SOLO ELITE THE GREAT AWAKENING

The leaves that had fallen and turned browned crunched and crackled beneath our feet as we walked through the woods. Teddy swung at the branches above, knocking down the few green leaves and some dead branches, sometimes nearly missing my head. “Teddy, watch out!”

“Oh, sorry,” Teddy said, stopping and slowly lowering his arm.

We continued walking while the cool breeze whispered through the dead autumn limbs as they swayed back and forth, as if it were calling to us, “This way. This way.” As we walked deeper into the woods, I pulled the necklace from my pocket that Teddy had given me and threaded the loop of the compass on it and put it around my neck. I asked him, “How did you get this?”

Swinging the stick lower this time, he replied, “I saved my allowance for it.”

“It’s beautiful, Teddy. Thank you.

He turned to me and grinned, looking a little embarrassed, and went back to swinging the stick.

The chill from the cold air that crept up my back was so cold that I was just about ready to go home.

“Aw, Robin, look!” Teddy shouted, jumping up and down while pointing at a dingy-looking boat. It looked like it could barely seat two people safely.

He always seemed to get overexcited about the stupidest things. “Yeah, Teddy. It’s a boat.”

As he pulled the small boat from the rocks and closer to the stream, Teddy roared like King Kong. For whatever reason, he felt that was necessary.

“Oh, brother,” I muttered, as I gave the boat a final nudge with my foot, setting it free.

Standing there, we looked at the old off-white-colored boat. It was rough and rickety, and, in front, it had a small golden bell with a cloth rope tied underneath. The boat had obviously seen its fair share of weather, so its stability was questionable, but I figured, what’s the worst that could happen in this small stream? We could jump out if we started to sink.

“Well, let’s get in already!” I shouted.

The boat had drifted a bit, and we had no choice but to walk through the icy waters.

Teddy didn’t hesitate; he actually took a leap, making a splash and then screaming, “Ahhhhh, cold!”

“Ya think?” I muttered. I, on the other hand, had a more subtle approach, but sadly I found that tiptoeing was not as effective. After climbing in the boat, we removed our soaking-wet shoes and socks, setting them in front of us. This was so stupid; we were going to get sick out here. There wasn’t a lot of room in this boat for two people, let alone one person, but we found that lying down was the most comfortable for us. While lying there, I quickly analyzed the boat’s structure, trying not to make eye contact with Teddy because that would make things even weirder than they already were. I’m guessing, while Teddy was lying there, he had also been busy scoping out the scenery because his next word threw me off guard.

“Kenosh?” asked Teddy.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Look on the bell.”

“Hum? What a strange name.”

After a bit of silence we began to stare at the clouds, looking for familiar shapes. Teddy took off his jacket and covered our feet and lay back down.

“I love the feeling in the air when Christmas is coming,” I muttered, trying to break the silence.

“Me too. All the presents and candy!” shouted Teddy as his eyes grew. “What are you going to ask Santa for?”

“Teddy, you’ve got to be freaking kidding me, right? Seriously? Santa?”

With no response from Teddy, I just left it alone. “I haven’t really thought about it. What did you ask for?”

Teddy replied, “Oh, that’s easy. A remote-control helicopter, some BBs for my BB gun. Oh, and some clothes.”

I was just about to tell him that wouldn’t be such a bad idea, when suddenly I felt a drop of rain from the sky kiss me on the forehead followed by a low rumble of thunder that shook the bones in our bodies. I turned my head slowly toward Teddy, frightened by the thunder, and we quickly pulled his jacket over our faces. We both had been so busy trying to entertain each other to notice the darkening of the clouds and to notice that the stream had carried us farther down than we realized.

The steam from our breath rose up in the darkness, all the while we were too afraid to sit up in fear of getting struck by lightning. The boat began to shake and then thrash violently, as if it were a small toy at the mercy of a splashing child. Beneath my back I had the sensation of falling and then being rapidly picked back up again. Frightened by the thunder and the shaking of the boat, we knew this was definitely not normal. We both counted to three and then sat up and immediately froze in fear. I couldn’t believe it; we couldn’t believe it! We were, in fact, in the middle of a dark raging sea.

“Oh, my God!” I screamed, but the roar of sea smothered any cry for help. Teddy and I grabbed each other and lay down again as the mist from the crashing wave beside us covered our cheeks with a thin layer of water. A bolt of lightning crackled and clawed across the sky, lighting the heavens and showing an angry massive tidal wave coming to swallow us. With little time to react, we shielded ourselves with Teddy’s jacket. Holding each other, we wedged ourselves between the walls of the vessel as best as we could to brace for the impact.

Terrified, I watched through the hole in Teddy’s jacket as my mind raced to consider the strange events, when something even stranger happened. That little golden bell in the front of the boat was ringing all by itself, as if someone were rapidly pulling on the cloth rope, signaling for help. I didn’t have much time to process the bell ringing all by itself; with seconds to react, the huge tidal came crashing down. My muscles tightened and burned as I braced myself by pushing on the walls of the vessel.

The roar grew painfully loud and drowned out the ringing of the bell and our screams, when the weight of the ocean hit the boat with such force that I felt as if my body would explode from the pressure. The floor of the boat broke apart below me as my body lay on it. I flailed around, searching for something stable to grab on to, but all I found were pieces of the wood planks that used to be part of the boat. I was immediately engulfed by the frigid water, followed by a quick, eerie silence.

I began to sink, with my muscles still on fire from being so tense. I focused on them, trying to give them commands but was unsuccessful. I was in complete silence and surrounded by nothingness. Suddenly a bright light appeared over me and cascaded down through the water’s surface; what seemed like a spotlight from above shone down, causing me to glow, lighting my surroundings. Even with this, I couldn’t feel or see Teddy anywhere around me. I felt myself sinking deeper and deeper into the black watery abyss, but I felt no fear and no need to breathe.

After what seemed like hours, I was approaching the bottom of the sea as the water bubbles tickled my back, and yet, all this time, the light from above stayed with me. The light found its way with me to the floor of the sea, lighting up every detail, when a sickening feeling came over me. I saw directly below me a huge gash in the earth, ready to swallow me up, but peace came to me, and fear faded away. The light did not follow me; soon I was in pure darkness …

I … was dying.