My First Thursday Tales Entry

BEEP!! BEEP!! BEEP!!

I slammed off my alarm, and looked at the clock, 6:40. I'd overslept again. I quickly got up and started to dress for school thinking about the day, another boring day in the 21^st Century. My name is Charlie. I’m your average kid; I listen to music, watch TV, and use the phone and computer. Everything is normal, except that I hate life here. You may be thinking I’m crazy, and I may very well be, but I can’t explain it. I just feel like I don’t fit in here in the 21^st Century, with all its new technology making our world ‘a better place’. I don’t fit.

I picked up my backpack, walked downstairs, grabbed a quick breakfast, and ran out the door. School: where I sat day by day through ever more boring classes that never really taught me anything interesting. That is, until last year. Last year I took European history and we studied the Middle Ages. This I loved. I loved the sword-fighting, knights in armor, damsels-in-distress, hand-made tools, almost everything about it. The more we studied it, the more I realized that this is where I belonged. One day, I got my wish.

I had to suffer through the first three periods of the day before reaching History class. English, Math, and then Latin. Finally! History time. I walked in, sat down, and pulled out my text book and notepad. By the end of class my mind was swimming with thoughts of knights and sword-fighting. As I packed up my bag, the teacher called to me. “Hey Charlie,” he said, “Could I please talk to you before you leave?” I nodded and finished packing up. When I walked over to him, he pulled me aside. “Do you see this?” he said in a confidential tone, pulling a gem out of his pocket, “This will take you to where you need to go.” I stared blankly back at him, unsure of what that meant. “You are needed in the 13^th Century. This will bring you to the correct time and place.” I was so surprised and confused that I couldn't respond. “I wish I had time to explain this to you,” he continued, “I planned on using my free period, but the Principal needs to talk to me. To use this just give it a drop of your blood. You will be taken back to the 13^th Century, but act quickly! If you do not succeed, history as we know it will not occur! Do you understand?” I nodded, but wasn't sure what to believe. He handed me the stone and briskly walked out of the room.

Baffled, I stared at the stone. The bell rang; I should be in my next class. I hurried out into the hall. As I was about to turn the corner, I suddenly stopped and ducked into the janitor's closet. I held the stone up high to see. It was a clear gem that was very smooth, except for one sharp point, making it raindrop shaped. I looked closely, and decided I was supposed to use this point to acquire the blood. I looked at my left palm, knowing that is how it is always done in the movies, but thought better of it. I'd need that hand if this worked. I instead scratched my upper arm with the stone. A few small drops of blood came out and I touched the stone to them. The color spread throughout the stone until it became a deep red all the way through. I stared at it, unsure what had happened. It was only after a minute that I noticed that in concentrating on the stone, I had missed that the room around me was fading. I looked around as it became entirely white.

When my surroundings were once again visible, I was standing in the middle of a forest. It took me a moment to realize that I was not alone. There were people riding horses charging straight at me. I began to run, but one of them grabbed my and pulled my onto his horse. As we rode I noticed we were being chased. “I'm glad you have come,” my rider shouted over the wind, “you came just in time. The prophecy has said the one who will lead us to victory would arrive here on this day. Unfortunately, our enemies heard about it as well.” As we rode on he explained that I was destined to open the gates of the enemy castle from the inside, delivering a victory which would avoid many deaths. I was taken to a camp where I met the General. Here they explained the details of the plan, gave me a change of clothes, and said that I was to head out immediately. Finally, my chance to be a hero!

The plan was for me to enter the city as a vagabond. I entered the city to much derision and abuse. I was getting sick of all of this when finally the sun began to set. This gave me the chance to climb onto the rooftops of the city. I made my way towards the gates, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Finally, the hard bit. I had to shimmy across the ledge in the wall over to the gate room. As I made my last jump before the wall I heard a shout below. I had been spotted! Guards began rushing in my direction as I began the long shimmy. I was almost half way when the guards finally approached. Since I was out of their reach, they fired some arrowed. I shimmied more quickly, but knew I wouldn't make it. Finally, I was close enough to jump. With one strong push I launched myself into the air towards the window. I reached out my hands... and I missed! I smacked hard into the wall and then dropped.

As I fell from the tower I knew that I had failed. In the last moments before I hit the ground, I realized that I missed home and wished that I had never left. This was not what I thought being a hero would be like. As I hit the ground my head jerked up. I wiped drool from my face and looked around bleary and confused. I was sitting in my Math class with the teacher still droning on about something. Had it really all just been a dream?