Art Slam 2023: Writing Competition

[KittyCait]

Writing Competition:

What is the writing competition?

As one of the competitions this year, we are running a creative writing competition based on a set prompt! Entries open and are admitted from Monday, 3rd July. All entries must be submitted before 11:59PM EST Friday, 14th July. There are no set rules on what kind of writing is allowed: Whether it be a short story, poetry, scriptwriting, newspaper expose, etc… Let your inspiration run free!

How do I enter?

Reply to this post and put your writing submission in there. You can post it all at once, or you can make your post and edit it/add to it over the course of the week. Your writing will not be judged until after the submission deadline has passed so you are free to add/remove/change/draft as much as you like until that time. If you are unable to create a forums account yourself, you can ask someone else to submit on your behalf, they just need to clearly mark at the start of the thread who the author is.

What is the writing prompt?

Your writing must be based on the following writing prompt:

"Suddenly, we’re LOST?!"

Rules for entries

✩ Your submission must only be written by you.
✩ You may only make one entry.
✩ Your submission must be based on the writing prompt given, how you proceed from there is up to you.
✩ Your submission must be a minimum of 750 words, and a maximum of 5000 words.
✩ If you are including any players from Cubeville in your writing, you must have their permission before including them.
✩ Submissions must be written in English, if you need help with translation that is fine, so long as the original writing is your own.
✩ Your submission must be original, all entries will be checked for plagiarism and any found not to be original will be disqualified.

How are entries judged?

There will be an open vote for all players to pick their top three entries, which will run for one week after the closing date. Further information for voting will be posted when it comes time to vote. The writing competition's voting post will be open on the 17th of July, 2023.

What can I win?
The prizes are as follows:

✩ 1st Place - 30 Summer Games Coin and a Decorative Trophy Head
✩ 2nd Place - 20 Summer Games Coin and a Decorative Trophy Head
✩ 3rd Place - 10 Summer Games Coin and a Decorative Trophy Head

✩ All Participants With a Complete, Timely Submission - 5 Summer Games Coin


GOOD LUCK!!!

[Cilimus]

The Hike
Chapter 1. Starting
"Are we almost there?" I asked.
I was tired of my brother constantly pinching me in the car.
"Yep!" Dad responded.
Phew, no more pinches.
I was also so excited to get on our way!
We started by drinking some water, eating some lunch, and making sure we had everything we needed.
"Okay, so if anything happens, call me on your phone" Dad told me and my brother.
I nodded my head.
Woohoo, we were starting to go on the trail!
After a while, I saw a little fork in the path. In the middle, it had a sign pointing to someplace called
Streamberry Path, and to DimonWoods.
"Which way do we go?" I asked.
Dad looked at his map and then said that we were going left, to Streamberry Path.
I wonder what Streamberry Path will be like.


Chapter 2. A Beautiful Scene or a Terrible One...
After some minutes of walking through Streamberry Path, I saw the most beautiful thing ever- a waterfall
next to a mountain, with a forest on the surface.
"This is so beautiful..." I said but I didn't know what to say next.
Suddenly, I saw something that looked like a bat in the... DAYTIME???
I was pretty sure we weren't in a cave either.
27 seconds later, I saw someone holding a axe that looked like they were going for me.
I closed my eyes thinking about how this would be the end of me, but...
CLASH
Owww, that was really loud.
"Hello. I am the Spirit of Nature" the figure with the axe said.
I looked to the side. My Dad was napping but how could he nap when it was so hot outside??
"I believe your Dad has been bitten by the bat's Nap Wing, that should keep him like that for about 30 minutes more"
the Spirit of Nature said.
"Wait where is my brother?"
"HEY, STOP" said the Spirit of Nature.
"I'm not doing anything!" I said worried.
"Not you, him" the Spirit of Nature said.
I slowly looked at the beast- wait was that Bigfoot...
I immediately got unconscious after looking at the Bigfoot.
I couldn't move, couldn't anything bascially.
77 minutes later, I found myself in a place that was covered in bars.
I saw my Dad trying to get me to wake up.
Then I suddenly remembered- my brother!
"Dad, where is John?"
"I don't know, I'm nervous about your brother too" Dad responded.
I sat down thinking when suddenly I had a brilliant idea!
I went down to my pocket and pulled out my phone.
When I saw it had %88 left, I got relieved.
I got my brother's number and called him.
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
Beep beep.
I tried again and again but still no answer! I started getting nervous.
"Wait I see food!" Dad exclaimed.
"WOOHOO" I said in excitement!
We both started eating until we got full, we were trying to eat the whole thing but it seemed
like it was infinite so we ate until we got full.
I immediately heard something from a loudspeaker:
"Alright everyone it's sleep time, have good dreams and remember to not
eat the food next to you!"
Me and Dad exchanged glances at each other.
Uh oh...
I woke up in the morning seeing it was 7:30am precisely.
We were in the middle of nowhere when I saw my brother!!!
"Hi John!" me and Dad said in unison.
"We were so worried about you" I said.
Dad nodded.
I started to think this wasn't our John, because John ALWAYS
said hi to us, while this "John" didn't even say ANYTHING.
I whispered to Dad to ask John what Dad's computer password was.
John didn't know that.
So if "John" knew, something was definitely up.
"John, do you know what my computer password is?" Dad asked softly.
"Processing. Identified. Password for Computer 13848: 5792" "John said"
Me and Dad stared at "John" for a long time.
This couldn't be.
Even "John" talked like a robot, which did not help us at all.
Man, this hike was full of sleeping and waking up in a different dimension... I wasn't expecting this.



Chapter 3. Final Chapter Plus Shenanigans
I pinched Dad like my brother did expecting it to do nothing useful.
I woke up.
I felt so relieved.
It was all a dream-
Oh.
We had problems to deal with now, NOT in a dream.
We were in the middle of nowhere and not in a dream.
I saw a desert there, a river there, a tree there, a house there, a person named John there- Wait. JOHN???!!!!
"John!" me and Dad called.
"Walter, Harry!"
"I was wondering where I was" John said.
"Yeah we don't know either I responded."
Things were not going good.
We suddenly saw a book on the ground called The Book of Escaping Here Written by Walter Dublin
We all looked at Dad.
Dad, your name is Walter Edward Dublin...
We were all confused.
But Dad looked like he might understand.
"Well, I think this is 40 years in the future" he said.
"Wait so 2017?"
"Yes..."
This was very weird.
Dad said he thinks that when we were sleeping, a time machine took us to the future.
Yeah... very confusing.
We looked in the book.
"Say the word that will bring you out of here" the book read.
Oh boy...
We spent the whole night calling out words and we just made it through the B section...
12 more nights, here I come I thought sadly.
One night we were on X.
I thought happily that we would escape soon.
X-Ray!
You!
Zeinah!
Okay last word...
We would FINALLY escape.
Zygote!
We started feeling dizzy and then we got teleported to somewhere called "Level 2/5"
Oh... there were levels.
Great.
"Say the 4 digit number."
Wow and I thought my mouth was tired enough.
1000!
2000!
3000!
4000!
5000!
6000!
7000!
8000!
9000!
9638!
We started feeling dizzy again and we got teleported to Level 3.
Almost there!
What is the word from
_ _ _ _ _ _?
Violet!
We kept going.
I got bored so I just said
"We will never escape from here"
I got dizzy and got teleported to Level 4 now with the others.
Wait the word was escape! WOOHOO SAYINGS
"What is the correct animal?"
Pig!
Rabbit!
Goat!
Sheep!
Cow!
I said again "Wow I don't like giraffes seeing the picture on the wall"
Giraffe!
Oh, nope I was trying with that animal, not a giraffe.
Panda!
Parrot!
"I think I know" John said his hand in the air.
I saw a bunch of them at shore.
Crabs!
We got teleported to Level 5.
I started laughing hysterically.
"What is the correct meaning of gutter explanation 1?"
I got out my dictionary.
"YOU HAD A DICTIONARY THE WHOLE TIME!????" Dad and my brother shouted. Then I started feeling stupid. “It wouldn’t help…” I answered meekly.
Goodness now my hearing is going to get worse.
"A trough along the eaves of a house to catch and carry off water". Woohoo we were going back home!
Woosh!
And we are back home-
"Where is our house?" I asked firmly.
"Oh the demolitionists just took it to another dimension" Dad said.
OH NO GOLLY
"WHAT!!?" I asked unwilling to go back to the forest.
"JUST KIDDING"
"Then where is it?"
"The other side"
"This is no joke time" I said.
Dad apologized feeling guilty.
"It's okay though haha"
Okay so I am never going on a hike EVER again.
That night I went to my wonderful home bed and dreaded what I heard next.
“Hmm… yes that was a interesting trip. Maybe next time we can take Miquak Trail.”
“Good idea honey.”
Yup, next summer I’m doomed.


Thank you for reading my entry!




Made by Cilimus

Further changes may be made, this is not the final product until 11:59pm EST Friday July 14 (as said)



Comments from the author:
“So I put a little funny things in the story that I didn’t really think of adding before some parts like the “YOU HAD A DICTIONARY THE WHOLE TIME?????!!!!!” thing”.


“I also didn’t really want my story to take place
being lost in like a town or city, but no mean comments AT ALL to those who set the setting in a town/city because I thought it would be a bit more interesting for the scene to be kind of a “traveling” on trails, through dimensions and levels so like yeah traveling theme”.


Interesting Fact About Me:
When writing stories like this I usually like to add a funny little hologram of someone you know. This case I made a robot of John to just make the story a little more “spicy” as I call it”.

[MCG8]

TW: Blood


Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

“Mission base? Come in, mission base. Over” I examine my little walkie talkie and nothing but static comes out. “Mom? Can you hear me?” Nothing. I sit on a rock and sigh heavily. “Luna, I think we’re lost.” My beautiful black lab rests her head on my lap sympathetically. When mom said to bring the walkie talkie in case I got lost, I don't think she imagined I would get out of range. The birds chirp happily in the sky above the trees, darting here and there playing happily. I wish I could be a bird, so wild and free in the sky. If I were a bird I could simply fly away and find my home.
Standing up I glance around. There’s lots of tall trees that mom says to not climb because I can get lots of sticky sap on me. I learned this last year the hard way but now that I’m nine I know not to do silly things like that. Spotting a large raspberry bush, in a little clearing beyond the trees, I run over tugging Luna behind me. Raspberries are ripe when they’re purple, not red. That’s when they’re most juicy and delicious. Gingerly stepping into the patch, I ignore the little thorns poking my bare legs.
After consuming many handfuls of berries later, I find that I’m in the center of a good two yards of raspberry bushes. I try to pick my way carefully through the brush to get out with minimal scratches. I’m doing a very good job until I step on something. I look down and behold a snake.
I sprint away as quickly as I can. Not caring where I go, all my instincts flying to the wind. I look back and I don't see the snake slithering after me, I do however see Luna running towards me. The possibility of the snake being dead settles into my brain. But during those few seconds of looking behind me I’ve traveled far enough that I didn’t notice that I was barreling towards a tree.
I try to swerve but a branch hits me square in my face. I fall down and lose my footing as I stumble down a very steep hill. The drop is about as high as my dad's shed. On impact I hit a rock and black out. I wake up some time later and try sitting up. Sitting up is a bad idea, my vision blurs and I have an intense headache. I lay back down slowly. “Why’s my face wet…” I look at my hand and it’s covered in dog slobber and blood. Luna licks my face again. Looking at me as if concerned. I notice that it’s dark out. It wasn’t dark when I was picking berries. The trees loom high above me, black silhouettes against a dark blue sky.
I reach into my pocket to pull out my walkie talkie but there’s nothing there. I must have dropped it in the berry bush. “Luna…” a sob escapes me, “I don’t know where we are.” Crying hurts, actually everything hurts. Luna stands over me and looks around us. I wish I had just went around the block like mom suggested. Instead of taking a fun detour through the woods. The wind howls around me making me shiver. I forgot how cold it can get at night, even in summer. Trying again to sit up, it goes a bit better than the last try. Trying to crawl isn’t as successful. The pain is overwhelming. My everything hurts. In the distance I hear somebody. Maybe it was someone, maybe it was my imagination. It sounded a bit like my name… “Haley!” Luna barks her deep gravity bark..
This headache is only getting worse. Luna’s barking, pawing the wall of dirt trying to get up. Why won’t everybody just be quiet? “Haley!” A bright light shines onto me. I turn my head, there's somebody on top of the steep hill above me. “I found her!” He yells behind him. Jumping down, he kneels next to me.
“Who are you?” I croak. He’s an older teen, maybe a young adult.
“I’m your brother’s friend, Jereme.”
“Oh.”
“Speak of the devil” He mutters as Charlie jumps down the ledge.
“Hale! Are you ok? You look terrible sis.”
“Yeah I’m great.” I say sarcastically. Charlie scoops me up and runs through the trees.“Wait, what about Luna?”
“She’ll be alright.” Luna quietly follows.
I touch my forehead and look at my hand. It’s soaked in blood. “Blood.” I say grinning. Charlie and Jereme exchange worried looks. A short while later we find an easier way of getting up the hill.
After climbing up, we meet a few people along the way through the woods. They ask questions and the boys just keep running ahead and say they can’t talk. I notice that Luna’s leash has been grabbed by our neighbour, Mrs. Fiddlewicken.” When we pass the berry bush, I see a little dark thing on the ground, I’m guessing it’s my walkie talkie.
I wasn’t that deep in the forest. But the guys are out of breath by the time we get to Charlie’s car. Jereme rushes to the drivers side and Charlie goes in back with me. I see a little twinkly light in the sky. “Fairy!” I say pointing out the window.
“It’s ok Haley.” Charlie mutters to me while asking Jereme how close we are to the hospital. Hospital? I don't want to go there! I’m fine! I try to protest but they don’t pay attention. I’m so tired. I think I’ll just close my eyes, maybe my headache will go away.
“Haley!”
“Mmm?”
“Haley, you gotta stay awake.” Jereme pulls in next to emergency. These bright lights are annoying. I wish they’d turn them off. I want to sleep for a million years. Charlie carries me out of the car and goes in. I close my eyes and faintly hear “She’s only nine.” before I drift off to sleep.
I wake up in a very white room. My headache doesn’t hurt as much. The walls are white, the sheets are white, honestly. Couldn’t they have added a bit of colour? Is it really that difficult? My mom and a doctor walk into the room. “You’re awake!” Mom runs over and hugs me. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” I smile. Everything’s gonna be alright.

[FrankTheTank_9]

The Quest to Touch Grass By FrankTheTank_9

This is a Choose-Your-Own Story. Start at the first paragraph, make your decision, then skip ahead to the paragraph you are told to go to. You will also need a standard, six-sided die. Be warned, there are small mentions of blood, and it is possible to die in this adventure.
1
You have spent the whole summer at home, in front of your computer, watching YouTube Shorts. It’s been months since you last left your house. Suddenly, a voice screams out from your computer. “Enough of your stupid Youtube Shorts! You need to get a life, buddy! Maybe touch some grass for a change?” Then it shuts off. You frantically try to turn your computer back on again, but it’s no use. Your computer stubbornly refuses to turn back on. After a couple hours, you finally give up. You cry in the corner of your room for some time, then you realize you need to do something. It’s pretty clear that crying in the corner isn’t helping anything. You wonder if your computer is correct, maybe you do need to touch some grass. But then you think about all the content you are missing out on. YouTube has evolved to be a part of you. Can you even survive without it? If you love YouTube that much, you could buy a new PC and carry on your life on YouTube, without touching any grass. This is your first big decision. Should you follow your computer’s advice and go touch some grass? Or should you completely ignore it and buy a new PC? To touch grass, go to paragraph 2. To buy a new PC, go to paragraph 3

2
You load up your bag with the basic necessities: A tent, a sleeping bag, bug spray, extra clothes, a map, your wallet, a water bottle, and the most important thing of them all: 5 bags of Doritos. You get in your car, and drive off to the campground, determined to go touch some grass. After two hours of driving, the car sputters and hisses. You pull over to the shoulder of the road. The engine stalls out, and the car rolls to a stop. You are really confused, wondering what happened. Then you check the fuel meter. The needle is pointing all the way down, straight at the “Empty” line. You forgot to fuel up your car, and now you are stranded on the side of an empty road, with no sign of civilization in sight. But wait. . . there is a sign up ahead. It says “Campground: 5 miles” What luck! The campground is a somewhat walkable distance from your car. But you don’t want to leave your car behind. You need a way to get back home, and you love your car like a baby. Plus, you need it to drive back home. Then you look behind you and you see another sign on the other road “ Gas Station: 3 miles”. Maybe you won't have to leave your car behind after all. You could go and get a can of gas from the station and fuel up your car. Keep in mind that you have to walk 3 miles twice to get to the gas station and back. Either way, you are in for a lot of walking. Or are you? You’ve watched a lot of videos from 5 Minute Crafts, and there were several videos on car maintenance. Maybe you could fix your car and save up on a lot of walking. The choice is yours. To try to fix your car, go to paragraph 4. To walk to the campground, go to paragraph 5. To walk to the gas station, go to paragraph 6

3
You get in your car and drive to GameStop. You are very determined to get back to your YouTube Shorts, no matter the cost. You arrive at the store, and get out of your car. 5 minutes later you are back in your car with a brand new gaming laptop. You drive back home, and you boot up your new laptop. You wait anxiously for it to load, and then an error message pops up. “Error: User has not touched grass in months. Go outside, touch some grass, then try relogging back on.” The laptops are all onto you. They really want you to touch grass and you have just wasted 1,000 dollars. It is in your best interest to go touch grass if you ever want to go back to your YouTube Shorts. What are you waiting for? Go touch grass in Paragraph 2.

4
You try to find a way to start up your engine. You search the car, looking for any spare fuel, but you find nothing. You check your backpack. As expected, you don’t have an extra tank of gas just lying around in there. You are ready to give up and start walking, but then an idea comes to your mind. Doritos! Who doesn’t love Doritos? A video on 5 Minute Crafts showed someone putting Doritos in a car engine and then the car ran again. And that makes perfect sense, right? Even cars can’t resist Doritos. With a bit of luck, your car should be running again, at least according to 5 Minute Crafts. Do you want to put Doritos in your engine? Head to paragraph 7 if you want to try. If you don’t want to put Doritos in your car, go to the campground or gas station in either paragraph 5 or 6.

5
You begin the journey to the campground. Once you get to the campground, you will find the ranger’s office and get help recovering your car. At least that’s what you hope. The first mile you walk is very dull. But already you are getting tired, and your feet are starting to hurt. Another reminder that you aren’t exactly in good shape to do strenuous activity. Still, you keep trudging on. Until you reach a problem. The road is closed. It looks like there is construction going on in the middle of the road. A sewer line must have cracked. The sun is setting and the construction workers have all left for the day. You might be able to sneak through the construction site without anyone noticing. Then you notice a small trail off to the right. It looks like it leads the same way as the road does. However it will definitely take longer to get to camp if you take this way. Choose wisely. If you want to cut through the construction site, go to paragraph 8. If you want to take the trail, go to paragraph 9.

6
You decide to go to the gas station. You could never bring yourself to even think about leaving your car behind in such a remote area. You’re willing to put in the extra walking to make sure you can return home safely. You start walking. After you’ve gone less than a mile, you are already starting to feel tired, and your feet are starting to get sore. You drink some water. You only brought one bottle, and you need to ration it to make it last six miles. The sun’s rays are beating down on you. You don’t know if you can make it that far out in the open. Then you see a trail in the woods to the left. The dense forest will provide protection from the hot sun, but it will also be a more dangerous path. Your sweaty body tells you to take the woods. But your survival instincts tell you to stay on the road, where it’s safer. Which way do you choose? If you want to stay on the road, go to paragraph 10. If you decide to take the trail in the woods, go to paragraph 11.

7
You decide to put Doritos in your car. You really don’t feel like walking, plus you feel very confident in your ability to fix your car. Maybe one day you could even become a professional mechanic. You open up two bags of Doritos, and pour them into the fuel tank. You climb into the driver's seat and turn on the ignition. Believe it or not, the car actually starts up! You are so happy to hear your car working again. You push down on the gas pedal, and the car rolls forward 5 feet. . . and explodes into a ball of fire. Turns out, cars don’t like Doritos. You probably aren’t going to become a car mechanic any time soon. Uh oh. . . you have died! Learn from your mistakes and start over at paragraph 1!

8
You walk through the construction site. It is much bigger than you thought it was, and it continues on for at least half a mile. But one of the workers has left out a half-filled water bottle. You quickly take it and drink it. That was refreshing! You can’t help but marvel at the amazing equipment the construction workers are using. Bulldozers, skidsteers, and excavators. . . You’ve only seen pictures of some of these vehicles. And the power tools. . . You would love to get your hands on a power saw! Imagine what you could do with it! There is one machine that stands out to you in particular. That machine is the giant crane in the middle of the site. It is bigger than a 10-story building. You didn’t know they made cranes this big. You are really wondering what the construction workers are planning to do with all this equipment! Suddenly, a sharp pain surges through your left foot. You have just stepped on a nail. You were so distracted and didn’t look ahead of you. The giant nail went right through your shoe and poked right into your foot. You hop on one leg, clutching your foot in agony. You start to regret your decision to go through the construction site. Roll a six-sided die. If it lands on 1 , 3, or 5, go to paragraph 12. If it lands on anything else, go to paragraph 13.

9
You don’t want to risk yourself going right through a construction site. You don’t even have a hard-hat! You begin walking the trail through the woods. Everything is going good until you realize that the sun has set. The dense forest blocks out the moonlight, so it is completely pitch black in the forest. You can’t even see the road to the left. You fumble around in your pack and pull out your flashlight. You turn it on. Luckily, it still has a lot of battery power left. You keep trudging through the woods. You have a bad feeling that someone, or something, is watching you, judging you, even. You hear a low, quiet growl from behind you. You spin around with your light, and there is a giant, brown, grizzly bear standing right behind you, looking straight at you. Your first instinct is to run away, but you remember watching a video that said the best thing to do was to slowly back away. You could also unleash that inner gamer of yours and stand up to the bear. What do you choose? If you wish to slowly back away, head to paragraph 14. If you want to run away, go to paragraph 15. If you want to stand up and challenge the bear, go to paragraph 16.

10

You choose to stay on the road. You are glad you did so, because less than an hour later, the sun sets and night falls. There are no streetlights, but you have brought a flashlight with you, so you switch it on. As you are walking, you guzzle down the last of your water. You continue walking on. It’s starting to get late and you are very tired and thirsty. You don’t know how much more of this you can take. But wait. . . You see it! Go to 10.5.


10.5
There it is! The gas station!! It’s only a shadow in the distance, but you have gotten newfound strength! You run as fast as you can toward the gas station. You reach the station. Just your luck. It’s abandoned. But by some miracle, the gas pump still works, and there’s still gas in it. You start filling up a can with gas. Then you hear a buzzing sound. What was that? It’s coming from the convenience store. You are curious and open the rusted door, and you almost get a heart attack! There, right inside the store, is the biggest hornet’s nest you have ever seen! You slam the door shut in a panic, but you have already stirred up the hornets. You don’t count on the deteriorating structure to contain the angry hornets. You should probably run away. But maybe it was your destiny to be the hero to exterminate those beasts. It would be an amazing story to write: You take down a giant hornet’s nest with your bare hands! Then you almost trip on something. You pick it up. It’s a BIC lighter. An idea comes to your head. You could burn the nest to the ground with the lighter and the gasoline. The choice is yours! If you choose to take on the nest with your bare hands, go to paragraph 17. If you want to exterminate them with a fire, go to paragraph 18. If you want to run away, go to paragraph 19.

11
You choose to take the trail. The shade feels very good on your body. You even find a stream with clean water! But the good feeling doesn’t last very long. Because the sun sets in less than an hour, and the tree’s canopy blocks out the moonlight, meaning it is almost pitch black in the forest. You pull out your flashlight and turn it on. The trail is very rugged, and soon you are really hungry. Just as you are thinking about food, you see a bush. It has bright red, shiny berries. Your stomach growls in anticipation. But you also have Doritos in your backpack. But you packed those for emergencies only, and you have an alternate food source available. Plus, you are pretty sure the berries would be healthier than Doritos. Pick your choice. If you choose to eat your Doritos, eat them quickly as you head to paragraph 10.5. If you want to try the berries, head to paragraph 11.5

11.5
You eat the berries. They taste very bitter and sour. You swallow them really hard. Almost immediately, your stomach twists like a roller coaster. What chemicals were in those berries?! Your abdomen is in complete agony! Can you continue on like this?Roll a die. If you get a 1, 3, or 6, the toxic berries were too much for your system and you collapse, dead. Start your adventure over. However, if you get a 2, 4, or 5, you vomit up the berries before they do any permanent damage. Get up on your feet and go to paragraph 10.5.

12
You hop around in pain, clutching your bleeding foot. Too late, you see an open manhole in front of you. You try to stop yourself, but you have already lost your balance. You fall into the hole, screaming. Normally, a fall into a regular sewer would only injure you, but this sewer has been closed for construction, and a giant hole has been dug right below the manhole in which you have just fallen into. You keep falling and falling. Eventually, you hit the bottom. You are beyond any medical treatment possible. Your clumsiness has been the cause of your demise. Uh oh! You have died! Your slow reflexes have resulted in your death! Start your adventure over at paragraph 1.

13
You hop around in pain, clutching your bleeding foot. You are stumbling around in agony when you see the open manhole. At the last second, you jump away from it with all your power. You land into a pile of dirt. The adrenaline drains out of your system. You start in amazement at the manhole, a death in which you just barely avoided. You take off your shoe and look at your foot again. The bleeding has stopped, but your foot still hurts, and you dread the remaining distance in which you have to walk. You look at a mile marker and luckily, you only have about a mile left to walk. You hobble along. Go to 13.5
13.5
Finally, after a very painful walk, you reach the campground. You couldn’t be happier. You walk to your campsite, set up your tent and sleeping bag, and collapse. You are very dirty and exhausted. You have one of the best sleeps you’ve ever had. When you wake up, you eat breakfast(Doritos), and begin to walk to the camp office. You need to explain your situation to the park ranger. Hopefully you can get back home with their help. But on the way to the camp office, you see a very wealthy couple camping in a very expensive RV. But you aren’t paying attention to that. Parked right next to the camper is a brand new lamborghini! You can’t take your eyes off it! You take a closer look at it and see the keys are just lying on the picnic table. An idea comes to mind. Why save your old junker car if you can have a lamborghini? Should you do it? If you want to commit grand-theft-auto, go to paragraph 20. If you’d rather not steal the car and continue on your way, go to paragraph 21.

14
You begin slowly backing away from the bear. You raise your hands up in surrender, never taking your eyes off the bear. You take one step at a time, slowly putting more space between you and the bear. The bear looks at you in curiosity, not sure if you are a threat or not. Roll a six-sided die. If you get a 6, the bear will feel very hungry and charge you. Start your adventure over at 1. However if you get any other number, the bear walks away and you are safe. Go to paragraph 13.5.
15
You run away from the bear as fast as you can. Which isn’t very fast considering you’ve spent the last several months of your life sitting in front of your computer. You hear heavy breathing behind you. You risk a glance behind you. The bear is ten feet behind you, closing the distance at a very fast rate. You panic and run faster, putting everything you’ve got into your feet, but it’s still not enough. The bear nips at your legs, and you fall to the ground. The bear helps itself to its dinner and walks away. The park rangers find your skeleton in the woods a few days later. Uh oh. . . You have died. Never underestimate a grizzly bear! Start your adventure over at paragraph 1.

16
You unleash your inner gamer and stand up to the bear. You ball up your fists and yell as loud as you can. The bear is very surprised at your challenge and doesn’t know what to do next. What will be its response? Roll a six-sided die. If you get a 1, 2,or 3, the bear accepts your challenge and charges you. You don’t stand a chance against the bear and you die in a very humiliating way. However, if you get a 4, 5, or 6, the bear backs away from you and runs into the woods. Celebrate your victory and go to paragraph 13.5.

17
You decide to be the hero and exterminate the pests. You don’t have any equipment, but all that technology is overrated. You’ll show this generation that all you need to beat a hornet’s nest is some grit, spit, and endurance. You open the door into the abandoned convenience store. The wasps are getting stirred up by your movement, and a few of them try to sting you. You shrug off the pain, and walk over to the nest. More hornets start stinging you. You start punching the nest with your hands. The nest shakes. Hundreds of angry hornets fly out of the nest and attack you. There were much more hornets in there than you thought there would be. It’s complete chaos. The wasps are in a full rage, attacking you with all their power. You try to swat at them, but there are too many. The venom is overpowering you. Desperate, you make one more weak punch toward the nest, and you collapse to the ground. You die a very painful and spiky death. Is that a porcupine over there?? Oh. . . never mind. It’s just you. But you are definitely dead and will have to start your adventure over at 1.

18
You grab the gas pump and begin to spray gasoline all over the hornet’s nest. The wasps are very confused as to what you are doing, but they try to attack you. The gasoline gets all over the hornets, coating their wings and making most of them incapable of flying. Some still get you and you take a couple stings to your arms and legs. When the nest is fully coated, you bring out your lighter and light up the nest. Time for a barbecue. But you didn’t think this through very well. The fire starts small, but grows at an alarming rate. You realize you need to get out of there there fast. You run out of the smoking building. You think you are going to make it out when the fire reaches a giant gas tank, and the whole place explodes. Can you make it out in time? Roll a six-sided die. If you get a 1, 4, or 5, you escape with only a little singe to your hair. Go to paragraph 22 But if you get a 2, 3, or 6, you're not quick enough and the flames consume your body. Start your adventure over at 1.

19
Those hornets absolutely terrify you. You need to get out of here as fast as possible. You run away from the gas station as fast as you can, carrying your gas can with you. A few hornets sting you in the arms, but nothing too serious. After a mile of running, you are too exhausted to run any further. You collapse on the side of the road and fall asleep instantly. When you wake up, you are confronted by an angry wolf. You must have fallen asleep in its territory, and now it’s growling at you. Your first reaction is to run away, but would that be the smartest? You could also face up to it, but what insane person challenges a wolf? You must decide fast! If you decide to face up to it, go to paragraph 23. If you want to run away, go to paragraph 24.

20
It’s too tempting. You must have that lamborghini! It was your destiny! You sneak into the rich couple’s campsite, and you swipe the keys to the lamborghini. You unlock the car. The couple still has not noticed you. You climb inside the car, and you take a moment to marvel at the car’s amazing features. You’ve never driven anything like this before. You hear a shout from behind you. The man has noticed you, and is shouting at you. You panic and turn the ignition on. The Dashboard lights up, and then you press on the gas pedal. The car zooms out of the campsite. You almost crash into a lamppost, but you swerve to avoid it. You are starting to get a feel for how the car handles. The rich couple is running behind you, waving their arms, shouting at you. You ignore them and drive away from them. You see the gates to the campsite and you drive right through them. You are on the open road. Freedom! You hear a siren behind you. You look in the rearview mirror, and you see two highway patrol cars chasing you with their lights flashing. The rich couple must have called the cops on you. You floor the accelerator, and soon you are going more than 130 miles per hour. The cops are struggling to keep up. You think you might have a decent chance at outrunning them. Too late, you see the construction site that you encountered earlier. You slam on the breaks, but it’s not enough. You crash right into a bulldozer. The airbags inflate. By some miracle, you aren’t injured. But the cops pull up behind you. They break open the car door and drag you out of the car. They handcuff you and put you in the backseat of a police cruiser. Oh no . . . You’re still alive, but you will likely be spending the rest of your life in prison, with no grass to touch. Don’t be so reckless next time. Start your adventure over at 1.

21
You decide to leave the car alone and continue on your way. You don’t want to break the law, and you don’t even know how to drive a lamborghini. You see the camp office a couple hundred yards away. You knock on the door. A ranger opens the door. You explain your situation to him, and he is willing to help you. He offers you a ride back to your car. You accept it. When you arrive at your car, the ranger gives you just enough gas to drive to a gas station, where you fill up your tank to full.Go to 21.5

21.5
While you are filling up your gas tank, you see a patch of grass in a nearby field. You walk over to it, and slowly reach your hand out. Your hand touches the grass. It feels very nice in your hand. Your computer now has no excuse to deny your YouTube Shorts now. You get back in your car and drive all the way back home. When you get back home, you open up your laptop and open YouTube. To your relief, the computer doesn’t deny it. You spend the rest of the day watching YouTube Shorts. Maybe one day, you’ll go back to the campground to relive that amazing experience. Congratulations! You have successfully touched grass! Generations will tell of your amazing quest, and you can live the rest of your life with the satisfaction of knowing you have touched grass!

22
You run as fast as you can on the road, carrying your gas can, adrenaline pumping through your body. You can’t believe you just blew up a hornet’s nest and lived to tell the tale! This will be an amazing story to tell to your grandchildren! But right now, you are running for your life to your car. You don’t know if any hornets survived, but you aren’t sticking around to find out. After miles of running, you are completely exhausted. You need to rest. But wait. . . you see it! There it is. Your car! You run faster now. You reach your car and collapse, breathing heavily. You take a long nap. When you wake up, it’s morning. You are dazed for just a bit, then you see your can full of gas. You begin pouring the gas into your car. Go to 21.5.

23
You stand up, looking at the wolf straight in the eye. You make yourself look as big as possible, and you yell as loud as you can. The very surprised wolf looks at you in fear. It runs away, whimpering. You feel very invincible, scaring away a grown wolf like that. That’s going to be a story to tell. But you need to get to your car. You begin walking to your car, holding your can full of gas. Your feet start hurting again. You really don’t want to keep walking, but you know you must if you want to return home. Finally, after lots of walking, you see your car! You run up to it, exhausted, and sit down. You take a short rest break, then you stand up and begin filling up your car with gas. Go to paragraph 21.5.

24
You run away from the wolf, determined to get away from it. But you hear pounding footsteps behind you. You look behind you, you see the angry wolf is chasing you. It barks and snaps its teeth at you. Panicked, you ran faster, but you were never in really good running shape, and the run from the gas station has taken a lot out of you. The wolf lunges and bites you in the rear, and you go down hard. The wolf drags you away to its den, where it and its pups enjoy their dinner. Uh. . . oh. You were eaten by wolves! Start your adventure over at paragraph 1.

[KittyCait]

Posting for Sunset_FanGirl

It's a sunny Saturday afternoon when toe and kitty decided it's time for a camping trip. They invite some people and find an incredible place just out in the woods by a lake. Kitty packs the tent and the food. While toe makes sure his shoes are tied and his phone is charged. While they keep in touch with their friends that are going to meet them at the site, they start their drive. Kitty turns up the volume and starts blasting her music as she jams out. Toe looks over concerned as Kitty is violently head banging.
Just as they get to the camp it's about midday and the sun is peeking through the branches of the tall trees. Toe and kitty get out of their car and start to unload the supplies to get ready to go a short distance to the Campsite. Just as they're about to walk into the woods, they see a couple of cars show up. Chow jumps out of a Jeep followed by Unix, Lissa, and Willow. Chow starts jumping around from excitement and tackles toe to the ground laughing. Lissa walks over to get chow off toe and help toe up. Toe slowly gets up and realizes that his knee is bleeding from landing on the side of a rock. "Thanks chow.." Toe mumbles under his breath. Kitty rolls her eyes knowing that this is going to be a great camping trip...

All the friends start heading to the Campsite. Chow and Unix start running ahead while picking up sticks, flowers, rocks, and other things that they find along the way. They finally all get to the site and start pitching their tents. " I want to sleep in toes tent!" Chow shouted loudly! Toe looked towards Chow and groans. While everyone starts laughing Lissa says " good luck with that one buddy."
As the day gets shorter and everyone has gotten their tents up, theyrealizee that they haven't gotten any wood for a fire... that is except for the sticks that Unix and chow picked up on their way to the site." We all need to spread out and get dry wood for the fire to last a while. It's going to be a little colder tonight since we're by the water" willow says as she gets everyoneorganizedd. Thinking ahead of time knowing that chow and toe would just fool around, kitty chose to go find sticks with toe.
Everyone picks a teammate and heads out in different directions to see what they could gather. Kitty and toe head out into the woods and walk quite a ways away. "Toe don't you think we're going a little far? How are we going to find our way back?" Kitty asked worried for their safety. Toe looks back towards where kitty is standing " I am good with directions. I should be able to get us back without ease! It's like I have a sense of direction one may say". With a roll of her eyes kitty follows closely behind toe, going up rock walls and down little hills. Picking up little pieces of thick wood along the way as night begins to fall.
Looking back on the path they have been on kitty's stomach starts to twist and turn, just when she puts a hand on toes shoulder she hears a stick break. "AHHH" they bothshriekk, drop the sticks on the ground and start running in a random direction, not even looking back for a split second until they feel like they're safe. Kitty looks at toe scared"" what was that?!" She asked frantically. "If I knew would I be running too?!" Toe yelled harshly. The darkness has fallen around the two as toe flicks on his flashlight.
The woods are dark and spooky, not looking like the same woods that they had just walked through this morning when going to their Campsite. Kitty grabs toes arm and stays close as he said earlier that he could get them back to the Campsite with ease. " Come on then get us back. The others won't mind us not bringing any wood back to the site once they hear our story." Kitty said eagerly to get back to the safe campsite. Looking around nervously, flashing the light in all directions to see if he can notice anything that he remembers toe looks back at kitty with a frown. "I think we might be lost out here...." toe looks to the ground scared of what kitty might say to him…..


To be continued…

[AvesWaves_]

Bright gray sunlight filtered through a gap in the curtains and landed on Miles’s face. He checked the bedroom monitor, which displayed 6:55am. In five minutes, Brenny and Aves would knock on his door and they’d be off together. It promised to be a good day for wild adventure in the wastelands.

Loud traffic noises came in from the colourful window panes. Morning gridlock was intense these days. As the ever-expanding capital of the country, Felix now had more citizens than any other city in the world. Property was highly sought-after, and mega mall after mega mall popped up in new neighbourhoods that spread off into the hills and woods beyond.

For a split second, Miles thought of the olden days, when only a handful of people had lived in the peaceful village that Felix once was. Sure, the mighty pyramids had always attracted visitors, but those had been surprisingly considerate of the heritage site. And even though the cult of Console had once built their main temple on village grounds without building permits, they had stayed a friendly and considerate group of people who never bothered anyone and were rarely seen in public, engrossed as they were in their peculiar rituals of coding and modding.

“How did we even get here?”, Miles thought to himself. “How did we get so lost?”

Thinking back, he figured it had all begun when Aves invited a few more friends to build their getaway homes and specialty stores inside the village walls. News of the exquisite location spread quickly, and before they knew it, all available plots were filled. Recently arrived residents happily helped building farms, lighting up new roads, planting gardens. They had a great time working together. Soon, Felix was ready to apply for town. And that’s where things took a wrong turn...

Now that Felix was an official destination, random people started popping in through the hastily finished gates. Tourists grabbed resources where they could and left their trash behind, developers bought up any remaining land. Once the subzoning was finished, construction started on highrises to accommodate the new influx of wealthy tenants. Within years, the town had upgraded to city and the original villagers were bought out.

Miles had been away to college in Cubeville city. He always knew what was going on but chose to ignore it; he already had so much on his mind. Each time he came home for the holidays, everything had changed. Cliffs were flattened, city limits had extended while absorbing nearby settlements, nature disappeared. Eventually, Felix reached the ocean and the development of a harbour began. New shores awaited, after all.

Today, it took a good few hours to reach the wastelands by car. Zipping over the straight tracks one could easily drive as fast as a bullet train ten years ago. It was efficient to travel far, and that’s why no one complained about it. For those reluctant to commute, portals were a good option to get around, although queueing up could take a while.

What was hard was getting from one side of Felix to the other. Urban planning was a mess. All real estate investors had only cared about their own strategies and earning the almighty Cube, the village founders were never consulted. Now they had to spend a lot of time in transit to visit each other, even if they only lived a few subway stops apart. Trains were always delayed or too full to board.

By now, Miles was dressed. He just needed to brush his teeth to be ready to go. This young man really wanted to get out there and take in some fresh air. His lungs had been filling with soot for too long. It was 7:05am; nothing new, they were late. While Miles waited for Brenny and Aves, he switched on the living room monitor. Apparently, smog prevented cars from self-driving today. Traffic was congested as ever, maybe even a little more.

Was there anything that could be done still, or was it too late? Could cars be replaced by bicycles in the city centre, the ugliest buildings torn down, parks replanted on their foundations and on rooftops? Miles felt like it was time to take action. He had stayed passive for too long. With a degree in biology and architecture, he could easily conduct a study and search for sustainable solutions. After all, he was still the mayor of this place. But first, time for some fun with his friends.

A knock on the door.

Today promised to be a good day for wild adventure in the wastelands.

[Paximanix]

Lost in Memory

19.2.1984

*writer’s note: was written after the incident*

I feel weird. I try to open my eyes but can’t. Loud ringing in my ears. What happened? I start drifting away, to sleep.

Wake up, with my eyes still shut. I only hear distant noises. Cars, people talking. Try to focus but can’t. Something is touching my neck. I try to open my eyes. I am in pain.

I sit up and open my eyes to find a ginger cat sitting next to me. It must have been what woke me up. I try to remember. To remember what happened, how I got here. It’s all dark. Blurry. I think I have lost my memory. I look around me to see if anything is familiar. Nothing. The only thing that feels like I know is the cat. I slowly pet it.

After a while, I try to stand up. My legs and back hurt terribly but I manage to catch my balance. Next to me I see a backpack. It’s probably mine. I also see a box. That’s probably for the cat. I pick up the backpack and open it. I find a wallet and look for the ID. The only thing I found was a picture. There is a picture of a man with a woman that looks like his mother. I look around to see if there are any reflective surfaces. Yes, a glass building. I look at the reflection and see the man from the ID card. It’s me. This backpack is mine. And so is the cat.

I guess that was some progress. But I still don’t know where I live. I do, however, have some money in my wallet, maybe I could find and book a hotel? Yup, that sounds good to me. I’ll sleep through the night and figure out what to do in the morning.


20.2.1984

Woke up, feeling better. I take a quick shower. I’ll try not to waste all of my money in one day. Some breakfast would be nice though. I head downstairs into the cafeteria. Pick up a plate, get some ham and eggs. It was delicious.

I think I will have a look around the city, maybe I could remember something? Surely I can think of something…

As I am walking around, I remember something. It's my home. I know what it looks like. That's progress but I still don’t have a clue about where it is. And I probably won’t know where it is for a long time.

I’m walking around the corner and I see a small bakery. Suddenly, I feel weird. I.. This seems familiar. I decide to step in. The baker greets me and asks me If I want the usual: white bread and a croissant. I am confused. How does he know me? I ask politely, if he knows me. He said of course, don’t be silly. I tell him that I lost my memory and he looks worried. I ask him if he, by any chance, knows where I live. He does not.

I am now walking back to the hotel, to get some food. What can I say? It was free…

21.2.1984

I remembered a few things! The cat's.. Name… Kate. And the neighborhood around my house! So that’s one step closer to getting home! I also went to a pizza place. It was quite good.

22.2.1984

I believe I have narrowed down my address to two options. I will check the first one today. If I have some luck, it may be my home. Secondly, I remembered my mom. Old. Weak. Lives in my house. She needs my help and is probably dead worried.

The location was quite close to me so I started walking. It didn’t take me 10 minutes to get there. I was disappointed. It was a school. I guess I had fun or I was traumatized in school. I hope the first option. Well If it isn’t the school, it’s the second address that I remember.

My possible home is further from the hotel. In the morning I will pack the bags and hop on the bus. I hope I can get there as fast as possible.

I walk back to the hotel, feeling a bit down. I open the hotel room door. Enter. My body feels heavy all of a sudden. I throw myself on the bed and before I know it, I drift to sleep. I dreamt of arriving at my house. I open the door and…


23.2.1984

I woke up, feeling excited. Packed everything from the hotel, cleaned the room and prepared for an adventure. I step out of the room, feeling even more anxious. Go on to the street. More anxious with every step. Hop on the bus. My heart. I feel like it’s gonna explode. I close my eyes.

Wake up, just on my stop. Hop off the bus. With the corner of my eye I see it. My house. I hope my mom is home. I hope so. I am walking towards the house. I am so excited that I can barely feel my legs. I tripped. Get up. GET UP.

Knock. Knock. Knock.
Nothing.
Knock. Knock. Knock.

Someone slowly opens the door. At this point I can barely see. My heart is pounding. I can only say one thing… Mom.

[vip2kea]

Lost in a City
The city was illuminated by street lights and colorful billboards, the sound of cars and trucks echoed off of the many skyscrapers towering in the sky. The city was overlooked by a ginormous mountain. Two girls whose names were Amy and Sandy had rode their bikes into an unfamiliar part of town. Amy loved to explore, but was always confined to the hilly regions of the city that was partially on the mountain. Sandy didn’t like to explore, she just wanted to hang out with someone. All of their other friends were invited to a sleepover but they were not, Amy figured this was as good of a time as any to take a look at the part of town she had never been to while the rest of her friends were busy excluding her. They just kept riding their bikes through this seemingly new part of town, as they did not know their way back to their houses, Amy figured she had plenty of time to not panic anyways, however her friend Sandy wanted to go home. An hour had passed, and Sandy had decided to find her way back home while Amy kept exploring. They might have been lost, but that did not stop Amy from going deeper into the unfamiliar territory. Amy was now exploring on her own, it was lonely now but Amy didn’t mind too much.

Amy found a nice looking bike stop and decided to go into what looked like an abandoned building. She was fascinated by old structures and the styles of the old times. The abandoned building was surprisingly clean, a few spots of graffiti and a few plastic cups and bags littered the entrance, but the building was in as good of a shape as the surrounding buildings which were full of people. Amy felt a shiver down her spine as she ventured deeper into the abandoned building, it felt like someone or something was watching her. Stories had been told about neighboring cities having abandoned buildings with ghosts, sentient objects, and other beings considered supernatural, but Amy didn’t care about what those possible rumors had warned about.

The building was like a maze with intricately decorated yet dark hallways, Amy tried to find a light switch to possibly turn on more lights, but to no avail. While walking down one of the hallways, a large crack was heard and Amy felt the ground beneath her fall. The floorboards couldn’t handle much weight and fell along with Amy. She thought this was the end, until she suddenly was on a large pile of pillows. Amy hesitated for a few seconds but then got up. A woman’s voice said “What was that?”Amy recognized the voice, it took a second for her to realize, but it was the mom of one of her friends, not Sandy’s mom, but another friend’s mom. A man and a woman came running towards her. They were wearing lab coats and glasses. “Who are they and how did they get here?” The man said while panicking. They looked above at the hole in what was now the celling, “Well, I guess someone was bound to find our secret underground laboratory one day.” said the man. The woman recognized Amy almost immediately and said “Are you ok? Why were you in the abandoned building overhead?” Amy, still a bit shocked from what happened, replied “I guess I'm ok, what is this place? What happened?”.

The man said “Welcome to our lab, where we experiment to see if humans can become shapeshifters.” The woman stared at the man “Why would you tell this kid who fell through the floorboards of the level above our plan so soon? *sigh* We might as well show you around, I suppose.”, the woman said. Strangely, Amy wasn’t scared. She was a little shocked from what had just happened, but she was surprised to see one of her friend's mom there. “I’m Dr. E, Molly’s mother, and this is my colleague, Sam. I am very surprised to see you here, Amy.” the woman known as Dr. E said. Dr. E and Sam showed Amy around the lab. The lab had small red tiles as the floor, gray walls lined with cabinets, tables, and charts. The ceiling had two very bright office lights that illuminated the whole lab room. The tables had many beakers and tubes on them. Towards the back of the lab there was a large tube and crates overflowing with seemingly random objects like pencils and apples. During the tour, Dr. E told Amy about the lab’s mission to achieve virtual immortality and allowing people to have abilities that were seemingly impossible to obtain. The goals seemed like something out of a sci-fi movie, Amy was just surprised that all of this existed in the first place. Eventually, Dr. E and Sam led Amy to the exit. Dr. E, the mother of one of Amy’s friends, offered to drive Amy home as it was getting late, Amy agreed. Sam would stay in the lab while Dr. E would take Amy home. The exit door led to a set of stairs leading to a trapdoor into a hotel lobby office. The hotel they emerged from was next to the abandoned building. Amy grabbed her bike and put it on Dr. E’s car, and she drove Amy to her house. While in the car, Amy wondered if her friend knew about their mother’s secret sci-fi lab, but before Amy could ask, they had already gotten to Amy’s house. Amy was glad to be home, but wanted to explore the city some more, maybe another day she will discover more secrets about the city that she had lived in for so long. Amy also wondered if Sandy had found her way back home yet, she did not know.

[DarkElf]

Chowtime was frolicking through a great field of flowers.

"Oh I just LOVE these beautiful flowers!" he sang to himself as a large white horse pranced up to him. "Oh hello Mister Horse! You look bea-UTIFUL today!" The horse let out a soft whinny and happily danced alongside chowtime.

The pair happily danced and sang together, all about the beautiful flowers and the beautiful world around them, occasionally Mister Horse would even perform solo portions of the song! However the pair were so excited to be singing together that they lost track of time, and it quickly became night!

"Oh no!" Chowtime exclaimed, "the sun has gone down, and we can no longer see where we are!" Chowtime began to panic, he had never been out so late at night before, and he didn’t know what to do. He sat down to try and think things through, but quickly realized, thinking is not his strong suit! “Help me Mister Horse! I don’t know what to do!” The horse neighed and a saddle appeared on his back, he threw his head to signal Chowtime to jump on, which he quickly did.

As soon as Chowtime had hopped into Mister Horse’s saddle, the horse took off rapidly. The pair quickly hit speeds faster than that of even a cheetah! Chowtime did not know where they were headed, so he decided to put all his faith into Mister Horse to get them back home safely.

Soon the rain set in. It began as a drizzle, but quickly became heavy enough that Chowtime could only see a few feet in front of him at a time. “Are you sure you know the way, Mister Horse?” Chowtime asked, his voice shaking in fear. The horse neighed a neigh that to Chowtime seemed to say that everything would be alright, comforting him.

Everything, was not alright. In an instant a bright flash had struck nearby, lightning! “Oh NO!” Screamed Chowtime, “We’re doomed!” More lightning flashed around them as they dashed through the rainy night. Chowtime huddled down and held onto the neck of Mister Horse for comfort. “Please get us home quickly, Mister Horse!”

Another flash of light raced towards the pair! Time seemed to slow, as Chowtime stared upwards towards the bolt of light coming ever closer. Is this it? That’s really going to hit us! Chowtime thought to himself.

A terrible crack filled his ears, as Chowtime went flying through the air. Chowtime fell and landed on his face a few meters away. He turned back to see what had happened to Mister Horse, but there was no sign of him! “Oh no! Mister Horse!” Chowtime cried out. “Mister Horse you saved me, but where have you gone!” Chowtime crouched down and held his legs to his chest, he sat there crying for several very long days and nights.

Eventually Chowtime collected himself and stood back on his feet. I should find my way back home, that’s what Mister Horse would want, he thought to himself. Slowly he trudged along, attempting to find his way home, all alone. As he walked, he realized yet again that he did not know how to find his way home, so he just walked and hoped that the will of Mister Horse would carry him home.

Chowtime’s journey took him through many new places he had never seen before. Over hills, and through swamps, he slowly marched his way home. At one point Chowtime had to quickly duck behind a boulder to hide, somehow he had ended up in the middle of an active war! He snuck off as soon as the two armies had locked in battle.

Months passed as Chowtime walked home. He was pretty sure he had gone too far, but he had never walked home alone before, so he kept on going. Hoping against hope that his home would be just over the next hill.

Eventually, he collapsed. He had run out of food and water, and no longer had the energy to continue his march. “Oh it’s a disaster! I miss my home, and I miss my beautiful flowers, and I miss dear Mister Horse!” Chowtime cried miserably as he lay face down in some mud. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life lost out in this wilderness aren’t I!?”

“Chowtime is that you?” a soft voice asked. Chowtime heard two people walking up to him. As he turned to face them, he discovered something amazing. The two people coming up to him were none other than his good friends Wallydonkey and Lordspamsammich! “It is you! What are you doing all the way out here? So desperate for money you tried to join the war?” Lordspamsammich laughed as they approached.

“I’m lost! Me and Mister Horse were caught out at night and separated in a terrible storm. I don’t know how to get home so I just kept walking, hoping that Mister Horse would guide me.” Chowtime cried.

“It’s okay little Chowtime, we will help you find your home,” Wallydonkey said as he reached down to help Chowtime to his feet.

“Really!” Chowtime exclaimed, “Wallydonkey, you’re my hero!”

And so the three traveled back to Chowtime’s home, and his field of beautiful flowers, where they spent their days laughing and singing together.