Pen To Paper

Chapter 1: Sink Or Swim

Screaming, smoke filling the air, the trees being ripped apart by the mouth of the flames. Everywhere, creatures were scurrying, trying to escape. Gunshots were fired, tears began falling, and the place grew smaller, quieter, and more unfamiliar. That was all Neo could remember. 

With blurry eyes, jarred awake from the clutches of sleep, he jumped up and rubbed them open. He scanned the area around him. It was a vast countryside, filled with flowers. He bobbed up and down, he was floating. He looked down to find he was sitting in a basket. Instantly, he panicked, flailing his arms in the air. "Mom! Dad! Help!" he called out, but no one answered.  He stopped moving and took a breath of relief, he knew he wouldn't drown in the basket. "Alright, Neo. Think about what's going on. Step one, what is the problem?" Neo put his paws in the water and straightened his tall, fluffy ears. "What is my problem? I'm lost in the middle of a ding dang river!" he cried. He called out to his parents again and received nothing.

As he floated down the stream, he considered his options. "I have to go home, that's for sure." He looked at how much he'd have to swim to get to shore. He shook his head, pulling his ears against his head. "Who am I kidding? Bunnies are naturally terrible swimmers, I wouldn't last five seconds." He looked in the direction he was going. "I guess I'll have to ride this river to the end." He leaned back, still tense, inches separating him from a cold and watery death. He closed his eyes, letting the sun hit his face. He knew he wouldn't tan because his fur would block the way.

Almost an hour later, the sound of rushing water seemed to be growing closer. He opened his eyes and look ahead. The river was rapidly rushing to the mouth of a cave. "Yikes!" Neo screeched. He scrambled up and tried paddling away, but he was too small to do much of an effort. Before long, he was caught in the waterfall and took the plunge, the world becoming darker with each second. He flailed his arms up and down, struggling to swim. It was no use. "This is it, this is how I die." he thought, he closed his eyes, accepting fate.

When Neo opened his eyes, he expected to see the gates of Heaven. He looked for a pure blue sky surrounded by white fluffy clouds. He almost smiled as he came to. Instead of eternal salvation, though, he was met with two bright yellow eyes that seemed to gaze into his very soul. He screamed and jumped up in surprise. He scrambled to the back of the cave and looked around. He was in an outer part of the cave, the waterfall still crashing somewhere distant. He looked ahead of the thing he saw. It was staring at him, taking note of his every move. "Stay back! I'm warning you!" Neo shrieked, holding his arms up in a karate pose he'd seen on a magazine. The creature reeled back and sat on his rear end.

Neo took a closer look at what he was seeing. In front of him was a thin, white creature. His eyes were a solid yellow with black ringlike pupils. He looked as if he was made of chalk or thin tree bark. He wore tattered black pants and beat up red boots. His most noticeable feature, though, was his headphones. They were about the size of his head, and they were a shiny red. Each side had a lightning bolt on the end. His head was cube-shaped, like Neo. His upper body was left bare, and consisted of a white pole, which looked like a spine. "Are you...a skeleton?' Neo asked. The other person stared at him, unresponsive. "Maybe he doesn't know English," he thought. He pointed to the person. "Skeleton?" he asked him. The creature pointed to himself and nodded. "Ya skelet," he replied.

Neo crossed his legs and thought. "You sound European, are you?" he asked. The skeleton nodded. "Russia," he said. Neo nodded. "Got it. What's your name?" The skeleton stared at him blankly. Neo sighed and pointed to himself. "My name is Neo," he said. He pointed to him next. The skeleton pointed at his chest and shook his head. "You don't have a name?" he asked. "Net," he replied. Neo jumped to his feet. "I'll name you!" he said happily. The skeleton clapped his hands in excitement. "You've got lightning on your headphones, so how 'bout Sparky?" he thought about it for a second. "Net," he said, shaking his head. Neo put his hand to his chin, thinking. "Bolt, Thunder, Boney, Jack Skellington?" he listed the possible names. Neo lit up and snapped his fingers. "Skeli the skeleton!" he called. The skeleton nodded excitedly. "Skeli! Skeli!" he yipped.

Neo laughed and stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Skeli!" he said. Skeli took his hand and shook it happily. "Nice to met you!" he laughed. "Looks like I'm teaching you English, my friend!" Skeli threw his arms up. "Yay!" he shouted, echoing through the cave.