Building Courage

One fine morning Ash woke up and got ready for school, she said her goodbyes to her parents, then left for school. Just across the street, from Ash a boy named Logan came out saying goodbye to his parents. Ash and Logan were both 13 years old. They were completely the opposite of each other. Ash was a fragile girl who hated sports because she was afraid, she would get hurt. But she loved arithmetic, science, computers etc. Logan on the other hand loved sports but hated work, especially science. Ash and Logan were both friends, but Logan only wanted Ash as a friend because she helped him get good marks. Ash always knew that Logan was taking advantage of her, but she also knew that Logan helped her take care of the bullies at school, so she used to say nothing. Suddenly when Logan saw Ash walking towards school he and called out “Hey Ash! I hope you are prepared to work on the project that the teacher assigned to us…at recess of course because you have piano classes, so you can’t work on it any other time”. “Yup, I sure am!” Ash said between her teeth, pretending to smile. “I have to join the boys now, catch you later!” Logan said as he raced of.

It was Friday so of course the first period was gym. The first thing Ash did when she entered school was, walk up to Mrs. Morning (her teacher) and lied “Hi Mrs. Morning, I’m not going to be able to participate in gym today because…a dog stole my sport shoes.” Mrs. Morning put on her sympathetic face and said “What a tragic incident! Well Ash, if you want to work on anything from school, you can do it in the classroom while gym period.” “Thank you, Mrs. Morning” and with that Ash was off. For a project that was assigned recently Ash and Logan were partners. Of course, Logan knew nothing about what the project was about and simply handed that responsibility to Ash. Ash knew that her project idea was a little silly, but she tried it anyway. As sheShe was working on the project Logan came by the classroom and asked Ash “Hey, why are you not in gym?” “Mrs. Morning said that I can work here” Ash replied. “So what is our project gonna be about?” Logan asked. “It may seem silly…but I am trying to make a time, traveling machine that can take you anywhere and anytime because Mr. Carson said that the project has to be interesting and unique, so yeah!” Ash said hesitantly. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!” Logan yelled “THAT IS SUCH A STUPID PROJECT, EVEN THE DUMBEST PERSON IN THE WORLD WOULDN’T THINK OF THAT STUFFWOULD KNOW IT IS NOT ACHIEVABLE”. “WELL IT’S NOT LIKE YOU HAVE DONE A SINGLE PART OF IT! HERE I AM WORKING MY HEAD OFF AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS TELL ME YOU DON’T LIKE IT! I SUGGEST YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMMENT ON A PROJECT THAT YOU HAVEN’T DONE OR HAVEN’T EVEN TOUCHED WHEN SOMEBODY HAS PUT ALL THEIR EFFORT INTO IT!” Ash yelled back louder then ever. For a second Logan was taken aback. No one had ever heard Ash yell before. Then he took a small hard metal ball out of his pocket and aimed it for the machine and said “Maybe this will make you understand”. “NO!!!” Ash shouted, but it was to late. Logan threw the metal ball and it hit the machine. It cracked the lever in half and for a second everything was silent. Then the machine fell apart and a blinding flash erupted from the machine and in an instant it disappeared. Then Logan realized that he was the only one in the room. Ash had disappeared. “ASH!!!” Logan yelled “ASH!!!”. Suddenly Logan froze, he looked back at the “time travel machine” and gulped “Ash?”. Ash had traveled through the time traveling machine.

Ash opened her eyes; she was feeling a little dizzy and was lying on some dried soil. She then realized that she was not in her classroom. She sprang up and looked around her, then she froze. She realized that when Logan threw the metal ball on her machine it must’ve triggered it and so now, she was in a time period when probably humans did not even exist. She cursed Logan under her breath then started walking about the new ground. She suddenly noticed an entire ocean next to her. She thought she would like to wash her face a little so it could help her think about how to go back in the future.

She saw a beautiful gigantic turtle swimming it’s way through the beautiful ocean. “Oh, I really wish I could document this on my phone…if only I had it” Ash said. She went to have a closer look at the turtle and then suddenly a dark long figure in the shape of a humongous crocodile appeared beneath the turtle and then from the calm stable ocean a huge aquatic dinosaur erupted and snapped up it’s feast then disappeared into the water once again. Ash was standing in a shock, then finally 1 hour later she went over to some bushes next to her and screamed out the loudest most terrible scream ever. “Oh no! Oh no! How will I brush my teeth, take a shower, change into new clothes etc?” Ash said. She remembered the lesson their English teacher was giving when they were having a discussion of the book Hatchet about how if they are ever stuck in the wilderness their main priorities are survival and protection. Ash now had to decide something that most people never even have to think about. A decision of life or death. Meanwhile Logan was trying to process what had just happened, it had been 2 days since Ash was missing and Ash’s parents had already filed a missing report.

Logan knew that if he said anything about Ash’s disappearance, it was a likely that he could go to jail, so he finally decided to keep quite about what he’d seen.

Ash was very tired the next morning because she hadn’t closed her eyes (in fear that a dinosaur might gobble her up) for 24 hours. Ash finally realized that she had her backpack and her lunch box with her. She set them aside for a moment and then opened the lunch box and started eating some of the snacks she had packed for herself. She then got up with her water bottle, quickly went up to the river and filled her water bottle, then went to the bushes and started drinking until she was satisfied. When she had completed her meal, she knew she had to bring and store some food too. So, she carefully went out and tried to see if she could find something to eat. She looked for what seemed like hours then found a little bush with lots of strawberries! She quickly picked as many strawberries as she could and stored them in the large container, she had bought along with her. Then quickly crept back to the bushes ate some of her gathered food then, fell asleep. Soon a whole week had passed. All Ash did was eat, sleep and worry. Never in Ash’s life was she so unproductive. While collecting some strawberries, she heard a roar in a distance. She turned around and saw a tyrannosaurus rex behind her making his way towards her. She covered her mouth trying not to shriek and crept up to the bushes without making the slightest sound. It had been a few days since then, but Ash took her responsibilities upon her and went out to collect strawberries, water etc. Everything was going well and soon 2 weeks had passed. Ash’s hair was such a mess, any second she could get lice she thought.

One hot day Ash went to collect water from the nearby ocean when she saw some rustling in the strawberry bush. She went to see it went behind a tree the same tyrannosaurus rex appeared. When the tyrannosaurus rex was just bending down to gobble her up she saw something next to her gleaming like a ruby in the sun. It was a sword! She rolled over to her side as the tyrannosaurus rex stepped upon the ground where she had been before and picked up the gleaming sword. She started running as fast as she could, wondering how to fight the tyrannosaurus rex with such a tiny sword. She then remembered the words her father had spoken long ago “Whether a person lives or a person dies they do it with an action, that action either honors them or brings them shame…now you must choose your action”. Ash knew that running away would do no use. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword, turned around and focused her eyes on her target. As the tyrannosaurus rex kept coming closer and closer, she stood her ground more and more boldly and prepared to give battle. The tyrannosaurus rex finally came down upon her and opened his mouth to eat her up when she struck him in the mouth with her sword, and he vaporized into nothing but dust. She realized that one of the tyrannosaurus rex’s teeth got stuck in her elbow. And no sooner than she did realize it, she fell to the ground.

Ash opened her eyes once again and found herself in her bedroom, lying underneath her covers. She found out that she was transported back to the time that she was in, and nobody knew that she had gone missing, Logan did not have a fight with her and the time travel machine was never triggered! She was amazed of how life always teaches you an important valuable lesson that helps you till the end of your days. That same morning as Ash went to school she made sure that she punched Logan in the face, and dumped the time travel machine (that had not fully been built yet) on Logan’s head and walked away, starting a new project for herself. Ash lived happily and boldly, till the and of her days.