The Resting Spot

Author's Note:  The picture on the right is a drawing I did for the book. So enjoy :)

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In the vast sweltering desert, lies a small village just on the edge of an oasis.  It was dubbed the “Resting Spot” for travelers and wanderers to rest. The village is known for their deluge of bizarre anthologies consisting of ancient, fictional folklore, fantasy, mystery, and many other stories.  Some say their library is so capacious that visitors who go there, never return for they are grappled and eaten by the indulging words of the many tales.  As generations pass, people avert their interests and use of the village, for many are frightened by the many disappearances.  Soon enough, everyone forgot all about the “haunted village” and the way to the small settlement.

Until one young boy came across it.

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It is hot, humid and my throat is parched.  I have been riding this stupid camel for hours and I am sweating with disgust.  What’s so great about traveling in the middle of a desert anyway? When all that’s found are snakes, bugs, cactuses, sand, sand, and more bloody sand! At least England has water and some balmy weather, while this forsaken land is just a sandy graveyard waiting for your corpse to drop.  After all, England is my homeland.  I don’t even get why anyone would even take a honeymoon here.  Oh right, it was “father” who suggested this unseemly idea to mother.

Oh just you wait,, when I find that cold, heartless stepfather-of-mine, I will be sure to order all my guards to send him to the bottom of the ocean!  So what if I lost all the rented camels and played a little prank on him by putting rattle snakes his closet?  No “father” would ever abandon his thirteen year-old stepson in the middle of the vast, deathly dunes during midsummer as punishment.  He could be apprehended for this absurdity, but no, he will probably bribe the judge to defend him.

Well that’s what you get for being born in an elite family, Richard.  The only way to survive this world is to have money, status, and the will of a man.

 As I continue my progress into finding salvation, I spot a tiny village in the view.

“Oh thank the lord! Salvation!” I rejoiced as I headed straight toward the village. But upon arrival, I noticed something was very amiss.

This whole village seemed as if it came out of a book.  The houses varied in sizes each one with a completely different architecture from the other.  One looked like a miniature roman palace, another  was a giant shoe, and a teacup!  A teacup and shoe? Really?  The only thing missing was the people.  But the most unusual part of this place, was that the sand on the ground was a deep azure. 

This is weird, how can sand be sky blue? 

I got off my camel, crouched, and touched the serene, blue sand. 

Am I deluding myself into thinking it was water?  If so, then I must be very dehydrated.

As I was immersed in the strange landscape, I heard a rather childish voice. “What are you doing boy?   Do you like the sand?” It shouted from behind.  I stood and pivoted quickly, as I stared at the small, blue, talking monkey with black wings.  It had white hair and wore a blue coat and hat, designed with a red pattern on both.  It almost seemed as if it was a uniform of some sort.

“What in the world?  What kind of phenomenon makes a small primate talk?  And what’s with those wings and outfit? Is this Halloween or something?”

The monkey just stared at me dazed in confusion.

“Um… Can you please speak like a regular human, because I don’t understand smarty-pants language? And no, it is not ‘Balloqween’ or whatever you call it, these are my real wings!”