Big city, bright lights, dark alleyways...
Even at ten at night, Chicago's lit up and bright as day, people rushing everywhere, places to go, things to do. As the lights blaze and the city hums, someone stands in a dark alley, a phone to their ear, their foot tapping. The phone rings, once, twice, then again, when suddenly, the phone clicks, and someone out in the suburbs answers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One hand grabs the ringing phone as the other frantically pushes buttons and jabs at analog sticks. The call button is push and the phone is transferred from fingers to shoulder and ear as both hands return to the game controller. With his eyes train on the screen, where a digital grim reaper is fighting his way across the screen, Greg answers.
"Hello?" He asks, only half listening for the answer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the alley, the question is heard.
"Greg?" The girl asks, "Something's kinda come up...You're gonna have t-"
The words are cut off by a sound of celebration, then, "What?"
"I can't make it to he concert, Greg, I need you to fill in for me."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg, still focus on the game, tries to remember what he's just heard.
"You need me t- WHAT?!" Greg drops the controller, all his attention now on the phone, as an ancient looking scroll sporting the words 'Game Over' appears on the screen and a skeleton begins to laugh at the boy in front of the tv.
"I can't... but...why..." Greg stammers before exclaiming, "Couldn't you call Chris?!"
"Dude, Chris is in Japan, remember?"
"Isn't there someone else? I can't do it! I-" Greg starts.
"Greg, I'm your instructor, remember? I taught you what you know, and I've heard you play everyday. I sure you can do this."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
There's a pause on the phone. A voice lacking most any trace of confidence asks, "A concert, Skye? Really? You want me to play at a concert?
"Were you listening at all to what I just told you?" Skye asks, "Or have you been preoccupied playing Skeleton Keys?"
Immediately the phone erupts into a guilty cry, "No!"
Skye snickers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg looks guiltily at the tv, still flashing the Skeleton Keys game over screen, as Skye tries again to boost his confidence.
"Dude, do you really think you'd be the first person I'd call if I didn't think you were good enough?"
Greg sits for a moment to try and fully take in this statement.
"I was the first one you called?"
"Of course."
Greg thinks for a moment. There were plenty of other people Skye could have called, but he was the first?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A sneaking suspicion fills the air as Skye begins to wonder whether Greg's hung up on her. 'If he did...'
"Okay, fine," the phone suddenly comes to life, surprising her for a moment. "I'll go but when my mom finds out-"
"Is that the problem?" Skye asks nonchalantly, "Well if that's the case..."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"The one that weighs a ton? Yeah, it's right here, why?" Greg crouches in his closet and pulls out a metal case, the contents of which are unknown, even to him.
"It doesn't weigh a ton, you're just weaker than a kindergartner." the phone teases.
"I told you, I let him win." Greg mumbles, pulling the case from the closet.
"Whatever. Just make sure you bring the case. As long as you've got a good excuse for being out so late and some 'witnesses', that case is basically your get-out-of-trouble-free pass."
"Okay, but how am I supposed to get there?" Greg asks skeptically.
"I'm sure you'll find something out."
"Yeah, that's helpful."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Well, good luck then." Skye replies.
"Thanks." There's a click and the phone goes dead. Skye shuts her phone and turns to an open door in the side of one of the buildings. She walks inside without a word and the door begins to swing shut behind her.
"Hey, make sure you wash your hands now!" a voice calls from inside.
"That's what I'm doing, Scout." Skye calls, "Watch out for-" A crash. The sound of laughter is the last thing to come from the kitchen before the door shuts completely and locks. On the roof of the building opposite, a silhouette glares at the door, waiting. Waiting for his chance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Greg hangs up the phone, slinging the case of his should by the shoulder strap. He stand, pondering, until a look appears on his face, suggesting a cartoon light bulb would feel right at home hovering over is head. He grabs the phone again and runs to the stairs.
"Hey, Rick!" Greg calls.
"WHAT?" yells a clearly irritated voice. 'Good,' thinks Greg as he dials the phone, 'He's in a good mood.'
The phone barely rings once when it's picked up and an overly enthusiastic "Hello! emanates from the phone.
"I need you to drive me somewhere!" Greg yells up the stairs before turning to the phone, "Jackson. If anyone asks, I'm at your house tonight, okay?"
"Why? Are we hanging out? You wanna play a game? Should I-"
"No, Jackson. I need you to lie like you've never lied before." Greg says, trying to keep as quiet as possible.
"Oooh, okay. I get it." Jackson hangs up the phone as Rick appears at the top of the staircase.
"I'm not taking you anywhere! Why should, you little emo..." Rick stomps down the stairs as he shouts, getting cut off as he reaches the bottom by a voice from the kitchen.
"Rick, be nice to your brother," their mother calls. She looks out the door, "Greg, where're you going?"
"Jackson's house. I'm going to, uh, spend the night."
She turns to Rick, "Marcus, you can-"
"Moomm."
"You name is Marcus, that's what I call you, that's who you are, and you are the boy who's going to drive their brother to Jackson's house," Greg's mom gives Rick a look. Rick crosses him arms and scowls for a bit, before finally giving in.
"Fine." He pushes Greg aside and storm out the door, calling, "C'mon, Dummkoff!"
Greg glares after Rick before running out after him while his mom returns to the kitchen. In the empty living room, the tv flashes its messages while the skeleton laughs. After a moment, the screen flickers, then goes black before lighting back up. Again, the screen shows an ancient scroll with the words game over inscribed on it. The skeleton is gone, and in it's place is a figure in a black cloak with the hood pulled over it's eyes and a scythe in hand. It looks up and one a pair of red eyes glows from beneath the hood. The screen flickers again, before going black again, this time for good.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Snake Charms
It's such a time consuming thing,
Vacation.
There's packing,
and provisions,
and plans,
and lists.
There's loose ends to attend to,
and loose ends to be made.
Yet even in these stress filled times,
before a stress filled drive,
to a slightly less stressful vacation,
moments with a certain charm,
are still to be found.
Walking through the room,
to attend to some last minute packing,
preparations,
provisions,
something catches my eye.
A beautiful poses,
a sly grin,
a look in the eye, as if to say,
You wish you had this.
A wonderful moment
for pictures.
The trip through the house,
a scavenger hunt for a camera.
One thing I'm sure of.
My model won't be there for long.
Yet against all odds,
I return to the same statue,
the same muse,
as I'd left before,
waiting patiently.
And lo, as the shot is taken,
the moment immortalized,
the model,
once a statue,
breaks her stillness,
as she lies on her belly,
and casually slithers away.
Leaving me to continue,
through these stress filled times.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The Monsterous Thing That Ate a Month of My Life
I hate this animation. Or, at least, the animated part. The timing is off, I got slides mixed up, Movie Maker froze the computer every twelve seconds making a half hour project take 3 hours and deleting several dozen slides. So here. A two week project that took a month and made me work through several parties that would have been pretty fun to participate in, considering they were happening two feet from my face. In short, the monster that ate an entire irreplaceable month of my life. I just hope the internet crashes and burns before anyone I know sees it.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Only Difference I Can See Between Most Politicians and Rich, Whinny, Spoiled Little Kids is a Change in Vocabulary
I really can't see much more difference. Politicians constantly argue amongst themselves, protesting or, put more simply, whining when they don't get their way. Politicians lie to get what they want, or at the very least don't tell the whole truth, which is really just as bad. They're impatient and nearsighted when it comes to many things and unfortunately, our economy is one of those things.
Our economy is like a bank account in the sense that money is constantly put into and taken out of it and sometimes, people have to take a lot of money out at once. This would seem bad at the moment, but if one is patient and just keeps up what they've been doing, minus the large amount of spending of course, the the amount of money in the account, and in the economy, will slowly but surely reach the point it was at before, if not higher. This is where the problem is; politicians, as I said before, aren't patient and can't seem to put the fact that their are still hard working people putting money into the economy together with the fact that more money is printed and put into circulation each day . This means that, rather than waiting for the economy to go back up on its own, they spend what's left of our money trying to make more money, which doesn't work.
Politicians are also like little kids, not only in their nearsightedness and impatience, but how when they realize they've made a mistake, they manage to pin the consequences on someone else, namely, we the people. Once they finally get it into their heads that spending money doesn't make you more money, they decide to raise taxes, making everything more expensive and more people have file bankruptcy due to the fact that they just can't afford anything. Concerta is a perscription drug that everyone in my family has to take everyday. Exactly how much does a months worth of Concerta cost? For one person, $200. For thirty freaking pills. Times that by 6 people in my family and 12 months in a year, that's $14,400 dollars my family spends on perscription drugs per year.
If the fact that taxes are now higher, gas prices are almost double what they were, and everything else is now more expensive, are added to that number, that's a lot of money. And, to add to the long list of things that are costing us more money, apparently, in a few years, people will have to pay to be able to view most websites. Popular things like YouTube and FaceBook and all those sites would be free, but for one to access sites that aren't as popular, like Wajas, one would have to pay to even view the site. All because of rising prices, due to the not very well thought out and, let's face it, stupid decisions of some politicians.
Breaking the rules is yet another trait that most little kids and plenty of politicians have. The constitution is SECOND amendment of the Bill of Rights states clearly "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED." Last time I checked, 'shall not be infringed' means you can't make a law against it. What does the president, Barrack Obama, want to do? He wants to be Squealer the pig and go against the constitution and take away our rights. The new dictionaries and textbooks that were released are asking for the United States to follow in Russia's footsteps. All references of the American Slave trade have been renamed the North Atlantic...something. I can't remember the last part, but the point is they changed the name and some of the information to make th U.S. look better. Rewriting history; where have we heard that before?
Basically, we havethe equivilent to rich, spoiled little kids with big vocabularies running the country and going against the constitution and, to tell the truth, I'm starting to get kind of ticked off. Personally, I'd like to buy a coy of Animal Farm, Give it to Barrack Obama, tell him to read it, then look me in the eye and say that's not what's starting to happen here, because it is. The people in charge are canging things they have no right to change and are trying to re write history in a way that's more apealing to them. If I ever do give Animal farm to the president, and if he can look me in the eye and say that what's happening here isn't in the least bit like Animal Farm, then we'll all know that the president is either blind, or a liar.
Our economy is like a bank account in the sense that money is constantly put into and taken out of it and sometimes, people have to take a lot of money out at once. This would seem bad at the moment, but if one is patient and just keeps up what they've been doing, minus the large amount of spending of course, the the amount of money in the account, and in the economy, will slowly but surely reach the point it was at before, if not higher. This is where the problem is; politicians, as I said before, aren't patient and can't seem to put the fact that their are still hard working people putting money into the economy together with the fact that more money is printed and put into circulation each day . This means that, rather than waiting for the economy to go back up on its own, they spend what's left of our money trying to make more money, which doesn't work.
Politicians are also like little kids, not only in their nearsightedness and impatience, but how when they realize they've made a mistake, they manage to pin the consequences on someone else, namely, we the people. Once they finally get it into their heads that spending money doesn't make you more money, they decide to raise taxes, making everything more expensive and more people have file bankruptcy due to the fact that they just can't afford anything. Concerta is a perscription drug that everyone in my family has to take everyday. Exactly how much does a months worth of Concerta cost? For one person, $200. For thirty freaking pills. Times that by 6 people in my family and 12 months in a year, that's $14,400 dollars my family spends on perscription drugs per year.
If the fact that taxes are now higher, gas prices are almost double what they were, and everything else is now more expensive, are added to that number, that's a lot of money. And, to add to the long list of things that are costing us more money, apparently, in a few years, people will have to pay to be able to view most websites. Popular things like YouTube and FaceBook and all those sites would be free, but for one to access sites that aren't as popular, like Wajas, one would have to pay to even view the site. All because of rising prices, due to the not very well thought out and, let's face it, stupid decisions of some politicians.
Breaking the rules is yet another trait that most little kids and plenty of politicians have. The constitution is SECOND amendment of the Bill of Rights states clearly "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED." Last time I checked, 'shall not be infringed' means you can't make a law against it. What does the president, Barrack Obama, want to do? He wants to be Squealer the pig and go against the constitution and take away our rights. The new dictionaries and textbooks that were released are asking for the United States to follow in Russia's footsteps. All references of the American Slave trade have been renamed the North Atlantic...something. I can't remember the last part, but the point is they changed the name and some of the information to make th U.S. look better. Rewriting history; where have we heard that before?
Basically, we havethe equivilent to rich, spoiled little kids with big vocabularies running the country and going against the constitution and, to tell the truth, I'm starting to get kind of ticked off. Personally, I'd like to buy a coy of Animal Farm, Give it to Barrack Obama, tell him to read it, then look me in the eye and say that's not what's starting to happen here, because it is. The people in charge are canging things they have no right to change and are trying to re write history in a way that's more apealing to them. If I ever do give Animal farm to the president, and if he can look me in the eye and say that what's happening here isn't in the least bit like Animal Farm, then we'll all know that the president is either blind, or a liar.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Rant on Zombies
The moderate peace did not last. Soon I was finished with the peeling, slicing, and cinnamonning of the apples and had resorted to watching my dad and his game from the vantage point of the back of the couch, torturing dad with my flood of questions.
"Where's the crying coming from?"
"The witch."
"What's a witch?"
"A type of special infected." Dad recieved a blank stare followed by the inevitable question.
"What's-"
"Zombies with special abilities." Suddenly, a zombie charge at my Dad's character yelling in some weird language.
"Dad!"
"What?"
"That zombie TALKS." Face-desk.
"What language is it speaking?"
"It's not talking, it's just making noise."
"You know what I think?" I asked.
"What?"
I whispered in Dad's ear, "I think it's talking zombie." Face-palm. This time from K2.
The next half hour went on like this. Then, finally, Dad's team made it to the rescue helicopter and the flew away from the zombie infested hospital they had been trapped in. Suddenly, a thought came to me.
"Hey, Dad?"
"What?"
"What do the zombies do after you leave?"
"I don't know. I guess they go back to wandering around."
"That is, the ones that don't throw themselves off the roof trying to catch the helicopter," chimed in K2, smirking at the thought. He got a punch in the arm. Another thoght came to me.
"Maybe. They create. A COMMUNITY."
"What?!?" Both brother and father stared at me like they'd just found out I was an alien come for their Pops cereal. Yeah, that look. Dad recovered first.
"Jordan, zombies can't create a community. Their brains are too small to comprehend the basic concepts of teamwork or relations...or goals," Dad explained, just as a giant horde of zombies basically used 'teamwork' to acomplish their 'goal' of incapacitating my dad's character. I gave him a look.
"That's a horde, not teamwork," Dad mummbled.
After that, the Schutzes came over, picking up Mom and dropping off Ben, Sam's younger brother, the house fire that happened a bit ago started, we saw the smoke from our front window, and piled into Dad's car, minus our shoes, which turned out to be a disadvantage when we finally got there, realizing the street was jammed up and the only way to see the burning house would have been to walk. Zombies were no longer talked about for most of the night. But I started think ing about zombies. What if they did form a comunity? And what if they did form their own language, like Zombese? What if zombies are actually vegetarians? And they go crazy when they eat non vegetarian foods? For some reason, I think that would be pretty likely. As well as the possibility of zombies liking apple crisp....Don't ask where that came from. But what if zombies really were vegetarians that go nuts when they eat non-vegetables? Would that mean that instead of shooting zombies when the zombie appocolypse comes, which my brother swears will happen eventually, we would just have to throw vegetables at them? Of course, then people like my brother and dad would be greatly disappointed. Throwing vegetables at zombies isn't really the same as throwing grenades at them, as far as my brother will believe.
There is one thing I'm certain about all of this. When you go to bed thinking about stuff like this, you either don't sleep at all, or you have wierd dreams about zombies attacking bowls of apple crisp. And if you're the kind of person that likes to make up characters and write stories, you end up waking up after have dreams such as the ones before mentioned, and realized that you have made up a new character who is a zombie named Derren who worships apple crisp and runs a giant rollercoaster in an amusement park. Again, don't ask, because I seriously don't know.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Infamous Teasings of Time
(Click the picture please)
This is a picture poem I made about time because it never really does what you want it to.
Time is such a curious thing
When you want moments to last
It seems to take wing.
When you're in slump
And want time to fly
Time folds up its wings
And slowly crawls by.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Quotes
These are some quotes I though of. Some of them are from other people and I put their names by their quote. Some of them came from other people but I can't remember who said them. Some of them, I might have just made up, but they sounded like a quote I'd want to remember. See if you can tell which is which, and if you can guess the meaning of the quote. If you can figure out who said some of the un-named quotes, or if you know the meaning, please tell me in the form of a commet. Please.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies right to our faces.
We’re all crazy in this mixed up world of ours. I’m just not afraid to show it. :3
Why run when you can walk?
Auto biographies may just be some of the greatest works of fiction ever written. – george orwell
What’s the difference between politicians and rich, whinny little kids? I don’t know either.
War – When two entities get into a giant argument that results in more casualties then can be counted because both are too stubborn and proud to admit their mistake.
There’s no such thing as good and evil, only opinion. Of course, if everyone were judged by their opinion, we’d all be angels in Heaven.
When you give into a dog’s begging and toss him scraps from the table, he doesn’t say ‘Oh thank you, I’ll just take this scrap and leave you alone now’. He gulps down the food and immediately comes back for more.
Why on earth would you lock the cat in a trunk?!?
The same reason the government got us into this mess with the economy; I don't know.
Calvin and Hobbes-
Calvin talking to his dad: "Dad, how does soldiers killing each other solve the wrold's problems?" Dad sits and looks at him blankly in the next two panels. Last panel is Calvin stomping off- "Sometimes I think grownups only think they know what they're doing".
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies right to our faces.
We’re all crazy in this mixed up world of ours. I’m just not afraid to show it. :3
Why run when you can walk?
Auto biographies may just be some of the greatest works of fiction ever written. – george orwell
What’s the difference between politicians and rich, whinny little kids? I don’t know either.
War – When two entities get into a giant argument that results in more casualties then can be counted because both are too stubborn and proud to admit their mistake.
There’s no such thing as good and evil, only opinion. Of course, if everyone were judged by their opinion, we’d all be angels in Heaven.
When you give into a dog’s begging and toss him scraps from the table, he doesn’t say ‘Oh thank you, I’ll just take this scrap and leave you alone now’. He gulps down the food and immediately comes back for more.
Why on earth would you lock the cat in a trunk?!?
The same reason the government got us into this mess with the economy; I don't know.
Calvin and Hobbes-
Calvin talking to his dad: "Dad, how does soldiers killing each other solve the wrold's problems?" Dad sits and looks at him blankly in the next two panels. Last panel is Calvin stomping off- "Sometimes I think grownups only think they know what they're doing".
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Hunters: Smoke Mountain
This is my response to my book. It's a fictional story response to Seekers: Smoke Mountain, written in the hunters' point of view.
Daniel collapsed into a chair, laughing as world around him spun, oblivious to the storm outside the cabin in the excitement of the party his friends had thrown. A beer bottle, knock out of his hand by his impact in the chair, fell to the floor with a loud clink, and rolled away, a crack forming in the glass. Daniel’s head lolled back on the top of the chair, and he looked up at the wall behind him.
The window was fogged up from the chill of the rain outside, making it almost impossible for Daniel to see anything through the rain or the water streaming from the roof. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, as the storm outside blocked the moonlight, making the nighttime forest pitch black. A deer head hanging above the window had been vandalized sometime during the night, toilet paper strewn about it’s horns and covering its face. Next to it, the head of a moose had been used for beer bottle disposal. It’s horns had been filled with empty bottles and bottle caps were stuffed in its mouth. Daniel turned his head.
He looked up at the wall next to him and saw with some difficulty, the head of a grizzly bear, illuminated from below by the light in the fireplace. Of the three animals hanging on the wall, this was the only one not to be vandalized. Its glass eyes still stared uninterrupted into space, and its snarling mouth was still empty. Maybe no one had wanted to mess with it, or maybe it was just too high up for anyone to do anything about it. Either way, the only thing on top of the bear’s head was dust.
Daniel pondered as to why the bear seemed the only thing in the violently spinning room not affected by the celebration-rather sluggishly, as he was still drunk-and suddenly found his answer. As he stared at the shaggy brown head, his vision blurred and distorted it until it resembled, what seemed to Daniel, something along the lines of a clown, but funnier looking. The firelight below, which had made the bear look almost haunted before, now added to the amusement, and seemed more like splattered face paint. Suddenly the was a crash and a yell from the other side of the room and Daniel’s head whipped around as he sprang from his chair in surprise.
The bottle he’d dropped had rolled steadily across the floor, between the feet of the other three hunters tromping drunkenly around the cabin, and come to a stop a few feet from one of the staggering men. This hunter was a big man with a Texas accent, and he was always convinced he was right, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was in a heated argument with one of Daniel’s other friends when he stepped on the bottle, flipped into the air, and landed on his back. All within the two minutes that Daniel had been staring at the wall.
Daniel rushed over as best he could to see if his buddy-he forgot his real name, but everyone called him Tex, as he remembered-needed help, but in the moments it took Daniel to reach him, Tex had pulled himself up, staggered over to the man he’d been arguing with-Daniel was certain his name was Rick-and started shouting at him, jabbing his finger into his chest every time he said ‘you’.
“You did this! You sabotaged me! Trying to get ridda ol’ Tex are ya?! Jus ‘cause you can’t admit that ah’m right!” Rick didn’t like that at all.
“You liar! I shot that bear fair and square! Tell ‘im, Dan!”, Rick snapped. Daniel stared at Rick in confusion, unable to recall what the heck he was talking about. Then he remembered. It was the reason for the party; the catch of the biggest grizzly bear they’d ever seen. They’d been tracking it through the mountains for days when both Tex and Rick had shot at the beast that morning. One of them had apparently hit the grizzly and the four hunters rejoiced. They’d driven all day to get back to the cabin, and thrown the party the minute they’d walked in the door.
Daniel was pulled back to the present as the fourth member of the party, Dave, spoke up, saying, “Well, maybe you both hit the bear.”
Dave couldn’t have opened up a bigger opportunity for the fight to get worse. As soon as the words had left his mouth, Tex stated that they both couldn't have hit the bear because Rick couldn't even hit the ground if he was aiming at it. Rick responded by punching Tex in the nose mid-sentence. Daniel stepped between the two men. There was nothing he hated more than two friends getting into a fight.
"Come on, guys. Is it really worth getting into a fight over?", Daniel asked as Rick and Tex glared knives at each other from either side of him. Daniel looked to Dave for help. Dave, who looked as worried as he did, didn't know what to do. Daniel looked around the room for something that would help him and spied the grizzly bear head on the wall. It didn't look like a clown anymore. Now it looked like a demon jeering at him as his friends got ready to push him aside and kill each other.
Suddenly, a great howling roar came from outside the cabin door. Daniel stared at the door before slowly turning to look at his three companions. Tex and Rick had stopped trying to push past him and were both staring at the door, trying to figure out what would have made that noise and whether they should try to shoot it, leave it alone, or get in the truck and leave right away. Dave had jumped like a scared cat at the noise outside the door. Unlike a cat, Dave had landed on his back on the hard wood floor.
For a few seconds, they all stayed like that, then Tex and Rick both made up their minds, and ran to get their guns, pushing Daniel over in the process. Dave jumped to his feet, hobbled over to the window, looked out, then tripped over his own feet as he rushed to get his gun, yelling, "Four bears! There're four bears right outside!" Daniel didn't need to hear anymore. He got to his feet, which was easier than before, as the room seem a lot steadier than before, and ran outside as Dave handed him his gun. Sure enough, He could barely make out the forms of the four bears retreating into the woods.
Dave ran past him toward the truck as Daniel jumped down the few stairs leading to the cabin's door, took aim at the biggest of the bears and fired. There was a bang and a splintering of wood. Daniel cursed as he realized that he'd missed and hit a small sapling a few yards away. Daniel ran up beside Rick and Tex, who were firing into the trees as if they were in the middle of a war zone, and lifted his gun back up to take aim again, but the bears were no longer in range. In fact, they weren't even within sight anymore, thanks to the rain and the blackness of the night.
There was a rumble and suddenly Daniel was blinded by the bright lights of the truck. Dave had started it up and Rick and Tex were already inside, ready to get back on the bears' trail.
"C'mon, Dan! The bears aren't gonna wait fer ya!", Tex yelled. Daniel ran to the truck and jumped in as Dave started the car forward in pursuit of the four bears. Daniel gripped his seat regretting his deciding to get in the car as Dave cranked the wheel to the side, sending the truck sliding in the mud, and Daniel into Tex, as he tried to avoid hitting an old oak tree.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to be driving in this weather?", Daniel shouted to Dave as the truck lurched nauseatingly down a muddy slope, bumping over a log along the way. Daniel was almost positive his stomach was still at the cabin.
Rick turned around in his seat and said, "Quit worryin' and enjoy the ride!" Daniel wasn't sure that was possible. He thought for a moment, then sat down to wait for the nightmarish ride to end, hopefully with the group taking home a few bears. After an hour had passed, Dave stopped the truck saying, "We'd better head home. We can head out again tomorrow."
"What?", Tex said asked astonished. "But we're so close! Ah bet that we'd catch 'em in a few minutes if we hadn't stopped!"
"We can't go any farther anyway. Look for yourself." Dave pointed into the darkness. Rick, Daniel, and Tex pressed up against the windows to see what had stopped their pursuit. The small stream they had crossed a few days ago on a different outing had swollen quite a bit in the constant raining they had experienced over the past few days. What they'd been able to cross so easily before would have swept their truck away now. They'd have to find an area of the river where the water wasn't as deep, which, like Dave said, would be easier during the day, when it stopped raining.
With some difficulty, Dave turned the truck around and headed back to the cabin. Rick sat sulking in the front seat as the forest rush past the window. Daniel could almost imagine that the storm raging around them was raining solely on him.
Then, without warning, Rick jumped up and said, "Don't you dare think we're givin' up! 'Cause we're not, We're heading out first thing tomorrow after those bears!" Rick glared at Tex, and Daniel understood why Rick wanted to catch the four bears so badly; it was the tie breaker. Rick wanted to get even with Tex for the dispute about the grizzly before. Well, they can have their contest, Daniel thought as Tex and Rick stared each other down, as long as I can have my fun, too.
Daniel wished more than anything that he didn't get car-sick so easily. As the truck bumped along through the mountain, Daniel lean back in his seat, utterly miserable. None of the others noticed, they were too, busy staring intently into the trees ahead of them, searching for the bears. Daniel stared out the window and remembered how he'd gotten into this.
Rick had been true to his word, waking everyone up as soon as the sun had begun to light the sky. The truck had been loaded up with provisions and they'd set off. It hadn't been long before Dave had found a way across the new river and they'd picked up the bears' trail once again. Everyone had been excite to get going. That was a few days ago.
Now, Daniel wasn't sure that they'd ever find the four bears they'd been tracking. At that moment, Dave brought the truck to a slow stop at the edge of the forest. Daniel pulled himself up, trying to see what his comrades had already found.
"What is it? What are we looking for?"
"Bears," Rick pointed. Where the trees ended, a huge, craggy slope began, and near the top, three figures were hunched against the rock.
"There're three," Tex said.
"What?" Rick stared in confusion. Dave pulled the truck a bit closer to the treeline.
"There're three bears. We tracked four. So where's the fourth one?" Dave pulled the truck a little bit closer, then drove through the trees right up to the bottom of the slope. A falcon swooped down from nowhere and seemed to dive bomb the bears creating a diversion. Then, just as Dave turned off the truck and turned to say they should be getting out of the truck now, the missing bear appeared and, together, all four bears dashed up the slope.
"They're makin' a break for it!" Tex yelled. Dave slammed his door back shut, and frantically scrambled to get the truck started again. The bears had almost reached the top of the slope when the truck roared back to life and Dave hit the gas. The truck started up the slope, sliding back down every so often.
The bears had reached the top now, but Daniel realized that they were trapped. The slope lead up to a stretch of level ground that lead from a sheer rock wall. The only escape route was cut off by a huge break in the rock, too wide to jump across, worn away by a waterfall. But the truck kept sliding back on the loose rocks on the slope making progress slow.
"C'mon! Go faster!" Rick had to shout over the noise the truck made.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Dave twisted the wheel, trying to pull the truck onto firmer ground.
"The bears're trapped anyway! We'll catch'em in no time!" even Tex, who was already loud, had to shout to be heard. Daniel watched as the bears stood at the base of the wall, looking frantically left and right for any means of escape. The hunters were already more than halfway up the slope; things were looking good for them.
Two of the bears, a small black bear and a brown bear, broke away from the group and ran to the waterfall. The black bear crawled on top of the brown bear and used it to reach a bush near the waterfall. Then, the black bear jumped into the raging water. For a second, Daniel stared in shock. The was no way the little bear could jump that far. Then, he saw it. The bear had found a rock jutting from the cliff and had jump onto it. From there, it leaped into a tree growing from the cliff side. It was crossing the waterfall.
"Hurry up! They're going across the waterfall!"
"What!?" Rick couldn't believe it.
"Forget this! Ah'm goin' on foot!" Tex open the door and jumped out of the car. He managed to land on his feet and ran up the slope towards the bears, now rapidly advancing across the waterfall. Unfortunately, Tex wasn't making much better progress than the truck, and all four hunters ended up reaching the top of the slope at the same time. Daniel jumped out of the truck, running to the edge of the waterfall just in time to see the last bear disappear around the corner.
"Stupid TRUCK!" Tex kicked the truck in frustration. Dave, still in the driver's seat, groaned and banged his head on the wheel, setting off the horn.
"If we go down and around, we can still catch them," Rick said, "Let's go."
"I am really getting sick of all this rain," Rick snapped as the truck slid down the muddy slope once again. Daniel couldn't help feeling a bit of deja vu. The day was ending just like it had begun, with the four hunters struggling up a slope after the bears. But this time we'll catch them, thought Daniel. Finally, the truck reach the top of the slope. Daniel looked down and saw with horror that that it gave way to an even steeper slope on the other side.
"Hold on!" Dave screamed. The truck stood, frozen at the top of the slope, then slowly began to tip forward. The truck then gave up on tipping and just fell forward, sliding down the slope at an alarming speed to the whooping delight of Rick and Tex. Soon, Rick spotted the bears running for the trees. He leaned out the window, took aim, and fired at the largest of the bears; a white bear.
Daniel and Tex followed suit. They open the roof of the truck and shot over the heads of Dave and Rick. Dave stopped the truck, jumped out and set of after the bears, Rick and Tex right behind him. Daniel stopped for a moment to recover from the ride. Looking up he saw one of the bears, a brown one, heading for a valley, strait toward Dave. Daniel though fast. If he tried to shoot from here, he'd miss without a doubt, but if he tried to run to the bear, it'd catch Dave before he'd had a chance to shoot.
Daniel looked to the truck to find it was still on and the keys were in the ignition. He ran to the driver's side of the truck and started the car forward. It was a race between him and the bear now. Dave ran into the valley, oblivious to the bear on his tail. Daniel cranked the wheel, spinning the truck around, blocking the bear's path while shining the truck's headlights in the its eyes. Daniel raised his gun and fired.
The shot missed, leaving the bear unharmed as it turned and ran back the way it had come. Daniel leaped out of the truck, grabbing a wire net as he went, and raced after it, into a stretch of long marshy grass. He'd completely lost sight of the bear, but as he wadded through a sea of reeds and tall grass, Daniel found tufts of brown fur here and there. A loud snap and the smell of garlic drifted from an area in the weeds a yard or two ahead. Daniel crept forward.
The grass rustled directly in front of Daniel, and the bear sat up right in front of him. Daniel threw the net over the beast as it turned and spotted him. The bear tried to run, but its paws became tangled in the net. It fell to the ground, struggling in the net, getting itself tangled worse the more it tried to free itself.
"Daniel!" Dave was calling his name. The glow of the truck's headlights blinded him for a second before the truck turned its side to him.
"Hey, guys! I caught one!" Daniel yelled back, "Bring a rope."
One of the car doors opened, and Tex ran out, a length of wire slung across his shoulder. Together, Daniel and Tex tied the brown bear's paws together, tying its jaws shut as well. They had to get Rick to help them drag the bear back to the truck, the way it was struggling and its sheer weight. It took the combined efforts of all four men to get the bear into the trunk of the car.
"Let go home." said Daniel, triumphantly, once they were back in the truck. The sooner they were back in the cabin instead of driving for days on end, the better. Rick pulled a pack of beer out from under one of the seats; they were going to celebrate now. For once, Daniel enjoy the car ride through the mountain. The only downside was the way the truck slid on the mud every time they went around a curve, causing Tex and Rick to erupt in whoops and shouts, and Daniel to experience a wave of nausea.
As the truck went around one final bend, Rick and Tex's whoops turned to cries of fear as the car slammed into the cliff, skidded to the edge of the road and leaned dangerously to one side, before plunging down the cliff. The truck rolled onto its side into a tree, bouncing off into another tree, while the men inside fought to hold on in a whirl of broken glass, and twisted metal. As the car bounced and crashed down the hill, it hit a rock and went spinning into the air before landing on its side with a final crash in the flooded river at the bottom. Daniel, who'd thrown his arms in front of his face, slowly drew them away and looked around.
Rick was flung halfway over the side of the front passenger seat and Tex was lying on the wall, which was probably the floor now halfway on top of Daniel. Everyone was scratched up and bloody. Everything seemed to be sideways to Daniel, and he realized that was because he was the only one still strapped to his seat, being the only one who had worn a seat belt.
Daniel unstrapped himself and got to his feet, pulling Tex up with him. Rick sat up from his awkward position, a dazed look on his face. He looked around, trying to take in his surroundings, crying out in alarm when he looked to the driver's seat. Daniel followed his gaze and nearly did the same. Dave, who had been on the side of the truck that had landed face up, was still strapped in his seat, causing him to hang limply, half propped up by the steering wheel. Rick slowly stood up and reach up to Dave. He felt for a pulse before turning to Daniel and Tex.
"He's dead." A chill went down Daniel's spine, starting at the base of his neck and ending at his feet. He expected the chill to fade, but it didn't. In fact, it began to creep back up his legs. Daniel looked down in alarm to find the truck was beginning to fill with water. He exchanged glances with Rick and Tex before scrambling up the seat and fumbling with the door.
"It's stuck," Daniel called over his shoulder. Suddenly, He was pushed aside by Tex, who somehow managed to force the entire door off of the car. Tex crawled out and lost his balance falling into the water below. Rick glanced one last time at the dead man above him before wading through water already waist-deep, into the back seat behind Daniel. Daniel climbed out the door and helped Rick out after him. Both men jumped into the rapidly rising river.
Rick managed to land in a shallower part of the river and swim to shore. Daniel hit the water and went completely under. He was swept into a fallen tree as he struggled to reach the surface. Daniel swam upward, through the dead branches and threw his arms over the dead tree, once he broke the surface, trying to pull himself up out of the water. Something jerked him backward; his leg had been trapped between the branches of the tree.
Daniel was trapped, blinded by the rain, and losing his grip fast. He desperately shouted for help, hoping that Rick or Tex would hear him. Through the gloom, Daniel saw a figure in the river, swimming toward him. Relieved, Daniel opened his mouth to tell his rescuer where he was, but all that came out of his mouth was a scream as the figure materialized into a bear.
It was the little black bear from the waterfall, swimming toward him determinedly. As it drew nearer, it dived below the water, out of sight. Daniel was frantically looking around to see where the bear re-surfaced, when he felt it brush against his trapped leg. Daniel screamed and thrashed, certain the bear was going to eat him, thoroughly surprised when one of the branches trapping his leg suddenly disappeared, setting him free.
Daniel took advantage of the fallen tree and used it to push himself upstream, away from the bear. He swam with all his might toward the riverbank where he spotted Tex and Rick in the mud. Rick sat up and started shouting and pointing toward the bear in the river, frantically searching the mud for his gun. Daniel felt the bottom of the river beneath his feet, finding that he'd made it to shallower waters. He waded to the bank where he collapsed beside Tex in the mud.
"Dangit! My gun was in the truck," Rick muttered as the black bear swam back to shore and ran into the trees.
"Guys?" Daniel asked.
"Huh?" Tex responded, out of breath.
"How 'bout we go home? I mean home, as in not in the mountains."
"Ah think tha's the greatest idear ah've ever heard."
"Well, it's gonna be a long walk back to the cabin," Tex said as he got up out of the mud and help Daniel up after.
"Then let's get goin'!" Rick called, already halfway to the tree line. Daniel and Tex looked back at the river. The truck was almost completely submerged now. Both men looked for a moment, then turned and ran to catch up with Rick to start a very long hike back home.
The window was fogged up from the chill of the rain outside, making it almost impossible for Daniel to see anything through the rain or the water streaming from the roof. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, as the storm outside blocked the moonlight, making the nighttime forest pitch black. A deer head hanging above the window had been vandalized sometime during the night, toilet paper strewn about it’s horns and covering its face. Next to it, the head of a moose had been used for beer bottle disposal. It’s horns had been filled with empty bottles and bottle caps were stuffed in its mouth. Daniel turned his head.
He looked up at the wall next to him and saw with some difficulty, the head of a grizzly bear, illuminated from below by the light in the fireplace. Of the three animals hanging on the wall, this was the only one not to be vandalized. Its glass eyes still stared uninterrupted into space, and its snarling mouth was still empty. Maybe no one had wanted to mess with it, or maybe it was just too high up for anyone to do anything about it. Either way, the only thing on top of the bear’s head was dust.
Daniel pondered as to why the bear seemed the only thing in the violently spinning room not affected by the celebration-rather sluggishly, as he was still drunk-and suddenly found his answer. As he stared at the shaggy brown head, his vision blurred and distorted it until it resembled, what seemed to Daniel, something along the lines of a clown, but funnier looking. The firelight below, which had made the bear look almost haunted before, now added to the amusement, and seemed more like splattered face paint. Suddenly the was a crash and a yell from the other side of the room and Daniel’s head whipped around as he sprang from his chair in surprise.
The bottle he’d dropped had rolled steadily across the floor, between the feet of the other three hunters tromping drunkenly around the cabin, and come to a stop a few feet from one of the staggering men. This hunter was a big man with a Texas accent, and he was always convinced he was right, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was in a heated argument with one of Daniel’s other friends when he stepped on the bottle, flipped into the air, and landed on his back. All within the two minutes that Daniel had been staring at the wall.
Daniel rushed over as best he could to see if his buddy-he forgot his real name, but everyone called him Tex, as he remembered-needed help, but in the moments it took Daniel to reach him, Tex had pulled himself up, staggered over to the man he’d been arguing with-Daniel was certain his name was Rick-and started shouting at him, jabbing his finger into his chest every time he said ‘you’.
“You did this! You sabotaged me! Trying to get ridda ol’ Tex are ya?! Jus ‘cause you can’t admit that ah’m right!” Rick didn’t like that at all.
“You liar! I shot that bear fair and square! Tell ‘im, Dan!”, Rick snapped. Daniel stared at Rick in confusion, unable to recall what the heck he was talking about. Then he remembered. It was the reason for the party; the catch of the biggest grizzly bear they’d ever seen. They’d been tracking it through the mountains for days when both Tex and Rick had shot at the beast that morning. One of them had apparently hit the grizzly and the four hunters rejoiced. They’d driven all day to get back to the cabin, and thrown the party the minute they’d walked in the door.
Daniel was pulled back to the present as the fourth member of the party, Dave, spoke up, saying, “Well, maybe you both hit the bear.”
Dave couldn’t have opened up a bigger opportunity for the fight to get worse. As soon as the words had left his mouth, Tex stated that they both couldn't have hit the bear because Rick couldn't even hit the ground if he was aiming at it. Rick responded by punching Tex in the nose mid-sentence. Daniel stepped between the two men. There was nothing he hated more than two friends getting into a fight.
"Come on, guys. Is it really worth getting into a fight over?", Daniel asked as Rick and Tex glared knives at each other from either side of him. Daniel looked to Dave for help. Dave, who looked as worried as he did, didn't know what to do. Daniel looked around the room for something that would help him and spied the grizzly bear head on the wall. It didn't look like a clown anymore. Now it looked like a demon jeering at him as his friends got ready to push him aside and kill each other.
Suddenly, a great howling roar came from outside the cabin door. Daniel stared at the door before slowly turning to look at his three companions. Tex and Rick had stopped trying to push past him and were both staring at the door, trying to figure out what would have made that noise and whether they should try to shoot it, leave it alone, or get in the truck and leave right away. Dave had jumped like a scared cat at the noise outside the door. Unlike a cat, Dave had landed on his back on the hard wood floor.
For a few seconds, they all stayed like that, then Tex and Rick both made up their minds, and ran to get their guns, pushing Daniel over in the process. Dave jumped to his feet, hobbled over to the window, looked out, then tripped over his own feet as he rushed to get his gun, yelling, "Four bears! There're four bears right outside!" Daniel didn't need to hear anymore. He got to his feet, which was easier than before, as the room seem a lot steadier than before, and ran outside as Dave handed him his gun. Sure enough, He could barely make out the forms of the four bears retreating into the woods.
Dave ran past him toward the truck as Daniel jumped down the few stairs leading to the cabin's door, took aim at the biggest of the bears and fired. There was a bang and a splintering of wood. Daniel cursed as he realized that he'd missed and hit a small sapling a few yards away. Daniel ran up beside Rick and Tex, who were firing into the trees as if they were in the middle of a war zone, and lifted his gun back up to take aim again, but the bears were no longer in range. In fact, they weren't even within sight anymore, thanks to the rain and the blackness of the night.
There was a rumble and suddenly Daniel was blinded by the bright lights of the truck. Dave had started it up and Rick and Tex were already inside, ready to get back on the bears' trail.
"C'mon, Dan! The bears aren't gonna wait fer ya!", Tex yelled. Daniel ran to the truck and jumped in as Dave started the car forward in pursuit of the four bears. Daniel gripped his seat regretting his deciding to get in the car as Dave cranked the wheel to the side, sending the truck sliding in the mud, and Daniel into Tex, as he tried to avoid hitting an old oak tree.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to be driving in this weather?", Daniel shouted to Dave as the truck lurched nauseatingly down a muddy slope, bumping over a log along the way. Daniel was almost positive his stomach was still at the cabin.
Rick turned around in his seat and said, "Quit worryin' and enjoy the ride!" Daniel wasn't sure that was possible. He thought for a moment, then sat down to wait for the nightmarish ride to end, hopefully with the group taking home a few bears. After an hour had passed, Dave stopped the truck saying, "We'd better head home. We can head out again tomorrow."
"What?", Tex said asked astonished. "But we're so close! Ah bet that we'd catch 'em in a few minutes if we hadn't stopped!"
"We can't go any farther anyway. Look for yourself." Dave pointed into the darkness. Rick, Daniel, and Tex pressed up against the windows to see what had stopped their pursuit. The small stream they had crossed a few days ago on a different outing had swollen quite a bit in the constant raining they had experienced over the past few days. What they'd been able to cross so easily before would have swept their truck away now. They'd have to find an area of the river where the water wasn't as deep, which, like Dave said, would be easier during the day, when it stopped raining.
With some difficulty, Dave turned the truck around and headed back to the cabin. Rick sat sulking in the front seat as the forest rush past the window. Daniel could almost imagine that the storm raging around them was raining solely on him.
Then, without warning, Rick jumped up and said, "Don't you dare think we're givin' up! 'Cause we're not, We're heading out first thing tomorrow after those bears!" Rick glared at Tex, and Daniel understood why Rick wanted to catch the four bears so badly; it was the tie breaker. Rick wanted to get even with Tex for the dispute about the grizzly before. Well, they can have their contest, Daniel thought as Tex and Rick stared each other down, as long as I can have my fun, too.
Daniel wished more than anything that he didn't get car-sick so easily. As the truck bumped along through the mountain, Daniel lean back in his seat, utterly miserable. None of the others noticed, they were too, busy staring intently into the trees ahead of them, searching for the bears. Daniel stared out the window and remembered how he'd gotten into this.
Rick had been true to his word, waking everyone up as soon as the sun had begun to light the sky. The truck had been loaded up with provisions and they'd set off. It hadn't been long before Dave had found a way across the new river and they'd picked up the bears' trail once again. Everyone had been excite to get going. That was a few days ago.
Now, Daniel wasn't sure that they'd ever find the four bears they'd been tracking. At that moment, Dave brought the truck to a slow stop at the edge of the forest. Daniel pulled himself up, trying to see what his comrades had already found.
"What is it? What are we looking for?"
"Bears," Rick pointed. Where the trees ended, a huge, craggy slope began, and near the top, three figures were hunched against the rock.
"There're three," Tex said.
"What?" Rick stared in confusion. Dave pulled the truck a bit closer to the treeline.
"There're three bears. We tracked four. So where's the fourth one?" Dave pulled the truck a little bit closer, then drove through the trees right up to the bottom of the slope. A falcon swooped down from nowhere and seemed to dive bomb the bears creating a diversion. Then, just as Dave turned off the truck and turned to say they should be getting out of the truck now, the missing bear appeared and, together, all four bears dashed up the slope.
"They're makin' a break for it!" Tex yelled. Dave slammed his door back shut, and frantically scrambled to get the truck started again. The bears had almost reached the top of the slope when the truck roared back to life and Dave hit the gas. The truck started up the slope, sliding back down every so often.
The bears had reached the top now, but Daniel realized that they were trapped. The slope lead up to a stretch of level ground that lead from a sheer rock wall. The only escape route was cut off by a huge break in the rock, too wide to jump across, worn away by a waterfall. But the truck kept sliding back on the loose rocks on the slope making progress slow.
"C'mon! Go faster!" Rick had to shout over the noise the truck made.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Dave twisted the wheel, trying to pull the truck onto firmer ground.
"The bears're trapped anyway! We'll catch'em in no time!" even Tex, who was already loud, had to shout to be heard. Daniel watched as the bears stood at the base of the wall, looking frantically left and right for any means of escape. The hunters were already more than halfway up the slope; things were looking good for them.
Two of the bears, a small black bear and a brown bear, broke away from the group and ran to the waterfall. The black bear crawled on top of the brown bear and used it to reach a bush near the waterfall. Then, the black bear jumped into the raging water. For a second, Daniel stared in shock. The was no way the little bear could jump that far. Then, he saw it. The bear had found a rock jutting from the cliff and had jump onto it. From there, it leaped into a tree growing from the cliff side. It was crossing the waterfall.
"Hurry up! They're going across the waterfall!"
"What!?" Rick couldn't believe it.
"Forget this! Ah'm goin' on foot!" Tex open the door and jumped out of the car. He managed to land on his feet and ran up the slope towards the bears, now rapidly advancing across the waterfall. Unfortunately, Tex wasn't making much better progress than the truck, and all four hunters ended up reaching the top of the slope at the same time. Daniel jumped out of the truck, running to the edge of the waterfall just in time to see the last bear disappear around the corner.
"Stupid TRUCK!" Tex kicked the truck in frustration. Dave, still in the driver's seat, groaned and banged his head on the wheel, setting off the horn.
"If we go down and around, we can still catch them," Rick said, "Let's go."
"I am really getting sick of all this rain," Rick snapped as the truck slid down the muddy slope once again. Daniel couldn't help feeling a bit of deja vu. The day was ending just like it had begun, with the four hunters struggling up a slope after the bears. But this time we'll catch them, thought Daniel. Finally, the truck reach the top of the slope. Daniel looked down and saw with horror that that it gave way to an even steeper slope on the other side.
"Hold on!" Dave screamed. The truck stood, frozen at the top of the slope, then slowly began to tip forward. The truck then gave up on tipping and just fell forward, sliding down the slope at an alarming speed to the whooping delight of Rick and Tex. Soon, Rick spotted the bears running for the trees. He leaned out the window, took aim, and fired at the largest of the bears; a white bear.
Daniel and Tex followed suit. They open the roof of the truck and shot over the heads of Dave and Rick. Dave stopped the truck, jumped out and set of after the bears, Rick and Tex right behind him. Daniel stopped for a moment to recover from the ride. Looking up he saw one of the bears, a brown one, heading for a valley, strait toward Dave. Daniel though fast. If he tried to shoot from here, he'd miss without a doubt, but if he tried to run to the bear, it'd catch Dave before he'd had a chance to shoot.
Daniel looked to the truck to find it was still on and the keys were in the ignition. He ran to the driver's side of the truck and started the car forward. It was a race between him and the bear now. Dave ran into the valley, oblivious to the bear on his tail. Daniel cranked the wheel, spinning the truck around, blocking the bear's path while shining the truck's headlights in the its eyes. Daniel raised his gun and fired.
The shot missed, leaving the bear unharmed as it turned and ran back the way it had come. Daniel leaped out of the truck, grabbing a wire net as he went, and raced after it, into a stretch of long marshy grass. He'd completely lost sight of the bear, but as he wadded through a sea of reeds and tall grass, Daniel found tufts of brown fur here and there. A loud snap and the smell of garlic drifted from an area in the weeds a yard or two ahead. Daniel crept forward.
The grass rustled directly in front of Daniel, and the bear sat up right in front of him. Daniel threw the net over the beast as it turned and spotted him. The bear tried to run, but its paws became tangled in the net. It fell to the ground, struggling in the net, getting itself tangled worse the more it tried to free itself.
"Daniel!" Dave was calling his name. The glow of the truck's headlights blinded him for a second before the truck turned its side to him.
"Hey, guys! I caught one!" Daniel yelled back, "Bring a rope."
One of the car doors opened, and Tex ran out, a length of wire slung across his shoulder. Together, Daniel and Tex tied the brown bear's paws together, tying its jaws shut as well. They had to get Rick to help them drag the bear back to the truck, the way it was struggling and its sheer weight. It took the combined efforts of all four men to get the bear into the trunk of the car.
"Let go home." said Daniel, triumphantly, once they were back in the truck. The sooner they were back in the cabin instead of driving for days on end, the better. Rick pulled a pack of beer out from under one of the seats; they were going to celebrate now. For once, Daniel enjoy the car ride through the mountain. The only downside was the way the truck slid on the mud every time they went around a curve, causing Tex and Rick to erupt in whoops and shouts, and Daniel to experience a wave of nausea.
As the truck went around one final bend, Rick and Tex's whoops turned to cries of fear as the car slammed into the cliff, skidded to the edge of the road and leaned dangerously to one side, before plunging down the cliff. The truck rolled onto its side into a tree, bouncing off into another tree, while the men inside fought to hold on in a whirl of broken glass, and twisted metal. As the car bounced and crashed down the hill, it hit a rock and went spinning into the air before landing on its side with a final crash in the flooded river at the bottom. Daniel, who'd thrown his arms in front of his face, slowly drew them away and looked around.
Rick was flung halfway over the side of the front passenger seat and Tex was lying on the wall, which was probably the floor now halfway on top of Daniel. Everyone was scratched up and bloody. Everything seemed to be sideways to Daniel, and he realized that was because he was the only one still strapped to his seat, being the only one who had worn a seat belt.
Daniel unstrapped himself and got to his feet, pulling Tex up with him. Rick sat up from his awkward position, a dazed look on his face. He looked around, trying to take in his surroundings, crying out in alarm when he looked to the driver's seat. Daniel followed his gaze and nearly did the same. Dave, who had been on the side of the truck that had landed face up, was still strapped in his seat, causing him to hang limply, half propped up by the steering wheel. Rick slowly stood up and reach up to Dave. He felt for a pulse before turning to Daniel and Tex.
"He's dead." A chill went down Daniel's spine, starting at the base of his neck and ending at his feet. He expected the chill to fade, but it didn't. In fact, it began to creep back up his legs. Daniel looked down in alarm to find the truck was beginning to fill with water. He exchanged glances with Rick and Tex before scrambling up the seat and fumbling with the door.
"It's stuck," Daniel called over his shoulder. Suddenly, He was pushed aside by Tex, who somehow managed to force the entire door off of the car. Tex crawled out and lost his balance falling into the water below. Rick glanced one last time at the dead man above him before wading through water already waist-deep, into the back seat behind Daniel. Daniel climbed out the door and helped Rick out after him. Both men jumped into the rapidly rising river.
Rick managed to land in a shallower part of the river and swim to shore. Daniel hit the water and went completely under. He was swept into a fallen tree as he struggled to reach the surface. Daniel swam upward, through the dead branches and threw his arms over the dead tree, once he broke the surface, trying to pull himself up out of the water. Something jerked him backward; his leg had been trapped between the branches of the tree.
Daniel was trapped, blinded by the rain, and losing his grip fast. He desperately shouted for help, hoping that Rick or Tex would hear him. Through the gloom, Daniel saw a figure in the river, swimming toward him. Relieved, Daniel opened his mouth to tell his rescuer where he was, but all that came out of his mouth was a scream as the figure materialized into a bear.
It was the little black bear from the waterfall, swimming toward him determinedly. As it drew nearer, it dived below the water, out of sight. Daniel was frantically looking around to see where the bear re-surfaced, when he felt it brush against his trapped leg. Daniel screamed and thrashed, certain the bear was going to eat him, thoroughly surprised when one of the branches trapping his leg suddenly disappeared, setting him free.
Daniel took advantage of the fallen tree and used it to push himself upstream, away from the bear. He swam with all his might toward the riverbank where he spotted Tex and Rick in the mud. Rick sat up and started shouting and pointing toward the bear in the river, frantically searching the mud for his gun. Daniel felt the bottom of the river beneath his feet, finding that he'd made it to shallower waters. He waded to the bank where he collapsed beside Tex in the mud.
"Dangit! My gun was in the truck," Rick muttered as the black bear swam back to shore and ran into the trees.
"Guys?" Daniel asked.
"Huh?" Tex responded, out of breath.
"How 'bout we go home? I mean home, as in not in the mountains."
"Ah think tha's the greatest idear ah've ever heard."
"Well, it's gonna be a long walk back to the cabin," Tex said as he got up out of the mud and help Daniel up after.
"Then let's get goin'!" Rick called, already halfway to the tree line. Daniel and Tex looked back at the river. The truck was almost completely submerged now. Both men looked for a moment, then turned and ran to catch up with Rick to start a very long hike back home.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Houdini of the Century (Jeff Houdini)
The picture poem I'm posting is a poem about my hermit crab, Jeff. He was a really big red hermit crab in a purple shell with oragne squiggles and dots. My friend, Mike, gave him to me because he couldn't keep him anymore. When he brought Jeff over in an old shoebox, the first thing I did was put him on my bed, with the box upside down toprevent escape, so I could make room for him in the tank I keep my other crab, Diamond, in. (Don't make fun of me because the crab's name is Diamond. I got her when I was 8 years old.) I ended up leaving the room for a second too long, and Jeff manage to some how lift the bttom of the box up, put it back down onto the lid, and crawl in to the purple blanket that was sprawled across my bed. I came back picked up the box, freaked out, and yanked the sheets off my bed. I found Jeff when he rolled off the blanket as I pulled it off and landed on the bed. From that day on, we always called Jeff the Houdini because of his great escape act. These are the words to the poem.
The greatest escape artist of all time,
The Houdini of the century,
Is small and fiery red,
Wearing purple, speckled orange.
The Houdini of the year,
Arrives, not in a fancy car,
Not a limo or things of grandeur,
But, in a shoebox.
The box with magician,
Is place upon my bed.
The package seemingly secured,
I take leave for a moment.
But, alas, a moment too long,
As I return to box upturned,
The Houdini gone,
In the sea of my purple blanket.
In despair,
I take the grand magician as gone,
Half heartedly searching the mound of sheets,
Into which he blends nicely.
In desperation,
The sheet flies off,
And in resounding cheers of relief,
The escape artist of the century
Is found.
He might not speak English,
He may not plain speak,
But in silence,
He's made a statement.
I may be small,
But I am great,
As, from my prison,
I escape.
I disappear
Without a trace,
Leaving nothing at all
To lead you.
I become invisible,
Without changing.
Unlike others,
I stay the same.
When all seems lost,
I return,
Ending my performance,
With a grand re-entrance.
Yes, I am small to you,
But to me,
I will always be big.
The greatest escape artist,
The True Houdini of the Century.
I laugh and shake my head,
As I ponder this one thought-
What a queer and boastful thing
For a little crab to say.
The most amazing talent,
Can come in the oddest forms.
The Houdini of the Century,
Is but a little hermit crab,
Named Jeff.
The greatest escape artist of all time,
The Houdini of the century,
Is small and fiery red,
Wearing purple, speckled orange.
The Houdini of the year,
Arrives, not in a fancy car,
Not a limo or things of grandeur,
But, in a shoebox.
The box with magician,
Is place upon my bed.
The package seemingly secured,
I take leave for a moment.
But, alas, a moment too long,
As I return to box upturned,
The Houdini gone,
In the sea of my purple blanket.
In despair,
I take the grand magician as gone,
Half heartedly searching the mound of sheets,
Into which he blends nicely.
In desperation,
The sheet flies off,
And in resounding cheers of relief,
The escape artist of the century
Is found.
He might not speak English,
He may not plain speak,
But in silence,
He's made a statement.
I may be small,
But I am great,
As, from my prison,
I escape.
I disappear
Without a trace,
Leaving nothing at all
To lead you.
I become invisible,
Without changing.
Unlike others,
I stay the same.
When all seems lost,
I return,
Ending my performance,
With a grand re-entrance.
Yes, I am small to you,
But to me,
I will always be big.
The greatest escape artist,
The True Houdini of the Century.
I laugh and shake my head,
As I ponder this one thought-
What a queer and boastful thing
For a little crab to say.
The most amazing talent,
Can come in the oddest forms.
The Houdini of the Century,
Is but a little hermit crab,
Named Jeff.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Zadian Archives - Ana Greyson
Name: Ana Greyson
Hometown: Ourabon, Kyana in Arctisia
Directive: Wolf Trainer/Warrior
Ana was the kind of girl that did what she did and no one could say a thing about it. You could think whatever you wanted about her and she'd just grin, roll her eyes, and go on with her life. Of course, there were plenty of things about Ana that just made you wonder about that girl. First and foremost was the fact that, no matter how hot or cold it was, she'd always wear a fur-trimmed skirt and short sleeved shirt and her hands were always covered by a pair of blue and white gloves. That wouldn't have been very odd if she'd lived in a warmer area, but for a person living in the tundra of Arctisia, that wouldn't have been nearly warm enough. That didn't stop Ana, though, and Ana's quirks didn't stop at her clothes either. Ana was famous throughout Arctisia for the students she trained; wolves. Ana ran a special academy that trained wolves in several fields, from warrior training to delivering important messages, and not just any messages either. The messages Ana's wolves delivered were of the most top secret, important kind, the kind that was written in code and was hidden while being delivered. There were plenty of theories about why Ana was so successful in training her wolves; most were centered around the wolf ears that poked through her white hair and the fluffy gray tail that trailed behind her that led most people to thinking that she was part wolf. Yes, there were plenty of things that people thought of Ana but hardly anyone dared say them to her face; everyone knew that Ana knew karate, but no one knew Ana would never use it on someone because of what they think. All in all, Ana was a girl you never forgot, and everybody loved her.
Hometown: Ourabon, Kyana in Arctisia
Directive: Wolf Trainer/Warrior
Ana was the kind of girl that did what she did and no one could say a thing about it. You could think whatever you wanted about her and she'd just grin, roll her eyes, and go on with her life. Of course, there were plenty of things about Ana that just made you wonder about that girl. First and foremost was the fact that, no matter how hot or cold it was, she'd always wear a fur-trimmed skirt and short sleeved shirt and her hands were always covered by a pair of blue and white gloves. That wouldn't have been very odd if she'd lived in a warmer area, but for a person living in the tundra of Arctisia, that wouldn't have been nearly warm enough. That didn't stop Ana, though, and Ana's quirks didn't stop at her clothes either. Ana was famous throughout Arctisia for the students she trained; wolves. Ana ran a special academy that trained wolves in several fields, from warrior training to delivering important messages, and not just any messages either. The messages Ana's wolves delivered were of the most top secret, important kind, the kind that was written in code and was hidden while being delivered. There were plenty of theories about why Ana was so successful in training her wolves; most were centered around the wolf ears that poked through her white hair and the fluffy gray tail that trailed behind her that led most people to thinking that she was part wolf. Yes, there were plenty of things that people thought of Ana but hardly anyone dared say them to her face; everyone knew that Ana knew karate, but no one knew Ana would never use it on someone because of what they think. All in all, Ana was a girl you never forgot, and everybody loved her.
Sad Movies
When we were talking about sad movies during class today, I thought of a really sad movie but I can't remember the title. It's about an Indian guy who manages to get on a gameshow where he has to answer random questions. He knows the answer to all of the questions because of things that happened in his past and it's really sad. I never saw the ending but I'm pretty sure that his friend gets shot in the end. I was wondering if anyone knew the movie I'm talking about. I'd really appreciate it if someone could tell me what the title is.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Blog Posts
I just noticed something today. Everyone just reads the top post on a Blog and hardly ever look at some of the older posts. I kinda feel bad that some of the older posts on everyone's blogs aren't being read considering how hard people work on them. So maybe, instead of just reading the newest post, some people could try looking at the oldest posts for a change! Just a suggestion.
~Jordan
~Jordan
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