It was 2017 and Katy, Andrew, Jack, and Emma were on a train to Sydney. The four of them, all 16 years old, are circus performers. They perform in the Cirque de Soleil that is known throughout Australia. They had been best friends since kindergarten, and had planned to stay that way.
“Why does it feel like the train is rocking side to side?” Emma announced.
“I don’t know,” Jack replied.
“But we better get back to our own cars.”
“I agree,” Katy shivered, “I feel very scared.”
The train started moving more violently as soon as they got to their own car. Katy and Emma started crying hard, and Andrew and Jack began to become scared.
Then it happened, the train tracks broke, the cars separated and each car went in different directions. All you could hear was screaming and things crashing into each other. It was pandemonium, they didn’t think they would make it out alive. Everybody doubted everything, but they shouldn’t have doubted it this time. It was miraculous, the train cars were a wreck yet they each only came out with a scratch. They were all alone in the forest with no way of getting home.
As Jack was wandering in the forest hungry and delusional he saw an old man walking through the forest, he was wearing a raggy brown cape and had a beard so long it touched the ground. Wondering if what he was seeing is real, rubbed his eyeballs until it was red.
“ There is a place with endless food and water, to get there you must follow my directions.” The old man whispered,
“Follow the forest path to a stream, cross the stream and when you see the eagle of Azarath, you will turn right. Your friends will be there waiting for you.”
As Emma was walking to the mysterious place the strange old man told her to go to, she heard a little boy crying from a far distance. As confused as she was to why he is in the forest alone, ran to him as fast as she could to see if he was hurt. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks when she saw his face.
Katy had been prepared for this her whole life, her dad always used to do practice drills in case something like this happened. She found wild berries to eat in case she got hungry. she built a campfire and ate fish for dinner. She was happy that she was so close to finding her friends, and possibly finding a way home.
Jack had seen the eagle of Azarath hours ago, but felt like he was even farther to reaching his destination. Then he saw it, food as far as the eye could see, sweet water from a lake that sparkles in the sunlight. He didn’t see Emma, Katy, or Andrew, he was saddened to see that his friends weren’t there.
“ Well, there won’t be any leftovers for them!” Jack shouted as he dove into a pile of bananas.
“Andrew is that really you?” Emma asked as she picked him up from the ground.
“Yeah,” he sniffled.
“It is.” He looked up to see her, but she was gone.
“Come on!” she shouted.
“I just saw the eagle of Azarath!”
“JACK!! EMMA!! ANDREW!!” Katy screamed,
“WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!!” “WE’RE ALL RIGHT HERE!!” Andrew replied.
“Oh my gosh!” Katy shouted “I miss you guys so much!”
“Yeah yeah,” Jack muttered,
“Now hurry up and eat.”
“Today we’re going home.”
“Remembered that old man who told us to come here?” Jack informed them.
“Well I stole a map from him.”
“Way to go Jack!” Emma exclaimed.
“Let’s start packing, we’re heading home today.”
“WOOHOO!!” The gang shouted.
They were halfway home when they encountered the deadly animal.
“AAAAHHHHH!!!” Emma screamed.
She was face to face with a tiger, she tried to run but the tiger caught her leg. She screamed with agony as the tiger was crushing her bones. It growled at the frightened teenagers then ran away. Luckily Katy was also prepared for this, and bandaged up Emma’s broken leg. She built a wagon out of wood and pushed her through the forest since she clearly couldn’t walk.
“We’re home!” Andrew exclaimed,
“We’re finally home!”
“We have to get Emma to the hospital!” Katy announced, She’s barely even breathing!”
“What are we waiting for then?” Jack asked,
“Let’s go!”
TWO WEEKS LATER
“She didn’t make it?” Katy sobbed?
“No…” Jack muttered,
“She didn’t.”
“Emma was barely alive when she went to the hospital, the hospital couldn’t have saved her, they didn’t have the right medicine and her leg was infected for too long.”
“Oh,” Katy whispered.
ONE YEAR LATER
Every year the gang comes together to remember the year of Emma’s death, and to also remember the time they spent in the forest. They quit the circus but still remain friends.
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