When Canada and Greenland were taking shape, there formed land between these two countries: a self-sufficient forest called Bloxinton. It consisted of an unlimited stretch of greenery and a large body of water. Most of the land was coated with an emerald green sort of color. There were many animals in many sizes. You could find something as tiny as a ladybug, or as big as an elephant.

“Ah! Another day of work has ended,” Leo exclaims. He has just finished chopping trees, as lumberjacking is his full-time job. “I sure am close to being the best lumberjack to ever exist. However, my passion shall not overlap my love for the family.” 

“Leo! So good to finally come home from work. Did you get your earnings?” Linda, his wife, asks.

 “Don’t worry Linda, I’ve got it all in my hands,” Leo replies. Linda smiles and walks back to her resting area. Leo walks into the house and decides to take a short nap. Linda sits on the wooden bench. Her seven-year-old son, Brighton, sits on the ground. He looks at the sky as if he is praying.

“What’s wrong? I know when my son is upset.” Brighton sits still and quiet. Linda asks another question, “Would you like to get some fresh air with your friend, Derrick?” 

Brighton looks up at his mother. 

“He’s not my-”

“Wait a minute,” Linda responds. 

Linda walks slowly. 

“Miriam!” Linda shouts in surprise. 

“We just thought your son Brighton was bored so we decided to visit.” 

“Aww, you shouldn’t have. We shall have some tea, while our boys play,” Linda suggests. After the mothers take a stop at the house, Derrick smiles and quickly walks to Brighton. As if Brighton didn’t see it coming, Derrick slaps Brighton’s head. 

“What's up freak? Still sobbing like a baby boy?” Derrick asks confidently. “If my real friends were here, they would be laughing so hard that their bones would break. Wow, being so quiet as always. No wonder you have no friends."

“If you want to be so hard on me, why don’t you pick someone else?” Brighton finally responds. 

“Huh, going to be so rude to me I see. No hard feelings,” he says. “Anyways, see ya later freak.” Derrick waves. 

After the unpleasant conversation, Miriam walks out the door. Linda comes out next with a worried face. It seems like Miriam told some unexpected news to Linda. Brighton realizes this and asks, “What's wrong mom?” 

Linda kneels and opens up, “In a week or so, we will meet abnormal creatures.” 

Brighton looks confused in the beginning. His mother repeats, “There is no explanation of what they look like or any descriptive details. Scientists predict they were born out of redwood, and many other kinds of wood, mixed to form great gangling creatures.” 

Brighton still looks confused but also shows interest in the topic. 

“Will it be stopped?” he asks. 

His mother looks at him with a faint smile, “Honey, I wouldn’t want you to go by yourself fighting these suspicious species. But before the creatures come, I suggest we should stay in our house and help our neighbors, Miriam and Derrick.” 

His mother walks away, giving Brighton some alone time. While Brighton sits on the ground, he can hear the voice of his father, Leo. It seems like Leo was yelling at Linda about the situation, Brighton thought to himself. Brighton gets up and walks to his horse, Blaze. He touches Blaze’s soft, peanut fur. 

Brighton says, “We’re gonna do this.”

The seven-year-old boy gets on his horse. 

“Giddy up!”

Together they ride south, hoping to find the Bloxmoths. The beginning of the trip goes well. Blaze runs fast and they keep a consistent speed. Brighton smiles while he is on his horse. He feels like he is getting to explore the world instead of being stuck in his usual spot. Seconds fly. Seconds go to minutes. Minutes go to hours. 

It gets dark, but Brighton is still eager to travel. Suddenly, small creatures sprint in front of Brighton and his horse. 

“Stop!” Brighton calls to Blaze and his horse follows. Brighton takes a careful look at the species. He’s never seen these. They were formed from wood and had fire rising on their hands. Brighton stops looking at them and quickly grabs a sharp wooden stick on the ground. 

He jumps up, and while all the creatures jump synchronously, he slices them all at once. The creatures all fall on the floor and Brighton carefully walks towards them. He notices that there is steam coming out from them. The steam forms an arrow going forward. Also known as the direction Brighton is supposed to travel. Brighton is in shock. 

Was he going the right way? Was this a game?  Was he being lured into a trap he did not notice? 

All these questions form in his mind. Brighton washes them off and continues the journey. An hour passes by and it's now dark. Brighton still seems to know where he is going but he is paranoid about what he saw earlier. Also he is starving and is afraid his journey won’t last too long. Brighton stops his horse and decides to sit in front of a tree. Brighton puts his head down and starts to almost fall asleep. 

“Ah!” he yells. He does not know what happened but is now energized from no nutrients. He tilts his head down a little bit, to find that his horse has been pinching his hands. The boy sighs. 

“I always wondered, why do I exist in this world? I thought that I had a purpose in my life, but I guess I just don’t have one." Brighton’s words feel like knives, sliced into someone’s stomach. Blaze puts her head down. "First off, my parents don’t love me. In fact, they barely have time for me. Here my dad just loves chopping trees as if it's his parents. My mom is always talking to Miriam while I'm getting roughed up by Derrick. When can I ever get the love I deserve!?” 

A long silence is made. 

“Man, I'm not getting what I deserve. With no company, I don’t even want to continue my dumb mission.” Before another silence can start, Blaze lifts her legs and tilts Brighton’s head in front of her. Brighton sees Blaze’s eyes as if she is sympathizing with him. The dark green eyes of Blaze continue to stare into Brighton’s face. The young boy thinks twice. 

“You know what, I'm going to proceed,” he says. Brighton continues his journey. 

Brighton smiles as his horse Blaze runs as fast as she ever has. It is still dark and Brighton knows he has a long journey ahead. As hours proceed to sprint by, Brighton hears something unfamiliar. He looks at Blaze while they are still moving. The quiet boy seems to think he’s never heard this before. He hears it again. This time, it is a loud rumbling noise. 

Blaze shrieks as she is scared. The two are frightened and are also confused. It appears to be thunderstorming, which Brighton has never experienced before. He takes a look at the sad clouds. Coated with pebble gray, the clouds seem to strike with thin bars of lights. The noise of a buzz shouts in Brighton's ears. It was the Sully scream from Monsters Inc. at that time. (They specifically aim for the places you would least expect.) 

“We need to run. Giddy up!” Brighton orders. Blaze follows. The two of them ride to seek shelter. Loud bursts of lighting hit open areas. 

In front of Brighton and the horse is a heavy and sturdy rock. Surrounding it are tall redwood trees. Hopefully a place where they can be protected. Blobs of tears come out of Brighton’s eyes. He is scared of what he has just witnessed. Brighton wishes he had his family with him and regrets all of the words and choices he’s made. 

With no warning, the lighting strikes Brighton and Blaze’s spot. Brighton squints as a bright light shines. His horse goes flying. He can hear Blaze’s faint shriek as they fall off an endless stretch of a hill.  Brighton screams. But his scream stops as he lands on a tree, followed by a heavy impact from Blaze. Brighton opens his eyes and feels pain. He has tortured ribs and limps a bit. Blaze lies, covered in leaves. 

“Blaze!” Brighton cries out. He kneels and removes the leaves to investigate if she is still breathing.

 “Greetings,” a voice says from a distance. Brighton turns quickly to see something confusing. A shadowy figure, walking his way. As it gets to a point where Brighton can see the whole picture, he can see it was formed from wood. Fire comes out of its hand. Its eyes are purple. Such a bright color that Brighton’s eyes can't handle it. Following this giant behemoth comes five more of the same. This is a group that can do many things with their strength. This is potentially the creature Brighton’s mom was panicked about. He never knew they would be this tall. 

“My name is Bloxshot, but you could call our group the Bloxmoths.” 

Instead of Brighton being terrified, he wonders why they are here. The behemoth continues, “Numerous years ago, our father Bloxinton, along with his fellow peers constructed an island. Our father would pay honor to himself by naming the land from his name. His master plan was for each wooden creature, like us, to live and settle in his sanctuary. Unfortunately, settlers stopped in Bloxinton, and from there they made themselves a home. Us Bloxmoths were hiding from you guys because we were afraid to make threats. But later on, we couldn’t wait any longer and decided to leave what was our home. You selfish humans stole our gift, made from our father Bloxinton. If there weren’t so many generations, you wouldn’t be standing here today.” 

Brighton's face becomes furious but it slowly calms down. Brighton remembers asking himself why the creature was here.

“Now during the present time, we traveled from afar to wipe out all humans from Bloxinton. After all, this was originally our land.” Brighton's ribs still hurt and he had no option about what he was going to do. 

But Brighton’s arm was touched by something hairy. It turned out to be Blaze who stood by the boy’s side. Together they looked at each other.

“You’re right,” Brighton says. Brighton sits on his horse and is about to do something that has never been done in his seven years of existence. 

“Giddy up!” he cries and Blaze follows. They both come charging at Bloxmoth, starting a battle. Blaze runs at the creatures, along with Brighton riding. However, their battle becomes short as they are both swung at by Bloxshot. Headfirst, Brighton is knocked down. 

“Hee hee haw,” Bloxshot chuckles. “I could have thrown fireballs at him but I decided to be nice. Hmm, speaking of fireballs, maybe that should be the closing performance,” Bloxshot adds. 

Bloxshot walks to the unconscious child. There beside Brighton was Blaze lying there in pain. Bloxshot smiles slowly at the unconscious boy as he is ready to give the final blow. He lifts his arm to the air, and releases his arm fast. But right before he pounds, a voice cries, “Hey!”

The Bloxmoths turn around. 

Bloxshot asks,  “Who exactly are you?” 

They respond without hesitating, “My name is Linda and this is my husband, Leo.” 

Leo looks fiercely into Bloxshot’s eyes.

 “Well then,” Bloxshot says, “Now why are you exactly here?” 

 Linda bravely says, “We are the parents of Brighton. We do all we can to protect our young boy." 

Brighton couldn’t hear the unbelievable words as he was still on the ground. 

“Seems so brave of you. Well then, we shall have a battle,” Bloxshot says confidently. 

“Go ahead," Linda glares. Blaze runs to the parents. Both Leo and Linda sit on the horse. 

“Giddy up!” Linda orders and Blaze follows. They come charging at the Bloxmoths. They climb up the wooden arms of Bloxshot and before the behemoth can take a hit, Leo quickly swings his ax at the arm. 

“Ouch!” Bloxshot groans in pain as his right arm falls off. Leo smiles as he cuts another creature. The trio are also dodging fireballs that are shot by the other Bloxmoths. However, they do not stop the parents from giving up the battle. Finally, after a long-fought battle, every Bloxmoth is down. 

After the successful battle, Leo and Linda get off the horse. Leo pats his arm to make sure no dust is on his shirt. 

Suddenly, a purple portal opens up from the sky. The portal makes such a loud noise that Leo and Linda have to cover their ears. Blaze shrieks for a short amount of seconds. 

A messenger speaks from the sky. 

“This is a tragedy! My sons, how could you give up at this second?! We must retreat. Retreat!” Before a long silence could begin, all the Bloxmoths start floating and each one of them enters into the portal. All the creatures enter the portal and it closes in an instant. The parents look at each other as if they are both confused. But their attention is cut short when they see Brighton on the floor. 

“Brighton!” Linda cries. She runs over to her son. Leo follows and bends down to check Brighton’s heartbeat. 

“He’s still breathing,” Leo says. Linda sighs with gratitude. After some seconds, Brighton’s eyes slowly open. He looks at his parents in confusion, as he didn’t expect them to be there. Brighton looks at Leo and Leo smiles. 

“We are so glad to have you back,” Linda says softly. Together, the three hug. Brighton sits on the ground and figures that his parents were on his side all along. Brighton reflects that he could do what he wants, but sometimes he just needs help with it.

“Come on Brighton, we will explain everything once we are at home." 

Blaze is glad to have Brighton back. Linda and Leo both chuckle. Brighton smiles. The four walk home and they are glad to finally have this situation over.

It is now a sunny morning when Brighton and his family come home. Standing in front of them are a group of people. They notice that Miriam is standing in the center along with little Derrick by her side. Brighton looks at Derrick, grinning at him. Brighton looks closer to his eyes and assumes that this isn’t a smile that meant he was about to make fun of him. It looks like one that was friendly. Never in his whole life had a kid smiled at him. 

The group in front of them cheers, “Hooray for the family!” Linda cheers along with Leo clapping. Brighton starts to smile at everyone and realizes what great things they have done. 

Linda says, “We shall have some time for tea.” 

The crowd agrees and everybody starts moving. Brighton walks forward to Derrick. Derrick pats Brighton’s shoulder and smiles again. 

“Congratulations out there,” Derrick says. Brighton is surprised to be complimented, considering that Derrick has been bullying him for his whole life. 

“Wait, how did you know that our family and I fought the creatures?” asks Brighton. 

Derrick answers, “There was a witness who saw the whole thing. He told it to his friends and his friends told it to others. We eventually heard about the news and realized it was you guys who came to save Bloxinton.” 

Brighton seems to understand the rumors and the news. Derrick touches Brighton’s shoulder. He says, “Look Brighton, I'm sorry for what I’ve done to you. All those mean things I’ve said to you that I shouldn’t have-”

“No, it’s okay," Brighton responds, "In the end, we need to let go of our mistakes, but at the same time reflect on them.” 

Derrick looks at the seven-year-old in surprise. “Wow. You used to be that kid who sat on the ground. Now, look how much you have changed.” 

Brighton smiles. The two have an awkward silence. 

“How about we play outside with some friends?” Brighton suggests.

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Alright, how about I grab some kids while you stay here. Sounds good?” Derrick asks. 

“Sounds perfect,” Brighton grins. Derrick goes running off to do what he said. Brighton waits there and thinks about his journey. He will always remember that you can pursue things that are important to you, but don’t be afraid to ask for support or help from others.