“Beat you up the hill”, Jill teased Jack, sticking her tongue out at him and took off. Jack looked after her with widened eyes and followed at a much slower pace. “Jill! Don’t run or you’ll slip and fall!” he yelled up to her. The bucket he carried at his side banged against his hip with every step he took. The wet grass made a squish every time his sneaker came down. Glancing up, he saw Jill running full speed toward the top of the hill. He groaned and sped up too. A cool breeze blew his hair back as he continued uphill. It smelled like nature, dirt and plants. The sun beamed down on Jack’s back, giving his a comfortable warm feeling.
On top of the grassy hill, sat a stone well. Two wooden planks dug into the earth on both sides, connected by a roof above the actual well. A metal rod joined the two planks, with an old, rusted crank. Twisted on the pole hung a brown rope. Jack looked around for his sister. He didn’t see her. Where could she have gone? With a shake of his head, Jack approached the well and grabbed the rope. He looped it through the bucket handle and tied a secure knot. Letting it go, the bucket swung over the mouth of the well. Jack moved over to the crank and began to turn it.
“BOO!” screamed Jill behind jack, hugging him around the waist. Jack jumped and squeaked. He pushed Jill away and moved back a few feet. Jill fell to the ground, laughing and red faced. Jack took deep breaths to calm his racing heart. His eyes darted to her and narrowed.
“That was too mean, Jill. You scared me really bad” he whined. Jill struggled to stand up, still laughing. Jill was always so mean to him. He trudged back over to the well and turned the crank, putting all his anger for Jill into each turn. The bucket descended into the darkness deep into the well.
Jill’s laughing soon started to wane and she walked over to him. Smiling she hugged him on the side and looked up at him innocently. “Oh Jack don’t be so mad at me. It was only a little joke. No harm done.” Jack glared down at her and didn’t answer, continuing to crank. Jill hugged him tighter.
“Jaaaacky. Talk to me. I’m sorry” she pouted. Still no reply. She let him go and crossed her arms, turning away from Jack. “Well if you don’t answer me, I won’t show you the neat thing I found.” Jack paused and looked at her. “What did you find?” she asked. Jill looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. Moving closer to him, she pulled an all black object out of her pocket and handed it to him.
The object was fairly large; he held it with two hands. And it was bulky, awkward to hold with one hand. It had two cylinder shapes connected in the middle. On both ended of the cylinders were shiny windows that you could see through. One end was smaller than the other too. “What is this?” Jack mumbled.
“I don’t know but isn’t it cool looking? I found it on the other side of the well. I was playing with it on the other side of the hill when you finally showed it” she rolled her eyes. Jill took it out of him hands and put it up to her eyes. “I found out that you can look through the window thingys and see lots of things” she said, looking to her left and right. The end of the black object were shiny and reflective, catching the sun. She put it down and handed it to me. I put the smaller end up to my eyes and looked around. Everything was blotchy and too bright. I couldn’t make out the shapes in front of me. They had all became blobs.
Jill pulled at my arm and I lowered the object. “Look at the dirt on the ground standing up.” I did so and the dirt came into focus. It was so clear and so close up. I could see each grain and clump on the ground. An ant came into focus, pulling a leaf after it. Each bump and leg was easily seem. Amazing.
I pulled it away from my face again and smiled at Jill. “This is so cool! I could see the ground easily from this height” I told her. Looking around him in delight, Jack could easily see his village far off in the distance. The image he was seeing was so close, as if he was actually standing at the edge of it.
“Jack it’s my turn, quit hogging it.” Jill tried to take it out of his hands. Jack yanked his hands back and she let go. He frown at him and tried again but he lifted it out of his reach. She growled and jumped at him. Jack stepped out of her reach and took off running down the hill. “Mine now” he yelled over his shoulder. Jill cried and ran after him. “Give it back, Jack.”
Jack laughed and ran faster. “If you can catch me.” Jack reached the bottom of the hill and took a right, running for a field. After awhile he looked back and didn’t see Jill chasing him. She must have given up. Stopping, he took deep breaths then looked down at the black object. Putting it to his eyes again, he looked up this time. Avoiding the sun he looked closely at the clouds and saw a red dot. The dot seemed to be getting bigger. He took it away from his eyes and looked but couldn’t see it. Putting it back the dot had gotten bigger.
Looking closely, the dot had transformed into a fiery, red circle. It was covered in it’s own dots that were connected by different lines going every which way. Jack watched in wonder as it grew in size until it was all he could see in the window. A bad feeling began to grow in his chest and he removed it from his eyes. And gasped in horror.
There in the middle of the sky, was the red circle. It was flying down at him at an alarming speed. Jacked back up, hesitantly and then ran back to the hill. The red circle was growing bigger and seemed to follow him. His heart pumping, he reached the hill and looked around for his sister. “Jill? Where are you?!” he shouted. No answer. He glanced at the sky and all the blood drained from his face. The circle had grown humungous and was falling. Not growing. Streaks of fire seemed to emit from it’s holes and he knew he was in danger. His throat closed as he stood in terror. It’s going to hit me. It’s going to fall on me.
Jack backed up tripped over something, falling hard on his bottom. He outstretched an arm to catch his fall. He winced, the rocks digging into the flesh on his arm. He looked down to see what he had tripped over. And froze.
It was Jill. She was lying at a weird angle. Her head turned too far to the side. He eyes were staring straight ahead. Right at him. He started to shake and reached out a hand slowly to touch her. “Jill?” he said, softly. No answer. He touched her face but she didn’t move or blink. Was she playing another trick on him? He shook her but nothing happened. His eyes started to water.
Suddenly, he began to feel hot. Too hot. The air around him grew muggy and hard to breathe in. His skin felt hot and so did the ground. He looked up and saw the circle had grown gigantic. It looked close enough to touch. His eyes grew wide, as he began to burn. The other thing he could see was red. The red circle had come closer. Unbearably close. His sight grew blurry and he blinked.
Then there was nothing.
