed. Jack opened it and saw pictures of all the events from his adventure, including the drawing made by the bearded man. Jack shot out of bed and ran downstairs as quickly as he could, into the arms of his mom. “What's this about?” she asked curiously.

“I'm sorry.” Jack said in a choked up voice. Tears ran down his cheeks.

His mom hugged him tight. “It’s alright. I love you Jack.”

“I love you too, Mom.” They both cried. Especially when Jack reached into this pocket and pulled out twenty thousand dollars.

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