Lost!

Ch. 1

Tears were running down my cheeks. My life seemed to flash before my eyes. Mrs. Davis gasped as she saw me run down Baker’s Street. She was just leaving from her shift at Michelle’s Bakery. The streets of Normsville would never be the same for me.

HOLD IT! You’re probably wondering what in the world is going on, “Like why does it sound like this author girl is leaving us hanging?” is probably one of the many thoughts in your head right now. Don’t worry, it’s only the second paragraph in this thing! You still have got a very long way to go (unless you are a freaky fast reader, like me or a few of my friends (Mallory, Emily, I’m talking about you!)).

So, if I had to sum it all up in a short story, I guess I wouldn’t. Seriously, this thing has a lot of good action, with a climax and everything!

Oh, where do I even begin? I know!

How did I get to this point? Well, you see when two people get married they have babies and all that jazz. Anyhow, I was NOT an ordinary child.

When I was two, my babysitter was playing on her phone, [totally ignoring me (I know, what a great babysitter)] while I was watching the latest episode of Dorkie Donnie on TV, and a thunderstorm had fun outside, you know, bullying a bunch of trees. Lightning started to gather, (you can probably tell where this lead if you’re highly schooled in super-beginnings and that stuff) the lightning hit the power line, the electrical surge got transferred to my TV, from there it struck me.

Now, most babysitters may have looked up by now, but she was playing a serious game of Lost in the Minefield, so it was pretty obvious that she would be a few minutes. I passed out, so it just looked like that I had just decided to take a nap, (she probably didn’t know the process of babies taking naps) so she put me in my crib, and probably started a new round of Lost in the Minefield too.

Now that you know my childhood, let’s get caught up in what just happened. If I’m lucky, maybe it’ll fill the rest of the chapter.

It was a normal day in the small town of Normsville. Did I say small? I meant to say huge. Sometimes, when I was younger, I used to imagine that I could run for as long as I could and I still wouldn’t reach the edge of town. And, we were super advanced in technology for our time because our leader was some top-notch scientist.

Anyways, I got up, put on jeans, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes and off I went to catch the next bus to school. I got on, sat in my normal seat in the back row, grabbed a book and off we went.

I got to my school, Normsville High, and I went to class. First up: Biology. I sat there and listened, like the good student we all know I am. Just kidding! I was trying to decipher my bio textbook. It has never, and I mean never, been my thing.

Next in line for me was P.E.! Ugh! I always felt like Mr. Brewer was out to get me! Volleyball, the worst of all sports in all time; it wasn’t very surprising that we were playing it today. He was bald, wrinkly, and WAY too strict. Everything you’d expect from a middle-aged P.E. teacher. Like always. Mr. Brewer yelled and yelled nonsense about not keeping my arms straight, but all I heard was: “Blah blah blah, blah blah blah. BLAH BLAH ASH!” You would think that I would have understood the sport by then…

Once that scream fest was over, I got to go to Pre-Cal. I love math! I’m not just in the ‘like’ faze, I’m in the “I want to eat math for breakfast and scream my heart out ’cause I love it so much” sort of faze. I want to be a math professor when I get older (I know, not “when I grow up”, but ” get older”! Getting older sucks!).

Forth period. Music! I play several instruments (not all at the same time, of course!) I’m like a multiple-trick pony! I learned how to play “Through the Portal” by Mr. Bass and the Trebles. I enjoyed that song a lot. I love listening into the depth of various classical pieces and trying to figure out what in the world the composer was thinking when he or she wrote the notes. Like I previously stated, amazing.

Now that I’d had my fun, it was time for history. Ugh, what a bore! I seriously have no idea why they expect us to know all those names and dates. I think they make students take history just to torture them. Not. Even. Kidding. Anyway, even though it bothered most kids, I was a pretty fast learner. But, like most things in life, it was still a pain in a throbbing side

Lunch! It was about time if you ask me. Maybe they should have put it closer to the front of our schedules, that would have been nice. Or, they could have scheduled a breakfast! Everyone would have loved that. To any and all school administrators: please put breakfast first thing on everyone’s schedules. Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?

I grabbed my lunch tray and headed to the food line. I waited for what seemed like an eon until I saw the first bit of food. I saw it, but only for a second. Melissa, what a meany! She already had enough on her tray, but good ol’ Melissa just had to take three sandwiches! Melissa had really blond hair, and WAY too much makeup for even a senior. Today she wore a bright pink shirt that said BETTER THAN YOU, then had kisses printed around it. She was surrounded by her mob of “Bully Buddies” (I’ll let you figure out their nickname). I don’t know why, but those teens adore her.

I tried to leave, but guess who just had to trip me. Jacob. Jacob was blond with a constantly evil glare in his copper eyes. And, he was Melissa’s boyfriend, which means that he would not disobey a direct order from her. Funny. I seem to talk about them like they’re some enemy military team.

Ha-ha, life.

The Bully Buddies burst out laughing, like destroying my dignity was the most hilarious thing ever.

I got up brushed myself off and headed down to the nurse’s office. My nose was bleeding. Even though I recover quickly, a trip to see Mrs. Cunningham always makes my day. Mrs. Cunningham was a nice lady, with dark red hair, smile wrinkles, and that sparkle in her eyes that made her look like she was always grinning. She was like my second mother.

“What was it this time dear?” Mrs. Cunningham asked the moment I rushed through her door. Her office was on the other side of the building in relation to the cafeteria, so I knew I had only a few minutes before I would have to return to my classes.

“A classic code 1,” I replied. We had devised a system long ago over common bullying techniques used by… them. In theory, I would be able to discuss what Melissa and Jacob and friends had done right under their noses and they wouldn’t even know it.

“Not too bad,” she said observing my nose’s speedy recovery. My accelerated healing had become somewhat of a joke between us in those days. “Who did it this time?”

“Jacob,” I replied with a sigh. I found myself sitting on a cot, legs swinging in the air.

“I’ll tell Mrs. Barnes.”

I nodded. Mrs. Barmes was in charge of school punishments. If anyone could help me, it was her. Although, it would probably sound way better if something came through Mrs. C. She seemed to feel the same way about the nurse, and that was one of the few things we ever could possibly have in common. I relished that. Most students have a night and day difference from Barnes.

“Wow! A new record! Only took you a minute and a half to heal this time!” I should have known. We both should have. My healing had grown in rate lately. Mrs. C claimed that it was because something big was coming my way, but I disagreed with her.

Boy, was I wrong.

“Well, code 1 never hurts me too much.” The modest reply seemed to leap right out of my mouth before I even had the thought.

“Meh,” she said handing me a granola bar. “Eat up, kiddo.”

“Thanks,” I said. She must have realized that I hadn’t gotten to actually eat any lunch yet. How thoughtful. “What’s the time?”

“One o’clock, you’d better hurry!”

“See ya!” I said with a bite in my mouth, hopping down from what I had been sitting on. I was happy to have been able to visit with her, even if for only a few moments. I suppose I can always thank Melissa for that next time I see her.

You probably guessed how school ended, so I won’t bother.

I got home from school at about four o’clock that afternoon. I quickly grabbed a granola bar and grape soda and got to work. I usually had to have some sort of snack. And, occasionally, I would pair that particular snack with a drink. What can I say? It helped me focus a ton.

I pulled my history assignment out. Ugh! Not another test! I think we have a test at least once a weak!

You’re right, I’m probably overexaggerating. Spanish is the class that held the most tests, I just seem to take it out on history.

“Honey, was that you?” my mom asked. My mom had beautiful brown hair, like mine, and freckles that made her nice smile even nicer. She was basically an adult me, except with a fashion sense.

That might be because she simply doesn’t settle for a hoodie everyday like someone I know. *cough* me *cough*

“Yeah,” I hollered. I was thankful for the fact that she was a very out-in-the-open sort of person. She loved her kids, so she would check to make sure every single one of them made it home safely. By “every single one of them”, I mean myself and my younger sibling, Tony.

It took me about two hours to get my homework done. My family and I sat down at the dinner table. We had briner, pancakes and bacon, to eat. I liked it when we had briner.

I am glad that the last meal I had with my mom was briner. I only regret her not knowing that I actually survived that night.

“So, Ash, how was your day?” my dad wondered a few minutes after prayer. My dad had brown hair, with a really short haircut, and almost always had a suit on. He had one of those sorts of jobs.

“Mr. Brewer didn’t have you play volleyball, right?” Mom asked. Oh, Mom.

“My day was perfect, if perfect involves a few screw-ups, that is.” I know, I was speaking an oxymoron, but most everyone seemed okay with that fact.

“My day was perfect!” Tony, my brother, mocked/joked, ”hee-hee, if perfect involves screw-ups!” Tony had blond hair that looked like it might change to brown in a few years, and almost always had a mischievous grin on his face, if he didn’t something was seriously off. He was six.

“Shut,” I joked, “up.”

We watched a few TV shows, and at nine o’clock it was time for Tony to go to bed, and for me to go to my room for the night. I went to grab my guitar and practice (I have soundproof walls, so if Mom screams my name I can hear her, but she can’t hear me). I practiced for hours. I worked on a piece called “Let’n It Rip”, and another called “There’s a New Queen in Town”. Then I heard one of the scariest things of all time:

“Knock, knock, speed-pilot!” a raspy voice hollered.

“Um... Do you mean me?” I was coming down the stairs when I heard Tony. I ran into the living room only to see two goons and a man with knives at each of my parents’ throats. Tony wasn’t grinning.

“Tony,” I said in a calm voice, like I knew what I was doing, “listen to me, Mom and Dad are going to be fine. I need you to go into your room.” He left giving me a final nervous glance. I gave him one last half-hearted smile.

“Ash,” the man said examining me, “get in the car.”

“Don’t do this Ash. Stay here tell Tony we love him, and that you did everything in your power to protect us,” Mom blurted. Oh, my sweet mom! How I miss you!

“No, lie to my brother? What is wrong with you...Goodbye.” I couldn’t believe what was happening. Not to me, of all people.

In the not so small town of Normsville, there had been kidnappings. Most of them were kids, like Tony’s age. Very few of them were as old as I was, and even fewer were adults. The scientist-dude who was in charge claimed that he was doing everything in his power to prevent these kidnappings, but little seemed to actually change.

“She’s right, Honey, she’s not a liar.” I love my dad.

“Ten... nine-” Man, he was so impatient back then. Don’t worry, I get the opportunity to teach him a lesson later on.

“Shut up, I’m going,” I said rolling my eyes. Yeah, in the middle of one of the largest crisis a girl my age could ever face, I managed to make it look like I wasn’t mentally dying enough to give the jerk an eye roll.

He smiled, and his two goons released their grip on my parents. I walked out the door, and the man followed his goons out. I don’t know how, but I heard the front door lock. So, like any sensible person, I ran. Man, I ran like I had never run before.

So, that is where we started. The man followed me.

Tears were running down my cheeks. My life seemed to flash before my eyes. Mrs. Davis gasped as she saw me run down Baker’s Street. She was just leaving from her shift at Michelle’s Bakery. The streets of Normsville would never be the same for me.

That was the moment that my life turned upside down. It was just before I found myself well and truly lost. Why? Well, let’s just say I had never made it outside Normsville before.