JOE FOX: The Flare Boy

TeeTee! I’m late for school!! I jump off my bed and get dressed up. Run downstairs make and eat my sandwich (surprised Moms was not awake). Jump on my bike give Ernest (My neighbor’s labradoodle) a dog treat and ride to school in 5 minutes flat. That must be some kind of a world record. I run down the corridor avoiding a banana peel, enter my class……Noone’s there! I look at my watch, it’s 9: 07 classes should have started 7 minutes ago. I look at the class clock and I realize my watch is 1 hr early, no wonder Mom wasn’t awake. Now, what am I gonna do I can’t go home because the door’s locked. Hey! Why not go over to Tom’s house. His parents wake up early to go for a jog while he watches TV! I ride to his house avoiding Mack Samson’s Great Dane, they always leave him unchained! I knock at his door. As usual, he says ‘PASSWORD?’. I tell him the dumb password ‘’. ‘Brad Darb ate Regrub’s burger ‘. Come in, I can’t believe it’s you’ he says. I enter and tell him my story and he starts laughing as if he has just seen a clown. I tell him to knock it off and he says ‘It’s not the story, it’s you. Your socks are over your shoes and your shirt is backside front’ I look down ‘Oh-Oh’. He is not kidding. I quickly change it, now I am really happy my watch was one hour early.

I jumped on the sofa with Tom. He’s watching this movie called Johnny English: Reborn and in a minute we both are laughing like crazy. Halfway through the movie, I look at the clock. OH! I realize we are 10 minutes late for school we rush to our cycles and ride to school. On the way, we try to think up an excuse for coming late. Tom comes up with ‘I couldn’t find my homework or on the way to school a squirrel stole mine.’ I tell him it’s way too silly and bad because Mrs. Taylor knows he never does his homework. I come up with ’My cycle’s chain came off. Tom says Mrs. Taylor will surely know it’s not true just by looking at our hands. When we reach school. We jump off our bikes, rundown the corridor we avoid….Ok. I avoid the banana peel, but Tom doesn’t he steps right on it, slips, and hits his head. Bam! Soon we are in the nurse’s room. Tom is crying like a baby ‘I got a bump on my head; It’s bleeding. Mamma!!’. At least I got a good excuse for coming late. 

I enter my class no one is there, I panic and look what’s the first class, it’s Art. I rush to my art class (Gee, What a rushy morning!). As I enter the art room I feel sooooo relieved seeing my classmates. I tell Mr. Vinci (That’s what we call her because her paintings are superrrrrrrrrr good) my very true reason to be late. She believes it, Hurrah!. I sit on an empty seat between Billy Bamford (Super strong) and Rachel Gates (Super smart). Mr. Vinci says we will be doing something called ‘still life’. We have to paint three guavas on a plate. I look at Rachel’s canvas. It's full of scribbles, she may be good at mathematics but definitely not good at art. I look at Billy’s canvas, Wow! He is really good at it. I start my painting with the plate. I try to open the white paint bottle. Ugh! It’s too tight, I pull it with all my strength. Phlatt! Splash! It opened, but not the way it should have. The plastic cap broke and shot off the bottle. Hitting my face followed by some of the paint. ‘What’s that nois…. Oh, you should have asked me…’- yells Mr. Vinci. I go wash my face clean. What a terrible start to a day!

The next class is Science, the only reason I hate Science is all the stairs you need to climb just for a boring lecture. I climb up to the tenth floor, can you believe it we also have P.T. class today. I enter the class. Strangely everyone looks happy today. I see Tom, looks like his pain’s gone. I sit next to him and ask him why everyone is looking so happy. Tom says Mrs. Tuffin said she will bring in her pet tortoise because our next chapter is on animals! Mrs. Tuffin comes in with a box and keeps it on her table. ’Alright everyone ready to see Thomas the tortoise?’ she says, ‘YES!’ we all shout almost deafening ourselves and Mrs. Tuffin. She tells us to form a line roll number-wise. Yippee! I’m 12, I join the line after Ian Russel (The biggest kid in 5th grade). I can hear Ann and Ashley screaming in joy. I try to see Thomas but, Ian’s in front of me. This is awful!! I try to jump still he’s too tall. So, patience is it. After ages, my turn finally comes Mrs. Tuffin gently places Thomas on my hand. I touch his shell smoothly it feels so cool, Thomas squeaks. Mrs. Tuffin says ‘Next’. I give Thomas to John. I go back to my seat and sit down happily.

The next period is Music, this is probably my favorite period because Mr. Lennon knows I am good at playing the piano and lets me play his grand piano. I enter the class 10 minutes early so Mr. Lennon can quickly teach me the last part of Fur Elise by L. V. Beethoven. I finish the whole song by the time all the kids are in the class. Tom starts applauding likes he has seen a circus performance. We end the class learning half of the popular song ‘Count on me by Bruno Mars’. 

The lunch bell rings and everyone rushes to the cafeteria cause it’s Friday. Which means French Fries Day and no one wants to miss out on it. As I am the 18th fastest kid in school. I managed to get enough for Tom and me. Tom was held late by Mr. Lennon for playing with the saxophone so, I am saving for him. In recess. I, Billy, Brian, and Louis waited for Tom to come. When he comes we start playing tag. After an (Inky pinky punky, father had a donkey. Donkey farted; China blasted. Inky pinky punky.). Louis gets chosen. Louis tags Billy, Billy tags Me, I tag Brian, Brian tags Tom, Tom tags……. Oh-oh. He tripped on an Apple juice box and fell on Ian, who fell headfirst into a trash bin. Everyone ran away. But I still stand there too shocked to move. Ian got up, wiped his face with his hand, and looks at me snappishly. And suddenly threw a punch right at my face. I duck down avoiding his punch. Whew! His punch hit the tree behind me. ‘Yeow!’ he shouts in pain, you little trickster! He threw another punch right at my face-

BAM!

I opened my eyes to find my mom leaning over me. I also see a doctor talking to Dad. Tom and all my friends are sitting on a sofa nearby. I asked my mom weakly ‘What happened?’. ‘Joe you fell unconscious, don’t worry you’re going to be fine’ mom tells me. I feel a little bit of pain in my nose. I get up and say ’hi’ to my friends. ‘You’re conscious!’ yelled Tom and Louis together. Dad helps me get up and says ‘Come on, we are going home’. At home mom and dad tell me Ian’s punch gave my brain a shock (Not a physical one but, a mental one) so, I should stay home today and rest. I stay at home and watch the next Johnny English Movie-Strikes Again. I laugh and laugh till my stomach starts paining. Tom calls me two, three times from school just to ask if I was fine, cause that’s what good friends do. Before going to bed, mom told me what happened after I fell unconscious. The best part was when Mrs. Bee yelled her throat sore at Ian for punching me. I slept a goodnight’s sleep that night.

The next morning, I sleep late and wake up late at 11:00. The first thing I do is call Tom and ask him if he’s coming over to play Minecraft. He says ‘yes and will come over at 12’. I go down and eat my breakfast and dad’s making his top-secret recipe. It is a kinda mix between pancake and chocolate sandwich but, I can’t tell you anymore because is ‘top-secret’. Tom comes over at 12 for some gaming with nachos and snicker bars (Best snacks ever). After 29 minutes I finally managed to finish a speed run. I probably must be the best gamer in the neighborhood. ;At 4:30 Tom and I go for a game of catch in the park. We start playing catch with moderate throw, he threw the ball at me, I threw it back a bit harder. He dives to catch it instead bumps his head on a tree. He angrily throws it back with all his strength. I managed to catch it by diving into a mud puddle. I take my revenge by throwing the ball super high. It soars high into the air, flies past Tom, and hits a sleeping stray dog. Tom quickly uses his monkey ability to climb the tree he bumped on. The dog wakes up in a grumpy mood. Looks at me ferociously (not good). The dog suddenly starts to run towards me, I too start running. I run out of the park, across the street. I climb over the gate of the first house I see. I wait till the dog’s gone and see whose house I have gotten into- Oh-No. It’s Mack’s house and their Great Dane has noticed me. It starts growling at me and then chases me around its house 2-3 times until I managed to climb over the gate again. 

I return home with a bruised knee, ripped trousers, and a muddy shirt. What rotten luck! Mom puts on some anti-septic on my bruise and I change my dirty clothes. Then I call Tom to tell him the story. It shows that he is unreachable. I go to my bedroom and lie on my bed; I soon fall asleep. I wake up from the sound of mom calling for dinner. I go down and eat my Mac N Cheese quietly. I do some homework I was supposed to do on Friday and go to bed at 8:30.

The next day I wake up to the sound of the phone ringing. I pick it up half-awake. It’s Tom he’s saying he and Louis are going out at 4 pm to watch the movie Godzilla vs Kong and they have an extra ticket. I tell him I’ll ask mom and run downstairs. Slip! Thudddd! Ow! [edit]-I slide downstairs and run to mom shouting ‘Can I go to movies with Tom at 4?’. Mom says ’Ok’. Yesssssssss! At 4 pm I head out to Tom’s house. His dad drives us to the theatre. We each also get a bag of caramelized popcorn (Yeah!) The movie starts, and Louis starts showing his sketches of Mechagodzilla. When I turn my face towards Tom-Aaaah! Tom is wearing a hideous and very realistic mask of Godzilla. ‘Jesus Christ! Tom, you almost scared me to death. He takes off his mask and starts laughing loudly. I realize we are dragging too much attention.

 --------------------------------OH-OH----------------------------------------- 

I can’t believe it; the movie had hardly started and we were kicked out. At least we get to keep the money and popcorn. We spend the money on an arcade center and luckily we don’t make a mess there. When I reach home, I realize mom and dad are not home. I climb the window railing and enter the first-floor terrace. I go into my bedroom and play online battleships till I feel hungry. I go down to the kitchen and decide to make pancake (not a good choice). I get some eggs and start to crack them. Most of them spill all over the counter but, I managed to get some of them in a bowl. Then I add sugar, again spilling half of it on the counter. I add a pinch of salt and some oil. I pour the milk into the bowl, spilling some of it on the counter. I mix it well and start searching where the flour is kept. I open a cupboard. Crash! All the boxes of this and that fall on me and one of them is flour! I put the other boxes back and pour the flour into the bowl (managing not to spill any of it). I grab the baking powder and put some into the bowl.

Again, mix it well and get the pan on the induction. Ouch! I burnt my pinkie, I dipped it in cold water and continue my recipe. I slowly fry all my pancakes and place them on the plate. I remove the chocolate syrup and squeeze it. Ugh! It’s not coming out-Squeeze! Splash! Oh-No! It came all over me, I pour some over the pancake and go wash my face. Oh-Oh. The water’s out, I get a tissue and wipe my face clean. I finish my pancakes and go back to my bedroom. CH-Tric! Creak! They’re home. I hear them talking and then- ‘Who made this mess in the kitchen!’ mom yells. Oh no, I forgot to clean the counter. I run downstairs and tell mom a cat got into the kitchen and I scared it away. But not before ­­­it made this mess. Before bedtime, I drew Miles Morales (From spider-verse). I sleep late at 9:30, with a night light (I got scared after the movie incident). The night was terrible cause Ernest was barking crazily at I don’t know what. 

The next morning, I go to school with Tom on our wave boards, our first class is Taekwondo. Today we are going to learn dolechagi so, far I am very good at it except falling every time. On my sixth try, I fall over Tom, who falls over Louis. Louis stumbles over Ron, who falls over Bernard. Who tries to break his fall and ends up pushing over the water tank and breaking his last baby tooth out. All the water spills over on the floor and Mr. Grump has only one-word ‘DETENTION’ (TRANSLATION: 1 hr in kids prison). In Detention, I find myself stuck between my enemy Ian Russel and nerd Jordan Evans. I ask Jordan what he did to get in here, he said ‘I caused an explosion in robotics class’. I take out my pocket pen(gel) and start drawing a stupid-looking version of Godzilla on my hand. Just then Mrs. Bee says ‘What's going on down there? (She is really tall)’. I quickly wipe the ink off my hands and now my whole hands are blue. Ugh! Later after school, mom says I have to write a poem for a competition if I want to watch the new movie ‘Spider-Man: Far from home’. I go to my desk and start thinking about a poem at the same time listening to songs. Just then a song came up called Wellerman. It sounded like “There once was a ship that put to sea, the name of the ship was a billy of tea. The winds blew hard her bow dipped down, blow, blow my bully boys blow. Huh! Soon may the WELLERMAN…”. So, I decided to write a poem on a pirate, here it goes-

Pirate Billy

There once was a pirate who went to sea,

The name of the pirate was Big Billy.

He set sail on a ship called manatee,

And started his journey.

The men aboard were ten in all,

They had in store rum, whisky, and all.

And got ready for the voyage.

Among the crew, they had a mage.

Who showed his magic every day,

To keep the crew from getting bore.

But then came a lot of gore.

As they heard the arrival,

Of his rival with a roar.

They fought and fought with all they got.

Till he surrendered,

And they then happily plundered.

Then they continued the journey,

Having a good mood after their victory.

And then they reached,

Fort Walton beach.

So, the pirate thought,

Why not prepare to dock?

That’s the story,

Of Billy’s journey.

I know it isn’t like Rudyard Kipling or some else poet’s poem but, it’s good. I run downstairs to mom and show it to her and the first thing she says ‘Did you copy it?’. I tell her about the song Wellerman and that it wasn’t copied. She tells me the movie is coming on prime video at 6 PM. I see the time it’s 4. Aww! I decide to go out cycling till 6. I grab my helmet and hop on my bike and start riding uphill. I ride downhill when I reach the top. No! A dog is sleeping in the middle of the road. I swerve to the right to avoid the dog and my bike goes right into a pond. I swim out with a frog on my head and jog home. I shout out to dad and tell him what happened. He laughs and helps me get my bike out of the pond. At 6 the DVD arrives and we get ready to watch the movie. The movie went awesome especially the part when it’s revealed that Mysterio is not a hero but a villain.

After the movie, mom and dad take me out to KFC. At the restaurant, we order a me bucket and 2 Pepsis. I gobble up 4 fried chickens, half of all the fries, and 1 Pepsi. Yes, you can say I eat like a horse. Well, I do everything a horse does. Eat a lot, run fast, super smart. On our way home I fall asleep in our Nano. 

The next day is teacher’s retreat day. We don’t have to worry to go to school for the next two days. The teachers go on a trip. Dad says we are gonna go to the zoo and have a picnic today at 5 and the museum of fun tomorrow at 6. And the best part is I can invite two of my best friends over. I call Tom and Louis and tell them our events. Louis says he won’t be there because his parents are taking him to MacDonald and the Movies for “Dolittle”. I call Brian and he says it’s a big…

Yes! I tell dad Brian and Tom are coming. It’s started to feel like Teacher’s Retreat Day has turned into Student’s Treat Day. 

Around 3:30 Tom and Brian show up with their bags packed. Tom bought a phone with a double camera and Brian had Ernest on a leash-wait! I ask Brian why he got Ernest with him, he says his mom told him it was a do or die (in this case: no trip to the zoo with me). At 4:00 all the food and drink bags are packed in the car and so are we. We reach the local zoo by 4:25. In the zoo, we followed this order tigers, lions, leopards, gorillas, wolves, crocodiles, emus, elephants, and snakes. When we reach the snake's section, we started peeking at the Emerald Tree Boa. Suddenly the glass cracks and breaks. Tom falls on the snake’s poo. The snake is hissing, Tom is screaming, me and dad are pulling, Ernest is barking and the attendants’ are rushing. What chaos! Tom was pulled out and the snake was given a new cage. The manager was trying to tell dad that the Emerald Tree Boa is a harmless snake while me and Brian are calming Tom down.

Later during the picnic when I’m eating a sandwich and seeing Tom’s pictures. I realize Tom was taking a video when he fell in the snake’s cage and the whole incident came on record. I post the video on YouTube hoping for a million views. I named it “The real Dudley Dursley from Harry Potter.

The next day when I wake up first, I check the YouTube video’s views. It has 9,542 likes and 13,679 views, two more digits and it’s a million views! I go over to Louis at 1 and show him the video, he laughs wishing he was there. Louis and I play Scotland Yard with his Twin brother Logan and sisters Lily and Layla. I am Mr. X!!!!! (I wish I could continue the exclamation marks till the next page). I give Louis and his siblings a good chase when I tricked them into thinking I’m on 92. 

At 5:45 Tom and Brian showed up. Tom didn’t bring the camera and Brian didn’t bring Ernest because we were going to a museum. We reach the museum of fun by 6 and go to the Science laboratory section. First, we see a Van De Graaff generator. I touch the ball and pretend to be shocked and scream, shaking my body. Brian falls for it and starts screaming, too frightened while Tom is giggling at the back. Dad tells us to quit the drama and we head over to the mirror room. I look myself in the convex mirror, I looked like an arriety. I see myself in a concave mirror and instead of seeing giant me, I see another version of myself banging the mirror trying to tell me something. I gasp and run to the others in the room of nails. Was I seeing things or that was true? 

The next day after school I break my Mr. Oink (My piggy bank not a human) and find 3.75 dollars enough to buy a pack of Jim Jam. I head to the ice cream shop. On the way, I find a traffic jam so I take a side alley shortcut. In the alley I see something glowing in a dumpster. I open the lid and find a strange object glowing in bright purple light. When I touch it, a blinding light forces me to close my eyes. When I open my eyes, I find myself in the same alley. I look around the whole place is empty, I run home to find no one home. I go to the museum of fun and find the concave mirror, was the other me trying to warn me about this. Suddenly a strange-looking creature jumps out of the mirror with a magical ball in its hand. I jump at it angrily screaming ‘WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE OTHER PEOPLE!?’. The creature does some strange trick and I rewind back into my place. ‘Wo do you think you are, Doctor Strange? I yell at it. ‘Yes, type of.’ the creature replies. ‘Your species is safe; the question is about you. The object you touched was a portal into a parallel world that was populated by my species but when I stole this magic ball of power from a keeper dragon who is the servant of the keeper. The keeper is the controller, protector, and creator of the universe. I gained control of it.

As I was completely unknown to its power, I accidentally killed my species. The keeper dragon is still here hunting for me. And the only way you can go back into your universe is to steal another portal, which is the dragon’s heart. To take it you will have to kill the dragon ultimately that action brings you and me both happiness. But if you fail You shall never be able to escape this parallel world.’ I stand there shocked for a moment and ask ‘So the other me was warning me?’. ‘Yes,’ the creature answers. I decide to take the chance because that’s the only option apart from staying in this miserable and lonely “parallel world”. I start to think what are my options: -

The dragon kills me-badI fail-terribleI succeed-awesome, fantastic, amazing, excellent, nice, cool, splendid, good, brilliant.

jump in and start swimming, shit! The current’s too strong suddenly a see a tentacle emerge from the water. It grabs my hand and tries to pull me up I use my spear to cut the tentacle. It screams in an ear-splitting noise. I shut my ears. I climb out the river with the help of a plant and dry myself. I continue and start climbing the mountain. I grab a sharp, long bamboo stick and start climbing. I grab a rock and pull myself up. Suddenly a snake climbs on me, I recognize it as the prairie rattlesnake. I freeze and after two minutes the snake gently slithers to the top. When I climb the rock, I stop still in my tracks. It’s crowded with prairie rattlesnakes. I do not move at all then shockingly one of the snakes says ‘I know you, you helped free my cousin EME from her smelly cage back at the zoo. ‘. ‘What do you mean I did, wasn’t that Tom?’ I say, it replies ‘No, the glass cracked because of you! You knew EME didn’t like her cage but, you also knew you couldn’t help. Then when you touched the glass, the glass cracked because it couldn’t sustain the power of your emotions’. Mystified, I lift the snake and say ‘What’s your name, you are coming with me, buddy.’. The snake says its name is “EMK”. I slip EMK onto my back. I continue and climb till I reach halfway then rest. It’s almost dark. I must find a safe place to sleep for the night. I hike some more until I find a small cave and decide to spend the night in it.

The next day I wake up by the sound of EMK hissing crazily, I realize our cave is getting surrounded by a group of wild rottweilers. I grab my spear and shoo them away. I gather my stuff and put EMK on my back and we continue our journey. After an hour of effort, we manage to reach the top. It has a terrific view. I wish mom and dad were with me here. I start to go down. It’s pretty slippery so I have to sit down and practically slide to the bottom until I reach the part which is full of thorny bushes. I cut through the bushes with my flaming spear. It only took me a minute to realize I was setting the bushes aflame. I run out of the bushes scratching myself all over. After reaching the bottom I clean my wounds and call EMK, EMK? I realize he got scared and slithered into my pants. I yank him out almost jerking my hand off. ‘Are you out of your doggone mind!’ I yell. EMK angrily hisses and climbs atop my head. I go down and enter the neighboring city and sit down and rest. I remove the gun robbed off a police station and try to shoot at a tree. I managed to shoot the tree with good aim 1 time out of 3. And you may ask how I know how to use a gun. Well, after watching all those Johnny English and Mission Impossible movies who wouldn’t know! I start my ride to a store on a tricycle, come on it is way easy to ride a tricycle than a bike. I ride to a local snack store and break the vending machine with a hammer (Ha! Ha! I’m a robber). I grab some cheerios, coca-cola, popcorn, and a handful of zour bombs. I put all my snacks in the front basket along with my gun (Can you believe it, MY gun). I continue the ride until I reach the shore and rest for a while. I see a scooter and decide to do something crazy. I grab my gun and run 20 metres away from the scooter. I aim at the scooter's engine and shoot. BANG! Guess what’s gonna happen, if you guessed right. You are probably thinking I am mad. 

BOOM!

Several scooter parts fly through the air. Just to be safe I am warning you. Do not do this without adult supervision or even with adult supervision don’t do it. I see scooter parts flying through the air, one part of the mirror came right into my left leg. Shack! OWWWW! I take off my shirt and pull the blade out and then wrap my wound with the shirt. I lie on a deserted beach chair and eat my snacks and soon fall sound asleep. I wake up from the sound of a screeching animal. I get up and the noise seems to be coming from below the ground. Then I remember “Find the strangest looking rock lift it and jump in….”. The sound is coming from the dragon, I grab my spear and my gun. I search the rocky area and there I find a car like looking rock, a jigsaw piece like looking rock and the strangest of all the rock that looks like a combination of a telephone and a bird. Finding it the strangest I try to lift it. AARGH! It’s way too heavy. I try to use something I learned in science class. I find a big, fat and long stick. I push a little less heavy rock near the strange rock and make a lever. RGHHHH! Yes! I managed to use the lever to lift the rock. I thank Mrs Tuffin under my breath and jump into the area beneath the rock. I walk some metres until I see light. I follow the light until I hear snoring. I stop. Suddenly I sneeze (I may be allergic to these strange looking plants here). The dragon grunts, I see a figure come out of the dark. Oh! What a cute dragon, no wonder the strange creature was able to steal the magic ball. Screech! The dragon suddenly turns bigger, fiercer, and scarier. It grows really big and breaks the stones above him and soon the It is big enough to eat a bus like a sandwich. It screeches at me angrily I show him my spear with double anger. I charge at him crazily yelling “AIIIIII!”. What a lousy battle cry, I stab its foot with my spear, nothing happens. I can hear it laughing in my brain. Suddenly it launches a fireball at me. I start climbing the dragon's foot as quickly till I reach its knee. I grab my gun and point at the nearest car and shoot. 

BOOM!

I hide under its thick scale. The devil screeches in pain. I peek out and see that the left hand of it is bleeding and then I notice a cyber truck. I climb down and run as fast as I can to the cyber truck and hide. The dragon starts licking its hand and I guess that is morphine for it. I suddenly notice a can of oil and quickly get my flaming spear away from it. Woah! What if I use the super spray hose I saw in a commercial nearby to spray oil on the dragon and set it aflame. God! I am a real monster hunter. 

I grab three oil cans and tie them to a rope. I silently get out of the truck and pull the oil cans to the store I saw the commercial. Ugh! The cans are heavy. I untie them and roll them towards the store. I find the hose in the warehouse at the back and plug it to the first can I see and start spraying the dragon from a window. SPLASH! It sure has great pressure. The Dragon screeches and squawks in terror. I finish covering the dragon with oil. It is running around terrified crushing cars and small bungalows. I run out of the store with my spear and run behind the dragon. Damn! It is too fast. I hop on a very big cycle and follow the dragon it takes me to a stadium and it stops. I creep to the dragon’s feet and slowly touch the dragon's feet with my spear. The fire spreads all over the dragon ultimately setting the whole monster aflame. I run into a house and watch the whole incident from a window. It feels like watching a movie. I stare at the dragon until its screeching dies out. It slowly stumbles, tumbles, and falls over the whole stadium, crushing it to a pulp. I crawl out of the house avoiding the smoke and steal another hose. I get the hose and plug it into the nearest house tap and spray over the dragon (Joe the firefighter). The fire eventually dies out. I run towards the dragon and start climbing it. Suddenly, the dragon vanishes, and I see two glowing objects on the ground I see a black one and a purple one. Like the one that made me come into this world was purple I touched it. I close my eyes. I wait for few seconds; I can feel myself moving. I open my eyes, I, I, I, I… I am back on earth!!!!! I scream with joy. “HELLO EARTH!”.

I run home greeting every person I meet. I go and hug mom and dad with tears in my eyes. I call Tom and we talk about the new DP OVERTIME. Then I think about whether to tell him my story or not. I decide not to because “Why interfere, we are happy with what we got right on earth not some strange, baffling so-called parallel world”. I feel my money still in my pocket and decide to buy an Archie comic, on the way I pass the alley and smile remembering EMK. I read lots of dc comics before buying an Archie edition at the comic store. I see that a sample and buy stand of some company called “Sprour” just got set up outside the shop. It’s selling these little sour candies and sprinkles. Suddenly an idea comes to me. I go into the washroom and remove my shirt. Then I wear it upside down and ruffle my hair. I go outside and take one sample of candy and eat it then say I don’t like it. (In actual I like it). I go back into the washroom and wear my shirt nicely and straighten my hair. I again go outside and say in a tiny voice ‘I’d like one sample.’. After eating it I asked the cost of a pack of 5. The lady says ‘twenty cents’, I say ‘Oh, sorry lady I have only ten cents’ and get out of there. I come back with a newspaper hiding my face and buy two packs of 5 with my remaining money. I happily skip home chewing on the candies. I see a mud pool and think (Why a mud puddle when it’s not monsoon?). I ignore the curiosity blink and jump in…. OH-NO. I seriously jump in. I go completely into the mud puddle and find myself in miles and miles of nothing but nothingness.

         NOTHINGNESS

  ‘Oh, come on’ I think ‘I just got out of a parallel world and now I’m in this place I’m gonna call Nothington’. Suddenly an elderly voice says ‘You have done great wrong; you shouldn't have killed my servant. It helped protect your planet from Than Bixblox Fox’. I say ‘You mean that ugly creature and who are you to call him a Fox’. The voice says ‘Your family is a magical family with strange history that even I don’t know but Than is your uncle, your grandfather who disappeared from the earth, married a Bixblox called Loni Bixblox Fox. She gave birth to your dad and Than. Your dad’s human eyes saw Loni as Jessica and he never knew the reality. But Than was a bixblox so he lived on the parallel planet and gained control of bloxball and killed all bixbloxes and ruled this world. But I sent my servant to kill him but it failed because of YOU’. ‘So, so, so you want me to kill Than?’ I mutter. The voice says ‘Yes’. 

Zoom!

I find myself back in the alley near the dumpster, I look around I’m back in the parallel world. I decide to find EMK and search for a….. Then I see a map and find out 1 mile away is an airport. I get a booming idea and get in a sports shop and rob the coolest and most expensive-looking wave board. I wave my feet till I reach a snack store and I realize it’s locked. I peek in the shop greedily and then my hands go out of control and they grab the wave board and smash the glass, my stomach kicks in and rushes me in then starts stuffing himself. My mouth as usual keeps itself open and I am soon stuffed. My stomach grumbles “I am stuffed”. My mouth burps in agreement and we I continue our journey. I reach the airport 10 minutes later. I see a private helicopter and I get in. It feels pilotish sitting in this flying devil. I touch the screen and it open’s saying welcome Blubao. I go to Noonle (wasn’t it google?) chrome and search how to fly a helicopter. I find a video by pilot yellow. I follow the super complicated instructions and I’m in the air. Yoo-hoo! Suddenly I lose internet and I am stuck with the minimum knowledge of flying a helicopter. I promise myself never to fly a helicopter or even ride one. I see acceleration buttons and all that stuff which I know and manage to fly above the mountain I climbed. 

I remember EMK and decide to land nearby suddenly I see a big tree and try to turn the helicopter right but it’s too late. The branches get stuck in the tail wing and it stops moving. The trunk hits the back part and it breaks off and it crashes on a car with a boom! I go crazy as the helicopter is spinning and I haven’t the foggiest idea of what to do. I leave the cockpit and see a parachute! Luck! I wear it and jump off. Too bad. The parachute does not work and I fall to the ground and fracture my leg. I guess I was too low. I see the helicopter crash about fifty metres. I drag myself to cover as the helicopter explodes. I look around I still have to reach the beach. Suddenly I hear a voice from behind. It’s EMK! I grab him to ask him what happened to him at the beach. He just hisses in reply. Why is he not speaking?? Suddenly I see a wound on his throat. I realize that his vocal cord had been harmed. He slithers onto my back and licks me. We continue the journey.

Suddenly I see someone near the dragon's death point. Someone…. Shit! It is Than! I run towards him EMK surprised at my sudden increase in speed. I stop still in my tracks. He is looking …. stronger. I notice that the second stone is gone. I get it all, he wanted me to kill the dragon because he wanted power. I run towards him screaming. Suddenly he turns around and punches me. Thoof! I go flying back. My back hits a wall. EMK slithers away scared. I get angrier and angrier. My fists start shaking. Suddenly like Thor, my flaming spear comes out of nowhere towards me. I grab the spear and say “Now this is fair”. I run towards him and jump, my spear pointing towards him. Surprisingly my spear throws a ball of fire towards Than. He blocks it and the spear sends another fireball. He blocks it again says “So…the boy of fire. Flare”. We start fighting. I start a fire beam with my newfound power against Than’s dark beam. Yaaaaaaaah! Boom! Another light beam! What another. Than is duplicating. My hand is burning. Aaaah! I can’t stop him, him with his 99 duplicates. Aaaaaaah! Whoosh! The spear starts to crack. Twang! It slips from my hand but what. The beam….firebeam! It is coming outta my hands. I put more and more pressure. I realize I am burning. I am rising in the air. Than’s growing bigger. Suddenly another beam joins in…. It is red too. I look up. A white shining person is shooting it. The person says “Come on flare”. Wait it is that voice it is the Keeper's voice. I put more pressure. Aaaah!    Boom!

All around it’s white.

Nothing in sight.

The dust starts to clear.

Rolls down your tear.

You see from your very eyes.

The body.

Of Than.

ZOOM! 

I open my eyes to find myself in the hospital. I see bandages all over me. I hear a friendly voice saying. “What happened to him, doctor?”. A kind voice replies “He was found lying near an alley dumpster. Bruised all over, possibly burned.”. I realize I am back where I rightfully belong home. After two days I recover from the heavy burns and I am back home. As I brush my teeth, biting my nails. My finger starts bleeding. I angrily punch the wall and what. The walls burning. I quickly splash it with water but no use. I am a flare boy. I am the flare boy.