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CHAPTER 1
“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Luke. Happy birthday to you.” Everyone around me chanted Happy Birthday for Luke’s (A. K. A. my) first existence on Earth. I blew out the candles on my birthday cake, and my windy breath pushed the surrounding red balloons. I wished to be the best comedian on planet earth (and yes, some weird alien on a different planet will judge me on that capitalization later).
“Go on! Open your presents, birthday boy,” Dad said. Once I tore open the first two presents, I moved on to a particularly small one and opened it with a powerful rip. I held a book titled Solving the Case Behind Customization in my hands, but a strange blur that couldn’t be described as human snagged it from me.
“Hey! Gimme my book, you silly!” I yelled at my annoying brother, Sam, who had stolen my book. I lunged after the book my parents had given me for my birthday (which just happened today, by the way). I wiggled and gravely punched the air as Sam clambered upstairs.
I scurried after my brother into our bedroom, only to find him taunting me with my stolen book. Sam and I chased each other in endless circles, and I ended the chase by making one small step for me, then one mighty leap for comedic kind at Sam. I failed to catch him and crashed hard onto the ground like Harry from Home Alone. I knocked over a tall Jenga tower, and many falling blocks bonked me on the head.
The chase continued when Sam entered the crawl space. Once I descended through the trapdoor, Sam punched one of the exits open and fatly wiggled through it. The mischievous thief rushed towards the front door, and I followed hot on his tail, one of which he didn’t have. After tons of other chasing I don’t need to mention, I snatched the book from him after he crashed into a table in the celebration room.
After our long chase, I approached Sam and snatched the book from him. Suddenly I felt different. I couldn’t put my finger on the feeling, but I knew it was linked to awesomeness.
It felt as if I had turned into a true member of the world.
“Don’t you ever get bored of reading? Maybe you should take a walk sometime.” Sam gazed out a side window at a distant forest. “Why just sit inside when there’s a real world to explore?”
“If you ask me, I think books are way better to explore in than the real world. You can make time fly if your life is a real page-turner. You know what I mean, write?” I joked. The face of Sam didn’t agree with me.
“Could we please go explore?” Sam pleaded. I opened my book and buried my face into it to avoid Sam, and no, I did not dig into the book with a shovel and plant my face into it! Nonetheless, Sam snatched the book right out of my hands. “Come on, Luke. You know Mom won’t let me explore the forest unless you’re with me.”
“Argh. Fine. But make it short.” I hesitated, but after my pause I put my book down as a quote caught my eye.
Sam sprung up and spurted up the stairs. “You know what I need to bring…” Oh, wait. The reader has no idea what Sam needed to bring, so just to inform you, he returned downstairs with his backpack. Once Sam finished cheering, we ate some rare grilled steak (and no, it’s not a specific type of steak that’s hard to find!). Sam packed two additional pieces in his backpack before we arrived at the front door.
“Make sure you end your adventure in time for dinner!” Mom said as Sam and I stepped outside. I swung the door closed behind me and strolled across the street. Although the bone-chilling wind caused me to shiver, I couldn’t stop pondering about a quote on a page I remembered reading, because Sam had made me lose my place! (I hope this doesn’t happen as you read this book!).
Although the surrounding text was familiar, I never remembered the words, “Don’t go into the woods!” There was also the fact that the excerpt didn’t fit with the surrounding text, since the nonfiction described how vague aspects of customization works by using examples of physics, mathematics, and etcetera. Though I struggled to understand the science and math behind it, I still enjoyed discovering how the book applied those two fields of study to customization! So far in my five minute read before this adventure, I learned there was a whole other dimension where an endless amount of possible character appearances just float around in a void and lack personalities, powers, and weaknesses, waiting to get teleported into the real world by a couple that happen to desire their exact appearance!
Sam took a slight right and rushed towards the woods. “You gonna catch up, Luke?” Sam asked the moment I crossed the street.
“Just be glad I even came along in the first place. Roar!” I frowned at Sam since the first location, in the unexaggerated world I would get to truly explore, would be some boring old forest we had to have explored at least a million times before we had fully existed on earth. I experienced an unknown urge to obey the book, but could I choose for myself? What would I do? Argue that a book warned me to avoid the woods? He’d think of it as a Luke joke, because of course I’d make more jokes on the day I had been conceptualized!
That’s why I found myself trudging past our neighbor’s houses. Each one reflected the light of the sun like the mysterious, mirrored window in my frail grandma series!
Most of the neighbors were outside working on their lawns. At first, I stared at them in confusion. However, I decided that a long, abnormally wintery day had recently ended, so everybody got the urge to take care of their yard before they missed the opportunity brought to them by one of this neighborhood’s sunnier days.
No live person could ever predict the weather around here, including even the weather forecasters! Even the sunniest day could lead to the coldest snow storm within 24 hours. Well, at least during our first three weeks in The Island (and it’s not any old island. It’s the neighborhood that our parents forced us to move to!).
I couldn’t believe this state got such unpredictable weather. A friend back in Montana who used to live here had said the weather stayed consistent around here! Because of the strange weather, you needed to catch the sun whenever you got a chance! Well, you’d need to own a fireproof net first.
A neighbor with a shovel glared into my soul. During my birthday, I should mention! The neighbor stood in the one yard covered in a dusky shade, provided by a humongous tree in his garden.
I joked, “Hello, Neighbor. Oh, I mean the game!” To avoid an angry Neighbor that zoomed after me, I darted across the street and didn’t bother to look for cars, jumped across a traffic barrier, and rushed into a miniature forest. Sam soon caught up to me as I gazed at a dark, arctic Forrest Gump, I mean forest, where everything seemed noiseless.
While the neighborhood appeared as bright and lively as a morning jogger, the forested island in the lake was dim and gloomy, like a classroom with metal plates on the windows and lots of scraped chalk particles. I also hated how coughy that room was; I preferred coffee over coughy any day.
Let’s stop joking, though. I shivered whenever I stood anywhere near the location because I believed monsters lurked inside it, waiting for an unlucky character to set foot into its darkness, never to come out again. Sometimes, I also felt sure we would lose our boat and find ourselves stranded on the tree-infested island. Wait a minute; did I mean The Island, or an island next to The Island? So confusing, since our neighborhood and the island next to it both have tons of trees!
Sam pulled our boat out of a bush near a tree, which served as our concealed stash of concealed stuff! No need to worry, police. This stash only included boats and stuff for Hand Videos! Sam and I got on the boat, then we pushed off of The Island and rowed towards the island!
Before I knew it, we arrived at our destination. “Well? Are we going to explore or not?” Sam turned to look at me while I sat there, shocked at how quickly we had arrived. I got off the boat and went over to Sam, who ambled over to the boat and pushed it into a bush. Sam then wandered into the forest, getting swallowed by a murky shade. I followed Sam as he walked past the trees.
At first, we had to slap tons of leaves out of the way. Once the low leaves in our way abruptly stopped appearing, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the MP3 player I had received for Christmas. I inserted my ear buds and crazily wiggled my arms and legs as I listened to cheery music through them (the ear buds, that is, because how could limbs emit music?).
“You weren’t supposed to bring that thing! This is supposed to be an adventure!” Sam frowned at me.
“I am joking,” I adventured.
“Um…what?” Sam said.
“Wait…huh? I mean, I am adventuring,” I joked. An annoyed Sam trudged towards me and tugged on my device, attempting to steal from me a second time! On my birthday! I seriously tugged right back. Sam followed with another tug. Soon we both pulled it this way and that until both of us lost our grip on the player, which flew into the forest.
“Ah! Why have you done this, Silly?” I complained. “Now- Now the thing I could have used to distract myself is gone! Thanks!”
“Luke, I’m sure it’s here somewhere. We just have to search a little. That’s all,” the human-like being classified as a Sam persuaded.
“Okeh.” We dragged our hands across the ground to search for my player. Sam suggested we split up. My brother took a path to his left while I took my right. Only seconds later, Sam gasped.
“Look at this!” I rushed towards Sam and saw his shaky hand pointing at a monstrous snail. Its shell seemed extremely fragile, and it looked ready to fall off of the animal at any second. The shell also had an unnatural pattern that formed a perfect picture of two hands grabbing a sparkling diamond, and the snail itself looked slimier than all the other snails I had ever encountered. It also looked dark green, and its slime was an even darker shade of the color. However, this fell short of the worst part. My eyes went wide, and I stumbled over backwards the moment I noticed that a pair of ear buds emerged from the snail’s shell. My ear buds!
CHAPTER 2
“H-h-how?!” Sam stammered.
“Let’s just grab my ear buddies and get outta here!” I rushed.
I reached into the snail’s shell without hesitation and got a hold on my MP3 player. The snail’s body became hot to the touch. I went, “AuuuyyyyYIIIILIIII!” and yanked my hand back from a surface as scalding as water from the frying pan into the fire. But the water would extinguish the fire! More like from the frying pan into the boiling pot! In either case, I lost my grip on the player.
The snail made no hesitation and slithered away. “Sam! Don’t be a lazy Sans! Go after it or something!” I urged as I rubbed my hand to relieve the burning pain. Sam stood without making a sound and watched the entire scene play out. I ditched him and bolted after the snail. I couldn’t help but notice that as I scampered through the gloomy woods, the surrounding air became abnormally warm, even though summer remained more than a month away. I wondered if I was even in New Jersey anymore. There certainly wasn’t this much forest on a single island! The snail scurried away at an impossibly fast speed -- a speed as fast as a bike! I breathed so hard that each breath formed a voice once I reached the snail, but I still snatched my MP3 player.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed as I spotted the MP3 player in my hands. Well, more like what was left of it, since it’s melting! It’s melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! I couldn’t comprehend how such a strange animal even existed! I moaned as I realized the snail had wrecked the gift my aunt had spent good money on.
Now I would have to save my money to buy another MP3 player, not to mention import all of my playlists back onto it. Yes, I did listen to a laundry list of playlists, each with a laundry list of songs! I put the dissolving player into a zip-lock bag so I could show Mom what Sam had done to my gift, though I never ended up staying mad at him.
I jogged towards Sam’s location when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a decaying cabin. After I laid eyes on its creepy appearance and the ivy growing all over its porch, I moved forward and heard a creak as I stepped on the abandoned wood. I approached the door to determine if anyone lived here, but my hand stopped in front of the door when I realized it would be best to fetch the adventurous Sam before taking an adequate look at the adventure-worthy residence. I dashed back to where Sam stood only moments ago, but I stopped and fell into a puddle of mud. Sam was no longer there!
CHAPTER 3
I rose from the mud and scanned the landy scape, but I couldn’t find a trace of Sam. Even though the forest felt hotter than the record-high temperature on The Island, a chill crawled up my spine. I knew that if Sam was gone, then I was helplessly lost, because I had never read a map in my life! This included maps from Dora.
I jumped at an abrupt rustle that came from the bushes. I backed away, and in a way where I pretended to be Wide Putin, when a figure lunged out at me.
“Boo!” Sam yelled at the top of his lungs. I leapt back and fell into the dirt a second time as my heart skipped a beat. Sam laughed. “Did I scare you?”
“No. I knew you were hiding the whole time!”
“Admit it. You were so frightened you jumped ten yards into the air,” Sam grinned. I had to confess, my brother sometimes got the best of me due to his cleverness, but only because he’s constantly Dora and constantly needs to explore and constantly stays curious about everything around him constantly, while I’m Dora’s mom and constantly stay at home constantly. Also, I like how I used the word “constantly” well, uh, constantly.
“Sam. Just-- Shhh!” I held my finger to my mouth. The world froze and shifted into awkward silence. However, I soon broke in on it. “Anyway, I found a creeeeeeeepy cabin. Wanna go to it with me?” I invited in the spookiest voice I could muster (which sounded more comedic than spooky). I knew Sam would never miss out on anything that I pointed out as desirable to visit, though at scary places he ended up calling for Mom. Throughout the years, I noticed that Sam panicked in locations with fire the most.
“No way I’ll miss this opportunity to explore!”
“Okay, but make sure you don’t pull off a jumpscare joke again. I’m serious about this,” I lied since I was never serious. “I’ll even lead the way! Well, of course, because…I’m the only one that knows where it is.”
I led the way to the cabin. As we advanced towards it, a streak of blue shot past us. “What the heck was that?” Sam asked.
“I…don’t know. It’s…not important though, so let’s continue our Walking In The Woods Journey,” I mused. I began to move forward, but Sam grabbed my soldier. Oops! I meant shoulder.
“I have to find out what it is!” Sam refused to leave that streak alone.
“Come on, Sam. You want to see the cabin, don’t you?” My silly, distracted brother hesitantly nodded, and fortunately we made the rest of our progress with no additional distractions.
Once we arrived at the cabin, we stared in awe at the size of it. The wood that supported the structure was green and rotting. Ivy nearly swallowed the cabin’s existence. A big, black mark on the roof made it seem as if the abode had been struck by lightning but hosed down only seconds later. When we stepped onto the porch, pesky ivy quickly covered our legs. I charged through the ivy and bonked right into the door, which had decayed along with everything else. Its round metal knocker had rusted of old age.
When Sam raised the knocker, it let out a piercing, scratchy noise. Sam made three booming knocks and waited. To my surprise, a shadow arrived at a dusty window and retreated inside. One minute later, the door squeaked open. Before me stood a resident of this old building, a woman of average height with saggy wrinkles and deep-set eyes. To our surprise, this resident would not be evil!
“What’s a shorty and a teenager doing in such a dark forest?” the lady croaked (and not like a frog) as soon as she perceived us.
“We were exploring this forest when my brother and I discovered this old cabin,” Sam explained.
“Iszit fine if we come in?” I questioned.
The woman let out a soft chuckle and followed it with, “Of course it is! I could offer some food and shelter until you find your way to wherever you’re trying to go.” The elder stepped to the side. I entered with a buffoonish ambulation, in which I planted one foot in front of me, then pulled the rest of my body over to that foot. Meanwhile, Sam entered like a normal human being and closed the door behind him.
“Uh…go on. Take a seat.” The elder seemed confused by the way I ambled into the cabin, but she tried to camouflage her surprise. I turned to look at the elder.
“Take a seat? You mean I should grab one and wander away with it? Okay,” I joked. The woman chuckled as I approached one of the seats, but Sam stopped me.
“Luke, could you please stop making jokes and just sit down?” Sam groaned, so I stopped making jokes and decided to just sit down. Sam also sat down, and we stared at each other ugly face to face, if you get which face I’m implying is ugly! The elder simply took the couch.
“I absolutely need to know. What is this place?” Sam questioned the elder once he had taken a seat (and before I could make a joke, too).
“Oh! This is my cabin. I could make you some hot cocoa if you’re interested.” The woman turned to look at Sam.
“That’s not what he meant,” I sighed. “What my brother was trying to say is what is thisssssss………forest place area!”
“Oh! You mean the surrounding forest? Well, this part of the forest may seem creepy, but it’s truly pretty nice.”
“Pretty nice? Pretty nice? There are giant snails roaming around here and you say it’s pretty nice?! Are you making a joke or something?!?!” Sam’s jaw dropped.
“You must have encountered a Snail Robber, those mischievous little specimens,” the woman said.
“A what now?!” I fell backwards and let out an “Uehgkhak!” as my head bonked into the wall, and I let out a “Grraaahah!” as I fell forward onto the ground.
“A Snail Robber. You know. The classic snail with their shells…painted with a strange decoration. The decoration looks similar to two hands grabbing jewelry. The blasted specimens will put anything they discover into their shell and boil it until the object completely melts.”
“We did see a Snail Robber,” Sam said. “It totally wrecked Luke’s MP3 player!”
“Anyone else feeling a little, I dunno, meltingy?” I retrieved the bag that contained my music-playing device and threw it into the elder’s hands.
“Luke. Was that honestly necessary?” Sam made a strange eyebrow-down-and-upside-down-smile face at me.
I let out a nervous laugh, “Eh heh heh! No.”
As the lady inspected the device, she muttered, “This is definitely a Snail Robber’s doing.” The woman gazed at it a little longer, then handed it back to me and informed, “There are other dangerous monsters I forgot to tell you about, such as Scarerabs, Prism Wolves, Octodots, and Pumpkin Snakes. Even the trees themselves are alive, and I’ve also had to fend off a species of termite that can feed on a whole house within only hours. This forest may be pretty nice, as long as you don’t run into the dangerous animals that inhabit it,” the woman rasped in a frightening voice.
“Luke…I think we should get back to the real world. Although I love adventure, this unnatural place is too much for me, and our parents are probaably worried about us.” Sam got up from his chair.
“I agree. We should get out of here as soon as we can!” I agreed.
We darted for the entrance of the cabin, threw the door open, and raced outside. We left the door wide open behind us.
“Do you remember where we left the boat?” Sam turned back to look at me.
“No. Why are you asking me anyway?”
“I tried to find it myself, but I can’t find a trace of evidence pointing to our arrival.”
“Well…” I turned around and glanced at some surrounding trees. “Any random tree look familiar to you?”
“No,” Sam shivered. I examined our surroundings, but our footprints and the path we had taken seemed to have vanished like a ghost (and just wait until you read Cory Kenshin’s book, who’s sitting right next to me as I’m writing my book!).
“I don’t believe it! I’m hopelessly lost!” Sam sprinted around in circles.
“Hey. I’m lost too, you know,” I sighed.
Sam suggested for us to split up to continue our search of the forest! I split-upped my arms, legs, and face from my body, then we all went right while Sam took his left! I dragged my hands in soft dirt, attempting to unearth any sign of the path I took to get here. I was deep in the woods when I saw it. I gazed at a tree that looked similar to a Black Spruce. A tree right in front of me, staring riiiiight back at me (try to say that aloud yourself and experience the magic!).