Chapter one:
It was a hot summer morning in June, the fiery orange sun barely visible from the horizon as the train stood to a halt at the platform just in time for sunrise.
“Ry! We’re here,” a frolicking girl exclaimed, her happy high-pitched voice resonating in the empty wagon as she gently shook a boy’s broad shoulders to wake him up. After a few shakes, the young teenager beside her finally stirred, sheepishly smiling at the girl upon opening his left green and right blue eye.
“What? We have to go!” she repeated impatiently, this time tugging at his sweatshirt while grabbing her black bag with her other hand.
The boy, still in mid-trance, slowly stood up and yawned, stretching his arms upward as he attempted to reach the luggage overhead many times.
Just as he was about to succeed, he heard heavy, sluggish footsteps behind him.
Thud. Thud. Thud. What on earth was that? Thud. Thud. Thud. “I think it’s approaching!” he thought to himself in fright, noticing the now trembling floor and flickering lights. He instinctively took Trina’s brittle hand and hurried toward the train doors when suddenly, his left foot slipped on a banana peel lying on the corridor, stumbling backward as he fell hard against the ground. Pitch darkness came into sight.
“Ry? RY!”
Ryan woke up with a start upon hearing that familiar bubbly voice, quickly sitting upright as he felt excitement rushing through his veins at the thought of their new home together.
He gazed around. The excitement diminished: he had forgotten what had happened just now, and to top it all, he was apparently still in the train, heading to who-knew-where.
“Ry! You’re awake! Thank God, I was starting to worry!” Trina stated.
“I’m sorry we weren’t able to carry you out onto the platform… good thing I was able to catch you, though.”
“We? Who is “we”?” he thought, baffled.
“Actually, we tried at first, but then I had trouble breathing, and you know my left hand is sort of fractured… so we left it at that.”
All of a sudden, a deep hoarse voice interrupted the girl.
“Mr. Richards, was it? Forgive me for not introducing myself any earlier. I think I may have given you such a scare with my heavy feet…”
The teenager was startled as he wondered how someone could have known the last name he had been concealing for so long. Trying to figure out whose voice it could be, he turned his head from left to right, his eyes squinting as he did. Finally, he spotted him: there at his foot sat a slim, miniature-sized man barely as tall as his hand, his frog-like feet several times larger and wider than any other part of his body; the tangled hair on his ovular head long, his big eyes squared and his mouth hidden by a bushy moustache. His hairy body reminded Ryan of a cloud of pollen – just that it had limbs.
“… and if it were not for this adorable girl, I would indeed have been squashed by your falling mass of body… albeit you may have probably felt the wrath of my sharp iron shoes prickling your back…and not to mention---”
“Excuse me, not to be rude or anything, but what and who exactly are you? And why do you know me?” he inquired, angered, emphasizing the latter question.
Trina seemed to be surprised at his reaction. She then answered: “His name is Pendek.”
“Pendek?”
This time, the small man replied. “Indeed so; I’m called Pendek the Gnardak and I wish to warn you for the Eye of Truth has spoken: “Thou hast not been seeking glee, yet thou will find; for mercy abounds and a pure valiant heart thou have. I warn thee: do not astray. Temptations thou will confront, yet thou shall prove who thou truly are. Rewards of any kind shall come to those who endure, yet condemnation awaits those who fall.””
Dumbfounded by these words, Ryan glanced at Trina and then picked Pendek up with his index finger and his thumb.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, Mr. Richards, that you shall look into your heart and that you shall then understand – and that both of you shall come with me.”
P.S: I don´t know what the ending should be! Any ideas?
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