“ Mom why can’t I go home with you and dad!” I whined pathetically.
“ Bella, your dad and I have had this anniversary trip planned for months. You know this! You can’t go,” mom said.
I had a good reason to not want to go, I wasn’t going to spend the whole summer with my weird aunt at her weird house in the middle of nowhere. Mom and Dad didn’t give in. I was stuck staying at my weird aunt’s house. I wasn’t looking forward to this. My summer did seem a little brighter though when my parents let me bring my best friend Leah along to stay with me. Summer at my aunt’s house seemed to be a little better if Leah was with me.
We arrived at my Aunt’s house. We soon realized there was nothing to do. The only thing for entertainment was the West Wood Zoo. Kids go there to mess around and hang out even though the zoo has been abandoned for years. People aren’t supposed to go there, but the local kids do it anyway. Leah and I decided to check it out.
The walk there was long and hard. We had to climb up what seemed like mountains, big rocks, and go past some mini waterfalls. We also saw some abandoned coal mines. “ We made it!” I said triumphantly trying to catch my breath.
“ Ok, I have to admit this is pretty cool,” Leah said impressed. The zoo was really amazing. It still had all the exhibits, but without the animals. It was a big place. I figured this would give us days of entertainment instead of sitting around all day doing absolutely nothing.
“ Where should we start? We should cover every exhibit one by one. Oh hey, look there’s the lion exhibit! Let’s check that out first,” I said. It was pretty erie and the sun wasn’t helping with disappearing behind the thick dark clouds.
” Hey Bella what’s with the rock wall,” Leah questioned. “ Hmm… don’t know, looks like there’s a door, but a bunch of rocks are blocking it!”, I said shocked. Leah turned to look and said, “ Wait let me see, hey you’re right. Where’s the knob? It looks like it should be right here. I guess it fell off.”
I saw something on the ground. “ This has to be it,” I said as I picked up a rusted knob. “ It’s not like it’s going to do anything. We have to take the rocks off until we reach the door, I said. We were really curious and started moving the rocks away from the door. “ Woah these are heavier than I expected,” I said as I struggled to put it down.
“ I can kind of see,” Leah said peering through the small hole through the doorway. “ Watch out.” I said shoving Leah out of the way so she wouldn’t be crushed by the rocks falling. “ Hey Bella you did it, that last rock you took off must have been enough for the whole thing to collapse now we can go through!”
I started walking through the doorway first. Next thing I knew, the floor gave way. I was falling down and landed hard. “Are you okay,” Leah said worriedly. “ Hey Leah help me out!” I shouted. “ How am I supposed to do that. I don’t have anything to get you out. How far down did you fall?” Leah asked. “I’m okay, just a little shaken up. I don’t think I fell far. You have a flashlight on your phone for a reason.” I joked. “Why don’t you use it, but be careful where you step. That’s how I fell. “ “ Woah this is so cool!” Leah said. “ What is it? Will it help me get out of here? What did you find,” I said desperately trying to get her to tell me what she found. “ Ok so it might help you get out but I am definitely keeping this.” Leah said. “Just get me out of here,” I yelled. “ Alright I’m coming hold on,” Leah said.
When I saw what she had, I was immediately jealous. She had found a grappling hook. “ Where did you find that,” I said as soon as I got out from under the floor. “ Over there,” she said as she pointed to a dusty corner of the room. “ Is there anything else there.” I don’t know, why don’t you look around,” Leah said.
All I found was some dust, the occasional spider, cobwebs, and some more dust. “ There’s nothing here, “ I said disappointed. “ I’m not ready to go back to your aunt’s house yet. Come on let’s go see if there is anything where you fell,” Leah said. “ Fine, wait can I use your grappling hook?” I asked. “ Ugh fine, “ she handed it to me reluctantly.
As I turned on my flashlight I looked around there was a lot of broken pottery shards that scattered the dirt floor. Then I spotted something else. It was a surprisingly big opening in the wall. It looked like a tunnel on the other side of the room. “ Come on Leah let’s go.” Instead of coming to me she just stood in place. “ Are you scared?” I asked. “ What no way,” she said. “ Then come on, let’s go,” I said excitedly.
We started walking. There were a series of tunnels and passageways that lead to nothing. “ Well that was a disappointment.” I said angrily. All of a sudden I heard “ ROAR! “ Run there’s a lion!” Leah said already turning around. “ What where?” I said confused. Then I saw it! “ That lion looks hungry!” I said hastily fleeing away.” “ Let’s get out of here!”
Then we heard some creaking and cracking. “ This place sounds like it is going to collapse any second! ” Leah shouted. We ran to the doorway. Leah got there first and she yanked me out. We slammed the door. We didn’t want to take a chance of the lion getting out. Leah suggested we pile a bunch of rocks in front of the door for extra security. We hurriedly piled on the rocks.
“Whew! I’m tired and hungry after all that excitement, but I’m not ready to go back yet,” I said wanting to find a treasure of my own. “ I guess we should go back to your aunt’s house, “ Leah said walking away. “ Hey wait a second we never found anything for me back there. Leah you come back here this instant and help me look for something like another grappling hook!” “ No way besides I found it, she said.” “Fine! I’ll stay here and find something good. You just wait, ” I said annoyed. “Yeah good luck with that. I’m tired! ” Leah said sarcastically, while turning around and walking back to my aunt’s house.
The Middle Seat 