The Red House by the Lake

Grandpa never really explained why the world is the way it is. He told me everything's always been broken, but I think that’s just not true. Grandpa is just like that, I think. He used to have dark brown hair and a smile that seemed all too forced, but a bunch of sunrises ago he passed away with his hair grey and the smile replaced by a snarl. If the buildings and the roads were anything like Grandpa, they would have had a cheery look to them before they broke. That’s what I think anyway, but Grandpa always told me the world has always been the same, and Grandpa always had protected me, so I trusted him. Then again, he also said I should go to the red house by the lake the sunset just before he died, but he always told me little boys like myself should never go too far away from the city. Grandpa never made any sense to me, but he told me to follow the red arrow on my compass until the road became smooth. Grandpa always protected me, so I trusted him. I was a little scared though, because the red arrow on my compass takes me through the place where the buildings still drop rocks and the road is so sharp it’ll make a cut bleed for days.

Once I collected all of the fruits me and Grandpa gathered before his passing, I moved Grandpa outside the tent me and Grandpa lived in. The wolves were always nice to us; they scared away the scary birds and rats that always tried to nibble on our toes and steal our fruits, so I wanted to give Grandpa to them. Grandpa was gone, so I wasn’t sad or scared when the wolves tugged at his arms and legs. This was Grandpa’s last gift, it wasn’t something I should have been sad about. I still missed him though. Grandpa wouldn’t have wanted me to miss him though, so after I made sure I had all the fruits I started to follow the red arrow on the compass. Maybe the red house by the river would have some red fruits. If I was going to put red fruits anywhere, it would be in a red house.

The city always made me think about what Grandpa said about it. The world has always been the same according to Grandpa, but I still like to dream about what it would’ve been like if the roads were all in one piece, or if the buildings had cool pictures on the faded signs. If the buildings were still in one piece, would people live in them instead of tents scattered far away from each other? I’ve only seen one other person besides Grandpa, but their tent was a lot bigger and more colorful. The person in that tent was all alone though, so I didn’t get why they needed it to be so big. It looked like a cold tent, despite the warm colors. Maybe if a lot of people all lived together in one building, the buildings would be nice and warm, and everyone would be comfortable. I wish the buildings weren’t so broken, and I really wish that the roads weren’t so scary. One time, Grandpa tripped on the road and two of his fingers got sliced off. He kept smiling for some reason, telling me he was ok, but he still winced whenever he used his hurt hand for weeks. Ever since that happened, I’ve always been scared of the road, and I always walk super slowly across it. The trick was to stay in the middle of the road, and on top of the big chunks, so that the buildings won’t be close enough to drop big rocks on your head and the chunks won’t break when you step on them.

Eventually, I reached the smooth part of the road. The road itself isn’t really smooth, it’s still super bumpy, but the chunks are smooth and they don’t cut you. This road is my favorite, since the plants like to grow in this road and the road doesn’t scare me. Grandpa always told me to stay away from the place where the road became brown and the chunks are smooth though. He told me there were big monsters that would come out and try to eat me like the rats tried to eat our fruits. I had never seen one of these monsters, but Grandpa told me they were big and brown, just like the chunks in the road but much bigger. Even though I was scared of the monsters Grandpa told me about, the sun was setting and I knew I couldn’t hide in the city after all the distance I had walked to get to the smooth chunk road. Plus, Grandpa told me I should go to the red house by the lake, and the red house is very close to the smooth chunk road, so I knew I would be ok if I slept with the plants. Grandpa always protected me, so I trusted him.

After I found a comfy tree to lay on, I tucked my bag full of fruits under my legs and I started to fall asleep. Trees always made me feel safe, since they looked so old. They were the only old thing I knew that wasn’t broken, so I knew they were strong. Plus, the ground near them was less bumpy for some reason, so it made sleeping much more comfy. As I began to fall asleep, I heard some of the chunks start to shift around me. At first I thought the ground was shaking again, as it often shook at night, but then I realized that the chunks only seemed to be shifting in one area. This had to be one of the monsters Grandpa told me about. It was going to eat me, and I was never going to see the red house. As I held my fruit bag in front of my chest and neck to protect myself, I saw a big, brown beast steadily walk towards me on four thick legs. It didn’t look too angry, nor did he look scary. It was round and fluffy, and it had a big black nose, similar to the noses the wolves had back at the tent. Of course, this beast had a much bigger nose; everything about this beast was much bigger. As it got closer, it started to sniff softly, as if it was trying to see what I was. The wolves did that too, but the wolves also sniffed their prey before they ate it, so I was a bit worried. It was inching closer and closer, taking its steps slowly and carefully, but I didn’t run away from it. The beast seemed more fascinating and calm than gnarly and ferocious, and it reminded me a lot of the wolves. Eventually, it got so close to me that I could pat its nose, but I still didn’t run and the beast still didn’t try to hurt me. It actually didn’t seem interested in me at all, but rather the bag of fruits I held up to my body. It wasn’t too big, just large enough to hold about twenty or so green and yellow fruits, but it was thick enough for me to know the beast wouldn’t be able to get through it in one bite. As it kept sniffing the bag, I decided that maybe I should try to offer the beast a fruit. Slowly and carefully, I put my hand inside the bag. Without looking away from the curious beast, I pulled out a single yellow fruit and held it in front of the beast's nose. This excited the beast, and it started to tenderly push its nose onto my hand, and before I knew it, the fruit was out of my hand and into the beast's mouth. The beast gave me a disregarding look while it chewed the fruit I gave it, then it turned around and began walking away with the same tenderness and caution it had when it arrived. Grandpa always confused me, I don’t know why he thought the beasts were so scary and mean. Maybe he offered a sour fruit to the beasts, I know if I bit into a yucky fruit I would be angry too.

Once the sun rose again, I woke up from my spot next to the tree and I kept walking to the red house on the other side of the lake. This part of the walk was much quicker and a lot nicer than the walk through the city. There weren’t any mean birds or hungry rats disrupting me for once, maybe because they weren’t hungry. Grandpa always said that all of the animals, including himself, were a lot less mean and angry with a full stomach. As I walked around the lake, I spent some time looking at all the nice plants along the way. They were all sorts of colors, and they smelled really nice. Still, the trees were my favorite as they kept the hot sun out of my face while I walked along the river and towards the red house.

Eventually, I got close enough to the house where I could see the bricks that the house was built with. Each one was faded and chipped, and at first I was scared because I didn’t know if any of them would fall and hit me. I trusted Grandpa though, and I walked right up to the house and touched the bricks. I had seen a lot of bricks in the city, but these bricks weren’t as broken as the ones in the city. None of the house was nearly as broken as the city was, but it definitely was a bit old. I was still sure that the trees were older, but the house was pretty old too. As I walked around the house, I noticed there was an opening in front of the house big enough to enter. All of the buildings had one of those, but this was the first I was actually going to enter. Grandpa told me these are called doorways, and they’re for entering the buildings. He never let me go through one of the doorways, but I always wanted to. Now that Grandpa had told me I should go into this doorway, I was sure this house was safe. Grandpa wouldn’t tell me to go to this house if he wasn’t certain it was safe, and so I went into the house.

The first thing I noticed was that the house had walls not just on the outside, but also on the inside. There were walls dividing the house into four different areas, but I was still a little nervous so I stayed in the main area. Another thing I noticed was that the ground inside the house was completely smooth, and it wasn’t in any bits on the ground like the brown road and the sharp roads. After I walked through the cramped inside walls, I reached an area where the walls weren’t as cramped and there were spots where I could sit down. There were three seats, which made me happy because that meant there were three people who all had been in this house at some point. But the main thing in the room that I noticed was a big bag on the smooth ground of the house. The bag was much bigger than my fruit bag, and I knew that Grandpa had left it there for me. I was right, there had to be red fruits in here! I rushed over to the bag and opened it, but there weren’t any fruits in there oddly. All I found were a bunch of green pieces of paper. All the pieces of paper had numbers on them. Grandpa had taught me how to read and count, and ever since I can remember he always taught me different letters and numbers while the sun set and we ate our fruits before bed. There was a single one and two zeroes on each side of each paper, and after counting, there were way more of these green pieces of paper than I thought. Another thing in the bag was a black notebook, with a label on the front that read “Eleanor’s journal”. I didn’t know who Eleanor was, but I was definitely interested in reading the journal. When I opened it up, I saw there was a small note written on the front page. All the other pages were empty, which was kind of boring, but I decided to read the note on the front anyways.

“Dear Eleanor, I know you must be out right now. I hope you come back to this house to find this small fortune I’ve left for you. This is 20,000 dollars, which I know isn’t nearly enough but if you can manage with this for just a little bit I’ll return after the quakes stop. You know the department won’t let me stay with you right now; the quakes are only getting worse, but they will stop eventually. As soon as you come back, do not leave this house and wait for me to come back. I’ve talked to some other members of my squad and they’ve all reassured me that, for the time being, the online delivery services will still be available. I guess those drones aren’t really affected by quakes huh? Please stay safe and please stay in this house. I love you. -Brian”

I didn’t understand what any of that meant, and I wasn’t sure who Brian nor Eleanor was, but I figured I would stay here for the time being and write about what goes on in this journal until Brian comes back. I’m sure whoever he is he’ll protect me, just like Grandpa once did. And maybe if I’m lucky he’ll bring me some red fruits.