The Story Of Jasmine Craft, Alexis Doberstein [reading strategies book txt] 📗

you.” I nodded my head, so she continued

“It all started about 36 years ago. My family lived on a farm and we had many animals. We had horses, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and we had 2 dogs. I remember on that day my father, your grandfather had to go into town to deliver the milk to the stores, and he said he would be back before dinner. Dinner came and he still wasn’t home. Nightfall came and my mother started to worry. She called the constable but he never came either. I remember that she was sitting in her rocking chair knitting and the wind outside was starting to pick up. She moved the curtain just about an inch to peek outside. I will never forget how white her face turned.

She dropped her knitting to the floor and ran to me. She said, “Monica I want you to go to the broom closet and lock yourself in it. And no matter what you hear and no mater what happens to me I don’t want you to come out of there until the bad people are gone. Ok?” I nodded my head. Mother gave me a tight hug and kissed me on the forehead, then said, “Go quickly!” I ran to the broom closet that was across the room and climbed inside, and locked myself in. I had just settled in the broom closet as the front door got busted down. Mother was in the kitchen ready to face whatever she had to, to protect me.
Three men stepped inside and started advancing towards her. Mother brought up her hands and said, “Stop! What is your business here?”
The man in the middle said, “You know what we’re here for. You made a deal and now you have to follow through.”
She looked at them and said, “No. You know when they are trained you know what they become, and what they are forced to do. That is not happening to my daughter. And besides she’s not here. She went with her father to deliver the milk to the stores in town. That is how we have to make our living here.”
The man in the middle laughed at her and said, “Stupid women. We stopped your husband.”

The man on the right spoke up and said, “He made a rather tasty snack.” All the men laughed. Mother looked as if she couldn’t breathe.
The she quickly composed herself and said, “Then her father told her to run. I haven’t seen her or her father since they left. I’ve been worried sick, and now you three come bursting in here looking for something that is clearly not here.”
The man on the left finally spoke up and said, “Then why do I smell her here? And the smell is fresh.”
He walks up to her and smells her and says, “Her scent is on you. Where is she?”
Mother replied, “I don’t know where she is and I hope you never find her.” The three men look at each other and advance on her even more to the point where she’s pressed up against a wall.
The man in the middle said, “I’m giving you one more chance. Where is she?”
She looked up at him and spit right in his eye. He wiped the spit from his eye and smacked her right across the face. The men on the left and right backed up a little bit. I thought that they were leaving…boy was I wrong. Their bodies started to tremble and started to go into weird positions and movements. When they were done they looked like huge wolves. Mother screamed and the man slapped her again. He turned her towards the wolves and said “Tell me where she is or you’ll be reunited with your husband.”
Mother looked at the wolves and then up in the air and said, “Lord please forgive me.” And with that said she brought up her arms again but this time a white light flew out of her hands and at the wolves. The man that slapped her let her go and she turned around and did the same thing to him. The wolves ran away, but the other man was still there.
He looked at her and smiled. “Well…well…well. We have another sorceress on this planet do we? I couldn’t sense you were one. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a challenge.”
She looked at him and said, “I highly suggest that you don’t get your knickers all up in a twist.”

And with that said the white light flew out of her hands again. A green light came out of the man’s hands. The lights collided and they were fighting which light was going to win. Mother was putting up a good fight you could tell she was very brave but she was weakening. I had to do something. So I unlocked the broom closet and ran out of it towards the man. I pushed him off balance so he would fall. Mother collapsed from the fight and I ran over to her. The man was back on his feet by the time I got over to her. He started walking towards us. Mother got back up and put me behind her. She put her hands up again but she was a second to late. The man shot the green light out of his had and it hit mother in the chest. She fell to the floor with a scream. I reached over to her and she grabbed my hand and said “Monica don’t listen to them. You have a pure soul. Don’t let them destroy it. Don’t let them break you. Find the strength within you that I know you have.” And then Mother stopped talking and looked up in the air.

Then she stopped breathing. I started to call for her to listen to me but she wouldn’t answer. I shook her, but she wouldn’t move. I looked up at the man and screamed, “Look at what you did to my mother!”
He smiled and said, “I did what I was ordered to do by my master. And now if you’ll come with me, my master would like to meet you.”
I looked up and said, “No. I’m not leaving my mother.”
The man shook his head and said, “Okay, but I really didn’t want to have to do this.” And with that he grabbed me by my hair and picked me up. He threw me over his shoulder and started to run out of the house. I screamed at the top of my lungs for someone to help me, but no one came.
We finally came to a road where he stopped and dropped me on the ground. He turned around and said, “Move and you will be reunited with your mother and father sooner then you think.” And with that he walked of to the other side of the road and into the woods. When he returned there were two other men with him. One of them picked me up and threw me over their shoulder and started walking back in the direction they came from. I was taken to what looked like a little camp that was set up and I saw other kids there all tied to a tree.

The man that was carrying me carried me to a log and set me down. He told me to stay there if I valued my life. He went into a tent and came back out with a woman. The woman looked at me and said, “Yes. Definitely part of the bloodline. You can smell it too can’t you?” The man nodded his head. Then she looked back at me and said, “What is your name little one?”
I looked up at her and said, “Monica.”
She smiled and me and then sat down next to me, then said, “Monica do you know how special you are?”
I shook my head and said, “My mother told me I’m special all the time.”
She smiled and said, “Your mother was right. But did she tell you why you are so special?”
I shook my head and said, “No.”
The woman got up and said, “You should have no problem with this one. She doesn’t know what she is yet. But she will be harder to train. She has the strength just like her mother did. But since she’s younger I don’t think that will last long once we start.” And with that said the woman went back to her tent. One of the men dragged me to a tree and tied me to it. I could see the other kids and they all looked frightened and scared, all but one.
I looked at the boy who was not scared and tried to whisper to him. “Hey. Hello.” The boy looked up at me. And I said, “Why are you here?”
He looked at me and said, “We are all here because of what we are. All of our parents have been killed so we have no one to go back to. No place to run or hide too.” And with that said the boy looked away.
Destination

(Author’s Note: Jasmine’s mother still continues her story)

“Jazz is it ok if I continue on or did you want me to stop there? Because the next part of the story is even worse, so are you sure you want me to go on?”
I shook my head and said, “If you think that I need to hear it mom then tell me. Like you said maybe I’ll understand when this is all finished.”
She shook her head and continued. “I awoke the next morning and my back was stiff from being tied to a tree for so long.”

“The other kids were still asleep. The woman came out of the tent and sat by the fire that was still going. I took that as my chance and said, “Why am I here? Why did they do that to my mother?”
“The woman looked at me and smiled while saying, “You will find all that out in time Monica. In time you will learn and then you will realize that your foolish mother was wrong to disobey her master. And you will see that the people who listen to our master will get rewarded.” And with that she stood up and walked back to her tent. A few minutes later a man came out and came over to me and started to untie my hands. He took me and sat me down on the log again and brought me to the fire and sat me down. He did the same with the all the other kids. Then the man started passing around a dish. I thought it was food. But when it got to me it looked like slop.”
“I was about to pass it on to the next kid and the man stopped me and said, “Eat…eat or you will be left here tied to that tree and you will die.” So I ate