The Tensons
By: Jeff Kuan
"We're here!" shouts Jim Tenson, husband of Jill and father of Jack. Jim is an ordinary person, five foot nine, brown hair, a bit fat, and wearing thick bifocals. Jack is just like his old dad, seven years old, four foot eight, brown hair, a bit fat, and wearing thick glasses. Jill is five foot three, blonde hair, a bit thin and has contacts. She is sometimes called "odd one in the family."
As Jim drove his cat up the dirt road, he was talking about how pretty the surrounding woods were. Jack was complaining about why he couldn't bring Jett Jackson, his new friend. Jill was talking a lot about why it wasn't good to talk a lot.
They finally parked the car at a dirt lot and got out to unload their luggage. They could see a playground that had signs saying "PRESCHOOLERS ONLY." After they unloaded, an old lady with a wrinkly face, a cane, and hunched-back approached and said in a creaky voice, "You must be the Tensons." (How did she know? Jack wondered). "Your cabin is straight up the path past the dining hall. Can't miss it."
"Thanks," said Jill, and she went off. Jack and Jim followed. What a weirdo, thought Jack.
A few minutes up the uneven path they were very tired, and they came to a fork in the path (one went straight up, the other went to the right).
"The old lady said to go straight up," panted Jill, trying to catch her breath. "I say we stop and rest."
Despite being tired, Jack still had excitement in his voice. "Let's go right. Maybe there are dragons or demons or monsters or..."
"I think I'll go see where that leads, while you two stay here with the luggage," said Jim.
They agreed. So Jim left. "Boy, this trail is even tougher, but I just had to get away from that kid", thought Jim. After walking for a while, he came to a small bridge, just a few wooden boards nailed together. He crossed that without too much difficulty. Later, he came to a bigger bridge, this one with wires and posts, sort of a mini Golden Gate Bridge. Jim noticed that a few of the posts were out of place. He put one foot on the bridge. CRACK! BAM! The bridge collapsed and fell into the ravine below. Jim turned around, a bit shocked, and walked back to Jack and Jill.
"That way isn't safe," said Jim, shaking his head. "Let's go up."
"Were there any monsters, Dad? Huh? Huh?"
"Only you," replied Jim. And the entire family laughed.
As soon as they got to the wood cabins, they were very tired, so they rested. After they unpacked, Jim said, "Who wants to play baseball?"
"Me!" shouted Jack.
"Let's go! I'll race you down!" said Jim in an excited voice.
When Jill arrived at the dirt lot, Jack and Jim were already playing. "Come on, Mom. We need a catcher!" So she went over to catch.
Jim pitched. The ball went over Jack and Jill's head, and hit a man with a big hat on (covering his face) behind them in the foot. "Is this your ball?" yelled the man.
"Yes, it is" shouted Jim. "Sorry if I hurt you!"
"Hurt me? No, don't be silly. My name is Jackson Jilson. You?"
"Jim Tenson. This is my wife, Jill. And this is my son, Jack."
"Hi."
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"Ha. Cute kid. Well, see you three later."
"Seems like a nice man." said Jill and Jim.
"Well, if Mom and Dad think he is a nice man, then I guess he is, thought Jack.
After Jackson left, the old lady approached and creaked, "I sense danger. You must leave now!" There was a puff of smoke, and she disappeared. What a weirdo, thought Jack.
"Well, I'm hungry. Let's go eat," said Jill, like nothing happened. After dinner, they went up to the cabins, played Monopoly and went to sleep.
Early the next morning, Jack woke up to a sound outside. He opened the door and saw a black figure moving on top of a small hill. He walked to where the figure was. When he got there, the figure was gone. He shrugged and turned around and there was Jackson, with his big hat. He was holding a knife in a threatening way, as if about to cut Jack's throat open. Jack backed away slowly, and Jackson followed slowly with a crazed look. Then Jack turned and ran, and Jackson ran after him, waving his knife in the air like a madman. Jack ran down the hill, and he saw another group of cabins. He ran past those, and past there was a flight of uneven stairs. He ran down those as fast as he could. He ran and ran and ran in panic and fear, never looking back. He finally came to a small ravine, that had no bridge. In the ravine were remnants of a bridge.
Now, fortunately, Jack was a track star at his school (in his grade, at least). So he long-jumped over the ravine, and made a good landing. He could hear Jackson say, "I'll get you you little freak! I'll get you!" He ran as fast as he could. He went over a small bridge with wooden boards nailed together, until he arrived at the fork in the road. He turned and went straight up until he got to the cabins.
"Mom! Dad!" cried Jack.
"What? It's still very early."
Jack told his story. Dad said in an extremely worried and scared voice "We're going to pack and leave right now." So that is what they did. They left the cabins extremely frightened. They walked down the trails carrying the backpacks for about 30 seconds when suddenly, POW! They heard a gunshot. They turned and there was Jackson with his hat at the top pointing a gun at them. POW! Another shot, this one missing again. The Tensons ran down the trail, dropping their luggage like flies. POW! Another shot missed. They ran down the path like it was the last thing they were going to do. When they ran down to the fork, there was another POW!, this one shooting of a branch, which almost fell on the frightened family. When the tired, exhausted, scared, family got down to the dirt lot, they found their car missing. POW! Another shot. The family ran past the playground, past a basketball court, and they saw a dirt road. They ran down that road. They ran down all the way to a pond, and fortunately, there was a canoe on the shore, with paddles. They pushed it in, and good thing Jack and Jim were experienced canoers.
Not long after getting in the canoe, there was POW!, and it hit the canoe on the side, and water began seeping in. "Abandon ship!" yelled Jack. And everyone jumped overboard into the cold pond. After they waded to shore, they were staring into the barrel of a gun. "It's your last day on earth, folks."
Then there was a click click click. "Darn. Outta ammo. Well, I'll be back, and you'll pay."
Then the old woman, the same short, old woman with the creaky voice and cane and bent back, ran up and hit Jackson in the head with a baseball bat, the same baseball bat that was used the day before, knocking Jackson unconscious. Then the woman pulled off her face.
"Jett! How glad am I to see you!" shouted Jack. "What are you doing here?" (Jett is Jack's new friend who had just moved to Jack's hometown. He looks just like Jack, seven years old, four foot eight, brown hair, a bit fat, and thick glasses. Some say they're twins).
"It's a long story. See, Jackson Jilson is actually Idego Kilem. (Get it, I'd Go Kill 'em). The schizophrenic escaped from the mental institution and decided to kidnap the first person he saw, and he saw me first and brought me here, and he was going to kill you. So, I put on my Halloween costume and disguised myself as an old lady. I knew he was going to chase you, so I put the canoe and paddles there. And I couldn't tell you directly, or else I'd get killed."
"No wonder you were 'sick' during the last few days. But how come your parents didn't tell us?"
"I guess they were too busy putting up 'lost child' signs and calling various people and worrying."
"Now, where is the telephone? We need to call the police," said Jim in a shaky voice.
"I think there might be one in the dining hall," said Jett.
Later, they called the police, and Idego Kilem was arrested and sent to jail. He was not guilty of attempted murder by reasons of insanity. The so called "nice man" by Jill and Jim was sent to a mental institution and locked up for good.
So, the moral of the story is looks are deceiving.