Changes in Time

Lost

"Come on, Amelia!" called Dad, waving the football in front of my nose, "You know you want to!"

A cheeky grin was smeared across his face.

I folded my arms tighter and tried to hold in my pathetic pout, but it was no use. Before I could stop myself, a large cheesy smile broke out across my face.

"Ok, fine!" I chattered and I jumped from my camping chair. With Penny, my dog, by my side, I followed Dad into the cleared, grassy area by our camp site.

Dad swung his leg wildly at the ball and sent it flying high up into the air with great speed.

"Wow!" I squealed and running towards it, I performed a magnificent dive for the ball. With a skid I caught it just before it met with the ground.

Dad clapped his hands, "Nice," he laughed, "That was a winning catch!"

I smiled to myself and then took three large bows in dad's direction. When I kicked the ball back to dad, he caught it with a smile, "I think we have the future football champion right here!" he announced proudly to me, "You should play with Theo and me more often!" I shrugged. To be honest, I personally wasn't a big football fan. I do one amazing catch and dad thinks I'm extraordinary!

"I bet you can't do it again!" said dad, raising the ball above his foot, ready to kick.

"Oh yeah?" I called back and positioned myself so that I was prepared to sprint. Dad dropped the ball in front of him and flung his foot at it. The ball soared up high into the air. Penny bounced around me yapping happily at the ball. As I looked up, it silhouetted against the sun, casting a dark shadow upon the ground I was standing on. I ran. I squinted hard, for taking my eyes off the ball would give me no chance at all. I can do it I thought to myself confidently. I withdrew my arms from my sides and extended them out in front of me. The ball was coming at top speed. I was about to scream 'YES!' when suddenly I was bowled over, flat on my back!

I coughed and gasped for the air that had been knocked out of me. Theo was on top of me, the ball wrapped in his skinny arms.

"Get off me!" I screamed at Theo, punching him hard in the stomach. He rolled onto the ground, laughing and clutching the football to his chest tightly.

"That's not funny!" I complained to him and he looked at me, mimicking my facial expression.

"That's not funny! Waa, waaaa!" he sulked in a girly voice, "You should've seen your face! HAAAA!" He rolled around on the grass laughing. He's so immature.

"Dad!" I leapt up, "Tell Theo to go away!"

"Huh, what?" Dad looked up and wiped a tear from his eye; he'd been laughing, "Oh, er... No, Theo can play if he wants!"

"Ha!" screamed Theo, poking his tongue at me.

"Shut up!" I snapped at him and then mumbled, "I don't care anyway..."

It's so irritating when I'm having so much fun on my own and my older brother has to 'join in'. Really, he just wants to come along and spoil the fun to bring the attention to himself.

Theo ran back a few steps with the ball so that he was lined up evenly with me and dad, forming a neat triangle.

"This one's for you sis!" he yelled to me, a large grin painted across his round face. I rolled my eyes. Then with one big swoop of his foot, he kicked the ball out from his hands. It was probably the biggest kick I'd ever seen. The look on Theo's face showed that the was clearly proud of it. The ball flew about nine metres above my head with a whoosh! I tried to jump for the it but, obviously, it was no use. As I pathetically threw my body into the air, I was still metres away from even touching the ball. It flew straight past me and into the depths of the bushes behind me.

"Woo-hoo!" screamed Theo, leaping off the ground and punching the air above him.

Dad screamed, "YEAH!!!"

"I win! I win!" whooped Theo and he pulled his shirt over his head and ran circles around me. I rolled my eyes and put my foot out. Theo ran straight into it and face-planted into the dirt.

"Loser!" he jeered, and formed an L on his head with his fingers.

"No, you're the loser, you knucklehead!" I hissed at him, "Now you've gotta go get the ball!"

"Me?" he cried, standing up, "Why me?"

"You kicked it!"

"You missed it!"

"How was I meant to catch that?"

"I don't know!"

"EXACTLY!"

"SHUT UP YOU TWO!" interrupted dad. We both stopped and looked at dad, you don't want dad to get angry, "Amelia, get the ball!"

"But da-" I moaned. Dad put his hands on his hips, "Ahh! That's so unfair!" I screamed and stamped my foot. I didn't dare to look at Theo because I was certain he would be making fun of me.

Sighing, I pivoted on my foot and walked towards the cluster of trees behind me. But it wasn't long until I heard the sound of tiny footsteps behind me. I knew exactly who it was. "Stay!" I told Penny firmly holding out my finger signalling for her to stay put. And she did, whining and crying as she watched me enter the woods alone.

It was clear to see that no one of the human kind had inhabited the area, well at least not in the past decade! Messy vines roped from tree to tree giving extra obstacles for me to weave around and under. Prickly, itchy shrubs seemed to jump in front of me just at the last minute but luckily I would have just enough time to escape a disastrous accident. And the tall grass tangled around my tired feet, occasionally pulling me down face first.

"Stupid... Dad! Stupid... Theo!" I panted, "Why me? Seriously?!" I thrust a large bush ferociously aside out of my way, growling.

Ten minutes passed and I decided to give up looking for the ball. It was a cheap one anyway. My eyes scanned the grass one last time and then nodded. They probably wouldn't even care if I came back empty-handed. For all I know, they probably don't even remember by now that I've gone.

I spun around grumpily and kicked a stone as hard as I could. It went flying somewhere off into the bushes. I stared dreamily into the air, my thoughts trailing from my mind, until I noticed something from the corner of my eye. I spun my head to see the dirty yellow ball. It was perched neatly in the fork of two branches of a small shrub. I smiled and sighed with relief. The large knot of fear in my stomach suddenly unravelled at the thought of evacuating this creepy forest.
Plucking it from the tree I began to make my way home.
As minutes passed, it began to feel as though my feet were made of rock. Every step weighed me down making it more and more difficult to move. Vines caught around my shoes, holding my feet to the ground and eventually I was too exhausted to go any further.

It began to grow dark as the sun lowered its self providing a soft glow over the bushland and I was now really certain that something was wrong. There were so many possible happenings whizzing through my mind, that without any further information I came to the conclusion that I was lost. As I leant back on a furry tree layered with a jacket of dried moss a shiver shot down my spine. I'm lost.

"Looks like I'm staying here for the night..." I whispered in a shaky voice.