Q: Did you hear the one about the jump rope?
A: No? Well never mind then, I think I’ll skip it…
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (Chapters 1 to 15)
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 16
“TAURUS!”
“LIBRA!”
I said it as fast as I could, hoping it wasn’t too late and then I immediately headed towards the shore of the pond. It seemed like it took me forever to make it there though not having the Cancer ability enabled, but as soon as I reached the edge, I jumped out and raced over towards Chris, half noticing the few crows that were frozen in flight just above me.
“NOOOOOO!!!!” I screamed at the sight of Chris once I reached him. He was lying on the ground, legs both completely crushed and bones protruding outward in sickening angles.
I wanted to throw up at what my eyes were seeing and my heart was racing even faster than when I had been choking for air the first time I tried the Cancer zodiac. That boulder I had thrown carelessly was now resting at a 45-degree angle a few feet beyond Chris, leading me to believe it was still moving forward when I froze time.
I honestly didn’t know what to do. If I unfroze time, Chris could die. It was obvious the boulder had done tremendous damage to both of his legs and there was blood already spilling out everywhere, but frozen in mid-stream as well. I thought about each of the remaining zodiac symbols I hadn’t attempted to use yet and wondered if any of them could help me somehow. Then quite unexpectedly the image of Virgo, that symbol of the peaceful looking woman, appeared in my head.
Could it be possible the Virgo abilities could help fix this? I didn’t actually know the answer to that question, but I had no other option and I knew I couldn’t leave time paused forever.
“LIBRA!”
“VIRGO!”
Immediately the huge piece of rock I had thrown so hastily towards Chris flew forward and came to a rest a good hundred feet away, and was then followed by an intense and extremely distraught sounding voice.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH” Chris screamed at the top of his lungs. He continued to do this over and over again as he looked down in horror at his crushed legs, with blood pouring out from each, It was then I began to notice my hands were heating up and vibrating as well, almost as if each of the molecules in them had unexpectedly come alive and were reaching a boiling point. My body then rapidly went into autopilot, somewhat making me feel like my actions were now out of my control. As I knelt down on the ground next to Chris, I placed my hands on his severely mangled legs and started to dry heave in the process. I became overly thankful at that moment for not having had anything to eat in a good while, as I definitely would have gotten sick all over him if I had.
At that precise moment, I so wanted to rub my eyes and make sure I was truly seeing what I was, but I couldn’t as they were both held firmly in place on Chris’s legs. Bolts of energy then began shooting through me that felt an awful lot like when I had put a fork in an electric outlet a few years ago, except this time it seemed as if my body was able to harness the energy somehow. In rapid fashion, time appeared to move backwards as I watched Chris’s bones re-connect back together piece by piece. The blood that had flown out of his body then started moving backwards into him as well. I continued to dry-heave as the torn muscles and tendons in his body quickly snapped back into place. And finally, the skin on both legs closed itself up, leaving no trace or sign that any damage had ever taken place. The heat in my hands and the sense of vibration within them, along with any of those pulsations, then abruptly disappeared.
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!!!” Chris said angrily jumping to his feet and hitting my arm with a pretty good amount of force.
“OWW! Geez, what kind of thank you is that?” I said as I rubbed my arm.
“You almost killed me!”
“But I didn’t!”
“That’s not the point!”
“I’m sorry! It’s not like I’ve had years to practice all these zodiac powers you know!”
“Fair enough, but I think we probably need to take things a little slower in your training from here on out.”
“I agree. So I’m just wondering, would it be ok if I call you peg-legs from now on?”
“OWW!” Chris hit my arm again, this time even harder, as we both laughed off the whole experience and began walking back towards his house.
Chris spent the entire journey back talking about some more ideas for my Keeper of the Zodiac training. I actually didn’t hear much of what he said at all because I was still deep in thought about how close I had come to permanently injuring or possibly even killing him. The image of his crushed and bleeding legs was plastered across my mind and I couldn’t seem to think about anything else. I was grateful though when we re-emerged into his backyard because the sight of my family who had already arrived for the barbeque seemed to do take my mind off the whole incident. It was pretty close to 5pm and at the moment everyone was snacking on some chips and drinking some soda.
“Well there you are! Did you two have fun exploring the woods today?” said Mr. Riley cheerfully.
“It was a blast Dad. Andy almost killed me, but it was definitely a blast!” said Chris with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
I jabbed Chris in the side and smiled nervously at his parents.
“What happened?” asked my sister.
“Oh nothing. We were just horsing around. You know how boys get, right Mom?” I said sheepishly.
“Uh huh.” My sister and mother both said in unison as they rolled their eyes.
Thankfully no one else asked any further questions and shortly thereafter, we all were munching down on some exceptionally tasty cheeseburgers, potato salad, coleslaw, and corn on the cob. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I had the first few bites within me. Before all was said and done, I had consumed three burgers and had several helpings of everything else.
“Wow, where are you putting all of that Andy? Didn’t you eat anything else today?” asked my mother with a smile, as I finished my third helping.
In all reality, I hadn’t eaten anything other than a bowl of cereal that morning, which made me wonder if using the Zodiac powers were going to require a lot more food than I was used to consuming.
“Yeah, I kind of skipped lunch today Mom.” I said while everyone stared at me.
“It’s yes, not yeah young man!” my mother said sternly.
“Sorry!” I said turning red, as my sister snickered.
“Hey Dad, why don’t you tell Andy’s parents about that camping trip we’re thinking about taking. Maybe we can all go?” Chris said coming to my rescue.
“What camping trip?” I whispered to Chris.
“I hadn’t gotten a chance to tell you about it yet, given the fact I was so preoccupied with almost losing my legs you know.” Chris whispered back with a chuckle.
Mr. Riley spoke about their annual upcoming late fall trip into the mountains where they always rent a log cabin for a long weekend. It sounded like it could be a lot of fun and appeared as if there would be plenty of room for my family to join them. My parents liked the idea, but it was apparent my sister wasn’t all too enthused about it. The conversation ended when Mrs. Riley emerged out of the house and announced it was time for dessert.
By the time we all were done enjoying the warm apple pie and vanilla ice cream, it was beginning to get dark. Everyone then decided it’d be best to move the festivities inside and play some type of game together. As we all chipped in and grabbed something to help with the cleanup process, I picked up the remaining pie and tub of ice cream and headed up the porch stairs towards the kitchen. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really paying attention to each of the steps I was ascending because I suddenly found myself falling forward, while the pie and ice cream flew out of my hands and into the air.
“Oh Crap!” I shouted as my hands lunged for them.
Instantly, that strange vibration-like sensation then quickly returned to my hands, making me realize I had never turned off the Virgo sign. And that’s when I noticed there in front of me the pie and tub of ice cream motionless in the air, about a foot off the porch’s floor. Except there was no way time could have been paused seeing everyone was still moving. In fact they were all heading up the porch steps right now and from the look on my sister’s face, I could tell she had already seen what was lying stationary in mid-air directly in front of me…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson