Gazing In To A World

• Shatayah Hodson, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

I gazed at the red sunset as it washed away to night. My mother calls, ‘’dinner!’’ as I looked for my father. He probably did not hear me. I walked off the porch to go to the veggie garden. I saw him on the ground and blood was gushing everywhere. I screamed out to my mother; she came rushing out. I ran inside to grab a towel to stop my father from losing blood. I checked his neck but he was not breathing. My mother asked, ‘’is he still breathing?’’ I replied with a slow shake of my head from to left to right. As she grabbed the towel with a dreadful look, she went inside to wash the red, boiling blood off it.

As she started crying, I dug a hole outside for my father. I gently gave my him a push and he rolled in. But underneath my father was a katana! A portal suddenly appeared in front of me. I yelled for my mother. She rushed onto the porch, and she screamed, ‘’get away from the portal! ‘’ The portal started pulling me in and I grabbed my father’s killer’s katana. I appeared on the other side, and I saw a path right in front of me to a little town in the distance.

I wandered the pathway to the town and I asked around to all the people who lived there if I could stay. In the town one person said yes but with a sly look. I kindly declined with a fearful face, but she pulled me inside the house, and this was where I was to be staying. I said, “ok”, and walked to my room and I went to sleep. The moon rose into the sky and the clouds turned bright white. I woke up later and looked outside. I saw her playing a flute and was great at playing. I listened to this song when I was little. The rhythm was so good that I peacefully fell asleep.

Morning. I woke up and said thank for letting me stay for the night. I opened the door and kept following the bright yellow path. As I walked down the path, I heard all kinds of sounds; some were quite disturbing, and some were quite nice. I been walking for hours now, and I was still hearing the same creepy sounds but I kept walking on my way. I saw a child on his knees crying. I sat next to him and said, “is everything ok?” He yelled at me and said, “of course everything is ok”, but shape shifted into a monster. Its teeth were as bloody as red ants. I grabbed the katana out and I started trying to stab the strange looking monster and I started running off. I escaped the monster and I sat against a tree and softly drifted to sleep. In mind I always wondered if my father would ever come back into the world.