THE ATTIC/EARTHQUAKE.
Bobby pictured Ezra, Raya, Tuk-Tuk and Sayaka standing outside the large tree-base in the middle of the jungle, waiting for Utayo to come out. He imagined Utayo running out of the base, carrying the old backpack, not even bothering to close the door, and rushing to Raya's left side and placing the pack on the ground beside her, as well as apologize for the long wait.
The 10-year old's mind then went to Ezra informing Utayo on being late and Sayaka agreeing, asking her how long it took her to get someone ready.
He pictured Utayo talking about how it couldn't be helped, her apologizing to Ezra, letting him know it couldn't be helped, letting him know she liked to plan ahead for herself and others, as well as informing him how they didn't know how long Raya would be gone.
The boy then thought about Raya and how sad and disappointed she was to be leaving Heart. The only home she had ever known in the entire world. Then he thought about how he felt when he and his Dad moved away from New York after his Mom's funeral five years ago. It was the only home he had ever known. He and his parents had never lived anywhere else. They had gone to Hawaii and stayed there from May to August during one summer, but that was only because they were on vacation. They arrived on 5/31/1994 and returned to New York on 8/31/1994. Boy, what a wonderful experience that was. He have only been 4 years old at the time, but he remembered everything about the trip. It was the first...and unfortunately, the last...he and his parents took together. Then he and his Dad moved here to Texas in 1995 after his Mom was taken from them by that drunk driver. The rest, as they say, was history.
The blond-haired boy imagined Sayaka telling Raya to cheer up, reminding her that her leaving Heart wouldn't be forever, just until she found the remaining four pieces of the Dragon gem and the remaining four legendary guardians of Kumandra, as well as her asking Ezra if he's right.
The NewYork/Texas kid imagined Ezra agreeing with Sayaka and warning that if the evil forces got their hands on the five pieces of the Dragon gem, there would be serious trouble, him telling Raya to start her journey off by going to Tail and to search the rest of Kumandra afterwards, as well as him telling Raya to find the remaining gem pieces and the other four legendary guardians as fast as possible.
He visualized Raya asking about the evil forces and Ezra darkly informing her she'd find out. He pictured Utayo wishing Raya luck, letting her know that she, Ezra and Sayaka were counting on her.
The boy thought of Raya agreeing with Ezra and her reiterating what her mission was, which was basically to save the world. Her...a 10-year old girl. Only in fairytales. He then pictured Raya asking if Tuk-Tuk could come with her and after some small talk between her and Sayaka, Ezra agreeing to her request to take Tuk-Tuk with her, which Raya thanked him for.
He then imagined Sayaka joking about Tuk-Tuk growing to be the size of a house.
The 10-year old imagined Raya verbalizing her hope in that joke and how she coulde use the protection, especially now. He thought of her asking Ezra and Sayaka if they were coming with her and them both informing her what their positions were and how they needed to stay here and take care of the people of Heart.
The kid felt Raya's disappointment that neither Ezra nor Sayaka would be joining her on her journey, but understanding their decision, verbalizing her understandings to them, and looking down at Tuk-Tuk and informing him that it would be just him and her on this journey, which was fine with him as long as he was going.
He then pictured Jing and Jiro, the two red samurai warriors, appear before the trio, determined to stop Raya from leaving Heart.
Then he imagined Jinhai appearing between Jing and Jiro, and after Ezra, Sayaka and Raya exchanged harsh words with the three villains, Jinhai deciding to despose of the four and take the gem pieces by force.
He thought about Ezra ordering Sayaka to take Raya and Tuk-Tuk away, which she did, as well as Jinhai ordering Jing to go after them, followed by her agreeing with his demands before disappearing.
The pre-teen pictured the action-packed scene of Ezra and Utayo fighting Jiro and Jinhai, with Ezra coming out on top against Jiro, followed by Jinhai chuckling before warning Ezra not to underestimate 'THE RED SAMURAI' before vanishing, Ezra demanding Jinhai to come back before a Druun appeared behind him and turned him to stone, with Utayo turning to see, before ascending up into the dark purple/black cloud-covered sky. He then imagined Jiro taunting Ezra on how he deserved his fate before getting up and running off into the brush of the jungle, followed by Utayo disappearing.
The brown-eyed boy pictured Sayaka and Raya as they ran through the jungle, followed by Jing zooming out of the brush and punching Sayaka in the face, sending her flying and crash-landing into a tree. He imagined Jing removing her sword from it's sheath to attack her, only for Sayaka to zoom up to Jing and punch her in the left side, sending her flying and landing on the grassy ground. He pictured Sayaka and Raya resuming their run through the jungle and soon exciting it, entering the damaged village community of Heart.
Bobby pictured the apocalyptic scene of the community as Sayaka and Raya ran through it, imagining the cracked grassy ground, the ruin jungle homes, the damaged palace, the dark purple/black cloud-covered sky, the stone statues of countless adults Raya and Sayaka ran past, them arriving at the bridge and starting to run across it, only for Jinhai to appear at the end of the bridge, making them stop in the middle of the bridge.
Then he imagined Sayaka and Raya turned to head back across the bridge, only to see Jing and Jiro standing at the other end of the bridge. The 10-year old thought of Sayaka trying to figure out how she was going to get Raya out of the situation, as they couldn't run across or back across the bridge, so Sayaka did the only thing she knew she could do to save Raya's life. He could see in his mind one of the Druuns coming down from the dark purple/black cloud-covered sky and Sayaka tossing Raya over the bridge and the backpack afterwards, as well as Raya falling in slow motion as she watched the Druun land on Sayaka, turning her to stone before ascending back up into the sky.
The 10-year old could picture the scene of Jinhai, Jing and Jiro running to the middle of the bridge and looking over it, seeing no sign of Raya, Tuk-Tuk or the backpack, Jinhai ordered Jing and Jiro to go down and make sure Raya was dead before disappearing, Jing and Jiro looking down at the still waters below them, realizing just how high up they were, Jing--realizing no one could survive a fall like that--telling Jiro that they were going to tell Jinhai they went down there and didn't find Raya, Jiro agreeing with her, Jing presuming Raya dead and that that was all Jinhai needed to know, as well as Jing voicing the fact that even if Raya had survived, she would likely die out there in the world, especially since the Druuns had been unleashed upon it, and verbalizing that if Raya comes back, she and Jiro would kill her, and finally, Jiro screaming that he and Jing would kill Raya should she ever return before he and Jing disappeared.
The Bring boy then pictured the huge waves from the ocean wash over the island of Heart, followed by the tree-base ascending into the sky as the island slowly sank into the sea like Atlantis.
Bobby wondered if Raya and Tuk-Tuk had survived...if they were okay...if one or both of them were hurt. He supposed he would have to keep reading to find out. But before he could turn to the next page, however, the whole attic began to shake uncontrollably, with loud rumbling noises coming from outside and several of the boxes falling over. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was happening. Bandera was having an earthquake.
Realizing he had to get out of the attic, and out of the building, Bobby quickly closed the book and put it inside his messenger-bag, followed by staggeringly getting up, running over to the stairs, rushing down them to the door, using the key he had left in the knob to un-lock and open it, taking the key out of the knob, exiting the attic. He closed the door back, placed the key back inside it's covert and rushed down the hallway, staggering along the way, barely keeping his balance and preventing himself from falling over. He knew there was a chance one of the teachers or students would see him, but he didn't care. All he cared about in that moment was getting out of this place and outside in the open. Not that it would be any safer, he knew that things would be just as bad outside, if not worse, but at least he'd be out of danger of something falling him. The kids were most likely hiding under their desks in their classrooms, following the earthquake drill they had been tought since the first grade, and the teachers were likely doing the same thing, so chances were all of their minds were focused on getting through this disaster. Even if someone had seen him, it likely didn't matter to them, as they would be too busy being scared and taking cover.
Bobby soon saw the glass double-doors up ahead, picked up the pase and ran even faster, arriving at the doors within seconds, he pushed open the left door and rushed out of the school, into the cracked up parking-lot and over to his bike that was locked in the bike-rack where he quickly un-locked it, backed it out, and turned and ran off with it, exiting the parking-lot and the school property, heading home as the earthquake continued. He knew the quake wouldn't last long. Not too long anyway. From what he had learned in school last year, an earthquake only lasted for about 10 to 30 seconds, so it should be over within the next few seconds.
Bobby was confused. Earthquakes didn't happen here in Texas. Of course he had learned in class last year that some earthquakes had occurred in Texas in 1847, 1873, 1887, 1902, 1932 and 1934, but he didn't understand why one would occur all these years later. Then his mind went to the earthquake that had happened in Chapter 7 of the Kumandra book. Nah. It couldn't be. It wasn't real, it was only a story. A fairytale. A fantasy. A mere storybook. And storybooks didn't come to life...right?
Right?
Right?
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