Invisible lightning cracked through the air, making the earth rumble. Or was that thunder? It was imperceptible. All that Joy knew was that the place she was in was damp, cold, and uncomfortable. And that she felt sad, uncared for, and trapped. Her heart sunk as she heard more thunder and rain. She had been in this soggy place for hours! How long did she have to wait in misery until this was over? She already got abducted by some weird red storm, landed on some spaceship, got launched into space in a pure white pod(that was probably made for insane people), crashed, trudged through the Fogfields for almost a day straight, and now this?!
Joy had already known it before, but it was officially a cruel world.
But she didn't complain; she continuously reminded herself of Jeremy, her brother. How much had he been through? All of what she had to go through, plus humiliation, responsibility, worry, and whatever else she didn't know of. It must have weighed him down a lot.
Joy flinched as another thunderbolt made a booming sound. She shivered and covered her ears, squeezing her eyes so that they were shut tight. It was impossible to sleep, however weary she was. Joy imagined laying in her warm and cozy bunk bed in the evening, reading in the white light penetrating through her little window's glass. She tried to imagine what book it was; perhaps "The Wednesday Wars"? Or maybe it was the next book of the Warriors series, such as "Bluestar's Prophecy" or "Omen of the Stars: The Fourth Apprentice". Too many books came to her mind, and she wanted to cry.
On this so-called field trip, Joy had yet to cry. And here she was - thinking about it. Eyes shut, ears covered, hearing her own blood pump all through her body, she attempted in calming herself down (if that was even possible for someone in this state.)
Shivers racked at Joy's body, up and down her spine. She felt like her whole body had sunk and she was all numb. Suddenly, she sensed movement beside her. She tried her best to crane her neck towards the sound.
Joy couldn't see too well in the dark, but he was there, with his arms wide open. She inched towards her older brother and curled up beside Jeremy. And there they were, brother and sister, cuddling. They had no idea where they were exactly, but they were cold and alone - and they needed each other. It was all they had left.
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All Joy knew when she woke up was that she wasn't quite exactly home. It was a small, dark cave that could only possibly (actually, barely) hold one teenager and one little girl and for them to have their own space. Though, it shielded them both through the storm, and that's all she really cared about when it came to shelter.
Joy's whole entire body was sore and she groaned as she forced herself to get up. Her body screaming in protest, tugging her down. She collapsed again and stretched, yawning. She didn't get much sleep last night. And now she was stiff; another thing to complain about and yet she didn't complain.
A thought crept into her mind as she was stretching and yawning: where was Selvester? She found herself worrying about him. After all, she had gotten the idea for him to guide them along, wasn't it? So if he got hurt, it was all of her fault! Joy rubbed her eyes and was about to call his name when a crackling came from the bushes. Jeremy walked through, sighing deeply. Shock bolted through Joy: she didn't even think about Jeremy!
"Hey, Joy . . ." he muttered. Joy nodded to acknowledge that she heard him, but otherwise she didn't respond.
"Are you hungry?" he said anyway. Joy shrugged, but truthfully she really was extremely hungry. Her stomach seemed to be gnawing away at itself.
The rest of the hour was silent. Jeremy was laying on his back, staring at the treetops while Joy was picking at the undergrowth of the place. There were all sorts of undiscovered plants that she was curious about.
Eventually, she did get rather bored, though. She was about to get up when the undergrowth began rustling. At first she thought it was just Jeremy again, but when she turned, he was sitting right there beside her.
"Uh . . . Jeremy?"
"Yeah?"
"What's . . . what's that noise?"
"What's what noise . . .?"
"Listen!"
And Jeremy did listen. When he saw it and heard it, he reached for the nearest stick. It was thin, but he figured it worked. It wasn't a time to roll her eyes, but Joy did any ways, and grasped onto a thick stick that was settle for combat better if they had to face some sort of monster or something.
Jeremy slowly rose into combat position. His eyes were on the undergrowth and the rustling, which was coming nearer and nearer. Joy watched, too, until she saw a small flash of white. Her eyes widened and she screamed, "Jeremy! No!"
In his confusion, he dropped the stick and looked around. That gave the creature enough time to emerge.
It was just Selvester, innocently carrying a scrawny squirrel. "Whaaaattt?" the white fox asked, confused. Jeremy sighed, as if to say: 'Stupid fox!'. Joy couldn't help but smile. You had to admit, Selvester came in at the strangest times. And he was just so clueless!
"Where have you been, Selvester?" Joy asked, knowing that he would go on a huge chain of stories once he began. Jeremy gave her an 'Are you insane?!' look. She just shrugged and bent down to listen to Selvester, who had abandoned the small squirrel and began to speak. Joy listened intently on what he had to say, while Jeremy went around collecting sticks that were dry enough for a small fire.
For the first time in a while, Joy actually had a pretty decent time with nothing much that was worth complaining about.
