Disclamer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of the characters. Hey Arnold is the property of Nickelodeon and Craig Bartlett.
The jungle story
Chapter 2: Prologue: The contest
Most kid's worst problems were homework, avoiding bullies and trying to handle broccoli. Other kids, though rare would be discovering the other gender and trying not to be a spaz to their peers. Most normal kids had just those problems in their life. I was not one of them.
I know everyone has problems, including kids, but most of the time it feels like I was a kid facing grown up problems. It didn't help that almost everyone I knew treated me like I was an adult rather than a ten year old boy and expected me to act like one too.
Everyone thought I was incapable of failing; that I was like the golden child or something, everyone though I had no problems of my own and expected me to fix theirs, but they didn't understand at all. I know I try to be positive and help others as much as I could, I guess a part of me always though that helping other people with their problems would help me forget about my own, if only for a while. But lately it was just getting harder and harder to forget.
I just wanted to be with my mom and dad.
I was always secretly jealous when I saw other kids around their parents, boys playing ball in the park with their dads, moms hugging and healing their child when they fell down and scraped their knee and even when I saw some of my friends arguing with their parents for embarrassing in front of their friends or something. I was jealous because I really wanted to have that, more than anything in the world.
I'll never forget the day I found the flier for the junior international essay contest, with the grand prize being a week long trip to any country in the world for the winner and their entire class.
When my mind processed that, I knew what I had to do.
Ever since I found the map in my father's journal, I knew it was a sign that only I would be the one to find them or at least learn what happened to them. The map was my key to find my parents and this contest was my ticket to do so.
The contest had a 2 month deadline from that day, and I spent nearly the whole time in my room trying to come up with the perfect essay.
I knew it was a long shot, that millions of kids in the United States were entering, but I didn't care.
I was going to win, failure was not an option anymore, and it never was.
I put my very heart and soul into that essay, I just had to win, and the alternative would just be unbearable.
I just had to know what happened to my mom and dad, and at this point I would just go to San Lorenzo and search the whole jungle if it means finding them if I had to.
With only 2 weeks left until the deadline, I sent it.
The following days have been the most excruciating of my whole life, and that's something considering all the things I have been through in my short ten years.
Every second felt like an eternity and still no sign if my essay was a winner, I knew that they would send it my class as part of the education part of the whole thing, but I just couldn't focus on anything else.
Only my best friend Gerald knows what I have been up to and that's only because he caught me one day while I was going working on it, since he came to ask why I hadn't shown up to Gerald field, since I've been skipping to work on the essay.
After I explained everything to him, I made him swear not to breathe of word of it to anyone, most especially not my grandparents. I don't want to get their hopes up.
I knew the odds were against me, but that never stopped me before. I know maybe this is wishful thinking, but this has just got to work, I had almost lost all my hope that my parents would return but finding the map was almost like receiving a message from God saying: "Don't give up; you can still do something about it".
I spent 6 weeks working on the essay, making sure it was absolutely perfect and I am just counting down the agonizing days left until the winner result is here.
I didn't care if this was a one in a million chance.
I didn't care about the danger I'll get in if…I mean WHEN I win and finally get there to the jungle.
I didn't care if anyone though I was crazy for doing this.
I didn't care if I was getting my hopes higher than they have ever been.
All I cared that…that there was still some hope left.
-To be continued-
Next time on The jungle Story:And the winner is….
Next chapter preview: The bell rang signaling it's time for first period, but I barely registered it, I was just so anxious, today was the day I would find out if I won or not.
Mr. Simmons started class as usual but I barely paid attention, I was just waiting and praying that my fears weren't true. I just HAD to win, if that didn't happen I really don't know what I would do.
Time seemed to be getting slower, after what seemed to be a thousand years, I looked at the clock and realized that there was only twenty minutes left before class was over.
I was so scared my fears were true, I had just about to lose hope when the door suddenly opened and Principal Warts entered with a young women in toe, both having letters in each hand.
Could it be?..…
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