This is set maybe a month or two after Alex gets spit back out of the game as a teenager. I don't think this is one of my best works, but I hope you guys like it!
-owl
After months (or, in actuality, twenty years) of living in the jungle, Alex was grateful about the near constant night-time rain, as it helped keep mosquitoes away. Unfortunately his citronella candles often went out during the night. Besides, the rain was never so heavy that it soaked him through his clothes.
Now, however, he was out of the game, he was used to sleeping in a dry bed, and he had begun to hate his one 'safety net' from the jungle. It didn't help that the rain he was stuck in was a proper downpour. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed in the sky above him, so much like the night they took down Van Pelt.
Then the rain got heavier, soaking him to his skin, making him shiver. The wind blew stronger around him, locking in the cold of the rain and the wind itself. He had known it would end up raining, so why hadn't he worn a rain coat?
A bolt of lightning struck the tree right next to him, lighting up the area in a blaze of hot flames as they fought against the rain. As the flames started losing the battle with the rain, Alex began running back to his house. So what if his parents were still mad at him for something or other he had done at school that day. To be honest, once you spend twenty years in a jungle, school seems like a trivial matter in comparison.
Five minutes later, he banged into the house, bringing a lot of water in with him as he launched himself through the doorway. He had entered the back door into the kitchen, as opposed to the front door into the hall. His mother was standing at the stove, minding a pot and his father was setting the table for three. They both looked up in surprise as the door slammed shut.
"Alex," his father said. "We were hoping you didn't get caught in the storm."
Then his mother cut in. "Why don't you go upstairs and clean up, we'll wait for dinner."
Alex nodded and went upstairs quickly, eager to get out of his wet clothes. After a quick shower to get the cold water off, and a change of clothes, he deemed himself ready to rejoin his family.
Ten minutes later he returned to the kitchen to eat with his parents. His mother had made soup, one that she made at least once every fall.
Just as Alex offered to clear the table, there was a huge boom of thunder and the lights went out. His mother was quick to find a flashlight from the junk drawer.
"Alex, you can leave the dishes on the table. It's late enough already tonight, and we can all turn in early," his mother said.
Alex nodded and carefully navigated his way through the house and into his bedroom. He changed into his pajama pants and, probably because of his mad dash through the rain, fell asleep quite quickly.
Right away he knew something was wrong. As he became aware of his surroundings, he made note of three things.
One, it was raining.
Two, he was no longer wearing his pajama pants, but the rough flight suit from Jumanji.
And, three, sounds from the jungle were permeating the air.
Opening his eyes, Alex saw he was in the jungle. It was another dream about the game. He wasn't in his hut, though. Instead he was standing next to Martha, Bethany, Spencer, and Fridge. Thunder was rumbling above them. This was their final stand against Van Pelt.
They did the 'Double Reverse Refrigerator' just as they had before. Alex did his part even better than he had in the first place, seeing as he knew what was going to happen before it did. The jaguar he had first distracted from Spencer now never even noticed the latter, but chased the former right away.
Then Alex found Martha and together they made their way to the base of the jaguar statue where Van Pelt was waiting with his gun against Bethany's neck. The debate of giving him the jewel or not still happened, but Alex knew, at least this time, that Spencer wasn't giving it up because he didn't have it, not because he wanted Bethany to die.
Then Fridge showed up, atop an elephant, holding the jewel above his head. The group broke up, Martha tried to find the jewel from the snake pit, and Spencer started driving up the statue.
The familiar 'ding-ding' tone played, and, as the sun rose, Alex saw Martha falling from a gap in the clouds, jewel in hand. When Alex had first seen the pair trying to do the mid-air hand off, he had nearly thrown up from anxiety, worrying if they were going to miss each other and it would all be for naught. But, Spencer was able to get the jewel, and, as Martha landed in front of the jaguar, Spencer plunged the jewel into its place.
"JUMANJI!" All five players shouted together, cheering because they just beat the game.
Nigel came driving up in his jeep, a huge smile on his face. "Well done, intrepid adventurers! You've saved Jumanji! Sadly, this is where we must part.
Alex took his hand first.
Then he woke up. Once again, he was in his room. Now sunlight streamed into his bedroom windows, announcing the new day. Downstairs Alex could hear his mother puttering around in the kitchen, and his father muttering about what was in the morning paper.
Eventually, Alex was able to get to a point of calm. These dreams about the game always scared him and he had to take sometimes nearly an hour to remind himself that he wasn't, indeed, in the game.
When he made it downstairs, he went directly outside. Branches were down all over the street, and some of the pumpkins people had been already setting out on their front steps had been blown into trees and cars, causing a lot of pumpkin pieces to be scattered around.
