The Journey by Tyler White (red queen ebook txt) 📕

Prolouge
My name is Cassie Ericson and I live in a world of destruction. Earth is falling apart because of crazy people. Their tearing my community down and flooding houses. Fires are being made and nobody stops it because their scared, but I’m not. I’m ready to put a stop to this.


Chapter 1
My brother, Henry, and I sat beside the cold glass window in our house, having nothing to do. I stared watching the rain fall down against the window, pounding. I watched the buildings crash down on the earth as if as light as a feather.
Henry’s hand patted my shoulder and his green pleading eyes, told me to go with him. I knew we had to go outside to go into the tent as usual. He tugged on my arm towards the outside where everybody was lined up, waiting for a warm place.
Tents stood up outside because all the houses were burned down except ours. The yellow tent was up outside and Erica was trotting inside. Erica was the leader of some of the groups. She would give great advice and would help you with your problems. I opened the door slowly to hear a loud creak. We stepped out and followed villagers into the tent.
The rain gave me a bad headache as it scattered on my head and all down my clothes. The orange trees swayed in the wind. It’s light colorful leaves flooded the ground. I still held onto Henry’s hand as we walked down the steps and into the yellow tent.
The smell of weeds and saltwater filled the tent. The smell was almost too horrible to bear! I pinched my nose and sat down by a group of foreigners, one was from Russia, another was a smelly Dutch man, and the last one was an ugly woman from China.
The lady had bright pink lipstick on her face with glowing red eyeshadow covering the top of her eyes. Her face was wrinkly and pale and she had bulging brown eyes. She was pretty ugly.
Henry glared at her; not paying attention to Erica. I pushed his face over to Erica to make him pay attention. His face flushed a certain pink and then his eyes locked with Erica’s. He liked her. I could see it in his bright green eyes.
Erica turned to look at us then went on with her boring talk about our world crumpling to the ground. It was annoying to hear her voice over and over again. “You two need to pay attention to me because there is something very important in this lesson,” we shrugged and kept on looking away.
“We all know that our world is falling apart and we need to put a stop to it. We need brave people to go on a quest to retrieve the Stone of Peace, we all know we learned this in Kindergarten. It’s real and I have proof. You need to understand that this is serious buisness”- she glared at us-“all focus,”
I have picked Cassie and Henry to be the ones to grab the treasure and bring it here for the world. Good luck and I wish you well.”
My jaw dropped and Henry’s did too. I scampered out of the tent and slammed the door behind me when I got into the house. How could Erica make us go on such a dangerous trip? It wasn’t fair. I’m only thirteen years old and I don’t need to go on a long trip through magical lands and such.
I climbed onto my parents old bed and snuggled with the pillow. I wanted to leave this place forever. Never to come back again, just to go across the country and stay there for ages.
My eyes were puffy and red from my crying when Henry came in. He said he was sorry and got out the chocolate icecream from the fridge. I made a bowl and stuffed my face in, having no manners. That’s one good thing about not having parents. Henry got out three bacpacks and started stuffing food and water inside for the trip. I knew I had to help so I started grabbing apples from the big wooden basket in the pantry.
Oranges, apples, mangos, and peaches were filling the bags and then Henry threw some candy bars in for energy. The next bag was full of sleeping bags and pillows. Then Henry got to himself and started throwing some science stuff in there. He loves science objects, even bugs from our outside forest.
Henry would go hunting for frogs, beetles, spiders, and much more crazy things. He used to always follow mom and dad outside and make them go into the woods with him to find bugs and rotted wood.
He stuffed science magazines and lots of books about Einstein, Ronald Reagon, Lewis and Clark, and Paranormal books. He was full of nonsense thinking ghosts really roamed the Earth. When I say ghosts, he tells me not to call them that; he wants me to call them spirits but I don’t pay attention to him.
Someone was at the door. It was probably Erica. She rang the doorbell then entered the room without someone telling her she could. She looked completely filled with guilt. A trail of tears hung on her face.
“What are you doing here, Erica?” I demanded, my eyebrows tightly pulling together. “Umm…Well I just wanted to tell you sorry that I embarrased you and I know this is a hard decision but think of it for our community. We could make this a great place again!” I just rolled my eyes and pushed her out then shut the door in her face.
Henry peeped through the door hole and saw a frail Erica crying. I didn’t care but I think Henry did, he flashed an angry look into my eyes and slapped my arm. “Leave me alone Henry!” I tried to pass by him but he tugged me back strongly.
“You have no right to slam the door in her face, Cassie!”
“Yes I do and stop trying to treat me like I’m a baby!”
“Well your sure acting like one, you little brat!”
“Just shutup, Henry! SHUTUP!!!”
I slapped him on the face and left him sitting there like a dummy. He was one. I turned to see his angry face but he was actually throwing magazines into the bag. He also slipped a picture of mom and dad at there honeymoon.
I knew Henry would get over it but he didn’t look like this one was going to fly. I sighed and wished he would act normally and stop treating me like I was a baby. I stared out the window and saw the cloudless sky. It was a pretty baby blue. Nothing about it was ugly, the sky looked as if it were magically painted and all the birds moved so swiftly, you would have thought this was a movie.
Henry and I made up later on and tried to forget about the whole darn thing. “Henry, do you think we’ll ever see mom and dad again?” I asked, looking glum. “I think we’ll see them in thirty years or so. Cassise, stop worrying, things will get better and you won’t even think about them.” He smiled and spread the peanut butter on his slice of bread.
He was almost in tears when I had mentioned mom and dad and I felt sorry for him. I didn’t mean to make him cry, I was just asking a simple question. I forgot about it later and walked out with Henry by my side and the bags flung over our shoulders.
We saw Erica walking into the woods, but we stopped her. “Erica!” I called, she turned around and saw us but she kept on walking shaking her head with no appreciation. “Let’s just keep going, Henry. I’ll take the map and you wait out here.” He just nodded and sat guard, his shoes lined up perfectly.
I didn’t like the fact that I was stealing but we needed it. The tent was the same except nobody was in sight. The tan map sat out on the desk, it had a small marking like an ‘X’ on the front where the landing was. Erica’s handwriting was scribbled on the page. It read, This is for your journey and I hope you use this well, this will lead you towards the Stone of Peace. X marks the spot where the stone is. If you reach the ending, come home safely. I hope the best for both of you and be careful of any dangerous creature along the way. Keep safe!
Love,
Erica Reynolds
I stared at the writing but then Henry called to me and I had to leave. I showed Henry the note on the map. “It’s advice,” He was using his sarcasm voice. He smiled and hugged me as if we were going apart.
We walked for about three miles and I was tired, my legs felt like jelly and my face felt like a hot tamale. My lips burned and my throat was as dry as the desert. I needed water VERY badly. I nagged Henry about it the whole way.
“Stop