“What about the go-carts, the track and racing? You can’t give all that up. We have to continue.”
“If you want to continue racing here, you can,” Olen said, “But right now, I don’t feel up to it. I’m going to just go home. I think a nap would do me some good.”
“If you’re not going to come back here, I get it. At least wait up for me, Olen. I’m coming with you!”
The sound of water sounded in her twitching ears, her eyes didn’t open. She embraced the peace of relaxation and comfort that the atmosphere brought (wherever that atmosphere was) from behind her shut eyes. The coolness of the water soaked her clothes and penetrated her body, sending first a slight chill before a rushing cold took over.
Her bones reacted to the coldness and locked up. She mumbled but she wasn’t quite ready to give up the tranquility she felt in this unknown place to the coldness that seemingly wanted her awake. She squinted as the cold increased, and the water continued to flow in and out of her. The mumbling became louder, the coldness bitter, and her bones seemed to tighten more.
As her mind began playing games, she believed that the cold, had gone and she had won. She would lay there in the water, revel in the tranquility of the place forever, until a thunderous splash not only caused her eyes to open wide but caused Whisk-pey to sit up straight. “Where am I? Not again. Please tell me this isn’t happening to me again!” Whisk-pey said aloud before remembering that a vacuous wind took her and Gilma from the planet earth to the place where she heard splashing water. It took her a moment to capture the scent of purity-flowers in the atmosphere, to feel the canvas beneath the blue water, the dark orange colors shining in the rock shelter of her dwelling, casting a shadow upon the stack of rocks in front of her. Whisk-pey was back in Make Believe.
The opening was above her. The radiant sun shone from above it. Then there was another smell, a smell that Whisk-pey hadn’t smelled before. The smell was so strong that she forgot about Gilma and the bird’s whereabouts, her time with Olen, and meeting Camden for the brief time that she did.
This smell was a smell of fragrant nature, similar to the purity smell of Land of Make Believe, but the smell was in-depth not a faint smell like that of Make Believe. It could be a smell that the land is giving off, especially since I am in an unknown place, and I don’t know their smell too well, Whisk-pey thought.
She would believe that thought until she heard splish-splash footsteps coming from behind her. She ran forward and toward the flat stone wall in front of her, pulled out her sling-shot and snatched a rock from her satchel, loaded it and turned.
“Who are thou and what bringeth thee here?”
Whisk-pey didn’t reply, she held her sling-shot dead point on the woman in front of her. She wore a red and black bandana around her neck and in her hands she held two knifes.
From her larger breasts and tall body, Whisk-pey figured that she was older than she was. So, she associated all that with the woman’s skill level. I better strike her first. If not, and she gets me first with those knives, I am gone! Whisk-pey thought.
The woman flinched. Whisk-pey fired a panic shot; not precise or on target at all. The woman then swiped both knives at Whisk-pey. When she missed, Whisk-pey pulled her head back then swung her sling-shot at the woman hitting her on the side of her face. The hand that held the sling-shot snapped back at the sling-shot sound. The woman stumbled back, the impact of Whisk-pey’s rock caught her off guard.
“I have faceth many men and destroyeth them all, thou are amongst the weak and my victory will continue!”
It was somehow evident to Whisk-pey from the ping sound the stone made when it bounced of the woman’s head that there was a metal mask beneath her dark brown skin and that her only option was to defeat Whisk-pey or die.
But the woman countered, bending down just enough to cup her hands and sling water onto Whisk-pey’s face.
“Whisk-pey screamed out as the blue water, when making contact with her face, burned and irritated her eyes.
“No, please, don’t kill me. I am here for my family. They have been taken by the Wolf-people. I don’t know how I got here,” Whisk-pey yelled.
“Thou heart is filled with evil and thou hands commit war against me, now thou asketh me for mercy? I giveth no mercy to thee evil doer who maketh war against me or thy people!”
Whisk-pey felt a pop, from a kick that sent her backwards against the rock wall, then her world as she knew it slowly became darker.
The freed Canine-people had journeyed close to three days when they become hungry and thirsty right in front of the mountains. Scionna, who showed unusual determination, spoke to her people. “We are here. Food and shelter are a little ways away, by mid-noon we will be inside of the mountain where we will rest our bodies and feast on the land. Scionna assured them. “We must not rest here. We don’t know what is here but inside of the mountains is our save haven!”
“How do we know that there is food inside those mountains, Mom?” Auden asked.
“Your eyes are tired just like most of you and need more rest, your focus has been dimmed, therefore you don’t see the abundance of food, and the shelter that is within these mountains. Rest for a short time then we journey into our new home.”
There was food, water and shelter in the mountains just as Scionna assured them, but there were eyes, eyes that hawked the Canine-people, waiting, and waiting patiently through the path of green grass and the purple mountain with the blue stone overhang.
“Olen, if you look around, we are not in their Land of Make Believe!”
“And what exactly do you mean by that, Easel?”
“It means that things that we can’t control and can’t change are going to happen, because we are living in a world like that. It’s not a world that if something happens then it gets fixed in some ways by trolls and fairies.”
“I am very aware of that, Easel. I had a special friend, a girl at that, and now she is gone and she probably won’t ever come back.”
“You have a gift, Olen. Don’t punish your gift because things didn’t go exactly the way you wanted them to go.”
“Drawing is not a child, Mr. Easel. I’m not punishing my gift. I just haven’t done any drawing in a while. There is a difference.”
“Hey, I used the wrong word. Is neglect better?” Easel asked.
Olen didn’t say anything; instead he got off his bed and walked to several of the pictures he had on his wall. He picked up his phone and looked at a few pictures of Whisk-pey he had saved on his phone.
Olen showed one of the pictures he had of Whisk-pey and Ento asleep, hanging off the bed as if his Easel could see.
“So I take it that you like Whisk-pey and Ento a lot, but of course I already knew that!”
“Who meets people from another world and they’re so cool? I mean you’re cool, Camden is cool, of course, but Whisk-pey is a girl, the only cool girl that makes me smile, Easel. Have you ever had that feeling before?”
Olen heard Easel’s deep voiced laugh. “To be honest, Mr. Artist, yes I have had that feeling before. What did you think? Because I am just an old Easel that you have been drawing on for the last seven years, I have no emotions? Well I do, young artist. Every time you draw a picture out of that creative mind of yours and you share that picture with me, you make me smile, you know why?”
“No, I’m not sure, Mr. Easel?”
“Because I love to see you create, young artist. It’s what gives me life: you, your art, your gift to me. She may be gone physically, but you could make her real as ever by drawing her right here on me.”
Olen had a chuckle of his own.
“You mean draw Whisk-pey, Mr. Easel? What do you mean draw her?”
“Umm, I mean illustrate, sketch, and describe her with your drawing pencil. You may never see her again but at least you will have her on paper. Go ahead, artist, don’t be shy, let Mr. Easel see your work!”
Within an hour Olen had sketched, drawn Whisk-pey to a tee. He was all
set to color the picture of her when he was interrupted by Camden.
“Olen, you will never believe what I saw down at the track. It is unbelievable!”
“At the track? You mean our track?”
“Yes, our track. Come on, I will show you!”
When they arrived at the part of the track where Camden had first found Gilma, there was a blue gel like bubble with a clear liquid inside.
“What do you think it is, Olen?” Camden asked.
“I couldn’t tell you, but this is strange. It looks like that rain that came down the other day,” Olen replied.
“Before I came and got you, I touched it. Watched this, Olen!”
“No, Camden, stay away from it. It could be dangerous.”
“I know, but watch this, Olen!”
“No, Camden, don’t, don’t do it! Camden, no!”
Chapter 19
Olen panicked. He felt the coolness of sweat abruptly leak out of his pores, course down his face and onto his cheeks before an engulfing heat took over his entire lanky body. Camden was gone; he had been sucked away by the blue gel like bubble, bigger and taller than a person. Olen looked around then up the track as if that dirt road held the answers. “God, God, God, what am I going to do?”
As much as he tried to take his focus off the blue ball of gel he couldn’t. Maybe he could have, if it hadn’t slurped Camden away. “Maybe, ummm…, maybe I could…. Yeah, that’s what I will do. I will go home and pretend none of this happened. Besides, it probably will be all over in the morning and Camden will be back at home. And several hours later he’ll be coming over to my room asking about some more pictures, right?” Olen asked himself.
No, absolutely not, Olen! Olen’s double yelled out in his head. That is your friend. Your first friend, as a matter of fact. Going home and forgetting this ever happened is not the Olen you are now. You have moved up the ladder and I said I was proud of you. Please don’t make me take it back because you cower from this situation, Olen!
“Well, what am I suppose to do then, Mr. Know it all?” Olen yelled now pushing his glasses up his nose.
It simple, Olen, It’s not rocket science, you know.
“I’m listening!”
The same thing you did in your classroom, how you saved Whisk-pey at the abandoned house, and most of all how you stood up against your bully Charles. Need I say more?
“All right, all right, I get the picture. I don’t know why I deal with you,” Olen yelled.
Because we are friends and I am the smart part of you. Besides, I have to look after you. If I don’t, then who will?
“Whatever! Here goes nothing.” Olen wiped away the hair that had stuck to his forehead, he adjusted his glasses, and then ran for the blue ball and with a scream of: “Here I come, Camden,” he too was sucked away from the earth.
Camden’s heart sunk down to his stomach when he heard the yowling of the Dark Forest. He leaned his back against a tree that he saw within the gray thickness of the fog to hide from the yowling.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom,” his heart said. “Quiet, if there is bad guys out here, they are going to hear you and they will get us,” Camden whispered to his thrashing, pumping heart. “Olen I wish you were here to see this fog. It looks like snow. By the way, where am I? Gosh the smell here is awful. Someone forgot to take out the trash.” Camden saw through the fog and thought that standing at a tree was much too boring for him. As adventurous as he was, staying on the go was something he wanted to do rather than stay hidden behind a tree. It only took him three steps away from the tree to realize something was different about him.
First, he looked at his gray, oversized Hulk boxing glove that he wore on his left hand. He opened and squeezed that hand when he saw blue and white light go through the top of the glove. It lit up with an enormous glow. Camden jumped up and down with joy. “Yes, this is freaking awesome, awesome; I said awesome. This place is so cool, but they need to take out the garbage and it would be much cooler!”
Shortly after that Camden noticed that the blue and gray sci-fi suit which his dad bought for him on his sixth birthday wasn’t just a regular space suit anymore, but a solid steel sci-fi-looking suit. Camden couldn’t believe what he was seeing and feeling; it showed on his cheering face. He felt the glove with his right hand it felt like steel. He rubbed it on the suit, touching the metal grooves, the blue stitched lining that went down the front of the suit in an X.
“All I need now is a gold and red mask and I will be just like Iron Man. I think I would be the kid version! Yeah! Iron Man baby, kid Iron Man here I come,” Camden yelled. In the middle of Camden admiring his metal shoes the yowling became closer. The fog cleared out from the path that was made when he walked away from the trees, and all of a sudden, there, to meet Camden was one of the malicious hands.
Camden stepped back, away from the hand, as it bore bloody and huge triangular teeth.
Camden felt the bolt lighting go through the gloved hand then his body. “Oh cool that felt great,” he said, holding both hands out from his body then balling them up into fists. The hands came out one by one gripping the air as they came down after Camden.
As if the glove had a mind of its own Camden together with the glove reared back and released one big swing, knocking the skinless deep in to the fog. “I’m not done! Who’s next in line?”
Olen open his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “I’m not on earth anymore. I never been here before but it seem like I have, maybe in a dream or something,” he said. Then, as if he saw something within the fog or perhaps behind the fog, he walked to the thickest part of it. “Wow this has got to be the most absolutely weird thing that I ever seen in my life?” Olen said touching the fog then pulling his hand back. The part of the fog he touched latched on to the palm of his hand like a leech. He did more analyzing than his mind did admiring. He felt a pulse within the part of the fog that latched onto his hand. “This has to be it; the Land of Make Believe. This is Whisk-pey, Ento and Gilma’s home. I’m here in the Land of Make Believe.”
Olen smile but it was only briefly, for the patch of fog scurried out of his hand. He was confused. He gazed up from his bare hand and suddenly his mind and body were horror struck. “Oh my God, a hand with a face in it!” Olen’s word eased out of his mouth.
Through his glasses he could see beyond the floating hand. Way within the fog Olen saw a slew of hands that searched through the place that was unknown to him. Then beyond that he saw Camden who was having a field day, battling the killer hands with his steel arm.
You have some sort of power here, Olen. You have to use it or else you are going to be toast to those hideous looking things. Oh they are ugly!
“You are the one who told me to come here, and now all you have to say for yourself is that I have some type of power I need to use?”
Ugh, yeah! Not coming here wasn’t an option. I thought we went over this.
“We did go over it, you ding-bat. One more word out of you and I will send you away,” Olen retorted hotly.
I’m just trying to help. I’m sorry but here comes one of those hands now. I think you need to do something. The double yelled out in Olen’s head.
“Camden, I need you buddy, I need you like today!” Olen yelled, dodging the first wave of five flying hands.
Camden looked up but all he saw was more hands and thick fog.
Tell him not to look back; there are a lot of hands behind him.
“Don’t look back, buddy, there is a lot of those hands behind you!” Olen yelled.
“I don’t see you but I can hear you. Where are you, Olen?” Camden shouted, looking back but only seeing the herd of hands.
“If you can see me watch this, Olen!” Camden yelled taking out more than one hand at a time.
Olen ran as fast as he could in Camden’s direction with the killer hands hot on his trail.
I just want to let you know that was good thinking.
“What was good thinking?” Olen asked his double.
Holding off those things and running toward Camden. I know what your plan is, you sly dog you.
“There is nothing sly about running from killer hands in another world called Make Believe, okay?”
Oh yeah, I know that. That’s not what I’m saying. What makes you sly is getting to Camden so he can get rid of those killer hands for you while you… ummm, do whatever…, like run maybe?
“I don’t call it sly I called it the rewards of friendship, okay!”
Wow, I like that and it makes better sense.
Olen could feel the killer hands scratching at his dress coat and the smell of stink violating his clean air waves. He saw Camden. He was close. “Camden, I’m here. I need you now, buddy,” Olen yelled.
The fog cleared slowly to reveal a path in front of Camden. He saw the path to his friend and to the hands.
Either Olen was his usually clumsy self or the broken piece of tree in front of him brought him to the cold ground. “Olen, where were you? I heard you but I didn’t see you,” Camden asked walking toward Olen.
“Trying to stay alive!” Olen said from his backside using his feet to back away.
“Watch out, Camden!” Olen yelled when he saw two of the hands behind Camden.
“Watch this, Olen, look what I can do,” Camden said, striking one of the hands. The momentum of the hit knocked the second hand into the fog too.
“Get away from my friend!” Camden bellowed. “I’m going to do something different, Olen, on the fighting game my dad bought me; they called this an upper cut!” With that in mind Camden threw the upper cut at the hand. It rocked it so hard and with unprecedented damage, it collapsed right there before Olen and Camden.
From the soft canvas of the ground, to the fog that slowly cleared itself away from them, Olen watched in utmost surprise as his friend single handedly did away with all of the hands that dared try attacking Olen and Camden.
“Thanks, buddy, you saved my life!”
The Land of Make Believe Page 20