"Goodbye, Laura. I'll miss you," ten-year-old Jessica Sinclair said as she gave her friend Laura Dupree a big hug goodbye.
"I'll miss you, too, Jess," replied Laura as she tried the hardest to not cry.
Laura and Jessica were best friends and they had been so ever since they were in Kindergarten together. They had also been neighbors up until now because Laura's father had just been transferred to a new position of his job in the state of California which was so far away that Jessica wouldn't see Laura again, at least not for a very long time to come.
Laura then reached into her pocket and took out a tiny golden ring in the shape of a crown with a red ruby in the center of it and handed it to Jessica.
"This is for you," she said emotionally. "It's a friendship ring. So you'll always remember me."
Jessica was now too choked up to speak at all as she simply accepted the ring.
"Well, goodbye," said Laura one last time. "Hopefully we'll see each other again someday."
And then Jessica watched with anguish as Laura turned around and stepped into the open door of the car her parents were in. Then as the door closed and the car started and began driving away down the street and a moving van followed close behind it.
Jessica watched until the car was out of sight. Then she felt as if something had struck her fragile heart and had broken it into a million little pieces. She gave a heavy anguished wail as she rushed into her house with tears streaming down her face.
She ran all the way up the stairs and then ran into her bedroom, slamming the door closed behind her. She leaped onto her bed and clutched at her pillow as she buried her face into and began sobbing her heart out like she never had before.
It was just so unfair! Why did Laura have to leave so suddenly like this? After all they had talked about staying together forever, going to college together and being maids of honor at each others' weddings and having their children be best friends with each other. They had always thought if ever they moved to another place it would be together. And now it seemed all of their dreams of those things were completely shattered.
She remained sobbing for a long time. She was almost asleep from the exhaustion of it when suddenly she heard her mother call to her from downstairs.
"Jessica, are you awake! Max is here to see you!"
She got off her bed very slowly and wiped away the remaining tear stains from around her eyes which actually hurt a bit now. She went downstairs where she found Max, who was a boy who she went to school with and who also lived in the neighborhood. He stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hi, Jessica," he said very softly as he looked at her face.
"Hi, Max," she replied dryly.
"I wanted to tell you I'm sorry about Laura leaving," Max continued. "I knew how you two were best friends and... well... I just feel like I know how it feels to leave someone you love behind."
"Really?" asked Jessica with a sniffle. "Max, you sure have changed since last year. Before then you were such a..."
"I was a brat, yes I know," admitted Max.
"Actually I was gonna say a wild thing," said Jessica. "What happened to you? You're so different now. So caring."
"Well..." Max paused for a few moments. "I don't know if you'll believe me," he continued. "Last year I ran away from home and I found a sailboat by the ocean and I sailed in it to this big island and there was these big, hairy, and wild things living on it. They made me their King and I promised them to make things better for them but I only made things worse and so I had to leave. I learned about being caring and understanding of others while I was there."
Jessica listened to his story with wide eyes. Now she was silent as she didn't know whether or not she should believe it. Though she couldn't deny he had changed since last year and also that he looked and sounded quite sincere in his telling of how.
"I wish I could go there," she said at last.
"Well, maybe you can," said Max. "I did leave the sailboat by the ocean when I came home."
"I don't know if I'd want to leave my family though," she said. "They're all I've got."
"I realized that too when I was with the Wild Things," said Max. "Though they did become like a second family to me."
Max went home shortly after. Then a few hours later that evening, Jessica was in her bedroom and trying to get her history and arithmetic homework done, which were actually her two worst subjects, when suddenly she heard her mother coming up the stairs with heavy footsteps. She then threw the door open and entered. Her face wore a not too pleased expression.
"Jessica Sinclair," she began heatedly. "I have just received a call from you teacher. She says your grades are so poor you may have to repeat the fifth grade next year if they don't start improving before next semester. And until then you are grounded."
"What!? But Mom!" Jessica began in horror.
"Get back to your homework!" her mother said and with that she slammed the door closed behind her.
Jessica was furious now. Why was her life so unfair now! First her best friend leaves, and now she was grounded and also facing the possibility of repeating the fifth grade next year which not only meant that she wouldn't be in the same class as any of friends were but also that she would still have the horrible Mrs. Burcus as a teacher again.
She was so upset that she ripped up the pages of homework sh e had started on and then stomped on top of them. She then opened her door and rushed downstairs. She opened the front door and ran out of it.
She then kept on running and running. She was soon leaving the neighborhood behind and heading into the forest that surrounded it. She ran through breathing heavily with her heart racing a mile a minute as she darted around trees and bushes and leaves and sticks crunched under her feet.
She finally reached the edge of the forest at which she met with the ocean and she stopped there. She noticed the tiny sailboat sitting beside the edge of the water. She knew at once it was the same one Max had used to go to the island where the Wild Things were and back.
A thought suddenly occurred to her. Maybe if such an island really existed maybe she could to it and maybe she could also find a happier life there away from here. She stepped carefully into the sailboat which was only just big enough for her to sit in, hoisted the sail, and shoved it out into the sea.
She sailed onward for a whole night and most of the following day with no trace of land in sight. Then as she woke up the next day after a long and weary sleep she looked out ahead and saw the edges of the cliffs on an island far in the distance. As she got closer she thought she also saw something big and hairy standing on top of the lower cliffs. She then heard it give a loud hooting sound and then run away.
When she at last reached the edge of the ocean she parked the sailboat on the sandy beach and then stepped out of it and started to walk around the cliffs. As she did she suddenly heard a loud raucous of voices coming from ahead of her. She looked in their direction and saw a band of huge and hairy things running toward her. She stopped in her tracks and waited for them to come.
"He's back! He's back!" the big heavy one in front of them was exclaiming. "I told you he'd come back! I told you! I knew it! I just..." he stopped abruptly as he stopped just a few feet in front of Jessica and the others all stopped behind him.
Jessica now had a good view of them. She saw the one in front of them looked rather like a tigon with horns. There was one that looked like a bluish gray bull, one that looked like a sad eyed troll, one that looked like a giant goat walking upright, and also there was one that looked like a giant bird walking upright. There was also one that had long red hair and rhinoceros horn on its nose, and one with long brown hair who was rather pretty looking.
Finally the big tigon looking one spoke in a deeply sad and disappointed voice. "Aw darn it, it's not him after all!"
"I told you so!" said the rhino horned one in a high feminine voice.
"Well, what is it then?" asked the one who looked like a goat.
"I don't know," said the troll like one. "I've never seen anything like it before."
Jessica realized these must be the Wild Things that Max had told her about. She smiled as she stepped forward and introduced herself to them.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jessica Sinclair. I'm sorry I wasn't who you thought I was. Were you hoping I was Max, by any chance?"
"Max! Yes, I was hoping he had come back to us!" said the giant tigon. "Did you know him?"
"Yes, I do know him," said Jessica.
"He was once our King," said the tigon. "What about you? Are you a King, too?"
"No," said Jessica, "because I am girl, and I am a Queen."
"A Queen?" repeated the tigon. "What's a Queen?"
"A Queen is like a King," said Jessica, "only it's a female's, a girl's position. She rules over everyone around her and helps them and makes life good for them."
"Really?" said the tigon. "We could really use something like that around here. And if you knew Max you must be a good Queen for us to have here. Would you do us the honor of staying with us and being our Queen?"
"I would be delighted," said Jessica with a big grin.
"Then come with us and we'll lead you to your throne," said the tigon. "My name is Carol, by the way," he added and introduced the others in turn, "and this is Douglas, this is Alexander, this is Ira, this is Judith, and this is KW."
When they were further onto the island they came to what looked like a huge fortress made entirely of sticks.
"Wow! Did you make this?" asked Jessica in amazement.
"Yes, we did, with the help of King Max," replied Carol.
Carol then went into the fortress for a moment and then returned carrying a golden crown and a scepter.
He then placed the scepter carefully in Jessica's hand and the crown on top of her head and it fit her just as if it had been made especially for her.
Life here is gonna be good, she thought