An Unexpected Adventure

• Emily Park, Grade 6, Sutherland Public School
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

“Whooosh.”
A gush of wind hits the boys and they tumble down into the darkness. Steven wakes with a start. David’s face stares down at him in the middle of floating stars and Steven wishes he had never woken up. All around him are shards of glass and a river of lava. What!!! Lava! Steven pinches his arm-hard, to make sure he isn’t dreaming.

The next time he wakes up he is in a small cosy hut. It wasn’t the cold but the weirdness of the lava river, the glass and the howls at night almost as though a monster was going to pounce, that made Steven feel like he had worms wriggling around in his stomach. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees men whose faces look familiar. Steven gets out of bed to meet the men with David.
“Hello there,” says a man with a wispy beard, “Are you feeling alright?” The sympathy in his voice sounds real and genuine.
“Where are we?” I say, barely a whisper. “In a world of unknown,” announces David, “This is our uncle. Uncle Phillip.”
“But he disappeared.”
“I disappeared into here, a world full of monsters and evil. Our men have survived eating on fish and fruit.” Steven hadn’t realised how intense the speech was and reminds himself to breathe.
“All people we find, we vouch to take back up.”
“How?”
“If we kill a monster its essence turns into a portal, a portal to Earth.”
“Lucky for you, we will be hunting tonight, and we hope to catch a strong monster.”
“What do you mean, strong?”
“Sometimes when we catch a weak monster, its portal is also weak. And the person will disappear into thin air as they travel through the portal.”

That night, the men go hunting. They catch fish and pick berries. And finally they catch a monster, a baby dragon by the looks of it.
“But it’s just a baby. It’s innocent.”
There is very strong power in killing innocence.” Steven shivered at the last word.

“Well, it’s time to take you two back up.”
So with no further ado the beast was killed and Steven and David were cast into a portal and back up to Earth.

“Where exactly have you two been?” said David’s father. Something about their ruffled hair and slightly torn shirts was the first sign that they had been on a big adventure.
“Exploring,” was the answer.