Preknowings: Success Always Fails (PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

More Waiting

In the morning, Mitchell made omlets with tomato and spinach for breakfast. His foods were getting better and better, you'd think I hadn't eaten in four days. It was that good. Pauline kept up with her 'act of love.' My mood was brightening that morning, but it all changed in the afternoon. Mitchell slowed down the process of getting home by a lot. He just had to take his time with everything he did. It got annoying fast. Soon, after everyone was finished with breakfast, we went outside. It was a warm, breezy day. It felt nice. For a second, I wanted to lay down on the grass and sleep. But then I remembered that I needed to keep an eye on Mitchell. He told us about a grove of trees that were great for climbing that were a short distance to the east. Ralph was talking to Pauline and Mitchell irritatingly about the Horned Walapus species, but they weren't listening. They were holding hands and mumbling something to each other that they obviously liked. Or pretended to like. Mitchell helped Pauline along the way because she could barely walk. I thought her leg was getting worse. She needed help. After a short walk, we got to the grove of trees. They were huge, with strong branches and easy access to the top. They were very tall. They had very pale, thin bark. The leaves were a beautiful hot pink, they were almost red. Of course, Mitchell and Pauline took the same tree. It was the biggest and strongest one anyone could see in the grove. Ralph followed them even though they clearly wanted privacy. They had some trouble getting to the top because of Pauline's leg. Mitchell had to carry her up, but at the same time needed to hold onto the branches around them for balance. Don't ask me how he did it, but they got to the top branch and neither of them got a scratch or mark of any kind on them. He set her down on a strong, flat branch that was vaguely shaped like a really small bed. She hung her good leg off of the branch and kept her broken one elevated on Mitchell's lap. Ralph clambered up after them. I pulled myself to the top of the tree that was beside theirs. Ralph started chattering their ears off before they could even do anything. Mitchell was fed up with him always butting into their privacy and interrupting them. Ralph argued, which only made Mitchell more enraged. He picked Ralph up by the trunk and held him in the air, threatening to drop him. Pauline put her hand on Mitchell's shoulder and told him to put Ralph down and get a hold of himself. But instead of listening to Pauline, Mitchell's threw Ralph off the branch and into the air. He fell and landed on the ground with a thud. I gasped and rushed down the tree to help him. He was getting up, but he looked winded. "Are you okay?" I asked him and picked him up. "What a jerk." He said. I could hear the pain in his voice. "That really hurt." "Yeah," I agreed, "And he's a spy, too. He's being used by the Chinese to figure out our plans, just like we were supposed to do to them." "Really?" Ralph asked. "Yeah," I said. "Well, sorry. I feel real stupid." I put him on my shoulder and climbed back up my tree. When we got to the best branch at the top, we sat down and watched Pauline and Mitchell. Pauline was mad at Mitchell for throwing Ralph onto the ground. Mitchell kept saying sorry to her. "Say sorry to Ralph!" She told him. "But he kept bugging us! He's just an idiot!" He replied. "You're the idiot! He's my friend!" He didn't argue back. Suddenly, he grabbed her face and pulled it to his, forcing her to kiss him. Her eyes widened and she looked scared. "Stop it, Mitchell!" I yelled. She pushed him away with her arms. Serendipitously, she pushed him too hard so he lost his balance and fell right out of the tree! In the air, he yelled, "I'm sorry, Ralph!" Then hit a branch that cracked his back, flipped in the air, and landed face-down in the dirt. He was unconscious. No one moved for a second, then Ralph called down to Mitchell, "I accept your apology!"

"Sure, I hated him," Pauline said, "but I didn't want to push him out of the tree!" "Well, I kinda did." I said. "So, should we just go get our stuff and leave for the lake?" I suggested. "No," Pauline said, "he'll probably be able to catch up with us because of my leg." "Oh." I replied. "You should come over to this tree, so we can hang out without Mitchell ruining it." She told me. "Okay." I agreed happily. I used a long branch on my tree as a bridge to where Pauline was sitting. I crawled over to her with Ralph right behind me. Pauline was now hanging both legs off of the branch. I sat beside her and took her hand. She laid her head on my shoulder. "I wanna go home," she said, "I think my leg is getting worse. I'm scared. I really need to get to a hospital." "I know," I replied, "We'll get you to a hospital and then you can go home." A tear rolled from Pauline's face onto my shirt. "I don't wanna be here anymore!" She cried. I hugged her and squeezed her hand. Suddenly, I remembered something we packed. I got so excited I almost fell out of the tree myself. "What is it?" Pauline asked, her face wet from crying. "We totally forgot about the two-way radio we packed!" Pauline gasped, exhilarated. "We can use it to contact Middleton, and Charles, and Williams!" Ralph cheered. "I'll try to get us down. But I'm not nearly as strong as Mitchell, so it'll take me longer, with your leg and all." Pauline and Ralph nodded. I picked Pauline up with all the strength I had, and started down the tree. It worked for about two minutes at a time. Between those minutes, I set her down on a branch and caught my breath. She tried to help as much as possible by scooting down each branch when we took breaks. Ralph went ahead to the ground. Finally, we made it to the bottom. I was sweating. "I'm sorry." Said Pauline. "Why?" I breathed heavily. "For my leg," she replied, "It's just giving you more work and slowing us down." "It's okay. I'm fine. It doesn't matter. We'll get home really, really soon. I promise." "Okay." Pauline stammered. That seemed to calm her down. I looked around the grove for a walking stick for her. I found two good ones that would serve as crutches. She used them and we were on our way back to Mitchell's Wormhole. When we got there, I carried Pauline once more as we jumped into the hole. That was the hardest part, actually. I put her down when we were inside and grabbed my backpack. I tore it open and wrapped my fingers around the radio. I looked for the right button so we could contact a base correctly and get out of this mess. "I think it's that one." Pauline pointed to a big button on the left side of the radio. "Hold it and say something." I pressed and held the button and spoke into the machine, "Hello? Is anyone there?" I let go of the button and listened. Middleton's voice could be heard coming out of the radio. "Eliot, Martin, is that you guys?" I pressed the button and held it again. "Yeah, it's us. We need your help badly!" "What's wrong?" he asked. "Pauline broke her leg and you can see the bone. And there's a big bruise around it, too." "Is she okay?" "I guess so, I'm right here." Pauline chimed in. "Alright," said Middleton. "Are you okay until tomorrow morning? Where are you? Still at camp in Maryland?" "Uh, I guess we're okay until tomorrow morning. And no, we're not at the camp anymore. We're not in Maryland." I said anxiously. "Then where are you?" Middleton asked. "And is Thunderbeck alright?" "Um, we were captured by the Chinese but we escaped and now we're in the woods on the north side of the Great Wall of China living with this guy named Mitchell. And on the other hand, yeah, Ralph is oka-" At that moment, Mitchell fell into the entrance of the Wormhole. "What's going on, guys? Pauline? Why'd you leave me back there?" "Because you're a jerk!" Ralph piped. "Hey!" Middleton shouted through our radio, "What's going on? Is everything okay?" "Yeah, uh, everything's great, "Just give us a sec, though." "Mitchell, that was my dad." Pauline said, distracting him while Ralph snuck behind him and grabbed a plank of wood that was leaning against the wall, trying not to drop it with all its weight. "Um, we left you because we couldn't get you up." I tried. Pauline nodded quickly. Mitchell looked at Pauline and smiled. "Come here, baby," he said. "I'm sorry for arguing with you. You're so pretty." Pauline gulped and replied, "Awww, you're so sweet. And I'm sorry for calling you an idiot." Mitchell rubbed his back where he hit the branch and gave Pauline a hug and tried to kiss her again. She put her hand on his chest and held him away. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Not yet." Pauline said. Mitchell stepped away from her a little, but then, Ralph came up behind him and whacked him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. He fell to the floor. I pressed the button on the radio again. "Okay." I said. "We can talk now." "Who's Mitchell?" Middleton asked. "He's a guy who apparently lives out here. But we think he's a spy to figure out our plans. And if he asks, we'll tell him to go to the opposite way we're planning to go." "Where are you planning to go?" Questioned Middleton. "To a lake at the bottom of the mountain. A few miles north." "Okay. Alright. We have your lake located. We'll send in a helicopter on the....uh....opposite side of the lake from you. Can you meet Charles there tomorrow afternoon?" "I think so," I responded, "We might be a few minutes late, though." "Very well," Middleton replied. "You'll be taken back here to Base: BXY-2. Martin will be taken immediately to the infirmary to be treated. You as well, Eliot, you could be a little bent up, too." "Well, my forehead does have a small gash on it. I'll probably need stitches." "You guys'll be just fine in no time. Just hang in there. See you tomorrow." "Thank you." Pauline and I said into the machine at the same time. "You're welcome. Any day." He said. We could hear the click of him letting go of his radio's button. I put our radio back in my backpack. "What do we do with him?" I asked Pauline looking at Mitchell on the floor. "Eh, leave him. He'll be fine." She mumbled. Meanwhile, Ralph was rummaging around in Mitchell's icebox in the kitchen. I walked over to him and pulled him out. "We have our own food." I said. "Yeah," agreed Pauline, "in our backpacks." I got our bookbags and we had a canned lunch. I had chicken noodle soup, Pauline had the same, and, again, Ralph had cold baked beans. I think that's his favorite food. Mitchell was still lying on the floor by the entrance. "I wonder if everyone back home thinks we're dead," I wondered out loud. "Probably something like that," Pauline replied with her mouth full. Ralph sneezed. "Bless you," Pauline and I said simultaneously. By now, Pauline, Ralph and I had finished our lunches. We threw the cans in the sink. The plates from last night's dinner were still in the sink and Mitchell hadn't washed them yet like he said he would. We sat on the couch and discussed our plan to get to the helicopter. "We should have an early start," Pauline commented. "Yeah, we should wake up at about four o'clock if we want to get across, but we could turn the canoe right-side up and climb back in...right?" I thought to myself while we pondered our choices and details.

Suddenly, Mitchell stirred and awakened. I quickly moved to a chair farther away from Pauline. "What happened?" Mitchell asked as he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh," Pauline sputtered, "You backed into the wall and knocked yourself out. We didn't wake you up because you...uh, um,...looked so peaceful." She smiled desperately. He walked over to her and sat beside her on the couch. He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. The first chance she got, she wiped it off and made a disgusted face. Soon after, Mitchell got up to light the fire, and sat back down beside Pauline. We told stories and laughed and had hot tea. I tried to stay as involved as possible because I knew I wouldn't be able to have another good time like this for a long time. Ralph laughed so hard that tea came out of his trunk. When everyone was in the middle of a hilarious conversation about embarrassing experiences, I snuck off to my backpack and got out my phone. I set my alarm for four and turned the volume up to halfway, and went back to sit down. We laughed and talked into the night. When we got worn out, we went to bed. Pauline laid down on the couch, Mitchell got on top of the table and Ralph fell down under the table. I crawled to my spot on the floor with my pillow and tried to sleep. It took me a while, but eventually I drifted off. It seemed like I got five minutes of sleep before my alarm went off in my backpack. I scrambled blindly to it and turned it off before anyone else woke up. I gently shook Pauline awake, and we silently discussed how we would get Ralph without waking up Mitchell. We decided I would sneak over to him and cover his mouth and trunk in case he said anything or screamed, then would grab him and take him to the entrance. When that was done, Pauline had all our stuff packed in each of our backpacks. Ralph's eyes were wide open and he was struggling in my grasp. I put a finger to my lips signaling for him to be quiet and put him on my shoulder. He calmed himself down and whispered to me, "Y'almost gave me a heart attack." "Yeah, yeah," I whispered back. "But we've gotta go." Pauline gave us our backpacks and she slung her own onto one shoulder, and then put her other arm under the remaining strap. Ralph and I did the same. Soon we were lifted out of Mitchell's stupid Wormhole and into the clear night. I thought it was weird that Mitchell didn't ask what our plan was. I checked Pauline's leg and then went and grabbed the two sticks she'd used earlier as crutches. During the time I was handing the crutches to her, Ralph had crawled into my backpack and zipped himself inside. I'm ready for the ride!" He called. Pauline leaned on the crutches and my shoulder as we walked as quickly as possible down the mountain. Every once in a while, we stopped to give Pauline a break. I heard snoring. Coming from the backpack. Somehow, Ralph had fallen asleep even with all the bumps of me speed walking. After another quick break, we resumed moving down the mountain. We knew Mitchell probably would be after us soon, so we stumbled as fast as Pauline's broken leg could carry us. When we thought we could lose a few minutes, we stopped to eat. We had the usual: fruit for Pauline and I, and beans for Ralph. (I had to wake him up before we ate.) Soon, we were stumbling down the mountain again. It was still pretty early in the morning. I figured that we had about four or five hours to get to the lake. "I see it!" Pauline breathed excitedly, "I see the lake!" I dropped my backpack and threw up my arms and yelled, "Yes!" Ralph shuffled out of my backpack and asked, "What's goin' on? Why're ya yellin'?" "The lake!" I answered. "Well just 'cause ya see the lake doesn't mean we're any closer to it." He was right. We needed to keep going. The sun was up. I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulders and helped Pauline with her crutches. That was when I spotted something shiny in one of the trees. "Pauline," I said, looking at it. "Yeah?" She replied. I pointed to it. Her eyes widened. I went over to the tree and looked up at the object. It was one of those little cameras you see at stores. It was pointed right at me. I ran back to Pauline. "What is it?" she asked. "It's a camera. we're being watched. Right now. Someone could be listening to us, too." I answered. "Ooh," Ralph said, "Then maybe we shouldn't talk." Pauline and I nodded. We headed in the direction of the lake as quickly as possible again. And after taking many breaks and seeing a lot of cameras, we made it to the lake edge. "Wow!" Ralph exclaimed, "Ugh, let's get this over with."