Chapter 3

As soon as I got home I headed straight to my room and landed on my bed.

I don’t know how long I laid there for because I must have dozed off.

When I woke up I saw that it was 3 a.m., then I saw that my pet bearded dragon: Sally was staring at me. I took her out of her cage and set her on my stomach and played with her for a while then fed her and put her back in her cage.

I couldn’t go back to sleep no matter how hard I tried and finally gave up. My eyes wandered around and focused onto my grandpa’s diary. It was thick. (That’s what she said) It was also old, and had the smell that only old books have.

I lay on my bed and turned to the first page and began to read.

Dear Lily,

If you are reading this then I have probably passed away by now. Don’t be disheartened by my death. Death is a part of nature and everyone will die one day, whether they like it or not.

Well…. That’s depressing… thought Lily. Anyway, she continued to read.

I accepted my death a long time ago and you should too. Although it may be hard to see beyond the sorrow, you will be comforted by the memories tomorrow.

That was a pretty good rhyme right? What is it you youngsters say? That was fire? Heh, I bet that made you laugh.

Even when I’m dead I’m still able to make you laugh like always.

“Pfft!” Lily gave a muffled laugh as tears slowly ran down her cheeks as she remembered all the times she had with her grandfather. Her grandfather always did have a sense of humor and he always kept up with the modern slang because of his occupation as an author.

I know how much you enjoyed reading my “little stories”. So you can consider this as my last one that is especially for you.

‘How ironic.’ Thought Lily. Her grandfather’s stories were hardly “little”. They were all at least over 500 pages and took hours to read, but they were well worth the time. His writing in his stories was able to make clear depictions of the scenes that made the readers laugh and cry with emotion. And his plot twists were simply legendary.

I regret not being able to see you grow up into the beautiful woman I know you will turn out to be.

Never be afraid of anything Lily. You have the power to do anything you put your mind to. As the saying goes: “Quitters never

win and winners never quit.”

And a little bit of elderly wisdom for you. Don’t be afraid to try new things in life. Experiencing new things is what makes life so exciting! A good old friend of mine always used to say this, “No guts, no glory.” Remember this. Life is a journey, not a destination. The experiences you have, the people you meet and your actions will all lead you on your own path that you were destined to walk.

Love,

Grandpa

Lily felt good. The fact that her grandfather personally wrote this for her improved her mood greatly.

She turned to the next page and continued reading.

***

Grandpa’s Diary

I, Robert Cornelius Ladin, am destined for greatness. I feel it in my bones.

‘Wow, grandpa… you sure were ambitious.’

It is the year 1963, and I have just graduated high school as the valedictorian of my class. I was accepted into Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. But I refused them all.

Do you know why? It’s because I have a goal. And that is to become a successful author that makes millions.

My parents were obviously against my idea and encouraged (forced) me to go to college. So I did the one thing that I could. I ran away from home.

Yes, with $245.29 in my pocket I left home with great confidence in accomplishing my goal. But who would have thought that after two weeks I would be down to a mere $3.31.

‘Yeah… running away from home was a pretty stupid idea gramps.’

I went freight-hopping all the way from California to Washington. I actually planned on getting off on Oregon, but it was night time and I fell asleep on accident. A simple miscalculation on my part.

After being misdirected by a kind old lady who seemed to know where to go but in reality knew nothing, I landed in some beach called Kaloloch or whatever it’s called, within the state of Washington.

‘Boom!’ Thunder resounded in the skies and I searched for shelter from the impending storm.

I ran along the beach and spotted a cave about a mile off from where I was and headed towards it.

“Ouch!” I finally reached the cave and my head hit something. I looked up and saw long roots of a tree. It looked quite amazing actually. The roof of this cave has roots of a tree hanging from the top of it.

A strong wind blew into the cave and so I headed deeper into the cave.

I walked about 10 meters and then I tripped and fell into a hole. A large hole. A deep hole.

“AAAAHHHH!” I was in freefall for roughly 3 seconds and my life flashed before my eyes. Me, playing with my friends in elementary school, reading the new comic books at the store, receiving my first report card with straight A’s, and going to prom with Becky Brandell.

‘Was this the end?’ I thought to myself. I can’t accept this. I won’t accept this. I had so much that I wanted and needed to accomplish with my life. It couldn’t end here.

I frantically waved my arms trying to grab hold of something to lessen the impact of my fall. But it was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t feel anything.

30 seconds passed and I was slowly coming to my sense. ‘What’s going on? How bloody deep is this damn hole?’

10 minutes later. I was practically bored to death. I even got used to the feeling of falling down to my death at speeds of over

120 miles per hour. I’m pretty sure I did the math right because the gravity of earth is 9.8 m/s times my weight should be around that speed.

1 hour later. ‘Somebody please just kill me already. I would rather die than spend eternity falling down this endless hole.’ I had mastered the art of spinning and flipping through the air and now had nothing to do.

My wish was granted as I hit the ground.

“Umph!!” I groaned in pain as the breath was knocked out of me.

‘Wait a minute… I should have died. I should have turned into a pile of crushed meat. How am I still alive?’

I slowly got up shakily and observed my surroundings.

“What the hell? Sand? Sun? How the hell did I get here in the middle of the desert?”

Hills of sand, as far as the eye could see was all there was in this scorching, arid environment.

“What in God’s name am I supposed to do now? Where am I?”

My brain was running a hundred miles per hour trying to figure out what happened and where I was. And after about five minutes I realized that I literally had no supplies to stay here for the long term. I only had my backpack, which had my journal, to write down stuff for my stories, spare clothes and one water bottle that was half empty and an apple.

I swiftly came to the conclusion that I desperately needed to find water or else I really will die here in this wasteland.

I covered myself with my spare clothes in attempt to cool myself even a little bit from the blazing sun and headed west. Hell… I didn’t even know where west was. I vaguely remember reading from a book that the sun moves west as the day passes… or was it east? I don’t remember. Anyway… I headed west. I hope.

My sweat evaporated as quickly as it came out of my pores. My shoes were filled with sand and I had no more water and I even ate my hot apple just for the juices that it had in an attempt to quench my thirst.

‘Note to self. Don’t ever eat a hot apple again. It tastes horrible.’

After an indefinite amount of time I started to get dizzy and my vision began to get blurry. I knew that I was dehydrated and that if I didn’t find water soon I would pass out and most likely die in this godforsaken land.

Thus I panicked. Which was my first mistake. Never panic in a dangerous situation. It leads to bad decisions.

I mustered all of my energy and ran in hopes of finding an oasis or better yet, people.

But, because of my stupidity I passed out.

I don’t know how long I was out for but when I came to I was surprised that I was even still alive.

‘Heh, of course you didn’t die. You’re the main character. Main characters have plot armor.’ Lily said to herself.

It was at that moment that I saw the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She had beautiful middle-eastern features and was wearing a head scarf. I bet she was no older than 20.

Her piercing black eyes stared at me as I looked at her with my mouth agape.

I must’ve looked pretty stupid because she let out a laugh. Oh, that melodious laugh. It was like a majestic waterfall that I couldn’t help but think of how amazing it sounds.

‘Oooh… grandpa… what about grandma?’

“Drink,” Is all she said to me as she brought up a leather skin filled with water.

It was warm. Not that I’m complaining, since I almost died of dehydration but I guess it’s to be expected because I am in the desert. I made sure to drink slowly, because I’m pretty sure that drinking too fast can cause some problems for my stomach.

While drinking, I looked around and saw that I was inside of a small tent.

“Where am I? Who are you? How did I get here?” I rattled off these questions like a machine gun.

“You are in the Atacma Desert. I am Adira. One of my father’s scouts found you in the sand and he brought you back here. It is

considered rude in our custom to not introduce yourself first, stranger.”

“I apologize. My name is Robert C. Ladin.” I wracked my brains trying to figure out where in the world a place called the Atacma Desert was but I couldn’t think of anything.

“That is a strange name, Robert. Where do you hail from?” asked Adira.

“I’m from the United States of America. What country is this?”

“Hmm… I have never heard of that country before, you must come from the far north stranger. Their countries have strange names that I am not familiar of. The Atacma Desert is no country. There are many tribes that inhabit this desert and we frequently wage war on each other for precious resources.”

I tried to get up but failed miserably.

“Rest. You are exhausted from your journey.” I heard Adira mutter some strange language and I found that my eyelids were getting heavier and they soon shut.

When I woke up again I felt completely fine. I had another drink from that leather skin that I found laying next to me and I exited the tent.

“AAHHHH!!!”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stumbled and fell backwards in terror.

A huge, black scorpion. Twice the size of a full grown man.

***

“Beep, beep, beep!”

My alarm went off and I jolted upwards.

“I don’t wanna go to school…” I groaned.

Then I suddenly remembered that there was a field trip today. With Lucas.

I got out of bed and rushed to the shower.

***

“Huff, huff. Sorry I’m late guys.” I came in running on the school bus as everyone was waiting for me.

I saw Lucas smile at me and I blushed. But my mood dampened as I saw that Lucas was sitting next to Dylan (Asian Kid) and the only spot open was the one next to Jason (Chubby Nerd).

‘Great…’

I sat next to Jason and he attempted to start a conversation with me but I shut him down and took out my grandpa’s diary and began reading. I also made sure to put on my headphones so that he doesn’t talk to me.

And thus, the 2 hour bus ride to the beach, where we would study marine life began, and I spent the entire time reading

Grandpa’s diary.