The Upside Down Tale of a Warrior

Chapter 1

Bring, bring, bring, the alarm clock rang throughout the room, startling me awake. "Ugh," I groaned as I rolled over, slamming my hand down on the off button.
    "Another day of school," I sighed before rolling off of the bed with a thump! With a yawn I stood back up and stretched, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and walked to the bathroom. My eyes flickered to the clock on the wall, Oh shoot!"] I thought, I am going to be late! Why didn't anyone wake me up sooner? I start running around, not giving any thought to my earlier question about why no one woke me up.
    I finally finished brushing my teeth and rushed out of the bathroom, throwing on jeans and a baggy shirt as I went. As soon as I set foot in my room, I felt something off. An aura of danger emanated from my purple bedroom.  I took a cautious step into my room and froze in fear. There, sitting on my bed was a puma, black as night and snarling quietly. A snarl that sent shivers skittering down my spine. I start shaking immediately and back up in fright.
    "Mom!" I yell, "Dad!" I expect some sort of answer along the lines of, "Elizabeth, wake up! You were dreaming," followed by a hug. Instead I was greeted with another snarl from the puma. I slowly back away with one thing in mind, survival. As soon as my foot was out of the doorway, I slammed the door shut and ran. Listening to the sounds of an angry, caged puma behind me.
     I raced down the stairs, intent on reaching the front door. Fear and adrenaline were racing through me at a potent level, I barely even felt the water sliding up my calf. Wait! When did water get into the house? I stopped and slowly looked around, scared at what I would find.
    The living room was flooded. I am five feet and four inches tall and the water seemed to come up to my neck level. On top of that there were brown-ish green logs. Except the logs had eyes and tails. Oh great, I think to myself, First pumas and now alligators, I am just having the best morning. I roll my eyes (sarcastically) at my own thoughts. I then focus on the problem at hand. Alright, I have an angry, strong puma stuck upstairs. There are alligators blocking my exit and I can't magically summon a boat. Also, I don't know where my family is. So basically, I have a lot of problems and no answers.
    The alligators seem to be guarding the front door. "There has to be a way out," I think. Think, think, think I chant in my head. Bam! The answer hit me like a slap to the face, the backdoor! Using my four years of gymnastics training, I balanced myself on the railing. Pushing the fear back into my mind, I stared at the space between me and the TV mantle.
    "On three," I whisper, "One... Two... Three!" Using every muscle in my legs, I pushed off the railing and into the air. For an awful second I was suspended in the air, completely weightless. Until I slammed into the hard wood of the TV mantle.
    "Umph!" I groan, the edge of the mantle cutting into my stomach. As soon as I made noise the alligators started snapping at my legs like dogs trying to jump on their owner. Using my upper body strength I yanked myself up onto the mantle. Teetering for an awful second before I balanced myself. Breathing hard, I looked down, and I immediately wished I hadn't. The alligators were preparing to jump. I scanned the room, searching for a way out. I saw my parents door was wide open and I didn't think twice before jumping. I rolled to lessen the impact of the fall, I rolled right into the room and slammed the door shut faster than lightning.
    With my hands on my knees trying to take deep breaths, I listened. I was very sure I would be able to hear the alligators snapping at the door. There was complete silence, this wasn't the regular silence though. This was the calm before the storm. That is when I noticed there wasn't a single drop of water in the room and the door had been open before I rolled in. I had a hunch so I leaned in to open the door, prepared for the worst.
    As soon as I opened the brown, wooden door my jaw dropped to the ground. The water towered over me. Except it seemed stuck at the threshold, unable to come and swallow me whole. The alligators were livid and snapping, trying to get over the threshold and snap my head off. One lunged forward and I flinched back, but it seemed to bounce off some sort of hidden barrier.
    "Wow," I breathed, "This is the most insane dream ever." I was about to close the door when I turned back and stuck my tongue out at the alligators. The alligator with the human-like eyes lunged and I slammed the door shut.
    I stop chuckling as soon as I see what is lying on the bed. Actually it is more like who, I think before running over to my parents lifeless bodies.
"No," I whisper, "No, no, no, no."
    I just keep chanting, "This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real." I start pinching myself, trying desperately to wake up. I wasn't waking up. That's when I tasted the salt from my tears and my heart broke. I clutched their cold lifeless bodies to my chest, sobbing uncontrollably. This can't be real, it can't be. My heart felt like it had been shot and stomped on multiple times. The pain was excruciating and unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was worse then when I broke my wrist and even then my mother was there with I-hope-you-get-better-soon cookies.Thinking about it hurt more than words could ever explain. Even the animals stopped scratching and biting at the sound of my broken sobs. Memories flashed behind my eyelids as I continued my desperate crying.
    Hours, minutes, or days later my cheeks finally dried with no new tears to wet them. I didn't care about the time or the fact that I probably looked like a dead zombie that just came out of the ground. I didn't care if the puma and the alligators were gone or not. Just like I didn't care if all of the water had drained out. I felt numb.
    Shaking myself, I stood up and walked to the vase of bright, colorful flowers. The colorful flowers that were so full of life and so at odds with the setting and my mood that I started giggling. Soon I was full blown laughing. My sides were hurting and my cheeks were beet red. I was holding my ribs and leaning against the wall, trying to catch my breath.
    "I probably look like a psychopath," I say out loud. Which brings on another bout of painful laughing.
    After a while the laughing turns to tears and snot is running out of my nose like a river. A very disgusting river, I think. Which causes me to start laughing again. I didn't even realize I was falling until my knees hit the cold, hard floor. Sending a jarring shock through my body. I cried harder and buried my face in my freezing palms. What a sad sight, I think, a girl lying on the cold, hard ground, sobbing in a dark room.