Quinn

• Dakota Hellyer, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2022

I had never meant for my parents to go to jail. They were the sweetest, kindest, and most caring people in all the lands. They didn’t deserve to be thrown into the Indicis, the toughest, cruelest, most unforgiving jail complex in the history of my land. But I won’t let this break me. Not in the position I am in right now. I must think of a way I could escape this impossible scenario….
Wow. Look at me go. I haven’t even introduced myself!! Hi! My name is Quinn Cambloski. I am 14 and living in the most messed up period of my life. I could bore you on my life before now, the history of The Lands, yadda, yadda, yadda. But I have to tell you something, or else you will be sitting there like, WHY HASEN’T SHE TOLD US ANYTHING ABOUT HERSELF OR WHERE SHE LIVES????? THIS BOOK IS STUPID!!! Then you will throw it across the room, and I don’t want that.
I live in a dimension called Rakarkarnine, but everybody just calls it The Lands (except for the High Council, of course). The Lands is split up into 4 kingdoms. North Kingdom, South Kingdom, East Kingdom, and the West Kingdom, with the High Council building smack-bang in the middle, and the Unknown separating the 4 kingdoms. I live (or used to) in the East Kingdom, the kingdom of sunrise and beginnings. I know I said I wouldn’t bore you with my life living in the Eastern Kingdom, but you need to know why I am not living there anymore. When I was 12, I decided to run away from the Eastern Kingdom. Now, this is a stupid idea, because running away from your kingdom is strictly forbidden. Depending on how far you run away from your Kingdom is the severity of your punishment. If you go 5 meters or so away from the borderline, the Council keeps an eye on you. If you go 1 or 2km’s away from the borderline, you are given a warning. If you get halfway through the Unknown, you have 4 years of community service, which is 4 times worse than high-school litter duty. If you get as far as I did (which is ¾ through the Unknown), it’s 15,000 years, (or the rest of your life) in jail. If you manage to step into another Kingdom, you are executed. Because of how far I went, I was to be sent to jail. But my loving parents took my place. I had just got home from running away when I heard a knock at the door. I went to open it and found the High Council’s guards standing outside. I welcomed them in and told them to have a seat. They refused and asked where my parents were, and I told them ‘Out shopping. They should be back soon, though.’ They nodded and said to continue what I was doing.