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