"Happiness Always Wins"

Chapter 3.

On the third week of April, the town was sileny. The entire town was mourning the king’s death. This night, there was no grand ball. There was no feasting, no singing, and no having fun. The castle was a sad, desolate, and empty place.

In a fetal position, lying on the floor, John wept, until rain began to pour heavily outside. It sounded as if rocks were tumbling from the sky. He fled to his window, and saw a large storm break down large trees and the sky turned black. From his room, at the top of the castle, he had a great view of what appeared to be large black figures traveling up the hill. As the black figures continued up the hill, John saw smoking arrows, swords made of fire, and black fur coats. It was the men of Cruel Nation, with their tyrannical and mean spirited ruler, Mustak leading the way. John panicked for a moment, but took a deep breath and quickly thought of what to do. John rushed to the tea room to save his mother.

“John. They are here,” mother was scared.

“I know. We need to leave,” John replied. 

John grabbed mother’s hand and went to find a hiding spot. There were too many men of the Cruel Nation surrounding the castle for them to attempt to run outside. They might get attacked. After searching countless rooms, hallways, and corridors, John came across one room, on the second floor, with a vent that could be closed up. He rushed his mother inside of the vent. He attempted to squeeze inside, but there was not enough room.

“You must fit,” mother quietly spoke with terror shrieking from her lips.

“I cannot,” John replied.

Balls of fire bursted through the glass windows. Bows and arrows flung to the ceilings. 

Below the staircase, Mustak screamed, “I love my meat fresh! I love my sons to be dead!”

Mustack ran up the stairs with his men, armed with weapons from head to toe.

“No John,” mother whispered as John closed mother inside of the vent and closed the door to the vent. She became unnoticeable.

Seconds later, Mustack and his men apprached the same room occupied by John and the queen, just as John leaped outside the window, crawled down the exterior of the castle, leaped off, and took off running.

“Get him! Shoot him!,” Mustack screamed out the window. The men outside chased John. Mustack leaped out the same window, and began chasing John. They all began aiming bows and arrows at John, but barely missed. It just so turned out that Mustack and his men were great at shooting weapons, but terrible at running. They could not keep up with John. Their terrible pace, made it difficult for them to shoot down John.

One soldier of the Cruel Nation was successful in striking John. The arrow struck John in the arm, and blood flung out, but with determination in his heart and physical strength John continued running away from the soldiers, very very fast. The men of Cruel Nation lost sight of John.

“Mustack, he is too fast,” the co-leader replied.

“We will find him, but if we do not, then we will just find and kill his mother. That will be one more person of the Copeland family lineage and legacy to die.

After long minutes, long hours, and long days of desperately running, John became extremely exhausted, thirsty, and hungry. Even though he felt like he was running out of breath, John kept running until he came across what appeared to be an abandoned house. The house was three stories high, covered in black stained paint, and was located far behind a black steel fence with sharp pointed edges. John climbed over the fence, gratefully avoiding the sharped edges and ran up to the door. He knocked, in hopes that someone would come down and help him. Nothing happened. He banged on the door louder this time, but nothing happened. He placed his left ear on the door to see if he could hear someone. He did, but the individual was snoring. He banged on the door even louder. Nothing happened.

His eyes were drowsy. His legs were tired. His stomach was growling louder than a beast. John began to pace himself back and forth. He needed to think of something to do. Not to far behind the house, he noticed a land of trees. They were sparkling. The limbs smoothly flowed in the wind as various sparkling and bright colored fruits dangled. The beautiful trees were beyond captivating. Hanging from the stems were golden apples, shiny red bananas, and glistening purple oranges. All of the fruits looked so delicious. John was mesmerized. He quietly roamed, and snuck behind the house. The closer and closer he got to the trees, the more tastier and tastier the food appeared to be. He reached for a golden apple, until he changed his mind. He reached for a red banana until he changed his mind, and saw a cute purple orange that was sparkling more than any of the other fruit. He yanked the orange down from thd tree, and quickly peeled the edges away and enjoyed the purple orange, satisfying his hunger. Seconds later, he pulled off his jacket, transformed it into a tote, and stored more of the purple oranges inside of it. After this brief lunch, he quietly walked past the house, climbed back over the fence reluctantly avoiding the sharp edges. He resumed running again, in the opposite direction to seek refuge.