Into the Unknown

Into the Unknown

“Gooooooodmorning!! Wake up! It’s time for breakfast!” 

“Christian! Quit it!  Turn it off! We’re all still sleeping.” 

“Grayson. Sorry to break it to you but you’re the only one that’s not awake. Therefore, get up!! It’s time for breakfast.” 

“Yeah yeah yeah. I’ll be down in a minute.” 

“We made your favorite!” 

“You don’t even know what my favorite food is. Now, get out!” 

Grayson headed downstairs and he saw that his roommates were sitting around the table waiting for him. “Nice to finally see you up,” Penelope said as she drank her coffee. “Yeah yeah yeah,” Grayson replied.“Alright i’m starving! Maya can you please say grace?” Maya looked up and said “Grayson came to the table last and he never says grace. Why don’t we just make him do it?” Before Grayson was about to say a remark, Christian glared at him to keep his mouth shut and asked Maya again to say grace. This time she did it without hesitation. “Thank you Lord for this food we are about to eat. Bless the hands of those who grew the food and helped prepare it this morning. Please make it strong, healthy, and good. Amen.” “Amen,” everyone muttered. Unexpectedly, they all ate breakfast together quietly and peacefully.

Once they ended, Maya headed to the sink to do the dishes, Penelope started putting the food away, and Christian was getting the rag ready to wipe down the counters and table. While they were all starting to do chores, Grayson headed to the living room and turned on the TV. Penelope watched Grayson and muttered something under her breathe. Grayson turned around and said, “You have something to say Penelope. What’s the problem now?” Christian and Maya stayed quiet, hoping that this didn’t escalate into another big fight, but it was too late. Before they knew it, Grayson and Penelope were arguing very loudly, Christian was in the middle of the two trying to calm them down, and Maya was starting to tear up until she finally spoke up. “Can we all please just stop fighting for once? How hard is that? For once, can we go a day or even just a morning without barking at each other?” Before she was able to walk off, the arguing started again but this time she was dragged into it. Their apartment was erupting with noise until the TV suddenly turned black. 

__________________________

“Maya, why did you turn it off? I was going to watch,” exclaimed Grayson. 

“What do you mean? The remote isn’t even in my hand,” replied Maya. 

“Maybe it just unplugged. Here let me check,” Christian said calmly. As he started to walk to look behind the TV, it turned back on. However, not on the channel they originally had it at. “Alright very funny Penelope. Turn it back to the channel I had it on already,” Grayson said as he looked at Penelope. “Of course you’d blame me. But news flash smart one, the remote is on the couch,” Penelope replied as she pointed towards the couch. Then, a frantic, young looking man popped onto the screen. “Ohmygosh. It worked! Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? I’ve been trapped in this unknown area for so long. Hello? If anything is there… please hel-” Then, the screen turned black again. We all stayed quiet. “WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” Christian yelled. “Chill man, I don’t know but this is really weird,” Grayson said. Penelope suggested, “Maybe it’s just someone just hacking and wanted to play a joke. Back to what I was saying to you Grayson.” As Grayson and Penelope started to argue again Maya’s eyes turned big and she started stuttering, “hey gu-. Gu-. You guys!” and pointed towards the TV. When they all looked, they saw that there was a message on the TV saying:

“The machine I built to connect to you has blown up but before it did I was able to send this message. Whoever is reading this right now, I need your help. I wish I could explain entirely how I ended up here and where “here” is but for now let’s just call it the “Unknown”. I’ve been stuck here for years and like I said, I need your help. Please. If you’re willing to help, there are four things you need to find. It’s an item of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. However, it’s not just any item that deals with these elements. It has to be personal. You’ll know when you find it. If you’re with a group, stay together, stay positive, and be smart. No pressure, but I’m counting on you. Oh, and also you have 24 hours until this portal closes forever.” 

The TV turned off again and finally went back to the channel that was on in the first place. Everyone stayed still and quiet for what seemed like hours. “Well… looks like we aren’t helping him. I’m heading to my room,” Grayson said as he put a peace sign up. “Wait what do you mean?” the rest of them said. “You even said Penelope, it might just be someone messing with us. Why even bother?” Maya looked at him and said, “I don’t know. It looked pretty real and he looked like he was really in trouble.” “Of course you would say that Maya.” Maya looked mad and gave him a death stare. “You’ve gotten on my nerves all morning Grayson but I always hold back. Sometimes I even back you up but you wouldn’t know because you always leave.” Maya grabbed her stuff. “If you aren’t going to help him, I’ll do it on my own.” Maya walked out of the door. Grayson said, “Is she really being serious? Whatever.” Christian and Penelope sighed, got their stuff ready, and headed out the door. Penelope ran to catch up with Maya, and before Christian closed the door he looked at Grayson and said, “It’s true you know. Maya has your back more than the rest of us has, even if she knows you’re wrong.” Then, he shut the door.

__________________________

“Alright, so what’s the plan?” Chrisitian asked once he caught up. 

“That is… a very good question.” Maya replied. 

“You’re saying that you marched out of the house without a plan?” Penelope said. “Wow you’re bold Maya. That’s why I’m with you.” 

“Thank you. Okay so let’s think this through once we get into the car,” Maya said. “Okay so we need to find items that deal with the four elemets.” Penelope opened the car door again and picked a rock off of the road and said, “Boom. Earth element done!” Maya looked at her and said, “I wish it was that easy, but he said we would know if it’s the right item.” Christian looks in the rearview mirror and looks at Maya, “So what do you think it is?” “I don’t know but switch seats with me. I can’t think well here.” Maya and Christiaan switch seats and she starts driving to her destination. On the way there, Penelope and Christian start trying to brainstorm what the item could be. Maya, however, was quiet the whole road over there, until they finally pulled up to a parking lot. 

__________________________

Christian and Penelope just looked at each other. Christian asked, “Where are we at? It’s like we are in the middle of nowhere.” Maya gestured for them to follow. They entered the small building and saw an old lady sitting down at a counter. Maya approached her and gave her a hug. “Hi Mary. How are you doing?” Mary hugged back and said, “I’m doing good sweetheart. Thank you for asking.” After the hug, Mary immediately opened the drawer next to her and took out a key. She handed it to Maya with a smile and told her to be safe. Maya gave her one last hug and said, “Thank you Mary. My friends and I appreciate it. Don’t work too hard.” Maya walked off through the back door, and Christian and Penelope started speed walking to catch up. “ Maya, please tell us where we are at and what we are doing here,” Penelope said once she caught up and was next to Maya. “We need to get up to that tree right there with the small bench and I’ll explain.” “You’re going to make me hike Penelope?” “Come on it’ll be fun.” Christian said to Penelope. “Plus, it’s not that far from here.” Once they reached the top, Maya told them to sit and she began to speak. “This is my safe spot. I go here every time I need to think clearly, when I need a quiet spot, or to make big decisions. When I was doing community service freshman year, I found out about this area. Mary, the woman who I was talking to, told me about what they do so I started coming here more often. I run errands for them, do volunteer work for the community, and more” Maya walked towards the tree. “Every time I come here, I get a pocket knife and mark a dash on the tree.” Christian and Penelope walked up to the tree and saw the numerous dashes on the tree. Christian touched it and a piece of it came off. He picked it up and tried to put it on the tree. Maya got heated and right before she almost started yelling at him, something caught her eye. Maya grabbed it from him and examined it. She saw that on the back side of the bark there was a mark of a leaf. Penelope looked over her shoulder and saw what Maya was looking at. Penelope touched another part of the tree and another piece of bark came off. She turned it around and there was nothing behind it. Christian apologized and Maya hugged him. “You found it Christian!” “I did?” Christian asked. “Yes. This is the item. I know it.” Penelope gave Christian a high five. After celebrating, they looked at the view and took a minute of silence. “You know Maya… this is a nice place. I see why you like to be here. It's quiet and airy.” Christian’s eyes lit up and said, “Speaking of air. I’m sorry to ruin this great moment but we need to find the air element piece now before our time is up.” Maya looked at them and nodded in agreement. They head down to the car and leave back to town. 

__________________________

“One piece down. Three more to go!” they all said as they entered town. “Okay where could the air item be at?” Maya asked. “I don’t know but let’s drive around. Maybe that will spark some ideas.” As they were driving, they passed many buildings but none of them seemed to be the right area for the air item to be. Christian turned his head and he saw a park. He parked on the curb and said that the park looked familiar. They all got off and he noticed that it was the park he always went to when he was little. The three of them walked to the playground and while Christian was walking around in nostalgia he noticed that he has some toys here. There was a plane and a toy bird buried in the bark. “I can’t believe that these are still here after all these years.” “Did you come here when you were little?” Maya asked. “Yeah, when things got too hard for me emotionally and mentally, I came here and played with these toys because I always wished I could just fly away.” Penelope put her hand on Christian and said, “I’m sorry man.” “Thank you. However, I did play with something else. I wonder where it’s at.” 

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Grayson said as he came up behind them. They turned around and saw that he was holding a kite. “Yeah! You found it!” While Christian examined the kite, Grayson and Maya made contact. Penelope broke the stare by saying, “Look, the air mark is right there.” “Nice! How did you know we were here, Grayson?” “I didn’t. I needed to clear my head and I arrived here. On my walk, I saw the kite in the tree and I decided to get it. I saw it said your name, and when I looked up I saw you guys.” “Omg that reminds me! There’s a lake behind the park. Can we go visit it?” Penelope asked. As they were walking to the lake, Maya was walking with Grayson and told him, “I think I get this now. Every piece we’ve gotten so far had a personal connection to each of us. I think the next water piece is related to Penelope.” Maya walked over to Penelope and she started telling Maya how this place was special to her. She explained how she used to go fishing with her grandpa and her dad for many years. Penelope said that when she caught her first fish they bought her a fish necklace, but when they both passed away she also buried it here. She went to the spot where she buried it and asked Maya to help her dig for her. When they finally found it, Penelope dusted it off and saw the water sign engraved on the front of the fish. Maya smiled at her and they both stood up. Maya looks at the group and says, “We’re almost done! All we need is the fire item. They all look at Grayson. He looks up at them and he says, “Look I have no idea where it would be. I’m only here to tag along with you guys.” Maya looked at him and said, “Think about what I said about how all this works.” “Alright, fine. But I’m driving.” 

__________________________

Grayson drove down a couple of streets until he finally parked in front of a bar. Penelope looks at him and says, “You come here? Alright, Hotshot.” Grayson shook his head and went inside. Everyone else followed right behind him. Everyone in the building looked at the door. Maya and Penelope stood back and looked a little frightened until finally they started saying hi to Grayson. The three of them were confused but they kept their mouth shut. After greeting everyone in the building, including the bartender, Grayson walked to the corner of the room. Maya looked at him. “Maya don’t look at me like that. No, I don’t come here to drink. When I’m mad, upset, or emotional, I come here to play darts.” He pointed to the wall next to him. He grabbed a little suitcase and opened it up. He looked at each of the darts until he found the one he was looking for. “Ever since I was a kid, my dad always brought me here with him when he wanted to drink. And every time he did, he always forgot me. It was such a regular thing that everyone in the club pretty much became my family because they watched out for me.” Grayson could feel their eyes on him but he didn’t look up. “As I became of age and I needed to let my anger out, I would always go to this corner and either talk to one of these people or play darts. I got so mad one time that I carved something in one of these darts. I mean it’s metal so you would imagine how mad I was that time.” He put out the dart so they could see it better. It was a carving of a flame. Christian and Penelope took the dart and examined it, and celebrated the fact that they found all of the items. However, Maya kept looking at Grayson but he still didn’t make eye contact. “Alright, let’s head back to the apartment. It’s already night time,” Christian said. Maya stopped staring at Grayson and said, “You’re right. Let’s go.” They went back to the apartment with all of the items and when they got inside they placed them in the middle of the living room. However, nothing was happening. Grayson pulled Maya aside and right before he was about to say something to her the items started connecting. Maya looked at Grayson and said, “Hold that thought.” She walked over to the items and watched with Christian and Penelope in awe. Then the items started to shine in their different element colors. 

__________________________

“Thank you. All four of you. For saving me. After all of these years-”.  “No. Thank you… for saving us,” Grayson said. The four of the friends all looked at each other in agreement, while the guy looked at them confused and with tears in his eyes. “The name is Eli,” he said to break the minor silence. “Nice to meet you Eli. Welcome back! This is Penelope, Grayson, Christian, and I'm Maya.” He waved at each of us and thanked us individually again. “Alright you guys let’s head out. I need a break from this apartment and I’m starving! There should be a 24 hour restaurant open somewhere.” Christian said. “Eli you should join us! After you take a shower and all. ” They all looked at Christian and just chuckled. Grayson looked at Eli and said, "I'm just glad you didn't sing the song." Eli looked at him confused, "What song?" They all chuckled again. Once Eli was done getting ready, the group started heading out the door. Before Eli exited, he saw the group and smiled. “I’m back.” Then he closed the door and ran to catch up to the rest of the group.