Chapter 1
Eggs and Milk
Ryan got on his red bike as the sun was about to disappear behind the oak trees in the county of Watching, New Jersey. As Ryan looked around while he peddled his way home to his small house atop Yan Mountain, he spotted the usual warning sign about some creature that apparently roamed the Watching Reserve. Ryan thought these rumors were fake just like a regular person would believe that aliens don’t exist. The village drunk who was some man named John claimed that the creature was known as the Magdusa and was around 6 and a half feet tall. John also claimed that the Magdusa could lift 20 elephants with one arm. These rumors, Ryan thought, were the stupidest thing he’d ever heard, which was nearly as stupid as his annoying little sister.
Ryan hit the brakes as he finally arrived at his tiny house which he was forced to live in with his Mom and She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his little sister. Ryan hung up his red Adidas hoodie on the wall.
“Ryan, do you have the eggs and milk I told you to buy 6 hours ago?” said Ryan’s mom, Anna, in a surprisingly calm tone even though she told Ryan to come home about 5 hours ago with the groceries.
“I have the stuff right here,” said Ryan, patting his jacket down. Ryan’s body tensed as he realized the impossible, he had left the eggs and milk at the reserve 5 hours ago when he was having Ryan & Ryan time.
“Ryan, where is the food?” said Anna, giving Ryan her infamous glare that could stop a car right in its tracks.
Chapter 2
A Monster
Ryan sulked out of the house as he trudged over to his bike, his mind replaying the scene 5 minutes ago: his mom giving him hell on earth for being “lazy and selfish” for forgetting easily replaceable foods at the reserve.
Instead of just sending Ryan out to the grocery store the next day when it was open, Anna decided to send Ryan back to the reserve to retrieve the groceries. Ryan grumbled while he rode his bike down the steep roads of Yan Mountain. Even though Ryan was forced to go to the reserve in the pitch-black night, Ryan wasn’t scared at all. Besides, for his 10th birthday a year ago, he got headlights installed on his bike. He also had asked for a dirt bike but Anna said, It cost too much and you have to earn it.
The wind whistled behind Ryan’s ears as he picked up speed on a slope edging towards the end of the mountain.*CRASH* Ryan’s heart skipped a beat as he was thrown off his bike and onto the hard concrete of the road. Ryan felt the trickle of blood as his nose was bleeding. Ryan saw his bike’s headlights shine on a figure whose back was facing Ryan. The figure made a jerking motion as it smashed its fist into Ryan’s bike and the headlights broke, turning the road pitch black. Ryan’s heart was beating a gazillion times a millisecond as the figure, who Ryan assumed was the Magdusa, sniffed the air and walked towards Ryan’s direction. Ryan froze as the Magdusa came closer and closer to where Ryan was lying on his butt. In the dark, Ryan could make out bright green eyes that resembled emeralds as the Magdusa loomed over Ryan who was about 4 feet away. Suddenly, Ryan grasped his senses back from where they had wandered off to and made a run for his life. The Magdusa swiftly changed direction and stomped towards Ryan, as its footsteps could be heard from thousands of miles away. The wounded Ryan immediately sped up to the point where he felt like the Flash as the Magdusa suddenly stopped and sprinted down the mountain. Ryan didn’t stop sprinting until he spotted the light of his house. Ryan slammed the door shut then rushed upstairs to his tiny bedroom.
Chapter 3
Breakfast With Maggie
Ryan woke up the next morning with a splitting headache. He had dreamed that he had been eaten and swallowed by the treacherous Magdusa. Ryan had never believed that the Magdusa prowled the forest until now. The stairs creaked as Ryan trotted downstairs to smell that Anna had prepared a delicious breakfast which in his household was a medium-sized plate of porridge and a glass of milk, but Ryan never drank the milk and immediately closed up his nostrils as Maggie drained her glass of milk in one large gulp.
“Good morning,” said Ryan to Anna as he let out a long yawn.
“Hello, brother, it’s 10:00 A.M. and you were supposed to get your behind out and over to breakfast 2 hours ago and I already ate and drank your porridge and milk,” sneered Maggie. Ryan groaned as he sat down far away from Maggie at the wooden, 4 seat table. “Why so far away loser, scared?” taunted Maggie with a sneer on her ugly face which other people thought was very pretty.
“Leave me alone,” grunted Ryan as he got up from his seat and prepared to change and go biking back to the reserve. Ryan walked towards Maggie’s direction as he prepared to make a dash upstairs to avoid making eye contact with Maggie, then something caught Ryan’s eye. He had never really noticed how green Maggie’s eyes were. Today, Ryan wondered why her eyes seemed so familiar.
Chapter 4
Johnathan Or John
After, Ryan changed into his average look of navy blue sweatpants and a classic red Adidas hoodie, which only he knew had stains from a bloody nose that were otherwise unrecognizable due to his red hoodie but could be smelled if you were wearing it. Ryan knew Anna was still pissed at him for losing the food so Ryan was forced to bike all the way back to the Watchung Reserve’s millions of miles of lush greenery (The Watchung Reservation is actually 3.039 square miles).
Ryan trotted outside and realized that his bike was destroyed from the incident last night with the Magdusa. It’s going to take hours and hours and hours of walking to get to the reserve, thought Ryan (the actual walk is around an hour and twenty-five minutes). Then, Ryan had an evil but brilliant idea, he was going to steal Maggie’s bike and use it to get to the reserve.
Ryan sped down the mountain then came to a sudden stop. There was a gaping hole in the middle of the road, and in the middle was Ryan’s bike, perfectly fine as though nothing had happened. This was, of course, a shock for Ryan who was just replaying the incident last night in his head, his bike destroyed by the Magdusa. Ryan thought for a second then shrugged. He figured that must have just been daydreaming and that there was no way the Magdusa actually existed.
After dropping Maggie’s bike on the greenery beside the road next to the mysterious house 1313, which was the only house he actually recognized on Yan Mountain besides his own. There were a few things that made house 1313 so mysterious and creepy. The first thing was that nobody knew who lived in the house; the second thing was that the house looked very worn out and thousands of years old and Ryan knew that a serial killer was definitely a threat but it was extremely unclear if this house was a threat but Ryan was most certain that it was a threat.
“Okay, here I go,” said Ryan to himself. Ryan furiously peddled down the mountains for he had just wasted 10 minutes stealing his sister’s bike, thinking about his own bike, finding his bike, and staring at house 1313. The bike skidded to a stop as Ryan reached the end of the mountain. Ryan wiped some sweat off his forehead as he watched cars speeding past him, he knew he had to be precise to get past the river of cars in front of him. The cars continued to speed past Ryan as he waited for the exact moment a gap would appear between the two lanes of vehicles, the opportunity came and Ryan didn’t waste it and immediately peddled as fast as his legs could through the rare gap between the lanes of cars. “Well, I’m finally here,” said Ryan with a breath of relief as he stood in front of the gates of the Watchung Reserve. Now, all Ryan had to do was pay to get in and search millions of miles for a carton of eggs and a container of milk.
Ryan sighed as he got in a line for the reserve which was smaller than usual. Ryan looked around and he saw the usual 20 dollars = adult, 15 dollars = child. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the dirtiest five and ten dollar bills he’d ever seen, there was some blood and many creases on both bills. Once it was Ryan’s turn to pay to get in the Watchung Reserve. “30 dollars, please,” said the cashier, whose name tag said James Raskolnikov, he looked fresh out of college.
“What?” said Ryan, looking confused.
“I said, 30 dollars, please. If you’re deaf, then go to the visitors center for some help,” responded James in a rude tone.
“But the sign says 15 dollars = child,” said Ryan.
“Well, I guess you didn’t read the other sign. It says bike or any other vehicle = 15 dollars,” said James with a smug look on his face. Inside Ryan’s head, he thought, Man, this kid is a stupidly bad liar. I’ve been coming here for half of my life and I have never seen any sign like that. But Ryan knew he had to pay the 30 dollars which meant his snack money would now be no more.
“Okay,” grumbled Ryan as he took out 2 crumbled dollar bills and gave them to James.
“Thank you, sir,” said James. Ryan hopped on his bike, while he was riding away he heard James shout, “Next!”
Ryan knew the eggs and milk could be anywhere throughout the forest so he decided to try and remember where he had put them to go… ugh, Ryan had forgotten what he had done after he had set the eggs and milk down on a log. Now Ryan was doubting he even bought eggs and milk. That gave Ryan an idea, a good one, too. Ryan’s idea was he could go to the store to buy doubles of the eggs and milk, then Ryan remembered his “snack money” was actually the money he could’ve used to buy the doubles of eggs and milk.
“Well, there goes my idea,” said Ryan to a tree. Ryan imagined the tree saying back,
“You deserved it,” with a mean face that somehow resembled Anna’s. Ryan hopped back on his bike and rode off.
Suddenly, Ryan stopped to see a raggedy old man, eating raw eggs and milk while sitting on a tree stump. Ryan looked carefully at the food and immediately realized that the old man, who probably couldn’t afford to get in the reserve, was gobbling his family’s food.
“Old man, where did you get that food?” asked Ryan, who was trying not to lose his temper.
“Well, if you want some, there’s plenty to go around, Ryan,” said the old man, smiling with his teeth all dark yellow.
“Wait, how do you know my name?” said Ryan suspiciously.
“I know a lot of things, Ryan,” said the old man with a wink.
“What’s your name?” asked Ryan, who was already creeped out by the fact that this old man knew his name.
“Johnathan, but you can call me John,” said Johnathan or John with a smile. Ryan suddenly asked a question he’d been meaning to ask ever since he’d known the old man he was currently talking to was the village drunk.
“John, can you tell me about the Magdusa?” asked Ryan curiously.
“Sure,” said John.
Chapter 5
Information From John
John moved the eggs and milk next to the tree stump as he prepared to tell Ryan all about the Magdusa.
“So Ryan, what do you want to know about the Magdusa?” asked the old man looking Ryan right in the eye.
“Uhhhh, everything you know, sir,” said Ryan who was shifting uncomfortably on his tree stump.
“Very well then,” said the old man.
“Well, okay then,” said Ryan with a fake smile plastered on his face.
“The Magdusa is believed to be 20 feet tall but I believe it is 6 foot 5 inches (6’ 5”) tall. Any questions?” asked John.
“If the Magdusa is that big, how come no one has seen it?” said Ryan.
“Well, many believe the Magdusa can turn any person it looks at into a food of its choice, but I believe the Magdusa turns into a human during daylight and into its monster form when the sun sets,” said John.
“But how does the Magdusa turn into its monster form without being seen by people?” said Ryan who was beginning to feel suspicious about John’s knowledge about this strange creature.
“That is where the Watchung Reservation comes in, child. When it is night, the Magdusa goes into the forest and transforms into its monster form,” said John.
“But what if the Magdusa is seen by a person?” asked Ryan.
“The Magdusa won’t be seen because it always waits for people to fall asleep, then it comes out,” said John.
“But doesn’t the Magdusa eat humans? So how does the Magdusa eat humans when it waits for everyone to be asleep?” asked Ryan.
“If somebody sees the Magdusa in its monster form, it will hunt the person down and kill them,” said John.