The Crash

By Evelyn Bain

It was 2001 and Samuel Bain was flying to Halari, California. Halari is a place that few people know of. Why, you ask? You’ll see... Sam had heard of this place about a month ago from his friend Gary who mysteriously went missing after traveling to Halari. Gary had been Sam’s best friend since they were both two and a half, so he set out on an adventure to find his best friend.  

While Sam was on the plane, he was reading a newspaper that was about a plane that mysteriously crashed in the South Caribbean. The newspaper says, “The plane had been completely destroyed by the time the authorities arrived, all that was left were the bones and body parts of innocent people.” “Weird-” Sam thought, “It doesn’t say where they were headed.” Then he saw it, on the very bottom of the page it stated, “Brought to you from the Newspaper Company of Halari California.”  

When the plane landed, Sam was surprised at how beautiful the place was. There were palm trees half the height of the Eiffel Tower, grass as green as leaves in summer, and the sky as blue as Sam’s shirt. Sam was so mesmerized he didn’t notice when a strange man walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me sir?” said the man. “Oh! You startled me,” said Sam. “Oh I’m very sorry sir, but I was wondering, is there any chance that you are Samuel Bain?” “Yes, there is actually, and who might you be?” “Oh right, Arnold Maxwell, III at your acquaintance.” Said Arnold while bowing. “Ok...?” Said Sam while raising an eyebrow. “Anyways, so are you my travel guide or something?” “Yes, something like that.” Arnold said in a smirking tone. “Anyways, this way you will find the doorways into the city,” said Arnold as he dragged Sam by the arm through the gigantic doors. 

Arnold started saying something, but it all sounded like gibberish to Sam because of how amazed he was. He could not even believe this was a real place. There were structures that seemed like they belonged to an art museum and birds that sang as if they were angels. “E-excuse me sir? Are you okay? Do I need to get my medical supplies out?” Said Arnold in a concerned voice. “Oh, sorry I was just admiring that scenery.” Said Sam embarrassed. “Oh, ok good, we wouldn't want you dead yet...” Arnold said thinking Sam could not hear him. “Um excuse me, what do you mean yet...?” “Oh nothing, now this way is the house that you will be occupying.” “Oh, ok” said Sam questioning his life decisions. Sam followed Arnold until they arrived at a cottage. It had overgrown bushes on every side of it and a tree growing out from the chimney. He followed Arnold into the house. He was surprised at how much bigger the inside was than how it looked on the outside. But then again, the inside reflected the outside. There was fungus in every corner of the house and on top of that, spiderwebs across the whole ceiling. Additionally, there was some mysterious substance dripping from the ceiling and dust all over the floor along with cockroaches and other weird bugs crawling all over the place. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she,” said Arnold admiring the house. “Sure, if beauty means close to decomposing,” said Sam with a sarcastic tone. Arnold gasped. “HOW RUDE, THIS HOUSE HAS BEEN HERE SINCE THE WORLD WAS CREATED SO I’M SORRY IF IT ISN’T UP TO CODE!” Sam did not respond. “Oh, my goodness, I do not know what came over me. I am so sorry, that was so disrespectful,” said Arnold. “No no no, I’m sorry, I did not know it meant that much to you. Or anyone for that matter,” said Sam feeling bad now. There was a long awkward silence until finally Arnold said something. “Anyways, so what brings you to Halari?” “Oh, nothing just vacation. My friend told me about this place, he came here a while back,” Sam said; his guts told him not to tell Arnold the truth. “Oh, okay,” said Arnold not completely believing Sam. “Okay, so can we agree on at least one thing,” said Sam trying to break the ice. “Of course--so maybe I was a little exaggerate but that doesn’t change the fact that this place does need some cleaning up to do,” said Sam while struggling to breathe right with all the dust in the air. “A little,” said Arnold while getting dripped on by the ceiling. “Okay fine, so maybe it needs a little bit of scrubbing but not too much to wear the old feel is gone, okay,” said Arnold, then put out his hand. As soon as he did, Sam shook it. “Okay so I will go and buy some cleaning supplies from the local market, and you see if you can find something here,” Arnold said while gesturing towards the rest of the house. “Ok sure can do, but why don’t you guys just have the cleaning things all ready?” “What, do you think we’re rich or something?” Sam nodded. “Oh, well we’re not if you couldn’t already tell from the house,” Arnold said while walking to the door. “Oh, and one more thing,” said Arnold stopping at the door. “Whatever you do, never go into the room with the yellow door.” “Okay...? But why,” said Sam while turning around to face Arnold, but he was already gone. “Hello? Okay, never mind. I’ll go explore the upstairs.” 

While Sam was searching for a non-yellow door, he found what he thought was a modern alarm clock. But he thought, “Of course not, because this house is super old so why would it have something like this here?” But then while fidgeting with it he accidentally dropped it and it pressed some kind of button on the bottom. After a few seconds, it activated a countdown. Sam had seen every spy movie to exist, so he was thinking the same thing as all the other spy movie nerds out there. “It’s a bomb!” Right? Wrong. But of course, Sam didn’t know that, so he then did the most unheroic thing ever. Sam screamed like a girl, then ran in a circle around himself then thought it all the way across the room. After waiting a couple minutes Sam slowly crouch walked towards the device. When he reached it, he cautiously picked it up and examined it. The timer was still on it, but it stated “24:42:23:60”. After seeing this, Sam sighed because for those of you who don’t know, this means 24 hours, 42 minutes, 23 seconds, and 60 milliseconds.  

After about 15 minutes of Sam trying to figure out what the timer could be he remembered what he was looking for in the first place and put the device in his pocket then continued searching. After a while of looking, he had totally forgotten about the whole yellow door thing so when he found a door that was completely white with a little yellow in the middle, he tried to open it. But when he did, he realized it was locked so he went back downstairs to look for a key. But when he arrived, Arnold was there waiting for him looking like he had gotten into a high school fight. “My goodness! Are you okay?” “Yes, I’m fine, I just got into a bit of a hustle that’s all.” “It doesn’t seem like you’re fine.” “Yes, I am I just need to sit down for a little bit...” Arnold said while looking like he was about to faint. “Here, let me help you.” Said Sam while trying to get Arnold to the couch in the living room. While struggling to get him on the couch, the countdown device fell out of Sam’s pocket. When Arnold saw it, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Arnold’s face expressions changed from surprised, to scared, to mad. Then he started to stare at Sam which was super scary for Sam. “Where did you get that from...?” Said Arnold in a shaky voice. “Oh this?” Sam said, picking up the device. Arnold nodded slowly. “I found it upstairs when I was searching for cleaning supplies. Speaking of cleaning supplies, weren’t you going to get cleaning supplies? Where are they?” “I lost them...” said Arnold meanwhile, staring at nothing. “What do you mean you lost them??” Sam said, confused. “They stole them.” “Who’s they...?” Sam said while trying to help Arnold by putting an icepack that he found in Arnold's pocket on his bloody forehead. Arnold stayed quiet. “Hello??” “I CANNOT SAY! I just can’t, okay?” “Okay, but I’m going to need to know eventually who did this.” Said Sam worryingly. “Okay, Okay. I’ll tell you.” “Okay! Go ahead.” Arnold sighed. “Ok so I might have lied. A lot.” “Go on...?” Said Sam. “A short summary is that I know why you’re here, I’m not a tour guide, and I know where your friend is.” Sam was too flabbergasted to respond. “I know you might be mad, but I had to!” “You didn't have to do anything! You always have a choice.” Said Sam. “No, I didn’t! They made me do it!” “Again, with the they, you still haven’t told me!!” Said Sam. “They are the people who took Gary, they are the people who blackmailed me into working for them to do this job. They are the only reason you’re here!” “What do you mean? I’m here for Gary." Said Sam confused. “Don’t you get it?? You’re not here for Gary, you’re here because of Gary! Gary was just bait! You’re the thing he really wants!” Arnold said before covering his mouth. Arnold gasped. “What do you mean? Who’s he?” “Oh, I’ve already told you most of it, might as finish it. He, is the head of all this, and you’re here because although you might not know it, you’re one of the last of your kind,” said Arnold, spilling all the beans. “What kind?? I’m human,” said Sam, feeling like he was about to faint. “Well, yes technically you’re half human.” “HALF?! Only half?? Why not full, and why didn’t I know this,” said Sam, questioning his whole existence. “Because you’re what we call half-bloods, and you’re not common. Also, if people knew, they would be scared, and potentially hunt you down.” “What do you care if they hunt me down? You guys are the only ones hunting me down!” “No, we’re not.” Said a familiar voice. Sam turned around quickly, “GARY?!”

TO BE CONTINUED...