My Fall DWA

Nicky and the Gem of Truth

            One morning in New York City, I woke up early to find my father sitting on the couch, sipping his coffee. I walked past the kitchen, to find a picture of my mom on the counter. The picture is never moved, never touched, it just sits there as a cruel reminder that she’s gone. Actually, I don’t even know how she died. Just one day when I came home from at great day of school, my dad was in the living room, staring out the window.

            “Dad,” I remember saying, you’re home early. What’s up?” He slowly turned to me, and that’s when I realized he was crying.

            “She’s gone.”He said it so heartbreaking and emotional I thought I was in a movie. At first I wanted to ask who, but I knew who. But the worst part about it is that my dad never told me how she died. Every time I bring it up, he always says “It’s a mystery” or “I don’t know. But I sure do miss her.” But it’s not a mystery and he does know. But he never tells me. He’s like a lock on a safe filled with money. Every time you are close to being loaded with cash, the lock is sitting there, blocking you from your millions. But in this case, he’s blocking me from an answer I should have the right to know.  We never had a funeral for her; I never saw her lifeless body. Now that’s a mystery. People don’t just disappear. If only he would tell me.

            I walked over to him, still thinking about my mom. I sit next to him, to find that he’s watching the news, same as always. He’s always watching the news. It’s like his favorite TV show or something. The news, that the only thing he watches.

             “Dad, what’s with you and the news? Isn’t there anything else you would want to watch?” I said.

            “Nope, and I’ll have you know that it doesn’t matter if I like the news or not”, he said, with a bit of anger in his voice. Why was he mad? It was just a simple little question. This makes me wonder.

            “Yeah, but why do you watch it so much? I mean, you thought I was boring before mom died.” The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them. I want to take them back, but at the same time I want to see his reaction to what I said about mom. He doesn’t like when it bring up. Sometimes he starts crying, but what he says next surprises me.      

            “Nicky, for goodness sake, I just like the news to hear about any crimes or fires or interesting things like that. And you don’t always have to bring your mother into everything!” His whole face has gone red with fury. It almost seems like he’s mad at mom, but I know that’s not true. He loves and misses mom as much as I do. ”Sorry,” he says more calmly, “you just got me mad for a second there.”

            I kiss him on the forehead. “It’s okay.” I say. Then I eat some breakfast, change for school, brush my hair, grab my backpack and run out the door. I live in apartment 627. I run down the hallway to the elevator. On the way down, I look at my watch.

            “That’s just great; I’m late for school, again. That’s a new record, 29 days in a row.” I say to myself. I don’t really like school. It’s nothing but homework, teachers, and cheerleaders. Oh, the cheerleaders dive me crazy with all their dumb cheering, plus, they always pick on me. I ride the subway to the street with my school. After another horrible day at school, I go home and drop onto the couch. I look at the clock on the wall. It’s 3:30. Dad should be home at 5:00. I turn n the TV and watch a new episode of my favorite show, “Legends of today”. This episode was about a legendary stone called the “Gem of Truth”. Apparently you can ask it a question and it will show you the true answer. I thought about this for a moment. The answer to a question. I was motionless as I thought knew what I had to do. If I got my hands on that gem, I could ask it about what really happened to my mom.  But how will I get to the Rocky Mountains, where the gem is hidden somewhere underneath. I’ve been saving up money for quite some time now, figuring I can save it for a rainy day or college. But I need the money for this. I find the small box under my bed where I keep the secret stash. I unlock it with a key on my necklace. After counting it, it turns out that I have $694 dollars in there. I put on the necklace and put the box in a suitcase along with some clothes and blankets for the trip. I empty out my school backpack and fill it with food, a flashlight with extra batteries, my cell phone, a lighter, and some rope. I grab all my gear and write a little note to my dad:

Dear Dad,

          I’ll be back in a couple of days. Don’t freak out and don’t come after me. I promise to I’ll back as soon as I can. You can call me on my cell if you like.

                                                                                      Love,

                                                                                         Nicky Nicholas

            Once I’m out the door, I call a taxi and head for the airport. It feels weird when you’re at an airport by yourself when you’re only 12 years old. But oddly enough, it wasn’t that bad. On the plane, I had to sit next to an old man that smelled like a goat, but that was about the worst thing. The flight was exciting and scary. What would my dad say when I got back? What if he’s angry? Or worried? All of it made me want to go back home. But I can’t, not now. If I ever want to find out the truth about my mom, I have to find that gem. The plane lands and I find my bag to find the tour bus. The bus takes me the mountain with the gem. I quickly slip away from the tour group to the base of the mountain.

            “The entrance has to be around here somewhere.” I say to myself. I’m still pretty nervous. I’ve never done anything this big by myself before. I shove a couple days worth of clothes in my backpack. I also squeeze a blanket in there, just in case. I hide my suitcase behind a bush, and I’ll come back for it later.  I throw on my backpack, and started searching for the opening to the cave with a gem of truth. In the episode I saw, they said it was hidden really well. After walking around for about an hour, I still have had no luck.

            “I’ll never find this stupid gem. Why did I even do this?” I scream. I kick the side of the mountain, and a small rumble comes from beneath my feet. The spot where I kicked starts to crack, so I back away. It cracks more and breaks, forming a small door a couple feet tall.

            “Whoa.” I gasp. I get on my hands and knees and crawl through the opening. Once I’m inside, I’m greeted by complete darkness. Then I remember my flashlight. I pull it out and flip the switch to find a big open cave with sprinkling diamonds in the walls. In front of me lies a curved stairway. I slowly get to my feet, shocked. While a walk down the stairs, I see that the bottom of them leads to three tunnels. Once I’m down there, I have a decision to make. Tunnel 1, 2, or 3. One has the gem the other two have who knows what.  So, I enter the one on the right, crossing my fingers it’s the right one.

            “So far so good,” I whisper to myself. I step cautiously along the narrow path. But suddenly something goes wrong. My foot pushes down a square of the floor and I’m dropped in a bottomless pit. I shut my eyes tight as I fall more and more. Then I think about my dad. I said I would be home in a couple of days. But what if those days turn into weeks, months, years. What if this is the end of me. My father will have to live the rest of his days, alone in our little apartment, wondering when his little girl will come home. I feel a tear slip from me eye as I plummet to my doom. Then I stop.

            Right now I don’t know if I’m dead or alive. Slowly I open my eyes to find that my necklace is stuck on a tiny groove in the wall. I can’t believe it, I’m alive! But I stop celebrating because hanging from a necklace isn’t something to be too happy about. I think for a moment, and remember I packed a couple of knives, just in case. Actually, when I was younger, my dad told me, “If you were alone in the wild, the only thing you would need to survive is a couple of knives. Good of hunting, cut down tree for firewood, and plenty of other things”. So, I had packed them, I slowly pull them out of my backpack and stab them into the wall.

             I unhook my necklace and slowly pull one knife out and stab in higher place them the other. I do that again with the other knife. So, I’m heading up the wall. I hold tightly onto each knife as if my life depends on it, because it does. After about a half in hour, I’m exhausted. But I can give up. The sooner I’m out of this cave of death, the better, a couple more hours pass and finally I reach the top of the hole. As soon as I’m there, I sprint out of that tunnel, to find myself in the same place I started, the three tunnels.

            ”Ok, number three is out. So, how about… number 2.” I head down the middle tunnel, very carefully this time. After a while, the tunnel is still is going and it looks like it’s not going to end any time soon. I’m about to give up when I see a small shimmer of light. I walk quickly down the tunnel until I’m in a huge room, surrounded by light. In the center, of the room is a small table, and on top of it, lies a beautiful glowing stone.

            “The gem of truth,” I say. “I finally found it”. I walk over to it, feeling so proud of myself. Now the moment of truth.

             ”Show me how my mom died”, I say. The gem glows bright with light and then shows me. I see my dad and some other man carrying my mom into a van. But, she’s not dead. She’s tied up. They close the door and the other man drives the van away, my mother locks inside. I gasp and fall on my hands and knees crying.

To be continued….