by Lanice C.

Teresa was a 13 year old girl with black hair and brown eyes. She had a black cat with one ear called Jojo and an annoying older brother. Jojo looks away every time the family tries to interact with him. He usually rolls on the ground and into his bed to snooze for thirteen hours a day. Whenever Teresa tries to pet him, Jojo glares at her with a frown. 

Teresa’s brother cannot take his eyes off of his video games and only comes out of his room for snacks and drinks. Whenever Teresa walks by his room, she can always hear him yelling at his teammates and the loud clicking of his keyboard.

Her dad worked for the military, so he was rarely home. When he comes back, Teresa feels that the home is more vibrant and cheerful. He would play chess with her, and they would laugh like crazy. When he goes away, the house is a void of boringness.

Teresa walked by the living room to find the dining table filled with mountains of bills, and her mom leaning back in her chair looking like she wanted to scream. She was stuck in her pajamas, and her hair was a bird’s nest.

“Teresa, your grandma wants some bananas, go deliver some to her,” she ordered, not looking up from the bills.  

Teresa silently put the bananas in a basket and started her thirty minute journey. After walking for five minutes, she heard Jojo’s meow. She turned around and saw her black cat with a missing ear sashaying towards her.

“Hi,” he said in a squeaky voice that sounded like a bouncy ball. 

“You can TALK?” Teresa squawked, wide-eyed. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to come because grandma has a lot of biscuits I could eat,” Jojo replied.

“NO! Last time when we went to grandma’s, you ate so much food that we had to CARRY you back home.”

“I promise that I will only eat five biscuits.”

“Three biscuits or nothing,” Teresa said.

“Fine,” Jojo grumbled, frowning.

Teresa and Jojo walked for ten more minutes until Teresa spotted a cave with a small blue glow inside.

“Jojo, wait here, I want to see what that glow is,” Teresa said in a rush. She dropped her basket of bananas, and then quickly dashed into the cave not knowing that a spider the size of a bear was staring at her hungrily with his stomach growling.

Once she got inside the cave, Teresa touched the blue glow and felt something circular and thought it was a tangerine. She looked closer, and it was nothing like she had ever seen before. It was a giant, glowing, blueberry hanging from a vine. There were many of them, and she plucked some one by one and shoved them in four of her small pockets.

“You dare take my berries?” The giant spider boomed.

Teresa jumped and cowered to the side. Her heart was beating as quick as a cheetah.

“Wow, you’re kind of a fat spider,” Teresa blurted without thinking.

The spider crawled faster than a normal spider to her.

“You’re going to wish you never said that,” the spider whispered menacingly with his fangs in her face. 

The spider’s breath smelled like the sewers mixed with rotten bananas, and Teresa wanted to throw up. Teresa tried to inch closer to the opening of the cave, but the spider accelerated over and  blocked the entrance with his body. Teresa scrunched up her face in fear, her breath quivered, and her hands shook like an earthquake.

“I can spare you only if you kill the Vexed Wizard,” the spider harrumphed. “But I know you never will because of the magic he possesses. He has all the elements: fire, water, earth, air.”

Her eyes widened and her hope to get out of the cave alive intensified. 

“Why do you want him dead so badly?” Teresa asked, slowly crawling out of the cave’s cracks.

“He never treats animals or humans correctly. We’re just his slaves and he took one of my cousins,” the spider sniffled.

Jojo froze when he saw Teresa. He quickly shoved the half-eaten banana back into the basket.

“I was going to find the wizard and destroy him, but you were blocking my way,” Teresa lied.

“If you promise that you’re not lying, I’ll let you go.”

Teresa shook hands with one of the spider’s thin legs.

“If you keep going forward, you’ll see a sign that points to the direction of the wizard’s village,” the spider said, as he slowly crawled deeper into the cave until he was gone. 

“Well, we’re going on an adventure,“ Teresa told Jojo, patting him on the head. She picked up the basket of bananas. Jojo meowed loudly to signal that he wanted to go to grandma’s house, but Teresa was already moving forward. Jojo rolled his eyes and ran to catch up to Teresa.

“We have to go to grandma’s house,” Jojo said, sternly.

“We can go after we have this fun adventure,” Teresa said. “It’s not going to take that long.”

Jojo stopped and turned to the hill next to them. Teresa swiveled around to see three yellow balls charging towards her. She screamed right before the balls bashed her in the head. Teresa fell and saw stars circling above her. Everything turned blurry, and then she saw darkness. 

After a few minutes, Teresa slowly opened her eyes and saw the bright sun. 

“Is she alright?” she heard an unfamiliar voice ask.

“Probably not,” Jojo said, licking his paw. 

“If I bounce on her again, will she wake up?” another squeaky voice said.

Teresa jolted up, seeing three yellow balls with hats jumping around.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“She’s awake!” the yellow ball with a cowboy hat yelped. “Hi! I am Watcha 1.”

“And I am Watcha number 2,” the yellow ball with a black tophat said, bouncing over Watcha 1.

“I AM WATCHA 3,” the yellow ball with a colourful party hat yelled excitedly, bouncing on  Watcha 2. “WE ARE THE WATCHA WATCHAS!”

Teresa stared at the yellow balls that jumped around like monkeys. Her heart was pounding like a drum set at a rock concert. Teresa looked over at Jojo who was unbothered by their cheerful introductions.

“Sorry, I have an important business to go to,” Teresa said, trying to escape these weird  creatures.

“Ooooh, what type of business?” Watcha 1 asked.

“We’re going to fight the wizard,” Jojo said. 

The Watcha Watchas gasped at the same time. 

“You can do that?” Watcha 1 asked.

“We hate the wizard. He treats people and animals like dirt!” Watcha 2 said. “He took over the famous Narthwitch Village and forced people to be his servants.”

“WE CAN COME WITH YOU!” Watcha 3 roared. Everyone stared at him, demanding an  explanation. “WE KNOW A LOT ABOUT THE WIZARD.”

The Watcha Watchas looked at Teresa hoping she’d allow them.

“Yeah, sure,” Jojo said. “We need more information about this ‘wizard’ anyway.”

“NO, we are not taking these aliens,” Teresa said, picking Jojo up from the ground. 

“Too bad, we’re coming with you,” Watcha 2 said, rolling around happily. 

Teresa let out an annoyed sigh and continued the journey to the wizard.

*

After traveling for about three hours, Teresa grew weary from the Watcha Watchas constant blabbering about how good gummies taste. Suddenly, Teresa realized that they were in the woods. It was nighttime, which was the worst time to be in a spooky forest. The tall trees covered the sky and made it darker than it was supposed to be. Teresa spun around to see if there was an exit, but there wasn’t. She shivered.

“How about we take a rest by this tree?” Jojo suggested.

Teresa immediately plopped down next to the tree. Her stomach growled waiting to be fed. Her basket of bananas spilled revealing only four and one half eaten bananas. Jojo snatched the half eaten banana and hoped no one saw him do it. Teresa smiled at him and took a banana. The Watcha Watchas took the rest, and soon, the basket was empty.

“Your pants are glowing blue,” Watcha 1 pointed out to Teresa.

Teresa looked down and saw the glowing berries. She took them out and placed them in the basket.

“Perfect,”  she said, feeling lighter. 

She spotted Jojo trying to take one of the four glowing berries and snatched the basket away from him. The cat scowled and curled up into a ball. 

“I see a head behind that tree,” Watcha 2 said worriedly and glared at a thin tree in front of them.

Teresa jumped up to her feet and hugged Jojo tightly. The Watcha Watchas bounced around and each bit on small sticks hoping it would act like swords to defend themselves. 

The head moved towards them and revealed a cloud-shaped body with stubby legs. The creature moved closer and closer. Jojo squirmed in Teresa’s arms, and the Watcha Watchas rolled face down to hide themselves, so they didn’t have to see the monster. They cowered until Teresa realized something.

“It’s a sheep!” she exclaimed, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

“My name is Shep,” the sheep corrected. “Are you all traveling? Do you need information or directions?”

“Yes! We need to get out of this forest, and we need ways to fight the wizard,” Teresa beamed, her hope increasing.

“I heard that many people died in this forest, but that’s alright. I’ll show you the way.”

Teresa’s grin widened, and the Watcha Watchas bounced with excitement. They finally found someone who would get them out of the dark forest. 

“But you have to pay me,” Shep smirked. “10 clovers for the road to the Vexed Wizard.”

“We probably won’t even find one! Let alone 10,”  Watcha 2 scoffed.

Teresa remembered from school that there was only a 10% chance of finding a clover in mud, and they couldn’t grow anywhere else. 

“I need to eat, and clovers are what I crave right now,” Shep growled. “So pay up or give me something better.”

Suddenly, an idea popped into Teresa’s head. She kneeled down, opened her basket, and took one of the glowing berries out to show Shep. Shep stared at it and drooled.

“I would take that if you still want the path to the Vexed Wizard’s village,” he offered.

“Certainly,” Teresa agreed, handing the glowing berry to Shep.

Shep stuffed it in his fur and ordered them to follow him. They all skipped after him, glad that they could see the sun soon.

*

“THIS IS TAKING TOO LONG,” Watcha 3 whined. “IS THERE A FASTER WAY?”

“No,” Shep snapped.

Teresa squinted her eyes and saw a light ahead. She had a terrible headache from walking for an hour and a stomach ache from only eating bananas. Watcha 3’s constant yapping made the pain worse. After a few minutes, they made it out of the forest. The sun slowly rose, and the sky was orange. The feeling of rocks on the ground satisfied everyone.

“This way,” Shep pointed to the left. 

A caterpillar fell off a tree, and Watcha 3 devoured it. 

“I’m so hungry,” Jojo mewled as he curled in Teresa’s hands. Everyone’s stomachs growled for what seemed like decades. Shep was the only one who was fine since he nibbled on the glowing berry that Teresa gave him.

“What do you do for a living, Shep?” Teresa asked curiously.

Shep stopped walking for a moment as if he was wondering if his job was considered a job.

“I spy on people,” he said. “So if anyone needs information about people I spy on, they have to trade me some food.”

He realized that he had stopped the whole group from walking and continued to march along the concrete road.

“That’s illegal!” Watcha 2 exclaimed. 

“It’s only illegal if you get caught,” Shep said smoothly. “I’ve never been caught before, surprisingly.”

Teresa opened her mouth to ask a question when suddenly a horse galloped towards them at the speed of light. 

“TAKE COVER!” Watcha 3 screamed, as the Watcha Watchas all rolled into a bush.

Jojo leapt out of Teresa’s arms, and Shep maneuvered into a field of grass. Teresa couldn’t react fast enough, and the horse stopped right in front of her. Teresa sighed with relief but then saw the horse was holding a giant piece of poo. Why was it holding a piece of poo and whose poo was it? The horse launched the poop into her face, cackled toothily, and sprinted away like nothing ever happened. The others came outside of hiding and laughed at her. Teresa ran to a nearby pond and desperately rinsed her face in it.

Jojo yawned at his clumsy owner (it’s Jojo’s way of mocking people). After washing her face, Teresa saw 4 big fishes inside the pond. She waved at them and turned around to continue her  adventure once again. She hoped the stench would wear off eventually.

“Um…the fish are walking out of the pond,” Watcha 1 pointed out.

“Don’t be silly, fish can’t walk,” Teresa answered.

“And normal cats can’t talk,” Jojo purred.

Teresa quickly swiveled around to see 4 orange fishes each with 2 human legs. The fishes let out a shriek and chased Teresa. Teresa ran in circles while the fish spat on her and tried to kick her knees. After the fish had enough, they walked back into the pond. Teresa wiped the fish saliva off her hair and checked her knees for any bruises. She turned to her team and noticed that someone was missing.

“Where’s Shep?” She asked, panicking. 

“He got too impatient, so he left,” Watcha 2 said. 

Teresa fell onto her back and stared at the rising sun.

“This is the worst day of my life,” Teresa grumbled. “Why didn’t you go after him?”

The Watcha Watchas looked at each other and grinned.

“We know the way to the Wizard,” Watcha 1 said.

Teresa bounced to her feet with a shiny smile. 

“Let’s go,” she exclaimed.

Jojo sat on Watcha 1, and they continued their journey.