Chapter 1

Dark clouds are everywhere. Swirling and churning in the sky. The air is ice cold. I am shivering. People are running away from Home. I see Mother, waving for me to follow her. She looks worried. Saami is beside her clutching his seed bag, shaking it near his ear. With his eyes shut, he's holding Mother's hand very hard, as their hands are red. They could be red from the wind, too. For the wind is blowing everything everywhere, flipping huts and taking away trees and crops with ease.

I hear crying and screaming coming from all directions. Mostly coming from my people, but some shouting comes from the Men. The Men are huge men. They are strong and rough. They grip the children by the arm or throw them over their backs. They push back the adults, trying to snatch back their children.

I'm making my way over to Mother, breathing very heavily. I lose sight of her many times, due to the chaos. I break into a run when I see one of the Men take Saami. Mother takes her eyes off mine and runs toward him. I feel water in my eyes, which I hate. I become lost because my eyes are too blurry. I wipe the water away to find I have just turned around. I spin back around to find Mother gone from where she was. I begin to panic. I feel like screaming and telling everyone to stop. So I do. Everyone keeps running.

Before I could begin running to where I think Mother went, I am grabbed. I turn sideways and start shaking. As I look up, I see one of the Men. He is my carrier. I soon realize I have been stolen, just like Saami. I kick, squirm, and yell, trying to get away. Poor mother, both of her children stolen. Why does all of the Men want the children? If I have to be taken, I hope I end up with Saami at... wherever they take us. I see Gianda running, Buirl jumping toward his mother, and some of my other learning mates. They all are scared.

It begins to rain. I suddenly feel relieved, because I know the angels realize. We're saved. The beautiful rain has come. Soon, this will all stop and we will be sleeping again. I then begin to think. Why have they waited this long? Why would they want us to endure this? Are they going to come and actually take us out of the Men's hands? I hope so. What a feeling that would be. I would prove so many people wrong. Please come.

Where am I? I have been thinking too much, Mother would say. I am so lost in thought, I don't even know where this man is taking me. I start praying, because thinking of Mother makes me want to anger her. Praying does that. To my amazement, I feel my body realease from the man's arms. I am flying, high above the ground, above Home. This is my favorite dream. The sun peeks out above the Tamilyas. I become happy.

Chapter 2

I open my eyes. Looking up, I see I left my TV on all night. I turn it off and stare at the blackness for a while. I don't want to leave the softness of my bed, but I know Mom will have breakfast ready downstairs. I stand up in the morning cold and head to the shower. The warm water sure does the thing. Walking out of the shower, I see Jenny in her room. I just know she's gonna complain about something this morning. She's turned into such a brat lately.

I walk downstairs to find Mom in her suit, hastily getting plates and syrup out.
"Eat fast. You're gonna be late." She says to me. How come these are my mom's first words to me when other moms greet their kids by saying "Good morning!" or "Did you sleep well?"? It's also sad that this is a daily morning thought.

Jenny now comes in, passing Mom on her way out. They about run into each other; they're both looking at their phones. Jenny turns her head to look at Mom, and walks toward the table. Mom slams the front door shut.
"You could've said bye to Mom, ya know." I said.
"Don't tell me what to do. I bet you didn't do it either, Jacob. Eat. You're taking me to school."
"I take you every morning. I don't need reminding." If she's a brat to me, I'm a brat back.
After she glares at me, we eat in silence. I'm not even tasting the pancakes but when I actually think about how they taste, I realize that mine is undercooked. I can just see Mom throwing together random amounts of ingredients and cooking them for like a minute. Typical. Looking over at Jenny's plate, her's is not much better. Actually it's significantly worse; I can see the batter inside the pancake. Hopefully she didn't eat too much of it like I did.

After we finish cutting our breakfast into chunks with our forks and throwing it away, we grab out stuff and head out the door. I glance at the picture beside the door, which is becoming a normal thing for me. I don't want it to be. It's starting to get cold. I think about going to get a jacket, but Jenny would whine so I just get in my car.

A lot of people wonder why I have a 2012 BMW Convertible for my first car, and I tell them it's none of their business. It's not my fault my Mom is Vice President of a bank and my dad was a doctor. I didn't even pick the car, but I probably would have if I had gone car shopping. Mom just bought a nice car because of the little things she knows about me, she knows I like the nicest, coolest things. I guess she doesn't care how fast I'm driving by getting my a sportscar. Actually, I've gotten up in the 80's before. So that was one time I said thank you to her. Wow.

The whole drive to Oaksdale Middle School, Jenny was on her phone. I have no idea who she texted on that thing, but she was texting ALL the time. Maybe it was a boyfriend or just a friend, but they sure had a lot to talk about. I never say anything about that to her, cause she would surely kill me. We drive up and she gets out with her bookbag. She meets up with these preppy girls as soon as she steps onto the campus. I knew she was popular at school. She has sleepovers at home all the time with eighth grade girls who wear skirts made for third graders. If you look in Jenny's closet, there's not much of a difference. Kind of ridiculous, but it only gets worse at the school I'm heading to now: East Gateford High School. I can only imagine what's going to happen to her when she transfers.

There's only a 3 minute drive from Oaksdale to East Gateford, so I don't have much time to think about my sister. I pull into my parking spot in the junior section of the parking lot. Getting out and locking my car, I stare at the school. Very bland and ordinary. I think it's like twenty years old. Lately, I've just been getting this feeling that something big can happen here. That some students, or even me, can make a huge change.

Wow, I'm such a dork. What am I gonna do at a public high school? I make my way to 1st period.

Chapter 3

I wake up very steadily, still dreaming. I desperately want to soar right over the Tamilyas to explore and see what lies beyond them. In fact, I probably would be if I wasn't being shooken. I finally open my eyes and sit up to see who it is that is disturbing me from my slumber, and I'm not at all suprised to see who it is. Saami is shaking my legs wildly with a gigantic smile across his face. I can't help but laugh and run my fingers through his hair.
"Good morning Saami. How was your sleep?" I said to him.
"Mine was good. Yours?" He asked me this with a curious look.
"Fine." I automatically said, thinking back to the sunset over the Tamilyas. But, as I gazed at Saami for a bit longer, I remember the first part of my dream. The Men.

Thinking about this gets me to my feet. I stand up on my straw mat and scan my family tent. Good, my notes still in the corner and my stone, as always, was still perched on the wooden table by the hut opening. I check these things every morning now due to how Mother took my notes and read half of them one morning. She's not supposed to read them. There's only one person who can. And that person is who I'm going to see now.

I'm the last one to leave the hut, as Saami and Mother are already gone. I snatch up my notes, stuff the stone into my pocket, and head out to the Learning Hut. The Learning Hut is only about thirty steps from my hut, but still I am stopped. Buirl's mother, Traisa brings me to a halt.
"Halli, the other children are in the forest gathering fruit. I'm sure they would love it if you would join them."
"I will in a minute Traisa, but I-"
Traisa walked off. Right in the middle of our conversation. I swear, Mother and her are tied for the rudest women alive.

I can see Sara in the Learning Hut getting ready for our two a'clock lesson just a few feet away. I could easily walk over there and talk to her about my dream, but that'll have to wait. Going to gather fruit with the other children sounds better than going to talk to Sara and getting yelled at by Mother for ignoring Traisa later. Knowing how close Mother and Traisa are, word would easily get around.

A few steps into the forest, I can hear Buirl laughing. Probably telling the story of how he ate a huge bug again or how Sara accidentally said poop instead of hoop. His stories always get on my nerves. As I approach, I discover that it's a new story that sounds just as pointless as the others.
"So I was climbing that tree right over there trying to get a view of the Tamilyas-"
"You mean you were trying to shoot a bird with your slingshot, right?" Gianda corrected him. Gianda usually annoyed me with her smart remarks, but I couldn't help but smile at this comment as it is probably true.
"I haven't shot a bird in five days Gianda! Anyways, I was looking-" Buirl started.
"What about that rabbit you shot yesterday?" I said from behind Buirl, making him turn around. Gianda looked around at me and smiled.
"Oh, look who finally decided to help." Buirl said with about three bananas in his hand.
I turned around and kicked a tree which allowed five bananas to fall. I picked them up and held them out.
"And look who has more fruit." I spat out. Rooni smiled and clapped for my presentation, clearly behind on what was going on. He's always been the slow one. I walked over and stood by Dana and dropped the food into her sling.
Buirl stared at me for a few seconds, and then turned and continued with his story.
"As I was saying, I was looking at the Tamilyas and my foot slipped on the tree. I knocked a couple mangoes loose from its grip to the tree, and they rolled down the trunk. I looked around and saw Frasier walking towards my tree, so I picked a mango and dropped it right on his head!"
Everyone but me and Dana began snorting with laughter. Gianda started frowning, which was understandable since Frasier was her father.
"And if that wasnt enough," began Buirl again, "the fool slipped on the ones that were on the ground!" Hopefully the story was over, as more high-pitched laughter came from this. It was actually kind of disgusting.
"Yes, I found it very funny at the time." Buirl remarked, smirking.
"And you clearly still do." I said.
"Well you know what's even funnier, Halli, is something I heard last night. I was heading to my hut when I passed YOUR family tent. I heard some whimpering, so I went to the window to observe, hoping to see that nasty little Saami crying." Buirl started.
I could tell he wasn't finished, but even this much of his story angered me. My face was already red. I was about to say Saami was fine last night, but then he said something that horrified me.
"But what I found was Halli, crying and shaking in her sleep! This was hilarious, but I held back my laughter so I wouldn't wake her. I picked up a twig and gently poked her face, seeing what she would do. However, she screamed-" He drew in a deep breath.
"RUN SAAMI! RUN SAAMI! THE MEN! THE MEN ARE AFTER YOU!" Buirls face was red from how loud he was shouting.
My mouth dropped, and my whole body started shivering. This was such a bad feeling. I never would have thought someone had been watching me in my sleep. To make matters worse it was Buirl.
I was half expecting everyone to start yelling at Buirl about how he was such a bully, but the complete opposite happened.
At first everyone looked scared, like I was about to explode. But once Rooni started giggling, everyone balled with laughter. Watching the water pour out of people's eyes from joy, I felt worse than ever. Even Gianda, who hated Buirl and his tales, tried to hold back her laughter. I looked over at Dana, my truly good friend, who had a look of utter shock on her face. She was about to embrace me, but I stormed off.
I started to cry. I cried very hard. I never allow myself to say or even think about the word "cry". It sounds so weak. But now, I felt the weakest I have ever felt.
I wiped the water from my eyes just so I could see where I was going. When I could again see, I found that the Learning Hut was just to my right. I looked the other way to see Traisa sitting down, peering at me from her hut. I knew she would be excited to find out her son had that much influence on me. I couldn't let Traisa think I was that weak.

I stomped over to the opening of her hut, our eyes locked the whole time. I didn't know what I was going to say, but surely I will find something by the time I get there. Stopping in front of her, I looked at her for a second so she could see my true feeling: anger. Without thinking,
I threw out the words "Control your son."
I took in about a second of her insulted face and made my way, finally, to the Learning Hut.

Chapter 4

The perfect way to start off my day.
I walk in the front doors of East Gateford High. Minding my own business, I'm walking down the hall when I pass a sophomore, Fred Davis. He's listening to some music, probably religious junk. He's a Christian kid, and they always get on my nerves. Preacher's kids, ugh, they disgust me. Always stuck up.
Anyways, Fred's listening to music basically skipping down the hallway with a cup of coffee in his hand. HOT COFFEE. He's prancing right towards me, so I kind of shift to the far side of the hall. Of course, he gets the same idea, trying to dodge me. I bet you know what happens next.
Coffee. It runs all down my leg, between every one of my toes. My pants are drenched. I mean, how did he manage for the cup to fall right on my chest? And why was he listening to music with his eyes closed? Then again, did he not realize he was walking down a public hallway filled with his peers that already think he's a freak? So many good questions here.
So yeah, I yelled. I pitched a fit. My face was probably fire red. A lot of people that were in that hallway, if I were to guess, think I overreacted. But I bet they don't have hot coffee in their crotch right now? I bet their not in a school bathroom wring out some of that hot coffee from their sock? I bet their not thinking about how they were totally embarressed by a religious clutz in front of about fifty people.
I still remember his hurt face. I knew he was sorry, but I mean, he still did it. Sure it was a mistake, but that doesn't help the fact that I smell like coffee beans. Hopefully he learned it's not smart to have a Jesus music party with your eyes closed at school.
"Why would you be walking down the hallway like that?! Did you not think about what could happen? Look what you've done! Idiot!"
The words had just left my mouth about two minutes ago.
"I'm sorry, I just wasn't paying atten-"
"Clearly! Next time, keep your eyes open when you listen to your Christian crap, got it?"
All of that, at the top of my lungs. I couldn't of looked like a total wimp and just told him it was fine, right? Especially with Rachel Sanders right down the hallway. Yeah, I had to make it look like I was in control. Fred bent down to pick up the coffee cup, and I kicked it across the floor. That's what he gets. I bet Rachel loved that.
Okay, I think that's as good as it's gonna get. I threw away the wad of damp paper towels. It doesn't even matter 'cause the paper towel dispenser is empty. The right leg of my pants are dark brown, but that can't be fixed. No one's at home so I can't get another change of clothes. Oh well. Everyone will just have a good time laughing today.
Time to go to English. Great, another morning joy. It's a short walk from the bathroom to my class, so I don't have much time to think about what Rachel's gonna think when I walk in with a coffee-flavored leg.
I know Ms. Gregory likes for people to knock, but I barge in.
"Mr. Cartwell, you're late." said Ms. Gregory. No, don't go there.
"Yeah, I know. It's not my fault."
"You still need a note."
I look up into her old, wrinkley face. She doesn't even have her glasses on. If I tore off a piece of notebook paper and handed it to her right now, she probably wouldn't even know the difference. That's actually pretty smart.
I reach into my bookbag and tear off a sheet of paper from my binder. I flatten it out and stand up ready to give it to her.
Naturally, she now has her glasses on. Oh Ms. Gregory, you better stop now before I seriously get mad again.
"Do you already have a note, Jacob?" she asked.
"No. I thought I did."
"Go to the office, then. The secretary will-"
"I know, Ms. Gregory. I know." I said, a little too obnoxiously.
"Dont get an attitude with me, Mr. Cart-"
That's all I got before I slammed the door on my way out.


Finally, the bell that ends first period. I was about to kill Ms. Gregory. After I got back with my note, thirty pages of bookwork was on the board for us to do while Ms. Gregory sat behind her desk glaring at us. Typical. I forgot about Rachel being in my English class until there was about twenty minutes of class yet. I slowly turned around to make quick eye contact with her and she looked at me like I was hopeless, glancing at my soaked pants. Once again, typical.
One interesting thing did happen in English though. Rob Vernon sent me a text that read Come meet us in the courtyard.

I knew that could only mean one thing, since there were no cameras in the courtyard.

I walked out into the crisp courtyard air, where I could already see Rob and about five other guys in a huddle at the far end. Yes, a lot of people think that having a courtyard in the middle of your school is convenient, using it to avoid long walks around the school. Honestly, this is the first time I've been in the courtyard probably since my sophomore year when this same situation was happening. Except this time, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
"It's about time you showed up, Jake. What's up with your pants?" Rob croaked.
He obviously doesn't know me that well since I hate to be called Jake.
"Long story. Why'd you text me?" I said, as if I didn't already know.
"Well," he started, pulling out a cigarette. I may not know him that well, but I know he smokes tons. The smell and sound of his voice will tell you that.
"I got another stash last night from Bill. I just wanted to check and see if you were interested." Rob said with a slight smirk before sticking the cigarette in his mouth. I also knew Bill was his brother.
"Uh, well you see-" I didn't know how to say that I hadn't really started using drugs.
"Or are you gonna play it safe like you did last time?" Rob said, remembering the similar incident that happened last year.
"If you want some, you better take it now cause I won't get more until Bill comes home again next month." Rob continued. I may know who Bill is, but I have no idea where Bill goes off to every month.
"Actually, what I was gonna say was that I don't have any money with me right now. Uh, you should've said something to me last night." I lied.
Rob eyed for me a second.
"But do you want some?" Rob asked.
I slightly nodded and shrugged at the same time.
Rob looked over the people around him and turned back to me.
"I'm gonna do you a favor then." He said grinning at me. He held out his hand which contained a Ziplock bag with what looked like a small amount of weed and what looked like a medicine bottle. I was utterly shocked. What am I supposed to do, take it and walk around with that stuff in my pocket?
Rob obviously thought I wouldn't take it. I remember back to last year when he did this exact same thing. He gave me this questioning look. I can't just be a baby right here in front of these people. What would be wrong with carrying it around for the rest of the day?
I swiped my hand across his outstretched one, grabbing its contents.
"Thanks." I mutter.
"Uh, yeah." Rob looked suprised and a little angered that I'd just basically robbed him like that.
I grin and stuff the things in my pocket, secretly worried about carrying these things around with me all day. I now notice that my good friend Thomas Jennings is one of the five people around Rob. He usually doesn't hang with Rob much, kind of like me. I wonder why he's there.David Little is one of them too, which is kind of sad. David's always been such a good, smart kid. I wonder how long he's been with Rob. Also, everybody there has drugs in there hand. Thomas looks just as bewildered as I do, staring down at his loot.
The lunch bell rings and we all disperse from our awkward gathering in the corner. Instantly, I feel the intensity of carrying drugs in my pocket that I've never experienced. This will take some getting use to.
Making my way to the cafeteria, I try not even to bump into anyone with the lump of weed in my pocket. I just need to focus on acting cool. I can't look suspicious.

If I had known where I would actually be going now, I would've never taken those drugs from Rob. In fact, it'll be a wonder if I don't act suspicious now. Words can't describe how I felt when the intercom announced:

Jacob Cartwell to the Principal's office please. Thank you.

Chapter 5

Seeing Sara's expectant face is very refreshing when I walk into the Learning Hut. I immediately began pouring out my morning story to her.
"And they all started laughing! I expected everyone to accuse Buirl of being a bully, but they all laughed with him. I felt so horrible!" I cried out to Sara.

Sara is my best friend. I like to think of her as my mother, but Sara says that I don't need to do that. She is 35 years old, which is only 19 years older than me. I love hearing Sara's story.
Sara used to be a scientist. She lived in a place she calls California, which sounds very strange. She owned a science lab there where she kept different specimens. What she would do was travel to different places and study organisms, which I later learned were any living things or systems. Once she kinds an organism, she would take it back to her lab to investigate.
For one of her trips, she had to sail across the ocean to a place called Hawaii. She was with 6 other people and they were out to find a plant species she had never seen before. I can only imagine her excitement since I love finding new things. However, what she came upon suprised her even more.
Without even realizing, her boat ran up on land. An island. An island they had never heard of. The other people on the boat jolted awake. They too, were utterly shocked at the land.
They didn't know what to think of this. Everyone took turns looking at the map they had with them. They all scanned the Pacific Ocean on the paper and saw only the islands of Hawaii. There were no buildings on this island, so it couldn't be Hawaii. They went along the area with a thing called a magnifying glass, but there were no places of land. If this island were on the map, they would be able to see it, for it looked quite large.
Naturally, they got out and looked for organisms. Sara said they were all shocked, but equally excited to discover something new. They searched and searched for about 5 days. At the end of day 4, what they had found actually pleased them. Sara said they had an interesting prickled plant, a mysterious blue fruit, and a strange orange bug. I can picture the excitement on her face thinking about bringing back three new species.
On day 5, they decided to do things a little bit differently. Since they were running out of food and supplies, they knew they were going to have to make their way to Hawaii or sail back to California. With this in mind, they decided to split up across the island to find as much things as they could. This seemed risky to Sara, but she went along with it. They breifly discussed

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 12.10.2012

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