Finally, I updated this story!!! I'm so sorry to all the people who have been waiting for this chapter; I'll try to update sooner next time.
Thank you to: BloodMistress, Dreamer's Wasteland, mandapandabug, and Raven, for reviewing this story. And Raven, how in the world did you review one chapter twice?
Anyway, on with the story!!!
Chapter 2
Joey wakes up on Saturday morning to the sound of his blaring alarm clock; he rolls over in bed and pounds it with his fist; rolls over again and goes back to sleep, but not for long.
"Joey!!! I know you heard that!!!" Grandpa yells. "It is time to wake up!"
Joey glares at his clock and does what he's told to do. He spends a few minutes cleaning up himself and dressing before going downstairs.
"Morning Joey..." Serenity yawns.
"Morning…" Joey murmurs.
"Eat up you two." Hanna says as she gives the children their food.
"What are you doing today?" Joey asks.
"Me and Aunt Helen are going into town to look for some herbal remedies that Grandpa wants." Serenity says. "I just know it will be the greatest time ever!" She adds sarcastically.
"I know that you don't want to do this Serenity; but I'm going to need help picking up a few things other then remedies." Hanna says. "Joey is already working a few jobs father gave him, so that only leaves you."
Serenity sighs and stuffs her mouth with oatmeal.
"How long has it been since the well has been cleaned last?" Joey asks.
"Around three months." Hanna says. "You should step out side every five minutes for some fresh air; because it could be hard to breathe in there."
Joey nods.
Hanna and Serenity go to the stores, leaving Joey alone home with Grandpa. Grandpa gives Joey the items he will need to clean the well and goes back into the house.
Joey walks over to the well's shrine. He places the stuff on the floor and opens the door. It isn't like what Aunt Hanna had explained. He won't need to get out every five minutes for fresh air. The job will be done within two hours.
There is a layer of dust everywhere, so the only things that need to be done is to sweep up the place and mop up. Joey goes back outside for the broom; when he comes back he leaves the door open so the dust will float outside.
As he sweeps, huge clouds of dust come up with every sweep; soon, he has half of the shrine cleaned up, so he decides to take a break. He goes outside for a few moments, but something from inside the shrine scares him; a voice, when he looks in, the voice seems to be coming from the well.
Joey slowly walks over, not knowing what to do. He comes up to the well and looks in; the voice is just above a whisper. Joey doesn't see anything because of the darkness, but that doesn't stop him from calling down.
"Hello?" He calls. "Is anyone down there?"
The voice stops, Joey calls one more time, but no answer. Joey sighs and shrugs off what he had just heard and goes back to work.
Joey finishes earlier than he expected and he starts to head for the house, but the whispering voice comes back. Joey rushes back into the shrine, this time; he's determined to find out what's in there. As Joey enters, he finally makes out what the voice is saying.
"The jewel, give me the jewel!!!" The voice whispers. "The jewel…the precious…" (Now where did you hear 'the precious' before?)
Joey walks over, he doesn't say anything; he just squints to see if he can see anything.
"This is crazy; I have to tell gramps about this." Joey says as he runs for the door.
All of a sudden, a gust of wind comes out of nowhere and the door slides shut. The wind gets stronger and Joey is trying to keeps his balance.
'What's going on?!' He thinks.
Joey feels something wrap around his waist, he looks down and notices that they are arms. He struggles to get out of the grasp, but it's not happening. The arms pull him at him, until he's at the well.
"No!!!" Joey yells.
The arms pick him up and take him down into the well. Joey doesn't know what's happening at all. The hole at the top of the well disappears and he's floating in the middle of somewhere. He looks around to see a place that's dark and flashing colors, then he sees something he doesn't believe at first. He sees another human, but the body isn't of human, it's of a centipede and it's coming towards him.
"Give me the jewel!!!" The human/centipede yells.
"What jewel?!" Joey yells as he moves out of the way.
The centipede/human is trying to attack Joey; it's slinging all of its arms and legs at him, chasing Joey around, but it can't catch him.
Joey is praying that all of this is only a dream, but something happens that makes Joey realize that he's not asleep.
The centipede lunges at him, and stabs him. Joey screams as he feels the pain shoot through his body; blood is pouring from the side of his stomach, but something falls out, something that confuses him; a jewel.
"The jewel!!!" The centipede yells, it lunges for it; but Joey grabs it and floats away.
Joey doesn't know what that thing needs the jewel for; but since it came out of his body, he isn't going to let that bug take it away.
"Give it to me!!!" The centipede yells chasing him.
"No, it's not yours!!!" Joey yells.
Just then, a bright light begins to burn through the darkness; Joey looks down and sees that ground is beginning to form underneath him. The centipede disappears and when the light disappears, Joey finds himself back in the well.
"Home sweet home…" Joey murmurs; he looks around and notices a latter leaning on a wall of the well. "I can finally get out of here!" Joey says; just as he's about to walk, pain shoots through his body again; he looks down and sees that the wound that he got from the centipede is still there, then he realizes that he still has the jewel. "Oh great, how am I going to explain this to everyone?"
Joey looks up at the latter and climbs up, he makes his way up slowly because of the painful side. Once he completes the latter, he lets out a yell of triumph; but when he opens his eyes, they widen.
"Where am I?!" He yells.
He's not in the shrine; he's in the middle of nowhere. He sees a field of green grass, then there are trees, lots of trees. Joey slowly gets out of the well and gets to his feet. He looks around himself, wondering what he has gotten himself into now.
"I have to find somewhere; maybe I can find a phone and call home." Joey says; he starts walking towards the trees.
Soon, he finds himself in a dark, demi-lighted place. The tall trees are blocking the sun light that's trying to peer into the forest, but it's being blocked by the many branches and leaves. Joey continues walking, until he sees something in the distance; he runs up to it, only to come to a complete stop at what it is.
"Oh my god…" Joey whispers.
He's looking up at a tree, where a boy is pinned to it. Vines are all over the boy's body, wrapping around his arms, legs and torso; but the vines aren't what catches Joey's eyes, what catches Joey's eyes are the boy ears. The ears are doggie ears that are poking out at the top of his head over his hair.
"Are those real?" Joey asks himself. He tries to ignore his urge to touch the ears, but it's already too much. Joey looks over the tree and sees that there is a rock nearby where he can stand on to touch the ears. He rushes over and climbs up; when he's close enough, he slowly reaches up with both hands and touches both ears. He rubs them, and tugs at them, and finds that they are real. When Joey pulls his hands away, his elbow touches something. His eyes widen when he sees an arrow standing erect from the boy's body. "How could I have missed this?!" Joey asks himself.
Joey jumps off and backs away from the boy's body, but in the back of his mind; he can't help but think he met the boy before. He wonders why the boy is up there and wonders if he's really dead.
"Get away from him!!!" A loud voice yells.
Joey whirls around only to see an old lady, with a bow and arrow in hand, an arrow drawn and pointed at him. The lady has long white hair and her eyes are a beautiful shade of blue, they remind Joey of Serenity; the lady doesn't look too old, but she does have a few wrinkles. Joey backs off a little; he doesn't know what to do.
"Who are you and what witchery are you trying to pull?!!!" The old lady yells.
Joey's eyes widen.
'Witchery?' Joey thinks.
Suddenly, the old lady lowers her arrow.
"Jounouchi?" She whispers.
"Who?" Joey asks.
A few men come up behind the old lady; all of them have widened eyes, just gawking at Joey.
"Who are you?" The woman asks.
"I'm Joey Wheeler." Joey says. "I'm lost…"
The lady's eyes darken a little; then she waves for Joey to come over. Joey stands his ground.
"We will not hurt you." The lady says. "We want to help you."
Joey slowly walks over to the lady and the men.
"We'll take you to our village and see what we can do for you… Joey." The lady says.
Joey nods and he and the others are off; as they walk off, Joey looks over his shoulder at the boy pinned to the tree, he can't stop thinking about him.
When Joey and the others arrive at the village, Joey nearly has a breakdown.
"Where am I?!" He yells looking around. Instead of cars, he sees wagons being pulled by horses; instead of houses, he sees huts; and instead of school uniforms, or jeans, skirts or t-shirts, he sees everyone wearing kimonos. "What time is this?!"
When the old lady says it, Joey passes out. (I'm a big fan of Inuyasha, but I don't know the period of time feudal Japan existed.)
The next time Joey wakes up, he finds that there is a wet cloth on his forehead; he looks around and notices that he's in a hut.
"Hello Joey…" A voice says.
Joey looks to his side and sees the old lady.
"How are you feeling?" She asks.
"A little better…" Joey says.
"That's good." The lady says.
Joey looks at her and realizes that he doesn't know her name.
"What's your name?" Joey asks.
"My name is Shizuka." The lady says.
Joey's stomach growls and he blushes a little.
"We have something cooking outside, it'll be ready in a little bit." Shizuka says.
Joey nods and he sits up.
"Are you sure you're well enough to stand?" Shizuka asks worriedly.
"I'll be fine." Joey says as he swings his feet over and stands up from the floor cot.
The two make their way out of the cot and into the village; when Joey gets out, he's in for a surprise.
Everyone in the village is right outside; all of the saying something about someone named Jounouchi.
"Who is this Jounouchi, I'll tell you right now, I'm not him." Joey says.
"Jounouchi was the village priest here a long time ago." Shizuka says. "He was my brother."
"Was?" Joey asks.
"He died long ago." Shizuka says.
"What does all of that this have to do with me?" Joey asks.
"You look exactly like my big brother." Shizuka says.
To be continued…
When will Joey find out about Jounouchi's story?
What will happen to the jewel?
Please send me reviews!!!
Please send me reviews!!!