Startling Secret Sewer Surprise
CLACK! Sid slammed the door of his family’s apartment on 77th street in New York City. He should have left a few minutes earlier, so he would most likely be a little late to school, as usual. Tall and shy, Sid was a boy with bright blonde hair and deep green eyes. He strolled down the street alone, unprotected, and admired the enormous skyscrapers while making sure he did not run into any joggers. Sid had always dreamed of being an architect, so he liked to gaze at the unique buildings and think of his own designs for structures in his home city. He also carried numerous tools in his backpack in case he ever wanted to further study a work of architecture. Sid would constantly think about design and construction, but as of now he had to get an education.
Sid got closer to his middle school after he started to watch builders working on a new skyscraper. Because of its beauty, Sid could not take his eyes off the building. Not paying attention, Sid stepped right in an uncovered manhole. In shock, he screamed and prepared for a hard impact a few feet down. But what Sid did not know, was that this was no ordinary manhole. Surprised, he continued to fall for longer than he thought possible, and he realized that he was going somewhere special. There was a rainbow pattern on the walls surrounding him, and he began to fall extremely fast. Then, seconds later, he fell super slow. At last, Sid’s plummet ended when he landed in a pool of thick, white liquid that made him gag. He swam out, wiped himself dry, and moaned as he saw a pack of animals approach him.
“Greetings young child,” The lion told Sid. “Welcome to the Underground Lost Kingdom, or as we like to call it, The ULK.”
Sid could not believe it; a lion was speaking english to him.
“Uh thanks, but I really must get going. How exactly do I get out of here?” Sid asked.
“No, no,” a monkey replied, “Let us show you around first so you know to come back again.”
Eager to get out of the strange land, Sid hesitantly followed the animals with and uneasy look on his face. Sid actually wished he was at school instead of in the mess he got himself into.
The group of strange animals took Sid all around their land and showed him their most special features. For example, he saw the Monkey Mountains, Liquorice Lake, Igloo Island, and more. Finally they reached a massive swamp that looked more like a typical NYC sewer. All of a sudden, he spotted a very tall ladder that was about 20 feet up off the ground. It was the only way for him to get out of the crazy place. He made sure the animals were not paying attention, then he darted towards the escape. Glancing back, he made sure they animals were not chasing him, but when he turned back around, they stood angrily in a line in front of him.
“Where do you think your going?” a hippo asked.
“No one leaves the ULK until we say so!” the lion shrieked.
“Assemble the alligators!”
All of a sudden, ten fierce alligators rose from the swamp ready to attack. They charged at Sid and pulled him under the green mucky water. At that moment, he remembered his special backpack. He pulled out a raft, yanked the string, and jumped in. Ferociously, the alligators bit at him with all their might, dying to have Sid as their next meal. He knew he was in big trouble and that the raft could pop at any moment.
Time was running out and he was digging through his bag while kicking at the vicious creatures. An alligator bit a giant hole in his raft and just as it was sinking he found a grappling hook. Quickly, he threw the hook with all his might and it just landed on the edge of the ladder. He took a leap of faith and swung to the ladder. Climbing for his life, he bolted up the ladder and at last escaped the terrible world.
From the days after that, Sid would always make sure to avoid all manholes, especially the one that led him to the ULK. Being more aware of his surroundings also allowed him to excel more in school and he started to enjoy learning. One morning when he was walking to school, he walked on the sidewalk past the manhole and saw a strange looking construction worker. He winked at Sid and put the lid on the hole.
CLACK! Sid slammed the door of his family’s apartment on 77th street in New York City. He should have left a few minutes earlier, so he would most likely be a little late to school, as usual. Tall and shy, Sid was a boy with bright blonde hair and deep green eyes. He strolled down the street alone, unprotected, and admired the enormous skyscrapers while making sure he did not run into any joggers. Sid had always dreamed of being an architect, so he liked to gaze at the unique buildings and think of his own designs for structures in his home city. He also carried numerous tools in his backpack in case he ever wanted to further study a work of architecture. Sid would constantly think about design and construction, but as of now he had to get an education.
Sid got closer to his middle school after he started to watch builders working on a new skyscraper. Because of its beauty, Sid could not take his eyes off the building. Not paying attention, Sid stepped right in an uncovered manhole. In shock, he screamed and prepared for a hard impact a few feet down. But what Sid did not know, was that this was no ordinary manhole. Surprised, he continued to fall for longer than he thought possible, and he realized that he was going somewhere special. There was a rainbow pattern on the walls surrounding him, and he began to fall extremely fast. Then, seconds later, he fell super slow. At last, Sid’s plummet ended when he landed in a pool of thick, white liquid that made him gag. He swam out, wiped himself dry, and moaned as he saw a pack of animals approach him.
“Greetings young child,” The lion told Sid. “Welcome to the Underground Lost Kingdom, or as we like to call it, The ULK.”
Sid could not believe it; a lion was speaking english to him.
“Uh thanks, but I really must get going. How exactly do I get out of here?” Sid asked.
“No, no,” a monkey replied, “Let us show you around first so you know to come back again.”
Eager to get out of the strange land, Sid hesitantly followed the animals with and uneasy look on his face. Sid actually wished he was at school instead of in the mess he got himself into.
The group of strange animals took Sid all around their land and showed him their most special features. For example, he saw the Monkey Mountains, Liquorice Lake, Igloo Island, and more. Finally they reached a massive swamp that looked more like a typical NYC sewer. All of a sudden, he spotted a very tall ladder that was about 20 feet up off the ground. It was the only way for him to get out of the crazy place. He made sure the animals were not paying attention, then he darted towards the escape. Glancing back, he made sure they animals were not chasing him, but when he turned back around, they stood angrily in a line in front of him.
“Where do you think your going?” a hippo asked.
“No one leaves the ULK until we say so!” the lion shrieked.
“Assemble the alligators!”
All of a sudden, ten fierce alligators rose from the swamp ready to attack. They charged at Sid and pulled him under the green mucky water. At that moment, he remembered his special backpack. He pulled out a raft, yanked the string, and jumped in. Ferociously, the alligators bit at him with all their might, dying to have Sid as their next meal. He knew he was in big trouble and that the raft could pop at any moment.
Time was running out and he was digging through his bag while kicking at the vicious creatures. An alligator bit a giant hole in his raft and just as it was sinking he found a grappling hook. Quickly, he threw the hook with all his might and it just landed on the edge of the ladder. He took a leap of faith and swung to the ladder. Climbing for his life, he bolted up the ladder and at last escaped the terrible world.
From the days after that, Sid would always make sure to avoid all manholes, especially the one that led him to the ULK. Being more aware of his surroundings also allowed him to excel more in school and he started to enjoy learning. One morning when he was walking to school, he walked on the sidewalk past the manhole and saw a strange looking construction worker. He winked at Sid and put the lid on the hole.
Championship Confidence
“Don’t worry about it,” my dad tells me as I nervously walk on the Finals Fest field. “What if they score early and we lose confidence?” I ask as my mind twists like a spinning top thinking about the many different directions the game could go in. “Just play the game Garrett,” he answers sincerely, ”Sometimes you just have to let the goals score the goals.” Moments later, he gets us into our usual warm up drill and we fixate on playing strong and composed. All of my teammates show that they are nervous but prepared to take home the title.
“I think we can handle this team without a problem,” my teammate Justin told me.
“Yeah we got this one in the bag! We just got to watch out for that big midfielder,” Drew, another player on my team, responds.
“As long as we play aggressive and work as a team, we will be the new champions in no time!” I exclaim, excited to compete.
We finish up our warm ups and the referees check us in to make sure we are set to play.
“Huddle up!” My dad tells us as we circle around him. “Here are the starting positions: Goalie will be Drew to start. Our defense will be the same as usual. Midfielders, you know where you normally are too. Our forwards will be John and Garrett." We jog onto the freshly cut grass and smell the barbecue coming from the tents next to the field. The referee blows his whistle and the South Mountain Astros kick the ball off to begin the game. We focus hard and play intense but precise right from the start. Our fierceness allows us to prevent our opponents from scoring. Suddenly, a defender of ours has a beautiful kick right to John and I sprint along with him as he dribbles the ball towards the goal. A defender catches up to us and just at the last second John passes it to me. I take a powerful shot and the goalie dives and barely tips it in. “GGOOOOOAAALLLLLLL!!!” John shouts sprinting to me to celebrate. All of the other players on my team run to celebrate with us as I hustle back to our half of the field grinning. We are joyful and energetic and we know that we are in a good position so far.
The Astros kick off the ball once more, even more eager to score. Our defense and midfield play smart and keep up the intensity preventing the Astros to get a shot off. Our goalie barely has to do any work thanks to our defenders. I subbed out and another offender is put in. We have a few shots, but less than before. Just then, one of the Astros’ defender launch the ball across the field right to the feet of the big midfielder Drew warned us about earlier. He dribbles the ball through our defense and shoots it towards the upper right corner. Our goalie just misses it and the ball hit the back of the net. The South Mountain crowd goes crazy. This is bad news for us. If they ended up doing that again, we would be taking home second place. I try to calm my team down so we would not get nervous and play bad. “Shake it off,” I tell them.”Lets go get another goal.”
I am subbed back in, and we know it is time to run harder than we had ever before. I kick the ball off and from then on we have possession for the rest of the game. We do quick and crisp passes and pull skill moves on the Astros that we had never done before. They did not know what is going on, and we are just getting started. Soon enough, a midfielder of ours blasts the ball and we take the lead again as it smacks the inside of the goal. Scorpions 2. Astros 1. This brings up our confidence up and we are proud to be in the winning position once more. We keep the ball off our half of the field and they seem to be playing worse and worse as the game went on. Out of nowhere, the ball flies right to the feet of our offender Ben. He swings his leg faster than a cheetah and it launches over the goalie’s head. Another goal for the Scorpions! Moments later, John fakes out a defender and shoots with his left foot sending it past the goalie for the 4th time. We feel amazing and are ready to finish of this game. The referee blows his whistle and we were the new champions! We run off the field celebrating and jumping for joy. After we shake hands with the Astros and said, “Good game!”, we take a team photo and rush to the trophy table. Every player on my team is awarded a shiny gold trophy that reads, “FIRST PLACE”. We know that every time we look at our rewards we would think back to our test of confidence that earned us a huge victory.
“Did that goal they scored give you a good scare?” my dad chuckles as he admires my trophy. “Maybe just a little,” I admit. ”Well I’m glad that happened because from that point on you played like a champ,” he assures.
Yeah... I think to myself. Just like a champ.
“Don’t worry about it,” my dad tells me as I nervously walk on the Finals Fest field. “What if they score early and we lose confidence?” I ask as my mind twists like a spinning top thinking about the many different directions the game could go in. “Just play the game Garrett,” he answers sincerely, ”Sometimes you just have to let the goals score the goals.” Moments later, he gets us into our usual warm up drill and we fixate on playing strong and composed. All of my teammates show that they are nervous but prepared to take home the title.
“I think we can handle this team without a problem,” my teammate Justin told me.
“Yeah we got this one in the bag! We just got to watch out for that big midfielder,” Drew, another player on my team, responds.
“As long as we play aggressive and work as a team, we will be the new champions in no time!” I exclaim, excited to compete.
We finish up our warm ups and the referees check us in to make sure we are set to play.
“Huddle up!” My dad tells us as we circle around him. “Here are the starting positions: Goalie will be Drew to start. Our defense will be the same as usual. Midfielders, you know where you normally are too. Our forwards will be John and Garrett." We jog onto the freshly cut grass and smell the barbecue coming from the tents next to the field. The referee blows his whistle and the South Mountain Astros kick the ball off to begin the game. We focus hard and play intense but precise right from the start. Our fierceness allows us to prevent our opponents from scoring. Suddenly, a defender of ours has a beautiful kick right to John and I sprint along with him as he dribbles the ball towards the goal. A defender catches up to us and just at the last second John passes it to me. I take a powerful shot and the goalie dives and barely tips it in. “GGOOOOOAAALLLLLLL!!!” John shouts sprinting to me to celebrate. All of the other players on my team run to celebrate with us as I hustle back to our half of the field grinning. We are joyful and energetic and we know that we are in a good position so far.
The Astros kick off the ball once more, even more eager to score. Our defense and midfield play smart and keep up the intensity preventing the Astros to get a shot off. Our goalie barely has to do any work thanks to our defenders. I subbed out and another offender is put in. We have a few shots, but less than before. Just then, one of the Astros’ defender launch the ball across the field right to the feet of the big midfielder Drew warned us about earlier. He dribbles the ball through our defense and shoots it towards the upper right corner. Our goalie just misses it and the ball hit the back of the net. The South Mountain crowd goes crazy. This is bad news for us. If they ended up doing that again, we would be taking home second place. I try to calm my team down so we would not get nervous and play bad. “Shake it off,” I tell them.”Lets go get another goal.”
I am subbed back in, and we know it is time to run harder than we had ever before. I kick the ball off and from then on we have possession for the rest of the game. We do quick and crisp passes and pull skill moves on the Astros that we had never done before. They did not know what is going on, and we are just getting started. Soon enough, a midfielder of ours blasts the ball and we take the lead again as it smacks the inside of the goal. Scorpions 2. Astros 1. This brings up our confidence up and we are proud to be in the winning position once more. We keep the ball off our half of the field and they seem to be playing worse and worse as the game went on. Out of nowhere, the ball flies right to the feet of our offender Ben. He swings his leg faster than a cheetah and it launches over the goalie’s head. Another goal for the Scorpions! Moments later, John fakes out a defender and shoots with his left foot sending it past the goalie for the 4th time. We feel amazing and are ready to finish of this game. The referee blows his whistle and we were the new champions! We run off the field celebrating and jumping for joy. After we shake hands with the Astros and said, “Good game!”, we take a team photo and rush to the trophy table. Every player on my team is awarded a shiny gold trophy that reads, “FIRST PLACE”. We know that every time we look at our rewards we would think back to our test of confidence that earned us a huge victory.
“Did that goal they scored give you a good scare?” my dad chuckles as he admires my trophy. “Maybe just a little,” I admit. ”Well I’m glad that happened because from that point on you played like a champ,” he assures.
Yeah... I think to myself. Just like a champ.