My Worst Nightmare

In Canada, when the snow falls on the ground it only meant one thing to me as a kid. It was time for hockey season! I couldn’t wait any longer, it had been five long months without skating around on the ice with all my friends. I was so excited!

I was on the way to the arena with my parents for the first day of hockey tryouts. I was always nervous about this as I never knew what team I would be on. This was the first year my dad wouldn’t be coaching so I knew I had to show everyone how good I really was. Once I was all checked in at the front table I made my way to the dressing room. I saw my friends Bryce, Tyler and Sven. I ran right over to them and gave them a hug. I couldn’t believe we were all on the same tryout team. We were telling stories and laughing about the day of school as we started to get ready in all of our gear. A couple of minutes went by and I was about to put on my skates, only to realize I only had my left skate. Instant. Panic. I have never felt anything like that in my life. I thought my life was over. I wasn’t going to be able to try out and now I wouldn’t play with my friends that year. 

All my friends began to laugh. I began to cry calling for my dad to come and help me. This only made it worse. My dad said, “Riley it is going to be okay, we will go home grab your skate you’ll only miss a few minutes of action.” Another kid in the dressing room, Anthony wasn’t feeling great and he decided that he was going to head home. I had known him through the years of hockey because we always played against each other. He saw how upset I was so he decided to lend me his skate for the tryout. My dad had left to grab my skate and I decided to throw on Anthony’ right skate. I remember being so upset getting on to the ice I didn’t know what to expect. As soon as I got on the ice I could barely stand on my two feet. The two different skates just weren’t going to work.

Finally, the game started. Hockey was a way for me to feel like myself and not have to worry about all the unwanted distractions. I went out for my first shift for Bryce and could barely move. I decided I would just go stand in front of the net and hope that good things would happen. I went to the net and the first shot that came in bounced off Anthony’s skate (my right skate) and went in the net. I couldn’t believe it! I had scored a goal with skates that weren’t mine. The next whistle I saw my dad at the glass, so I glided over and put on my old skates. The confidence I gained from heading out with my good skates resulted in me playing well and even scoring another two goals to complete my hattrick.

The Dark Side

“Disneyland: The Happiest Place on Earth” was what I read as my family and I entered the theme park in beautiful Anaheim, California. 

It was our third day in Disneyland, which happened to be the day I was most excited for. I was all decked out in my Star Wars gear, I even carried around my own blue lightsaber. My family and I were on our way to the Star Wars exhibit. I was finally going to see Luke Skywalker, Yoda and maybe even Darth Vader. We arrived and the show was just about the start. Luke Skywalker came out on stage and announced that he would be needing a few special helpers from the crowd. Being the shy kid, I didn’t want to raise my hand, but my brother Tony grabbed my hand and raised it for me. “You, you in the red hat, and....... YOU with the blue lightsaber!” I’m sure my face turned bright red; I couldn’t believe it. Luke Skywalker picked me to go up and help defeat the dark side. 

All my days of training in the basement of our house pretending to fight Darth Vader was finally going to pay off. I was going to become a Jedi. I made my way through the crowd up the stairs and onto the stage. Luke Skywalker greeted me and said, “Welcome Jedi, we are very excited to have you aboard.”I put on all the Jedi gear and looked out into the crowd to see my mom and dad, with the biggest smile on my face. the other Jedi’s and I started to go through Jedi training with Luke. We learned all the basic combat we needed with a lightsaber. In the middle of training, a blast of smoke appeared and behind the smoke was Darth Vader and Darth Maul!

The crowd gasped and screamed knowing now the Jedi’s would have to save them all. My heart was racing, I couldn’t believe what we were about to do. Never have I seen anyone as intimidating as Darth Maul. Darth Vader asked, “Would any of you like to join the Dark Side?” Before I even knew what I was doing I nodded my head and ran over to the dark side, where they took my blue lightsaber and handed me a red one. The look on Luke Skywalker’s face was priceless, as he could not believe what I had just done. He charged at me with his lightsaber and we began to duel. Not knowing what to do, I relied on the training he had given me to attack him. A couple minutes passed and he was able to knock the lightsaber out of my hand and knock me onto my back. Right before he was about to finish me off Darth Maul jumped in and scooped me up. The Dark Side grabbed me and ran off the stage, leaving behind only a trail of smoke and my red lightsaber. That was the last time I saw my family.

A Black Van

On a hot summer day in mid-July, I went outside to see what my brother was yelling about. My brother Tony was my role model. He was two years older than me, and to me, he was a superhero. Everything he did I wanted to do the same. He had a unique way of cheering me up. I threw on my favourite white sneakers with velcro and ran outside through the garage. 

I looked up and my brother was playing road hockey on the driveway. He shouted the words “Tony scores the overtime winner!” I quickly grabbed my hockey stick and ran out beside him shouting for him to pass me the ball. He passed me the ball and I one-timed it over the net. The ball trickled onto the road, narrow enough for only one car to pass at a time. My brother said he’d go and grab the ball. He walked up the road looked both ways and as he was about to cross a black van stopped right in front of our house. The window rolled down and Tony screamed “RILEY RUN! GO NOW!” I didn’t know what to do so I started running down the sidewalk without looking back. 

My heart was pounding, my mind racing faster than my legs. “Riley over here!” shouted my neighbour, who I called Gigi as she reminded me of my grandma. I ran and looked back to see where Tony was. He was gone and so was the van. My mind still racing, I turned to Gigi and said “Tony is gone! There was a black van! He’s gone! Where could he have gone?” Gigi brought me inside quickly and gave me a hug. She told me she was going to call my home, only for no one to answer. She asked if my mother had a cell-phone, which Gigi then called. At this moment all I was replying in my head was Tony yelling for me to run. Gigi got off the phone gave me a hug and some sweet tea. She told me not to worry, that my parents were out looking for Tony. I was hysterical, I couldn’t control myself. I was thinking the worst happened. I really thought Tony was following me, but now he was gone, and my mom and Gigi had no idea where he was. Gigi tried everything in her power to get me to relax, she tried reading stories and playing cartoons but to no avail was she able to calm me down.

Next thing we knew, the phone rang. Gigi jumped up and answered. A look of worry turned to a big smile ear to ear. She told me that my parents found Tony. Turns out when Tony shouted at me to run, he thought I would run into the house not towards Gigi’s. Tony was safe in the house; he locked the door behind him and waited for our mom to go home and get him.