Kid Quest

Orlan

The air bit at Orlan's skin as he stomped through the muddy field, splashing his feet in tiny puddles as he trudged through the grass to his hideout. For 5 days, Orlan has been happily hiking 4 hours from his home to a large tree. This tree, residing in the middle of a forest, is easily seen across the vast, and frequently soggy field between it and his home.

It was wet today because it had snowed the night before. The small wooden cottage he lived in barely keeping the warmth. But his hideout was nearly finished, and it kept warm very well.
    Finally, he made it to the tree, his tiny boots covered and soaked in mud. Once there, he looked around the base of the tree for a moment, then moved some dirt with his hands, revealing a small hole under the exposed roots of the tree. He fit through quite easily, as the hole was large enough for two of him. On the other side of the hole was a completely hollowed out area below the tree, the roots had been trained back to curve with the carved out walls, there were even small mounds of dirt for sitting.

On the other side of this small room Orlan had created, there stood a small, wooden sword, leaned up against the dirt wall. Next to it was a small wooden shield, and some 'adventure gear' he'd cobbled together consisting of a chocolate bar, a water bottle, and a fish hook with a string. He and his friend Trixie loved playing pretend, they would go on all sorts of adventures together. Today was a medieval adventure. He'd learned about it from his mom when he asked where dragons came from. He grabbed his gear, sword and shield, and headed out to the meeting place, where Trixie usually waited.

The Public Playground, a jungle of tall, man-made structures, used by children of all sizes and lengths of existence. But on cloudy days, it was abandoned, the perfect time for Orlan and Trixie to conquer the world of the medieval. He'd arrived early, eager to start their adventure, so Trixie was nowhere in sight. To pass the time, Orlan swung his wooden sword around, pretending he was fighting knights, dragons, and all sorts of monstrous creatures. But soon, the silence of the empty playground was broken, and the sound of creaking metal echoed throughout the playground.

Orlan stopped, he'd never heard this sound before, it was new and he was curious. He walked up the playground steps, wooden sword held out in front of him, his imagination couldn't help but create an elaborate story, strange creatures from another world. Or perhaps ghosts. As he crept up the stairs, his face fell in disappointment. The noise was nothing, possibly the playground settling, although there was a large hole in the metal grating of the structure. He approached. There seemed to be nothing to have caused this, at least recently. Orlan stared at the hole for a moment, taking in the damaged edges. Jagged metal, pointed down as if something had crashed through the floor.

Orlan placed his things next to the hole, it didn't lead anywhere, just to the ground below, but he was curious nonetheless. He reached down and felt the edges of the hole, cutting his finger on one of the small, sharp edges. He pulled his hand back, stuck his finger in his mouth, and started sucking the small paper-cut-like wound. As he stood, staring at the hole and tending to his finger, he heard a voice calling from behind.

"Orlan!" Trixie yelled, running towards the playground. Her cheerful demeanor visible even from so far away. Her yelling caught Orlan off guard, distracting him from the now glowing hole by which he stood.

"Hi Trixie!" He yelled in response, waving frantically above his head like the goofball Trixie knew he was. But his waving was a bit too enthusiastic. As his arm flailed, his balance began to waiver, and he took a single step back. His lungs quickly inhaled as he felt his footing come out from under him, and into the hole he fell.

Trixie stopped at the top of the playground steps and looked around. Orlan was nowhere to be seen, and there were no signs of any damage to the playground.

"Oh," She thought, "so we're playing hide and seek now." She looked around for several minutes before heading home to gather some supplies. Orlan wasn't good at hiding, but she needed her survival gear in case the trek took longer than anticipated.

Too bad, she was really looking forward to being an adventurer.