87 Stories, Alyse Hartman [reading tree .TXT] 📗

 “Come here, you two,” asked Grandpa, an 87 year old man with grey hair, a long beard, and a personality that always gets into mischief. He was a wise man, and could see that Eliza and Thomas were meant to be together. Eliza and Thomas, best friends for as long as anyone could remember. They were both sixteen, and were next-door neighbors. They always had an amazing attitude, especially considering the poor neighborhood they lived in. Eliza looked out the broken window and stared at the grey, sad town, then walked over to Grandpa.

 Grandpa had been working on a series of stories, which he would hand write and bind each and everyone one with his own two hands. He would place book after book on a shelf he had made when he was a young man. Grandpa treated those books with such perfect care, every day he would check to make sure that they were placed in order. The last book Grandpa had written had just been finished. He decided the series was over, his 87th book.

 “Thomas, will you please take out the sixteenth book I had written. I want to read it to you,” Grandpa asked.

Eliza and Thomas exchanged looks, both thinking the same, “We’re too old for story time.”

“The story is about you two,” Grandpa added. Eliza and Thomas both looked at Grandpa with interest as a spark came to their eyes.

Thomas did as Grandpa instructed, but kept his eye on him as he started the task with suspicion. Grandpa stared at them, a mischievous smile on his face. As Thomas pulled out the book labeled “16” on it, all of the other books began falling off the shelves. It was almost as if someone was pushing them! Papers were flying everywhere, and Thomas stepped back in disbelief. The entire bookshelf fell over, and behind it was a large hole in the wall. Before Eliza or Thomas could even process what just happened, an entire village of horses, villagers, creatures, and royalty began pummeling through the hole and out the back door. Grandpa just continued to sit on the couch, with the same fake smile.

 Eliza was hiding under a coffee table, holding back tears to her greatest ability. The entire house was shaking. When the mob cleared, Eliza examined the inside of the house. Footprints, some unidentifiable, covered the ripped, ragged carpet. Then, Eliza realized something, Thomas was gone, he must have been swept away from the stampeding village. In a panic, Eliza ran out the door, but what was behind that door was not exactly what she had been expecting.

 Behind her door was not the poor, gray town she was used to. Instead, it was a medieval village. As far as the eyes could see, soft, green grass hills overlapped each other, carpeting the rich soil. Small bakeries and trading booths were scattered around the village. There was a tall elegant stone castle with a drawbridge and a moat that surrounded the perimeter. The smell of freshly baked pastries filled the air. Townspeople strolled down the dirt roads. At first, it seemed like a utopia. Eliza didn’t want to go back to her old dull life of poverty.

 Eliza and Thomas spotted each other and began running towards the other’s direction.

“Thomas!” Eliza cheered, but her face grew to worry as she realized that he had several bruises, “ Are you okay?” she asked.

“Just a couple bumps, I’ll be fine,” Thomas assured.

Eliza and Thomas’s attention focused on the other side of the road, when they heard a woman scream. All of the towns people were rushing away, and Eliza and Thomas’s expression went to sheer horror.

 A monstrous green creature, covered in warts and fungus, was heading towards them. It reeked of perspiration and had sharp, yellow claws that were at least ten inches long. Eliza and Thomas were incredible close to the beast, their only chance was to run past it. As Eliza and Thomas began to split up, the monster, about eight feet tall, had already made its way even closer towards Eliza and Thomas. Eliza, terrified and shaking, quickly hid under a bench, realizing that the monster was too close to make a run for it. Thomas wasn’t so lucky, though.  As Eliza glanced to see if Thomas was okay, she realized he was backing away from the monster. Already cornered and eye to eye with the disgusting beast. Thomas tried to back up another step, but was already against the tall brick building walls.

 The monster picked up Thomas and held him over its head. It was about to snap Thomas in two. Thomas shrieked in agony, the monster was searing his claws into Thomas’s skin. Eliza stared in pure horror at Thomas, barely being able to process what was about to happen, what she would be forced to watch. Her best friend, who had always been there for her, was about to have his life ended early. A million thoughts were buzzing through her head all at once. For the first time though, she realized something that she never thought she would be able to admit to herself.

“I’m in love with him, “ Eliza whispered, shivering at the burst of reality that had just been revealed to her. This was what she needed, the courage, the instant release of adrenaline. Eliza climbed out from under the bench, walked right behind the monster, and shouted, “STOP. Put. Him. Down.” The monster turned around and stared down at Eliza. She took a step back realizing what she had just done. The monster threw Thomas onto the dirt. He now had a new target, Eliza.

Thomas layed on the ground, he could barely move, barely breathe, let alone speak. The entire world was spinning. He looked up, and everything was blurry, and getting blurrier by the second.  Thomas made out two shapes, Eliza and the monster. The monster was pushing Eliza, it was looking down on her. She continued walking backwards, Eliza refused to break eye contact with it. Then, Eliza fell back on the dusty path with a thud, a hole in the ground had tripped her. Eliza’s foot was stuck.

 A large group of towns people were forming around Eliza and the beast. They were fairly close, but kept their distance from the dangerous monster. The townspeople started forming closer when the prince of the kingdom arrived with a sword.

“I can’t die this way,” Eliza promised. She took her shoe and threw it directly at the face of the beast. Disoriented, it fell backwards. Then, the prince of the kingdom came behind the monster and thrust his sword through the back of the beast. Realizing that the beast had been defeated, the townspeople formed a circle closer around the prince, the defeated beast, and Eliza.

A royal messenger then pushed through the crowd and stood in front of Eliza. He was short, completely dressed in white, and had a long beard. The messenger unraveled a scroll, held it up directly in front of hos face, and began reading from it.

“Miss Eliza Henley, the prince of thou village is impressed with your rare bravery and fine beauty. He has ordered your immediate hand in marriage!” the messenger proclaimed.

Eliza’s eyes practically popped out of her head. She took a glance at the prince, who was presenting a cheesy ear-to-ear smile towards her. Before Eliza could manage a single word from her mouth, the entire village began cheering.

“Where is my opinion on this?” Eliza thought, but then a sudden occurrence of reality came through to her. This is the medieval times, women are forced into marriage, Eliza had no choice. “What if I never get out of here?” Eliza thought, “What about Thomas?” Still the thought of admitting her true feelings for him made her heart stop. “Wait, Thomas! Where is he?” Eliza gasped. She looked side to side, but couldn’t manage to see over the villagers. No one even noticed she was saying anything at all, the cheers of the villagers were practically ear-piecing.

“So, off to the castle!” the messenger shouted with glee. Prince Scott took Eliza by the hand and led her to the castle. Eliza’s instinct was to smile and wave, at least that’s what they did in the fairy tales.

 Thomas awoke on the floor of a somewhat dirty home.       

“Ugh,” he moaned and rolled over, staring blankly at the wall. Bandage wrapping was secured around his left arm and chest where the beast had seared the claws into Thomas’s skin. As Thomas’s vision focused increased, he noticed six feet standing directly in front of him. As Thomas looked up, he realized there were three dwarves staring directly down at him.

“Ello there fella!” one of the dwarves shouted.

“Pippy, please watch your volume,” a scratchy voiced dwarf nagged, crossing his arms.

“Focus you two,” the eldest dwarf demanded. “What do we do with the thing?” The dwarf gestured towards Thomas.

Thomas coughed, “My name is Thomas, who are you?”

“I’m Pippy!” The high pitch voiced dwarf claimed.

“I’m Argon,” The scratchy voiced dwarf mumbled.

“I’m Ocaes,” the eldest dwarf stated. “We found ya’ unconscious on the ground in the middle of the village. Lucky is what ya’ are to be alive,” he noted.

“Thank you,” Thomas responded, holding his side. As he looked at his surroundings he realized that this home was the inside of a thick hollowed out tree. Thomas tried sitting up, but fell back at the attempt and groaned. He had never felt so vulnerable in his entire life.

 The eldest dwarf shuffled to the kitchen, leaning on his carved wooden cane. He grabbed a thick rag and used it to get a hold of the pot that was dangling over the fireplace. Ocaes dunked a stone cup into the pot, filled it with the potion, and without a single warning poured it down Thomas’s throat.

Thomas gagged and tried to spit it out, but he had already swallowed it. “WHAT WAS THAT!” he shrieked, shivering at the disgusting taste of the drink he was forced to consume.

“Oh, you don’t want to know what’s inside it,” Argon suggested.

“Ugh!” Thomas screamed.

“It will instantly heal you. Remove the bandages,” Ocaes ordered.

Thomas sat up, realizing the excruciating pain he had previously felt was now nonexistent. He unwrapped the bandages and stroked the spot where his wounds once were.

“If you didn’t drink that potion you would have died of blood loss, even with the bandages the wounds were too severe. Beware of beasts, never confront them like you did again,” Ocaes warned.

“Thank you, all of you, you saved my life. Now, I must be on my way though,” Thomas replied, making his way towards the door.

“Good luck on your adventures.” Ocaes wished to Thomas. Thomas closed the door behind him and began walking towards the dirt road trail. He was out to find Eliza, last Thomas had seen her she had tripped in front of the beast. He feared she might be dead, but in his heart he was driven to find her, no matter what he may find, he needed to know if she was okay, and deep down inside,