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Feature Story

BOOM!
an Adventure Story by Breigh Miller

Radiant flashes of bold lightning pierced the air.  Plump drops of rain showered the small town of Izendoor and drowned the road, blurring Katie's father's car windows.  Katie whimpered in the backseat and yanked her lime-green jacket tighter around her shoulders.  Katie's father was headed strait for a dark ditch, which blended in with the threatening midnight-black clouds circling overhead.  "Daddy look out!" blurted Katie, as her father swerved off the road, water soaking the windows and it splashed against the car as her father gained speed to avoid the ditch.  Katie's stomach churned.  

What if they swerved right into the ditch?  Suddenly, Katie's father jerked his car to the right, just avoiding the ditch by mere centimeters.  Katie felt a lump of relief swirl into her body as her father got back onto the flooded road.  Finally they reached their destination.  Katie darted anxiously out of the car, as damp puddles of rain splashed against her feet in chilly gushes.  Then Katie kissed her father goodbye, and pounded noisy on the door.  Katie thought she would have to pound a hole in the door before her grandmother would answer it.  

Finally, after waiting practically an eternity, Katie's grandmother answered the door and led her inside.  Katie then helped herself to a couple of cookies and a glass of milk.  Katie savored the chocolatey cookies and as she gulped down the luscious milk, she thought she might search for something amusing to play with.  So after she took a final swig of milk, Katie ventured upstairs to the worn door leading to the attic.  Katie opened the door.  With a frightening creaking sound, the door slowly opened.  Katie grabbed a flashlight and shined the glossy light around the room.  Her flashlight's miniature streak of light stabbed the darkness and sent a circle of glowing light dancing on the floor.  Katie dashed around until suddenly she heard the familiar sound of shattering glass.  Katie gasped and shined her flashlight on the crunching noise.  The sound came from one of her grandmother's vases!  

The plump blueberries that coated the vase were scattered across the wooden floor, making the room look like it had sprouted mounds of blueberries.  Katie was trying to muster up some courage to admit to her grandmother that she had shattered her adored vase when her flashlight glowed on something tannish and rolled-up.  Katie squatted down and snatched it. She unrolled it and she gasped.  It was faded and tattered, but Katie could make out some black smears that read:" You are here" signified by an inky midnight-black dot.  Then it showed some black arrows leading up to a blood red X.  Right next to the mysterious X was faint letters that read:" DANGER."  Katie silently tucked the tattered scroll into her pocket snuggly and then dashed downstairs.  Katie slunk around silently like a mouse until she was outside.  

The damp weather made it difficult to dash through, since every time she desperately tried, her shoes sunk in gloppy mud puddles.  By the time Katie got out of her grandmother's driveway, her shoes were caked with cocoa-colored, thick mud.  Katie glanced at a Kammy's Kandy Shop just a block away.  Katie licked her lips.  Drool formed in her mouth as she gazed at the shelves crammed with oodles of goodies and bulging with unique sugary sweets.  Just then, Katie remembered that she needed a compass to find her way to the treasure on the treasure map.  A dull compass compared to a creamy doughnut lathered with coconut frosting didn't seem too appealing.  

But finally Katie scampered to the store equip with compasses and camp supplies.  Katie strolled in and purchased a glow-in-the-dark compass and scurried out.  Katie took a glance at the map and then headed north, until she stumbled upon a terrifying cave.  Katie crept slowly into the dark, gloomy cave and then gasped.  Her glow-in-the-dark compass set a slime-green glow on the ground, blanketing a tiny part of the damp cave ground.  Suddenly, Katie heard an eerie moan breaking the silence of the cave.  Katie's heart was in her throat.  

Her heart thumped so hard, it violently shook her whole body.  Katie squatted down, camouflaging with the thick patches of sharp rocks spearing the creepy cave's darkness.  Suddenly, Katie could feel the vibration of a creature's footsteps booming towards her.  Katie gulped and held her breath.  Suddenly, the creature roared an ear-piercing cry.  Katie peered up from the rocks and got a glimpse of the creature.  The four-legged creature had a jet-black torso that was so black it scared the night.  Its glowing yellow eyes scanned the darkness and piles of purple poison dripped down it's scaled chin.  

Slime oozed from its pores on it's back and its spiked tail slapped the ground as it sniffed deeply for intruders.  When it had picked up Katie's scent, it screeched with displeasure.  It opened up its mouth to screech again, displaying a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.  When Katie's lungs were bursting from not breathing, she let out a loud breath.  She slapped her hand over of her mouth when she remembered she had to breath quietly since there was a twelve-foot creature lurking in the cave.  Katie started to creep deeper into the cave to hide when the creature sensed her and wailed another cry before burning blood-red flames bursted from it's mouth, cinging the mounds of rocks close by.  The creature dashed after her, fire exploding from its fire glands in its mouth.  Katie thought she would never survive when suddenly, appearing out of nowhere in the cave, came the sound of fluttering wings.  

Katie peeped up and noticed a swarm of Vampire Bats diving toward the creature while Katie sprang up from the ground and was heading for the exit when she tripped on something bulging from the ground.  With a sickening thud, Katie plunged onto the cave ground, scraping her knee and bruising her elbows.  Katie's eyes popped out when she saw what she had slipped on.  It was a treasure chest!  Katie snatched it with powerful force from the cave ground and, slipping it under her right arm, dashed to the exit, dodging the bunch of bats and the creature.  Katie sprinted home with the treasure chest.  Katie slipped in without making a sound through the back door and scurried up the stairs.  Katie bashed open the rusty lock with her fists clenched together and after she had broken it off, she slowly opened it.  Inside were mounds of glittering jewels and a handful of glistening gold coins!  

And at the bottom of the treasure chest, there was a unique necklace.  It had a Topaz gem amulet the color of a ripe orange at the bottom of the solid gold chain.  Katie wrapped it around her neck and hurried downstairs to show them to her grandmother to admire.  "Grandma!" she bellowed all the way down the stairs.  "Katie, what is it?" asked her grandmother warily.  Usually when Katie shouted it was because she had broken something or because she accidentally let the bathtub overflow.  "Grandma!  I found a treasure map in one of your vases and I found the treasure!"  Katie was breathless.  She gasped for breath as she showed them to her grandmother to admire them.  

Her grandmother was speechless and suspicious.  "How did you find the treasure map?" she asked coldly.  "I...I...um... "Katie was afraid to admit the truth, but she answered anyway," Grandma, I accidentally broke one of your vases.  That's how I found it.  I'm really sorry.  I hope some of these gems will be enough to buy you a new one."  "Enough with the mushy stuff.  I forgive you." her grandmother said and then reached out for a couple of shimmering gold coins.  After that, Katie phoned her parents to tell them what she had discovered.  Her parents were speechless, also.  When Katie's parents returned, Katie split the riches with them.  And since they were so rich, they bought the cave and made it a public area where people could visit the mysterious cave Katie had been in.  As Katie flopped on her bed when she returned home, she thought to herself, "This is one adventure I will never forget."

                                                                by Breigh Miller