Category: Words From My Inner Child Andy

Q: What did the ocean say to the shore?
A: Nothing. It just waved!

PDF Link To All Previous Chapters -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 30)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 31

Thankfully the rest of the holiday weekend getaway proved to be much more relaxing. Other than playing some games, sitting by the fire or in the hot tub, walking around the lake, and going out to eat on our last night there, things were uneventful, of which I was totally grateful.

I had kept all of my Zodiac powers in check, deciding not to explore them any further, as I didn’t want to have any more disruptions or frustrations that might have caused me not to have a good time. Unfortunately, I still continued to feel at unease though, not only with the prophecy Delilah had told me, but also with the feeling that someone really was watching me. But maybe I was just being overly paranoid.

Regardless, we had stopped on our drive home at the same diner from our way up and I was glad to see the waitress there who I had helped. She actually greeted me with a big hug and was glad to see me as well. I was so happy to see her smile as much as she did while we were there and it definitely became one of the bright notes for the trip that’s for sure.

But oddly enough, I had noticed something strange there while eating another burger and fries. An average-sized middle-aged man sitting at the counter, consuming nothing more than a cup of coffee, had stared far too much in our direction the entire time. But what made that even more uncomfortable was when each time his gaze met mine, I felt this icy feeling go up my spine and my head begin to ache.

I guess that’s why I was rather relieved when we left and I was safely back in the car heading home, the remainder of which I fell asleep. And other than a small snack and a few hours of watching reruns on television once we were back at our house, the trip away came to a close with some much needed peace and quiet.

For some reason my first morning heading back to school after the holiday trip felt very weird though. All the events that had taken place up at Lake George had made it seem like I had been gone for much longer than I actually was. Even the walk I was presently on to the bus stop felt weird, as it appeared to take forever to get there. I’m sure part of that was due to the temperatures hovering around the freezing mark and the noticeable high winds making that feel even lower. It felt good to see Chris though when I finally arrived there, as it helped me to quickly snap out of my reflections from the trip and the slight doldrums I was feeling inside.

“What’s up chicken butt?” Chris said.

“Not much Chrissy.” I said with a chuckle.

“Whatever Andrina.” Chris responded in laughter.

“Feels weird going back to school doesn’t it?” I said as I could hear the bus coming up the hill.

“Yeah totally. I thought it was just me.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if I could somehow speed up time and we could both be on the bus ride home.”

The bus had now arrived and opened its doors. Chris and I were the first ones on and headed towards a seat near the middle.

“Who knows maybe that’s one of your abilities you haven’t tapped into yet” Chris said once we had sat down and were out of earshot from everyone else.

“Yeah, that would be something, that’s for sure…” I said thinking about how I’d love to skip several of my classes, especially Social Studies, which I always found to be extremely boring. “Hey, so did anything exciting happen since you got home last night?”

“Not really, just vegged I guess.”

“Me neither. But I’m kind of dreading school today.”

“I can only imagine given everything that happened to you on our trip. But I’m sure you’ll feel a lot better by lunch.” 

“Yeah hopefully…”

We spent the rest of the bus ride talking about plans for the upcoming weekend and Chris mentioned he wanted to continue my training. I had four Zodiac symbols I hadn’t tried out yet and although I was excited to see what they could do, I still had some fear of the unknown given some of my previous experiences with some of the other signs.

“Hey, I’ll catch up with you at lunch.” Chris said once the bus had arrived at school and we had entered the front doors.

“Ok, see you then.” I said heading towards my homeroom while he headed off to his.

While it was great that Chris was my closest friend, it kind of stunk that we didn’t get to see each other much at school. Other than lunch and PE, we had totally opposite schedules. But I must say that I was glad that kid Trevor wasn’t in any of my classes either. Actually he was in the 8^th grade along with most of his friends, except there was one kid in my class who did hang out with him, and occasionally tried to be just like him. He was the one who had also called me a freak during attendance on my first day back at school. I was glad that he had only done it that one time though.

After today’s roll call was done, our schedule began with Science. There we did several cool experiments with fire showing how they can burn in different colors. Science was next followed by foreign language, which I was attempting to learn Spanish. Today I was surprised to learn from our teacher that not too long from now, Spanish might be spoken far more frequently than English in our country. After our language instruction ended, then came the dreaded Social Studies. There we continued to talk about the American Revolution and half the time I found myself dozing off. I was more than glad the teacher hadn’t seen any of that though.

When lunch finally arrived, I was starving. Today I had chicken fingers and tator tots, some green beans, a cookie, and a carton of milk while Chris had brought his own lunch and was eating bologna.

“How do you eat that anyway?” I said to Chris as he took a big bite out of his bright pink sandwich. 

“Eat what? Bologna?” Chris responded with a slightly puzzled look.

“Yeah, it tastes so gross and do you even know what’s in it?” 

“Not really, but ask me if I care because I totally like it!” Chris said as he took another large bite with a smile.

“Well it’s your stomach, not mine. Anyway, you know we got PE together after this right?

“Yup. I wonder what fun we’ll be in store for us there today.” Chris said sarcastically, as he wasn’t a fan of PE, much like I wasn’t with social studies. But ironically Social Studies was his most favorite class.

“Who knows? But since it’s so cold outside, I’m sure it will end up being something done in the gym.”

We spent the rest of lunch continuing to talk about my Zodiac training. He wanted me to try Aquarius next and we made plans to do that on Saturday near the small pond in the woods behind his house.

By the time PE arrived, I could see the dread in Chris’s eyes. We had already changed into our gym clothes, which was shorts and t-shirts, when a whistle abruptly pierced the air.

“Ok everyone, let’s circle up. Today we’re going to have a little basketball tournament so let’s not waste any time and start picking some teams.” Mr. Walsh said cheerfully.

“Yeah….” said Chris sarcastically.

“What’s that Chris?” Mr. Walsh said obviously having heard Chris.

“Nothing sir.”

“That’s what I thought. How about you be one of the captains Chris along with John, Melissa, and Vickie.”

I watched as Chris rolled his eyes, especially when he discovered he got to pick last. Vickie was first, followed by John, then Melissa, and finally him. I was a little bummed when Melissa chose me for her team as I had really hoped to be on Chris’s team.

We played five of five games on the two smaller courts in the gym where the winners would end up playing each other and the losers the same. Games were to eleven with each basket counting as one point. We easily won our first game as did Chris’s team. I felt a little nervous as my team stepped onto the court ready to face them. This would be the first time Chris and I had been on opposing sides of anything.

“Good luck.” Chris said. “You’ll need it.”

“Uh huh. We’ll see about that.” I said with a serious face, even though I wanted to laugh.

It was a close game, with the score being neck and neck the entire time. Something or should I same someone was really starting to get to me though during the game. That kid who had called me a freak in homeroom on the first day was also on Chris’s team and he kept taunting me every time I had the ball, acting much like Trevor.

He had just missed a layup with the score currently being tied at 10-10 when I caught the rebound and headed down the court hoping to get a shot off and win the game for our team.

“Come on weirdo, what you got? You gonna make the ball disappear like you said you did in the woods?” 

“Cut it out Clyde…” said Chris to his teammate.

“Aww, that’s so cute. Am I hurting your feelings too? You know his story is so fake Chris. Just admit it Andy. You’re a fake!”

“Shut up!” I said in anger.

I tried to dribble around him and head towards the basket, but he blocked my way.

“Oh, did I hit a nerve? Freak…”

I saw my chance and dribbled through his legs and then jumped up towards the basket. As the ball left my fingertips and bounced off the backboard heading into the net, a hand from behind unexpectedly pushed me with such force that I ended up crashing to the floor.

“What the hell!” I said angrily as I got up and saw Clyde standing there smirking. I pushed him back just as hard, watching him stumble backwards.

He quickly regained his balance and then took a swing at me. For a moment, I was tempted to use my Zodiac abilities but instead blocked his punch and caught him forcefully with my fist in his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

I know this probably wasn’t showing me to be a very good Keeper of the Zodiac at the moment, as I normally am pretty good keeping my cool. But for some reason, I had allowed Clyde to totally get under my skin.

“You two, principal’s office. NOW!” said Mr. Walsh who had caught sight of the whole thing.

“You’re a dick…” I said as I left the court heatedly while Chris shook his head, obviously irritated that I had acted that way.

“Whatever freak.”

“Silence the both of you!” said Mr. Walsh as he grabbed each of our arms and led us out of the gym and down the hallway into the principal’s office. “Sit down there and wait while I explain why the two of you are here!”

He pointed to a bench in front of the secretary’s desk and then explained to the woman sitting there what happened. She then proceeded to get on the phone and talk to both the principal and assistant principal.

A few minutes later Clyde was directed into the principal’s office, while I was instructed to go into the assistant principal’s. As I opened the door with my head hanging low feeling a little ashamed, a deep voice broke the silence.

“Have a seat Andy. We have much to discuss…”

I looked up and suddenly that icy feeling ran up my spine and my head began to hurt, as I saw standing there right in front of me, the same man from who had creepily stared at me from the diner on our trip…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: Why didn’t the teddy bear ask for seconds?
A: Because he was already stuffed!

Link to PDF of all previous chapters -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 29)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 30

I was definitely disturbed with the story I had just heard from Delilah and I really wanted to ask some more questions about it, but I knew I needed to return as soon as possible to wherever Chris and our fathers were. As I headed back in the direction from which I came, she thanked me for my help and wished me good luck, while I vaguely heard Vernon say something along the lines of “Good riddance.” I’m not sure he would know what gratitude was if it smacked him dead in the face I thought as I made my way back through the thick forest.

The thought of someone possessing a crystal equal in power to my own, but powered by dark forces seriously concerned me. But at the moment, I was feeling far more concerned about how I was going to explain my sudden disappearing act. Hopefully Chris had found some way to reassure our fathers, seeing how I had been gone for at least 30 minutes, maybe more.

It seemed to take far longer getting back to the hiking trail then the time it took to reach Delilah’s den. I guess the swift sprint I took there was much quicker than I had thought. By the time I found the actual spot where we had taken our last hiking break, there was no one there.

Where could they have gone?

I honestly didn’t know whether it was best to head back down the mountain, remain here, or hike to the top. If I were Chris, what would he have done after I vanished? Ugh, I have no idea! Wait, maybe I could find an animal nearby who could tell me where they went?

I looked around, including in the trees above me, but saw no one nearby to ask.

Crap!

In sheer frustration, I shouted out into the air, hoping someone might hear me…

“Does anyone know where my friend and our fathers are?!”

I felt kind of stupid after that. I mean who was going to hear me, other than possibly some other hikers, of which I saw none nearby.

“Hello there!” I heard a tiny voice come out of nowhere and looked around, but saw no one.

“Down here!” The voice said.

I looked down to see a tiny chipmunk looking straight up at me.

“You’re the one everyone in the woods is talking about! The one human being we can all talk to!”

It was rather funny listening to the chipmunk talk, because on some level it spoke like it was on mega doses of caffeine, rapidly speeding through its words.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing that everyone is talking about me my little friend, but yes, I guess that’s me.”

“You’re looking for the people you were hiking with right?”

“Yes, do you know where they went?”

“Sure, they headed further up the mountain, probably to the top.”

“Wow, that’s a huge relief to know. What’s your name anyway?”

“I’m Samuel, but you can call me Sam.”

“Well, I’m Andy, and as much as I’d like to stay and chat, I gotta run and find my hiking companions ok?”

“No problem, it was nice to meet you Andy, good luck!” I watched as he quickly scampered away and out of sight.

I knew it would take me too long to hike up to the top, especially given how tired I felt, but there was one way I could get there much faster. I knew I could use Capricorn to teleport myself to the top, but since I had never been there, how could I envision it in my head.

Could it be possible that this Zodiac sign might also work by just stating where I wanted to go?

It was worth a try at least. So after deactivating Sagittarius, I looked around to make sure no one was watching and then said the words.

“Buck Mountain Summit! Capricorn!” I said as I thought about Chris and our fathers wandering around the top of the mountain looking for me.

VAVOOM…

The vortex rapidly appeared and pulled me in. For a brief moment, I felt a little fearful where it was going to take me, but before I had a chance to really worry about it, it spit me out on top of the mountain. And there not more than 100 yards away were Chris and both of our Dads, who were all in the process of shouting my name at the top of their lungs.

“ANDYYYY!”

“ANNNNDYYY!”

Thankfully they had their backs turned to me and no one else seemed to be around either. I began to wonder if this sign also had a built-in ability to teleport me without being seen by anyone. I didn’t have much time to ponder the thought though as Chris had already turned around and seen me.

“THERE HE IS!!!”

They immediately all ran over to me and my Dad proceeded to give me a huge hug.

“What’s that for Dad?” 

“I thought you were dead!”

“I told you he was ok and probably just went exploring on his own.” said Chris, which actually was the truth.

“One second you were there, and the next you were gone. I thought that bear had taken you away.”

My Dad grabbed me and gave me another huge hug.

“Ok, ok, I’m fine Dad. And anyway, I’m too skinny for a bear to enjoy for a meal” I said with a chuckle.

“Just don’t do that again. We need to stick together in the mountains when hiking, as you never know what you’ll run into! By the way, did you actually chase after that bear?

“Yeah, it went running away and I was a little too curious to see where it went.”

“That wasn’t too bright son.” said Chris’s father.

I looked over at Chris and winked, knowing at least I was still telling the truth.

We spent about an hour at the top of the summit after that walking around, enjoying a lunch, and taking some pictures. I told Chris when I got the chance about everything that had happened, including the prophecy of the dark crystal. He told me not to worry about it and said it probably is just some fiction-based tale. I wasn’t so sure though, but I made the decision to let it go for now.

By the time we made it down the mountain, the sun was starting to set. I could tell we were all pretty exhausted because no one was saying much of anything. After a quick visit to the bathroom facility, we hopped in the car and were headed back to the cabin.

I kind of hoped that the rest of our weekend getaway was going to go a lot smoother. We still had another full day here in the Adirondacks and so far things had been totally stressful with learning a new Zodiac ability, dealing with Paul and Joe, as well as the whole encounter with Delilah, her trapped cub, and of course then there was that prophecy she warned me about.

The ride back seemed to take forever, probably because of how tired I was. On the way there, Chris and I agreed that the hot tub sounded like a great idea to soak our aching legs. When we finally pulled into the driveway, I was so ready to relax and do nothing more than simply enjoy those hot bubbling waters on the deck.

As I jumped out of the car and bounded up the stairs behind Chris, I suddenly felt a terrible sense of dread within and couldn’t quite shake the feeling that someone was watching me…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Q: How do you make holy water?
A: You boil the hell out of it!

PDF Link For All Previous Chapters -> Andy and The Zodiac Crystal (Chapters 1 to 28)

Andy and The Zodiac Crystal – Chapter 29

“ANDY, don’t make any sudden moves…” said my father who was already doing his best to heed to his own words.

I looked over to Chris and he nodded in silence as if to tell me it was ok to use my Zodiac abilities. Meanwhile the bear continued to make its strange noises, some of which even sounded like growls and snorts.

“Sagittarius…” I whispered the sign as silently as possible, hoping neither my father or Chris’s heard me.

“I NEED YOUR HELP ANDY!”

The words were coming from the black bear who seemed to be in a good amount of distress. With the communication ability now activated, I could tell the bear was female.

“What’s wrong? And how do you know my name?”

“BE QUIET ANDY! PLEASE DON’T SAY ANOTHER WORD!” Chris’s father said, obviously frightened. 

“I don’t have time to explain, will you follow me? I promise I won’t hurt you” said the female bear. 

It was strange enough for me to be seeing a bear in the woods while hiking, but even stranger hearing one actually talk to me. Yet somehow, I knew I needed to try to help her. But how was I going to follow her and explain it to my father or Chris’s? Then it hit me and I suddenly knew what I needed to do.

After nodding approvingly to the bear, letting her know I would follow her, I looked back over at Chris and mouth the words, “I got this.”

“Sagittarius. Libra.” 

WHOOSH. 

Time then abruptly stood still. Chris and his father, as well as my own all became like those creepy mannequins from a clothing store. It was really rather funny to see them each in this state. Part of me wanted for a brief moment to play a joke on them by moving their hands and arms into odd positions, but I decided against it given the urgency of the present situation.

I then walked towards the female bear and it almost appeared as if she was a huge stuffed animal, like one of those you could win at a carnival for the ring toss game that one rarely ever gets around the tops of those large glass bottles.

As soon as I reached her, I quickly deactivated and reactivated Libra while my hand was firmly placed on her coarse fur, instantly watching as she came alive from her frozen stance. I looked back at Chris and our father’s and noticed they were still frozen. And although I knew I couldn’t communicate to her in this zodiac state, I moved my head in a way as if to signify I was ready to follow her. Somehow she seemed to understand because we began walking away from the trail I was just on, away from my closest friend and our fathers, and away from anything that felt essentially safe.

I honestly had no idea how far we were going to go in the woods, how I would ever find my way back, and whether I truly could trust this bear. But somehow my footsteps kept moving forward at a fast pace behind the bear who was moving rather quickly. At one point, I was almost having to jog to keep up.

And then I saw what the source of her distress was as we approached what appeared to be her den. There in front of it was her mate in mid-stance, pawing at a huge boulder that had somehow fallen in front of its entrance. It immediately became apparent that having Libra activated was only causing her more distress when she saw he wasn’t moving. It was then I knew I needed to un-pause time, as much as that was only going to cause great alarm to my father and Chris’s.

“Libra.”

WHOOSH.

Suddenly I could hear tiny little squeals of fear coming from inside the small cave, which I could only amass was from their offspring. When the male bear turned and saw my presence, he began to charge, obviously quite angry. The female bear unexpectedly jumped directly in front of me, guarding me as if one of her own. After listening to their various grunts and snorts, I watched as he eventually backed off and returned to pawing at the boulder unsuccessfully. She then turned around and began uttering some of those strange sounds to me.

“Sagittarius.” I quickly enabled the communication sign so that I could understand her, really wishing at that moment I could use two abilities at once. Unfortunately, because I couldn’t, I was quite sure my father was getting overly frantic right now, but hopefully Chris would somehow be able to diffuse the situation.

“Andy, can you help us? Our baby is on the other side of that huge boulder.” 

“I think I can, but I have to know, how do you know my name and how could you possibly have known who I was in the middle of these woods?” 

“The whole woods have been talking about you today Andy. We heard a rumor yesterday from a pair of squirrels about a boy who was able to communicate with animals. When we asked them how a thing such as that could be true, they said they had caught wind of two geese who supposedly spoke with him and learned his name was Andy.” 

“WELL ARE YOU GOING TO HELP OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO SIT THERE AND TALK ABOUT NOTHING IMPORTANT!” said the angry father, still pawing at the boulder, hoping somehow it was going to move for him to reach his crying cub.

“VERNON, RELAX! Andy, can you help us somehow?”

“Yes, but I won’t be able to understand you for a few moments while I do ok?”

I then deactivated Sagittarius as she nodded and then activated the only ability I knew could help.

“TAURUS.”

As I proceeded rather cautiously over to the small cave’s entrance, I looked at Vernon who growled at me and then slowly backed away. The boulder that had fallen in front of it was much bigger than the one I had picked up and thrown during my training days with Chris, but I was confident it wasn’t going to pose a problem for me. But instead of me trying to pick it up this time, I decided to use a small crack in the lower left corner to move it. After placing both of my hands in it, I could feel a tiny tongue licking them from inside the den causing me to smile a little.

“You’re going to be ok little one.” I said while slowing pulling the rock towards me. In a few seconds, I had created enough space for the small cub to escape into the arms of Vernon. And as the bears began to comfort their young one, I crawled into the cave and completely pushed the boulder out from the opening and down into a small gulley nearby. Little did I know there were a number of birds in the trees above, as well as a number of squirrels and other forest creatures nearby, all watching intently. Each of whom scattered away as the thunderous noise of the boulder came to an abrupt halt.

“Taurus. Sagittarius.”

“Oh Martha, you’re safe now pumpkin. No need to worry anymore. Andy saved you.” said Vernon to his small cub who was crying. “And I’m sorry Delilah for getting so angry…”

“Oh Vernon, it’s fine, but one of these days you’re hopefully going to start trusting me a little more.” Delilah said slightly sarcastically.

“I know hon; I know…”

Martha then left her father’s side and slowly approached me.

“Thank you Mr. Andy for saving me.”

“It’s no problem little one. I’m just glad you’re ok.” I crouched down and gently touched the hair on her, which felt incredibly soft.

“So Delilah, how did you know I was that boy the rest of the woods seemed to be talking about?” 

“To be honest I’ve always had this inner guidance about things.” 

“You mean an intuition?”

“Something like that, or maybe one might say I had a gift from our Creator.”

“So how did that lead you to me?”

“Well, as best as I can put it, I kept hearing a voice within me that said to head off in the direction I found you. Vernon wasn’t all too happy with me though when I decided to follow my gift.” 

“Gifts, schmifts, you’re just lucky I say” grunted Vernon, apparently not a believer in her ability.

“Scoff as you may Vern, eventually I did run into him on that hiking trail by following that luckiness of mine. And when I did Andy, I began trying to communicate to you saying your name and hoping it was you and that you would understand me.” 

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.” I said as continued to rub Martha’s soft fur, who clearly was enjoying all the attention.

“So then is it true Mom?” said Martha looking over to her mother. 

“Is what true?” I said sounding clueless to what Martha was speaking of.

“The prophecy.”

“What prophecy?”

“Long ago, there was a story passed along from a Native American who had similar abilities to you Andy.” Delilah said. “He spoke of a crystal that gave him his great abilities and was blessed upon him by some Divine Beings. And that one day his crystal would reach the hands of a young boy who would have a great mission, even greater than his. One that would help unite the world in greater peace and love.”

“Are you serious???” 

“Why would I make something like that up?”

“What about the rest of the prophecy Mom? You didn’t tell him the rest of it.”

“Let’s not overwhelm him anymore than he looks right now ok Martha?” 

“No please tell me. I want to know…”

“Well if you insist, the other part of the story is that there was also another crystal, equal in power to the one the Native American had, but guided by the forces of darkness. And anyone who possessed it would always find the light-based crystal and attempt to extinguish it and its wielder…” 

For once I became totally speechless and felt something I hadn’t felt to this depth since discovering the crystal.

Terror…and lots of it…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson