The Land of Make Believe

by Michael Arnold

  The Den of Beasts was an arena made of black and green stones. The floor was made of gray stones. The spattered blood in many areas of the floor made it look like it was partly red. Thick, black bars that held the imprint of already 10 Canine workers went all around the stadium so the spectators could see the festivities in every seat.

  The area was about 10 to 15 feet in height and width. The ceiling contained ceiling bars and on top of those bars, on the outside of the arena, was a huge piece of stone rock that weighted thousands of pounds just in case the violators tried to escape out of the arena through the roof. Inside of the arena were two wild beasts roaming and snarling at every noise and sound. As Fenris ran through the do’s and the don’ts of his new laws in the Stone City, walking from the work site, apprehended with a bungee cord around her wrist was a Canine-woman. They had found a diagram showing how to escape from the stone city in one of her cooking aprons.

  She fought as hard as she could swinging her body from side to side and even throwing kicks which did no damage to the two guards that walked her down the red brick walkway which led into the arena.

  “You may get away with it now but the day is coming when you and your king and all of the Wolf-people will pay for enslaving us!”

  “If I were you I wouldn’t be concerned about us or the king anymore, you are going to the arena and the beasts look pretty hungry. We will all watch you become their meal.”

  Amose who with one eye and a face that didn’t show any indication of healing could hear the growling of the beasts, then a snap all before a violent yell as he laid the next layer of stones.

  With his limited vision he peered in the direction of the arena. He saw the Wolf-people laugh as they watched the dismemberment of the Canine-woman.

  “Get to work! I don’t need you lowly slacking off or you will be next, Amose!”

  Why did this happen? Why are we slaves when we had everything here to protect us from this ever happening? Whisk-pey, wherever you are, please don’t come back here. This isn’t home anymore. This is a slave camp and I would die myself if it would keep you from ever coming here again, Amose thought as he went back to work as he was ordered.

  “I have to say, I have never seen you this happy before in God knows how long, Olen!”

  “Why do you say that, Mom?”

  “You have been smiling ever since I picked you up!”

  “I’m just happy, Mom. The weekend is here and I think I may ride my go-cart sometime this weekend,” Olen replied.

  The table was set for dinner.

  “Mom, I am going to fix a plate and take it to my room.”

  “Oh my! You must be turning over a new leaf; you said you don’t like my baked chicken, and broccoli casserole.”

  “I guess he is over those boy problems,” his father said, looking over his newspaper.

  “I guess you can say that, Dad.” Olen took a huge Tupperware bowl of his mom’s dinner, and practically galloped his way upstairs to his room where he found Whisk-pey and Ento waiting for him with big smiles on their faces.

  “Man, I never seen two people so happy to see me, or is it the food that I have for you guys?” Olen asked.

  “It’s neither!” Whisk-pey said, giving Olen a huge wet kiss on his cheek which afterward turned red.

  “Wow, I don’t think I ever had one of them from a girl before except for my mother but I don’t think she counts, right?”

  “At least not from a girl from another world, right?” Whisk-pey added.

  “Yes, not from a girl from another world!”

  “You were brave and you had a lot of courage out there, Olen.”

  “Oh no…. If it wasn’t for you then…”

  “No, shush!” Whisk-pey said, placing one of her forefingers on Olen’s lips.

  “Nope, don’t say it. You’re bringing memories of how my father acts when you try and give him credit for what he has done and it sounds to me that is what you are about to do. You were great out there. You did it all by yourself. You didn’t need our help,” Whisk-pey told him.

  “You were great; you should have seen how he ran off of that football field!” Ento added.

  “Thanks, you guys, and I am also thankful for you being my new alien friends who like me and I like them back!”

  Then Whisk-pey gave Olen a look of disapproval.

  “Alien is just another word for foreign or unfamiliar, you are foreign people here. I brought you guys dinner.”

  “What is it? It smells good!”

  Olen didn’t have a chance to answer when he heard his door bell ring then a yell seven seconds later. “Olen, Camden is here. Can I send him up?”

  Chapter 17

  The first thought that entered Olen’s mind (or maybe it was his opinionated double suggesting) was Camden can’t come up the stairs. But how many times has he been up the stairs and in my room? Something would be strange if I said he couldn’t come up. He has even been up here when I was really sick. I can’t. That won’t work. Besides, he is my friend.

  “I am going to need you to hide again!”

  “Again?” Ento questioned.

  “Yes, again. My friend is very inquisitive and much younger than any of us. If he sees the two of you, he would tell the whole world about you. Young kids can’t keep a secret!”

  “What’s wrong with that? We are people too. We shouldn’t be a secret. Are you ashamed of us, Olen?”

  Olen walked to the door and opened it slightly. “Hold on, Mom. Before you send Camden up, I have to move something around.”

  “Okay, hurry up. You don’t want to keep your company waiting,” his mother told him.

  “No, I’m not ashamed of you, Whisk-pey, or you, Ento. You both are now my friends, but think about this: how would it look if a human presented himself before your Canine-people? We are different, but trust me, in due time, I will figure this all out. I promise. So just hide right now until he is gone, please?”

  Whisk-pey, now more than ever, because of the progress Olen had made, trusted his decision.

  “Okay, Mom, send the youngest up!” Olen yelled.

  When Camden got to Olen’s room he was out of breath and sweating.

  “I wasn’t supposed to but I did, Olen?”

  “What are you talking about, Camden?”

  “I parked my go-cart in your front yard in the grass!”

  “Come on, dude, why did you do that?” Olen asked.

  “I knew it would make you mad but I wanted to ask you something. I want to see if you have something for me?”

  “Oh, now you want to see if I have something for you after you parked your slow go-cart on my lawn that I cut?”

  “Slow? Is there a race you want, Olen? If it is, I will blow you out the water like I always do!” Camden said.

  “Is there a race you want, young Camden, because if there is then I will blow you out the water like I have before,” Olen replied.

  “No, not right now, I have some very important business I have to take care of, dude, and I came over here because I need a cloth wrap, that’s all. No racing today, just a cloth wrap,” Camden said.

  “A cloth wrap. I don’t know what you mean. A cloth wrap, what is that?”

  Then Camden, who stood in the doorway, looked into Olen’s room when he heard an unusual noise.

  “Ento, if you are going to be a good hider, you have to be quiet!”

  “Well, I’m trying, Whisk-pey. It’s something in that food that is making me sneeze. Don’t act like you never sneezed before,” Ento whispered.

  “What was that, Olen?”

  “What was what? I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Maybe I am hearing things, or maybe I’m not hearing things, Olen,” Camden said. His words became a little louder.

  “You still haven’t told me what you mean by cloth wrap. How can I get you something if I really don’t know what it is, Camden?”

  Whisk-pey tried hard to get Ento into her satchel before he yelped out another sneeze, bu
t by the time she reached to grab him, he sneezed and the momentum took him off Whisk-pey’s shoulder and out in the open onto Olen’s hardwood floors.

  “Ooops, I think it was that food that you gave me to eat, Olen. It’s making me sneeze.”

  Camden pushed Olen’s arm away, rushed into the room and peered at Ento.

  “Hi! You can talk too? My name is Camden. What’s your name?”

  “Camden, this is top secret information. You can’t tell anyone about this until I figure out how we tell our folks. They are not from here, which means they are different from us, people are not going to be used to talking aliens,” Olen said.

  Whisk-pey didn’t come out. She watched from behind the closet door until Camden said that one word. “You’re not the only one with top secret, Olen. I have top secret information too. My top secret is better than your top secret.”

  “My name is Ento, by the way. And, Camden, you seem to be a nice kid!”

  Ento jumped on Camden’s right arm. Immediately the young boy began rubbing Ento’s ridged, bumpy back as he crawled up to his shoulder. “Camden, I really need for you to keep this a secret this can’t get out, not right now!”

  “Olen, I heard you, and you not the only one with a secret, okay!” Camden’s voice got louder, his brown eyes wider; his serious and stern glare was intense as he yelled at Olen. “I have my secrets too, Olen. You are not the only one. Now, if you please get me my wrap cloth. You know that cloth you wrap up a leg with when it is sprained?”

  “Oh, now you are talking. You are speaking about and ace bandage.”

  “Yeah, I think that’s it. I need it. You got any somewhere?”

  “Yeah, I do have a couple. Did your mom or sister get hurt or something? Because you look perfectly fine to me.”

  “It’s not for my mom or my sister, Olen, thank you. You’re not the only one who has a secret. I do too.” Camden repeated.

  Olen retrieved the three ace bandages that he had and gave them all to Camden. “These are for you, whatever you are doing with them you don’t have to worry about giving them back.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really and under one condition, Camden!”

  “Oh, whatever. I need these bandages for my friend Gilma, and now you are putting conditions before giving me the ace bandages.”

  Gilma was the word that brought Whisk-pey out of the closet.

  “Did you say Gilma?”

  Where he stood, Camden dropped the ace bandages on the floor. He didn’t pick them up.

  “Oh, my God, this is so cool; she is the girl Gilma asked me about. Are you Whisk-pey?”

  “Yes, I am Whisk-pey, Camden, and did you say Gilma?”

  “Yes, yes, Gilma. She is real big and pretty bird. You should see her, Olen, she has fur and it’s like a purple, white, and some blue. She let me rub her, Olen, but she is hurt.”

  “Hurt you say, Camden?” Whisk-pey asked as she walked up closer to the boy and began rubbing Ento’s back.

  “Yes, she is hurt; she is cut really bad, Whisk-pey. That is why I need these ace bandages.” Camden looked down at the bandages and picked them up – finally.

  “Where is she and how did she get here?” Olen asked, baffled.

  “Gilma is here on Earth?” Ento asked.

  “Yep, I can take my very fast go-cart and take you to where Gilma is.”

  “Yes, Camden, please do,” Whisk-pey said.

  “Wait a second,” Olen said, “you guys traveled by trees and not only does it hide you…, well, you know what I mean, you will get there quicker.”

  Olen and Camden took their go-carts, Whisk-pey and Ento followed close by, using the trees as a hop-skip-and-a-jump mode of transport, so to speak. Lying on the ground that had been created as a track for Olen and Camden’s go-carts, Gilma wondered about the severity of her injury, her loss of energy and where the nearest healing well was.

  Her eyes watered, her leg felt as if it wasn’t attached to her body. The long, deep breath that pulled from her weak diaphragm sounded in Gilma’s ear as words of despair or exhaled mumbling from a dying bird.

  How long will it be before all the blood in my body seeps away and I am a lifeless corpse? The little kid won’t be back and I don’t blame him. What can he actually do for me. Even if the nearest wishing well was somewhere around here, I will be long dead before I get there.

  She closed her eyes and tried hard not to move so she wouldn’t encourage the pain to come back, and not just come back, but come back stronger. If the pain was resurging, Gilma blocked it mentally. Her focus slowly drifted as she was falling asleep. For Gilma sleep would have been the perfect solution and the answer to her problem. But for what she saw in the Land of Make believe, there wasn’t a solution, at least none that she could think of. After seeing the dominance of King Fenris and the Wolf-people, who ruled over their specific individual Canine-person brutally and without any sympathy, she doubted a solution would ever be found. Gilma jumped in her feathery skin when she heard the zooming engines of go-carts, and her keen hearing picked up action coming from the trees. She was aware of the increased zoom of the engines but the increasing movement in the trees she wasn’t sure about.

  Is this it? Are they coming to get me now? Is this when I die? If it is, I am ready? Gilma exhaled and inhaled, hoping that her last breath would come before death. But there wasn’t a last breath nor was there death. Gilma raised her head and her body upward without putting pressure on her injured leg.

  Her eyes which were sloped in sleep rose out of that slumped state, wide and attentive, and beheld the best thing that she saw in the last several hours. Whisk-pey with Ento on her shoulder, leaped from the trees and in front of Gilma. Before Whisk-pey said anything with her mouth, she spoke loudly with her arms when she gave Gilma a huge hug.

  “You are here! You’re here after all, in this place that Camden called Earth. I am glad to see you, Whisk-pey!” Gilma grunted. Ento jumped off of Whisk-pey’s shoulder. He saw the blood running out of her split leg along with the blood that already had leaked out of her.

  Olen and Camden stood back while the three of them reunited. “This is why I need the ace bandages; you see the cut on her leg?” Camden asked Olen.

  Olen walked a little closer as if he didn’t see, he focused a little harder, all Olen saw was red, red everywhere.

  He turned away not just because the sight of blood made him woozy, but because the tear in the one leg made it look like two legs.

  “Yes, I am cut, badly from the way it feels, Ento!” Gilma replied.

  “Gilma, what happen what are you doing here and how did you get here?” Whisk-pey didn’t seem as concerned about Gilma’s injuries as she was about her being on Earth.

  “I got this for her, Whisk-pey, her leg is really bad,” Camden said.

  “Thank you, Camden,” Whisk-pey replied, taking the ace bandages from him. “I think I am going to need a healing well. My leg isn’t going to heal on its own.”

  “Oh my, Gilma! Who did this to you?”

  “You promise, if I tell you everything you won’t panic?”

  Whisk-pey paused to think about what Gilma asked.

  “I don’t think she will remain calm, so it wouldn’t hurt to tell us, Gilma. I will speak for myself. I won’t panic,” Ento replied.

  “And I will speak for the both of us, Camden, and I won’t panic,” Olen said.

  “Speak for yourself, Olen. I hope I don’t, but I may panic. Who knows?” Camden replied.

  “That’s what I am here for. So I might as well tell you the news.” Gilma started with what was to her the easiest to handle news. That news was about her battle with the one troll who tried to stop her from getting inside of the caves. Due to the severity of the fight, she came out with the sliced leg, but she was sure the troll was dead.

  Whisk-pey was confused at first but when she realized that she and Ento made a wish to go to Earth, she thought that Gilma was trying to bring her back because she missed her. />
  “I missed you, Gilma, and the Land of Make Believe, but being here now with Olen and Camden and now you, it is such a great thing. I think about the Land of Make Believe a lot since I’ve been gone. And I must say if I will be honest that Earth is not Make Believe and, at times, it could get hard getting used to, but this is my home now, and now that you are here, this is your home too!”

  Whisk-pey then looked at the ace bandage like it was something of a strange thing which, to her, it was. Healing never came in any other form than through a healing well. Olen took the ace bandage and began wrapping Gilma’s leg.

  “I didn’t come here to persuade you to go back to Make Believe, Whisk-pey. You are your own girl. I knew that when I realized that you can kill a thousand pound land beast with a stone and a sling shot. I knew that you could take care of yourself, and that you didn’t need me to tell you to come back to Make Believe.”

  “Then why are you here, Gilma, if you are not here to get me to come back to Make Believe to live?” Whisk-pey asked with a wondering look that stuck out in her light yellow and brown eyes.

  “Canine-land has been taken over. It is a dictatorship ruled by King Fenris now, Whisk-pey.”

  “What, what are you saying? Canine-land will never be a…”

  “It has and it is. Your father and all your people are now slaves. The Wolf-man known as King Fenris has taken everything that has been a part of your people and destroyed it. I have beheld his destruction with my own eyes, Whisk-pey. I came to find you so that you will know of this destruction, just in case I die today. I wanted you to know.”

  The smell of rotten flesh surfaced, noise of a sick and decomposed voice screamed out, waking Bodolf from his temporary sleep. There was a band of thick white fog that stared at him. He pulled on his restrictions before he was able to have a clear focus on what was in front of him.

  “Come on I have to get out of here,” he yelled. Then an uncomprehending voice gargled then scream. Bodolf didn’t see anything but what he felt was cold and clammy on his face. He still couldn’t see anything.