Sam C

Johnnie’s Adventure

Chapter 1: The Beach

The sun sparkled on a beautiful hot day, the water looked like glass. Billions of sand grains were spread across the beach. The sand was hot but not too hot to walk on. I’d been to the beach many times with so much laughter. I was so excited to go to the beach with happiness. Mum, Dad and I were all wearing our wetsuits, it was the perfect day for a surf. The water was clear and fresh with the neon coloured fish and coral sparkling through the water.‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Later on, after a couple of hours of surfing, Mum, Dad and I were laying down on the beach. We were just relaxing and enjoying the scenery and I was eating my sweet candy. Then all of a sudden something felt weird, it felt like something was happening to me. I started to move quicker and quicker, something odd was happening, I knew this wasn’t right. This had not happened to me before, I was floating in the air. I wobbled trying to get my balance. Mum and Dad started to sweat struggling to hold me, the force just got stronger and stronger as they tried. ZOOM! I went zooming through the sky like a bullet. ‘Nooooooooo,’ I shouted to Mum and Dad. Splash! My back landed on the water like concrete, it stung.

Chapter 2: The Ocean

My shocked face turned around, I found myself in the strangest place I had ever been. Who moved me here? Where was I? What happened to me? I realised that I was in the middle of the sea. Could a human have moved liked this? Maybe a wizard, a witch or a superhero could, but it was not like I believed in those things.

My wetsuit was now completely soaked and very heavy, weighing me down. Mum and Dad must be worrying about me so much. I never saw this coming, I was no longer going to see the town, the beautiful beach, my dog, my friends and worst of all Mum and Dad. Something had gone wrong, I knew something was odd. This had never happened to anyone in the whole world. I had to find my way back to the town, my journey had begun and it wasn’t looking to be fun at all.

The water lay flat against the never ending horizon, it was just me in the middle of the lonely ocean. I was so confused and worried as to why I was here. Loneliness filled my heart, my heart was like paper being ripped apart. I needed to find my way back home as quick as I could because this was urgent. The problem was that I didn’t know which way to go to get there. The small waves clashed against me every now and then. I was cold and completely soaked. I wanted to know where I was and what happened to me. Maybe I was near Antarctica and that is why I felt so cold.

Chapter 3: The Journey Begins

The journey had started now, there was no fussing around at all. I took a deep breath to go under the sea water. Suddenly an amazing thing happened, something that was extraordinary and had never happened to me before. I opened my mouth thinking that water would come in, but it didn’t. I then realised that I could breathe under the water. I could breathe freely and it felt like I was a fish. My brain felt like it had been blown up because of that. I could not believe what just happened, literally I could not believe what just happened.

A colourful object lay at the bottom of the sea, it sparkled as the fish surrounded the beautiful object. The coral crackled as it was moving side to side. It felt like I was in a whole new world with all these new things. The sea probably had a special name for it because of how unique it was. I needed to go home to see the town, so I started to move along. As I moved along it got darker, with bigger fish that had sharp teeth with larger bodies that were more vicious.

I went down to touch the coral because it looked tempting with its aesthetics. BANG! Just like that, the coral made me bleed after touching its sharp ends. I swam back to the top to see what was bleeding, the pain ran through my veins and skin. I took my shirt off and wrapped it around my arm as quick as I could. The blood started to spread around me rapidly. Then in a matter of seconds it stopped, it wasn’t that bad any more, although it did really sting. I looked directly forward, nine hundred metres away from me was a small Island. It felt so good to see, now I could have happy life. I finally got to the Island with happiness, Mum and Dad would be so proud of me. The small island had lots and lots of rocks on it. I decided to swim to it to sleep there for the night. Then it felt like something or someone was following me, trying to munch me for its dinner. I then realised what it was, a giant shark was stalking to eat me , it was my worst fear. Its pointy nose had touched me on the foot. I freaked out and because of this I started to swim for my life.

Chapter 4: Rock Island

Two minutes later I was washed up on the shore. I had no idea what had just happened. I realised that I had just been chased by my worst fears, I felt relieved that I was actually alive. Once I was nice and confortable, I decided to get some wood to make a fire so I could sleep well and get some food. Later on I was lying down looking at the fire warming myself up. I looked up and saw heaps of stars gathered together. The stars were flashing like torch lights and sparkling like diamonds. After a long sleep I woke up in the burning sun, the fire was out and I was ready to go. I put my extra food in my container and put it in my bag to keep it safe and sound.

I dived into the water and the journey continued. It felt like I was gliding through the water like a dolphin. I swam way faster than ever before, it felt amazing. Ten minutes later I looked behind me and saw the deadliest thing I had ever seen. A huge vigorous great white shark chasing me, it looked exactly the same as the last one. It chased me with its large sharp teeth trying to munch me up. It gave me a little nip on the toe and it started bleeding, that made the shark more determined to get me. The shark started to gather more pace and was coming full speed towards me. I then lured it down to the coral to try and hurt it. I dodged the coral while the shark was getting hit constantly, but it wasn’t doing too much damage. This shark would never stop so I went back to the top. Up ahead was a big piece of coral. I lured the shark down to the coral again. KABOOM! It hit the coral so quickly, it laid on the seabed dead with blood seeping out of it. I then started to move away from the bloody shark to avoid other sharks being attracted to all the blood from the angry animal.

Chapter 5: Lost Town

I felt relieved after I killed the shark, I continued on my journey trying to find home sweet home. Twenty minutes later, I glided along the water and then I suddenly stopped, it felt like I was in some place I knew. I swam to the top to see where I was. I looked up, it was land and I recognised it, it was home my favourite place! It was the right size, the same style and the perfect beach. Relief and happiness ran through my body as tears dropped down into the water.

I swam closer to land as I made my way through the water, I was finally home! I could finally be with my parents, the mayor, my friends and our dog again. But the town was lonely, nobody was to be seen, no one was at the beach and that’s where everybody would be. Nobody was even at the shops or at the Hall. I was at the beach and wondering where everybody was. I just wish I could see Mum and Dad, my luck was over.

I walked along, hanging my head down facing the ground, my heart has been ripped apart. Mayor Harley was always there for you, he was the nicest and the most important person for the town. There were only 37 people in the town, just enough. Harley treated us the way he treated him. The town couldn’t possibly just disappear. I heard a sound behind me, the rubbish bin fell, I quickly turned my head around to see what it was. My heart was bumping against my chest quicker as it pounded harder. BANG! I heard the bin again. I quickly turned my head to see who it was, I saw a man with a black cape and a beard with a frightened face. I quickly ran as fast as I could trying to catch up to him, he was as fast as a fox. I tried to keep up the pace to stay close to him. He quickly ran past the Hall. This was the time to use my Usain Bolt sprint skills, and to run as fast as I possibly could to catch him.

He ran around my neighbour's house rushing so fast like he was running for his life. I was going to lose him, I sprinted as fast as I could. I turned around immediately, hoping that I didn’t lose him. It’s like he just vanished, he wasn’t there. It was blank, no one in sight except for me. I was wondering where he was, I moved my body around and around being prepared in case someone attacked me. I started moving again gliding through the air, I accelerated getting faster and faster. It was exactly like what happened before at the beach, I now knew who was responsible. It was the man in the black cape with the beard who did it, he was the only person in the town, I couldn’t have done it to myself. I quickly moved, I blacked out and suddenly I couldn’t see what was happening.

Chapter 6: Jungle

Two minutes later I opened my eyes and I was lying on the dead leaves on the ground. The dense large trees shot up to the sky with the light green on the leaves off the branches. The bushes and the green leaves sparkled on the ground and on the trees. The flowers bloomed with neon colours on them, the birds were singing and the cicadas were buzzing. I was in the middle of nowhere, there was a piece of paper beside me, I thought it was nothing. I picked the piece of paper up thinking that it would be nothing. To my surprise it was a map, not just a normal map, a special ma‍‍‍‍‍‍p. It had a picture of the Island that I live on, Crown Jewel Island, that was our Island. Our Island was called that because of the jewels in the hall that Mayor Harley had. The map showed where my family and the people from my Island were located! There was an ocean on the map that was called Shark Valley and Rock Island, I knew I went to those places as soon as I looked at it. Suddenly it all made sense to me, the man with the black cape was chasing me the whole time. The map showed that my family were in a cave in this jungle, I needed to find my way to them. My Journey continued.

Eight minutes later I heard a growl behind me, I slowly turned my head with my shocked face. It was a black and orange tiger facing me, threatening me. I quickly ran up the large green mountain trying to find the cave where my family was. There was a big corner coming up and, hoping that I could force the tiger off the edge, I quickly turned. I turned around to see the tiger slip off the cliff face. I looked down, it gave me goosebumps as I was so high up, the tiger bashed the rocks as it lay dead on the ground. I was in shock and disbelief, I had just destroyed a tiger. I thought to myself how powerful I am, I had knocked down all of these things in just one adventure. I thought I had no hope whatsoever when I saw the deadly animals.

I continued on my quest to find my family, I was not far away from the the big cave. I wondered what else was in the cave, the man wouldn’t just tell me where my family was, there was probably another obstacle for me. I was really close now, I thought about my attacks to save the town. The map said I was getting closer and closer, as I moved along it got more intense and I started to shiver more and more.

I could see the large cave with many torches that lit it up. The torches hung up against the walls, the threatening fire was glowing as it lit up the cave. I walked along the cave feeling like this was a whole new world, it felt like the town was here. There were paintings of the man with the black cape against the matt black wall. I heard echoes of screams in the cave screaming for help. I quickly ran down the cave to see if it was my family. I looked straight ahead, in front of me was the man in the black cape with a belt wrapped around his waist and a grinning face. Behind him was the thing that I respected the most, all of the people from my town. After all that had happened, it was this man in the black cape causing the trouble. While I had been whisked into the ocean he probably moved the town here.

The people of the town were screaming for HELP! I needed to help them as soon as I could. I’d been waiting for this for a long time, all of this trouble had been caused by this mysterious person, he nearly killed me twice, this was serious. The man swung off his hood with a grinning face, he lifted up his hands and this made me scared as he started singing a random song. He laughed, big orange flaming fire balls formed in his hands. It felt like he was aiming at me. Yes, I was pretty sure he was aiming at me now. He and I stood, facing each other, a large stick was beside me, I quickly struck to grab the stick as quickly as I could. He threw the first two fireballs like a missile, they were coming after me, I kept on running around until the fireballs hit the wall. The stick I was holding caught on fire, I needed to do something with this stick. The fireball bashed against the wall with a giant explosion, the fire lit around me and the Wizard, it was my turn to retaliate. My stick was in front of me, the flame was on the deadly long stick.

I ran up to get a big charge on him. He quickly moved like a flash, this was the time to use my Usain Bolt skills again. He looked back to see if the people of the town had escaped and I charged up like a bull, BANG! The big large stick hit him right in the stomach, the fire didn’t too much damage. He quickly grabbed his fireballs, although the stick did some damage as he was pretty weak. He threw one fireball directly on my foot and it started to hurt, it was stinging so much but I still couldn’t give up. I got my fist out, I charged up, and just like that I hit him right in the middle of his face. The man was knocked down to the ground and there was no longer any sign of movement or life.

I ran to Mum and Dad and gave them a big hug, I was so happy and relieved to see them. Hopefully nothing would happen now. I felt so safe and calm. We all returned home back to our beautiful island. We went to the beach and it was the first time in a long time that I could finally relax. The people of the town all loved and cared for me and would never let me go, everything was back to normal. I no longer had a fear of sharks, I knew I could take on anything. Mum and Dad gave me a big kiss on the cheek, and congratulated me, I thought to myself what a big journey that was.

We all had a feast at the hall and celebrated, the food was plentiful and delicious. We all returned to watch the sunset on the beach, as the bright pink, orange, red shone on us.

BLURB

The main character is a boy called Johnnie, who loves the beach and surfing. He faces a Journey with many obstacles. He lives on a small Island with 37 people, including his parents, his friends, the Mayor Harley, and his dog Fluffy. He is a 12 year old boy who is always smiling and making others smile too. He never gives up on any situation and has the courage to resolve problems. One day while enjoying a day at the beach surfing with his parents, Johnnie gets whisked away to the middle of the ocean and has to find his way back home. After an adventurous journey he finally reaches home only to find no one there. On a quest to find his family, he is sent to the jungle by the mysterious Will the Wizard. What will happen to Johnnie? Will he be reunited with his family?

The Sydney Morning Herald review

This is a page turner that captures the reader’s attention from the start. You won’t want to put it down. This is Sam Chittendon’s first story and surely won’t be his last.