The Search

Here is my story that I wrote in language arts class. I decided to name it The Search. If you want to know what it's about, I wrote a little about that in my last post. (This might take a while for you to read because it's really long.)

I've always wondered what my real mother is like. Does she have the same brown curly hair like me? I wonder if she's as short as I am. "Beep beep!" The car horn screams.
"Jane! We're here!" Will says. I look out the window and see this huge white house with millions of windows.
"Grab your things and I'll show you to your room," Will says.
I go inside, up a bunch of stairs and into a pretty big room with a huge closet and an attached bathroom. It's hard to believe that I have all this to myself. I grab a box of shoes and bring it into the closet when I see something reflecting off the mirror on the back wall. I open it. Inside is a-
"Jane! Come downstairs!" Laura yells.
I get downstairs and smell a strong scent of freshly baked cookies."One of the neighbors brought us a batch of cookies." Laura says. "Oh and this is addressed to you," she says handing me an envelope.
"Thanks," I say taking the envelope, a few cookies and then I head back up to my room.
When I get to my room, I rip open the envelope curious as to what's inside. It's a note that reads:
"Follow what's in the box to find your true desire." What in the world? Who could know about the box? I run into my closet to get it.
"Jane! Come downstairs for supper!" I hear Laura yell.
"I'll be down in a second!" I yell back. I quickly open the box again. Inside is a note that I shove into my pocket and then head downstairs.
I see Will and Laura sitting at the table. "We ordered food from the Chinese place in town," they say. I walk over to the table and sit down next to Will.
In case you were wondering, Will and Laura aren’t my real parents. They adopted me when I was two and I have never known my real mother. I met my father once, two years ago when I was twelve. At first, he seemed like a nice guy, but then he ran away to some country near Europe. I haven't heard from him since. I hope that someday I'll get to meet my mother.
"So how do you like your room?" Laura asks.
"It's good. It might be hard finding enough furniture to fill the entire room!" I say laughing. I grab a fortune cookie from the middle of the table. I take the fortune out of the middle and it reads:
"Follow what's in the box to find your true desire." That's exactly what the creepy letter from my neighbor said.
"May I be excused?" I ask.
"Of course!" Will says. I run out of the kitchen and read the letter that was in the box. It looks like some sort of poem. It says:
"You must go alone. It's awaiting where the Festival of Lights is held yearly on July 3rd. A trip to Mexico might be nice around this time of year. An important message will be held at Central Square when the hands meet in the West. Where the water will stop. Follow the words from there."
I read it over and over again. What in the world could it mean? I lay awake all night thinking about the letter.
"It's awaiting where the festival of lights is held yearly on July 3rd."
I sit up on my bed. My heart is pounding. I know where that is. Every year a little before the 4th of July, I go with Will and Laura to Portland, Oregon. They have a larger celebration the whole week of the 4th of July. July 3rd is my favorite one. There's a festival of lights where each family gets to light off a lantern. That's where I need to go to find what I desire most. My real mother.
The next morning I run downstairs into the kitchen and yell "Laura! We need to go to Portland, Oregon!" There's no response. "Laura? Will?" I walk to the fridge and find a note on it that says:

 "Will and I are off to work today. There are leftovers in the fridge. We'll be back around five. -Laura"
Five? That's too long to wait. Luckily I know Laura leaves extra cash in the back of her closet. I can get some of it to buy a plane ticket. I run into her room and luckily, I find the cash. I count it and it adds up to $754.75. I grab a sticky note, put on in the fridge and write:

 "I'm off to Oregon to find my real mother. I'll hopefully be back by Monday or Tuesday.
-Jane"
I quickly run out the door, grab my bike and head off to the airport.
The airport is about 25 minutes away by bike, so luckily is gives me some time to think. I wonder what my real mother will be like. Wait, What am I doing? I'm just going to run off to Oregon and hope this note isn't a big joke? I don't even know if there's a flight going to Oregon! Hopefully, I'm lucky!

I get to the airport and realize I was so excited I forgot to pack anything! I guess I'll have to buy supplies later.
I get in line to go to the front desk and when it's finally my turn, I say "May I purchase a ticket to Portland, Oregon please?"
"The next flight leaves in 3 hours and it costs $426." The lady at the desk says. $426! There will be no money to come all the way back to Florida!
"Ok," I say. "I'd like to buy one plane ticket to Oregon." She looks down at me.
"I'm going to need some sort of I.D." The lady says.
"Is that good?" I ask handing her my student I.D. from my old school. She gives me a weird look. "What about now?" I ask while handing her a $50 bill.
"Normally I'd say no but since I'm in a good mood today that'll be fine."
"Thanks!" I say handing her the rest of the cash.
I get through security easily since I don't have any luggage. Now I just have about two and a half hours until my flight leaves. I might as well shop with all my spare time!
I head into a store filled with basically anything you could ever need. It feels like I've only been in there for twenty minutes but when I look at the clock I see that it's been an hour and a half! I hurry to the checkout and see that my price is at $77.43. With everything I've bought so far, I'm already down to 201.32. Luckily there not much else I'll have to buy besides food and a plane ticket home, but I'll figure that out later.
It's time to board the plane and I'm getting very nervous. What if I'm going all this way for nothing?
I get on the plane and just my luck, I'm sitting by a lady with a dog! I've always hated dogs. Something about them just makes me get creeped out.
The plane finally lands after what seems like days! I run off the plane, eager to get as far away from that dog as I can.
I get out of the airport and it's dark out. Now I have to worry about finding a place to sleep.
It takes some time, but I finally settle on a bench in the middle of a park. I throw my sweatshirt on, grab the neck pillow I bought earlier, and fall right asleep.
I wake up to the sound of children playing and birds chirping. I have no idea what time it is, but it feels really early in the morning. I might as well start heading to the first location. Which is-

 Actually, I have no idea. "It is awaiting where the festival of lights is held yearly on July 3rd." Ok, well I'm here now. "A trip to Mexico might be nice around this time of year," I whisper out loud as I walk the streets. All of a sudden I look up and see this crazy maniac on a 2-seated bike heading straight towards me! I dodge out of the way and the bike stops about a foot in front of me. He has short blonde hair and he seems average height, which of course is taller than me.
"Hey, sorry about that. I didn't see you there," he says in a deep voice. "I'm Ricky," he says while holding his hand out for me to shake. I ignore his hand in front of me and say
"I'm Jane. Thanks for almost hitting me with your bike there!"
"Ya sorry about that," he says. "Is there anything I could do to help you? Do you need a ride?"
"Actually yes," I say. "There is something you could help me with." I dig the letter out of my pocket and show it to him. "Help me crack this code, riddle, or whatever it is."
"I mean I can try to help but I'll tell you now, I'm not the smartest person you'll ever meet."
"Ok, so I have the first clue figured out. that's what lead me here. What do you think it means by 'A trip to Mexico might be nice  around this time of year'?' I ask.
"Well," he says. "There are two Mexican restaurants in town. One on Elm Avenue and one on 3rd street. Could it be talking about one of those?"
"Genious!" I say. "Let's go to the one on 3rd street. I have a feeling it will be there." I hop on his bike and say "Let's go!"
We get to the restaurant and look at the clue again. "A trip to Mexico might be nice around this time of year."
"Well," I say. "We're at the restaurant, but that can't be all that's to the clue." We walk inside and look around. There are decorations all over the wall. There's everything from old calendars to weird pictures of statues. Wait, calenders! In the clue, it says "Around this time of year." Calendars show the dates of an entire year. Could that be it? "Ricky!" I say "I think I might've found out the answer. The clue says something about the year. A calendar shows the dates for an entire year. This could be it." I flip through the calendar until I find today's date. Friday, September 2nd. There are words written in all caps across the page that says "Names mean a lot."
"What could it mean?" Ricky asks. I have no idea," I say. "Check the other calenders too. Do they have the same thing?" We quickly flip through all the calenders and yes, they all have the same thing written across the page of September.
"Ricky," I say. "What's the name of this restaurant?"
"It's called El Centro. Why?"
"If names mean a lot, what could the name of this restaurant mean?" I start to think. El Centro translates to English as The Center. The next clue the letter gives is "An important message will be held at the square." Central. Square. "Ricky. Take me to the Central Square!"
We get outside and Ricky says "It takes at least 15 minutes to get there from here."
"Alright, let's go!" I say.
"Listen!" He says. "The only way to get there from here is to ride through a really sketchy part of town. Unless you want to go two hours out of the way. It's filled with all sorts of crazy people. Are you sure you want to go there?"
"Of course I am," I say, so we hop on his bike and take off.
About five minutes into the ride Ricky asks "What makes you so determined to figure out this riddle?"
"If I finish it I might get to find my real mother. I was adopted when I was younger and I’ve never met her.
"Wow that's crazy," he says. "You'd go through all this trouble just to meet someone you don't even know yet? What if you absolutely hate her?" I don't respond. I've never thought about it that way, and I don't want to.
"Well," I start but Ricky silences me. "Hey!" I say, but he does it again.
"We're here," he says. "Don't draw any attention to yourself. Just act as you belong here and you're strolling through town, and remember. Never make eye contact with anyone here! You got it?" I nod without questioning anything. I pedal the bike and keep my eyes down. I hope Ricky isn't doing the same. Someone needs to see where we're going! I look up just to check and it just so happens that at the same exact moment I make eye contact with a man on the street. He gives me a strange look just before he grabs a barrel and throws it into the street. Right where the bicycle will hit it!
"What did I tell you?" Ricky screams. The bike hits the barrel. We're swerving out of control, but then everything stops.
Next thing I know, I'm laying on a basement floor right in front of five big guys watching t.v. I see blood on the floor in front of me and I can feel some dripping down my face. My head and right wrist both hurt really bad because of the wreck. I see Ricky on the floor next
to me just waking up too. He looks pretty beaten up as well. For what seems like hours, we just lay on the floor doing absolutely nothing. The Ricky taps me on the shoulder.
"What?" I whisper.
"There's a hole in the wall. Behind the t.v. Whenever the guys look away I want you to escape."
"What?" I say. "You're crazy if you'd ever think I'd leave you!"
"Just do it!" he says. "I'm sure I'll find a way out. You go and find your mother."
"Ok," I say. I wait for the perfect time when all the guys turn around to get a slice of pizza. I go through the hole in the wall and barely make it out before I was gonna die from the awful scent in there! I try to push myself up to my feet, forgetting how bad my wrist hurt. I collapse back onto the ground in pain. It takes a while, but I eventually get back up and get the note out of my pocket to see where to go next. I look around. I have no idea where I'm at right now, but I'm sure I can find out. All I need to find is the street we were on, which was Cotton Street.
After walking around forever, I finally find Cotton Street and continue walking on it hoping I'll eventually run into Central Square. I feel bad for leaving Ricky. What if he doesn't make it out? What will happen to him?
I check the note and I'm about halfway done with all the clues. The next one is "The hands will meet in the West." I don't have a single clue as to what that could mean. I guess I'll have to find out when I get there.
Luckily, I've been walking in the right direction and I reach an arch that says Central Square. I didn't really know what to expect but it's pretty cool. There's a huge playground, benches, picnic tables, a fountain, and a big open area with a clock in the middle of it.
I go through the arch and use some water from the fountain to wash the blood off of my face.
"The hands will meet in the West." That's the next clue. It keeps repeating over and over in my head. What hands? Is someone going to give someone a handshake or something? I look around and see the clock. Could it be the hands on the clock? The hands will meet on the clock in the West at 9:00. Do I just wait until then? I have three hours.
With all my spare time, I decided to go to a restaurant and get some food. I head over to McDonald's because it's the closest. I get a cheeseburger, medium fries, and a soda. I'm sitting alone when a skinny, short lady with brown curly hair walks up to me and says "Hey, is anyone sitting here?" She points to the seat next to me.
"No," I say. "It's open." She sits down next to me.
"You look too young to be here all alone," she says. "Oh, I'm Heather by the way." I shake her hand forgetting about my wrist hurting.
"I'm Jane. Ouch!" I say. "My wrist!"
"What happened?" Heather asks.
"It's nothing," I say. "I was just in a biking accident earlier today."
"Well, it looks like more than nothing!" She says. "It looks broken! I'll take you to the hospital right now!"
We get in her car and take off. "The hospital isn't far from here," she says. "So what are you doing all alone?"
"Well," I start. "I received a note with clues on it to where my real mother is. You see, I was adopted when I was two and I've never known who she is."
"Oh wow, that's cool!" She says. The rest of the car ride is an awkward silence until we reach the hospital. We get out and go inside. I sit down while Heather tells the lady at the desk what's going on. She looks back at me. "Is there any way we can contact your parents?" She asks.
"Yes," I say. I give her Laura and Will's number and I think about how much I miss them. About how much they probably miss me. I hope they aren't mad at me for leaving.
"Jane," a doctor comes out and says. Heather follows me with her. The doctor gets my weight and height. "We will need to take an x-ray first," the doctor says.
After what seems like hours, they get done taking my x-ray and I'm in a hospital room. A nurse comes in my room and says "We tried calling your parents but there was no response. Are you sure that's their number?"
"I'm sure," I say.
A while later a doctor comes in and says "Jane. I looked at your x-rays and you have a fractured wrist." I start to cry. How am I going to explain all of this to Laura and Will? They're probably already worried enough with me gone. "Would you prefer a cast or brace?" she asks.
"A brace," I say. I check the clock and it's 8:00. "Heather," I say. "Do you think there's any way we could be at Central Square by 9:00?"
"We'll try," she says.
After they get the brace and do a few other things, we are out of the hospital and back at Central Square. It's 8"55. We have five minutes to wait. There's a weird silence for a while until Heather says "So, do you think you'll end up finding your mother?"
"I don't know," I say. "I hope so. I've waited for fourteen years!" Just then the clock strikes nine and the hands are pointing to the West. We both look towards where the hands are pointed. There is the fountain, that suddenly turns off.
"Where the water will stop," I say.
"The fountain turns off after nine," Heather says. "What's the next clue?"
"The final clue us 'The words will direct you from there."
"There are quotes on the fountain," Heather suggests. "Maybe you're supposed to follow the quotes to find your mother." We run over to the fountain. "There are three quotes," Heather says. "Always remember that opposites aren't always bad, walking a mile in someone else’s shoes may not be as easy as it seems, and what seems tiny could end up being very mighty."
"Opposites aren't always bad," I say. "What's the opposite of West?"
"East," Heather responds. "Would it be talking about traveling East? How far?"
"I'm not sure," I say. "Walking a mile in someone else's shoes may not be as easy as it seems."
"A mile East!" Heather says. "I bet your mother is a mile East!"
"You're a genius!" I say. "But what about the last quote?"
"Does it matter right now?" She asks. "Let's just go! We'll figure out when we get there." We hop in her car and head exactly a mile East. We end up in a rough-looking neighborhood named Washington Street. We park the car and walk around looking at all the houses.
"What seems tiny could end up being very mighty," I say. "Well, we are in a tiny neighborhood. Which is the tiniest house?" I look around.
"That one right there," Heather says pointing to a tiny grey house with weeds overgrowing the landscape.
"Well," I say. "Let's try knocking on the door." We walk up to the door and I knock on it a couple of times. We wait and wait.
"Coming!" I hear a tiny voice say from inside. A lady in a wheelchair answers the door looks at me and says "You're here!" My eyes go wide.
"Mom?" I say.
We walk into the house and sit on the couch. "I'm guessing you have a lot of questions. I'll explain everything," she says. "First of all, my name is Jenny." I've been regretting putting you up for adoption since the day it happened. I was in a bad car accident, which paralyzed me from the waist down. I figured a baby would be too much to handle." We end up talking for hours and it turns out that Heather is my sister! That's how she knew exactly what the riddles meant! Jenny sent her to find me and come help me finish because she was too eager to meet me.

Back in Florida, Laura and Will are worried sick about Jane. "Why would she leave without at least trying to call us at work?" Laura says through tears.
"I don't know," Will says. "I'm sure she'll come back. She's a smart girl. She'll find a way." All of a sudden the phone rings. "I'll get it," Will says. "Hello? Jane!" Laura runs over to the phone to listen closer. "Are you safe?" he asks.
"Yes, I am. I found my mother! She's a really nice lady and her name is Jenny."
"That's wonderful!" they say. "When do you plan on coming back to Florida?"
Well," Jane starts. "Jenny has offered me to live with her. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. Can I call you tomorrow when I decide?"
"Sure," Will says. "Bye! Talk to you tomorrow!" I hang up the phone and walk over to Jenny.
"They said it's alright if I stay here tonight and call back tomorrow."
"Wonderful!" Jenny exclaims. "You can take the pull out couch to sleep on."
That night I could hardly sleep. What am I going to do? Stay with Jenny? mean she is my real mother but I just met her today! That's what I think about for the rest of the night. Whether I'm going to go back to Florida with the people who raised me or stay with my mother who I just met.
The next morning I wait for Jenny to wake up and tell her my decision. "Can I call Laura and Will?" I ask.
"Of course!" she says. I grab the phone and dial their number. They answer immediately.
"So," they say. "What did you decide?"
"I've decided to come back to Florida with Jenny and Heather! We have enough room in our new house for them to stay temporarily!"
"That's a wonderful idea!" Laura says. "When is your flight to come back?"
"Jenny is booking our flights right now. She said we should be back by Tuesday!"
"Ok, Can't wait to see you!"
When our flight on Tuesday finally comes, I get really nervous. What if Laura and Will don't like Jenny and Heather? Would they still let them stay? How is Jenny going to get up and down all the stairs with her wheelchair?
"Everything's going to be fine," Heather says. "I can tell you're nervous." The plane ride surprisingly gelt really short! We get off the plane and get into a taxi that takes us right to Laura and Will's house.
They're waiting on the front porch when we get there. I run out of the taxi and hug both of them. "I really missed you!" I say.
"Us as well!" Laura says. We help Jenny and Heather get all their bags into the house. That night we have a party with pizza and a bunch of desserts. I'm so happy to have my whole family all together!