Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 11

Q: What did the boy shell say to the girl shell?
A: Wanna see my mussels? 

It’s that time again! Time for another chapter in my ongoing adventure! But before I begin, I want to personally thank everyone out there who has been following along with me on this magical journey so far. I’ve decided to make it a little easier now for those who aren’t caught up, by including all of the previous chapters in a PDF, which you can find the link to below. Well anyway, I think that’s enough formalities from me for now, because if I keep that up, I’m going to start sounding a lot like Captain Serious. So happy reading everyone!

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (In Entirety)

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 11

“What on Earth are you doing and where have you been young man!” said my mother in a very concerned tone of voice, as she turned around and saw me lying there on the floor.

“I was upstairs…” I said lying through my teeth and hoping she hadn’t see the spinning vortex, which had just spit me out by the front door.

“Don’t you fib to me Mr.!” My mother said sounding obviously very upset. “I called your name and looked all around the house for you, you definitely were not here!”

“You’re right Mom! I’m sorry. I went down the street and was hanging out with someone from school. His name’s Chris.”

“Well why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place. You know we just got you back honey and you really had me scared! I was about to call the police!”

I could tell my mother was beginning to soften up by her tone. I truly felt a little bad though for not leaving her a note on the kitchen counter like I normally would. But I did feel a lot better about telling her the truth just now, that’s for sure. Honestly, I feel like I’ve had to lie quite a bit lately to everyone ever since leaving that cave.

“I’m sorry Mom. I was afraid you’d be upset that I hadn’t stayed inside the house. I was kind of bored and decided to venture down the street and just so you know I was only at the bus stop area. But hey, I can’t believe I tripped through that front door you know?”

Ok so it wasn’t the entire truth, but what else could I say? That I arrived home by way of teleportation through a spinning vortex? Yeah, I’d definitely be committed to an asylum then!

“Well honey, next time will you please leave a note?”

Phew, I dodged a bullet there didn’t I? I guess she hadn’t seen or heard the vortex after all.

“Ok. Hey, is it alright if I head upstairs and start doing some of my homework?”

My question was mostly true, but I had a more pressing matter to take care of first.

“Ok hon, I’ll call up for you when it’s time for dinner…” She said as I sprinted up the stairs and into my room, making sure to close my bedroom door behind me.

“Capricorn!” I said picturing the bus stop in my head.

VAVOOM…

The vortex quickly sucked me in and then spit me back out onto the hard ground where I had just been a few minutes earlier, announcing my presence with the “VAVOOM” again. As I picked myself up from the ground, I could see Chris walking down his driveway.

“Hey Chris! Wait up!” I said running over towards him.

“Whoa! What happened to you?” He said as he turned around and saw me.

I gave him the quick rundown on the teleportation power, explaining how it worked and then said I couldn’t stay because my mother was home. After getting his phone number, I knew I needed to immediately get back to my house before I encountered any more problems.

“Capricorn!” I said picturing the bed in my room, and watched as Chris smiled from ear to ear while I disappeared into the colorful vortex.

The next few weeks seemed to fly by pretty fast after that. I finally had a friend to hang out with both at school and at home. Thankfully, neither that kid nor his cronies had picked on Chris or I since the first day of school. Chris had already put two and two together as to how their underwear had gotten exposed in the cafeteria that day and we both had shared a good laugh all over again.

It was already into the beginning of October and becoming rather chilly outside. The leaves were starting to fall off the trees and I had just arrived for a sleepover at Chris’s house late on a Friday afternoon. My parents had actually given me permission to stay over at his house for the night. It was the first time it seemed like I had been able to do anything fun apart from them and I was very grateful for that.

I had brought the crystal with me for Chris to see, having taken it out of my drawer for the first time since that day I met him. It was currently sitting in my overnight bag in his bedroom. Other than us hanging out with Andy #2 on a few separate occasions, we hadn’t explored any more of its powers yet, but we had planned to do that very thing during this sleepover. We did learn last week though on one of those occasions that no matter where Andy #2 was, even if I wasn’t in the same room as him, that we could hear each other’s thoughts and tap into seeing what each other was doing just by closing our eyes. Oh, and we also discovered I could teleport anyone I touched, as well as how not to fall each time we did.

“So what sign do you think we should try first?” asked Chris snapping me out of my thoughts, as he pushed me on the huge tire swing in his backyard.

“I don’t know? I’m still a little nervous about doing it.”

“Yeah, I know. Mr. Fish Gills!”

We both laughed pretty hard, but inside, I really was kind of nervous. I mean anything could happen. For all I know I could become some weird animal who couldn’t talk and have a way to change back.

How about trying my sister’s sign, which is Leo?” Chris said oblivious to the fact that I felt somewhat queasy inside at the moment about the whole powers thing.

“Ok.” I said and then took a deep breath after stepping out of the swing.

“Leo!”

Nothing happened. No weird sounds, no spinning vortexes, no birds hanging in mid-air. Nothing.

“What do you want to have for dinner tonight?”

“Pizza! Most definitely!” I said looking over at Chris.

“Pizza? What? How does that have to do with Leo?” Chris said staring at me strangely.

“You asked me what I wanted to have for dinner tonight?”

“No I didn’t?” 

“Yes, you did!” 

NO, I didn’t!” said Chris sounding slightly irritated.

Suddenly I started hearing voices coming from every direction. It was like I was in a crowded mall during the Christmas shopping season. I covered my ears up and looked down at the ground and saw an ant crawling along it like it was mere inches from my face. I then began to notice smells from all around me too such as coffee, popcorn, hot chocolate, and a bunch of other things that were very stinky like dog poop and garlic.

“Andy, what’s going on? Talk to me!”

It sounded like Chris was shouting at me at the top of his lungs even though he was only a few feet away from me.

“I don’t know! It’s like my senses are going crazy! I’m hearing all these voices and seeing things extremely up close, and smelling the worst of smells right now!”

“It’s a sensory power Andy, focus only on my voice!!!”

I did as he said and just listened to his voice while he kept on talking. Thankfully, the incredible noisiness in my ears then began to dissipate.

“Hey, you know your breath stinks man!” I said. “Did you eat a bunch of garlic today or what?!” 

“HA! I had a leftover piece of garlic bread right before you got here.” Chris chuckled. “Hey, so, you must have heard my parents inside talking to each other about dinner tonight? Can you hear them now?”

“Hold on a second, let me see.”

I closed my eyes to focus my sense of hearing, even though I felt like gagging with all the overpowering smells all around me.

“Andy seems like a nice kid. I’m glad Chris finally has a friend to hang out with. You know he’s spent too much time alone for far too long now Frank.”

“Yes Linda, I know. Ever since we lost our daughter…”

I could hear Chris’s mother fight back some tears.

“Maybe this is exactly what will help Chris come out of his shell dear.” Chris’s father said reassuringly.

There was a long pause that I could only assume was Chris’s father giving his mother a big hug.

“I should probably go order those pepperoni pizzas from Antonio’s ok? And maybe when the kids are in bed later, I’ll give you a nice long massage dear, I know how that always helps get you in a good mood, if you know what I mean…”

“Gross” I immediately said aloud. “Leo!”

I decided to stop the sensory power before I heard anything else I would totally regret hearing. 

“You sister died Chris?”

“Yeah…wow, I…umm, hey let’s go upstairs ok?”

I could see I touched a nerve; one he obviously wasn’t ready to talk about with me. I followed him into the house and saw there was a bowl of popcorn on the counter and a few steaming cups of hot chocolate next to it. Chris’s parents were sipping some coffee on the couch nearby and told us the pizza would be here in less than 30 minutes. We then headed upstairs and into Chris’s room with our snack and hot beverages in hand. I really wanted to apologize about bringing up his sister, but decided against it for now.

“Hey, let me see your crystal ok?” Chris said breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Ok, but all you’re going to see is a stupid rock, at least that’s what everyone else has said when I showed it to them!”

I pulled it out from my overnight bag and felt it’s soothing energy as it now lay in the palm of my hand, its purple color radiating outward.

“Andy, you won’t believe this…”

“Believe what?”

“I…can…see it, the symbols, the purple color, it glowing… oh my gosh, you weren’t kidding when you said how beautiful it is…” 

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 10

Q: What did the traffic light say to the car?
A: DON’T LOOK! I’M CHANGING!

Well according to the calendar date, we’re already into spring now! Yea! But wait, that also means I’ll soon be doing outside chores again like cutting the grass, raking and watering the flowers! Boo! J Anyway, here’s the next installment for my ongoing story, as well as the links to the previous chapters. Enjoy!

https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-1/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/18/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-2/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/27/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-3/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/01/04/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-4/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/01/16/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-5/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/01/29/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-6/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/02/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-7/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/02/24/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-8/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/03/13/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-9/

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 10

Chris was staring at me waiting for a response. He then looked over at Andy #2, and then drew his attention back to me again.

“Can you keep a secret?” I said nervously, feeling like I had no other choice.

“Yes…” Chris said smiling. 

“Seriously, I really need to know I can completely trust you won’t tell anyone else at all what I ‘m about to say…”

“Geez…it’s that serious huh? Yeah, you can trust me. The fact is I don’t really have any friends I could tell anyway. So what this big secret with your twin brother here?”

“I have magic powers and can create a duplicate of me whenever I want…”

It sounded totally ridiculous after I said it and I could see Chris wasn’t buying it either by the expression I was now seeing on his face. He then started to laugh.

“Really, I’m being serious! I’m not lying!” I said rather irritated.

“Look, I’m not stupid!” Chris said sounding like he was starting to get irritated as well.

“I am being serious and I can prove it!”

“Oh yeah, how?!”

“Gemini!” 

POP…

“What the…where…did…he go?” Chris stammered, looking around and feeling confused.

“I told you I had magic powers…”

“Come on, seriously…HEY YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!” Chris shouted loudly, looking off into some nearby bushes thinking the other me was hiding there.

“He’s not hiding. He’s part of me…”

“Gemini!” 

POP… 

“Hey Chris, what’s hanging bro?” said Andy #2 as he rapidly appeared out of thin air directly in front of Chris.

“What the! How are you doing that?!”

“I told you it’s magic. I still haven’t figured it all out myself.”

I ended up having to demonstrate it a few more times before Chris finally believed me. I decided after he did though that it was best to have me #2 go away for now.

“Gemini!”

POP…

“That’s awesome!!! To think of all the cool things you can do with a duplicate of you!”

“I know right! Now do you understand why I need you to keep this a secret?!”

Chris has so many questions for me. He wanted to know everything and was asking me one thing after another. I figured it was going to take a little while to tell him so we sat down on the grassy hill nearby where I started from the beginning. I told him about the large rock I used to play at in the woods by myself and about the secret hatch I unearthed the day I went missing. I told him about the cave I found underneath it and almost getting stuck in there forever because of the puzzle on the floor. I told him how solving that puzzle with my birthdate led me to finding the crystal and how time passed so quickly in the real world while I was down in that cave for just those few hours. And then I explained to him how I first discovered the power of the crystal when I was in the police station trying to show everyone the symbols on it. Finally I told him about the powers I had learned of so far, including almost passing out at my pool and how it appeared that I didn’t need to have the crystal on me to use the abilities it gave me.

“So I’m curious on one thing…” Chris said while laughing. “Why didn’t you jump into the pool dummy when you said Cancer! It sounds like you had gills on the side of your neck that probably would have helped you breathe under water silly! And most likely your normal air passage ways were closed off to make all that work correctly.” 

“Yeah, I kind of thought about that after the fact, but at the time it was a little hard because I was gasping for breath and my parents were about to discover my secret.” I said laughing with him.

It really felt good having someone to talk to, someone who finally believed me.

“So what do you think happens if you pause time and your touching someone?” Chris said. 

“I don’t know? I never tried that. Let’s see…” I said as I swiftly grabbed Chris’s arm.

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

I looked over at Chris, expecting him to be frozen now, except he wasn’t.

“I don’t feel any different…” Chris said, looking around and touching parts of his body. 

I was truly amazed to see it actually had worked, but Chris still didn’t think anything was different.

“Look up…” I said as I stared at the bird hanging in mid air almost directly above us.

“Holy crap!” Chris pointed at the bird and then noticed a plane even higher in the sky that was motionless as well, almost like a mobile above a baby’s crib. “So do you have to be touching me as well to go back to real time?” 

“Libra!” I said standing near him but not touching him at all.

WHOOSH…

The plane continued on its way while the bird flew off in the direction it was heading and thankfully I noticed Chris was moving around with me once again. 

“You are so dam lucky you know? To have all these powers… But hasn’t it been killing you not knowing why it picked you, where it came from, and why the hatch or cave no longer seems to be there in the woods?” Chris said inquisitively.

“Well duh! Yeah, but how am I supposed to figure all that out?”

“Maybe all those answers will come to you when you say one of those zodiac names?” 

“Huh, I never thought of that. I guess I was sort of scared after that Cancer incident.”

Immediately I started gasping for breath again and felt those gills appear on my neck.

“Say Cancer again you idiot!” Chris said with a huge smile.

“CA-AN-CER!” I choked the word out of me like before and then took a big gulp of air. 

“Wow, I guess I can see why you’d be freaked out not to try some of the others. But hey look, you’ve got me now to help you through this right? We’re a team now. You’re Batman, I’m Robin ok?”

“Yeah…except no stupid costumes ok?” I said laughing.

“So are you up for trying a new one just to see what happens?”

“I guess so…” I said nervously, but felt a little better that Chris was there.

“How about Capricorn? That’s my sign…” he said.

I looked briefly at my watch and knew I needed to be getting home because my parents would probably freak if I weren’t there when they walked in the front door. But I figured I had enough time to try at least one new symbol.

“Capricorn!” I said as I thought about my mother coming in the front door and calling for me.

Suddenly I saw a vortex of spinning light appear out of nowhere along with a weird “VAVOOM” noise. I hoped Chris could see it, as it looked so beautiful and appeared to have the whole set of rainbow colors circling it. In what was probably no more than a blink of an eye, it completely enveloped me and for a moment or so, I found myself being thrust down a long tunnel lit in a spectacular display of millions of colors, all moving in the direction I was. Then without warning, the end of the tunnel rapidly zoomed towards me. VAVOOM… Immediately I was thrust out of it and toppled to the floor of the hallway right inside my front door. And there in the kitchen directly in front of me just a few steps away stood my mother with her back to me…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 9

Q: What do Italian’s eat on Friday the 13th?
A: Fettuccini Afraid-o!

AAAH! It’s Friday the 13th everyone, aren’t you scared? I remember when Doodyhead made me watch the original movie and not being able to sleep one bit because of it. Didn’t he know he wasn’t supposed to take a kid to see an “R” rated movie? Geez. LOL. Anyway, we’re back from vacation and it’s already time for another chapter in my woodsy adventure. Yeah! As always, the links to the previous ones are included first. Happy reading everyone!

https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-1/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/18/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-2/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2014/12/27/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-3/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/01/04/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-4/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/01/16/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-5/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/01/29/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-6/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/02/10/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-7/
https://thetwelfthstep.com/2015/02/24/andys-woodsy-adventure-chapter-8/

Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 9

The entire cafeteria suddenly erupted in laughter at the ridiculous sight of the gang of underwear buddies who had tried to have fun at my expense. Each of their grins immediately faded into looks of horror and embarrassment, especially the one who had tried to trip me. Everyone was mostly pointing at him and his pink tighty-whities. And it was me now who was the one grinning from ear to ear, as the four of them quickly pulled up their pants and ran outside to the playground hoping to escape the thunderous laughter surrounding them. I secretly celebrated my victory and even though no one knew how or who had done the hilarious prank, it still felt pretty darn good inside.

The rest of my first day back at school seemed to zoom by after that and I’m grateful to report there were no other incidents to speak of. Soon I was back home sitting on my bed looking at the crystal that had saved me and was slowly transforming me into Andy 2.0. I thought about how it had worked in the cafeteria even though I hadn’t been holding onto it and wondered just how far away I could be from it to still work. I decided this was as good of a time as any to figure that mystery out because no one was home at the moment.

After setting the crystal down on my desk, I walked out of my room and stood right outside the door. I grabbed the quarter in my pocket that was left over from lunch earlier today and threw it up in the air. 

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

The quarter lay motionless in the air at almost my eye-level.

“Libra!” 

WHOOSH…

I caught the quarter as gravity took back hold of it and next headed down the hallway to the top of the stairs. I couldn’t see the crystal anymore of course and was probably a good 20 to 30 feet away from it now. I then tossed the quarter back into the air.

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

My quarter was frozen once again, hanging in the air right before my eyes.

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

I caught the quarter again and decided this time to try it just outside the front door of my house. As I stood there on the porch and threw the quarter up in the air again, I half expected it wasn’t going to work this time.

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

Cool! I was totally shocked to see the quarter hovering in mid-air and began wondering if there were any limitations with distance from it at all? I decided to try one more test.

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

After catching the quarter I walked down the street all the way to the bus stop, which was a pretty good hike from my house. I felt kind of stupid standing there with no one around as I tossed the quarter back into the air.

“Libra!” 

WHOOSH…

It still worked! I couldn’t believe it! I flicked the suspended quarter with my finger in delight, half expecting it to then fall to the ground. But ironically, it only moved forward a few inches and remained motionless in mid-air. Huh. That interesting I thought and made a mental note of it.

“Well it appears there’s no limitations with distance…” I said aloud as if anyone could be listening with time being paused.

I wonder…

“Gemini!”

Nothing.

“Gemini!!!”

Still nothing.

“Libra!”

WHOOSH…

“Gemini!”

POP…

“Hey Andy! What’s up?” said Andy #2 suddenly appearing to my right as he caught the quarter before it hit the ground.

“Not much! Man this is so weird talking to myself!” I said laughing. “Hey, I’ve been playing around with my crystal and seeing what it can and can’t do. Do you know anything else about it?” 

“How could I know anything else about it? I’m you and know as much as you do silly! Like the fact you’ve been doing this quarter test now since you got home from school. And like the fact that you’re at this precise moment starting to think about trying to pause time with me still here with you, right?”

“Stop doing that!”

“Stop doing what?

“Stop reading my thoughts!”

“How can I be reading your thoughts if I’m you?”

“Ugh!”

“Libra!”

Nothing.

“See, I told you so!” said Andy #2 grinning.

We both started laughing when a voice suddenly came from behind.

“What’s so funny?” said Chris, a fellow 7th grader from my neighborhood who I didn’t really know all too well, as he walked around me and was now standing directly in front of us. “Hey, I never knew you have a twin brother?!”

I looked over at Andy #2 and knew exactly what he was thinking, especially because of the look that was now on his face, which I’m sure matched my own. My mind began racing on what to do and in all honesty, I’d probably get in trouble and have my mouth washed out with soap if I were to say the word I really want to say right now…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson