This story was written as an assignment for a film class I am taking. I thought I would post it here in case anyone was interested in reading it. I tried to create some undertones of salvation in the last part of the story, please let me know if you can pick it up or if i'm being too subtle. Thanks!Before I begin this story I want to make it perfectly clear that this was no fault of mine. I’m just writing the story as they told it to me. It’s quite possible that this is not really what happened and if they told you something entirely different I would not be surprised at all. These two are the most mischievous children I have ever met and if they had just sat still and listened to their lesson none of this would ever have happened. You see the three of us were sitting down by the pond and I was teaching them about frogs and other amphibians. However, neither John nor Jenna would sit still and listen. They kept getting up and running around and splashing in the water. So I finally decided to let them explore a bit and have their little adventure in hopes of them coming back tired and listening to their lesson. Now just to make myself perfectly clear, when I said adventure I am in no way implying that I knew what was going to happen next, for nobody could have imagined that. So they took off running and eventually came to a pool with very shiny rocks at the bottom of it. John, being much more adventurous that his sister, rushed over to pick one up. He had only put one foot in the water, however, when he stopped suddenly.
“What’s the matter,” asked Jenna.
“My foot’s caught!” John yelled back to her.
“In the mud?” she asked.
“No, in the water,” he answered perplexed.
Jenna looked at him thoroughly confused and watched as John tried to yank his foot from the water’s grasp. Unable to do so, he pulled his foot out of his boot but when he reached down to pull his boot out of the water it had completely disappeared.
“John, your boot!” Jenna cried.
“It must be in the mud. I’m going to try to find it,” John replied with his usual confidence.
(May I just add here that if I had been there, this all would have stopped right here. A lost boot is unfortunate, but pulling water that makes things disappear is not to be played with.)
So, John reached his hand down towards the surface of the pool, but before he had even touched it the water splashed up and grabbed him. It pulled much harder this time and John could not get away.
Almost immediately, Jenna grabbed her brother’s foot and pulled with all her might. It was not much help since she was a very small girl, but she was loyal and would not just sit by while her brother drowned.
“Help me!” John gurgled as he struggled to keep his head out of the water.
Jenna could not answer, all her thought and strength was focused on pulling her brother out of the water. She was losing ground. John was being pulled farther and farther into the water. Suddenly, the pool gave a final yank and pulled them both deep into the water where they disappeared from sight. The surface of the pool quickly returned to its former, serene appearance as if to hide into what horrible existence it had just thrown two small children.
The hands of the water pulled John and Jenna deeper and deeper into the water. Streams of bubbles surrounded them, confusing their already clouded vision. Lengths of pondweeds tangled themselves around the children’s arms, legs, and necks. Jenna clutched even harder at John’s leg so she would not be separated from him. After an entire minute of falling through the water, Jenna could not longer hold her breath. Her lungs burned for fresh air. Desperate to keep what little air she had left, Jenna put every effort into keeping her lips shut, but it was no use. Her mouth tore itself open and water rushed into her lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself for the tight suffocation of drowning. Moments passed. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes and realized that though she was still underwater, she could breathe perfectly. Looking up at her brother, she saw him struggling just as she had been moments before. She saw on his face the look of terror as he realized he could hold his breath no longer, the confusion when death did not come, and finally the relief as he realized he could breathe in this water. Jenna pulled on his leg to get his attention. He looked back at her and smiled, then signaled for her not to let go of him as the water continued to drag them deeper and deeper underwater.
The current pulled them into an underwater cave. The entrance was small, and John only barely fit through. They traveled along the stream of bubbles through a myriad of tunnels and openings. Suddenly, just before the next opening, the current stopped. Jenna let go of her brother’s leg and swam near to him. He motioned for her to follow him, and they swam through the hole in front of them. As they passed through they found themselves in another pool in the woods, just like the one they had been playing near. The two children frantically clawed their way out of the water and collapsed on the grass. They violently coughed the water out of their lungs and gasped at the fresh air that surrounded them. (I asked them why they were so desperate for air if they could still breathe the water and Jenna explained that having water in your lungs is similar to having you hand forever stuck in peanut butter. It doesn’t hurt any, but it is certainly uncomfortable.)
“Where do you think we are?” John asked.
“Back home?” Jenna suggested hopefully.
“No, I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like home. This place seems too…the same. Do you know what I mean?”
“No. I think we’re back home, let’s go back to where we were supposed to be learning our lesson. I’ll bet she’s still there waiting for us.”
“No, let’s explore some more, I’m certain we’re not home.”
“Fine, explore if you want, I’m going back.”
“Wait, Jenna. I’m certain we’re not home, now. Look at your clothes.”
“What about them?” she responded impatiently.
“You’re not wet. I’m not either.”
Jenna looked down perplexed. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that at home water makes you wet. So we’re not at home.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Go explore! We can find out what else is different about this place.”
“Okay,” Jenna said quietly, giving into her brother.
John led the way and they walked deeper and deeper into the forest. Moss hung from the trees, and the branches were so dense that very little light could filter in. The forest reminded him of the sort of forest in which ancient knights would fight dragons. Big, mean dragons that would quietly stalk you through the woods, flying overhead and peering down at you through menacing dragon eyes. Then they would get too close, and you would feel the brush of the wind from their wings.
“Where did that come from?” Jenna said.
“What?” John replied.
“The wind. There it is again. Can you feel it?”
“Yeah, what’s the problem, it’s just wind.”
“It’s coming straight down, instead of across.”
John looked up, and saw a shadow fly above the trees.
“What was that?” Jenna whispered.
“I don’t know, why are you whispering?”
“I don’t know, I just thought I should. You’re whispering, too.”
“Because you are.”
Suddenly, Jenna froze, her eyes wide in fear. John felt a warm stream of air fly across the top of his head. He slowly turned around. Behind him was a dragon. For a moment he didn’t know what to do, he just stood there gazing into the dragon’s yellow eyes. The dragon took a step towards them, shattering the stillness. Jenna screamed.
“Run!” John yelled to her.
They both took off running through the forest. It turned out to be a very bad idea, since the dragon leapt into the air and landed down in front of them. John wished that he had some kind of a sword; if he did he would have fought the dragon with such courage. Swinging the sword to the left, then the right, then lunging forward—
“Careful with that!” Jenna yelled as she ducked out of the way.
John looked down at his hand to find he was clutching a sword.
“How did I…” John started.
“John, the dragon!” Jenna yelled.
John leapt towards the dragon with his sword extended. The dragon backed away.
“Ha, it’s scared of me,” John boasted, but his confidence soon turned to fear as the dragon pulled back his head and let out a strong blast of flames. John and Jenna only just jumped out of the way and hid beneath the roots of an old oak tree.
“John, where did you get the sword?” Jenna asked.
“I don’t know, I was just imagining I had one and then it was there. Kind of like…the dragon. Everything I imagine becomes real.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No, I really think that’s what’s happening. Here I’ll test it out, I’ll imagine I have a shield too.”
Jenna watched skeptically, while John closed his eyes. A few moments passed, then suddenly a shield appeared in his left hand.
“See it works!”
“So you imagined the dragon here!”
“I guess so.”
“Why? That was a stupid thing to imagine.”
“Well, I didn’t know.”
“Well, now you do. Imagine it away.”
“No. I’m going to fight it. It’ll be fun.”
“No, it won’t be. It’ll kill us.”
“Stay here then,” John said as he imagined a castle for Jenna to hide in. The castle rose up into the air while John ran after the dragon.
Imagining himself in full armor atop a black horse, John raced into battle against the dragon. Upon seeing John, the dragon let loose another stream of flames. John held his shield up to protect against the fire, and rode forward. The dragon fought back, swinging his muscular, spiked tail at John’s head in between breaths of fire. John deftly dodged the dragon’s attacks and slowly made his way closer to the dragon. Finally he managed to get close enough to attack. John swung his sword down hard across the dragons face as it came close to bite him. The dragon recoiled in pain. As the dragon’s head was pulled back, John moved in and thrust his sword into the dragon’s throat. The dragon stepped back, swaggered, and died.
John proudly returned to the castle to tell his sister of his victory. When he arrived he found his sister crying at the door.
“Jenna, what’s wrong?” he asked concerned.
“I-I was afraid. Afraid you were…you were going to die,” she gasped out through her sobbing.
“Well, I didn’t die, I’m here.”
“And I tried to make it go away. But I couldn’t, I couldn’t,” she continued.
“Make what go away?”
“Th-the dragon. I tried to imagine it away, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine anything.”
“Well, you were never very good at imagining before we got here, it’s not surprising that you still aren’t.”
Jenna glared at her brother. “I just want to go home, before something really bad happens. Please imagine a way home.”
“Why? This is fun. Look, I can imagine something that you want to do.”
“I want to go home.”
“Besides that.”
“Nothing. I just want to go home.”
“Will you stop whining about home.”
“I’m not whining!”
“Yes you are, and we’re not going home. Let’s do something fun.”
“Alright, imagine we can fly,” she conceded, as she always did to her brother’s demands.
John began to imagine that he and his sister had lifted off the floor and were slowly floating towards the ceiling. Soon their feet lifted off the ground. Jenna giggled as she darted left and right in the air.
“You’re doing it! You’re making us fly,” she laughed.
“See, I told you this place would be fun.”
“So where should we go?”
“Wherever you want to.”
Jenna glided out the door and flew up above the trees. She made her way through the clouds towards the roaring sound of the sea. As she flew through the clouds, drops of dew clung to her hair and clothes, the sun reflected off the beads of water and caused her to sparkle in the rays of sunlight above her.
It seemed like only moments before they reached the shore, though it may have taken hours to fly so far. However, time becomes less of a thing to be measured and more of a thing to be enjoyed when children play. As they reached the salty ocean, the children flew close to the waves, diving through them like seabirds. Jenna giggled and laughed for some time, until she began to remember. She remembered the last time their family had traveled to the sea. Her father had taught her to dive under the waves as they broke over the sand. The smell of salt water drew her mind back to hours spent on the beach as a family. Her mother had built a sand castle. It had been beautiful. The waves had destroyed it. She had cried. She was crying now. Even the joy of flying could not strip the longing for home from the girl’s heart. She longed more than ever to return home. She wanted nothing more than to go home. She longed for it with all her strength. Her mind could see only scenes from home. Nothing around her seemed real. If only she could find a way to go home, if only she could get back to that pool. Suddenly, the ocean began to shrink. The horizon began to seem less distant. The sand turned to mud. The mud swirled around her feet as if still under the influence of the mighty waves, but slowly it pulled away and collected into a small hole in front of her. The ocean in the distance flowed like a river into the hole and filled the pool. Jenna turned around and saw trees spring up from the ground. When she looked back at the pool it had completely transformed from an ocean into a small pool resembling the one that had brought them to this strange place.
She broke a twig from a nearby tree and slowly splashed the water with it. The twig stuck fast in the crystal clear water. She let go and the twig disappeared beneath the surface of the shallow water.
“John!” she cried to her brother who was still soaring in the air. “It’s the pool, it’s here! We can go home.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he dipped towards the grassy ground and gasped air to hold his breath.
“The pool, it’s right here!” she cried again, pointing to the pool of water in front of her.
“There’s no pool there, Jenna. You’re standing in the sand. Come back up here with me and lets dive through the waves.”
“There are no more waves, John. They’ve vanished.”
“Nonsense, here I’ll dive in one right now.”
Jenna watched as John dove down towards the ground, just missed hitting the earth, and soared back up.
“See, I’m all wet,” he yelled back to her. “The waves are still here.”
“I can’t see them, all I can see is the grove of trees and the pool. Maybe…I finally imagined something!”
“Then why can’t I see it? You saw everything I imagined.” John asked hovering upside-down in front of her.
“Because you don’t want to go home, so you can’t see it. All you want to do is stay here and have fun. I want to go home.”
“I’m not going home, and I’m not going to think about some stupid pool!” he screamed and disappeared into the horizon.
Jenna sat by the edge of the pond and cried. She wanted desperately to go home, but the thought of leaving her brother behind was unbearable. She sat by the edge for a long time and cried and thought about how to convince John to come home with her.
“How could he be so selfish?” she said to herself. “I can’t stay here, and they must be so worried about us at home. All he thinks about is himself. We played here for hours, now why won’t he go home.”
“Because I can’t be in charge of things there like I am here! Anything I want to happen, happens here!” John yelled from above her.
“John!” Jenna exclaimed. “Did you come back to come home with me?”
“No, I came back to tell you to stop crying. It makes me sad and I don’t want to be sad.”
Jenna sighed in frustration. “I’m going to go home now.”
“You can’t. Not without me, and I’m not ready to go home.”
“I’m going with or without you. I’ll step in the pool and go home.”
“I told you, there is no pool.”
“Yes there is and I’m going home in it,” Jenna said resolutely. “Are you coming?”
“Never.”
“Then goodbye.” Jenna stepped into the pool and the water swallowed her.
“No, Jenna come back!” he cried out as he saw his sister disappear underneath the sand. The shock of her departure shook something inside him that had not been paid attention to in many years. “I don’t want to be alone.”
He floated down to the earth and stared at the sand where Jenna had disappeared. His eyes felt hot with tears trying to invade his eyes. He blinked them away and they fell to the sand. Despite himself, he cried harder and harder.
“Jenna. Jenna. Jenna. I want to go with you. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen. I should have gone—I should have gone back. I don’t need, I don’t need to be in charge of everything. It’s nothing without you.”
His tears collected into a small pool by his feet. As he continued crying, the pool slowly got bigger and bigger. A large wind began to blow and the sand started to pull away from the puddle of tears. The puddle grew larger and began to tug at John’s feet. The last thing John saw before he was pulled beneath the water was a glimpse of the pool in the forest.
So that’s the story they told me. Like I said before, it may not be exactly the truth…in fact, it may not be anything near the truth. They didn’t tell me anything else. I guess they met on the other side of the pool, because after three days of endless searching on our part, we finally found them together in the woods. John was missing a boot.
