Of Haunted Creeks and All Things Potato Chips

Prompt: The forest seemed dense, and the foliage dark, but I had my wits about me…

The forest seemed dense, and the foliage dark, but I had my wits about me. “Aah!” I shrieked, as I saw the shadow of… a mouse. Okay, I lied. I had no idea where I was, and I was terrified to boot. Every path looked the same, and every turn only got me more lost. “I swear I’m going in circles. I’m sure I’ve seen that tree before!” Then again, every tree looked the same. All I had on me was a backpack that contained a packet of cheese-flavoured potato crisps. Oh well, at least I had some food. And I was sure that if I ran into some kind of dacoit, I could throw a crisp at him and make a run for it.

“Geez… is there no end to this place?” I had managed to separate from my class, like the absolute scholar I was, and had landed myself here. I was currently relying on the principle of, ‘Pick a direction, you’re bound to run into SOMETHING,’ and hoped it would be a good something. I had to reach the exit eventually, right? Luckily for me, I didn’t have to wait much longer to run into a good something. As I kicked pebbles on the ground, letting loose curses that would make Hades himself blush, and walked down that same path,  I ran into a wall. Yes, a wall. In the middle of a jungle. More specifically, a shabbily constructed wooden wall attached to a house. And, when I say ‘shabbily constructed’, I mean full of holes, and made of planks that didn’t align. And, did I mention COVERED IN COBWEBS?

Now, you know me, ever the scaredy cat. And that house screamed ‘haunted’. So I backed away slowly, trying not to alert the ghosts that I was sure inhabited the house. I hadn’t gotten too far before a pale, thin hand reached out of one of the cracks. And, by thin, I mean bony, and deathly pale. “Wait!” A surprisingly non-eerie voice called out to me. So I stopped. A girl, who looked around the age of seventeen, stepped out. She had long, golden hair that was probably a lot less muddy once, and pretty blue eyes.

“I know you! You’re that girl who went missing on the school camping trip two years ago on the school camping trip! You were supposed to be valedictorian!” I said, astonished. Way to go, me. No tact whatsoever. And, oh God, was I going to be the next missing person case from school camping trips? No! I still hadn’t finished the last season of Naruto! 

She smiled, and nodded, inviting me into her ‘house’. Of course I knew who she was, she had been all the talk for a year when I was thirteen. She made tea with leaves she had plucked from somewhere nearby (sketchy, if you ask me, so I decided not to drink it) and told me her story.

“It’s been two years? Wow… my parents must be feeling horrible!” She said sadly.

“Don’t worry,” I said, the epitome of reassurance, “I’m lost too.” Pausing to think about that, I made a face, “Actually, I doubt that’s very comforting.”

We laughed.

Just then, there was a knock at the ‘door’. It was Mr. Brown, my English Professor (reference, anyone?), who was also shocked to see the girl- whose name I now knew was Brittany. He took us both back to camp and instantly called up Brittany’s parents. They were all finally united, and I couldn’t have been happier for them if I tried.

It was later that I found myself at the edge of camp, once the interrogators- who’d descended on me in the guise of my friends- were through with me, with a blanket wrapped round my shoulders, and a cup of non-sketchy hot chocolate in my hands.

I heard the distinct crunch of leaves of footfalls, and looked up to speak to my visitor.

“Hey,” he greeted softly, “You did a great job.” Mr. Brown smiled wryly at me, “Even if you somehow managed to lose the class and journey off on your own.”

I grinned sheepishly against the rim of the mug.

“Do you want to join us for our hike? We’re passing through the woods on our way to-“

“Thanks,” I interrupted drily, “but no thanks.” It occurred to me that I’d forgotten something in this whole mess of a situation. “I’m just going to sit here,” I indicated the log I was perched on- that I had no intention of leaving anytime soon- drawing something from my bag, “And eat my potato chips.”

~Aarushi

~~~

Alright, backstory. This prompt was one of the questions in my paper a few years ago. This is an edited version of the essay I submitted. You can tell I probably didn’t make any references in my paper, or use words like “sketchy”. The rest is all the same, though.

I did, however, refer to the readers, which I was quite proud of, because our teacher actually let it fly, and she was the strictest you might have seen. She actually deducted marks for getting a few letters in the margin if the word didn’t fit fully.

Aside from that, the idea behind this work was to make something meant to be taken as a horror (or maybe adventure?) situation and turn it into humour. I cannot, for the life of me, write horror, so I decided to pull the work into my comfort zone right from the second sentence.

I would go as far as to say I might get scared of my own horror works. Go me.

I also changed the title (if you get the minor reference there, point it out. It’s a reference to a book I read once that I really liked.)

Anyway, this is the essay I wrote for the prompt, so I hope you enjoyed, and, as always, thanks for reading!

50th Post! – 11 Year Old Me + 200 Followers!

So, I was going through old chats with my friend, and I found pictures of this essay I wrote way back when I was eleven, so I thought it would make a perfect 50th post, since I started this blog that year. 2016, that is.

Geez, it’s old. This August will be the fifth birthday!

Anyhoo, a passing mention for 200 followers! That’s… a lot. Crazy. Honestly, I never imagined 200 people following this blog! Ah, can’t even say how happy I am. You guys are awesome.

But that’s all on that subject. I know you’re here for the essay.

Mind you, I wrote this for school, so it’s all of the content with none of the humour. Also, no paragraphs, and way too many commas. I improved that a little, but the words are exactly the same.

Don’t mind my incorrect grammar, or the fact that my vocabulary has apparently decreased since then! I was eleven- don’t judge this too hard! Also, if you guys are interested, I can think of one or two more essays I can put up! So be sure to leave a comment to let me know if you’re interested in seeing another old essay of mine!

Haha, I’ve rambled enough! Happy reading!

~~~

Never actually titled this, so… Spot, I guess

It was a chilly morning in late November. I hurried down the street, bundled up in a smart navy-blue jacket. I was on my way to school. That was when I heard a rather distinct whimper. I traced the source to be coming from the park where I was. I entered the small garden, and scanned my surroundings, but caught sight of nothing. I was on the verge of leaving when I heard it again, right behind me.

I whirled around, expecting to see somebody, but no. Then, I looked down. I saw a little puppy, helplessly staring at me, eyes shining with hope. It was so small, that it could not even come out. I lifted it out of the dark gutter. This was when I first clearly saw the puppy in the light. It was a Dalmatian, of sorts, with a black body, and white spots. It had long ears, and a short bob of a tail. There was a white spot behind one of its eyes.

A/N: Yes, we are going to pretend that horrible description never happened.

Another thing I noticed was that it wore no collar. My heart filled with pity for the poor thing. Instantly, my main objective was forgotten, and I walked out of the park, cradling the little puppy. I continued on my way to school, deciding on a temporary home for the puppy. That was when I happened to notice Mr. Adams’ grocery.

A smile brightened my face as I realised I had just found the perfect shelter for the puppy. He was a puppy-lover. I rushed up to him and held up the puppy. I then narrated the sad story of the puppy. He took it into his arms and gently caressed it. “Spot,” he said he’d call it. And then I suddenly realised I was late for school! I left Mr. Adams, without a word of thanks, and sprinted, my heart thumping in my chest. My neatly set ponytail went wild, and my tunic rather ruffled as I raced against the clock.

I entered the gates just as the bell sent off it’s last chime. I exhaled, and slowed my pace. That day, all my thoughts eventually led to Spot. As soon as the dismissal bell rang, I gathered my things and hastened to the grocers. “Is Spot alright?” I cried, bursting into the store. Many startled customers began to stare at me. I ignored them, and approached Mr. Adams. He smiled benignly, and began to rummage under his desk.

“Ah…” he said, lifting something out. A very clean, confused Spot barked happily upon seeing me. I was overcome with relief. But that was not all the joy in store for me. “I even found him an owner,” said Mr. Adams. This brought me greater ecstasy.

“Well… who?” I asked excitedly.

Then the back door opened, and who else should stroll in but my mother? “Us!” She said happily.

A/N: Who saw that one coming?

I was filled with pure bliss to such an extent that I probably couldn’t fit any more. I pounced on my mother and hugged her. And, of course, Spot jumped on me. There are no words to describe the elation I experienced.

You can be sure that Spot enjoyed his new home, and his new family. One that he would never forget.

~Aarushi

~~~

Geez, how far I’ve come since my first post. A lot of you may not know this, but when I was typing my first ever post (an updated version is readable- currently up) I typed everything in the title bar. No joke, I had no idea I was supposed to put only a title there, or even that it was a TITLE bar. So everything came out in uppercase, and everyone was severely confused 😅

Anyway, at least I know better now!

Well? How was it? Tell me what you think, and keep reading for more posts! See you all next time, and thanks for reading!