I will be adding information to this page. . .
In the dark of night, a mist rose from the lake. Johnny and Sally
had told their parents they would be back by 11:00PM, but it was nearly
11:30. They had hiked the parameter of the lake and were considering
going back but Sally had lost her Grandmother's scarf and they had spent
40 minutes running around in circles trying to recover it. Finally, when
then dark blue piece of cloth had reappeared in a stump they had been
playing around on, they decided they were tired and more than ready to
go. Above, an owl sent a deep tone into the silence. Johnny looked at
Sally. "Is it this trail?" he asked. He wasn't quite sure. Sally,
slightly taken aback by the fact that Johnny was looking to her for
guidance, thought not wanting to appear flustered, pointed to the general
direction she supposed was the way back and with that self-initiated
gesture, increased her own confidence and came out with, "Alright, we're
going." Johnny was more than happy to follow. He was getting rather
cold.
Sally bounded off, warding off her insecurities by simply walking
fast. Johnny piped, "Hey.. wait up. Why are you going so
fast?" "Because I'm cold." she replied. "Well, I'm cold too." he
countered. "Really? Well that's helpful." Sally replied with
sarcasm. Johnny never really cared for Sally's sarcasm, but at least she
had slowed down enough to talk to him. They proceeded. The trail was
fairly well marked out, a few loose shrubs fallen here and there due to
gradual erosion from the mountain on the sloping side. A beer can
suddenly appeared in front of their feet. "What the heck?" mused Sally
aloud. "Sorry, it fell out of my backpack," offered Johnny. Sally gave
him a look of pathetic acknoledgment. "I'm kidding!" he said. "Okay fine
I think its strange too" He could guess what Sally was probably
thinking. He hoped he'd known her for long enough to read most of the
signs.
All of a sudden the beer can morphed into a large octopus-like
creature. Sally screamed. "Run for your life!" yelled Johnny. They took
off through the forest, tennis shoes pounding into the dirt. Soon they
started breathing rather heavily. "Hey, I thought you said you were in
good shape." countered Sally. "I was out for the last week because of my
ankle, don't you remember?" replied Johnny. "Oh yeah" said Sally, but by
this time she wasn't paying that much attention and was getting tired of
running. "I think we've eluded it by now, wouldn't you
say?..... Johnny?.... Johnny?" But Johnny was nowhere to be seen. Now
that's odd, thought Sally. He was just behind me. Suddenly, from behind
a tree, Johnny peeped his head out. "Jeesh, I thought you'd left me there
for a second" said Sally. "I wouldn't leave you Sally, I.... I.." He
was about to say something else, but decided to explain himself
instead. "Alright, what we saw could have just been a product of our
imagination. Maybe its not what we thought it was. And there's no proof
it came from the beer can." That's true, thought Sally. Maybe it doesn't
matter that much anymore. "Maybe it was an owl.... a really big owl. And
some tree branches falling." she thought aloud. "Its kind of hard to tell
in the dark," put in Johnny. "Anyhow, let's just get out of here." And
sure enough, around the next bend, they could see the lights of home.
"Hooray!" exclaimed Sally. "Now that wasn't so bad. Let's see if
auntie's still up." Johnny nodded and followed her in.
Chap. 2
Auntie was up. She wasn't just up, she was running around the house,
cleaning and scrubbing like a wildwoman. Sally and Johnny exchanged
looks. "Auntie?" Sally hesitated. "Leave the house, do not come any
closer. This house is contaminated!" sputtered her aunt. "What?" spurted
an innerved Sally. "Where's Mom and Dad?.. where's Godzilla?" Godzilla
was their dog. Her question was abruptly answered by a knock at the
door. Surprise, surprise, it was mom and dad. "Come on you guys, jump in
the car. Its time to go." Sally and Johnny looked at each other,
relieved to escape from the weirdness. An hour later they were sailing
down highway 311, walkmans in their ears, content to return to a happy,
technology-filled world. Little did they know the technology bug would
soon cause them more harm than good.
The next morning, Johnny having been dropped off at his Grandma's
across town, Sally came as usual to knock on his door for them to head off
to school together.
[to be continued]...