Ashley had bed head. He had been up late in the night looking at the two things he had found in the attic yesterday, and had decided to call the round black gps thing because he had had enough of calling it "the thing" or "black round gps" (so had I to be honest) so he called it, well, for lack of better ideas: GPS, and the magnet thing he called Attic Fork, (please, forgive the author for his terrible choice of names ok? If you have a better name please mail it to: the cheese man, londmoon: the dark side of the moon).
Honestly he felt a bit disappointed that Calvin hadn't told him that he was going to be gone for a while before hand, "but oh well", thought Ashley "bit late for that kind of thinking", he had found nothing about the GPS online, but honestly he wasn't very good at that kind of thing, as for the attic fork he really had know idea from where to start, there was no text, no symbol, and no, well, you know what I mean.
He check his watch, it was 8:13, he slowly got out of his bed quietly, as to not wake up any one. Julie's room was right next to his room so she had the most chance of being woke up, he slowwwwly opened his curtains, the curtains and his bed were basically the loudest things in his room, if he yanked open his curtain or quickly got out of his bed there is a very good chance he will hear his sisters or moms curtains opening too. He listened... no, no he couldn't hear anyone awake, good, he got dressed and then picked up the GPS from his bedside table, checking for something even though he and already looked at it, like a million times, nothing, he sighed, and put it down on his desk. Ashley had a square room that was about 2 meters and a half with a depth of 3 meters, his bed was at the back against the wall with the window right above his bed, then on the left (this the view from the door by the way) there was his rounded desk with a shelf with plants on it just above his desk, opposite of his desk, a bit closer to the door, there was a simple white wardrobe where he hanged his clothes (and stuffed old blankets and sheets in), and of course, right next to it on the same side there was a big book shelf in the shape of a boat, it was quit big because Ashley loved reading, he read nearly every day, and if he could't read well then he listened to audiobooks Ashley did have some rules when it came to story though; if he started reading a series as books and wanted to get the rest, he had to get them as books and not audiobooks or the other way round (yea he didn't really like mixing it up).
His wardrobe was arranged so his favourite books were at the top, all the others in the two middle shelves, and schools books in the bottom shelve. The one thing Ashley liked more about audiobooks than books are that when your reading a book your eyes and hand were occupied, but when you listen to an audiobook, they are not.
After he got dressed he went down stairs to have breakfast, his sister was already down and serving herself some sweet granola from a box, she look up from her bowl and said, "Good morning", she continued: "I already served you", "thanks, you look tired", said Ashley, "so do you", she had bags under eyes as well as hair sticking out (aka bed head) basically the mirror image of Ashley. In Ashleys family everyone tended to look like that in the morning, He squinted, the sun was flowing in the kitchen from the big window over the sink, "sleep well?", "Well I slept well yes but I did go to bed late sooo, yea" he said, "and you?" "Yea thanks, why did you go to bed late?", "hmmmm", Ashley said, but only in his head, he could of sworn he heard her giggling in her room yesterday (or riggoling as his mother INSISTED on calling it, just one of her slightly annoying jokes), he couldn't be sure though, so he let it pass, He explained that he had what he had found yesterday in the attic and asked her if she had any idea what is was, "do you remember pépé ever doing anything in electronics" he asked, he knew talking about his grandpa was a bit of a touchy subject (pépé by the way means grandpa in french, you'll see later, probably), his grandpa had died three years earlier, he knew that Julie was quit close to him, Ashley himself wasn't really so close, he didn't really know why, it just didn't really work. After he said "grandpa" Julie's face clouded over and looked sad and glassy eyed, it was her first death that really mattered to her. "No, he built things yes, but never really computer thing, more mechanical", answered Julie, staring into the distance, "he really liked building things didn't he?" she said with a sad smile, she shook her head clearing the mental gloop from her brain she then said in a lighter tone: "weird, I really have no idea what it could be!"
"Did you tried turning it on and see if there were instructions?", continued his sister "oh!" He exclaimed, Ashley couldn't believe that he hadn't thought of that, he started kicking himself for not thinking of that but then his train of thought was interrupted by hearing his moms curtains opening, he and Julie looked up slightly by reflex, "maybe don't tell mom if you can, you know how she is about it", said Julie, and returned her attention to her bowl of granola, (I'm just going say that if it was bad for Julie it was worse for his mom), "if pépé didn't make it than who did?!", he couldn't understand where it came from.
Elenor came down the stairs behind him, "well good morning you two, slept well?", Oui et toi? Said Julie at the same time as Ashley said "yes and you?", "fake jinx!" They said, in unison, "jinx!" They said again, they repeated this 30 times (at this point they were jinxing on purpose of course), when they started jinxing Ashley mom said: "Oh god here we go again", she smiled and shook her head a bit. By the time they where at there 28 jinx they could barely speak they were smiling so much, "right guys" said Elenor, after they had finished, "lets get to work Julie did you pack your bag?", "yea I did" she said, she got up and picked up her bag from the floor next to the table leg, "see ya n-", she cut herself off, she was going to say 'see ya never want to be ya', but the last time she had said that was considered a bit rude. "You fine Ashley? I'll be back like usual, at 13:15, text me if you need anything", Elenor was at the door when Julie shouted to her from the car outside: "gees! 9:40 already! MOM HURREY UP WE'RE GUNNA BE LATE!", "bye mom, I'm 80 percent sure that I'll be fine", "A plus bye!", said Ashleys mom and left... (again) When he went back up to his room the conversation he had with his sister was less than a faint dream.
(... Oh! Yea sorry I forgot; 'A plus' means 'See you later' and 'Oui et toi?' Means 'Yes and you?', in french, Happy now? I'll let the story continue). You see Ashley's mom had been trying to teach them french since a couple years now and her fruits of success were starting to be visible now... with Julie, now her and Elenor were having conversations that he couldn't understand! Ashley was actually a bit jealous that his sister learnt it before him. The thing is every time he tried speaking he kept blocking himself from learning because he couldn't do it right the first time, and thus he was still, a monoglot (when you speak one language only).
For the next couple days Ashley didn't think much of his discovery, he had more urgent matters to attend to...
Smack! Went the snowball knocking Ashley out of his snowball making rave, it landed straight on his left cheek, "Oi! Who did that!" Ashley tried to say but it sounded more like "OI! Who- Arrrrghhhhfff!" as second snowball landed straight in his mouth, he duck down into the snow trench and started spiting out the snowball "Bleeuurgh! It's freezing!", "Snow tends to be like that" someone responded over the din of 50 and more snowballs landing, he looked up to his left, half a meter away there was girl in yellow clothes and had blue eyes. He noticed that her belly was very slightly fighting against her shirt, "Sorry who are you?", "I'm Anne. You?", "Ashley" said Ashley, "Hi Ashley, I saw who did it, it was that jerk, Dick" (THE NAME not the swear) "Of course it was" Ashley said, and poked his head over the trench he was in.
A head of him he could see the two other lines in a upside down V formation, It was winter and he was at the traditional yearly mega-snowball battle that was organise with to other villages, and man it made for some good fights. Ashleys village (Clayton) had been loosing since ten years, Ashley did mind but he said that he didn't. On his right he could see all the kids from Bagel, and on his left there were all the kids from Temsworfe. The latter was the biggest town (it just barely qualified as a town), so they won more often.
Dick was the local bully who like to make life hard for other people, he found it hilarious that Ashley was part Canadian (more specifically the Quebec part), and didn't speak french. A couple years back Dicks family started living part time in Temsworfe, this brought some relief to him, It wouldn't always be possible for Dick to be around the corner. It hadn't taken long for Ashley to figure out that Dicks family was rich, which explained why they had two houses.
He looked to his left at the Temsworfe trench, he could see Dick making a mean face and sticking his face at Ashley, he mentally return the face back at Dick. He had been taught to not let a bully a reason to react back, still, it was hard not to.
"Snowball makers rotate!", that snapped him back, it was the captain of the Clayton trench, Caphira, one of Julies friends, this year she had been elected Captain, they had yet to see if she was up to the job. "Yes cap'em!" Responded Ashley, every 10 minutes the 3 Snowball Makers would rotate with an other 3 while they attack both sides. The trenches all met in between themselves 2 days before the battle to organise who would do what, Ashley had voted to be part of the snowball making team while his sister had gone on the offensive against Temsworfe, Julie was the best aimer in the group so it made sense for her to go against the biggest Trench, but there was also Lieutenant, one for both sides so they could react to immediate problems, Then there was Trench Diggers, two groups with two people each dug at the end of the trench to expand it, if you managed to circle around both enemy trenches then you won, but the other towns could take over enemy trenches, so if you were not careful your nearly complete circle could be taken over by an other town and they could win. There was also a squad of scouts which tried to get information from enemy. The latter didn't really work as well, you couldn't just were the same color hat to prevent you were on the enemy's side since they would probably know if you were not on there sides, they mostly tried going up a hill or using a drone to get the big picture. There was also the Defenders, these guys built up and fortified the walls of the trench, they usually followed behind the trench diggers.
Ashley had heard that the Bagel trench defence had a knack for building very well made windows in the snow which the Offencers could use to throw snowballs out of without having to worrying about getting hit. This year the Clayton trench had a surprise; one of the kids had recently acquired a second hand drone that they were willing to risk for the battle, which made it easier for the scouts and, the best thing yet, it could hold a bag full of snow and then drop the snow with a click of a button.
He walked to the front of the snowball making area, the snowballs makers had been place in the centre of the trench this year so as to make both sides the same distance for the Cammunition (aka ammunition/communication) deliveries to deliver snowballs, Ashleys job was now to protect the Snowball Makers, the names of everyone's jobs tended to be a bit of a mouthful so they were acronymed ex: Snowball Makers = SBM, Trench Diggers = TD, Defenders = DE, you get the point.
Ashley took a snowball from the pile to his left and aimed carefully at Dick, he through the snowball and watched it sore through the air towards him, then, the impact, it just missed his head went over him.. Taking his hat with it! "Yes!" Went Ashley, he quickly got an other snowball and looked away, "That was a lucky shot", Said Anne, "Umm, thanks I guess?", Anne didn't hear him, she was looking to the right, he turned his head and saw it too, the Temsworfe Trench had expanded their trench around the right end of Clayton trench and were at this very moment trying to take part of there trench! "WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS! SBM group 2 head to Temsworfe trench!" Yelled Captain Caphira "Oh wait that's us! Come on Jack!" He realised that she had meant his group Jack was the boy on his group of SBM he was a small blonde boy with frizzy of around 8 years old who really had an astounding amount of freckles.
Ashley half stood up, half crouched; as to not let his head show over the rim of the trench, and lending a hand to Jake who was struggling to get up after sitting down in the cold for so long, "Thank you" said Jake with a thin smile, he smiled back understandingly, Jake wasn't really built up for this, he and Jake weren't friends but Ashley guessed that he wasn't a fan of all the shooting and movement, especially all the snowballs you could get down you clothes. They jogged over to the headquarter room where Caphira was giving quick-fire orders, "Captain! Reporting for, uh new moves?" He said. Captain Caphira looked down from over the wall looking slightly confused, then her face cleared and turned stern (hey that rimes!). "That's 'reporting for duty' to you" she remarked. "Ah yes, that was it" said Ashley "Sorry Captain I'm not very good at this military lingo" he grinned. "Well!?" She asked sharply, "Well what?" He said, surprised "Well why are you here?" "Well you said that SBM group two needs to go to Temsworfe trench side" "Yes, so?! go! Don't just stand there, I told you go to Temsworfe trench side so GO THERE, NOT HERE", "Yes Captain" he responded and turned around to see Jake relaxed now that the Captain had stop bellowing. While Ashley had speaking to Caphira, Jake had been looking around the room trying to look very interested in a drone controller.
The room was round, with roughly dug square dips in the snowy wall to use as shelfs, there was no roof as it was a temporary place only for the Captain to be in, instead there was just a metal grill to stop snowballs hitting someone inside. They jogged out of the room and turned left towards the Temsworfe trench (aka TT) "Sorry!" Said Jake, looking back at the person who he had accidentally pushed over while running through the trench full of over people also running around, finally they reached the right end of the trench "SMERS!" (aka snowball makers, it really doesn't work) shouted a boy to their left, "That really doesn't work" he continued under his breath, it was this years Temsworfe Lieutenant, Ashley vaguely remember his name was Sam. Sam looked rather stressed, he had snow all over and some had managed to get some up his hat while still wearing it, he was lying down on the ground just above them to their right, "Yes?" Ashley answered, Sam continued: "Go join SBM group 3 down to the left" "Yes sir!" They said and sped to the small opening trench rock on their left "I don't like this" Jake was saying breathily. The small trench fork they were heading down was going toward temsworfe trench, after a couple seconds they arrived at a small opening with 2 other people in it making snowballs, they sat down heavily, after the quick jog down to temsworfe trench side.
There was one boy and one girl, "brother and sister" Ashley recalled, couldn't remember their name though, "Why is this place so exposed?!" Spluttered Jake looking worriedly around. Indeed the circler space they were in was only a bit more than ankle deep well in sight of the other trenches, "They didn't have time to finish it before big T (Temsworfe) started surrounding the right trench wing" answered the girl, the brother continued: "I think it looks a lot like a plug in a socket".
Ashley could see from his position straight ahead of him 10 meters away where it was happening, he cloud see their Clayton trench line going with a slow progressive curve to left towards Temsworfe and then Temsworfe joining towards them in a similar arc, the point where they it met looked like a flow of water being cut in half with a knife, the line cut in half a went amount the Clayton line. "Yup" Ashley confirmed with a nod of his head "It does look like a plug in a socket", "How long do you think it's going to take them until they notice us and start firing this way?" said Jake to the siblings, he continued: "I mean, we're literally like a beacon right here", they all respond with an worried agreeing noise; it sounded like something along the lines of: hmmmmm...
Ashley dug a handful of snow from the floor next to him and turned it into a snowball Instead of digging the snow out of the walls, "Might as well use the snow from the floor" he explained to the others, "Like that we can dig it deeper anyway". They were silent for a couple minutes, after the first minute the silence started to get awkward with the sound of people hitting and being hit by snowballs and the shout that came with it. eventually the silence was temporarily relieved by the two Cammunitioners came take the pile of snowballs in the middle of the circle of the combined groups, after the Cammunitioners left they quickly returned to their awkward silence, Ashley had been trying to think of something to say to perhaps initialise a conversation when the girl spoke up, "Have you heard my bin joke?" Her brother rolled his eyes and smiled, they said that they hadn't, "It's rubbish" she answered through her grin. Ashley smiled "That's a good one never heard it before", "I don't get it" Jake said; "What's the answer?" "I just said it" responded the girl (whose name is Tina, as we are about to find out) "I'm Tina by the way" said Tina, Jake continued: "but all you said was 'It's rubbish' why did you-", he stopped, having just understood the joke, "Ohhhhh that, was the joke" Jake thought for a moment and then said "I still don't get it", "You know what, just for get it", Tina waved her hand in the air in a circular fashion as to say 'moving on'.
Ashley wasn't listening at this point because he had noticed something going on behind him and was looking in that direction, he squinted, trying to see what it was properly then he realised.
In the middle of the triangle all three trenches were forming, Ashley could see a just barely distinguishable slope downwards which could have easily past for a slight dip in the ground, but when he looked closer he cloud see the slope going all the way back to the centre of the Temsworfe trench, he had noticed it when something glinted in the corner of his eye. He looked some more and saw it again, the tip of a spade glinting in the sun as the gloomy clouds momentarily opened, then the spade disappeared under the snow again to dig some more, he could also see something blue, which strengthened his suspicions. "Uhh, guys I think you'd better want to look here, we need to tell Sam" he told the others, they didn't seem to hear "uh guys" he repeated with a little more urgency, still no response, Ashley turned around to see what was the matter and saw that they were all looking the other way, he looked towards where they were gazing and saw that the fighting had thickened because Temsworfe had got into Claytons trench and were gaining ground, Ashleys head turn back to the spade and then back to the thickening fight, all while getting a bad feeling in his stomach, "it's a distraction" he thought "their trying to get straight to the heart of the base", "Guys?" He said aloud, "They can't hear me over this din" he thought.
He started to to get panicky now, what should he do? What should he do?, he couldn't think straight every time he tried to think of what to do nothing happened, his mind was blank, then: "what if I ran there over the top?" It was a ridiculous idea, why would he do that? (Yes this kid really have the most peculiar ideas, I mean, seriously?) He would get pounded with snowballs, and yet... the idea stayed there, like a persistent mosquito in the early hours of the morning, he tried to think of something else he tried, but nothing surfaced In the end he gave in, "Come on Ashley it is the right thing to do, don't doubt yourself, like mom said. every one will say it is the right thing, and after this I'll look back and definitely definitely not regret it at all, and everyone will like me", he would later come to regret this (told you so!).
He tried jumping over the rim of the area but couldn't, he was getting scared now that he had stoped looking for a solution and actually had to execute it, Ashley looked up he could see the dully colored metal of the spaded closer to the centre then last time he looked, that seemed to jump start him, he jolted up right and just stood there for a couple seconds, shocked that he had actually done then someone on his right toward Temsworfe trench shouted "Hey get'em!" Then he started running.
For the first 2 seconds he felt confident that he would get there without getting hit at all but then they started coming, first one landed on the top of his boots and then fell through the gap down to his thick winter sock which immediately got wet and started making squelching sounds, the second whizzed passed his face which was immediately followed by another one which went down his neck, he was nearer now, he could see the top of a hat with a light blue bobble but now his legs were starting to burn with all the effort of running through the fluffy snow, it's very hard to run in snow, it's like sand; the more effort you put in it the less you go forwards, all of a sudden Ashley fell in the snow at a particularly fluffy patch, he could feel his face, neck, and tummy starting to burn from the coldness, of course when he had fallen his coat, jumper and shirt had all moved further up his body as to expose his belly. He lay there for a millisecond but it felt longer then that, hearing snowballs landing next to him and a couple lucky shooters hit him. Then he ripped himself off of the ground and started to wobbly run the rest of the way, finally he reached the small trench with half of his body covered in snow, "Umm, uh, oi! Take this!" He said, unsure of what to tell them, "Not very catchy or clever" was a fleeting thought in his brain the second after he said that.
Ashley then threw a snowball at one of the boys he was looking down at in the trench, the boy exclaimed in surprise, then Ashley jumped down into the trench and used his hands to shovel snow from the trench walls onto the floor to stop them from digging any further. After about 20 seconds he realised that someone was calling his name, he looked up and saw that Caphira was standing with the other kids that had been digging and looked very crossed, "ASHLEY, HAVE YOU GONE DEAF?" She said loudly, he was surprised that he hadn't noticed her earlier, "What are you doing?" He asked her, "What are you doing? Look at their hats!" she flung her left arm towards the people Ashley had been trying to stop, he turned his head to them and then his heart stoped for a second, when it started again a blush rose to his already very red and sweaty face, every one there had a blue bobble on their hat, so did Ashley "Light blue, mean anything to you?" Of course, light blue was Clayton's team color, each of the towns had them: orange for Bagel, dark grey for Temsworfe and, light blue for Clayton. In his haste Ashley had forgotten about the hat system, he had just thought about stopping getting to the centre, he could see now, the trench did not come from Temsworfe trench but from their trench, "You were trying to surprise Temsworfe! It wasn't Temsworfe, it was you!" He realised aloud he blushed even more now, "Yes Ashley eeeeeexacly, and because of you everyone know about this" she said, she rolled her eyes "Come on guys, we have to undo all the work you've done" she turn around and started to fill in the trench they had dug, the other four people looked angrily at him and then turned around to help. Caphira turn her head back to him with a face, she made an exasperated sound "Well come on help us, don't just stand there looking like a frozen red goldfish" Ashley made an awkward coughed and walked towards them, he really wished the earth would swallow him up, he knew that this was just the beginning of the embarrassment.
Later that day Ashley was in the boys changing room, the snow fight had finished for the day, next fight would be next week, it's easy to say that he was not looking forward to it. Ashley had spent the rest of the time filling in the no-longer-so-secret-trench with the others, it had not gotten any better after that; snowballs had rained on them for the entire time. By the time they had finished they all looked like snowmen, not an inch of fabric had escaped from the snow.
The changing rooms had been made especially for the purpose of the snow fights, there was even lockers that dried their coats, it was quit a cosy building made out of wood with windows high on the wall so you could see the snow fight zone, Ashley was looking out of one of them now, blushing again, the windows were one way so no one could look inside, going in the changing room had been as bad as he had feared: "Hey wood ash! thanks for the assist" Dike was on Ashleys right when he entered so rounded by is friends, "At this rate you'll win for us! Just like in football, also how did the snowball taste?" he sniggered and his friends followed his lead "That was once" replied Ashley pleadingly "Yea but it was still hilarious", Dike was referencing a couple years back when Ashley had kicked a football and it had gone straight inside their one goal, making the other team win the match, he tried to ignore Dike and went and put his snowy clothes in the locker that dried them.
Now he looked out of the window behind the bench he was sitting on to put his shoes on. He really regretted his decision now, he didn't even want to do it but he had, and regretted it, he knew that now whenever he looked back at that memory he would cringe, hard, he sighed, got his now dry coat, hat, waterproof trousers, etc, and tried to walk out of the changing room without looking at anyone. Ashley could feel all the eyes on him and the hot heat of his embarrassment was boiling him like an egg.
He relaxed slightly once he was out of the building. People were walking home or getting picked up. He was just about to start walking to the bus stop when Ashley heard Dike shout behind him "Hey! Where do you think your going?" His shoulders slumped and he took a deep breath in. He then turned to face Dike "What is it Dike" he replied tiredly "If you thought I was done with you then you've got another thing coming" people were starting to stare at them now. He was just about to continue when a voice called "Oh come on Dick give him a break" Dick turn around to see Anne coming towards them from the girls changing building (it was 6 meters away from the boys changing building). When she reached them she spoke in a lower voice to Dike "It's not like we have to tell the others about that incident hmmm?" Ashleys curiosity perked up then. "What is she on about?" He thought.
Ashley grew even more curious when Dike's face went beetroot red with anger and, was that some fear he could see in his current facial expression? "Uh right," Dike answered to her, at normal speaking volume he said "Nothing! I just wanted to say that I'm done with you now" he then tried to look relaxed and in charge by making a casual smirk at Ashley but it just looked out of context. Then he swivelled around on his heels and walked off towards where his friends were looking at him in a group.
After a couple moments of staring watching him go he turned his head left, and his gaze settled on Anne "Thanks but, why?" Ashley expression turned questioning. She looked back at him, then she shrugged nonchalantly "Oh you know, he's a pain to everyone, even his friends I think, poor kids" "Okaay why would she say kids if she is one herself?" Is what Ashley thought when she said that. What he said aloud though was "Yea he is".
"Also, that's not the end of your embarrassment, this is going to continue for a couple weeks, and not just from Dick, it was the least I could do" Anne added "Yea" said Ashley with a slightly pained expression on his face.
They stood there in silence for a moment then he added "Yea, well, umm, see you". "Bye" she replied. Then Ashley turn around and started heading to the bus stop. A couple seconds later he realised that Anne was walking a couple feet behind him. "Oh, she's getting the bus" he realised. When two people say bye it can be a bit weird for them to go in the same direction.
After 5 minutes of walking they arrived at a lonely sign post that read: "Lord Snowballer, bus stop", and then a list of timetables under it. The sign could easily be missed. In fact Ashley had already past the sign and had to walk back a few times. "Hey have you ever wondered why this bus stop has that name?" Ashley asked Anne. "You don't know? It was the name of the man who started the Aquasphera" "Oh right, well the name certainly fits." He vaguely recalled hearing of Lord Snowballer somewhere before.
The bus pulled in then when he entered he noticed several people glancing at him. They all had there phones out, leading him to think how fast gossip traveled. Once Ashley had payed for his fare and sat down Anne came and sat down in the seat in the row in front of him. She then turned around and asked the one question (well, one of the questions) he really didn't want to answer, "So, how did you single-handedly ruin our trenches attack?" She asked.
He wanted to do like in the movies and let his head fall on the seat in front of him and groan. He wanted to but only did so mentally. He couldn't wait to get back home.
The next day Ashley had finished lunch and went up to his bedroom to try and escape more questioning, mainly from his sister but also from his mother. His sister had left the changing house earlier then him so as soon as he got back home his big sisters questioning face looked upon him. Easy to so that some teasing had happened. Julie had heard the ruckus people were making when he had started running to the secret trench. Explaining the reason for doing so had been long and hard. "Wow Ashley, you seriously messed up" Julie had said. What was he supposed to say? "Oh I saw a blue hat and a spade and some how forgot that blue his for our trench".
When he entered his bedroom he noticed the GPS and the Attic Fork on the desk he had next to his bed, He sat down at his desk and picked up the GPS. "What do you do?" He said aloud to himself. Ashley turn the GPS over and looked at the back. He could see where Calvin had connected the GPS modular thing. He recalled that Calvin had put in a specific battery at the back. He looked up from the device and scanned his desk in search of the battery Calvin had lent him. Ah there it was, on the edge of the deck. He grabbed it just before it fell off of the desk. "You cheeky little battery" he thought once he was holding it. It was if it was trying to escape him. He held the battery in his right hand and the GPS in the left one. He could see the metal clips that held the battery in place and then plopped it in.
Nothing happened. He waited 5 seconds more. Still nothing, then he realised. "It's the wrong way!" He quickly took the battery out and turn it around. He crossed his fingers hoping he hadn't already broken it. Luckily for him this time a light lighted up, then another one started to blink. Then Ashley heard it make some clicking noises and he saw light from a screen on the other side of the GPS being reflected on his desk. He gingerly flip the device over and looked at the screen. The screen had a white background and in the middle it read: "Waiting for signal" and then below that: "Please wait..." "Weird, is this some type of very old phone?" He was excited and slightly fearful of what might happen. As instructed he waited, then he waited some more, Nothing. After about five minutes Ashley was about to try again, thinking that there must be some sort of glitch. He was about to take the battery out and then put it back in again to see if that fixed it (You know, a standard on and off fix) when the message change to: "Are you indoors? Because if you are you'd better take me outside"
Ashley now knew that even if it wasn't his grandpa who made the device he was now holding in his hands, they at least had a sense of humour. He got up and grabbed his small dark blue backpack. He then carefully put the GPS inside the bag. Excited, he quickly walked down the stairs and went to put his shoes on. The shoe shelf Ashleys family kept their shoes in was right next to the front door which led out onto the drive. The font door was to the left of the kitchen in which the organic matter (More well known as food) was gobbled. When he had finished putting his shoes on he patted his right trouser pocket to make sure that he had his pair of house keys on him. He did, and so he existed the house.
He walked up to the beginning of his street and then took the device back out of his bag. Something different was on the display. The screen background was still white with black text but now it read: "head South-West" and then lower down "22km" "Well it did something." He commented. Luckily his mini backpack had a tiny compass on it. He held the GPS in his left hand while looking at the compass attached to his backpack in the other. Ashley aligned the compass so it was facing south-west. Currently he was facing south-west. He crossed the road and then turned right. He walked to the end of the road and then turned left so he was walking south-west again.
He wondered if there would be some sort of sign while walking in this direction. There was no way he could just walk 22 kilometres right now. "I've can't believe in the entire time I've lived here I never went down this road." He thought. On his left he could see an old looking cemetery through a fence. After he past the cemetery Ashley found himself looking up at a dingy old laundrette which seemed to come out of the Victorian era (the building that is, not the washing machines). Above the wooden door was a faded sign saying "Shine laundry shine!" The name fit as well as the spare swimming trunks Ashley had once been given at the swimming pool. He shivered at the memory.
Thoughts against thoughts he entered the tired launderette to see if anyone was inside. He thought that the place could have a clue to what this may all be about. It certainly wasn't Aprils fools day. "Hello?" He called out timidly. There was a muffled thump and then he heard foot steps heading toward him. The inside of the launderette had a dark wooden floor that creaked as Ashley nervously shifted on his feet. There was a radio playing some sort of fusion between rock and classical music on ledge at the window front. (Rock is actually played with classical music instruments, but it still sounded bad).
The wooden door to the right of the radio opened and a short women marched through with the face of someone who had been rudely disturbed doing something they thought was very important. (but most likely was not).
The lady had long dark grey hair that was tied up in a bing bun at the back of her head. Her uncolored clothes were cleaned and ironed to perfection, not a feeble stain in sight. "YES?"Asked the old women. A bit over the average decibel rate for a human conversation. "Sorry I'm looking for a-" Ashley paused. How would he formulate this. "A-" "Come on brain think" he thought. Not that it helped. "SORRY 'M TAD DEATH, ARE YOU HERE FOR THE DIVE?" The women said, cupping one hand on her left ear. "NO" Ashley replied raising his voice so she could hear him. "YES WELL THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT, FOLLOW ME" And she proceeded to bustle past him and out through the door.
Ashley quickly walked out to keep up with her and to tell her that he was not here for the dive, whatever that was. He caught up to the lady as she was looking for a key on a big keychain. She had stoped in front of a high fence right next to her launderette. She gave a small noise of satisfaction as she found the correct key and inserted it into the fence door. "IN YOU GO, I'LL BE BACK IN'A HOURS TIME T'LOCK THE DOOR AGAIN. YOU'D BETTER BE OUT BEFORE THAT" She told him, and bustled away again to continue doing whatever it was (or wasn't) that she had previously been doing, without giving him the time to tell her that there was a mistake. Ashley stood there for a minute. Thinking about the other ways he could of handled the situation. He turned around to face the entrance of the dive and walked in. The first thing that hit him was the smell. There had been a similar smell inside the laundrette but here it was much stronger. It was the smell of unwashed cloths that have not moved in a long time. Clothes that have been outdoors in the rain all year. (Basically it just smelled of old sponge that hasn't been tried properly).
The second the that popped out was the looked. There were cloths scattered everywhere, there were bins full of cloths, and nobody to wear them. He carefully walked in between the mounds of clothes while looking around to see if there was anything that could give him a clue.
Suddenly, Ashley heard a beeping coming from behind him. He turned around to look and then realised that it was coming from his backpack. He opened it up and tooled out the GPS. The noise was coming from it. On the display it now read: "High humidity detected." "How do you know that?" He asked the GPS. No reply. After a couple seconds it stoped beeping and went back to showing the direction to nowhere'sville. He slid it back into his backpack and started looking for clues again.
He spotted something shiny in a colorful mound to his right and headed towards it. "Maybe it's the answer to this!" He thought excitedly. All the unanswered questions around such a simple thing was really starting to nag on Ashleys mind. Gingerly he used his right had to moved some clothes out of the way so he could see the shiny object better. He lifted a t-shirt that had an image of a six legged bug wearing amor that was protecting a castle. Under the image it said "fortnit". He flung it behind him and looked what was under the t-shirt. He now had a full view of the shiny object, and the reality of what is was was disappointing. It was just a white shirt with those shiny pixels attached to the front. The one where the image change if you moved your hand up or down on it. There was a picture of a unicorn with cool sunglasses dabbing. He flipped the pixels up and saw that now it was a badly drawn waffle that appeared to be in space. On one side of the shirt someone (the owner) had scribble "Have pity on this shirt, it hates the dive." in biro.
Disappointed, Ashley dropped the shirt and looked around him. "There's nothing here, no clue, no surprise, no nothing." he thought to himself frustratedly, and with that he left the dive and slowly walk back home with his mind unsatisfied and the mystery unsolved.
YOU ARE READING
WIP story
Fiksi UmumAshley was cleaning up the attic when he found some weird device. It was telling him to go somewhere, but where? He thinks it might have been his grandpa's but everyone keeps on going quiet each time he asks about it. What is it?
