Chapter 2: I Am Glad I Didn't Throw Up On The Last Day of School
Finally, after my first half of the day at school, it was lunch time. Everyone loves lunch time. It's especially great in Florida where we can eat outside.
Laura, Jesse, and I sat in our usual spots under the big white pavilion. We always sat towards the outside of the pavilion, that way we could beat the post-lunch rush to class. Unluckily, we had to have the same lunch period as Christian. Luckily, that meant that everyone was crowded towards that side of the pavilion, giving us more room. Everyone loved to hear the many stories he had to tell for some reason. They were about all the adventures he'd been on with his mom and dad who are both historians and archaeologists and who wanted to find more artifacts for the many museums they owned. He made it sound like he was Indiana Jones going on all these big adventures, escaping mummies and shooting down evil treasure hunters. Anyone sensible would know that these stories aren't true. In the case of my Sophomore class, there was only the three of us who were actually sensible.
Lunch was going just fine, until the big bang happened. Something large landed on top of the pavilion making a dent right in the middle of it. Luckily everyone ran out from under the pavilion to see what it was because just as that happened something swooped down from the sky and dove straight into the pillars holding up the pavilion. The pavilion came toppling down, spraying dust and debris. I jumped to the side just as a pillar toppled in my direction. I couldn't see Laura and Jesse while I was on the ground, but I assumed that they were okay on the other side of the pillar. I got up and jogged towards where most of the other Sophomores were originally standing before the pavilion collapsed to try and see if there was anyone who needed help. All I found though was Christian laying on the ground, slowly sitting up. His hair was tousled and he had dust and dirt on him. He sat up coughing and looked up at me.
"What just happened?" he asked.
"I don't know," I replied as beads of sweat started to form above my brow. Something didn't feel right. I look across the debris to the other side of the pavilion. I was confused to find that everyone was over there, including Laura and Jesse. They were all scattered, either laying on the ground, slowly getting up like Christian, or running inside the school building screaming.
Christian stood up next to me, looking across the pavilion with the same confused expression as I had.
"What the-," he started to say, but a big shadow appeared behind us.
We slowly turned around, and part of me wishes I hadn't. Staring right back at us was not one, but two of the strangest creatures I had ever seen in my life. I blinked twice hoping I was imagining what I was seeing.
The animals, if that's what you want to call them, looked like they were made in an animal blender. They both had the body of a lion, but that was only the first part. On the right side of the lion's head, popping out of its right shoulder, was a goat head. And if that wasn't strange enough, on the left shoulder of the lion popped out the head of what seemed like dragon. The dragon's head had purple horns and muddy-brown, scaly skin. A snake-like tongue flicked out of its mouth as it hissed. On top of that the lion had bat wings sprouting out of its midsection.
Both creatures snarled at Christian and me. I slowly backed away, trying not to startle it and have it chase after me. Christian, though, seemed to be frozen in fear. His eyes were wide and his feet glued in place as sweat dripped down the side of his face.
"Christian," I said softly. He didn't respond. "Christian, just back away slowly."
But he didn't move. You'd think for a guy who had so many near-death adventures he would have some common sense of survival instinct. But Mr. Perfect seemed to have been bit of a scaredy cat.
One of the creatures started to growl and creep closer to Christian. I had to do something. No matter how much I hated him, I wasn't going to let him die at the claws of an Animal Kingdom Smoothie. So, I did the most sensible thing. I through a brick at the creature closest to Christian. The brick hit the creature on the lion's head with a thud. Both of the creatures turned all six heads on me. One of the goat heads bleated as if it were saying, "How stupid is this girl?"
Both creatures then seemed to decide to deal with me first as Mr. Perfect wasn't going anywhere soon because he was still frozen with fear. I spun on my heals and jumped on top of the pavilion debris. I started to run towards the school, hoping to possibly reach the doors before the lion-goat-dragon caught up to me. I grabbed another brick, turned and threw it blindly as I ran in a desperate attempt to slow the creatures down in any way possible. Unfortunately, my aim was off and the brick sailed past the creature and bonked Christian right on top of his head. He crumpled to the ground. Great I thought, Now the whole school is going to hate me for ruining Mr. Perfect's head.
As I had turned around to throw the other brick in my hand, I saw a hint of gold in the sky. I glanced up to see two gold chariots attached to flying horses riding towards us. At that point, I hadn't thought twice about it as both the Animal Smoothies were stalking towards me.
Christian groaned off to the side, slowly coming to after having passed out for the second time. After hearing him stir, the creature towards my left shoulder turned its dragon head towards Christian. The creature to my right's goat head bleated as if he were giving the left creature the go ahead to approach Christian. The Animal Smoothie to my left turned 180 degrees and stalked towards Christian. I looked at the creature to my right, who still had all 6 eyes staring back at me. The lion's head was licking his chops, the dragon's head was hissing with its snake-like tongue, and the goats head, well the goat's head didn't really look at me hungrily. In fact, it would've looked like a cute little goat had it not been attached to a dragon and a lion.
The creature started to walk closer to me. I bent down and picked up another piece of stone slab and chucked it at the creature. It smacked the dragon's head right between its beady yellow eyes. The dragon's head slumped slightly. The goat and lion head turned to the dragon head looking at it like it was someone who had just asked a stupid question in class (I know teachers say there are no stupid questions, but I mean c'mon. Some of the questions people ask in my class have really just common sense answers, or the teacher literally just said the answer before said stupid person asked the question). This then gave me some time to run a few yards and pick up another easy to grab brick to throw at the creature as it pursued me.
As I turned around, I saw that the second creature who was stalking Christian was in a crouching position. Thankfully, what happened next saved his life. Just as the creature pounced into the air to tear a delirious Christian to pieces, one of the horses on the golden chariot rammed right into the Animal Smoothie.
"Take that doofus!" the driver of the chariot yelled, as it soared back into the sky. The driver seemed to be about my age. He had dirty blonde curls and carried what looked like a ukulele behind his back.
The other chariot circled around the scene. In it, was a boy who seemed a few years older than me. He had black, tousled hair.
"Apollo! Why don't you just use your godly powers and zap these things to Tartarus!" he yelled. I assumed he was talking to the boy in the other chariot, and by 'these things' I hoped he was referring to the Animal Smoothies, not Christian and I.
"Because," the curly headed boy replied, "that's too easy, and there is no spectacular show in taking the easy way out!"
Just then, the creature that was knocked to the ground by the flying horse started to get up. The lion head, dragon head, and goat head all roared, hissed, and bleated at the same time. The creature then spread and flapped its hideous bat wings as it took to the sky after the two chariots. I was amazed by how elegant and fast the creature moved through the sky. I don't think the two boys in the chariots expected the creature to pursue with such speed either. The creature banged into the golden chariot that held the curly headed boy. The chariot lurched to the side causing a frenzy for the flying horse and its rider.
The events that happened next all happened in a complete and quick blur. Just as the curly headed boy's chariot got knocked off balance, the other boy in the chariot took off towards Christian, who was still crumpled on the ground. At that same moment, the creature closest me started to run towards me. I did the most sensible thing and turned and ran in the opposite direction. I realized then that I was not going to be able to out run the creature who had the body of a lion, which could run faster than a human being over short distances. At that same moment, I felt the cool stone that I had picked up between my clenched right fist. I figured that I could at least by myself a few seconds if I threw something in the general direction of the creature. I was only 20 yards away from the end of the collapsed pavilion and the doors to the school. If I could just make it through the doors I'd be able to lock them on the other side and buy me a few more precious moments to notify the police, animal control, or whatever and whoever it was that could take care of these things. While mid sprint, I turned and chucked the stone slab towards the creature.
Normally when I run during a cross country meet or practice I have no problem looking over my shoulder while running. But in cross country at least your running on a more-or-less paved, flat surface. This is quite different from running on a collapsed pavilion with piles of dust and stone debris everywhere. So, it would seem that the bricks and stones that had helped buy me seconds against the creatures would lead to my demise. As I wasn't paying attention to my footing when I through the stone at the creature, I tripped over a brick.
I hit the collapsed pavilion hard. I thought I heard a crack on my right shoulder as it took the brunt of the impact. Pain seized up my arm and sides. I rolled onto my back. It seemed like my effort to by those extra seconds didn't even work, as the creature was almost on top of me.
You know when you hear stories about people who had near death experiences and they all say that time seemed to slow and their life flashed before their eyes. Well it's true. Because this is exactly what happened to me at that moment.
The creature coiled and sprang into the air, its claws glinting and sharp, ready to tear me to shreds as it would come on top of me. I knew as this happened that this was the end, that I was going to die to an Animal Smoothie.
Images from my life flashed through my mind. All of my happiest memories included being with my family. My Grandma's house at Christmas Eve and all of the cousins, other family, and friends gathered around singing carols. Running the Turkey Trot with my cross country team, and then eating a Thanksgiving Day meal with the family and friends in the area. All the summer time fun and laughter.
Then the memories of my parents flooded my brain. My Mom and Dad reading me bed time stories about heroes who saved the day. My Dad comforting me when there was thunder and lightning during the night, and saying, "Don't be afraid. It's only the sky being angry." My Mom sharing stories about the beauty of family and how important it is. Both my parents hugging me together; all of us wrapped together in each other's embrace.
The creature was almost on top of me. I put up my hands as a natural defense mechanism. If I was going to have one last thought in my life, I am glad it was about my family.
As the images flowed through my head and the creature inches from me, a warm sensation flowed through my outstretched arms. There was a humming in my ear. Beams of light shot out of my hands straight through the creature. The creature made a scream that sounded like a whaling T-Rex, and vaporized instantly. I put down my hands and the warm sensation along with the light and humming ceased. In front of me where the creature was, a pile of what looked like glittering ash now laid.
I looked up to see the two boys in the chariots on the other side of the pavilion staring at me, their eyes wide in what seemed like disbelief. The corners of my vision started to fade, and the world seemed to spin upside down as I felt myself pass out.