Chapter 1
The sky is gloomy and blustering, torrential rain is pounding on the windowsills. Outside is blustering, the raging wind is howling, and it is slamming to the grove, branches are groaning and tangling together. Everything is chaotic and uncoordinated outside.
Different from the outside, everything inside the house is peaceful and placid. Warm yellow light bulb is glowing in the house. Down to the dark basement, the vast clear display screen is playing the movie Ukuta. (Ukuta is a famous children film that talks about a group of teenagers, who accidentally got into a kingdom called Ukuta. To save themselves and the citizens from the hell, they had overthrown the domination of the tyrannical king and their braveness and courage had been down from generation to generation.) The room gleaming because of the sparkling and flaming effect of the movie. Three young teenagers are lounging on the sofa, staring at the screen, the boy in black is about to close his eyes, apparently, a drowsy feeling crept is coming over them.
“Such a boring movie you chose! Bob, when can you really grow up and get know what kind of movie is the good one?” complained Hailey.
Bob, the fat boy frowns, he grumbled, “I am already 16! I knew what kind of movie is fun! You do know that having a childlike heart is important right? You are going to miss a lot of funny things if you don’t. Plus, you guys didn’t tell me what you want to watch. How can this be my fault! Also, Barry, could you please show some respect to the movie I chose? Maybe just a little bit? How…”
Hearing this, Barry raises his eyebrow slightly to see Bob.
“Oh, shut up chatterbox Bob! Fine, you chose the movie. You’re the boss. Where are the potato chips?” Hailey exclaimed, “Bob! Please, could you just move yourself a little bit and help me find the bag of potato chips?”
“What…? Hey Barry! You see her? Why she is always acting like she had eaten mine?” Bob shouted to Barry. He is such a grievance.
“Well, it won’t cost you a lot to help her.” Barry opens his eyes, stares at Bob’s big plump face, and smiles.
After hearing this, Bob turns his head towards the messy table, and he stretches out his arms trying to shove those sundries. Suddenly, Bob is attracted by the black box on the desk——It is the TV remote control device. Something is different compared with the original one. Bob grabs that, “Hey guys, what’s that button on it? Anyone ever seen it?” It is a brand-new green button, a protuberance of triangle is lying on it.
“Well, why don’t you just press that and see what will happen?” Hailey answers without looking at it.
“Alright, then let’s see…” Bob’s eyes are widely opened, then he presses the green button. In an instant, a beam of dazzling green light envelops the whole basement. The whole house suddenly falls into darkness. The electricity had been cut down. The surrounding is so quiet. The only sound is the rain pounding on the window.
Few seconds of silence, the light bulb creaks and the electricity comes back. The basement is empty. All the things were gone except the TV and its remote control. The movie is still playing. It is weird that the frame stops and the green button was vanished. Inside the TV, a bag of potato chips is dispersing on the floor, not far away, three people are lying there…
The rain is getting heavier and heavier outside…
Chapter 2
Hailey is trying to open her eyes. She hears Bob and Barry are crying loudly beside her head. Hailey feels her head is heavy; it feels like a rock which weights thousands kilogram is lying on her eyelids. She tries to lift her eyelids, but she failed. Hailey keeps trying and trying. Under her tireless efforts, she successfully opens her eyes. The anxious faces of Barry and Bob comes into Hailey’s sight. They help her up, eagerly looks at her up and down.
“I am okay…eh…” Hailey is rubbing her head, looking around perplexed, “Where are we? What happened?”
Bob scratches his head in embarrassment, “We don’t know either… Well but when I woke up, I found out this was in my hand.” He shows the green gem to Hailey. It is an emerald stone with a pattern of scepter lying on it.
They stand in silence as no one says anything. What was happening seems to be a mystery, which can never be solved. Barry looks around, suddenly, an expression of surprised spreads across his face. He frowned and murmured, “Guys? I may found some clues about where we are…”
“Really! Where!?” Bob and Hailey are excited. They are staring at Barry anxiously.
“There”, Barry points towards the top of mountain which is far away from where they are now. It is hard to see, but a castle is lying there hiding in the mist. A huge flag, which has a giant bear on it is blowing in the wind. “The castle, don’t you guys think it is quite familiar?” doubted Barry, “That’s the castle of King Ant…We’ve seen it in the movie. We are in Ukuta!”
Bob is puzzled, “What Ukuta? Isn’t it a movie? Is it a real place in the world? Where…”
“No…” Hailey whispered, “What he means is, WE ARE IN THE MOVIE UKUTA.”
Chapter 3
It is 6 a clock in the evening now. All three people are still sitting on the ground where they were transmitted to. The air seems to be stationary, no one moved or talked. Bob is still sobbing; he is scared and afraid. Hailey and Barry are sitting in silence as well; they are staring down on the ground, trying to stare at the hole on it. Suddenly, Barry seems to realize something; he raises his head up.
“We are not going to solve anything if we keep doing nothing but staying here. So why don’t we just be brace ourselves and find a way to get out of this place?” inspired Barry.
“But… How? We don’t know anything about this place. We don’t know what bring us here. What will happen here. We don’t even know why we are here!” shouted Bob, “How can we suppose to get away from here?”
Hailey also looks at Barry doubtfully. Things just happened is so impossible that it has already made a mess in their mind.
Barry smiled, “Well, we had seen the movie, didn’t we? Maybe, maybe we had become the protagonists of the movie. That thing!” he points to the green gem, “Whatever what that is, it must be the one who brought us here for whatever reasons. In that way, why don’t we assumed that to overthrow the domination of King Ant maybe the method to get away from this world,——like what we’ve seen in the movie?”
“That’s…” Bob turns his head towards Hailey. Clearly, he can’t make his mind.
Hailey considers for a while, “What Barry just said, it makes sense Bob. We have to try, or we will be trap in this barren place forever.” She said this clearly and slowly. Bob is entangling and struggling with this decision. He takes few deep breathes, and resigns to the idea, “I don’t have any choices, do I? Then what should we do now?”
“Hmm, first we need to get into the castle.” said Barry.
“How?” wondered Hailey.
“Well, we need to find a man who can get us the permission into the castle.” Barry pondered.
Three people step on the road. By the end of the day, they finally reached the downtown of Ukuta. Tons of people are walking on the streets. The shouting, yelling, chatting and all the babbling noises are coming alive at once. Everyone is so busy, and the downtown is so chaotic. Bob looks at the huge crowd of people, doubted, “We got so many people here. Is it possible to find the one who can get the permission for us?”
Hailey looks at the street, she points to a skinny man and affirms, “Maybe that man can.” It is a thin and runty boy. He has a long brown hair which almost covers his whole face. His long and narrow eyes are glancing around and suddenly, he seems to find something interesting. He sneaks behind a fat man. Then he looks cautiously around and slips his hand into the fat man’s pocket. The fat man did not feel anything. When he keeps on walking, the boy withdrew his hand out of the fat man’s pocket with the purse and foisted the purse into his own pocket. After all these, the boy clapped his hand and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Bob looks astonished as he witnessed what unfolded before him, “That boy is a thief! You want him to steal the permission for us?”
“Or are you going to give me another choice?” Hailey grumbled.
“But is he willing to help us?” Bob is so confused.
“Well, let’s ask him.” said Barry.
They follow the boy to a dilapidated old house. “Hey!” Hailey shouted to the boy, “Can we…” They didn’t have the chance to ask the boy, because when the boy heard their voice, he turned his head and ran at once. Barry immediately runs right after him. They run through the whole old street and after a several turns, the boy finally feels tired and slows down. When Barry gets close to him, he looks at Barry warily. As they are in deadlock, Hailey and Bob come panting after them. The boy is more alert. Hailey tries to communicate with him, “Hey, we are not here to hurt you. We are not bad people. We just, we just need your help.”
After hearing this, the boy seems to relax a little.
“Could you please help us? Please, it will be an easy task for you.” Asked Bob.
Barry raises his arm, shows the boy his bare hand that he is unarmed. The boy is becoming less and less suspicion. Although he asked skeptically, “You are not going to tell me that I stole something?”
“No! No no no, actually, we want you to steal something for us.” Bob urgently clarified.
“What thing?” asked the boy.
“The permission card to enter the castle.” Barry answered.
The boy brings them to his dilapidated old house. “Why you guys want the permission to get into the castle?” Sam (the name of the boy) asked curiously, “Most of the citizens want to get far away from there.” “Is it because of the king?” Hailey asked inquisitively. “Yeah…many people hate him, but he is so powerful.” Said Sam.
“It may be a strange or even a quirky reason for you, but we want the permission because…” Barry tells their story to Sam in a nutshell. However, after listening to the whole story, Sam’s expression becomes confused.
“You said you are from another world?” said Sam incredibly.
“Yes, we really want to go back to our home, so please please help us.” Begged Bob.
Sam’s face become more transparent with disbelief, “From…the Earth?”
Hailey, Bob and Barry were shocked, “How do you know that?”
“I am not a local citizen here. I am from the Earth too.”
It turns out, Sam was transmitted to Ukuta few years ago, but he hadn’t watched the movie before, so he had no idea how to go back. In order to stay alive, he started to become a thief, so that he can use their money to buy himself food.
Now, the people who are eager to return have become four people. They soon nailed down the plan and started their adventure.
Chapter 4
By following their plan, four of them reached the gate of the castle. Bob and Hailey will attract the attention of the guards. Sam will be responsible to steal the permission from one of the guards and Barry will take the permission card to the house. At 2 a clock in the afternoon, the guards will walk out of the gate as usual to do their patrol work. Bob and Hailey mingle with the crowd at the fair. Bob pushes a man forward on purpose. The man hits onto another man. It is like a domino effect. As a result when one man pushes another. Hailey observes the situation and counted, as the sixth man was hit, she shouted out loudly, “What’s wrong with you! Why did you hit me!” Then she and Bob sneak away from the fair.
The fair has becomes more chaotic. People are shouting and yelling to each other, blaming and complaining about the low quality of people. All of these attract the guards’ attention. They run towards the fair and try to find out who is making a mess there. Sam sneaks into their team. He gets closer to a person who wear a star badge on his shoulder. As the team is swept away by the crowd, he quickly takes the card which is in the pocket of the guard and runs away in a flash.
Everything seems to be going well. Nevertheless, when Sam meets Barry at the corner, they find out that the guard who they stole the card from had caught up behind them. In urgency, Barry knocks the guard out cold.
Hailey and Bob were shocked when they saw a guard lying on the ground.
“Who is he? Why he is here? Did you just knock a guard out?” Hailey was in shocked.
“We had to, or he will turn us to the king” Said Barry.
As the four people still stood motionless, the guard moaned and woke up. When he realized where he is, he got up quickly from the ground and faced the four of them with his knife. “Who are you? I command you as the Captain of the Royal Guards, you need to return the permission card and explain your crimes right now!” The guard said the words with justice.
The four of them threw up their hands in surrender at once. Bob is trembling and says, “I…I am so, so… so sorry captain…We didn’t mean to harm you.”
The other three nod their heads to show agreement. In a fluster, the green gem in Bob’s pocket dropped on the floor. When the guard sees the gem, his expression changed. He took a quick step forward tries to pick the gem up, but Bob beats him to it.
The guard said gravely, “Where did you get that gem?”
“It was with us all the time; we don’t know where it came from” Barry answered.
“Could you please lend that gem to me? I need it for something” The guard inquired.
“Well, if you need it, you have to let us go and give us the permission card,” Hailey tries to negotiate with the guard, “Also, you need to tell us what is it for and why you need it.”
“You promise?” asked the guard.
“Of course,” answered Hailey.
The guard thought for a moment, and said, “I’ve seen this gem when I was young. It was drawn on the myth of Ukuta. In our legend, the green gem represents the supremacy. The people who can put the gem into the scepter can become the leader of Ukuta. What’s more, some people said it can open the portal to another world. I need it to overthrow the domination of King Ant. He is cruel and brutal. The citizens are suffering in fire and ice. I want the citizens to live in a peaceful life.”
When Barry, Bob, Hailey and Sam heard it, they were so excited——they have just found their ticket to go back home! “So, you plan to become the King once you get the gem?” surprised Bob.
“No. The King Ant is not the only successor of the throne. There is another successor who is the brother of King Ant——Antman. He has been restricted inside the castle. Once I find the scepter, I can let him insert the gem into the scepter. Therefore, he will become the next king of Ukuta.” Said the guard agitatedly.
“Well, actually there is another way to solve it” Sam suddenly broke into speech.
The other four looked at him interrogatively.
“You are?” Sam pointed at the guard. “Tim” answered the guard. “Alright, Tim. Since we both need the gem for different purposes. Maybe we can help you find the scepter and the Antman. While you can help us open the portal and send us back home. Isn’t that a good choice? I believe that it will be hard for you to find the scepter in your own right?” suggested Sam.
Hailey’s eyes lit up, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Wait… What do you mean that you guys need to open the portal to…another world?” Tim seems to be shocked.
After Barry explained the whole journey to Tim. Tim agrees to team up with them. By the cover of the night, this small team sneaks into the castle with Tim’s help and begins to carry out their plan.
Chapter 5
Annie is waiting in front of the prison gate. She is the daughter of a servant inside the castle. As the only helper of Tim inside the castle, she has been ordered to assist Barry and Hailey to get into the prison and find Antman. While Tim will lead Bob and Sam to search the scepter. After all that, they will meet in the North-West corner of the castle and force King Ant to give up the throne.
“Hey!” Annie whispered, “I am here!”
Barry and Hailey run towards her. There is no moon tonight. The stars are all hiding behind the black curtain. No wind, no light, even cicadas have stopped chirping. The only light exist is the giant rotating light post at the top of the prison——which is used to detect the invaders and for surveillance.
Annie leads them to the back of the prison. At the bottom of the barbed wire, someone has poked a hole there, which is big enough for an adult to cross through.
“That’s what Tim and I did. We used to sneak into the prison to find Earl Antman. But we didn’t find the scepter yet, so we could not take him out,” Said Annie, “We have already searched most parts of the castle. However, the scepter is not there. The rest of the castle that we didn’t search are either too dangerous or too barren. Watch out, be careful; don’t cut yourself by the edges” reminded Annie.
“Oh thanks, well then all we can do is to wish them good luck now” informed Hailey.
They tread softly on the dark road. As they walked through many cages, Annie murmured, “A few cages to go then you will see Eearl Antman.”
Barry shrugged his nose and sniffed around. He frowned, “I smelled blood…”
Hailey took a few quick steps, by the light of the rotating lamp post, she saw what is going on. Her mouth widened in horror, and murmured, “Holy…”
“Oh my god…” Annie clenched her mouth in disbelief, “That that’s Earl Antman!”
There is a pool of blood under Earl Antman’s body. His face in on down on the ground. A sharp knife cut deep into his heart. Earl Antman is dead.
Hailey’s voice quavered, “What should we do now?”
No one answered.
Suddenly, they heard the footsteps of a troop of soldiers coming from the outside; they are coming closer and closer. Annie cried, “The king must find out what we are doing…They killed Earl Antman, and they are coming to us now…”
“Are there any other outlets?” asked Barry.
Annie nods her head in fear, “There is another secret path which lead us to the ghost town, which is…”
Barry interrupted, “Then let’s go.”
“But it is the ghost town…people said no one can get out from there once they enter it” cried Annie.
“You think we have the choice? Whatever how horrible the town is, it is much better than have been captured by the King, isn’t it?” shouted Barry.
Chapter 6
Under panic, they climbed through the path which is an abandoned sewer. After climbing for about half an hour, they reached the other side of the sewer. It leads to a dusty room. It is clear that nobody lives here for a long long time. The kerosene in the lamp has hardened. The antique table was covered with thick dust. Everything is so lifeless and bleak here.
As Hailey is walking, she accidently hit the ragged shelf. The broken shelf creaked and then it collapsed. All the books on the shelf fell on the ground and soon became a stack.
“Be careful” said Barry, “We have to get away from here to meet with Tim.”
But Annie was tempted to open a book which fell on the ground because of the collapsed of the shelf. She knees down and picks the book up with great care. She flips through the pages, with her hands shaking. “What’s wrong?” asked Hailey.
“The book…” Annie is shivering, “It is the letter of credence… It was lost many years ago, but it is here… and, and it says ‘every generation of the royal household, will bear three successors. One will be born on March 7th, one will be born on May 8th, the last will be born on…July 9th…which is…my birthday.”
Barry and Hailey froze, “Is it a coincidence?”
“I don’t think so,” Annie is still hard to believe, “Many people said I am the only one who is born on July 9th that year. All the successors we know are two people…there is still one left… and…”
“And that the other one is you…” Hailey finished his words.
Suddenly, a rush of footsteps came from the corridor. There was no time for Barry, Hailey and Annie to react. The door is opened from the outside!
It was very surprised. They were Tim, Sam and Bob. The army also tried to capture them. When they were running away, they accidently got into the ghost town.
All of them breathed a sigh of relief. Bob was holding a long wooden stick tightly in his hand.
Barry was excited, “Did you guys find the scepter?”
At the same time, Tim was upset, “Where is Earl Antman?”
Hailey starts to explain all the things that happened. Tim, Sam and Bob were all shocked when they heard that Annie is the last successor. Bob hands the green gem and the scepter to Annie. As Annie is inserting the gem into the scepter, everyone is holding their breath and is waiting for the miracle the happen.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes…Nothing happened.
Bob first gave up, “I knew there won’t be something lucky.”
Everyone was drained of their strength and sat in silence. Hailey picked up the book, she read a few pages. Unexpectedly, she found something and jumped up, “We’ve all missed something! Inside the book it says, ‘To become the true king of Ukuta, you either get the support of citizens or you fail’, what does that mean?”
Tim thought for a while, “The support of citizens, support…”
“If, if we succeeded in persuading the citizens to rebel, does that mean that we get their support?” Barry said to himself.
Sam agreed, “That make sense. But how can we gather all the citizens around? We don’t have that time to persuade households one by one.”
Annie’s eyes lit up, “The main plaza! Tomorrow is the Ukuta Day! All the citizens will gather around there to worship to their ancestors!”
“Great! But…how can we get out from this ghost town?” doubted Bob.
“By this,” when everyone else is worrying about Bob’s question, Barry is waving the paper in his hand, “It is the map of the whole Ukuta. I found it in the book. Ha-ha.”
Chapter 7
All six people finally reached the main plaza when the sun comes up. They succeeded in eluding the army. What they have to do now, is to wait patiently until all of the citizens are here.
By the middle of the day, most of Ukutars have arrived. Bob runs to the huge bell in the middle of the plaza and rings it. The huge sound went through the whole plaza, which catches all the citizens attention.
“Good afternoon everyone. I am Annie. According to our law, I am one of the successors of the throne. If you don’t believe me, I got the scepter here” Annie waves the scepter towards the people. After hearing this, the citizens began to whisper to one another.
“I understand that it is difficult for you to believe me. But we have been exploited, oppressed and suffered under our tyrannical King Ant. We couldn’t enjoy the harvest since the taxes are increasing and become higher and higher. Your husband and sons are forced to join the army. Weman and girls have to work as slaves. Our lives are covered by his dark shadow. Are you happy, are you satisfied with it?” The murmuring becomes louder and louder.
“It is possible for us to change all of it, to correct all of it. All we have to do is to stand up together against the King. Many hands make light work. We have the chance to make our lives better. We have the chance to enjoy our family reunions, so why don’t we take it?”
The murmurs slowly died down. More and more people are starting to considering what Annie just said.
“Please, let’s get together. Let’s overthrow the domination of this tyrannical king; let’s make our lives become better and better…”
When Annie is still convincing, the army broke her into the speech. They shouted, “ The King’s order, is to catch the traitors. You, citizens, get out of our way!”
After a few seconds, a man walks to the side of Annie, “I will join in.” After seeing this man, more and more people crowded onto the platform; more and more people stand on the side of Annie. All the citizens have made their choice.
When the great war is about to break out, a beam of dazzling green light comes form the scepter and envelops the whole Ukuta, it lasts for a long time. It finally fades away. Everything has changed…
Chapter 8
Bang!
A huge sound appears in the basement of the house. It feels like something has dropped from a very high place.
The basement has become its original layout. Barry, Bob, Hailey and Sam are lying on the coach. Everyone is unconscious. On the screen of television, the movie Ukuta is playing. The scenes are all different. Inside the castle, a queen is sitting on the throne. Beside her, is a handsome and tall man who is in the guard uniform with a three-star badges on his shoulder.
The rain is getting gentler outside…The Sun slowly rises on the horizon….
WORKS CITED
‘Jumanji:Welcome to the jungle’. ent.sina.cn. May 15, 2019. https://image.baidu.com/search/detail?ct=503316480&z=0&ipn=d&word=勇敢者游戏决战丛林&step_word=&hs=0&pn=41&spn=0&di=57530&pi=0&rn=1&tn=baiduimagedetail&is=0%2C0&istype=2&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&in=&cl=2&lm=-1&st=-1&cs=3686728817%2C217157550&os=2668487217%2C4110482837&simid=0%2C0&adpicid=0&lpn=0&ln=653&fr=&fmq=1558582489954_R&fm=result&ic=&s=undefined&hd=&latest=©right=&se=&sme=&tab=0&width=&height=&face=undefined&ist=&jit=&cg=&bdtype=0&oriquery=&objurl=http%3A%2F%2Fk.sinaimg.cn%2Fn%2Fent%2Ftransform%2F20171115%2FFyEE-fynstfh9389413.jpg%2Fw700h350z1l10t107af.jpg&fromurl=ippr_z2C%24qAzdH3FAzdH3Fjgp_z%26e3Bftgw_z%26e3BvgAzdH3Futs4AzdH3Fu56jt2gAzdH3Fda80-88-dlAzdH3F1jpwts-tuyrvjtq08cbldc_z%26e3B1_z%26e3Bip4s&gsm=0&rpstart=0&rpnum=0&islist=&querylist=&force=undefined
ULink College Wordsmith Society 2019 