Under the Stump

It was really hot, And helping my father with the car, I was not. Instead of watching him work, I was dancing around, playing with a fork. I hopped up onto an old tree stump, Which disintegrated under my feet as I fell in with a thump.

But I did not land on the ground as was expected, Instead I wound up in this land where the ground look infected. The grass was purple, as long as myself, And in it hid a little blue man, I think he was an elf.

“Where am I?” I asked him as he was running away,

“Wait, come back!” I demanded as my body started to sway.

“Under the stump,” he explained then fell through the ground, I was so confused, my head started to pound.

“Here, eat this,” a little flower said to me, As I held up my hand to take the gift, I noticed there were three.

“What is it?” I asked about the tiny little pills.

“It will make your headache go away,” said another flower who sat in the sill.

“Where am I?” I asked again, hoping this time to get an answer that made sense,

“Under the stump,” the flower repeated as he retreated under a white picket fence.

I opened the gate of the fence and nonchalantly walked through, And I gazed upon a huge castle, of which I have only seen few. The castle was majestic, and a rich purple to match the grass, I put my hand up to the door, made of solid brass. I knocked once, twice, three times to be exact, And finally I got an answer, a meow as a matter of fact.

“Hello kitty,” I greeted the feline, He reminded me of mine. I took my eyes off the cat and let them wander around the room, And as soon as I looked back to find him, I smelt a horrible fume. I couldn’t help but inhale it, it surrounded my nose, It made me feel woozy, and I froze in a really weird pose.

The cat pushed my frozen body in to the garden outside, while we were traveling, he told me all the rules of which I should abide.

“Don’t talk to the flowers,” he advised so politely,

“They will trick you,” he explained, “And will hold you way too tightly.” I tried to thank him, but my mouth did not budge, The cat left, and came back with a bucket of fudge.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll set you free.” He started to smear the fudge all over me, which attracted a bee.

“Mr. Bee,” he said, “Will you unfreeze my friend?”

“Of course Mr. Cat,” and as he ate away the fudge, my frozen days came to an end.

“Thank you much,” I thanked the cute cat and bee,

“Why did that happen?” I asked; at least I could see.

“It’s the flowers; they gave you some pills, They like to mess with new friends; I think it gives them a thrill” The cat continued through the castle, so I continued behind,

“We’re looking for something that I never could find.”

“What is it?” I asked the little cat, He simply responded, “It’s my hat.”

“A hat?” the bee snarled in disgust,

“Yes, my hat,” the cat said in distrust.

“What kind of hat?” I asked.

“It will help me grow bigger so I can find my flask.” What kind of cat needed a flask? I thought to myself, Then suddenly a little man ran right into me, the same blue elf.

“Watch it!” He yelled at me,

“I’m sorry elf,” I said as I picked up something he dropped; a key.

“Gimme that!” he demanded in very mean voice, I didn’t want to give it back, but I didn’t have a choice. He jumped up to my arm and grabbed the key so fast. And when he jumped off and landed on the ground, he set off a loud blast.

“What was that?” I asked in awe,

“He works for the flowers,” the cat replied as he found a huge saw.

“I need this saw to protect myself from the flowers, with this weapon, they will realize they have no powers.” I’ve always loved flowers, the way they smelt,

The way they looked, grew, and felt.

“What’s so bad about flowers?” I inquired,

“They wrap their roots all around you and it cuts you like a wire.”

“I’ve never heard of an evil flower,” I told the cat,

“You’ll see,” he promised “Soon as I find that stupid hat.” He followed him from room to room in the castle, But playing follow the leader soon became a real hassle. I was not as small as the cat, and could not fit into some tight spaces,

“Just stay here,” he said “And get rid of all my traces.” I swept up our footprints while the cat dug around, And suddenly I heard “I GOT IT!” I assume the hat was found. From the tight space emerged a gruesome hat, Under which was the tiny face of the cat.

“And my flask was inside,” The cat told me, “Now that’s nowhere for it to hide.” He took a sip from the flask and started to cough, He jumped up onto my shoulders, but shortly fell off.

“This hat will help me beat down the flowers, I will be bigger and I will no longer need to cower.” He smelt like pure rubbing alcohol, And I feared when he started to walk he would surely fall.

But off ran the cat, leaving me alone, I searched the rest of the castle for a phone. The world under the stump was nothing like home, And as soon as I spotted a phone, the floor turned into foam.

I slipped and fell and went straight through the floor, When I landed on the bottom, I was in a tiny room with only one door. The door opened itself; I didn’t even have to touch it, And inside a flower that looked very sad just sit. As I tried to enter the door to see what was the matter, The cat slammed the door shut, looking as mad as a hatter.

“Do not let them fool you,” The cat snarled, “Or else they will make you sad, too.” I felt bad for the flower sitting alone in the room, But the cat chased me away from it with a nearby broom.

We emerged back to the castle garden and sat, The cat kept touching and fussing with the hat.

“How does it work?” I wanted to know.

“Just sit back and relax and get ready for a show.”

The cat jumped up on his back legs and started to twirl, and suddenly he disappeared into a big pink swirl. I searched and searched for my little friend, but all I could see was the castle, end to end. Then suddenly the fountain I was sitting at burst into flames, and out from the middle burst a huge beast, it didn’t have a name.

The beast flew high into the sky, I didn’t think it was coming back, but it suddenly landed with a crash on the ground, it sounded like the whole pack. I turned away in fear; I thought it would hurt me, But as I slowly looked back, I saw nothing at all except an ugly tree. The tree wasn’t there a second ago, so I got up to inspect it, but a strong wind began to blow. I was pushed back then pulled forward, I didn’t know which way was up, Then out of no where the air stopped, the tree picked me up and dropped me in a cup.

The mean tree picked up the cup with me inside, And threw me into the air, around other trees I would glide. I span around and around and out the castle gates, Where I was then greeted by the cat who wasn’t a second late.

“Where did you go?” I asked in disbelief.

“I was hungry,” he said as he whipped out a piece of beef. My stomach rumbled, I haven’t eaten in what feels like a year, But I did not ask the cat for anything, for I was full of fear.

“Hey cat,” I asked, “How do I get back?”

“You must beat the flowers, watch them burn, set off the attack.”

“How do I do that?”

“That’s for you to figure out, now grab me that bat.” I handed the cat the bat and he walked away, I quickly followed him as we walked deep into a bay. I thought all cats hated water, but waist deep we were, He seemed to be getting bigger; the water was trapped in his fur. More and more water was being absorbed by his coat, and soon enough he was sinking a tiny boat. The cat grew bigger and bigger and it didn’t seem like it would stop, If he wanted to touch the castle, he could, right at the top.

The hat on his head remanded the same size on his head; the cat didn’t seem to notice a bird was using it as a bed. I guess this is what he meant by getting bigger by the hat, But he grew way too big that he didn’t even look like a cat.

“How will this defeat the flowers?” I yelled to the sky,

“It won’t,” he yelled down, “But it’s worth a try!”

He treaded back towards the land after he soaked up the bay, when we walked past it, he plopped down on a bundle of hay.

“Cat, what’s wrong?” I yelled, He just pointed at an oncoming creature that was belled.

“Get up!” the creature directed, it pointed with its nasty finger, it was surely infected. We jumped up from the hay without hesitation; the cat closed his eyes and began his meditation. Just as soon as we got off, the hay burst into flames. I looked for a reason, but was left with nothing to blame. Suddenly a beast as strong as strong can be, Emerged from the fire, it was as tall as a tree.

A dragon, it seemed, formed from the fire, Flew out of the flames; it flew higher and higher. The mythical beast did not say a word, Rather it flew high into the sky like a bird. Upon landing it stumbled, he was not at all graceful, but then he started charging at me like he was a bull.

“Look out!” the cat hissed, He jumped up to push me away, so close to my face we almost kissed! The dragon rushed by us but then suddenly stopped, He watched as a tiny bunny rabbit crossed in front of us as it hopped. When the bunny was gone, the beast crept towards us, yet he moved so fast he could have out run a full speed bus. He looked and the cat then the cat gave him a nod, the dragon took a deep breath, it shook his whole bod.

The beast let out a loud growl and let out a huge flame of fire, the flowers didn’t stand a chance, their situation was dire. Soon the whole field was covered with smoke, the flowers could not breathe, they started to choke. As the flowers caught fire they started to scream, I searched for anything I could find to put out the flames, even ice cream!

Then I remembered what made the cat so big, I wanted to tickle his belly but could reach until I grabbed a twig. I used the twig to reach his belly which I rubbed till he burst, I excepted a huge wave of water to escape, but it was only a trickle at first. Soon I realized this was never going to work, I needed to find something enhanced, I waved the twig in front of his face until he fell into a trance, and when he was asleep, hypnotism I began.

“Put out the fire,” I demanded as the dragon ran. The water filled kitty opened his huge mouth and let the water out, by the time he shrunk back to his normal size, the fire was dead without a doubt. He came back into consciousness soon after that, He looked really angry, he threw off his hat.

“Look what you’ve done! You’ve ruined all our fun!”

“I’m sorry,” I explained, “I couldn’t watch them die.”

“You could’ve if you wanted to; you didn’t even give it a try.” The disappointed cat walked away, and as he did I saw one lonely flower starting to sway. He was the only flower who survived the flame; he yelled out to me “Tell me dear, who is to blame?” I was stuck; I didn’t know what to do, So many animals came out to see what was going on; the place looked like a zoo.

“I don’t know!” I told the flower, Its face scrunched up like it just ate something sour.

“You saw the whole thing; now tell me who killed my family and friends,” I didn’t know what to do, I just wanted the interrogation to end.

“I can’t tell you, I promised I wouldn’t.”

“You could if you wanted to, no one said you couldn’t.”

“I was told not to trust you!” I yelled to the flower.

“Trust me, I’m your friend,” it yelled back, shaking from the lack of power. Thankfully my friend the cat came rushing back to my rescue, He made all the animals go away; the only ones left were a few.

“Shut up flower, you can not control her,” Hissed the cat as the hair stood up straight on his fur. The flower argued back, “Oh but I can!”

“Darling, start to act like a man!” And upon the end of his demand I robotically stood up and let out a big fart, a cute little bunny that was behind me fell over like it was hit with a dart.

“Stop it!” I begged I didn’t want to be sick, the cat hissed at the flower, it seemed to do the trick. My friend looked far into the distance and with a nod of his head; the dragon flew high up into the air, landed on the flower, and pronounced it dead.

It all happened so fast, I didn’t even flinch, To remind myself that I was still alive, I gave myself a pinch. But with that pinch I felt no pain at all, I looked up with question to the cat, and then started to fall. Down through the earth I fell and fell, I was certain I was falling so deep that I would land in hell.

I landed on my feet like it was no big deal, If I got any wounds on the way, they quickly began to heal. I looked down at the ground and saw the decay of the tree stump, I hoped off onto the pavement, I made a big thump. My father looked up and whipped the sweat out of his eyes,

“Let’s go inside now. It’s so hot I think my skin is going to fry!” I followed my father inside and never looked back, I never wanted to visit that land under the stump; I feared I would surely be attacked.