Not much to say, since I am eager to get some more writing done.  Enjoy this sample from A Long Quest in the meantime.

1. A Most Unwelcome Surprise

Kyle Walker struggled and mused, staring at a blank piece of lined paper.  This book report was going to get done, and no obstacle was going to get in his way.

Kyle slammed his pencil onto the pile of notebook paper.  That is not right.  It’s actually far from right.  It’s time to start over.

And so he did.  Kyle grabbed the page of notebook paper and crumpled it up.  He threw it towards the garbage bin but it missed.  Getting up to his feet with a stomp, he grabbed the crumpled ball and slammed it into the garbage bin as hard as he could.  At this rate, I’m never going to get this book report done….

Kyle grabbed a new sheet of paper and plopped it on his bed.  He then got up and started pacing the room, like he was looking for something.

“Where’s that book…?”  He said with a scowl.

Kyle continued looking around his room.  His room was starting to get messy again.  A small pile of clothes sat sprawled at the foot of his bed – a pair of jeans, a couple of shirts and one pair of underwear.  Various toys were scattered around the room, with the Super Nintendo sitting at the top of the entertainment center, away from the clutter.

Frustrated (and Kyle was very frustrated at this point), Kyle ravaged his room, lifting up clothes and throwing them.  Pencils were scattered all over the floor.  Textbooks were lifted up and moved in a disorderly pattern.  Before he knew it, his room was even messier than before.  And in spite of all of this, his book could still not be found.

Kyle stood up, all frenzied in a panicked rage.  As the frustration began to build around him, a voice was heard in the distance.  “Kyle!  It’s time for your dinner!  Don’t want it to get cold!”

Kyle shook his head with a quiet sigh.  “Not now, mom….” he said.

All at once, the frustration crushed Kyle.  He was pinned down, with no place to escape.  “Urrr….!” he growled, ignoring his mother’s call for a second time.  “Where is that book?”

Kyle’s frustrated growls continued.  They are the kind of growls that a tiger would make, but not a thirteen year old boy.  They started out low, but gradually increased in volume.  All the same spots where Kyle looked for the book were checked again.  A second time.  A third time.  Even a fourth time.

Finally, Kyle got down on his knees and glanced underneath his bed.  There it was.  The book sat there, halfway underneath his bed, like it was shoved there by mistake.  Either that or it was hiding from him, not wanting to be found.  Kyle grabbed the book and sighed with relief.  “Dicey’s Song,” he said, reading the title.  It must have fallen out of the backpack when I was emptying it…. “Time to get started on this stupid report.” he muttered to himself.

No sooner did he open up the book, that he heard his mother’s shout again.  “Come on Kyle!  Don’t make me call on you again!”

The warning, as serious as it was, didn’t matter to Kyle right now.  What mattered was getting that book report done.  “She will not take it late,” he sighed.  “If Mrs. Finch doesn’t get this tomorrow, I’ll get an ‘E’.”  Kyle knew Mrs.  Finch well.  She was hard, strict and impatient.  And believe me.  If you had her as a teacher, she would be your worst nightmare.  And with the book report due date being tomorrow, she was becoming Kyle’s nightmare more and more by the second.

To add to the nightmare, Kyle had two additional homework assignments to complete.  One was a map of Africa for geography class.  The other was a five minute research speech for speech class.  Despite these assignments, the book report needed to get done.  It would be worth a 0 if it was not handed in tomorrow.

As Kyle was reading Dicey’s Song, he began to hear the sound of footsteps.  The footsteps were followed by a loud shout.  “Kyle! “ his mother shouted.  “This is your last warning!  If you don’t come for dinner, I’m going to get dad!”

Kyle sighed, and closed the book.  Frustrated, he slammed his book on his bed in rage.  She clearly doesn’t understand how important this report is to get done.  I wish she did….

But Kyle didn’t even need to wish.  Just as he slammed the book on the bed, his hand started to flash.  It was the kind of flash that you would see if you were to touch an electric socket by mistake.

Kyle held out his hand and inspected it.  The flash was continuing, and it began to grow in intensity.  The flash now resembled a faint yellow glow.

Then the flash began to spread.  It then went to his other hand and began to cover his whole body.  Before long, Kyle was covered in a glowing flash of radiance that intensified by the second.  “What is….happening to me?”  he gasped, almost in tears.

Just as those very words left his mouth, he vanished in an instant.  If you were to see it yourself, it would be at the blink of an eye.  To Kyle, it felt a little longer than that.

Kyle appeared in the front yard, right outside his house, and was greeted with a maniacal laugh.  The laughter pierced right through his ears.  Standing right next to him was an old wrinkly creature with his hands spread out, reaching for the sky.  A bright yellow aura emanated from him.  Upon hearing that laugh, Kyle immediately knew who he was.  It was Henry, a nemesis that he knew all too well.  A painful reoccurrence, and this time, a nuisance.

“H-henry!”  Kyle gasped, his voice quavering.  In normal situations, Kyle wouldn’t be this much afraid of Henry.  The last time he felt this afraid was from his previous encounter in elementary school, but that in itself is another story.  In noticing the brightening glow from Henry, he knew that something was different about him.  Granted.  Kyle faced Henry when Henry had a lot of power before, but the glow was never this bright.  It seemed a hundred times brighter.  Maybe a thousand times.  Henry, Kyle reasoned, was more powerful than he could possibly imagine.  More powerful than any other time in the past.

Kyle winced, his face becoming glazed with Henry’s growing smile looming over him.  “L-let me go!” That was all that he had the courage to say.

“No!”  Henry shouted with a jovial laugh.  “This is my moment, and you have the pleasure of sharing it with me!  Eee hee hee hee!  This is the moment that you die!  Any last words before I kill you?”

Before Kyle could utter a single word, the storm door swung open and his mother came out of the house.  Having seen Kyle tight in Henry’s grasp from inside, a pale expression appeared over her face.

“L-let him go!” she stammered.  “I don’t know who you are, but leave my son alone!”

At this, Henry grinned.  “Gladly!” he shouted with glee.   “I’ll leave him alone after I kill him!”

The mother’s eyes began to well up with tears. “No!” she screamed.  “Don’t kill him!”

“Oh, but I will!” Henry argued. “After you get out of my way!”  At this, Henry made a sweeping motion with his right hand while tightly gripping Kyle with his left.  From the sweeping motion came a powerful wave of energy.  A pulsing white beam that sent his mother back into the house, through the window like a ghost.

Kyle began to move his mouth as if to say something, but a loud voice stopped him.

“Are you that goblin that tried to kill my son?”  The door opened and Kyle’s father came out.  “Well, you’re not harming him, or my wife!”

“Well, it’s too bad that you’re not armed, like last time!” Henry said with a smirk.  “Even if you were, bullets would have no effect on me.  Join your wife inside!  She’s taking a nice nap!”

“You’re getting a permanent one!” The father shouted, as he ran towards Henry.

But before he could even reach him, Henry waved his right hand as before, and sent out another white beam.  The beam launched the father at the window.  He phased through it like ghost and landed on top of the mother, who was snoring.

Finally, Kyle opened up his mouth.  He stared at Henry and his face reddened.  “Henry….!” That was all he could say.

“Is that it?” Henry teased.  “You do know that these are your last words.  After this, you will die!”

“No he won’t!” another voice shouted.  It was a younger voice.  “Stop being mean to him!”

The door burst open and Kyle’s sister ran out.

“No!” Henry shouted.  “And if you want some meanness, try this!  Hee hee!”

Just as she leaped off the deck, Henry dealt with the sister as he dealt with the parents.  A white beam sent her flying through the window, piling on top of the parents.

“Don’t want them dead.”  Henry said in a low voice.  “I need plenty of slaves in my new world order!  Hee hee!  Is that all of them?  Good!  I’m feeling generous, Kyle!  You get one more chance to say your last words before I kill you!  Aren’t I a nice guy?”

“Mean is all you’ll ever be!”  Kyle shouted.  And then, he let out a deep sigh.  “I hate you….”

“Hee hee!” Henry shouted.  “That’s enough!  You’re going to die now!  When I reach zero, you’re dead!  Five, four, three, two, one…..

“STOP!”  a voice shouted from inside.  The storm door was swung open so hard that the piston almost snapped loose.  The door swung back and forth, back and forth, closing more and more before it rattled shut.

Ryan, Kyle’s brother jumped off the deck and waved his fists at Henry.  “You STOP!” he shouted.

“You!” Henry shouted.  “Where did you come from?”

“Where else?”  Ryan retorted.  “The whole neighborhood can hear you!”

Henry glanced around while maintaining his grip on Kyle.  Unmoved, he looked back at Ryan.  “Good!” he shouted.  “They can all watch me kill Kyle!  And you get to watch your brother die!”

“NO!” Ryan shouted.  “Let him go!”

Henry grinned, giving Kyle a deep stare.  It was the kind of stare that could break through steel, or even diamonds.  “I don’t know.” he smirked.  “I really hate Kyle, and I’m ready to remove his existence off the face of this planet….”

Ryan gave Henry a punch, which was dodged effortlessly.  “Don’t!”  he shouted.  A mixture of sweat and tears was dripping down his face.  “Let him go!”

“Fine!” Henry  shouted.  “You want me to let him go?  I’ll let him go!  I’ll send him to the other side of the universe!  You will never ever see him again!  You, and everyone on this planet will be my slaves forever!  Eee hee hee hee hee hee!!!!”

Henry held out his hand, watching flashing arcs of light pile above his palm.  The arcs of light flashed and pulsed, flowing into a beam which was growing larger and larger by the second.  Flashes of whites, blacks, yellows and purples.  The beam was about the size of a baseball.  Then, it became the size of a basketball.  Finally, the beam was a little bigger than Kyle.

“Goodbye Kyle!” Henry gleefully shouted.  “FOREVER!  EEE HEE HEE HEE HEE!!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”  Ryan shouted, his eyes full of tears.

The large beam hit Kyle, and his world disappeared.  Everyone and everything was gone.  His world became a world of darkness.

______

©2018 K. L. Walker

 

Time to continue!

Today’s high is going to be 67 degrees and the silver lining is being able to continue on my books.

To those of you who are enjoying this Saturday, I hope that you all have a fantastic day.

 

Muse:  A sample?  Nice!  That’s the first chapter, isn’t it!  Really good so far!  I can’t wait to see the whole thing!