By Rowan, Grade 7
Chapter 3
Where am I? Gabby thought. She was soooo dizzy. The world was spinning, and the smell of smoke hung in the air. Woah… Gabby slowly sat up, and looked around. There was so much to see! There were teepees in clusters around the camp, with hammocks hanging in between them. There was a big lake on one side, with canoes on the mud bed beside it. A waterfall shimmied down a cliff on the other side, and led the river into the lake. Gabby’s eyes were instantly drawn to paintings on the cliff though. They were painted in stunning detail, with animals, people, plants, and various places in the area. They were beautiful.
Gabby walked over for a closer look. In the first one there was the earth with a burning phoenix flying around it, spreading fire in its wake. There was smoke everywhere, blocking the sky. In the second one, there was a painting of the valley she was in, but burned to a crisp, and very different. There was no life or animals or water anywhere, just the cracked and destroyed ground. In the third, there was the same valley, but new with plants and trees budding out of the ashes, with the phoenix curled up in the sun sleeping like a chick in its egg. In the fourth, the phoenix had faded in the sun, until you could barely see it, and now the valley was a full grown forest, with animals, like deer, rabbits, birds, wolves, bobcats, bugs and beetles, and a river had started at the top of the cliff. Her eyes darted to the fifth painting, but not before she noticed voices raising. Her head whipped around, and she nearly fell over when she noticed a figure in the shadows of the cliff.
The first was a native with tan skin, long, straight, jet black hair, and two different colored eyes that stared right through her. A scar ran through an unearthly pale blue eye, with the other eye dark black and wandering. The 2 eyes scanned the land near her, until they came together to land on her. He took a step toward her, than another, walking confidently to her. Gabby started, then snapped back to reality. She had to get out of there. But he was gaining now. Gabby glanced around wildly, and started to back away. She turned and ran… right into stone. The stone of the cliff. She felt herself falling, then SNAP, something cracked. Static shot up her leg, roaring like a wildfire consuming a forest.
“OWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Gabby screamed. Oh no oh no oh no! She felt her vision blur, and everything went black.
Gabby’s eyes flew open to a familiar, but unfamiliar place. She sat up screaming and coughing, with a stinging pain in her eyes and leg. There was blaring in her ears, and she looked around with a sinking heart to see smoke billowing out the open window of her room. The smoke alarm!!!! Gabby thought. She sucked in a shocked breath, then froze. The candle. Gabby knew what happened. She started to get up to run to the sink, but her leg collapsed underneath her, weak and unsteady. She scanned the room to see where the fire was coming from. It was soon obvious that the candle had tipped over and set fire to her curtains, but it looked like it had only just started. A call for help started in her throat, but was ripped away by a coughing fit. Stars danced in her vision, and she saw a flaming wooden beam come down, right where her head would be. Then everything was dark. Dark as the night, and as dark as death itself.