The Journey to the Other Side by Anna Garcia (little red riding hood read aloud TXT) 📕

I took a deep breath and unwillingly jumped into a black swirling mass, which stood fifty feet in length and width. As my body hit it, I felt my lungs go out and my chest cave in, as if I was drowning, if I wasn’t careful I could die. I saw a light, and slowly moved towards it, gently moving my limbs, trying to use the least amount of energy possible. When I reached the light, I touched it gently and, immediately got sucked into it. I was blind for a moment, then falling. Just falling until I hit the ground. Hard. Tumbling forward, I barley caught my balance. In fact I pretty much landed on my face. I stood straight up, only to find two people staring at me with fear, and curiosity.
A boy, with sandy blond hair spoke first, “I-am-Justin,-she-is-Alex.” He said pronouncing each syllable, and pointing toward the girl who stood next to him. She was basically the opposite of him, she was about 5 ft 2 in, and had long brown hair almost touching the floor, she looked Hispanic, except for her bright blue eyes. Justin on the other hand, was white, really tall with deep chocolate brown eyes; I also had the feeling that he was the dumb one out of the two. “I can understand English,” I said with a raised eyebrow, “there is no need to treat me like I’m retarded.” I put my hands on my hips. Justin looked like he was going to say something, but Alex cut him off “Sorry, we did a bit of research, and we weren’t sure if you could.” “Research?” I asked. “We wanted to know if you were dangerous.” She said. I nodded. “I am dangerous,” I said, and both of them became quiet, “but I was ordered to keep you alive, and I never break an order.” They looked at me more intently.
“Who ordered you?” They said in union. I narrowed my eyes at them, “My master.” If I was not careful I could get in trouble. Master does not like to be talked about behind his back; he also doesn’t allow his servants to have any contact with the outside world. Which is why I am confused. I am not sure why he picked me for this journey, but he did so I must follow his orders, and at the same time keep my distance from these people, so that I do not get all of us killed. He will kill us, all three of us, if I am not careful. I looked them both in the eye. They understood and dropped the subject. “So,” Justin started, “How long will it take us to get to there.” There. The underworld, if it was only me a couple of seconds, but since I have to escort these people… “About a week.” Alex nodded, and said “That sounds about right, since we have to travel through the city of Kratos.” “We should get going.” I said, walking away from them. They followed close behind me. We were about five yard from where I had landed, when a giant shake rumbled beneath the ground. Oh crap. “HIDE!” I yelled. They looked at me then at the barren dessert we were currently stranded in. “Okay,” I started, “how about-”I got cut off by a roar. We all turned towards the sound. A huge snake came rushing out of the sand beneath us, pushing us all back about twenty feet.
We landed with a thud and not exactly gracefully either. I pulled my sword from my back, and to my surprise Justin pulled out a sleek wooden stick, with a small leather strap on the end, a wand, and Alex pulled out a battle axe, from thin air I might add, that glowed a light purple and blue. I looked at them and asked, “Why am I here exactly?” They looked at each other, and then back at me. “We’ll explain later right now, let’s take care of that.” Alex said pointing toward the snake, which was heading towards us. All three of us rushed towards it holding our weapons of choice. I went for its head, while Alex went for the body. Justin started saying words in what sounded like Latin, or maybe even Greek, heck for all I know I could have been Spanish. He began to glow and a beam of red light surged towards to the beast and hit it straight in the heart. The snake fought harder, and began bighting the air as we avoiding being eaten by it.
As its body began to weaken we all pulled out the big guns, to get this mess over with. Alex somehow made her axe engulf in bright blue flames, Justin’s beam of light became stronger giving off an aura of power, and jumped into the snake mouth. I heard a slight whimper from both Justin and Alex as I did this, but not knowing me they had no idea what I was doing. I began cutting up the snake from the inside, a REALLY disgusting job, but it was more effective, since the snake didn’t have iron like scales on the inside of its body. Finally after what felt like hours, the snake exploded, and me, covered in blood starred back at a shocked Justin and Alex. “Now,” I said, smearing off the blood from my face, “you were going to tell me why you need me?” I said, walking to them, and slipping back my sword into its scabbard. They just kind of starred at me in shock. Great…I broke them.

I threw some more wood into the fire pit I had made. Alex sat beside me and started to sing. Gently the fire grew until a slight glow covered our small camp sight. “I didn’t know you knew magic.” I asked her titling my head slightly. She laughed lightly. “I know very little. Justin taught me some of the basics in case something happened.” She said with a dreamy look. Ahh, “How long?” I asked her. She blinked. “Excuse me?” she turned to fully look at me. “How long have you loved him?” I asked again.
Her cheeks grew a very bright pink, “I-I don’t love him.” I raised an eyebrow and said “Look, I may have lived in hell for quite a while, but I’m not stupid, nor blind.” She cleared her throat. “Eight years, since I was ten.” I get it. Master sent me here for this reason. Master has had a… Crush on a very beautiful lady for a long time. She has been known by many names, but one thing stays the same, the fact that she controls all love. She must have asked for his help, and since I coincidently happen to be the same age as her, I got stuck with the job. I sighed.
“Is that why you’re helping him?” she looked up revealing her face from its hidden place in her arms. “Sort of, Ms. Edna has always been there for me.” Ms. Edna is Justin’s mom. She had been dragged down into the underworld. Not by master, but by guilt. A long time ago she had killed her friend, but it is not as simple as it may seem. Her friend had harbored a demon, and she had known it too. Ms. Edna did not want to kill her, but her friend had asked her too, and even too this day she cannot forgive herself. Something like that can lead to very disturbing consequences, and we have to save her before that happens. Apparently Justin and Alex had struck a deal with Master. If they retrieve an object that belongs to him, and bring it back to him, they will get Justin’s mom in return.
“You should tell him.” She starred back at me, “I can’t do that.” “Look, Alex I really think you should tell him, the worst that can happen is that he doesn’t love you back, which may sound like a lot, but you’ll eventually get over it.” “No, sorry-” she looked at me oddly, “I’m sorry but I don’t think you ever told us your name.” I looked away from the fire, “My name?” she nodded. I haven’t been called by name in years, what was it again? I thought for a moment. “It’s… its Sarah.” Yeah, Sarah, that sounds right. I pulled my hair back and brought my knees to my chest. “We should be getting to Kratos very soon.” We had been traveling for days now. We hadn’t encountered any more problems since the snake incident, but I was as paranoid as ever. She nodded. “Hopefully we’ll get there in time.” Justin sat next to Alex. She brightened up a bit. I had never truly been in love, but I have always craved it, always wondered what it would feel like. “How much longer do you think it will take?” Justin’s chocolate eyes looked at me. “I’d say at least a day by walking.”
His eyes drooped. Alex put an arm around him. I really felt for him. I’m still not sure what we’re being sent to receive, but it has something do with a prince. We have to steal one of his possessions. Something he has never truly shown to anyone, and has never actually been touched by anyone. That’s all master had told them, that’s all they had to go on. The plan is to make nice with the prince and find out what this treasure is and take it. Then take it back to the underworld. I’m not sure why he wants us to do this, but I’ve learned not to ask questions about things pertaining to him. Any way it’s getting dark. I looked at Alex and Justin. Alex was leaning on him, barely touching, Justin was letting her. The first part of the deal, with mistress should be easy, as for receiving the object, I’m not so sure. I stretched and headed in to the make-shift tent. I laid down, and closed my eyes, careful not to disturb Alex’s and Justin’s sleeping bags. It would only take a few hours to get to Kratos; hopefully the prince would welcome us with warm arms. A few seconds later, for the first time in eternities I had a dream. It was a beautiful dream to. I was with a man, he had shaggy brown hair, and forest green eyes, and he was tall compared to my tiny structure, with broad shoulders; we were kissing, I could practically fill it on my lips.
After what felt like seconds I woke up, In mid-air. I quickly stated to panic, then fell face first on to a floor. I heard a few snickers. I glared up to find