The Journey

               My name is Mankato. I live in Montgomery, Alabama. And all I have to say is, ‘What a beautiful world we live in!’ That may not sound that reasonable for the starting, but keep listening. With the trees glaring at us with calm eyes. With the sun staring down at us as if to say hi. With the small little utilities that help us to stay alive. ‘Wow.’

           I live in a 2 – story house with my parents and a big brother. My brother’s name is Billie. He is currently in 8^th grade. We are nearing the end of 2019. My mom’s name is Lauren. She is a house wife and does catering as a part-time job. My dad’s name is Edward. He has a job in American Express. He does sales marketing as his part-time job.

And I, myself, am Mankato. I think I already mentioned it before but whatever. I am in 4^th grade. I have an intermediate amount of friend requests every week. (Alert- The sentence I wrote is very private information. But it is true.) That is certainly because of my high reputation in school and otherwise in other places. My brother and I go to Basis Montgomery. It is approximately 10.2 miles away from home. That is about twenty minutes. I think! I was never good at math. Honestly!

There is only a month before this school year ends. But tomorrow I have a field trip to the amusement park. I have honestly never been to an amusement park before. The school field trip is going to be a learning visit. I don’t know how that is going to be an educational visit. But, no one knows. Except for the school staff and the teachers and the principal itself. Ok, so that’s probably a lot of people! Dreaming about that, I went into a deep sleep, waiting for the next day to arrive.

I woke up by a loud beep- beep noise triggering in my ears as if organizing to blast my ears into orbits. I annoyingly woke up and silenced my alarm clock. I then remembered by the small sack on my study table that I had a field trip today. I brushed and flossed my teeth giddily and then took a bath. My teacher said that I had to wear school clothes and shoes that are comfortable.

I came down a few minutes later. I wore a blue, solid polo shirt that made me look fancy. I wore dark blue shorts with a belt wrapped around it. I wore a solid, white pair of socks with light, black stripes at the top. I wore my Nike, soft cushioned shoe that was red in color with orange laces. My sack bag hung over my back. In my bag was a plastic bottle with the name clearly printed with a permanent marker, ‘MANKATO.’ There was $32 in my wallet. I also carried my mom’s old iphone 6s.I was set. I quickly ate my breakfast and waited for my dad to come outside to drop my brother and me off to school. For breakfast, I had scrambled eggs, a piece of toast, and some fruit loops.

I sat in my BMW X3. (It wasn’t really mine, but you know what I mean.) The school gates swung open for students to enter. I walked with my brother to the playgrounds. He bid me good bye and left towards the basketball. I went off to chat with my friends. Recess was over very soon and we entered our classes. I took out a piece of paper from my desk and started scribbling stuff that was on the board for us to solve.

           After solving, my teacher told all of us to assemble into the groups that were arranged for the field trip. We did as we were told. Then, we headed downstairs. The bus was already there. We were to enter the bus in groups starting from mine. We slowly entered the bus. Once we were all seated, I heard the bus engines roar. I took out my phone and started texting my friends on Messenger. I texted my mom that I was fine and had entered the bus.

           It was a long drive but was worth it! The place was huge. Today was Student’s Day. That only applied to this park. On top of us, on a huge billboard was the name ‘Alabama Muse.’

           I walked with my friends and my chaperone. Then, I saw the main attraction I was looking for. It was a small stall for archery. You had three tries to make 150 points. There were three arrows. In front of the stand was a sign that said, ‘Test your aiming skill. Test yourself whether you have good estimation or not. You have three chances. Just for $1.50. It’s all yours. Go ahead!’ ‘Wow,’ I muttered, ‘they really know how to get your attention.’ I headed towards the archery stand.

           I am not good at archery. I can’t even focus on a soccer net when there isn’t even a goalie. Yeah, now do you understand? There weren’t many students. Only two people were in front of me and they were doing fine. But they failed to get 150 pts. I did not like them at all. They weren’t from my school at all. After they had completed their turns, they pushed me aside and said, ‘Move it loser.’ On their shirts were the names Michael and Matt. I faced towards them and said, ‘You are so going to regret that.’ With that being said, I attacked them.

           Let’s just say that this did not go well! I kicked Matt in the nuts for my first move. But, Michael had some moves as well. He ran towards a tree and I ran after him. He then changed course and did a flying somersault which landed on me. That was painful! If this was an action movie that was not for kids then it would have been fine. But no, this was real life and was happening to me. Everyone watched as the act happened. I had never been beaten that badly in my life.

           I opened my eyes and found out that I was surrounded. Blood trickled from my nose and fell to the ground. I had red rashes on my cheeks. There were scratches on my legs.

           That was the worst field trip of all. I hid everything that had happened. I lied to my parents if they asked anything about my field trip. I told them that I had tripped. But I didn’t tell them about the fight. I felt so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t bear it! I never lie about anything. But this time I had to. I closed my eyes and thought about how badly I had been beaten. Just thinking of that hurt my head! ‘Ugh,’ I grunted. ‘I have to toughen up,’ I told myself. ‘And I will.’ With that in my mind, I went to sleep.

           The next day, I woke up feeling fresh. Today was Saturday, so there was no school! It was 10:00 am. I had obviously overslept. I brushed my teeth and ate my breakfast. I took a bath and started reading my book. It was very sunny outside so I turned on the Air Conditioner and sat in my room. I looked at the orchards in front of my house. There were woodpeckers flying outside my windows. Hyacinths glowed in my garden. What a beautiful sight that was!

           I was reading the Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle. It was written by Rick Riordan. I am a huge fan of his books. I read it for a few minutes and thought of bravery. How brave the characters are. I had to become like them. I kept reading. Then my mom called me down for chores. ‘Dang it,’ I grunted. I headed downstairs.

My mom told me to clean my room. And she told me to throw away stuff that I didn’t need. That was it! I laughed. That is going to be easy. I headed upstairs to my room.

You know how they say ‘It is easier to say than to do!’ I think I finally understand that. When I opened my closet, a barrage of clothes, toys, and plastic toys fell on me. The plastic toys hurt the most! The rest felt like cushions trying to devour my body. You would still not want to feel that. I grunted and lifted myself up. There were more boxes filled with other stuff deep into my closet. They must have been around for years. I then understood that this was not going to be easy!

‘Why, why does this always happen to me?’ I cried. If my brother was here though, he would record my torture and post it on Instagram. My brother was currently at the supermarket. So it is a good thing he is not here.

I looked at some of the toys I had and found out that these were things that I had lost many years ago. But I guess it makes sense. You see, when we shifted into this house, since then I have been chucking stuff randomly into my closet. It felt like I was looking back into my childhood. How great it felt! I then started throwing stuff that I didn’t need. And let me tell you it wasn’t easy. I felt like I was throwing small bits of myself away. I, with great difficulty and sorrow, separated my belongings. Then I took out the boxes that were in the closet. There was a spider web. I removed it and unboxed the items. There were many things in there.

There was stuff when I was a baby. Like a sipper, baby clothes, tiny toys to play with, and most of all, a picture with me and my family. It was old. It was me being a small little baby and my brother about the same age as I am currently. I smiled. I then put it next to my bed. I went through the other boxes and found just a few mattresses tugged up together. There was only one box left. I stretched deep in my closet to pull it out. There was the final box. It was very light compared to the other boxes. I felt excited but nervous. I don’t know why though. I took a deep breath and opened the box.

There wasn’t much. Actually there wasn’t anything. There was just a packet. It was light brown in color. But who cares about that. I wanted to know what was inside it. Then the world went black in front of me.

The light had gone. The inverter had blown a fuse. It was basically a blackout. I walked carefully towards my bed while carrying the packet. Then, I got hit by the corners of the bed. I howled in pain. I fell on the bed painfully. Sweat trickled down my back. I stayed still. Then, I got my flashlight and turned it on. I heard my mom calling out to me and I replied, ‘Yeah I am fine. The lights just went off.’ I focused on the package. It was lying plainly on my bed as if to be recognized. I held it and started opening. Then the item started glowing.

I looked at it closely. ‘Is that a-a pendulum?’ I asked myself. It shined brightly as if to say ‘yes.’ I never had a pendulum. I don’t think my mom, dad, or brother had it either. The lights turned on. I ran and left the room. The pendulum swung in my hands vigorously. I came downstairs. Then I asked my mom, ‘Mom, do you know if this is yours or anyone else’s’?’ My mom looked at it with a confusing expression. She then replied, ‘I don’t know? I’ll go ask Edward and Billie. She left the dining room and went to the living room. I, for the meantime, sat on a chair and tried to remember where I had seen that.

My mom returned with a perplexed face. She then asked me in a serious voice, ‘Honey, where did you find this?’ I replied, ‘I found this in my closet. It was in a box. And judging by the reaction of your face, none of them know about this, right?’ She gave a nod. ‘Yes, that is correct. Hey, what if one of your friends left it away when they came?’ I replied, ‘No. Why would someone enter my closet?’ ‘True.’

My brother then went to my room to check. He came back later with a piece of paper. He read, ‘This is a pendulum. I hope my family has got it and is in good hands. Please keep this pendulum safe. It protects the family and keeps you completely safe.’  Everyone was silent. Then I spoke, ‘This is from our ancestors. We have to keep it safe. All of us. They joined hands.’ We were destined to keep it safe and we will.

We got this...