Yazen (Ponith) (3 page)

“
Good seeing you guys. We’re going to go grab a bite as well,” Brad says while pulling Jenn’s hand to their table. Jenn waves and follows Brad.

“You
’re not a very good liar,” Alex says quietly while finishing his burger. He knows me too well. I quickly finish my burger and get up to pay our bill. As we’re leaving, I look back at Jenn to see if she’ll look back at me, but she doesn’t. She’s smiling at Brad and I can feel pressure against my chest, like I’m having trouble breathing. I force myself to look away and follow Alex outside.

“So, do you want to go hiking?”
Alex asks as he belches out the aftermath of his burger. I really just want to go home and do nothing because I don’t feel like being around anyone right this moment.

“I don’t know. I’m not feeling too well; I may just go home.” I’m hoping
Alex doesn’t realize that I’m lying again. He must have picked up on it right away because he raises his eyebrows at me in question.

“You’re not going home. Follow me
; I know what will make you feel better,” Alex says while walking away from me. I suppose he won’t tell me where we’re going. I don’t argue with him because I know I won’t win the argument. After a few blocks though, I realize we’re heading to Alex’s house.

We pass a lot of tourists on our way to
Alex’s. An annoying bunch because they just don’t treat our city like their own. They pollute, get in the way, and they are flat-out rude. They feel that they’re on vacation and don’t have to pick up after themselves. We leave behind the tourists and walk a few more blocks to Alex’s house.

“Wait out here for a moment
. I have a surprise for you,” Alex smiles as he heads inside. I wait out on the front lawn, watching a blue bird scavenge for food. Then I hear the front door shut, and I turn around to find Alex holding two of his rifles. I know exactly what we’re going to do – hunt.

“I figure we can go and blow off some steam
; maybe it’ll make you feel better. Dad got us two new rifles because they were on sale. So, what do you say?” Alex holds a rifle out for me to grab.

“
Sounds fine, let’s go.” I grab the rifle and we start to walk to the edge of town. We have to be careful because we don’t exactly have hunting licenses. I haven’t gone hunting in a few weeks, and the last time I went out with my grandpa we only shot a few rabbits, nothing big.

We finally get to a pathway that leads into the
trees, eventually turning into rows of Sitka spruce trees. The trees are so thick this time of year; they’re all blooming and the scenery is beautiful. I can’t even properly describe the smell, so fresh, open and free; it really opens up your lungs. There are big yellow and black butterflies flying, landing on wild flowers while some squirrels run up and down the trees chasing each other, rustling the leaves on the ground. Birds are in the tree tops, singing tunes to one another, different melodies each time I’ve never heard before. As the wind sways the trees, any noise of the town is lost to the ears.

“How far into the
woods do you want to go?” I ask Alex as we venture further in, down what still appears to be the trail. I know we have to go pretty far so we don’t get caught by anyone. The further we go, the thicker the trees get and the harder it is to follow any resemblance of a path. I’m not even sure we’re still following any but Alex seems bound to lead us away.

“Let’s go out to some of the ponds
; maybe we can find some animals drinking there that we can track,” Alex responds while moving some branches out of our way. One of the branches he moves swings back and hits me in the arm, stinging and cutting it slightly. Luckily just a long red scratch; no blood.

“Sounds good
. I’m excited. I bet these new rifles will bring us some luck. I wish I had brought my hunting knife and some other supplies that we may need.” I’m trying not to act too worried, but it’s one of my pet peeves. I don’t like venturing into the woods unprepared because anything can happen. Maybe it’s just my grandpa rubbing off on me.

Alex
shakes his head at me, “You are such a baby. We’re almost there.” He points his finger straight ahead of us, although I don’t know how he can see anything through the brush and the trees.

But then right on cue, there is an opening and
whichever pond it is, it’s big. There’s a lot of muskeg around as well as a few pine trees leaning out over the pond. We slow down, to try and be quiet. We look to see if we can see any immediate signs of wildlife. It’s pretty quiet, except for the wind and a few tree frogs croaking.

“I think we should try another spot. I don’t think we’re going to have much luck here,” I
whisper to Alex and he nods. I’m glad I have my sneakers on, as it’s very muddy here.

“I agree. Let’s walk around this pond and see if there is another pond a little further back. I don’t want to leave until we at least shoot t
hese guns once,” Alex says in a grim tone.

“By the way, before I forget, I’m going to have a party at my house tomorrow for my birthday. Would you like to come?” I ask him.

“Sure. Will Jenn be there? Just kidding, man, sounds fun to me. Count me in,” he replies.

As we get close to the end of the pond, out of nowhere
Alex falls down a muskeg hole. Alex screams as he falls into the huge hole. It looks nearly 7 feet deep. I’m lucky enough that there was some space between us so I didn’t fall in as well.

“
Alex, are you okay? Did you break anything?” I start to shout and panic a bit, waiting for Alex to respond. I’m afraid to get too close; I don’t want the ground on the edge to cave in under me.

“Yeah,” he groans,
“I’m fine. I don’t think I broke anything, but it’s too high for me to get out. Can you reach over and let me try to grab your hand?” Alex’s voice is in a panic.

Now
I really wish I had brought some rope and my other supplies. I lay down next to the hole, trying to find a stable spot so I don’t fall in as well. I hold my foot against a tree root for stability and try to reach for Alex’s arm but he’s just down too far for me to reach him.

“I can’t reach. Let me think for a minute,” I say as my mind is racing. I’m looking around everywhere for something long enough for
Alex to grab onto.

I don’t want to use the rifle because it’s not safe. I keep telling
myself not to panic, that we’ll figure this out.

“Hurry up! I don’t like it down here. There are ants crawling all over me and I keep sliding down every time I try to grasp something to climb up. It’s too wet
, and I’m soaked in mud,” Alex yells, as it seems that his panic is starting to take over just a bit.

I walk over to a tree that has a broken branch hanging off of it, and I start
to tug at it to get it loose. It’s thick enough that I think it will hold Alex’s weight to pull him up, so I run back to the hole with it and tell Alex, “Try climbing up this branch. I’ll hold it and pull while you try to climb out.”

I get my feet positioned so I don’t fall in as well and hang over as much as I can to lower the branch down to
Alex. He’s able to grasp it and he starts to climb the wall, but he keeps sliding back down.

“I can’t do it,”
Alex yells. I can tell he’s starting to give up. I really don’t want to leave him because I may not be able to find my way back to this exact spot.

“Try again
! Use your arms to pull yourself up the branch. I’ll pull as well,” I tell him while still in the same position, ready to try and pull him up. Alex grabs the branch again and starts to slowly pull himself up, every now and then trying to put his feet against the wall. I start to pull the branch up at the same time as he’s climbing up and he finally gets up close enough to grab my hand. I drop the branch and pull him out of the hole.

“You look gross,” I say as I’m laughing
, out of breath. He’s covered in mud, water, and leaves.

“Oh yeah, I’ll show you gross,” he says while chasing me around to rub the mud on me.

As we’re running, we turn a corner and both come to a full stop and try to stand as quiet as we can. We’re a couple of feet away from a huge brown
bear that’s snarling and showing its teeth, saliva hanging from the sides of its mouth, growling at us. I guess we were in its territory and it saw us way before we saw it. We don’t have our guns loaded yet either, so they’re useless to us at the moment.

“What do we do?” I whisper to
Alex. I’m petrified, literally shaking from fear. I don’t want to make any sudden movements to upset the bear.

“All that we can do,”
Alex whispers. Then all of a sudden he shouts, “RUN!!!” Alex takes off running at a full sprint back to town. I follow right behind him and pray that I don’t trip over any branches. I’m running so fast that my lungs are burning, and I’m trying to gasp for air. Tree branches keep whipping us in the face as we run. Although I can’t see it, I can hear the bear is right behind us and it’s faster than I thought it would be.

As we’re getting closer to town, we still haven’t lost the bear. I don’t think that we’re going to be able to lose it.
I don’t know how close it is just as I lose my footing on some rocks and fall, scraping my knee, drawing blood. I drop Alex’s rifle and I try to grab it quickly, so I can try to get back up. The bear sounds likes he is only a few feet away from me.

BANG.

Out of nowhere, a gun goes off and the bear takes off the other way. I look over and realize it isn’t Alex. He’s standing with his rifle in his hand and it’s not loaded. I start to stand up, holding my knee, and Alex walks over to me. We’re looking around trying to find who has fired the gun.

I see someone walking toward us, from the corner of my eye, through some bushes.

“Grandpa? What are you doing here? Did you just shoot at that bear?” I question him, as I’m trembling from my scraped up knee.

“One of the guys at work told me he saw you boys come out here earlier with some rifles. I wanted to check on you since it’s so late and you haven’t come back yet,” Grandpa says with a disapproving look on his face.

“Thank you, sir,” Alex responds before I can say anything, “I’m sorry that we came out here and didn’t tell anyone. I know how dangerous it can be. Please don’t be mad at Zac. It was my fault that we came out here,” Alex says in regret.

“It’s okay,
Alex. I’m just glad everyone is safe. How is your knee, Zac, and what happened to you, Alex? You’re filthy … but maybe I don’t want to know that answer,” my grandpa says with a smirk. Alex shakes his head in agreement.

“Thank you
, Grandpa, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. My knee is okay,” I say to him, while I feel myself still in shock. I still can’t believe we were just chased by a bear.

We start to walk back to town, and my grandpa has his truck parked on the end of the street.
He gives us a lift back home and he makes Alex sit in the back because he’s so dirty. He drops him off first and then we head home.

“Bye, Zac, see you tomorrow,”
Alex yells and waves goodbye. I start to wave back.

“Wait. Here’s your rifle
; I almost forgot to give it back to you,” I say while handing it to him out of the truck window.

“Thanks
. Maybe next time we can really use them. I’m going to go shower, I feel absolutely disgusting,” Alex laughs and heads inside.

My grandpa is quiet for the rest of the ride home,
and I know he’s not happy with me. When we get home, he puts his rifle away and goes right to bed. I have a feeling he’ll talk to me in the morning about this once he’s not mad at me anymore.

I go to the kitchen
to heat up a piece of leftover pizza for dinner. I decide to call Jenn before I go to bed to make sure she’ll come over tomorrow for my birthday. I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial her number. It rings twice before I hear her voice.

“Hello? Zac?”

“Hi Jenn, I’m calling to see if you will come over to my house tomorrow for my birthday party?” I ask her, while remembering her day with Brad and I start to feel frustration again growing inside of me.

“Oh, yeah! I’ll definitely be there
. I’ll see you tomorrow, Zac,” she says and then all I hear is the click of me hanging up on her. I’m so irritated that I couldn’t say goodbye to her, but I’m happy that she’s still coming tomorrow.

I put my phone on its charger and go to bed for the night.
I don’t even want to recollect the day I had today.

“Wake up, Zac! Get
dressed and meet me in the living room,” Grandpa yells as he knocks loudly on my bedroom door.

He startles me
awake and I immediately sit up in bed. I was dreaming that Jenn and I were out at the river all alone, swimming and laughing. I look over at the clock and its 7:30 in the morning. I don’t understand why I can’t sleep in on my summer break.

I roll out of bed
, grab some clothes out of my closet, and head to the bathroom to shower. I finish getting ready and head down to see what my grandpa woke me up so early for. I know he’s going to lecture me about going into the woods yesterday unprepared, waking me up this early as punishment. Probably a full day of chores as penance.

As I enter the living room, my grandpa is sitting on the couch with the camping bag that I got out of the attic for him. His face is stern, so I’m not sure how this conversation is going to go.

“Good morning, Grandpa. I want to say I’m sorry again about yesterday. I promise it will never happen again; we were just being stupid,” I tell him while sitting on the couch next to him.

“It’s okay, Zac. Y
ou just have to remember everything I’ve taught you about the woods and how to survive. It’s very important, but that’s not why I called you down here. I’m not going lecture you; I just want to explain this bag to you, okay?” Grandpa asks sincerely.

“Ye
ah, of course. Sure,” I tell him. I’m shocked and curious to see what is in the bag. I watch as my grandpa picks it up and puts it on his lap. He undoes the snap and opens it. I scoot to the edge of my seat, trying to peer in the bag, but I can’t see inside of it.

He reaches inside of
the bag and pulls out a small, rainbow-colored, oval-shaped gem. He opens his hand with it on his palm and waits for me to grab it. I pick the gem up and look at it closely. It’s a strange gem, a type that I’ve never seen before. It looks valuable and I wonder why there are so many colors in it. It looks like it could be a gem that could be used in jewelry.

I look over at my grandpa
and he looks discouraged, let down. A frown on his brow. I don’t understand.

“
What's wrong?” I ask him.

“
Oh, nothing, Zac. I’m happy to finally show you this gem that I’ve had for a long time now,” he says.

I
t feels like he’s not telling me something, holding something back.

I roll the gem between my hands
trying to get a closer look, when I see something catch my eye inside the gem. It’s a reflection, a dull light that plays off the colors in the stone. I bring it closer to my face to get a better look. It rolls off the green, blue, and white parts and I have to blink my eyes just a bit as it reflects just right into my eyes. My hand begins to tingle, as if it were falling asleep, and I drop the gem on the floor in surprise, rubbing and stretching my hand.

“Oh geez, I’m sorry
, Grandpa. I didn’t mean to drop it, but my hand just cramped on me,” I say with regret. I look over and see my grandpa smiling. I’m a little shocked and relieved, as he doesn’t look mad at me for dropping it on the floor.

“
It works!” he says while picking up the gem, “Do you remember the stories I used to tell you about the other planets? The ones in the paintings that you were told weren’t accounted for in your school’s history books?” he asks me.

I nod my head yes.

“Well, bear with me for just a moment but I want to explain these planets to you some more. I think I have quite an adventure in store for you this summer that I want you to do instead of sleeping in all day. You can take a few friends with you and, actually, I’d prefer it if you did that. It would be a lot safer and I think you would have a lot more fun,” he says while going back to the bag. He pulls out a big leather journal out of the bag.

He gets a grin on his face and continues, “I want you to go to each of these planets and learn about them. I want you to experience them like I got to,” he says to me.

I’m staring at him with a confused look on my face. What in the world is he talking about? Experience other planets? How am I supposed to go to another planet without a space shuttle? Either he has one of those hidden in the garage or he is definitely losing it. I’ve always enjoyed his stories, but it sounds like he is starting to live in his stories.

He scoots
a bit closer to me, putting down the leather book, and grabs my still-tingling hand. He holds it close and examines it carefully.

“You won
’t be able to go to all five planets this summer so you’ll have to break up your trips. I can even tell you which one would be the best to start with ... Will you please do this for me?” Grandpa asks me with an optimistic look on his face. I haven’t seen him this excited in a long … never. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this excited before.

I really don’t know what to say right now. Is he going crazy in his old age and just talking nonsense? I ca
n’t tell if he’s serious or not but he sounds so excited.

“
I'm not trying to sound mean, Grandpa, but I think we need to talk about these stories. You know they’re not real, right? There’s no way I can go to another planet, unless I’m some sort of astronaut. They’re stories you told me when I was little, not reality,” I tell him.

“
Zac, I know this sounds crazy, but please hear me out. I promise to you that I am fully sane,” he says.

He lets go of my hand
and I keep rubbing my tingly fingers. I feel bad for telling him he sounds crazy, but what does he expect?

“
I want to show you the rest of the items that are in this bag and explain them all to you. Maybe then you’ll begin to understand, okay?” he asks while still smiling at me.

“
Sure,” I say to him.

He opens the journal and I watch him as he begins to flip through the pages. There look to be page after page of notes, drawings
, and maps. He stops and opens up to what looks to be a map of the Tongass National Forest. In the middle of the map there’s a big red X marked.

“This is the map of the
forest. Many miles inside there’s a hidden portal that no one knows about. I traveled to these planets myself once when I was your age and this journal has all of my journal entries that I wrote back then. This can teach you many things and tell you more about the planets,” Grandpa says, while handing me the journal.

I'm pretty curious to read it even though
still I find it hard to believe what my grandpa is telling me is true.

G
randpa takes out some sort of golden compass from the camping bag. It’s on a long golden chain that dangles around his hand so you could wear it. I sit quietly and watch, waiting for him to continue his story.

“This compass is very important.
It may look like a normal compass but it’s not. It works normal here on Earth but when you get to any of the planets it’ll help you find the planet’s gem. They’re important if you ever want to come back home. The only way to enter any portal is to have the gem for that planet, and there are five other planets that I know of,” he says while stopping to take a breath.

“
They’re named Yazen, Volux, Crendus, Bredin and Qysan. When you go through the portal here on Earth, you’ll land in a place called Ponith. It’s a central location that holds all six portals and a small building on it. It’s something like an asteroid, central to all six planets. This is where you choose which planet that you want to go to. Are you with me so far?” he asks me.

It
’s a lot of information to take in so far and I’m not sure if I believe him. It’s a lot to take in, but he sounds really excited and the compass and his journal seem pretty interesting.

“
Of course, Grandpa,” I tell him. I watch him go back to the camping bag and he pulls out a golden watch.

“This isn
’t a normal watch. It works like one here on Earth but when you go to one of the other planets, it will display a small map on the face of the watch whenever you push this button on the side of it. The map matches whichever planet you’re on, tracking you as soon as you transition to a different planet. With it you should be able to track your way back to the portal no matter where you are,” he says while he sets down the watch on the table next to the compass he pulled out.

“Grandpa, where did you get these things from
anyways? How did you learn about all these places?” I ask him curiously.

“I inherited them from
my grandfather when I was younger than you are now, when he passed away. He never told me about the planets or about any of these items, and I had to learn it all on my own. That’s another tale on its own though,” he says while his voices changes, sounding full of regret and loss. He’s looking at the gem again, having lost its light. He shifts in his seat suddenly, smiling and meeting my eyes again.

“
This is Earth’s gem. This is the gem that will let you enter the portal that’s located in the Tongass National Forest,” he says while pointing at the map. “The map in this journal is one of a kind so keep it close. It’s very old and very important,” he tells me.

Something change
s in his voice and tone. Whereas he was happy and excited before, he now speaks with loss in his voice. I’m fumbling for a response. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to tell him or say.

“Alright Grandpa, I understand
. Why has nobody ever seen this portal before?” I speak with a little bit too much skepticism in my voice, but it comes out that way before I get a chance to stop myself. I look down at the diary map on the table, still spread open to the map of the forest.

“
Well, the portal is camouflaged now, hidden within the trees. There’s a specific spot you have to put the gem, activating it by pulling down on a nearby branch. Once it appears you can’t leave it open. You have to take the gem with you. When you do, the portal starts to shut down and you have to go through it within about 10 seconds. It’s on this map and if you read it, it’ll explain it more,” he says while pointing at the journal again.

I’m at a loss for words aga
in as Grandpa seems genuine, but a portal hidden in the middle of Tongass National Forest sounds absurd. The map looks real and well detailed. The watch and compass look like pure gold as well. Even then, it still sounds like the biggest fairy tale that I’ve ever heard.

He must have seen the look on my face.
“I know you don’t believe me, Zac, but humor me okay? I was the same when my grandfather gave all these to me so many years ago. If you find and activate the portal, then you can believe me. If you go out and find nothing then you can say I have finally lost it and ship me off to the loony house, okay?” he chuckles. He moves the bag closer to me.

I laugh
with him a bit and feel bad so I just agree to go, to make him feel better. “I'll go have a look, Grandpa. Maybe I can get Alex or Jenn to go hiking with me there sometime,” I say to him.

"Try to get them both to go, so you
can watch out for each other. You better have them tell their parents that they are staying at a summer camp to volunteer for the summer, so their parents don’t get suspicious. You could be gone for a few days or even a while longer."

“
Take a few days to read this journal and talk to your friends. The planet I want you to read up about and go to first is Yazen. It’s the first planet I visited and it’s the safest of them all,” he tells me while putting the items back in the bag. He then hands the bag over to me.

I take the bag from him and put it over my shoulder.
“Thanks, Grandpa,” I tell him. I sit back a bit and let it sink in for a minute. I wonder if I should ask him more about his grandfather or maybe my parents now.

“Grandpa, can you now tell me more about my parents and our family history?
Did you give the same thing to my dad?” I ask him.

“This bag
, along with the journal, contains our family history, and it should answer any questions you have. After you return from Yazen, if you have any questions, I’ll answer them for you then. But for now that’s all I wanted to tell you,” he says to me although I can tell he’s hiding something more.

“
Okay, fair enough. I’ll try my best to not let you down. I’m going to go and see if Alex wants to hang out for a bit.”

“Alright, go h
ave fun. I didn’t mean to keep you here all morning. I’ll see you later tonight then,” he says while putting his hands on his knees, slowly getting up and going to the kitchen.

I head outside to get my bike and head over to
Alex’s house. I hope he’s still home; maybe I can wake him up like he did to me a few days ago. The whole ride over I keep replaying what my Grandpa told me, about the portals and my family history. I don’t quite understand what he means by it all, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I leave my bike in his front yard and walk up to Alex’s front door, ringing his doorbell. Alex opens the door, still in his pajamas. Oh well, I grin to myself, it’s payback for yesterday.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead. I have some exciting news for you. I have an adventure for us to go on. I really want to show you something
; can I come in?” I ask while showing him the bag.