My Jewel - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Twenty-Eight - New Beginnings

They were back, back in that dusty, dark basement of the school.  They never thought they would be so happy to see it again, but they were. Oh boy, were they ever glad.

"Yes! I'm back baby!" cheered Fridge.

"Oh thank God! I am never complaining about my body ever again!" cried Bethany, hugging herself.  "Oh I missed you!"

"Wait," said Sawyer, counting them. Five.  "Where's Alex?"

He had been with them in the game, left at the same time as them, so wouldn't he arrive at the same time and in the same place as they had? How could he have just disappeared?

"All right, how are the staples coming?" The five jumped when Principal Bentley entered the room. He crossed his arms, looking unimpressed at their lack of progress.  "Well, it seems like you were distracted from your work - playing games." He nodded to the still plugged in video game console. 

Clearly no time, or very little time, had passed between detention and entering the game. 

"Ms. Ross said it was okay," Spencer spoke up.

"Who?" questioned the principal. The friends exchanged a glance.

Right, Ms. Ross was a part of the game, and she had returned with them, so maybe she had been able to go home too. They sure hoped so.

"Well, the school's closing up for the night, so I'm afraid you'll have to continue this tomorrow."

The five exchanged a glance.  "That's fine," said Sawyer.

"Yeah, looking forward to it," agreed Bethany, smiling at her new friends. "Right guys?"

"Yeah."

"For sure."

"See you tomorrow."

"Same time, same place," Principal Bentley ordered, and let them go for the night. 

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"Wait, where's Alex?"

The Vreeke house had looked run-down before, but now it was all boarded up, abandoned. The yard was so overgrown it looked like, well, for lack of a better word, a jungle.

A for sale sign stood in the overgrown yard. It looked like whoever bought the lot had a big construction job ahead of them.

A teenaged boy with dark hair falling in his face stood out front of the house, staring at it sadly as the friends headed down the street. 

"That stupid game." They overheard him muttering.  He was obviously trying to hold back tears. 

"Alex?" Sawyer tried, the first to break the silence between the friends. 

The boy appeared startled, then did a double-take when he saw them. He started walking towards them, but then stopped.

"Martha? Fridge? Spencer? Bethany? Sawyer..." He tried.

"Yeah, Alex?"

"Yeah."

"Your house," cried Spencer.

"Yeah.  They left.  They're gone."

"Oh Alex, I'm so sorry." Bethany came forward and lay a hand on his shoulder. "But just because they're gone, doesn't mean you're forgotten. We'll figure something out. We promise."

"Really?"

"Sure we will," Sawyer agreed. "We're a team, right?"

"Right." At this he smiled a little.  "So this is what you guys normally look like?"

"Yeah. And and this is what you normally look like."

"Yeah..." He brushed his longish bangs from his eyes.

"Come with us," Marta offered.

"Okay, thanks. Where are you going?"

"Not sure yet," Sawyer admitted. "But wherever it is, we're going to go together." 

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Far away, back within the game, in the London of the game, two professors were just arriving home at their cozy flat.

"Oh," Terri breathed, smiling at the familiar place.  "Home sweet home." There had been a few times during their jungle adventure when she had wondered whether or not they would see their home again. But here they were, together again, and home. 

One thing was for certain: whether in the world of the game, or in the real world, new adventures awaited them all.

It was a new beginning for all of them.

(Oh my goodness, I know it took me forever but now I can finally say I finally finished it! :) To my fellow writer to entrusted me with Sawyer/Dawn, thank you and I hope you enjoyed!

And to everyone, thank you so much for reading and sticking with me throughout this story and I hope you enjoyed overall! :) Farewell!)