Samuel Walker — a story by Shlok Sharma

Shlok loves to read and write. These days his favorite author is Rick Riordan.

As I sat down to face my mom, I sensed she was unhappy about something. “Joe, I am disappointed in you.Your writing scores are terribly low.You need to work on this. I have bought a diary for you. I want you to write a journal at the end of everyday. It doesn’t matter what you write about but I want you to write something each day.”

“Phew! this doesn’t look very tough” I thought

And my mother walked out of the room -just like that. No further scolding -”thank you God”

I walked to my room, so I could start my journal. I take it out and write the events that happened today. It wasn’t much, so I finished it in a few minutes. Then I went to sleep thinking ” I have to finish the journal, I have to finish the journal…”

JUNE 21, 2011

I had woken up remembering that we were going on a cruise today! I quickly packed my bags. The taxi was already waiting outside for my family and me. We were soon boarding the ship at the docks. I felt so excited! There I found a new friend named Jack.Jack was as tall as me , just over 5ft.He looked strong and muscular. Jack and I decided to roam around the ship to see everything. It turned out that we were going to an exotic island. We found an arcade to play in ,to pass the time.

My dad came and told me that it’ll take about one more day for us to reach the island. I went back to play with Jack in the arcade. While Jack and I were playing with each other , we met some new friends. One of the boys who tagged along with us was John. John was sort of plump and had red hair.He turned out to be a great arcade gamer and we were just glad he was with us. The three of us were having fun , actually too much fun!

It was a huge ship.We went about exploring it from one end to the other.The ship had lot of things-bowling, golfing,board games, laser tag….etc etc..

We just couldn’t decide what to do first. So in order to cool our heads, which was buzzing with excitement, we took a dip in the pool.

Then it was time to play laser tag and paintball. It turned out Jack was the best at it, and compared to him we seemed like three year olds with a big gun!

All these activities were making us hungry. How lucky for us-the cruise restaurant had all the dishes a kid would love.There was mac’n'cheese, brownies, hamburgers , fries , pizzas , pasta, etc.Of course there were fruits and other healthy stuff too-but I did not want to even look at them. I was on a vacation! Vacation from my mom telling me to eat the veggies and fruits!

Oh man ! what a day! I was tired .And it was just 9 pm .I told good bye to Jack and John and went to my room. It looked like my mom and dad had gone to the spa to get a massage. My older brother, like always, had just stayed in the room and been on his computer. Was it just me who was having all the fun? I should sleep now. So this is Joe ending his first entry on a cruise ship.

JUNE 22, 2011

When I woke up I heard the emergency alarm buzzing. The cruise director had said that we had arrived at the island but our ship had broken down. He told us we were probably going to have to stay here. That seemed fine with me. I saw Jack and John coming towards me. It seemed like they were also happy that the ship had broken down.We decided to explore the island. We saw a lot of trees and beaches on the island. We played in the ocean that was nearby. We also found a forest that was on the island. But since it was getting late, it sort of scared me. I urged my friends to go back.Looks like they were scared too.

Luckily we knew how to get back. The crew of the ship had started a bonfire and were roasting marshmallows. We started to tell spooky stories over the bonfire. There were many people who tried telling a scary tale, but the scariest one was a story by the captain of the cruise ship. His tale was about a person named Samuel Walker, a cruise passenger who was going to this same island. The ship he was on had hit something and drowned.Nobody knew what had happened. But the real scary part was at the end. The captain told us that people have seen him walking on land. He haunts any ship that tries coming to this island.

That story had really creeped me out! The captain had also said “Beware, don’t go into the forest that’s on the island.” I just realized, we had gone into the forest earlier today! That’s really weird! I wonder if the legend of Samuel Walker is true or not. It would be really scary if he was alive. Anyway, I think I should go to sleep since it’s really late. So this is stranded-island-Joe signing of his international journal.

JUNE 23, 2011

Today John, Jack, and I were thinking the same thing. We wanted to go to the forest to see if we could find Samuel Walker and see if the legend is true or not. All the three of us had gone outside when we saw a flock of birds fly away from the forest. That meant that someone had been walking in the forest. We ran to the forest as fast as we could. My god, were we scared! But we still wanted to find out if the Samuel Walker legend was true. When we arrived at the forest, we couldn’t seem to find anyone.

Although now that I think about it, I thought I could see a glimpse of someone. I told my friends about it and we tried looking for him in the area I thought I had seen him. But we couldn’t seem to find him anywhere. We decided to leave and run. We were still scared about that legend of Samuel Walker.

Maybe this whole legend thingy isn’t true at all.

JUNE 24 2011

Authors Note: The tone has moved from a journal to a first-person view.

I’m feeling strange about something. I’m thinking that maybe one last time I should check the forest. This time John and Jack don’t want to come. They’re saying that I’m thinking too much about this. They say that I’m in over my head! That comment had really made me mad. So I stomped away from them.

As I walk into the forest I fell down. I don’t know how this happened, but I know I fell on this big rock. That fall had put a big scrape on my knee. Then when I finally arrive at the forest I see some footprints. The footprints look big enough to be a man’s size. Now I’m scared. Because those seem like they can be Samuel Walker’s footprints. Now I want to turn around and start walking away. But for some reason I feel like my legs aren’t working. It’s like I’m not in control of them. So now I walk to the spot I thought I had last seen him. Again I keep trying to stop myself, but it is too late. I see him. He’s a bold figure who’s height is around 6ft. He has muscles that would make a wrestler stare in awe. And most importantly he looks like he’s going to strangle me.

He smiles a nasty grin, takes out a knife, and bounds after me. I run as fast as I could. I’m too afraid too look back but I hear his footsteps behind me. He shouts,” Run as fast as you can, little boy! ” I’m still running but I know he’s not far behind me. I hear him coming closer, closer, closer, and now I’m on the ground. He’s standing over me with a wicked grin, and he takes his knife and brings it down…

“JOE ARE YOU READY FOR THE CRUISE!” I sit up on my bed in my room breathing heavily. I get out my bed, and I look at the blue walls in my room. The journal, that was lying on my desk, had only one entry in it. Now I remember, today I’m going on the cruise! Now I get it, I was just dreaming about the cruise. My dream was really scary!

”Joe are you coming or not!”

”Yeah mom!”, I replied. As I walk out of the room, I had a strange feeling in my body. I looked at my mirror and pulled my shirt up.

Then , to my horror, I pull out the knife from my body……