A Surprised Ending

by Steffy Bollinger

A Surprised Ending

By: Stefanie Bollinger

It was getting dark out as Olyviah and her best friend Mollie were on their way to Mollie’s house. They were going to cut through the gardens as they giggled and played around. Mollie’s dog Lunar was walking behind them, Lunar stopped. Olyviah turned to where Lunar was facing. Mollie wanted to keep going. “Lunar, Livvy, where are you two looking ?” Mollie asked.Mollie tried not to look at the woods. The woods were behind the gardens. The girls have been told to never go near the woods.

Everyone in town knew that the monsters lived in the woods. Lunar started to walk into the woods, Olyviah followed after her. Mollie pulled on Olyviah’s arm.“Livvy, everyone told us to never go near the woods, remember?” Mollie said with fear in her voice. Olyviah looked at her and smiled. As Olyviah was about to reply, Lunar took off after something. Olyviah was ready to run after her, when Mollie pulled on her arm and said, “This isn’t a good idea, we should get our parents.”“Mollie, it’s fine, we don’t need them to go find Lunar, besides, your mom will be upset that Lunar wasn’t on her leash,” Olyviah said.

“Come on Mollie, I always wanted to know what it was like in the woods.” Olyviah said smiling at her best friend. Mollie sighed, she knew Olyviah wouldn’t give in to her, she reached into her book bag and took out two flashlights. She handed one to Olyviah, and they began to walk into the woods. The sun was just done setting. The girls called out for Lunar, but no answer. The late fall wind blew Olyviah’s and Mollie’s hair. Mollie was terrified at this point, Olyviah was calm. Olyviah loved adventuring. It started to rain as the girls came to a clearing in the woods.

It began to rain, as the heavens above cried , lightening flashed overhead, Mollie held on to Olyviah’s arm. “It’s okay, Mollie, it’s just a little lightning.” Olyviah said. Mollie nodded and took her umbrella out of her bag. They noticed what looked like a castle in the distance atop a hill. There was no sign of Lunar anywhere. Olyviah thought she saw something near the castle’s gates. Then, the figure looked at them, it was walking over to them, but it took a tumble down the hill .

The creature came tumbling towards Mollie. It was a baby panda! The girls thought what in the world is a baby panda doing around here? Olyviah helped Mollie up, as Mollie held the baby panda in her arms, they noticed it had a collar, the name read “Domino.” Just then, they heard someone yelling and Domino’s ears perked up. They saw two new figures at the castle’s gates.. Who could they be?

The a boy and a girl came running down the pathway of the castle. Olyviah and Mollie didn’t know what to make of all this.The girl took Domino from Mollie and said, “Who are you and what are you doing this far out in the woods?”

“We were looking for her dog, what are you two doing so far out here?” Olyviah questioned.Mollie remembered what everyone in town told them about the monsters living in the woods. The boy looked over at the girl and the girl said, “We live out here, what are your names?” “My name is Olyviah, and this is Mollie, what are your names?” The boy answered, “My name is Ian, and this is Maci.”

Just then thunder clapped loudly overhead, causing Mollie to grab onto Olyviah's arm again, but the thunder did not faze Ian or Maci. Maci noticed how scared Mollie was, “How about we all go into the castle to get out of the rain?” Mollie shook her head and replied, “I can’t just leave Lunar out in this storm, I must find her. Ian said, “We’ll help you find her.” They all went to find Lunar. Where in the world could she be..?

As they were looking for Lunar, Mollie couldn’t help but wonder why two teens were living all alone, so far away. She stopped and asked, “Why are you two living so far out here, and where are your parents?” Ian and Maci stopped and turned to Mollie, Olyviah kept walking, she didn’t notice Mollie had spoken. They were shocked that Mollie had asked the question, yet Maci replied, “We have lived out here as long as I can remember. We used to live here with our parents, but one day they just vanished.” “It’s just been the two of us and Domino, out here ever since.” Ian added.

Olyviah found Lunar asleep under a tree, but then noticed that Mollie, Maci, and Ian were no longer behind her.“What happened to them?” she wondered. The rain had let up a little. Where do you think they could they be..?

Hello there, my name is

Stefanie Bollinger. I am

seventeen years old and I am

a junior at the Lawrence

County Career & Technical

Center. My home school is

Shenango, and my shop is

commercial art.

This book is dedicated to my

friend’s daughter Olyviah,

my friends and family whom

I love so dearly.