The Collection, Vol. 1

  Chapter 1.

  The Train Ride to New Opportunities

  America, the year 1880. In the eastern part of Texas, Roy Macgrath waited in line to get on a train which was headed to Arizona. It was a busy town with lots of people waiting in line to get on the train. Roy heard nothing but talking and yelling in the crowd of people who surrounded him. It was a hot day, and the unforgiving sun stared down at everybody’s faces. The metal train in which people were getting onto was burning hot. Roy, getting irritated, was still waiting in line to get on the train. He took off his trusty brown leather hat and fanned his face with it. Fly’s buzzed around everyone’s faces.

  “You reckon Arizona will be better than here pa?” asked a little girl to her father in line in front of Roy.

  “Yes sweetheart. We can plant some nice flowers up there, and buy some cattle. Its easier to plant up there, because they get more rain than here. I’ll even teach you how to ride a horse!” said the father to his daughter excitedly.

  “Oh don’t get her hopes up. She should be a little older ‘till she can ride a horse. Horses can buck you off easily,” said the mother to her daughter strictly.

  Roy listened in on what the people were saying, because he wanted to hear what Arizona was like. It was hard to understand what people were saying because so many people in line were chattering loudly. Roy hadn’t ever been anywhere else than Texas his whole life, and he was 27 years old.

  “I’ve heard the Indians out a little farther to the east have been stirring up trouble,” said an old lady in line in front of Roy.

  “I wouldn’t doubt it. People have been having problems with Indians lately. God knows why though. Not all Indians are bad,” said another old lady.

  Somebody tapped on Roy’s shoulder, and he turned around. It was a woman.

  “Do you know where the first stop of this train is going to be?” Asked the woman.

  “No ma’am. Probably down by Ridgewood, I heard a lot of people are headed there.” Said Roy politely.

  “Thank you mister.” Said the woman with a smile on her face.

  Roy wasn’t headed to Ridgewood. He was headed to the town of “Rattlesnake.” That’s where his sister Annie’s ranch is.

  The line finally moved forward and Roy and the other people got on the train. Roy walked up the stairs to get into the rusty old train, and he took a seat by a window. He looked at the window, and it looked like it had a bullet hole in it.

  “Probably just a robbery and a shooting.” He thought to himself.

  Roy looked out the window, and he saw the last of the people getting on the train. The spurs on the boots of the people clinked as they walked down the train and took a seat.

  Now that all of the people were on the train, the train let out a tremendous Hoot hoot and it chugged away. Roy took one last glance at the town behind him which was getting smaller and he tipped his hat to the life which he was now leaving behind.

  Now that the train was moving, everyone was in their seats. Roy sat his briefcase down, which had his violin strapped to the back of it, his rifle strapped to the back of it, and all of his clothes and other essentials inside of it. He opened the bag and pulled out his canteen, and drank from it. The warm burning sensation of the whiskey was just enough to calm him down. Once he was finished drinking, he screwed the cap back on and looked out the window. The people all chattered loudly. Roy inspected the crowd, to see what type of people were in the train. He saw the typical business men, probably from the east, who sported fancy long black coats and top hats. He also saw the typical rugged cowboys, like himself, who sported hats and gun holsters, with bandoliers and spurs. He also saw the beautiful women, who sported long dresses and hats with big colorful feathers.

  But probably the most interesting people Roy saw where a young Chinese boy, probably about 17 years old who was sitting next to him, and a muscular Scottish man, probably about 30 years old, who was sitting in the seat in front of Roy.

  “Oy, bloody hot out today. Scorching me face off.” Said the Scottish man irritated as he scratched his beard.

  “Yeah, I could just dunk my face in a horse trough.” Said one of the cowboys sitting next to the Scottish man.

  There were so many thoughts running around in Roy’s head. Roy took off his hat and put it over his face and shut his eyes. He then began having a dream of what happened about 8 hours earlier.

  He was at his big brothers ranch, where he lived his whole life, helping around the ranch. Roy was asleep in his bed, at the small house where he and his brother lived. A rooster crowed and Roy’s eyes sprang open. He got up out of bed and slipped his clothes on. He combed his shaggy blonde hair and brushed his teeth. Then he walked out to the kitchen. His big brother was making eggs and bacon.

  “Morning Roy. I decided to make you breakfast. We got a lot to do today.” Said his brother as he was flipping the eggs on a cast iron pan.

  “Thanks Ben. Have you gotten any letters from Annie lately? I heard she’s doing good with her ranch, but I haven’t heard from her recently.” Asked Roy as he took a seat at the table.

  “No I haven’t. sometime we should visit her in Arizona. It’d be something to see her ranch. Probably better than ours. I‘ve grown sick of this ranch.” Said Ben as he put the eggs and bacon on two plates and sat them on the table.

  Annie was their sister, who moved away from their parents ranch, which Roy and Ben inherited when their parents passed away from small pox. she then moved to Arizona and started her own ranch near a town.

  Roy and Ben began to eat their eggs and bacon. The eggs were plain and flavorless, but they didn’t complain. The bacon was chewy and hard to swallow, but still, it tasted good to them. They finished eating and headed outside to begin that days work.

  “I’m going to go get the cows from the fields. You go get the chickens eggs.” Directed Ben.

  “Okay. Come get me if you need help.” Said Roy cautiously.

  Ben mounted his horse and trotted away. Roy headed over to the chicken coop to collect the eggs. He was carrying a basket to hold the eggs. he got inside the chicken coop and he grabbed the eggs and put them into his basket. The chickens clucked and bustled around.

  “Shhh. Easy now.” Said Roy calmly as the chickens squawked and pecked at him.

  Roy now had all of the eggs and he sat them down inside of the house. He headed back out. He saw Ben far away trotting on his horse, leading a herd of cows. Roy opened the gates for the cows to go in and he hopped onto his horse and trotted over to Ben to help lead the cows.

  “They’re being uncooperative today. Go around them and scare them in.” Insisted Ben.

  Roy went around the cows and whistled loudly at them and they ran into the pin.

  “Good job partner.” Said Roy as he jumped off his horse and shut the gates.

  “I think we’re missing one though. I’m going to head back out and find her.” Insisted Ben.

  Roy lead the cows into their stalls. He headed to the shed to get a bucket to milk the cows. He opened the shed door and grabbed the first bucket he saw, and headed back to where the cows were. He kneeled down next to one of the cows and put the bucket under the cows udder and began milking it. Milking cows wasn’t easy, and it took a long time, but fresh milk was worth it. The day seemed to be going pretty good. Roy had got about a half a bucket of milk now. He whistled as he worked. But suddenly he heard yelling from Ben.

  “ROY! ROY! COME HERE NOW!” Bellowed Ben.

  Roy didn’t take a second, he hopped up immediately and ran to Ben. He saw Ben standing by the house looking in the distance.

  “What’s wrong? Jeez you nearly gave me a heart attack.” Said Roy panting, as he had just sprinted as fast as he could to Ben.

  “Look in the distance you yellow belly.” Said Ben with fear and fury in his voice.

  Roy squinted and saw a huge group of Indians in the distance galloping full speed at them. These Indians were not friendly. Roy and Ben ran into the house and gr
abbed guns. Unfortunately, the nearest town was about 4 hours away.

  “Roy go get a brief case and pack it with everything you need.” Ordered Ben.

  Roy didn’t question what was going on. He ran into his room, and grabbed a brief case and filled it with his clothes and other things, and headed back out. The Indians were still far away, but Roy and Ben could hear their yelping.

  They both went outside with their guns ready. Roy had his rifle and his brief case and Ben had his rifle.

  “Roy go get on a horse and head for town. don’t look back, and don’t bother sending help. Take a train to Arizona and go to Annie’s ranch. She’s all you have left. don’t question me, just go. I‘ll hold them off as long as I can so you can get away.” Ordered Ben in a straight-forward tone.

  Roy grabbed his brief case and hopped on a horse, and Ben slapped the horse on the bottom and it galloped away. The horse was going full speed in the direction where the nearest town was. Roy didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to leave his big brother behind. But Ben knew that the only way to keep the Indians from getting his little brother was to sacrifice himself. Roy wanted to head back but he knew he couldn’t. he then heard gunshots and yelling. Probably the most gruesome sounds Roy had ever heard in his life. Roy wanted to turn around and look back, but he remembered what his brother said, so he kept galloping towards town.

  Roy was too far to hear anything anymore. His eyes filled with tears. Ben was the most brave man Roy knew, and he was Roy’s only brother and best friend. He rode on for hours, seeing nothing but trees and open fields of dead grass. Ben was 28, only one year older than Roy, and he was Roy’s only sibling, other than Annie. Roy, after a few hours, saw the town in the distance. Roy galloped into town and dismounted his horse, and tied it to a post, then he headed over to the train station. He pretty much left the horse there, not really noticing. He saw a bunch of people in line. He got up to the counter of the train station.

  “One ticket to Arizona.” Said Roy to the train ticket man. They were in the state of Texas, so a train ride to Arizona was pretty long.

  “Okay partner. One ticket to Arizona.” Said the ticket man, who was chewing on a cigar. Roy handed him 7 dollars, and the ticket man gave him a train ticket. He then got into line to get on the train.

  Roy’s flashback ended. He shook his head and took his hat off his face. The train was chugging very fast now, and Roy could clearly see different scenery out his window. He gazed out his window and saw nothing but fields of green grass and blue skies. Roy pulled out his revolver from his gun holster and looked at it. Roy had two guns, his rifle which was strapped to his brief case, which he bought from a store about 3 years back, and his revolver which was always in his holster which was passed down to him from his father before his father passed away. It was a fancy six shooter, with a silver barrel and a dark wood handle.

  Roy couldn’t stop thinking about his brother Ben. He wanted to believe that Ben fought all of the Indians off, but he just couldn’t believe that.

  “Aw, I’m so thirsty.” Mumbled the Chinese teenager who was sitting next to Roy.

  “Here partner. Drink this, you’ll feel a lot better.” Said Roy as he handed the Chinese boy his canteen.

  “Oh thank you sir! Thank you so much.” Said the Chinese boy and he drank from the canteen. He choked as he swallowed it.

  “Partner, you okay?” Asked Roy.

  “What is this?” Asked the Chinese boy as he handed the canteen back to Roy.

  “Its whiskey. You cant take water with you for long periods of time. It gets old and you can get dysentery.” Said Roy taking his canteen back.

  “Oh. Well thank you.” Said the Chinese boy nodding with a smile.

  The Scottish man looked over at Roy and the Chinese boy.

  “You’ve obviously never been to Scotland. We drink like warriors over there. God I miss Scotland.” Chuckled the Scottish man.

  Roy looked out his window once more. He saw wild horses trotting in the distance.

  “Partner, look.” Said Roy pointing out the window at the horses, who were running away from the sound of the train.

  “Wow. I never knew the west was so beautiful.” Said the Chinese boy in awe as he stared at the beautiful wild horses.

  “And full of things that can kill you.” Chuckled Roy.

  The wild horses looked beautiful as they trotted around. There was two brown horses and a white one. They slowly disappeared of in the distance.

  “I heard there’s a nice farm girl in Arizona who’s been helping a lot with the town. Her names Annie I think.” Said an old lady to her husband, a couple seats in front of Roy.

  This made Roy feel good. He knew his sister was a nice person, but it was neat to know that she has a reputation.

  “Yup. I heard she’s got a nice ranch going. The only ranch near Rattlesnake.” Replied the husband to his wife.

  “So where are you headed mister?” Asked the Chinese boy to Roy.

  “The town of Rattlesnake. It’s a big town in Arizona territory from what I’ve heard.” Replied Roy to the Chinese boy.

  “Hey no kidding mister? I’m headed there too. What a coincidence.”

  “Ain’t that something’? Why are you headed there?” Asked Roy curiously.

  “No particular reason. I came here from New York, once I got off the boat from China. Why are you headed to Rattlesnake?”

  “To help my sister around her ranch. My life in Texas is gone now. I’ve nothing left for me there.” Said Roy sadly as he looked out his window.

  “I know how you feel. My parents put me in an orphanage when I was a baby. I escaped the orphanage and I’ve been living on the streets of China my whole life. And I’m 17. I came to America to have a better life.” Explained the Chinese boy.

  “Wow. Your pretty smart, you speak English really well.” Said Roy kindly.

  The Chinese boy spoke good English, but his accent was hard to understand at times.

  The Chinese boy reached his hand at Roy to shake hands, and he said, “My name is Chyin Mei Ying. Nice to meet you.”

  Roy shook hands with him and said, “Roy Macgrath. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ll call you Chin, it fits you better.”

  Roy looked out of his window again. The scenery looked more different than ever. He felt like he was in a new world. There was huge mountains and green grass and big trees and cactuses. The sun shined on everything, giving it a gold color. There were some coyotes who were standing in the distance. They weren’t afraid of the train as they were just sitting looking at it racing by them.

  “Did you read in the newspaper about that huge treasure which is rumored to be up north?” Asked a young woman curiously to her husband.

  “Yes I did. I think some old coot might have the map to it. I reckon he’s going to find it.” Said the husband to his wife.

  Roy took no interest into this conversation. He had no time to worry about hidden treasure. Right now the only thing he wanted to do was lay his head back and take a nap. He decided he would, so he put his hat over his eyes. He fell asleep very fast.

  “She’s all you have left. She’s all you have left. She’s all you have left.” Said Ben’s voice slowly fading away. And then a gunshot went off.

  Roy jumped up very fast and his hat flew off his face onto the floor. He had a terrible nightmare.

  “Mister Macgrath! You okay?” Asked Chin very startled.

  “Yeah, I’m okay partner.” Said Roy panting with fear.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Nothing. Just had a bad dream.”

  “Well calm down.” Insisted Chin as he leaned forward and picked Roy’s hat up and handed it to him.

  “Thanks kid.” He said taking his hat back.

  Roy wasn’t tired in the least anymore. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and breathed slowly.

  The Sun was setting over the mountains. It was getting dark slowly. Roy could hear coyotes howling in the distance, even over the sou
nd of the train.

  The Scottish man who was sitting in front of Roy and Chin turned around and looked at them.

  “Aye d’you gents know if wire stopping for the night?” He asked curiously.

  “I’m not sure partner. I think Ridgewood is our first stop, but I’m not sure if we’ll get there tonight.” Explained Roy to the Scottish man.

  “Oye’m blimey hungry. Avvent hod anything to eat for hours.” Said the Scottish man sadly.

  Roy opened his brief case and pulled out an apple.

  “Here, take this. I don’t need it for anything.” Said Roy as he generously handed it to the Scottish man.

  “Aye lad! Thoynk ya very much! At our next stop, I‘ll buy you a drink to repay the favor.” Cried the Scottish man as he took the apple.

  “Don’t mention it partner.”

  “Names Hamish Mckinley.” He said eating the apple.

  “Roy Macgrath. Nice to meet you, partner.”

  “Noyce to meet yeh, Roy.” He said as he shook hands with Roy.

  It was now completely dark. The moon lit up the ground. The passengers of the train slowly stopped talking and went to sleep in their seats. The sound of snoring among the passengers was almost louder than the actual train. Chin was sound asleep next to Roy, and Hamish was also asleep. Roy decided that he should just go to sleep, so he shut his eyes. It was quite hard to get comfortable as the train seats were just wooden benches. But Roy, after about half an hour, managed to fall asleep.

  The next morning, the train pulled to an immediate stop. Surprisingly, Roy didn’t wake up so Chin decided to shake Roy around to wake him up so that he wouldn’t sleep through the time that the train was stopped.

  “What? What’s going on?” Asked Roy tired, barely opening his eyes.

  “We’re at our first stop. In Ridgewood.” Explained Chin.

  Roy sat up and looked out the window. The train was stopped at a nice looking town. There was a broken wood sign which read “Ready your peacemakers for Ridgewood.”

  “Yup. This is Ridgewood.” Said Roy.

  “Aye, I’m happy that we’re finnaly stopped.” Yawned Hamish.

  “This town looks dangerous. Maybe it would be safer if the three of us stuck together, even if we don’t know each very well.” Suggested Chin to Roy and Hamish.

  Roy and Hamish agreed.

  They walked down the room of the rusty train with a bunch of other people. They squeezed through the crowd of people which were also getting off the train. They got to the stairs of the train and walked down and out of the train. It felt good to feel the ground again, without it shaking like the train was.

  “It feels good to stretch your legs again. don’t it fella’s?” Asked Roy to Chin and Hamish..

  “It sure does.” They said stretching.

  Roy took a good long glance at the town. It was the classic old west looking town. There was the saloon, and the sheriffs office which was close by the saloon. Probably because gunmen would get drunk and cause trouble. Than there was the undertakers office which was close to the train, a doctors office, a general store, and the bank.

  The sun beamed down on the town making it scorching hot. The town was full of people walking around and talking, and people on horses riding through. A tumbleweed rolled by the three of them. Roy could hear a classic fast piano being played from the saloon.

  “Come on fella’s, lets go have a looksie at this saloon.” Said Roy as he started walking towards the saloon.

  The spurs on Roy’s boots clinked as they walked down this scorching hot town. Roy pulled his hat down to keep the sun out of his eyes, Hamish did the same with his grey cowboy hat. Chin didn’t wear a hat.

  “There’s one thing I’ve noticed about you, partner. You never wear a hat.” Said Roy to Chin curiously.

  “Your right. I guess I just never bought one.” Chuckled Chin.

  “Well your liable to get shot without one. We need to buy you one sometime.” Said Roy.

  They finally got to the saloon. The saloon wasn’t exactly a saloon. It was sort of like a restaurant and a saloon. There was a sign on top of the saloon which read “Dead mans tongue grub and chow down.” The three of them walked through the flapping front doors which were at chest height and bent forward when you pushed through.

  This was a smaller saloon. It didn’t have two floors like some saloons did, but it had buffalo heads and buck heads and antlers hanging behind the bar. There was an old man in the corner playing a fast jaunty tune on a big piano. There were tables all throughout the room with people sitting at them playing poker and black jack, and spit pots sitting next to each table. There were a row of seats at the counter of the bar.

  Roy tipped his hat to one of the men at a table which they walked by. The man, tipped his hat back to Roy. They kept walking.

  One of the men at a table was reading a book.

  “Howdy partner.” Said Roy to the man.

  “Mornin’.” Said the man.

  “Wellll look what the cat dragged in.” Laughed a man at a table looking at Chin.

  “Ignore him.” Insisted Roy to Chin.

  “Yeah, he’s joste a drunk.” Said Hamish noticing that the man was holding a huge bottle of whiskey.

  They got to the bar and the three of them sat down. The men at the tables spit tobacco into the spit jars.

  “As promised, I‘ll be buying you two drinks.” Smiled Hamish to Roy, as if he were proud that he was keeping one of his promises for once.

  The bartender approached the three of them.

  “What’ll it be?” Asked the bartender.

  “Three whiskeys on me.” Insisted Hamish.

  “Thanks Hammy. The apple?” Asked Roy.

  “Aye. When yeh ‘ungry a little apple can go a long way.” Chuckled Hamish.

  “Will this whiskey burn like the stuff in your canteen?” Asked Chin to Roy.

  “Yes it will. It’ll burn your little throat out.” Laughed Roy.

  “That isn’t good.” Said Chin fearfully.

  Just then, the bartender slid three shot glasses over to them.

  “Bottoms up!” Exclaimed Hamish.

  They all drank the whiskey at the same time.

  Chin decided to man up and swallow it, but he coughed a little.

  They all sat the glasses down.

  “I wonder when the train’s going to leave again. We’re still in Texas territory. And it’s still a long way away from Arizona territory.” Said Roy.

  “Probably not too long.” Guessed Chin.

  “So Hamish. Tell me about yourself.” Insisted Roy.

  “Well back in Scotland I hit a few people and robbed a couple of stores and got into trouble, so I changed my name to Hamish Mckinley and took a boat over to America. I was going to get some land from my father but I’m the third son of my family so there was nothing there for me to inherit anyway.” Explained Hamish.

  “Well it sounds like you got your spurs in a twist over in Scotland.” Chuckled Roy.

  “That I did.” Said Hamish with a half grin.

  “Hey could we get some beans and bread?” Asked Roy to the bartender.

  “Sure, stranger.” Said the bartender walking away.

  The bartender came back with three bowls of baked beans and some burnt bread, which looked delicious to the three of them. The bartender sat the food down in front of them and Roy payed the man and they began eating.

  “So any of ya’ll married?” Asked Roy.

  “I had a lady friend in China, but she left me for a rich boy. I got mad and learned martial arts from a homeless man, and I beat the shit out of the rich boy. I didn’t get the girl back, I only lost my chances to be with her. Violence gets you nothing in life.” Explained Chin rather sadly.

  “Oy had a wife, bot she left me when I gote into trouble with the law.” Said Hamish also sadly.

  “Well I’m sorry to you both.” Said Roy respectively.

  Roy had girlfriends before, but had trouble finding the right woman. Roy wa
s thinking that he might find the right woman in Arizona.

  “That’s a pretty big gun, Hammy.” Chuckled Roy.

  Hamish had a huge double barreled shotgun which was always strapped to his back.

  “Arguments are always settled better with a shotgun.” Shrugged Hamish.

  “So, Chin, how good are you with a gun?” Asked Roy curiously.

  Chin finished the food in his mouth and then he said, “I’m alright. I mean I’m not great but I’m okay.” He explained.

  “Your no Wild Bill Hickok at shooting?” Asked Roy.

  “Whatever that means, probably not.” Explained Chin.

  “Well when we get to Rattlesnake, I’ll teach you how to shoot good.” Assured Roy.

  “Ya’ll are headed teh Rattlesnake? I om to! Small damn world we live in isn’t it?” Asked Hamish.

  “Aint that something?” Asked Roy smiling.

  The three of them sat there for a little while, finishing their food, and then they heard the train let out a tremendous warning hoot hoot, that it was about to leave and continue heading to Arizona.

  “Well lets get back on the train before it leaves us!” Cried Roy, and they all got up and ran out the doors of the saloon.

  Outside was hotter and brighter than it was earlier. They all squinted as they ran through town towards the train.

  Grayson’s Story

  Grayson Krause

  It was the day I was going to take the test to get my driver’s license. I wasn’t thrilled, but I’d put it off long enough. As my mom drove me to the DOL I began to think of all the places I’d be able to go once I had my license. The mall would be sweet. I wouldn’t have to wait for the bus to bring me to school every morning. Yeah. Having a license would be fun I decided.

  Our 1991 Honda Accord rolled into the parking lot just outside the test area and I checked in my pocket to make sure my ring was still there. I had found it that morning just lying in the grass. It was an almost florescent green color that, when held up to the light, looked like it was glowing. It had some cool looking runes on the outside of the ring, like a prop from some movie or something. I liked the way it felt when I ran my fingers along its shiny surface.

  “Paul?” my mom said. “It’s going to be a minute before the tester comes out and I’m going to head over to the grocery store now. Good luck on your test.”

  I got out of the passenger seat and headed around the car to the driver’s side. “Thanks Mom. I’ll call you when it’s over. If I passed that is. If I failed then I’ll change my name and move out of the country.”

  She smiled and said, “Don’t worry. Fourth time’s the charm.” I flopped down in the seat and closed my eyes. I didn’t really want to go through failing my test again. I was pretty sure failing your test four times would be a world record or something. It’s not like I don’t know that stop signs mean stop or that turn lanes are for turning or that those stop lines on the road are for you to stop ‘behind’. It’s just that there’s other things I’d rather focus on while I’m driving like what I’m going to eat for dinner or what events I'm going to do in the upcoming track meet.

  I jumped when someone knocked on my window. With my eyes closed I hadn’t seen the tester come up to the car. I franticly tried to get the key in the ignition so I could roll down the window before the tester recognized me as ‘the kid who’d failed three times’ from the last time we drove together and walked away. The man who was about to put his life into my hands just sighed when he saw me and walked around to the passenger side without even asking to see my license and registration like he’d done on the previous drives. I realized a half a second too late that the passenger door was locked. The old man pulled on the latch just as I tried to flip the unlock button. The door stayed put when he lifted the latch and pulled.

  I said to him through the window, “Sorry. I forgot it was locked.” I unlocked the door and he slowly climbed into the seat. “Do you remember how the brakes squeaked really bad last time?” The tester didn’t answer me. He didn’t even look at me, but I continued. “Well, it still kind of squeaks but now it also shudders and makes a weird screeching sound, but don’t worry ‘cuz it hasn’t been a problem so far.” I could tell this was going to be my best drive yet. We got started and I pulled out onto the road.

  I tried my hardest to concentrate on everything I was doing. I felt like the drive was going pretty well. I hadn’t blown through an stop signs or hit anything when the tester directed me in the direction of the school again. I wanted to see my test score before I made it back to the lot, so when I was on a straight of way I peeked at his sheet. It was a ninety-six! I had totally smoked the test. Now all I had to do was make it back to the parking lot without crashing. I returned my eyes to the road. What I saw ahead of me caused me to slam on the brakes.

  We screeched to a stop inches from a very tall man in a trench coat and a cowboy hat that covered his face. He had been standing in the middle of my lane facing me and didn’t move whatsoever when I nearly flattened him. We just stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. All I could see of his body were eyes under his enormous hat that hid his face. I was breathing hard after the shock of nearly plowing into him when he started towards me.

  I turned to the tester but he was just staring wide eyed at the man approaching us, his mouth wide open. The huge man came to the driver’s side and got down on his knees and stooped over to look in the window. He motioned for me to roll it down. Now that he was so close, I could see that he had a bandana covering most of his face which was why I couldn’t see it. Am I being robbed? I thought. If I was, it was the weirdest robbery I’d ever heard of.

  I shook my head, not about to lower my window for the weirdo. He gave me a dirty look and motioned much more forcefully for me to roll my window down. As he was gesturing, I noticed he was wearing gloves over his gigantic hands, hiding all of his skin but that around his eyes. But even that skin was hidden in the shadow cast by his hat. I looked to the tester for assistance but he just stared at the man with a horrified look in his face.

  I was turning my head back to the man when I was hit in the face by my shattered window. Glass flew into my eyes and cut into my face. Tears filled my eyes and I struggled to get out of the car. I unbuckled the seat belt and reached for the door handle, only to feel air. I squinted through the pain and saw that my door was completely missing from its hinges and the man was holding it above his head. He tossed it aside like it was a Frisbee and reached for me. His hand closed around my arm in a crushing grip and lifted me out of the car. He began dragging me down the street by one arm while my other was over my bloody face.

  I heard a woman calling 911 on the side of the road as I was being abducted. Everyone else just watched in awe, completely terrified of the man. Through squinting when I could, I learned that he had taken me off the road and into the woods next to them. Some people followed with cell phone cameras but ran away quickly when the large man turned and shouted at them in a very deep voice to leave. He didn’t actually say any words to them. It was more of a roar than anything. He had pulled me for maybe a minute when he threw me to the ground. He tore my jacket from me and began ripping it to pieces. My face hurt too much and I was too scared, so all I could do was lay there and bleed.

  After the jacket slaughter stopped, the man walked over, what little bit of his face I could see was bright red and his eyes were bulging. He began to speak, but it was very slow and awkward like he hadn’t spoken in a while. “Wh… where, is… it? His voice was very deep and rough with obvious hatred for me in it.

  “Look dude,” I started. “I honestly have no idea why you attacked me and murdered my jacket, but can’t we just talk about this like civilized humans…ur. Whatever it is you are?”

  I believe he was just about to throw the temper tantrum of the century when something above me caught his eye. He took a step back, slight fear i
n his eyes. I looked behind me and saw a young man with a golden sword in one hand, and something glowing in the other. His clothes were shockingly normal considering his medieval era weaponry. They each regarded each other with extreme distaste and stood there staring at each other like they were ready for a showdown.

  “Get up,” said the young man without taking his eyes off of the giant.

  I swept my hand across my face to clear it of blood and scrambled to my feet.

  “Do you still have it with you?” he said quietly to me as a came closer, sword still raised, ready to fight.

  “Do I have what?” I said raising my voice a little. “Is it my jacket you want? Because he’s already eaten it.” Standing next to him, I could see that the glowing object in his hand was what looked like a solid ball of fire.

  “No,” he said sternly, turning his head slightly to look at me out of the corner of his eye. “Do you have the--.” His words were cut short. A rock the size of my head came hurling at the man, striking him in the chest and sending him sprawling back fifty feet. As he hit the ground with a loud thud, the glowing ball in his hand vanished instantly. I turned and saw the giant reaching for another rock at his feet. As he bent over to retrieve the rock, his large cowboy hat fell from his head and landed on the ground. Atop his head, there were two little spikes, about an inch long. From a distance they might have been mistaken for little pig tails. The giant raised the rock in his hand and prepared to hurl it at me.

  “Run!” I heard the voice behind me just as I dropped to the ground to avoid the stony projectile which came within inches of my head. Without having to hear it twice, I took off in the opposite direction of my attacker.

  I glanced over my shoulder as I ran and saw the young man begin staggering to his feet with what looked like sparks falling from the spot where the rock had struck him. The giant rushed past him and began following me deeper into the woods. I glanced behind me and began a mad dash to out run him. From behind me I could hear a loud hamberger on grill sizzling, followed by a shout from the giant. I didn’t dare turn my head this time. The cuts stung as I ran through low hanging branches. Blood started trickling down my face once again. My foot caught a root and I fell flat on my face. I struggled to regain my breath and rolled onto my back. The giant was close behind but stumbling around recklessly with black smoke rising from his body. A ball of fire flew from somewhere behind him and struck him in the back of the head. I could feel the heat from the impact as it splashed searing embers around the giant. He stumbled, but continued his blind rush towards me. The young man came running at full speed around a tree, golden sword and ball of fire in hand. He came apon the giant quickly and dove at his target, plunging his sword deep into his side. The giant fell to the ground, still flailing his arms, about ten feet from where I lay.

  “Quick!” shouted the young man, still grappling with the downed giant. “Put on the ring! Put it on and touch me!”

  Scary drive test ruining horned giant. Fire ball shooting golden sword wielding stranger. Ok. I reached into my pocket and slipped the ring onto my finger. The ring had barely passed my first knuckle when some kind of chart popped into my head. It wasn’t a physical object, but I could see it in my mind as clear as day. It was very complex much of it made no sense to me.

  “Quickly!” the giant knocked the man onto his back and was beginning to rise to its feet, sword still in its side.

  I tried to ignore the image that had put its self in my head and rushed over to the man lying on the ground and closed my hand around his wrist. Immediately, the image in my mind began to change. The image was still filled with many strange potato shaped blobs, but one of them began to glow. It kept glowing brighter and brighter until the white light completely consumed me. I felt as though I had fallen asleep and was dreaming. A slight breeze started to blow into my face. The wind grew stronger until it hurt my skin. The gale blew too hard for me to open my eyes but I could still feel the man’s arm in my hand and the ground underneath me. Suddenly, the wind light vanished all at once. I held my eyes shut for a moment longer, wondering what in the world just happened to me. I could hear birds singing somewhere in the distance and could feel the warm sun on my skin. I slowly opened my eyes and raised my head. I gasped and stared wide eyed at what I saw. A little old man with a long gray beard stood gaping a few feet away. We just looked at eachother for a moment.

  “You’ve done it! The ring is back!” said the old man as he leaped into the air, a big smile on his face.

  The arm I still clenched in my hand shook its self free. “I’m glad to see you too master.” The young man said with humor in his voice.

  “Oh I was so worried you’d never return, what with you being gone for so long.”

  This drew a small laugh from the man who was getting to his feet. “I wasn’t even gone a day.”

  “We must tell the others you’re back. They’ll be so excited.”

  I still sat there in the dirt, completely bewildered. “Um…excuse me but, what just happened?”

  The old man looked at me puzzled. “Why is he here Rim?”

  “There were some…slight complications. Such as the Truge trying to kill this boy over the ring.”

  The old man rubbed his chin and looked at me for a moment. “Well,” he said walking over to me and giving me a hand up. “I’d much rather not have pulled him in to this but there’s nothing we can do about it now, is there?”

  Once to my feet, I slipped the ring off of my finger and handed it to him. “It sounds like this is yours.”

  He snatched the ring and held it tenderly in his palm. “Yes. Wonderful. Thank you ever so much. My name is Melendez by the way and that there is Rim. I’ll try to explain what’s going on as soon as we get back to the keep. We can get your cuts fixed up there too.”

  ………………………………….

  We approached our destination around night-fall.

  “Is this the ‘keep’ you were talking about?” I said, emphasizing keep sarcastically.

  We approached a little shack in the middle of the woods that was hardly bigger than an outhouse and looked about as nice.

  “Haha. You will see.” Melendez walked up in front of the outhouse’s door and waved his hand slowly before it.

  The old rotting wooden door opened on rusty hinges and revealed an equally unimpressive interior. The two men stepped inside and motioned for me to enter with them. I hesitated. I didn’t really know either of these people and as a general rule I don’t usually cram myself into outhouses with strangers. I didn’t see much of an alternative however. I was in an unfamiliar place with no idea what was going on. If I was afraid of getting killed by these two people, I knew that I would most likely get killed by something else if I wondered off on my own.

  The man named Rim saw the doubt on my face and gave a soft smile. “It’s okay boy. We’ll answer any questions you have once we get to a safer place.”

  “And what safer place than this,” I motioned to the shack. I made up my mind that the promise of answers was better than getting lost and having one of those horned monsters tear up another article of my clothing like had happened to my poor jacket. I squeezed into the small room, barely big enough for all of us and Melendez closed the door behind me.

  “So uh. Now that we’re in your super secret club house can you tell me what’s going on?”

  Melendez chuckled and began rubbing his hands together rapidly. “We’re not there yet.”

  He rubbed his hands together for a few more seconds before a blue light appeared between his palms. He stopped rubbing them and separated his hands to reveal a floating blue orb of light that hung suspended in the middle of the room. The light was very bright and reminded me of the one I saw in the woods when I wore the ring. The walls of the shack faded away as the intensity of the light grew. I could still see Melendez and Rim a
s they gazed, unimpressed looks on their face like they’d done this plenty of times, into the floating orb. The light began to fade and I could see we were now standing in a slightly larger stone room with no windows and one big double door. The orb of light became dim but continued to float in the middle of the room.

  “Where are we?” I said looking around the room.

  Melendez turned to the large wooden doors and said, “Some place safely away from unwanted listening ears.” He placed his hands on the doors and swung them open. Behind them was a wide room with a tall ceiling. It had no windows and was lit by dim floating orbs similar to the one that had brought us there. The place looked like they had either fired the cleaning lady a long time ago or there had never been one in the first place. Wooden tables and chairs were scattered around the room with various objects like books, medieval era clothes, and some swords were piled on top of them. It took me a second but I saw a lone figure seated at one of the tables.

  “Aleister! Rim has retrieved the ring!”

  The very white skinned figure raised its head and looked at Melendez. The first person that came to mind when I saw his face was Abraham Lincoln. If Lincoln had been a vampire. With deep set eyes and an almost identical beard, he would have made an almost exact copy of the former president. You know… minus the bright red eyes and completely white skin. Those fangs protruding from his mouth would have probably given him away too.

  In an incredibly deep and un-amused voice, Aleister had a frown that looked like it was always there as he replied. “Really? I couldn’t have predicted that. And what’s this? He’s found a pet.”

  Rim turned to me and gave me another small smile. “Don’t mind him. He’s just cranky about being eternally condemned to spend his days in utter boredom, never able to leave this room.”

  “Sounds about as fun as math class,” I said. I expected at least a chuckle from the vampiric presidential impersonator but received a hateful glare instead.

  “Tell me Paul Stevens, how is it you’ve found yourself in my lair this evening?” He said sinking his two big chompers into what looked like a dead beaver that had previously been lying on the table before him.

  I glanced at Melendez who was now holding the ring before him, staring at it intensely. “You know. Believe it or not I don’t feel very safe in your club house. Maybe we should just leave until he’s done with his dinner.”

  Aleister put the animal back on the table and slouched in his chair. “No. I’m pretty sure I’ll dislike you just as much when I’m done.”

  “Wait,” I said. “How did you know my name?”

  Aleister grabbed a Coca-Cola from under the table and popped the tab with his teeth.

  Rim answered for him since he was clearly ignoring me. “Well, Aleister here is a vampire if that wasn’t already abundantly clear. Vampires have the ability to pick up seemingly random information from people in their presence if they haven’t been trained to keep them out.”

  “You mentioned something about him being condemned to stay here forever.”

  “He wasn’t always a vampire. Vampirism is contracted like any other illness. You don’t know you have it until you become a vampire all of a sudden. Aleister was in this room when he turned, and along with the ability to extract information from people comes the major sensitivity to light. The only way out of this room is through the way we got in here which creates enough light to kill a vampire. That is why he can’t leave.”

  I continued to look at Aleister as he took a drink from his can. “I know I should be asking why I was attacked by a giant monster and why I found a magical ring that teleported me to this strange place, but what I really want to know is how you got that can. It doesn’t look like it’s from this world.”

  Melendez stopped caressing the ring and faced me. “Your questions are actually related. Here, have a seat. This could be a while.”

  I sat in the seat closest to myself.

  I’ll save you all the enjoyment of hearing Melendez’s incredibly long story and sum it up for you. Around six months prior, Melendez, who was apparently a wizard, created these two rings. Through a large amount of trial and error and many sleepless nights, he enchanted the rings so that they could send people to different ‘zones’ or as most people call them, dimensions. The rings had been tested several times and could send multiple people to these zones, most of which, while slightly resembling their own, varied vastly. The rings could only be used a few times before it needed to be recharged by being out of use for a while. Everything was hunky dory with Melendez and his fellow companions making visits and often befriending whatever lived there. But, as I’m sure you’re aware, there are people out there who are not content to just visit and befriend but want to control and conquer. Melendez’s apprentice, Reno, conspired with other members of the old wizard’s group and were able to take one of the rings from him by force. Reno then began attacks on other zones fought Melendez for the other ring. What few stayed loyal to Melendez fought to take the final ring from Reno. Their fights often left the world of Thal where the rings were created and stretched out to many other zones. One of Reno’s henchmen, the giant that attacked me, had managed to take the ring and traveled to Earth in an attempt to escape.

  Rim picked up telling me the story from there. He told me of how just before the giant traveled to Earth, Rim managed to hop onto the creature’s back, traveling with it. The truge as the giant was apparently called fought off Rim when they reached Earth. However, not being one of the smartest creatures, it had lost the ring somehow which is where I came into the story. Truges have excellent senses of smell like dogs and could tell the general direction of the ring, which smelled like its self, when it realized it had lost it.

  “All right,” I said when he was done with his story. “Have you been to Earth before then? Is that how Aleister got his can of soda?”

  Aleister, who had fallen asleep a long time ago, gave me no answer so once again, Rim answered for him. “I had been there once before just to explore. I brought some interesting items back like to Thal like a cell phone and a can of soda. I was arrested in that visit because the people from your world are not accustomed to people wearing clothes from my world and carrying swords around. That’s why I ‘borrowed’ some clothing from a shop once I got to Earth this time.”

  A sat there for a moment, thinking about all I had been told. Just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming I pinched myself.

  Before I had any more time to think about what was going on, there was a sound coming from behind the two wooden doors. I could see the blue light coming through the cracks in the door and heard what sounded like a hurricane from behind them. I glanced at Rim and saw a casual look on his face as he faced the door. The sound died away and the light seeping through the cracks faded.

  The old wooden doors swung open and a figure stepped out from behind them.

  Melendez who couldn’t wait for the person to even get in the room before telling her of the return of Rim shouted excitedly, “Ava! Rim’s back and he has the ring!”

  A young woman with long blond hair, wearing long blue robes much like Melendez’s, stepped in the room. She had a pretty smile as she shyly looked at Rim. “Of course he does,” Ava said to him in a timid but happy voice. Rim blushed and bowed slightly. “Thank you for your confidence ma’am.”

  There was silence for a moment during which Rim and Ava just looked sheepishly at eachother. This reminded me too much of the awkward romances of seventh grade so I decided to break the silence.

  “So um…” Everyone seemed to have forgotten me. Melendez had pulled the ring back out and was rolling it around in his hands, Aleister was still sleeping soundly, or at least pretending to, and Rim and Ava were looking bashful. “I’m bleeding to death through my face. Just thought I’d let you all know.”

  Ava was the only one that acknowledged and turned her head f
rom Rim to me. “Oh my!” she said now in the voice my mother uses when reprimanding me for tracking mud into the house. “Your face is all bloody,” she continued. “What happened to you?”

  “Well to make a long story short, I’m never getting my driver’s license.”

  She looked confused for a moment, waiting for an answer she’d understand.

  “I had glass smashed in my face,” I told her.

  The tips of her fingers began to glow and she held her hand before my face.

  I moved my head back. “Uh…What are you doing?"

  “Don’t move. This might feel strange.”

  My face became warm and felt like it was going numb. After a few seconds her hand returned to normal and she took a step back. I raised my hand to my face and began rubbing my hand on it. It was back to the way it had been that morning. All of the cuts had gone.

  “Thank you,” I said. “How did you do that?”

  She still looked baffled. “Um…who…what?” she stammered.

  Rim snapped out of his trance. “Oh, I’m very sorry. Ava this is… what was your name again?”

  “Paul.”

  “Yes, Paul. I ran into a bit of trouble trying to get the ring and accidentally brought him back with me.”

  “How horrible,” Ava said as she studied my face. “You must be pretty confused then.”

  “Well I was,” I said getting up from my chair, “But Melendez explained some things to me. One thing I still want to know is why he didn’t heal me earlier.”

  Rim spoke up again. “Oh, yes. It still seems odd to me that people from other zones don’t know much about magic. Here on Thal, a few sentient creatures are borne with different magic abilities. They’re random and vary in their effects. For example, as you might have seen already, much of my magic is very aggressive and combat oriented. Both Melendez and I have no ability to heal anyone. That’s Ava’s specialty.”

  None of this felt real. Everything I was seeing and hearing was so bazar, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t sleeping. I looked to my right and saw a vampire sleeping in the chair. Behind me there was a wizard that kept caressing his magic ring. I just closed my eyes and hoped it’d all just go away.

  “You look very tired.” I heard Melendez say. I opened my eyes and turned to face him. I nodded slightly and he hid the ring in his pocket. He threw some sparks from his hand they landed stone floor and disappeared.

  “The ring will be recharged sometime tomorrow I’m guessing but you can stay here until then.” Melendez approached the spot where the sparks had landed and prodded the ground with his foot. The slab of stone below him bent as though it was made of rubber. “This is the best I can do for now. It’s getting late and none of us want to be out after dark to get a real bed. Reno’s got all sorts of terrible creatures patrolling at night.”

  I slowly got up from my chair and walked to the floor before the wizard. I too poked the spot with my foot. After getting a feel for the strange squishy stone, I lay down on top of it and bounced a few more times to get comfortable. The room was still very cold but Melendez cast yet another spell to heat up the air around me. I watched as the old man created beds for everyone else except for Aleister who was now up and walking around. Finally Melendez created his own bed and plopped down on it. His hand went into his robe to grab the ring once again.

  “Oh yes. I’m so glad to have you back.”

  That night I dreamt of passing my driver’s test.

  Healer

  Sam Whittaker