Chapter 4: An interesting new friend

The light shines and the birds sing as I try to open my eye lids and pull myself upward on the cold, hard, and rocky cave floor. My eyes light up as I suddenly realize, since when were birds singing when it’s cold, frosty and in the time of winter birds never even appear outside for fright they might die of cold. As I get a clearer vision of what’s around me, I see plenty of trees blooming with flowers of all sorts. Pink, purple, blue, red, yellow, and all the colors you could ever think of making. A meadow of sunflowers appear as thousands before me. I can’t take my sight off it. Blue jays are making their nests and preparing for their child’s birth. Baby bunnies hop from one patch of grass to another. Deers are walking peacefully and gracefully as they are also eating patches of grass and wild berries from the bushes. It almost looked like the very garden of Eden with so many animals and plants some of which I have never seen before.

I think for a moment. Yesterday it was winter yet today it is spring and it looks like winter never happened here in the weird ice cream world. Then, I also noticed that Myra was nowhere to be seen and I cry out, “Myraaaaaaaaa! Where are youuuuuuuu?! Myra?” Silence. Nothing but silence. Then I hear the crackling of leaves from behind me. My heart starts racing as I turn and stand up as fast as I can and in position of self defense even though I had no idea how to fight. I remember one day when Mr Hans told me, If you don’t know how to fight at least act like you know how to fight. Expecting a monster behind me I threw a rock at the creature. My eyes were closed almost expecting I would die here but then I heard an” Ow, Annie? What was that?” I open my eyes as I see Myra rubbing her right cheek where a dirt mark had marked her by the rock. “ Oops sorry Myra. I thought you were another monster.” “ Monster or not you should not throw something at it it’s just going to provoke it more.” Then I remembered what happened yesterday with the ice monster. I had thrown a rock at it and it got even more mad. That was partly my fault why we almost died. But I did also fix my screw up so I would call it even.

I see that Myra has found a bush where there are wild berries and picked them and put them in a giant leaf of a palm tree to make some sort of leaf basket. “ Did you get food for us Myra?” “ Well I was until I heard you screaming your head off and so I thought something had happened to you so I rushed to get here.” “ Oh hehe I thought something had happened to you because you were nowhere to be found and there is a lot of monsters in this world so I thought some monster had eaten you or killed you.” “ Ugh, Annie you are one handful.” “ Anyway I found lots of fruits where you follow the path of trees it leads you to a variety of fruits just like a wild supermarket.” “ Oh ok let’s go then. Bring the stuff.” We pack up the tent we made with branches and leaves, and we bring the backpack and the rest of the gadgets. We walk into a forest that is shining of light from the sun and birds are chirping and squirrels are greeting us by throwing acorns at us. Waaaaaiiiit a minute. Why are squirrels throwing acorns at us.

I turn around and millions of squirrels are staring at us and judging us beyond control. Each squirrel has an acorn of its own to throw. “ Oh no, Myra. Myra. Myraaaaaaa! The squirrels are gonna-“ Before I could finish my sentence all the squirrels leap down from their branches and like a herd of buffaloes they stampede towards us with their little acorns in their hands. Myra suddenly realizing that, weirdly enough, mad squirrels are chasing us through a pretty forest in a season changing ice cream world where you can get killed with scary ice monsters. If that’s not hard to believe then what is. Myra and I start running at full speed through the forest. Myra is screaming or I would say yelling at the top of her lungs,” Aaaaaaaaaaaaah” Then I’m like I’m out of breath right now so if screaming helps then I’ll try. I stop running and I face the squirrels. Then I wave my arms everywhere and shout

“ Aaaaaaaaaaah, go away creatures of death acorns. Be gone in the name of God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the- wait I think I’d did it wrong isn’t it God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit?” I look over at the squirrels and they all had stopped to stare me like I was an idiot. I mean at the time I am pretty much an idiot. I look behind me and Myra is just staring at the squirrels wide eyed and full of fear. I cock one eyebrow. I turn at the squirrels. “Hey bro, weren’t you supposed to kill me.” One squirrel steps forward and I retreat slowly. The squirrel lifts its acorn and the next thing I know I’m in a deep sleep. I wake up to the sounds of the crackling of nuts. I open my eyes to see a boy my age. He is staring at me with his hazel brown eyes. His shaggy hair resemble to those my cousin Ramadan. Ramadan is my cousin who I love very much besides my dad. He is very charming and makes me laugh every time I see him. My eyes are fully opened and I lift myself slowly. A sharp pain comes from my forehead and my hand presses against it. “ Ow.” The boy hands out his hand to touch my bruised head. “ Are you feeling alright?” the boy says. “ I just got hit by an acorn and got chased by a million squirrels coming at me. If you can tell me that was a dream then yah, I’m ok.”

“ Oh you mean my squirrels. Yah every time they see a pretty thing they run after it and hit them with acorns that are also potions that make the body fall asleep. Just like what happened to you. They also bring the thing or person back to my treehouse to show me their pretty thing.” “ Oh so you’re saying that squirrels catch girls and hit them with acorns just because they are pretty. Boy, your squirrels make no sense.” I look at him almost slightly pissed because he couldn’t control his army of perverted squirrels. “ My apologies for that miss. My squirrels only mean a compliment if they bring you here. And that’s because you are so beautiful that they’d love and be honored to have such a beautiful thing in the house.” I flush red. I have never been complimented before besides my maids, and my father but never a boy and certainly not of my own age. Then I notice that Myra isn’t here and I start to panic. “ Where is Myra?” I exclaim. The boy almost surprised by my sudden reaction says, Do.. do you mean that black haired girl with a metal detector? Yes she is here in the other room.”

I rush over to the room he was pointing at and I see Myra asleep,snoring. I turn to the boy. “ What have you done to her? and Who are You? Why are your squirrels so lunatic? How did I even get here? Did the army squirrels even carry me? If so how they do it. Wait. Am i that light? Wait back on topic. Where am I exactly in this world? How-“ the boy interrupts me in mid questioning and says,” Miss calm down. Why don’t we sit down and have tea and I’ll answer all the questions you have for me.” I look at him with a suspicious look then I say, “ Ok fine but you have to promise me you have to answer all my questions.” “ Not more than 50” “ 70” “ 65” “ 68 and it’s a deal” “ Done” He says. We sit down on two wooden stools with a cute low wooden table with a leaf table set and on it there is a porcelain teapot with two cups of tea. The boy takes the pot and starts pouring the tea in the cup. “ All right, my name is Oliver Jacobs and I train squirrels.” I look at him with an exaggerated fake smile and say” Oh how fascinating.” Oliver holds his head high and spoke,” You can say I’m the squirrel king.” I look at him still not interested an I lean towards him and whisper in his ear,” Between you and me let’s just say… next time you try to catch your queen try to not give them a concussion first.” As I thought, his cheeks go red and he says,” I’ll think about it.”

“So anyway my first question is, What have you done to Myra?” He sighs and responds,” Correction. What have my squirrels done to Myra? Yah well it’s exactly what happened to you except you were the one who was hit first and after the Myra girl tried to get you back from the squirrels, my squirrels just got mad and just made her fall asleep too so that she can shut up and even be an entertainer for my squirrels.” “ You’re calling Myra, your royal Jester cause that’s not gonna happen and after I finish all my questions you better take me back to my quest or help us whatever you like.” “ Alright. I’ll help you, I’ll answer all your questions, and I am truly sorry if your friend was given the name Jester by my squirrels.” “ Good so where clear. Next Question. Where am I?” “ You’re in my treehouse.” “ And where is this tree house.” “ I don’t know I don’t own any maps like fancy brat rich people do.” “ You know I feel offended because those fancy brat people is me and my family so if you please shut your little squirrel trap and proceed on my questions.” “ Alright fine proceed”, he said with a face expression that said, little brat I ain’t answering all your questions. “ Hmm let’s see oh ya, Are u supposed to be some sort of obstacle in this game cause if it is I’m ready to fight.” “ With what? Your powers. In my observations you don’t have powers.” “ Ok fine you got me I don’t know how to fight but still answer my question.”

“ No I’m not an obstacle I suppose you can call me an ally. I’ve been stuck in this game for quite some time and it is quite interesting how two young teen girls like you would waste your time on a game that could kill you. So in my opinion I think you should try to finish this game as soon as possible because if you don’t you will be stuck here like me or you’ll get killed. Either way it sucks.” So he’s been here for quite some time wait so that means if he looks 15 in the game and the game has a slower time difference in the game than in real life then that means that he could be 50 or an 80 year old man in the real world. I think about it for a moment and I let my thoughts ponder as the boy right in front of me just waits patiently awaiting my next question. So I decide to ask my next question and hear it goes.” Hey boy, are you like 60 years old or somethin?” Oliver looks at me, surprised at my outrageous question and bursts out laughing. I cock my head to the left. what’s so funny? Then he finally answers me and says, “ Haha, no I’m not 60 or 50 or 40 or 30 and I’m definitely not even in my 20s. In the game I’m 14 so I guess your age. And I’ve been here for two years so try in do the math and you’ll get that I’m sixteen in your world.”

“ Oh ok. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I thought « for some time now” meant a lot more than two years.” “ Haha it’s alright. Hey I think you should wake up your friend. The sooner you finish this quest the sooner we can get out of here.” I think for a moment. “ Hey how about you can come back with us and complete the quest, and come back into our world.” “ But I don’t know your world and plus I wouldn’t have anywhere to live.” “ You can live in my father’s palace. I’d love the company and during my school days I’ll ask my friend Lazaras to find you a dorm so that you can stay somewhat close to me.” “ Thanks Anastasia, your very kind to me you know and I’d be glad to keep you company. Now let’s wake up your friend.” “ Ok”

We go to Myra’s room and I shake her body gently to wake her up. She moans and opens her eyes while stretching. “ Mhmm Where are we?”, she asks as she takes the covers off her and wobbles as she gets out of bed because she got up too fast.

“ Woah” “ Good morning Annie” “ We are in the afternoon right now, hun” I say with gentle smile. “ We are?” “ Hmm ok but where are we and who’s this guy?”, she says as she points directly at Oliver. Oliver steps forward and takes the very same hand that was pointing at him and shakes it. “ Nice to meet you Myra, I’m Oliver Jacobs, I’m a player that has been stuck here for two years. Why your here? Long story short, my squirrels are my friends and they bring things they like to this treehouse.” “ They like me?” Says Myra combing her messy bed hair. “ Umm well no but they like your friend, you just happen to be known as their Jester.” “ Aurghm”, “Excuse me but my friend is not a Jester even though she makes me laugh she is no ones Jester and she ought not to be one.” “ Ah yes excuse me I meant no offense, what I mean is that my squirrels like entertainment and you seem like a nice girl so that they would love to spend time with you and maybe cure their loneliness.” “ You’re saying, that one thousand squirrels are lonely because they don’t have enough friends.” “ Yup that makes total sense.” I say with a sarcastic tone. Oliver looks annoyed, and says, “ Ok fine see it however you want I was just trying to say it nicely that you’re prettier than her.” Myra blushes a bit and exclaims,” Aww thank you.” “ I wasn’t talking about you” Myra pouts and crosses her arms across her chest. “ You’re not very pleasant to talk to.” “ You’re right but if you were a person who had been stuck in a weird world with only squirrels as your friends, I don’t think you would say the same. “Myra raises one eyebrow,” Whatever” “ Anyway,” I say breaking the tension, “ I invited Oliver to come with us on our mission. The more the better, and plus he knows his way around.” “ What?! No way. Absolutely not. Traveling with this prick will only make it harder.”

« Come on Myra, it’s just until we finish the game, and maybe after the game but we'll talk about that later » “ Urgh fine” she pouts again. “ Alright do we have all our stuff?” I look around the house and I pick up the the backpack that I was carrying and I take some food that was in Oliver ‘s kitchen and stuff it in my back pocket of my jeans and in my backpack. I head toward the door where my two new delightful friends are standing. “ Alright then I’m ready what about you guys?” I ask as I look at each of them and what they are carrying. Oliver pats his pockets and checks one more time around the house if he missed anything or if he changed his mind about the things he was bringing and then said,” I checked carefully and I don’t think I need anymore stuff we’ll find more food along the way. So I’m ready.” He shows off his grin like he was proud of not missing anything but I think he is missing his brain and hasn’t checked his back pocket. “ So am I” says Myra as she has her handle on the treehouse’s door knob. “ Good let’s go” We open the door and we see a large forest almost 100 miles stretching across the grassland. “ Wow it sure is beautiful up here, exclaims Myra as she smiles brightly in excitement. I smile and I descend the ladder connected to the treehouse. Myra and Ollie do the same but just with a bit more struggle. I finally reach the ground and I jump off landing perfectly on my two good feet,good to know they still work. I wait for Myra and Oliver as they toojump down perfectly from the last step of the hanging wood ladder. We face the forest and we start to walk. Looking around at our surroundings cautiously every 20 minutes. Finally breaking the silence, Myra exclaims,” Oo I know what we should do next! Annie? Do you remember when we fought that ice monster yesterday?” Ollie looks at Myra and asks,” You guys fought an ice monster?” “ Uh yes but that’s not my question and I was not talking to you, Hmph 😤” “ Alright Alright ***** cat I won’t ask you about it Jeez I just wanted to know what happened it’s just my curious nature u know, and-“

Myra interrupts him looking more annoyed than before he talked. “ Just shut up I’m asking ANNIE!” Taking his scared puppy dog eyes Ollie retreats and puts his head down to his chest,making a pretend sad face to mock her. I decide to finally answer her question and I say, “ Yes I do remember but how is that going to help us?” “Weeelll”, Myra thinks, “ When I was under the ice protecting myself from the monster I found an old submarine submerged underwater. It could be of use and help us find more clues. I mean the ice monster was guarding something, it is possible that it was guarding the submarine.” “ Hmm you’re right but do you remember the way to the lake? Cause we are pretty far into this forest and we have nowhere to go and no directions.” “ Urgh I hate that you’re right. What do you think we should do?” Myra glances at Ollie who is smirking about something he doesn’t want to tell us. I turn towards Ollie and I ask,” What do u think we should do?” Ollie takes a step forward and tell us this,” Well my squirrels aren’t so useless after all. They know this world like the back of their paws. They can lead us to the lake if we ask them nicely.” “ Oh that’s great we can use your squirrels as guides to guide us to the lake.”That’s was just said Annie” “I know but it sounds smarter when i say it” “ Haha very funny okay im goin to call them, archu archy archu archy archu archy” “ Myra looks at him with a weird look” What. The. Heck. Was. That.” “ It’s my squirrel call” “ You sure it isn’t squirrel repellent call?” “Nooooah’’ “It’s a special squirrels call and to prove it you can look to your right,My lady and see your past enemies. “

Me and Myra both look to our right and see tons of squirels waiting for him to give them precise instructions. I bend down to see them and talk to them.I whisper in a baby talk the kind of level of speech you use when you are talking to a cute child or an animal, and i say,” Didn’t we Havethis agreement to never ever put me to sleep again?” The squirrels stare at me and then one squirrel steps forward and spoke, “ Hey gurl, How u doin?” Myra bursts out laughing,” hahahahahah their voice they can talk, and and it its so deep hahahahahahah” Ollie looks at her like she is lunatic and right now i couldn’t agree more. I focus my attention back to the squirrels and i ask them,” Would it be alright if you can show us the direction of the lake please?” The squirrel responds with a polite and deep manner,” Why of course follow me” we follow the head squirrel and it leads us to the very same lake where we went yesterday. Well except its not frozen anymore. We walk towards the lake and thank the squirrels for helping us on finding the lake that holds the very next clue that could lead us to the next step of freedom. We set down our stuff and start to think,we dont have any change of clothes or bathing suits so what could we possibly do? Myra looks around and spots another backpack this time the color of light blue and brown like the color of the lake. She zips it open and finds THREE scuba gear for all three of us. How could it be possible that it knew we needed three. Are they spying on us? Do they know the future of things? If so then are we going to make it out alive? I think carefully as i take the gear and hand it to Myra and Oliver to try on. It fits perfectly for the three of us and im starting to get creeped out on how the game found out our sizes. But anyway we have to stay on topic.

I ask Myra,” Who goes first?” Myra think and says,” I ll go i found it first it safer for me to go first.” She dives in head first into the rather cold looking water. I look at Oliver, “ YOu go next ill go last” “ Got it” he says and dives hands first into the water leaving me exposed to the burning hot sun waiting and pondering my thoughts on the rules and the future of our lives in the hands of this game. I finally give up the courage to dive in with my snorkel in my mouth, fins on my feet, and diving goggles on my face. I look around me as tons of little fish surround the submarine on the bottom of the ocean. I take notice of Myra and OLlie waiting for me by the mast of the ship. Since we can talk into our scuba gear. Myra says” i think we should split up try to figure out the exact location of the clue. You go left”, she points at OLlie. “ and you go forward” she points at me this time and then points at the bottom of the ship and the deck.” And ill go right see what you can find and meet us back here in half an hour. Everyone got it?” “ Got it” says Ollie as he prepares to swim. “Got it.” I say as i too prepare to find this mysterious clue. I go towards the deck of the ship and after 25 minutes of not finding anything i decide to go back at the meeting center at the mast of the ship. There i see Myra waiting anxiously for our returns. “Hi Myra see anything useful?” “ No” she sighs, “ What about you?” No nothing but seaweed,fish, and wood.” All of a sudden a shout resonates from the left of the ship. It’s Ollie he swims towards us at full speed. In out of breath words he manages to tell us this,”Guys, I found something”

End of Chapter 4

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