Thrillseeker Three

The Thrillseeker Three had agreed to be lifelong best friends. Off they set one morning. Zaine, Neehan, and Beau, all ten years old, the future of society. They were going to be adults one day. But in the meantime, the boys wanted fun, not yet more Maths tests.

Zaine did not listen to a word his father or teacher ever said. He was in their face all the time. He was the king of the class, hoping to be lazy, naughty and rude. Made it! Neehan and Beau had been his friends since kindergarten, following every one of Zaine's ideas for fun.

Zaine wanted to grow up and become a champion footballer, not a homework machine. Beau was more dreamy. He played football, but did not try too hard. Neehan made an effort, but spent more time chatting to the other boys, and did not care if the other side kicked goals. Football was an excuse for all three boys to have fun in the mud.

This morning in particular, Zaine had decided they were going to skip school, with all the endless tests and projects. It was time for a day off. The Thrillseeker Three packed some extra lunch in their bags. They deliberately caught the wrong bus, and headed off to the railway station, instead of Monday morning, same boring routine in class.

Smiling, the three boys heard the last call for the next train to the city. They raced each other down the ramp to the station platform. They opened the door of the train carriage, and piled in, panting. Lots of laughs. The train sounded its cosmic horn, and they were off!

Their train was supposed to stop all stations until it got to the city. Neehan had checked. But the three friends did not realize they were on board a rogue train. It had appeared under the bridge, from a world of mystery and magic. Their rogue train did not have anyone else on it. Its carriage swayed as the train sped along the tracks, express all the way.

"Where are we going?" Beau asked, "this train just went through the city."

"We were supposed to get out there." Zaine replied. '

" I suppose this is fun. Where is everyone else?" Neehan wanted to know. The three thrillseekers wondered why this train was so fast, and where it was heading. The train suddenly entered a dark tunnel, and seemed to travel faster, taking the boys into the dark. It was a long tunnel, entering an old abandoned mine.

Here there were no lights at all. Screeech! The train driver, if there was one, jammed on the brakes. The boys sat there, waiting to see where this adventure was taking them. But, all was silent, still. They tried to peer through the windows of the train, but the tunnel was dark, gloomy, nothing to see, nowhere else to be.

Finally, Zaine suggested they get down from the train carriage, and ask the driver. So, climbing down, they turned the lights on their phones. They walked next to the rogue train carriages until they reached the cabin. Neehan held up his phone, but there was no driver of this mysterious train.

The whole train had run into a landslide, blocking the tracks. The three boys found their phones did not make calls, so far underground. They did not even know where in the world they had ended up, let alone how to get in touch with a rescue team.

"Look," Beau noticed, staring around, "There is a tunnel entrance there.Should we explore? You wanted an adventure, after all." The three thrillseekers agreed to explore this slightly spooky tunnel. They had to reach home somehow.

"Is this worse than Maths tests?" Neehan wondered. Zaine laughed, trying to work through this puzzle. They wandered along, hoping their phone lights kept going. In the distance, they noticed a strange, fluorescent light, brightening up as they walked nearer to it.

"Clop. Clop." The boys were only a little bit scared by now. Then they spotted the light source. It was a cute little white pony, shining brightly in the dark tunnel. "Girl or boy?" Zaine asked. "It's got a pink bridle on it." Neehan read the word on it. "Silva."

"Poor thing. Must be left behind with no one to look after it. " Beau said.

"I wonder if it knows how we can get the right train home." Zaine replied. "Lead the way, shining Silva." Neehan led them to follow the cute little pony, as she turned and started leading the three best friends on the trail through the mine.

It was strange, but there was truly a mysterious white light, beaming on the boys. They looked around the tunnel, all dark and rocky. Was this magic?Had the rogue train been a portal to a different dimension, underground?

Silva reached a bend in the tunnel, like a cave. She stopped, and started munching on a bale of hay which someone had left for her. "Time for lunch," Zaine said to his pals. "Looks like it, "Neehan and Beau nodded their heads, opening their lunches.

Silva noticed the boys had an apple each, so she was soon chomping the fruit. Then she returned to her hay, nibbling all the wispy bits. Then, to the boys' dismay, she lay down, made a rude, snorting noise, and went to sleep. Silva snored, the boys were stranded until the pony woke up.

There was a rock pool in this mini cave. Neehan bravely dipped his hand in it. He was amazed when his hand lit up with a fluorescent glow. Could he light the way home?

Zaine and Beau quickly made their hands fluorescent too. Magic in the air! "Let's see where this tunnel goes. Maybe it leads to city station central." Zaine said. That pony is lazy, naughty and rude."

"Sounds like you on your bad days!" Neehan laughed, "Now I have magic hands."

"So have we," Zaine and Beau smiled. The Thrillseeker Three set off, trailing along, fascinated by their own glowing skin. Yes, they could hear real trains again!

The boys gazed at the end of the magic tunnel, a portal to their normal world. There was the platform to take them home to their suburb. They could not get home for dinner quick enough.

"There's our train!" Zaine called, so they ran as fast as they could, into the sunlight, up the ramp, and onto the right train this time. Their hands stopped glowing in the daylight, but still had a faint shine.

"That was our secret," the three lifelong friends agreed. They arrived home, after catching their normal bus. Magically, no one noticed. The three boys reached home, always strong together, now following their own light. This was their day of mystery, their best adventure yet.

It had been spooky, but fun. In the dark that night, under the blankets in their own beds, the boys' hands were still shining bright. Who knows if it ever really happened? What did become of Silva, left behind. It had all been very strange......