Caught in a Net

All eyes on us. Watching, waiting. Preparing to attack. They hold tight to their spears while they glare at us and gnash their teeth. Suddenly, the crowd of feral children parts as if it were a well orchestrated dance number. Ralph, their leader, walks up to us. He reaches into the net and pulls the mask off my face. "We said don't come back." He says sternly. "I know,but Washington wanted to see your village." Ralph squints at me. I sigh. "Just put the mask on and see for yourself." Ralph complies and puts the mask on. " I don't see anything." "Maybe tap the forehead?" Ralph follows my instructions. A second later, he lets out a bloodcurdling scream. He throws the mask to the ground. His face is pale white. He looks up at me and then runs in the opposite direction. The other children, not knowing what to do, follow their leader and run away from the invisible enemy. The good news is I avoided being jabbed multiple times by wooden spears. The bad news is that I am still stuck in a net, above the ground.

Walk With George

I once heard that every man is an island. I suppose there is some truth to that. A quiet seclusion from time to time isn't so bad. I would, however invite visitors. The forest has gotten much muddier since the last time I was here. I practically lose a shoe trying to walk through the muck. George on the hand, he just floats above it. He's actually picked up his pace and is leaving me behind. "Hey!" I shout out to George as I struggle to remove my shoe from the mud. George sighs. "Must you dilly dally?" I finally get my shoe back on my and catch up to George. "I think you forget that I'm still living and I get stuck in the mud." "That is hardly my problem." I am fuming at his comment, I attempt to make a retort, but George silences me. "Did you hear that?" He asks. "Hear what?" "It was probably nothing." We continue our walking. One of us somehow springs a trap. The next thing I know we are both upside down in a net. It does not take long at all for the village of wild children to show up. They menacingly inch close to us with their spears. It is taking all the strength in me not to say "I told you so."

King Me!

I don't think I had played checkers since grade school. About the time when I was first started learning about good 'ol Georgie. One of the many things they don't tell you in school about our first president is that he is a demon at board games. He also trash talks. I'm just glad we are not playing for money. At least I don't think we are. I mean he would have said something if we were, right? "King me!" A very excited George Washington proclaims. "I thought you were against a monarchy." Washington rolls his eyes. "Are you going to say that every single time?" "Well, it hasn't gotten old yet." Washington sighs and flips out his pocket watch. "What's a matte? You got a hot date?" I snicker. "I am wondering where the devil Mr. Lincoln is." "Probably exploring the island. There is a lot going on." Washington leans in. "Such as?" "There is society of kids that live in tress." Washington's eyes widen. "We shall seek this place." "I don't know, they kinda kicked us out." "Nonsense, they will see me and know that I am of authority." "Yeah, that will go over well. A dead president that only I can see." Washington smiles and stands up. "You agree? We must go?" My guess is that the eighteenth century did not use sarcasm to the extent that we do today. Plus as soon as I mentioned the kids on the island, it was like I could see his mind exploding with possibility. So what could I say other than "Let's go?"

Back to Land

As soon as my partner in crime left, my protective bubble popped. I guess the bubble could only stick around as long as Olivia was there. It was a shock at first as I plummeted into the water without warning. You know what they say though, sink or swim. So I swam. I was a little jostled, and my equilibrium was thrown off, but I managed to hold on to the mask. I couldn't let that treasure go. I made it back to the beach collapsing with a lung full of water and the thought of "How did I get back here?" Well my girl is currently away, but I need to do something to pass the time. I place the mask back on my face. I see the green holographic image of George Washington. This time he is playing checkers by himself. "Where's Lincoln?" I ask him. George Washington looks up from his checkers. "He's in the latrine. But between you and me, I could use the break. He's a bit of a downer." "Yeah, I heard he had depressive tendencies." "Had?" "Alright, be nice. He's been through alot." "So have I." Washington remarks coldly. "I get it. You had to form a nation while keeping your ties to a secret society under wraps." Washington looks up from the game. "Secret society?" "Yeah, the Freemasons. Don't worry, it's not really a big deal anymore." Washington still appears baffled, but he shakes it off. "My partner appears to have gone missing. Would you fill in for him?" I shrug. "Why not?"

3rd Eye Mask?

I said helmet. What I really meant to say was mask. It looks very much like a World War II gas mask. It's grey and has big eyes. It even has some weight to it. "Should we try it out?" Olivia asks me. "Yeah, who first?" "You should go first." I'm not sure if she wants me to try the mask on first because I found it or because she isn't sure what will happen. I take the less cynical choice. I put the mask on. I can't imagine anyone wearing this for a long period of time. It's heavy and the plastic lens for eyes are so dirty. I can barely see out of them. "You see anything?" Olivia asks me. Even though she is right next to me, I can hardly hear her. It is as if she is whispering to me. I shake my head no. "Maybe this will help." She flicks the diamond that is embedded in the forehead on the mask. It doesn't do anything. I'm about to take of the mask, feeling sure that there is nothing more to this when all of a sudden I see green holographic images standing on either side of Olivia. They are faint at first, but then they become crystal clear to me. It's Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. I wave to them. To my surprise, they wave back. Olivia glances over her shoulder. "Who are you waving to?" "Abraham Lincoln and George Washington." "What?" I take off the mask and hand it to her. "You gotta try this. It's wild." Olivia puts the mask on. It's funny seeing this huge mask on her. It almost looks like the face of a bug on a human's body. I can only guess what it looked like on me though. "So cool." She shouts out. "Do you see them?" "Even better." "What do you see?" "Those little guys from the Star Wars movies. You know they're little and they kinda look like bears?" "The E - Walks?" "Yeah!" Unbelievable, I see dead presidents, and she sees fictional characters. Maybe it's not a third eye mask. Maybe it's something else. I hear the caw of a falcon coming my way. This massive bird swoops down by Olivia. It rest next to her, half submerged in the water. “ And now I see a huge falcon.” She tells me. “ I see it too. “ It really is a massive bird. Huge doesn’t do it justice. It’s body is probably the size of an adult horse. Olivia takes off the mask. The falcon releases a letter from its beak and drops it in Olivia’s lap. She skims it over quickly. “ I must go.” She hugs me sweetly. She tries to pull away from the hug, I bring her back in. “I’ll be back in a couple days.” She reasures me. She mounts the bird, blows me a kiss, and like that she is off into the sky

Underwater Exploration

Olivia quickly puts up her bubble. It is safe and allows us to breath. The only problem is it takes us to the surface. We're floating. Just submerged enough to be annoying. I look down below through the bubble. "Ready?" Olivia asks me. "Ready for what?" "Ready for this." Olivia pops the bubble with her index finger. I sink like a rock, but she places a bubble around herself before she can fall. I am now swimming underwater. Thankfully I was able to hold my breath before I went under. However, it is still difficult to swim in the dark. My eyes are closed. This is ocean water, I don't want anything to crawl in there. Even if I weren't concerned about such things it's still hard if not impossible to see underwater. So I have my eyes close and I'm mindlessly groping for something. For what I'm not exactly sure. I feel something. It is about the size of my head and fairly light. I raise it up. A second later a pink bubble comes my way. It sucks me in and pulls me up to the surface where it connects to Olivia's bubble. I examine my finding. It appears to be some sort of helmet with a diamond in the forehead. "Third eye helmet?" Olivia asks. "I don't know maybe we should try it on."

Whirlpool

Fall is almost here. It feels especially close now as we gaze into to ocean and feel the cool breeze. "You can't be serious!" Olivia shouts out. "It's the only way." "I don't care, its a death trap." "We'll be fine." I say, shaking it off. The wind picks up. The is ocean is slowly turning into a violent whirlpool. "You're not gonna learn anything from this." She says shouting louder over the ever increasing winds. "We might." "The ship is sunk. Just forget about it, this is a bad idea." She cautions me. I watch the whirlpool gain momentum. "I couldn't if I wanted to." With that last word the whirlpool picks up speed and sucks us under.

Lost Hours

"Lost hours?" Olivia asks. "Yeah, the lost hours." She stares at me. "I'm gonna need more information than that." I clear my throat. " There is a theory that when you are abducted by aliens you will lose a few hours and not remember where you are." "I think that's a mental condition." Olivia says. "That's possible, but where did we go?" "We went to sleep." I raise my index finger in the "ah ha." fashion. "But do you remember falling asleep?" I ask. "No, but that is hardly a mystery. We were tired. It happens." "Aren't you curious what went on while we were sleeping?" Olivia shakes her head no. "Not really." "I am. I have to know." "You know I think this is how people develop insomnia." I feel slightly degected. Olivia sighs. "Alright, I'll play along." We sit down by the bonfire and stare at the flames. "Now what?" she asks. "Now, we wait." We sit and stare for a few moments in silence. Olivia glances at her wristwatch. "I don't think anything is happening." She declares. Just then we hear something coming our way. "What the hell is that?" Olivia asks. We get ready take on whatever is coming our way. As we are preparing to fight mentally and physically, we hear a voice from behind us. "What are you guys looking at?" It asks. We turn around to see a little raccoon standing on its hind legs. It wears a tool belt and hard hat. It watches us gawking at him. "You guys ok?" It asks us. I loudly whisper to Olivia. " Did it just talk?" "Yeah, I did and I can hear you." It replies. The raccoon skimpers to the bonfire. "Now, make some room. I've had a long day. I need to rest for a while." We move over and give him some space on the log. The raccoon plops down and stretches out his legs. He extents his paw to us. " The name is Norm. I'm a contractor." We shake his paw. "So what brings you two here?" He asks us. "Where not exactly sure." Olivia tells him. "Actually, there is one thing I was wondering." I utter. "Shoot." I continue. "Do you know of a tribe of kids around here?" Norm sneers. "I've heard of them." "Did you do any work for them." I ask him. Norm laughs. " Hell no, they have shitty work. Lot of safety violations. I've been trying to get them shut down for years. Not exactly in my jurisdiction though." Olivia leans in. " Any idea who might have helped them?" Norm shakes his head. " I don't know and I don't care either." "We kinda would like to solve this mystery." I insist. " You guys wanna solve that mystery, be my guest. I'm not gonna help you though. It's not my problem. I had a long day. I just want to relax." Norm stretches and Olivia and I look at each other. These are the lost hours. I think to myself.

Retracing Footsteps

We wandered through the forest till night turned to day. Eventually we came across the initial footprints that led us to the civilization. We decided to retrace the footprints, literally. We walked and talked backwards. It was exhausting as the footprints often wrapped in circles. But we made our way back to the beach, and because we were retracing our footprints we decided to lay back down in the sand and go to sleep. We awoke shortly to the sounds of a crackling bonfire. "I remember this." Olivia says. "I do too, but this time the bonfire is vacant." "It was vacant the last time as well." Olivia assures me. "Yeah, but we weren't sleeping that time." Olivia squints. I continue. "The first time we saw the bonfire we had just come out of the water. But now we woke up." "So?" "Olivia, do you remember going to sleep after the bonfire?" Olivia shrugs. "Not really, we just kinda passed out." "That's what I thought." "So, what does that mean?" "It means we are somewhere new. These are the lost hours."

Kicked Out

When is the right time to ask if an alien race help to build a society? Apparently not during dinner. The kids did not take kindly to my suggestion. I don’ t know why. I mean I could have said way worse things. At any rate they were offended and kicked us out of their society. A light punishment if you ask me. They could have easily killed us. I don’t think Olivia thinks the same. She’s giving me the “I told you “ stare as we mere off into the forest. “Are you happy?” She asks me. “No, not in the slightest.” “Why did you want to know so bad?” “Because I know there is more to the story.” Olivia shakes her head. “There will always be more to the story.” I stop in my tracks. “What does that mean?” “If you dig deep enough, you can find anything you want out.” She says simply. I pause and try to refute her claim. “Don’t you like a good adventure?” I ask. “ I do. But we jump around from place to place so often. Don’t you want to just sit back for 5 min, enjoy whats going on and not worry about hidden agendas or conspiracies?” I take a deep breath. “ I do.” “But?” She says, trying to pull the words out of my mouth. “ But I couldn’t sit still if I wanted to.” I explain with a burst of energy as I continue my march forward. Olivia half smiles and shouts up to me. “ I knew you’d say that.” I turn around. “ Subconsciously I realize you’re right. I just haven’t learned that yet.” I continue my pace. Olivia stays back for a moment, puzzled. “What does that mean?” She asks herself.

Tree House City

We stand on a ledge and look down on the civilization below us. It really is remarkable. Using the word Tree House to describe their village really doesn't do justice. It is more like a city. All the homes have multiple levels, there are bridges that connect them, and they even use a pulley system for an elevator. It really is a fantasy land. "Amazing, isn't it?" Olivia says to me while looking on in wonderment. "It is, how do you think they did it?" Olivia furrows her brow. "What do you mean?" I shrug. " I mean they're just kids, how do you think they did it?" "You don't think they could have done it on their own?" "Honestly, no." Olivia is somewhat shocked. "Why do you say that?" "Do you see how advanced this city is?" "Yeah, so? They could be smart kids." She quips. "People don't just build civilizations however smart they may be. There had to have been some sort of influence. Even if it was subtle." "So who do you think influenced them?" I smile to myself. "What?" She asks, a little frustrated. "Remember that nursery we were in? Before we got abducted?" I ask. "You think an alien race helped them build this city?" I half smile. "You never know." Olivia attempts to make a come back, but she is interrupted by a loud horn. We look down below and see the children running off to the clearing. "What do you think that was?" I ask. "My guess was the dinner bell." Olivia starts to walk away then turns back. "Let's get something to eat and forget about any conspiracies for a while." Forget about it? Easy for her to say. There is a connection here. I'm sure of it.

His Name is Ralph

What does rat taste like? Well, it doesn't taste like chicken. That's for damn sure. I tried to imagine eating chicken or at least something pleasant while biting down on the rodent. All I could think of was this slimy, gross creature I was just about to ingest. So it wasn't exactly the best experience. But you know what the say... When in Rome, eat whatever the fuck the Romans are eating. The feral child's name is Ralph. As in the leader of children in Lord of the Flies. I don't know if it is purely a coincidence because most of the kids look as if they are too young to have read the novel. You never know though. "How did you guys get here?" Olivia asks Ralph. "We've always been here." "You were born here?" Olivia questions. "This is were we became alive." Ralph says with his eyes wide open. "That's fascinating. So what do you guys do for fun?" I ask. Ralph doesn't understand the question. He simply replies, "This." Olivia and I look around to a cluster of kids running around, fighting, throwing spears, basically doing what they pleased. I stand up. " Well, it's a lovely establishment, but we should get going." "You can stay." Ralph exclaims. Olivia looks up at me. "You want to?" I try and search for an excuse. "There is other things we have to do." "There will always be other tings to do. Let's explore at least." I nod my head and sit back down. I look Ralph in the eye. "We'll stay a little while."

Wild Children

We followed the child to a clearing in the forest. We were confronted by a hoard of children. Each one of them wearing war paint. They gave us evil eyes and prepared to attack. Before we could even think to make a move, the boy raised his hand into the air. They instantly warmed and knew we were one of them. Our Scout into this Lord of the Flies esq world snaps his fingers. A moment later a chubby child with a buzz cut ran off. He came back shortly with another child, carrying a log. We were then ushered to sit down. More children appeared with smaller logs and made a fire. A smaller boy with glasses and wearing partially torn vest offered us appetizers. Some sort of berry and rats. My favorite. Our guide into this world leans in. " You must take, you are one of us now."

Forgotten Weapon

"Wait a minuet. You can shoot tiny little hearts at him." I say to Olivia, feeling slightly foolish. "Oh yeah, why do I forget that?" Olivia extends her arm and fires tiny, pink hearts at the boy. The pink hearts stop mid air before they can reach the boy. He examines them carefully and then skewers them with his weapon. He eats the hearts as if they were shish kabobs. He even licks his fingers after. However, after ingesting the pink hearts, a big, bright smile stretches across his face. He peacefully walks past us and urges us to follow. "You think it's safe to follow?" I ask Olivia. She watches him walk away. He looks as though he does not have a care in the world. "He's harmless." She replies without skipping a beat. And so we follow.

The Little Inabitant

As we look up at the pine tree, there does not appear to be any creatures or person lurking. Nothing in sight. " Where could they have gone?" Olivia asks. I shrug. Just as we begin to walk away, a small boy, about nine plops plops down from the sky. He looks feral with his long, wild, shoulder length hair, and loin cloth. He snarls at us. "Is this your tree?" Olivia asks him sweetly. He does not respond. Instead, he reveals a sharpened stick from the pocket in his loin cloth. Olivia and I back away. "Easy, we don't mean any harm." I say. "Where are the parents?" Olivia wonders. "I don't know and I'm having reservations about attacking a child." Olivia looks at me. "We're not exactly in society now. We have to survive."