Sammy Adams and the Town of Evela

I, Sammy Adams, is an average 15-year-old. I mouth off to parents occasionally, but I pays the price. My room is usually clean, with a few shirts on the floor. My parents are on the moderate side of things like me. Martha, who is my 36-year-old mother, loves cleaning however, my father, Jim, is never home during the day because of his job. My mom is a terrible cook but I have never brought that up. Or I would get back handed. Unlike my mother, I has brown hair and eyes. I'm a little taller than other kids and weighs way less weight than I should be. All the more reason for mother to shove that terrible grub (as I calls it) into my mouth. The only food she does get right is microwaved burritos.

When my father does get home, he hangs his jacket in the hall closet, enters the kitchen and plops down in his chair, exhausted. Dad is so tired that he doesn't seem to notice his wife's cooking and she lays a plate down in front of him. "We need a break. The work has been piling up in my station now for weeks and I just now got it all finished," said father. He is an airplane mechanic and we live on his salary, except for the weekends when my mother goes out baking pies for $5 each, which is another food she gets right. She could sell them for $15 and people wouldn't care. One week she brought in a little over $165. "Well we could visit the natural history museum in downtown!" suggested my mother. "Nah, that's to boring and short. Let's do something fun... like camping!" I replied. My father burrowed his eyebrows and gave it some thought. "Alright. Where though..." he pondered. We sat in silence for a minute and the oven ringed, while I said in harmony, "I know! We could visit the Grand Canyon!" I said excitedly. "Well that isn't to far from here... about 150 miles or so. Alright then. We will go to the big gap around noon on Saturday. Should be a two hour trip so bring something to entertain you." my father said, enthusiastically. "Can I bring Isaac?" I asked. Isaac has been an old friend since the 2nd grade when we got into a fight over a toy block we fought over and when the teacher said to share, we built large skyscrapers. At least in our imagination. The entire class would look in awe at the creations of Sammy and Isaac. They called them the "IS" group. Now we have grown closer and closer together, while I've become a stick, and Isaac has beefed up from playing football so he could lift me easily. My father always told me that I could be that way if "you could just play sports!" My father wanted me to play football. I ended up playing soccer instead and lost even MORE weight that I needed. My legs got faster though. Isaac got more popular every year but didn't forget his old friend and he dragged me up the list to. I thank him just about every time I get the chance.

The phone rang. It rang again. It rang again. It went to answering machine. I cursed under my breathe and called again. It only rang twice and a familiar voice picked up the phone, "Hello?" it said. "Hey Isaac, how's it going?" "It's good dude, I have just won another game!" Isaac said. "Awesome man! That's great. By the way, are you doing anything this weekend?" I asked. "No, why?" he replied. "My parents and I are going to the Grand Canyon. Wanna come?" "The phone was silent for a moment. "They said it's okay if your parents are okay!" "Mine already know." "Okay, well when are we leaving?" Noon. Don't forget to bring a sleeping bag and some clothes. And use them this time!" Isaac laughed and called me an idiot. We said good-bye and he hung-up. I ran upstairs to his room and began packing. This weekend will be great.

School the next day was a bit slow, and I kept glancing up at the clock. In science, I was so distracted that when the teacher said, "Begin" I didn't know what to do. I got lunch detention for that. When I was done cleaning the tables, (which is all you had to do during lunch detention) I went outside and ran over to Isaac and we hung out until the bell rang for us to come in for 5th period. All our classes were together except 5th period and 6th. During which my other very good friend, Jack, would be with me during those classes, and 3rd period. She was actually a girl and her real name was Jacqueline. We called her Jack though, for short. I told her about the trip we were having and she got jealous. Her freckled face turned slightly red and matches the color of her hair. "You didn't invite me?" she scowled. "Sorry I didn't know you liked camping..." "Well I do! And it would be fun to hang out with you guys over the weekend. I mean, we only talk and everything during the week when schools in. When was the last time we got together?" "About a month ago." I answered. I flinched at remembering the huge knot I got on my head going head over heels while ice skating with them. "Alright, alright, do you want to come?" "No, I got plans." She laughed and punched him on the arm lightly and he shoved her head away. "Alright well bring a-" she stopped me short telling me she already knew what to bring. "Settle down over there!" said their teacher, Mr.Ritlers. The class snickered. Finally school let out and I biked home, did my homework, ate dinner, played video games for a while, and went to bed.

I was lying in the middle of a field. Suddenly, buildings started to rise out of the dusty ground I was sitting on. The buildings almost looked like they had faces... and they were mocking me, teasing me, and trying to grab me into their mouths of pitch black darkness. Then my family came to save me, but the buildings grabbed my parents, leaving me with my two best friends. They tossed them so far and so high, I knew where they were going. To a deep, crevice in the Earth that was carved by the mighty force of water. Jack screamed, and I ran into one of the buildings, and grabbed a sword that was mounted on the wall. I came back out, and my friends were caught in the vines of a plant, and they were strangling them! I started jabbing and slicing at the plants saying "Back off!" And the buildings caught me. The plant then started to grow on the building, shredding it with its strong roots and branches.The building was reduced to nothing, and the plant grabbed me to. Then it started to raise us into the air... higher and higher. I was loosing air, and couldn't breathe. I suddenly realized it was a dream, and woke up in it. I looked out how fake everything was. I knew it wasn't real, and I tried to will myself to wake up. Higher and higher we rose, past the clouds, past the stars, I had to breathe... I couldn't breathe!

I woke up, and a hand was in my face. I smacked it out of the way, and Isaac snickered. He was covering my nose and mouth. That's why I couldn't breathe. "You looked like you were having a nightmare so I woke you up!" He grinned. I called him a jerk and knocked him out of the way (which was hard comparing how tired and weak I was) and I got ready for the day.

We all loaded into the car, and we drove off to Jack's house. Isaac and I rang the door bell and she brought her stuff outside. her parents kept giving her sun screen which she gratefully excepted as much as a queen accepts crap for a birthday present, and we got into the car to start the day.

After 1 hour of watching "That 70's Show" on a portable DVD player or so, we felt the car make weird and jumpy bops, sending us up and down on our chair and the DVD player fell to the floor. The car slowed down, until a complete stop. "I TOLD you we should have stopped at that last gas station. but NO! You had to look for cheaper gas prices. Now we all have to pay the price!" my mother scolded. Dad put his hands up in defeat. They got out of the car, and his dad told us to wait here, and he grabbed a gas can from the back of the van, and walked until his dissapeared off the horizon.

Mom paced impatiently back and fourth until she created a small rut. We just sat on the back part of the van, admiring the landscape. The rolling hills and occasional mesas created a beautiful landscape. An actual tumbleweed rolled by. We laughed at the stereotype and Isaac asked, "Seriously? Cheaper prices?" "Yeah, my dad's kind of cheap." My father's figure appeared back on the horizon. But the gas can was missing... and he was running... what happened? He got closer and closer and my mothers look of anger melted away into concern. He finally reached us, breathless. He whispered, but I could still make out "...get the children away from-... the town is-... -ied to grab me!" my mother tried to calm down my scared father. "...just a hallucination... -esert tricks yo-... just relax..." she set him down in the van and she came back to us. "Your father has... saw something. Do not go over where he did, okay? I will be back, I am going to the last town." "But mom, that could take hours!" I exclaimed. "I know, but it's only 14 miles. I will be back before it gets dark, with the gasoline tank. STAY HERE" she warned. She got out some of our gear, lots of water, and she jogged in place to warm up. She was going to hike 14 miles, there and back. This will take forever. At least she is athletic. Her long, thin legs with a strong calf make her perfect for running. I mean, it's shorter than a marathon, right?

We waited for another few hours, until Jack exclaimed, "I fixed it!" Puzzled, we looked at the DVD player, and sure enough, it was working and playing TV. Now is a good time to tell you that she is amazing with mechanical stuff. Name it, and she can fix it. Tinkering with things is her Isaac's working out. "You need to find something you are really good at!" said Jack. Apparently I looked hurt, because she said, "just kidding dude. I know you will find something." That didn't make me feel any better. The DVD threw sparks and Isaac dropped the weight he packed. "Wow dude, your at it even during vacation?" "So what?" Jack cursed, and she forgot my dad was there and he said "please watch your language." We snickered, and Jack quietly told us to shut up.

My dad was asleep by now, and we wanted to figure out what was that he saw.