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2017 Inklings Book Contest finalist: Mira Aradhya

2017 Inklings Book Contest finalist: Mira Aradhya

Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2017 finalist, Mira Aradhya! Mira finished 4th grade this past school year. The story she submitted is called “Lost In The Forest” We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did!
Leave a comment below on what you thought!

 


Lost In The Forest

by Mira Aradhya

+++++“Do I have to go to boarding school?”

+++++“Sorry Tara, but you have to,” said her dad.

+++++Tara mumbled something.

+++++“All right, well you have to start packing for the train tomorrow. Oh! And your friend Fifer is coming! You two are going to share a room on the train.”

+++++“Who’s Fifer?” Tara asked.

+++++“That girl in your school.”

+++++“Just because she’s in my school, doesn’t mean she’s my friend,” Tara said, rolling her eyes.

+++++“Just go pack,” said her dad.

+++++Tara went into her room and shut the door. She started packing all the things she wanted with her. Then she shoved all her stuff into her suitcases. When she was done, she went to dinner and then to bed dreaming about how horrible it would be at boarding school.

* * * * *

+++++The next morning Tara woke up and realized she had to get on the train in two hours. She groaned but climbed out of bed anyway. She got dressed, combed her hair, and brushed her teeth and then went to have breakfast.

+++++“Are you excited to go to your new school?” asked her mom.

+++++“No.”

+++++“How about making new friends?”
+++++Tara shook her head.

+++++“Oh! Look at the time!” Tara’s dad interrupted, “We’ve got to leave! Come on everyone! Let’s get in the car!”

+++++They drove for 45 minutes until they got to the train station. Tara’s parents saw Fifer’s parents and they went over to talk them. Suddenly they heard a loud sound. DING! DING! DING!

+++++“It’s the train bell!” said Fifer’s mom excitedly.

+++++Tara and Fifer hopped onto the train while their parents waved at them. The train door closed and Fifer and Tara were left sitting on their beds. The train was a night train with two beds across from each other, in every room. Tara and Fifer sat there and stared at each other from across the room. Finally Tara decided to try to go to sleep. She laid down on the bed, but found the mattress was very rough. She got up and found a trunk, near the wall, full of blankets. She picked two of the thickest blankets out of it and put them down on the bed. Fifer took out her phone and started texting. Tara laid back on her bed and thought, This isn’t too bad.

+++++Just when Tara started to doze off, the conductor made an announcement. “The train is on fire! Everyone, try to get a fire extinguisher and put out the fire!”

+++++Everyone rushed to the two fire extinguishers in the hallway and started to try to put out the fire, but it was too big. Tara realized they weren’t going to be able to put out the fire in time. She looked out the window and saw that they were going over a bridge, and underneath was a huge forest with lots of trees.

+++++I can land in one of those, thought Tara.

+++++She looked at Fifer and said, “We’re going to have to jump.” Tara threw open the door and felt the wind blasting her face. They bent their legs to get ready for the jump, and leapt off the train, into the forest.

* * * * *

+++++When Tara woke up, it was the afternoon, and she didn’t know where she was. Then she remembered everything that had happened last night. She had a few cuts and bruises from the fall, but nothing severe, since she had landed in a bush. I must have been knocked unconscious from the fall, thought Tara. Then she remembered Fifer. “Fifer!” she yelled.

+++++She went looking all around, then tripped on something and fell. She looked down and realized it was Fifer. “Fifer!” she said, relieved, and she started shaking her.

+++++Fifer opened her eyes and said, “Huh? Where am I?”

+++++“We’re in a forest!” Tara answered.

+++++“What!? Ok, I’m going to try to call someone on my phone.”

+++++“You brought your phone!?”

+++++“Of course! I never go anywhere without it.”

+++++Tara rolled her eyes and said, “Ok, while you do that, I’m going to look around here.” Tara started walking around observing, when suddenly she heard Fifer scream.

+++++She spun around and said, “What is it?!”

+++++“My phone’s dead!” wailed Fifer.

+++++Tara rolled her eyes. “That is the least of our worries right now!” she said. “We don’t know where we are, so we’re going to have to start walking, until we find civilization.” She started walking forward and Fifer followed her. They had walked for about an hour, when they started getting hungry.

+++++“What are we going to eat?” asked Fifer.

+++++“Um… Well… I guess we’ll have to hunt for food,” answered Tara.

+++++“Ew! You can hunt for food. I’m gonna just sit here,” said Fifer as she sat down on a big rock.

+++++Tara rolled her eyes. She went over to a small creek and started reaching her hands in to try to catch fish. She tried for half an hour, but all the fish seemed to quickly swim away when they saw her hands. Finally, Tara gave up. Then, she remembered reading a book about how someone had to eat bugs and roots. She walked over to a tree and found lots of beetles scurrying around the base of the tree. She grabbed them in one hand, and in the other, she pulled up lots of roots from the tree. She walked over to Fifer, who was sleeping.

+++++“Fifer!” Tara yelled into Fifer’s ear.

+++++Fifer shot up from her napping place. “Did you get some food?” she asked. “Yeah,” said Tara. She showed Fifer the bugs and roots.

+++++“You mean, we have to eat… Those? They’re covered in dirt!” Fifer complained.

+++++“I know, I know. But these are the only things I could find. Here, watch. I’ll eat one,” replied Tara. She picked up a root and bit into it, then immediately spit it out. “Um… Okaaay. Maybe those don’t taste so good. The beetles might taste better.”

+++++“They’re gonna taste worse,” warned Fifer. Tara ignored her and lifted a beetle up to her mouth. She dropped it in, then started to chew it. She chewed for a second, then her eyes widened in disgust and she spit the beetle out, too. She gagged, then started wiping her tongue with the rim of her shirt.

+++++Fifer was biting her lip so hard, Tara thought it would start bleeding. Then Fifer doubled over with laughter. When she finally calmed down, she said, “ Let’s try to collect some berries.”

+++++They walked around for a little while and finally found a bush with little, blue berries. Fifer picked one off and popped it into her mouth. “These are really good!” she said excitedly. She and Tara started grabbing handfuls, then stuffed them in their pockets.

+++++Then, Tara became aware of the time. She looked up into the sky and saw the sky was a light purplish-pink shade, and the sun was starting to come down. “We should probably find a place to sleep,” she said.

+++++They walked for an hour and a half, until the sky was a violent indigo. Finally, they entered a small clearing. “We can sleep here,” said Fifer. They collected lots of leaves and put them in a big pile. Then, they gathered another pile of leaves. Then each of them laid down and used their pile of leaves as pillows. Tara was extremely tired so she fell asleep very fast even though she was freezing and the ground was very bumpy. She dreamed of home until she woke up.

* * * * *

+++++Tara yawned and stretched her arms, then went to go wake up Fifer. She walked over to where Fifer had slept, but she was gone. “Fifer!” she yelled.

+++++“Tara!” Fifer shrieked from far away.

+++++“Where are you?!”

+++++“I don’t know! I just woke up here!” answered Fifer. “I think I’m in a cave!”

+++++Tara looked down and saw big paw prints in the dirt. She followed them and they led her to a group of trees. She stepped into the middle of the bunch and kept following the paw prints until she saw a cave. She started toward it, then walked in. Drip. Drip. Drip. Tara looked over to where the sound was coming from and saw thick, golden honey dripping down the walls. She looked all around her and saw large claw marks covering the walls. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand reached out and covered her mouth.

+++++Tara’s eyes widened in terror, then she came back to her senses and bit down on the hand.

+++++“Ow! Why’d you do that?!” said a voice. The hand on Tara’s mouth let go.

+++++Tara recognized the voice and squinted. She saw that the voice had come from Fifer. “Fifer?!” she shouted.

+++++“Shhh!” Fifer said, shushing Tara.

+++++“Why do we have to be quiet?” whispered Tara.

+++++Fifer gestured for Tara to follow her. They tiptoed, until Fifer held up her hand to stop Tara. She pointed to a big figure sleeping on the floor. Tara took a step closer and realized it was a bear. She started to open up her mouth again to scream.

+++++“Don’t!” Fifer whisper shouted.

+++++Tara let out an ear-splitting shriek.

+++++The bear’s ears pricked up, and it turned its head and growled at them. It got up slowly and took a step toward them, then roared ferociously and charged. Tara and Fifer both screamed and started scrambling to get to the entrance of the cave. Once they got outside, they started running to nowhere in particular. The bear was closing in on them, so Tara pulled Fifer behind a tree. The bear stopped running, made a confused face, and started looking wildly around him. Tara and Fifer waited a little while, until the bear passed them.

+++++Suddenly, Fifer got a funny look on her face. “A-a-a-a-” she stopped, then let out a loud sneeze. “CHOO!”

+++++Tara shot an angry look at her.

+++++“Sorry!” Fifer whispered, covering her nose.

+++++They heard heavy footsteps and turned to find the bear lumbering toward them. Tara grabbed Fifer’s wrist, and started running. They heard the bear roar behind them, which made them run even faster. Tara and Fifer both dove into a bush, then peeked out and saw that the bear had run straight past them. Tara breathed a sigh of relief. They got out of the bush and dusted themselves off.

+++++“That was close,” said Fifer.

+++++Tara nodded and her stomach growled.

+++++They took the berries they had in their pockets and devoured them. Then, they kept walking. They walked for half an hour when Tara tripped and hit the ground, her leg landing in a patch of leaves.

+++++“Ow!” she said.

+++++Fifer bent down to examine what she had tripped on. “Uh-oh,” she said.

+++++“What?” asked Tara.

+++++“This is poison ivy,” Fifer said, worriedly.

+++++“WHAT?!” yelled Tara.

+++++“Shhhh! The bear might come back!” Fifer warned. “And don’t worry. I went camping with my dad, and he taught me how to heal poison ivy. Unfortunately, the stuff we need isn’t in this particular area, so we’re going to have to keep walking.”

+++++They walked for 10 minutes and stopped at a creek. “Ok, first, we’re going to have to wash the place where the poison ivy touched you. But, you’re going to have to do it, because urushiol, which is the stuff inside poison ivy that causes the allergic reaction, will get all over my hands if I clean it out. Now, follow me,” said Fifer as she beckoned to Tara.

+++++They walked over to the creek and Fifer said, “Scoop up the water, pour it on your leg. Do that four times.” Once Tara finished, Fifer said, “Now you’re supposed to clean it with rubbing alcohol, but we don’t have any of that, so we’ll have to skip to the part after that. We’ll have to walk some more.”

+++++They walked for three more minutes when Fifer said, “Ah-ha! This is what we need.” She pointed to a plant with a long translucent stem that had yellow and orange flowers on it. Then, she went and grabbed a handful of the leaves. Additionally, she took a big long rock and a big flat stone. She placed the leaves on the flat stone, then she took the long rock and started mashing all the leaves up. When it was all mashed up she took all of it in her hand and gave it to Tara.

+++++“Now rub it all over your leg,” Fifer directed.

+++++Tara nodded and started smearing it on her leg. It was already nighttime, so once Tara finished, they found a place to sleep.

+++++“Maybe one of us should stay up and look to see if anything comes,” Tara said.

+++++“Ok,” Fifer responded.

+++++“I’ll go first,” Tara said.

+++++Fifer laid down and started to fall asleep. Tara stayed up for four hours, until her eyes started to droop. She started to shake Fifer until Fifer opened her eyes.

+++++“Is it my turn?” Fifer asked.

+++++Tara nodded. Fifer sat up and Tara laid down. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

* * * * *

+++++When Tara woke up, Fifer already had lots of berries in her hands, for breakfast.

+++++“I decided to get food because I was really hungry,” she said, giving a handful to Tara.

+++++While Tara ate her berries she noticed that her leg was perfectly normal.

+++++“Fifer!” she said excitedly. “My leg healed!”

+++++Fifer gave her a thumbs up as she chewed her berries. When they finished their berries, they started walking. They walked for a couple of hours, until they came across a path.

+++++“What is a path doing here?” asked Fifer.

+++++“It looks kind of like a hiking trail!” said Tara.

+++++They started following it. Tara noticed there were less and less trees as they walked. They saw a family of four passing, and Tara took the chance to ask for directions.

+++++“Excuse me,” she said. “Where’s the nearest grocery store?”

+++++“Go straight, take two lefts, a right, then straight and you’ll be there,” said the mother of the family.

+++++“Thank you,” Fifer said.

+++++They finally walked out of the forest and started following the lady’s directions, until they reached the grocery store. Tara and Fifer walked over to a phone booth and Tara dialed her mom’s phone number.

+++++“Hello?” her mom answered.

+++++“Mom!” Tara said.

+++++“Tara?!” answered her mom. “Where are you? The fire on the train was all over the news!”

+++++Tara explained all the things that had happened to them, then told her mom where they were. After that, Fifer called her parents, talked to them for a little while, then hung up. Then, Tara and Fifer walked over to a bench and sat down to wait. They waited an hour, until a car drove up. Then, another one pulled up. Tara’s parents climbed out of the first car and Fifer’s parents came out of the other car. All of them ran over and embraced their children.

* * * * *

+++++“Come on!” yelled Tara. “We’re gonna be late on our first day of boarding school!”

+++++“I’m coming, I’m coming!” said Fifer, as she hopped off the train. They got their suitcases out of the train, and ran toward the school.

+++++“I heard that we’re going on some field trip for a week, where we have to try to survive in the wilderness! We’ll definitely be experts at that!” said Tara. Then, they walked off laughing.