The Chasing Game
Qianwei Guo
Mr. Leonard and his family live in a village in the very south, where the weather is always hot throughout the entire year. Grooming, chopping and farming, that’s their daily routine for exactly forty years. No one knows where they came from, or why they came to the villlage. They are a strange family, and they seem afraid of everyone. Leonard and his family never seem to grow old. The story of this mystical family is a topic the people in the village always talk about. Mr. Paul, his wife, and his three young children can possibly be the only people who know what happened to them forty years ago.
Back to a Sunday in 1965, Mr. Leonard’s three children are pulling out napkins from the box, make them to different shapes, and throw them on the floor. Strangely, the three children love to destroy everything that is related to wood. Mr. Leonard never stops them from doing it. Mr. Leonard just wakes up from the bed, toughly walks around the mess made by his children and says good morning to them. His wife, Mary, is preparing breakfast for her darlings. Everything seems extremely normal until Mr. Leonard hears a knock on the door and sees a green letter on the floor. This family never really goes out and talks to others, so it is rare for them to receive a letter. Mr. Leonard thinks it is just an advertisement letter, but what he doesn’t know, this letter changes the rest of their life. Mr. Leonard opens the envelope; inside, there is only a white paper. On the paper, it simply shows three red letters, “RUN”.
They don’t believe the letter until they hear an exploding sound in the kitchen. A short tree grows upon from the floor, which breaks the floor and leaves a mess in the kitchen. Mr. Leonard starts to realize the letter isn’t joking. They grab all their essentials and quickly drives away from the house. If they look back at their house, they would be surprised and frightened. The small tree in the kitchen grows taller; it goes through the roof, which pulls up the whole house from the ground.
Mr. Leonard tries to drive as fast as possible to get away from the house. From the rearview mirror, he sees the ground starts to split. Grass and flowers grow up from the cracks, which makes the road looks colorful. As the cracks get larger and larger, trees start to grow up from those cracks. Because of the big cracks on the ground, Mr. Leonard is forced to give up the car and run away from the road into the mountain. They see the growing tree splits their car into half. The trees are still growing towards them, but as they run into a forest, there are no more trees growing behind them.
They walk deep and deep into the forest, where they find a beautiful green village hidden under a huge tree. The people from the village passionate welcome them. Mr. Leonard doesn’t want to share the story with the village people, because he thinks no one would believe him. He tells the village people that they need some help, especially a place to stay. A few days later, Mr. Leonard decides to go out of the forest to see what is happening outside. As he walks to the border of the forest and the road, trees near him start to attack him. He is forced to go back to the village. Far away, he sees the road is backing to normal. No more trees and cracks on the road.
Forty years fly away, but Mr. Leonard and his family haven’t changed in these forty years; more specifically, they haven’t grown any older. More incredible, they feel the time passes so quickly, that they feel like they have only been in the village for a few weeks. The children are still children. They like to burn the wood. Mr. Leonard never stops them from doing it, neither the people from the village. One day, the children burn down a huge tree, and the fire covers the whole forest. Mr. Leonard and his wife are still sleeping. They feel the heat and see the fire dancing in front of them. Mr. Leonard knows it is his children who made this happen. He finally realizes the importance of protecting nature in the last second of his life.
At this point, something under his back pushes him and his wife into the sky. The wind is so fast that he can’t open his eyes. When he can’t feel the wind anymore, he sees him and his family in their house. The house is as usual. The egg is still warm on the table. Their car is in the back yard. Everything happens in the forest seems like a bad dream to the family, but they know it is true. The children still have branches on their hands. Their life becomes normal as usual; the children start to grow older. Mr. Leonard tries several times to find the village. He drives to the forest but that forest is just a forest, with only trees and flowers. Mr. Leonard plants the seeds he finds on the branches brought by the children. Each of his children plants a seed in their own spot. He teaches them how to water it and take care of it. At last, the seeds grow to three trees that look exactly the same as the trees they see in the forest.
Back to a Sunday in 1965, Mr. Leonard’s three children are pulling out napkins from the box, make them to different shapes, and throw them on the floor. Strangely, the three children love to destroy everything that is related to wood. Mr. Leonard never stops them from doing it. Mr. Leonard just wakes up from the bed, toughly walks around the mess made by his children and says good morning to them. His wife, Mary, is preparing breakfast for her darlings. Everything seems extremely normal until Mr. Leonard hears a knock on the door and sees a green letter on the floor. This family never really goes out and talks to others, so it is rare for them to receive a letter. Mr. Leonard thinks it is just an advertisement letter, but what he doesn’t know, this letter changes the rest of their life. Mr. Leonard opens the envelope; inside, there is only a white paper. On the paper, it simply shows three red letters, “RUN”.
They don’t believe the letter until they hear an exploding sound in the kitchen. A short tree grows upon from the floor, which breaks the floor and leaves a mess in the kitchen. Mr. Leonard starts to realize the letter isn’t joking. They grab all their essentials and quickly drives away from the house. If they look back at their house, they would be surprised and frightened. The small tree in the kitchen grows taller; it goes through the roof, which pulls up the whole house from the ground.
Mr. Leonard tries to drive as fast as possible to get away from the house. From the rearview mirror, he sees the ground starts to split. Grass and flowers grow up from the cracks, which makes the road looks colorful. As the cracks get larger and larger, trees start to grow up from those cracks. Because of the big cracks on the ground, Mr. Leonard is forced to give up the car and run away from the road into the mountain. They see the growing tree splits their car into half. The trees are still growing towards them, but as they run into a forest, there are no more trees growing behind them.
They walk deep and deep into the forest, where they find a beautiful green village hidden under a huge tree. The people from the village passionate welcome them. Mr. Leonard doesn’t want to share the story with the village people, because he thinks no one would believe him. He tells the village people that they need some help, especially a place to stay. A few days later, Mr. Leonard decides to go out of the forest to see what is happening outside. As he walks to the border of the forest and the road, trees near him start to attack him. He is forced to go back to the village. Far away, he sees the road is backing to normal. No more trees and cracks on the road.
Forty years fly away, but Mr. Leonard and his family haven’t changed in these forty years; more specifically, they haven’t grown any older. More incredible, they feel the time passes so quickly, that they feel like they have only been in the village for a few weeks. The children are still children. They like to burn the wood. Mr. Leonard never stops them from doing it, neither the people from the village. One day, the children burn down a huge tree, and the fire covers the whole forest. Mr. Leonard and his wife are still sleeping. They feel the heat and see the fire dancing in front of them. Mr. Leonard knows it is his children who made this happen. He finally realizes the importance of protecting nature in the last second of his life.
At this point, something under his back pushes him and his wife into the sky. The wind is so fast that he can’t open his eyes. When he can’t feel the wind anymore, he sees him and his family in their house. The house is as usual. The egg is still warm on the table. Their car is in the back yard. Everything happens in the forest seems like a bad dream to the family, but they know it is true. The children still have branches on their hands. Their life becomes normal as usual; the children start to grow older. Mr. Leonard tries several times to find the village. He drives to the forest but that forest is just a forest, with only trees and flowers. Mr. Leonard plants the seeds he finds on the branches brought by the children. Each of his children plants a seed in their own spot. He teaches them how to water it and take care of it. At last, the seeds grow to three trees that look exactly the same as the trees they see in the forest.
My name is Qianwei Guo. I am a 14 year old freshmen at New Mexico Military Institute, and I like read fiction books. The idea of this fiction prose is to tell the readers the importance of protecting nature.