Imagine

                                                          Imagine

         His mother stopped the car and unlocked the doors.  She turned her head to look at him.  “You have an hour,” she said.  “Make the most of it.”
         Tim stepped out of the car, splashing his foot into a puddle.  His mother pulled the car away to park it in the parking lot.  He looked back at the puddle, and then scanned his eyes around the rest of the park.  The only actual body of water there was the large lake, which had woods on two sides of it.  He walked over to the edge and stopped.
Tim stood looking at the lake.  It was odd to see it there.  The land had been dry the day before, but the rain must not have dried up from the showers during the night.  He walked across the muddy ground towards the water.  He crouched down at the edge and poked his finger into the water.  When he pulled it out the water swirled around, twirling into a figure eight.  The muddiness of the water made it look like a giant flushing toilet, but then mud started flying out of it, splattering on the ground, splashing onto Tim. 
         The swirling grew more intense, and the water started rising.  A light beamed out from the middle of the figure eight, and a giant head came from the light.  It spoke in a deep, rumbling voice that sound like breaking stone.  “This is your mission, should you choose to accept it.” 
         Tim nodded nervously.  The thing kept staring ahead.  “I’m sorry,” it said.  “I can’t see you.  Could you answer out loud please?”
         Tim swallowed the nervous lump in his throat.  “I-I ac-ccept,” he stuttered.
         “You must go to the Forest of Doom,” (an arrow pointed towards the woods to Tim’s right), “and rescue the princess of Imaginaryland.  The Goblin King Ralph is holding her hostage.  You will know Ralph by the bright pink bonnet he wears.”
         “Um, well, what does the princess look like?” Tim asked.
         “Heck, I don’t know,” it said, suddenly looking confused.  “You’ll know her when you see her.  She’s probably wearing a dress or something.”
         Tim certainly hoped she was wearing something.  “Alright,” he said.  “I’ll do it!”  He was excited now, and he really wanted to go on an adventure, no matter how dangerous it might be.
         “Good,” the thing said.  “This message will self destruct in… NOW!”
         The tower of light and raging water exploded outward, soaking Tim, and spreading the lake further.  The cold water splashing onto him shocked Tim, and he stood there with his arms out.  “Ah, man!”
         He turned and walked towards the forest.
***
         Tim crouched down behind some berry bushes.  He parted the branches and peered through the crack.  Two goblin minions were patrolling the outer border of the camp.  The camp itself was surrounded by barbed wire (how they got that, Tim didn’t know), with a small tower about two feet from him, but he hadn’t seen anything in it.  He could get them easily with a club, but a blow dart would be more effective.  If only he could find one.  He looked around, and saw, two feet away, a blow dart.  What luck!  And it even had some darts with it.  He crawled over to it, trying to be silent, but his knee crunched down on a dry twig.
         The snap alerted the two goblins, and they came rushing over.  They had their clubs raised above their heads, and were yelling in a strange language.  Tim stuck out his leg and tripped one of them.  Its head landed on a rock and it was knocked out cold.  The other goblin clubbed Tim in the shoulder, and he almost dropped his club.  He held onto it though, and jabbed the goblin in the stomach.  The goblin doubled over, and Tim grabbed one of the darts and stuck it in the goblin’s arm.
         It took only a second for the goblin to pass out.  Tim stood up and walked further into the woods.
***
         Tim spotted Ralph wearing his bright pink bonnet (he also had a tag on his chest that said “Hi! I’m Ralph”).  He was in the middle of a group of goblins, and Tim knew he wouldn’t be able to fight his way to Ralph.  He decided it would be best to talk his way through.  He strode into the camp, shouting, “I’m here to talk to Ralph, leader of the Goblin Camp!”
         All the goblins turned to look at him, and he had to try his hardest to hide his fear.  “What does the human boy want?” asked Ralph.
         “I’m here for the princess of Imaginaryland,” Tim said.
         The Goblin King Ralph raised an eyebrow as he stared at Tim.  The corner of the left side of his lips rose up in a half-smile.  His amusement showed in his goblin eyes.  “Why would I give you my only way to deal with the king?”
         Tim thought for a minute, his forehead creased in concentration.  A light bulb went off in his head.  “I am coming from the king’s palace, and he wants me to take her back to him and then come back and give you what you want,” Tim said.
         The Goblin King smirked.  “Yeah right.  Do you think I’m stupid?” he said.  He laughed a horrible, evil laugh (as evil a guy named Ralph could get at least).  “You could go and never come back.”                 
          Tim thought for a second. “Well… it would be horrible if you had to deal with an outbreak of,” Tim paused for dramatic effect, “COOTIES!”
         Whispers sounded all over the camp.  Ralph frowned.  “Cooties?  How do you know she has cooties?”
         “Well, all girls have it.  But princesses have enough to make an entire camp sick,” Tim explained.
         The rest of the goblins were extremely frightened now.  Some were running around, some were screaming, and fights had broken out in some places.  Ralph tried to settle them down, but in the end he had to give in to Tim.  “Fine,” he yelled over the din, “you can have her!”
         Ralph motioned for a goblin guard to bring the Princess, and they scurried over to a hut to get her.  They brought her out, poking her with sticks to get her to move.  She shrieked every time they poked her, and Tim could tell right then that the trip to the king’s castle would be a long one.  They stopped the princess right in front of Tim.
         “Who are you?” she asked in a snotty manner.
         “I’m here to save you,” Tim said.
         “Well, it took you long enough,” she said.  “Let’s go.”
***
         As Tim had suspected, it was indeed a long trip to the castle.  The entire way, the princess did nothing but talk, talk, talk.  She complained about the small things, and she complained about the big things.
         So he was relieved when they finally got to the castle.  He brought her across the moat, through the iron gates, and into the Great Hall.  The king waited there for him.
         The king was delighted to have his daughter back.  He decided to knight Tim.  Just as the sword was coming down to his shoulder he heard his mother yell, “Tim! Dinner time!”
         He turned around, and the castle and everything else disappeared.  All that was left was the trees.  He got to his feet, and ran towards his mother.
The End