Chapter One Discovery.

Introduction

It is a sunny day in Seattle, Washington. One of the few so far this Spring. It’s March 23rd, 2016 and the U.S. is completely war free. But a war ahead is looming. America is being challenged to keep its seat as the leading country in the world. But all this doesn’t seem to affect a young person like Alex Arnolds who turns six in two days. He waits anxiously for his birthday party while he watches Spongebob with his sister Jenny. She, like Alex, is very energetic and always trying new things.

“Hey Jenny do you think that mom will take us to the park tomorrow.” Their mother Susan always tries to take time out to do things with her children. Because their father John is away, she is even more willing to spend time with her children. He joined the Marines towards the end of the war in the Middle East. He was afraid that a new war would come so he stayed along with many others. War was a scary thought to everyone, but not John. He was just afraid for his family. He himself though would always be willing to fight for his country.

“I don’t know, she might be busy with me getting ready for your birthday. You will be surprised to see what I got you this year.” Jenny was always known for going all out on birthday parties.  She always wanted to help out with the decoration and have the best presents out of everyone.

Just then they heard a knock on the door. Susan came out from down the hall to answer it. It was Alex Aunt Victoria and Uncle Andrew. Alex jumped out of his seat and ran towards Andrew. Alex loved his uncle very much because when it came around to present time he always had brought presents.

“How are you Alex? It’s been so long since we’ve seen you. You’ve gotten so big.” Said Andrew.

“Is Mark with you?” Asked Alex. Mark was Alex’s cousin. Mark was very athletic. He was the fastest runner in his school and also considered one of the strongest. Mark was definitely Alex’s favorite relative. Then Mark walked through the door carrying two large presents which he sat on the ground next to Alex.

“Mark!” Said Alex

“Hi Alex.”

“Mark I have to show me my room I moved everything from the last time you came.” Alex grabbed Marks hand and took him away to his room. Mark, being seventeen, did not enjoy playing with his five year old cousin. But still he would put in the effort to take him out every now and then.

“Mark said that he will take Alex to the park tomorrow so you can finish getting things for Alex’s party.” Said Victoria. Vitoria and Andrew were almost identical in personality. They liked all the same fancy things, shared all the same ideas on everything, and were even so alike that they had a laugh that was almost the same.

“That would be fine. Mark is a trustable kid. Plus it will be good for Alex with John being away.” Said Susan. The rest of the evening was spent sharing and playing Nintendo Wii.

The next morning Alex, Mark and Susan woke up early to go to the park for an all day adventure. Mark was slow to get up but Susan and Alex were wide awake and ready to go.







Chapter 1

Mark, Alex and Jenny ate breakfast and left in Mark’s car. Mark had a very nice car. He had to save all his money for two years to get it. It was fast and new and perfect for Mark. They left for the park. Alex and Susan were expected to a normal city park. Alex had other plans. He wanted to make Alex’s birthday special.

“I’m going to take you to a park that I went to once when I was your age. It’s probably old now but it will still be fun trust me.” Mark said. Alex was excited to see what Mark might have in mind. Mark got on the highway and kept going till he got to a small rest stop area on the side of the road. There was a dirt path going into a forest.

“Here we are,” Said Mark “It’s only a little farther now.” They started down the path and Alex was having a great time just going down the path. He was going to be really surprised to see what was ahead.

“Follow me.” Said Mark. Mark walked into the forest off of the path. Alex and Jenny followed cautiously. They kept going for awhile. Then they saw it. There was a park in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It was massive. It was made of wood and in the middle there was a giant tower that stood almost half the height of the giant trees around it. All the wooden paths around it all lead to the tower in a different way and all the paths connected to one another. Alex and Jenny had one thing on their mind.

“Tag! Your it!” Said Alex touching Jenny’s shoulder. The two ran around the toys tagging each other. Mark sat on a bench and started to text his friends.

Alex and Jenny played for about an hour. Mark was starting to get bored.

“Hey wanna go on an adventure?” Asked Mark. Their immediate response was “Yes”.

Mark took them down to the forest. The forest was bright and green. It had many kinds of trees and small plants everywhere. Alex was ahead of Jenny and Mark. He was pretending he was fighting evil ghosts. He was dodging and weaving through the trees. Mark had fun watching him. Jenny soon followed. They ran after each other.

They were careful not to get too far into the forest so they wouldn’t get lost. Susan was a little scared of the forest. She couldn’t show Alex that she was afraid or he might have made fun of her. Then Jenny wasn’t paying attention and tripped of a root. She cut her knee on the ground and Mark came to help her up.

“Are you ok?” He asked.

“Yeah” She said. “But my knee hurts still. Can we turn back?” Mark was getting tired and agreed. Then they realized. Alex was gone.

“Alex!?” Yelled Mark. He kept yelling but got no response. Mark went after him into the forest. He continues till he had to stop to rest.

Alex was lost in his imagination. His imagination kept him running and he didn’t notice that he had run away from Mark and Jenny. He persisted running from his imaginary ghosts till he eventually tripped like Jenny did. 

He got up and looked around. He was now alone. It was getting dark. Alex wandered around. He still hadn’t noticed how far away he had ran. He tried running back the direction where he thought he had come from. He ran and ran. Then he came to a cave.

The cave was dark. Too dark to see if anything was in it. Alex, even though he was only five years old, knew that if he didn’t find a way out soon he would have to find a place to sleep.

Alex knew that bears slept in caves. This frightened him. He continued to look for Mark and Jenny.

Then he saw a tree. “I bet I could climb that” He thought. He was right. He started climbing. He couldn’t get high enough to look out above anything though. This can only mean one thing. He was finally completely lost. He must go into the cave.

Alex found the cave again. He never even went very far away from it. He walked into it carefully. The farther he went the warmer he got in the cave. Alex was afraid of monsters more than bears and because he was little he still believed in them. This made him walk even slower. These were the times his imagination drove him crazy. He always thought there was breathing in the darkness even though he knew there wasn’t anything there.

Then he saw it. There was a light at the back of the cave. This scared Alex at first. He jumped back and tripped on a rock. When he could get up he started staring at the light. It was making the cave warm. He could see that he was the only one in the cave because of its light. He ran up to it to get a better look.

The light was a golden box. The box had a handprint on the top of it. Alex thought he must have found buried treasure. He tried to open the box. It was sealed.  So he did the only thing he could think of. He put his hand on the top of the box. As soon as he did this he passed out on the floor.



“We are going to have to call 911.” Said Jenny. Mark was scared. How could he have been so stupid to lose him so easily? He was right there and then it was light he just disappeared. Why would he keep running? Didn’t he know that no one was following him?

“I know…”Said Mark. They started walking back to his car. Mark called 911 on his phone and told them what happened. When they got to his car Jenny started crying.

“Don’t worry he’ll be fine. Trust me they’ll find him.” Mark didn’t even believe his own words. He drove on his way home. He also told to police to call Susan for his picture. The police sent rescue crews searching for Alex. Mark didn’t wait for them. He just kept on driving home.

When he got home he was immediately met by Victoria.

“How could you lose a boy? How could you be so stupid and irresponsible? When we get home you will be grounded till they find him!” She said. They must have told Victoria. Susan was crying in the background. She felt like she had lost her only son.

Mark went to bed without dinner. He didn’t get any sleep the whole night. He couldn’t stop thinking about how this was all his fault. This thought bugged him. Grinded him down. He felt like this day had been going on for years. His world was ending. He had to find Alex.