Satellights

I just got an acoustic guitar…and I CAN’T PUT IT DOWN AHHHHH!!! Someone help me…

I hate peppers. I just ate one on accident. My mouth is on fire. I just drank a shit ton of water but it’s not helping much. I guess I just have to wait it out. I feel like my mouth is on fire, like I’m gong to puke, so basically like I’m dying. OMFG!

Little bit of background on this before I post the whole friggin’ thing…

I wrote all of this whole, big, novel of a story when I was between the ages of 12 and 14. I started it at summer camp of all places because I got stuck in a creative writing class when I really wanted to sign up for a different activity that happened to already be too full of people. For some reason I kept working on this, even when I got home. Where I sat in my room writing this at the time was right next to where I had trading cards taped to my wall. They were these lame Lego Bionicle trading cards. At the time I couldn’t think of names for the characters, so I stole most of them from those trading cards. Oh, and BTW I wrote this all by hand. I”m just now typing it up. I’m changing all the names to original names so that if I ever actually publish this, I won’t end up n a lawsuit with Lego. I like Legos too much to let that happen.

Anyway… This is chapter one. I will tell you now that it does not have a happy ending, so if you hate unhappy endings don’t read this. And please don’t say you hate the ending, because I’m telling you right here, right NOW that it is not a happy one.

So, here goes…

chapter one
Sam

    Sam sat in the cardboard box waiting for someone to pick him up and take him home like all the other puppies. He was the last one left. Sam waited some more. He was growing impatient. Why doesn’t anyone want me, he thought.
    He looked around for the person who had put him in the box in the first place, but they were nowhere in sight. Sam laid down in the box, feeling lonely. He waited a bit longer and grew hungry. Soon it was dark and there were less people on the streets now. Sam fell asleep, afraid that the box would be his home forever.

    Sam woke up the next morning staring into the eyes of a boy. Sam jumped up, astonished. Does this boy want to take me home he asked himself. The boy turned around and ran a few feet away to a woman. “Mommy, Mommy! Can I have that puppy? Please?!” “No,” she said, shaking her head and she pulled the boy away.
    Sam knew that the boy had wanted to take him home and that his mom had said no. He whimpred at the thought of not being able to spend a joyous life with a little boy. He stood a few more moments before hopping out of the box to venture into the world.

    Sam ran down the sidewalk, away from the box. He dodged feet and swinging bags and briefcases. He soon came to a corner at an intersection. Sam watched in amazement as the cars whizzed past him. How am I going to get across this, he wondered. He waited a few seconds and then as if all the cars had read his mind, they all stopped. A few people walked ahead of Sam and across the street. Sam followed and stepped onto the next corner. There that wasn’t too hard, he thought.
    He walked on for the rest of the day, then it started to get dark. Sam found an alley and walked down it to a dead end. There were a few boxes there. Sam saw one turned over on its side and crawled in.

    A noise woke Sam up in the middle of the night. He crawled out of the box and found himself in the middle of a cat fight. A cat lurched forward from the left. It was aiming for Sam, the newcomer it didn’t trust. The cat landed on Sam, gripping onto him with its claws. Sam howled at the claws. The cat didn’t get off. Then, all of a sudden, and out of nowhere there was another noise-a bark-but it wasn’t Sam’s bark-then a low growl. The cat froze, pulled its claws back, letting go of Sam. It jumped and ran away.
    Sam stayed where he was, laying on his side. He moved his eyes around searching for the other dog. Soon he saw something step out of the shadows and start padding towards him. Another cat, Sam wondered. But, no, it was way too big to be a cat. Another dog! Sam jumped up and took a step toward the dog. The dog walked to Sam, then stopped, tilted its head, and looked at Sam. Sam walked around the other dog, sniffing him. This dog obviously was a stray. He had no scent of a house on him anywhere. Sam sat down and tilted his head to get a good look at the other dog in the night. It was a German shepherd. His name was Frank.
    Frank took a step towards Sam and sniffed him. Sam watched him cautiously. Frank looked Sam over one last time, then laid down next to the box Sam had been sleeping in. Sam gave Frank a look of confusion. Was this Frank’s alley, or is he willing to share it? Sam walked cautiously towards the box while eyeing the German shepherd. Frank didn’t move. He stayed where he was and watched Sam. Sam crawled back into the box, turned around, then laid down and fell back asleep.

    Sam woke up the next morning and crawled out of the box. He looked around for Frank and saw him sleeping next to the box. Sam padded over to him and nudged the side of his head to wake him up, but Frank didn’t wake up. Sam was confused. Why won’t Frank wake up, he thought. He nudged Frank a bit harder. Frank still didn’t wake up. Sam sniffed him and wrinkled his nose at the stench. He took a few steps back then ran. He ran out of the alley and smack into the leg of a very tall man. Sam stepped back and whimpered. The man looked down at him with a smile. He bent down and ruffled the fur on Sam’s head.
    “What’s your name little fellow,” the man asked. He smiled again, took his hand back and stood up again. Sam gave the man a sad look and instinctively grabbed the bottom of the man’s pants and tried to pull him towards the alley. The man stumbled in front of the alley, but wouldn’t go any further. Sam let go and ran into the alley, and over to Frank. The man looked puzzled, but followed Sam anyway. He knelt down next to Sam and Frank, then he looked at Frank for a long while. “Well,” he said. “We’ll just have to leave him here.” Then he picked Sam up in his arms and walked out of the alley. Just then Sam noticed a cat walk into the alley. Feeling brave he growled. The man stopped walking for a second, then kept walking.
    The man walked until he reached a nearby parking lot and opened the back seat car door of a car, and put Sam inside. Sam sat there amazed at the luxury of the leather seats. The man walked around to the front door and opened it and sat down behind the wheel. He started the car. Sam jumped as the car started, but as the car rolled along the streets, Sam got used to the car and laid down.
    The car drove for about an hour. Sam stood and stretched, then crawled in between the two front seats and sat in the passenger side. Finally the car stopped on the side of the road. The man turned off the car and opened his door then stepped out. He held the door open and looked at Sam for a while. Then he said “I think I’ll name you Sam.” Sam tilted his head at the sound of his name. That’s what the last humans who had raised him for about a week had called him. How did this man know his name?
    “C’mon, Sam,” the man called and took a step back. Sam stood up and jumped over the space between the two seats and hopped out of the car. The man shut the door and picked Sam up again. He walked to a house and opened the screen door and walked inside.
    “Joey, I’m home,” the man yelled to the house. A boy who was about fifteen years old came running down the stairs, jumped into a pair of tennis shoes and yelled “Hi Dad, bye Dad!” as he rushed out the door.
    The man, still holding Sam walked up the stairs, down a hallway, and opened the door to a very messy room with a bed and a desk in it. Clothes and things were all over the floor. The man put Sam down in a relatively unmessy part of the floor. “Stay here,” said the man, then ran out of the room.
    Sam looked around the room. Where am I, Sam thought. The man came back into the room carrying a bowl in each hand. He set them down in front of Sam and left the room, closing the door behind him. Sam looked down at the bowls. One had water and the other had dog food. Sam gobbled down all the food then lapped at the water. He looked around the room again, then heard a door open and slam shut downstairs.
    Someone came running up the stairs, then down the hallway, then the door to the room swung open to reveal the boy named Joey. Joey jumped and landed on his bed. He grabbed a small rectangular thing off his nightstand. He pressed a button on the thing and sound streamed into the room. It was loud. Sam looked around for a T.V. with a picture on it, but didn’t find it. It must be music, he thought.
    Joey took a magazine with a picture of some baseball player on the front of it off the floor, opened to the first pages and started reading. Sam walked slowly over to Joey then stood about a foot away from his bed. He barked. Joey looked up and saw Sam. He put the magazine down and sat up. Joey looked at Sam for a moment with an odd look on his face, then he stood up and picked Sam up and dropped him outside the door, before going back into the room and slamming the door shut.
    Sam whimpered and pawed at the door, then barked. Nothing happened. The door didn’t open. Sam waited all day and all night. The next morning Joey walked out of his room with different clothes on, and had a backpack. He walked past Sam and ran down the stairs, yelled bye to his dad, and rushed out the door. He didn’t slam it like before, he left it open.
    Sam trotted down the stairs and out the door. He followed Joey. Soon they came to a large building with a bunch of people about Joeys age milling about. Joey stopped at a group of guys “Hey guys,” he said. “Hey,” a few of them said in return. Then one pointed at Sam and said “hey, whose the baby?” Some of the guys laughed. Joey looked confused, then turned around. He looked surprised to see Sam. Joey yelled “why do you keep bugging me, you should go back where you came from!” Sam whimpered and turned around and walked away.
    He walked for a while, back to Joey’s house. The door was closed. Sam walked on. He walked out of the suburbs and into the city again. It was starting to get dark and by that time Sam had already found the alley. He wasn’t sure he wanted to sleep there since here were cats there. So he laid down where he was and dozed off.

    When Sam woke he found himself laying on a cold, silver shiny table. He looked around. There were two men in big white coats talking by a wall. Sam barked. “Oh, good he’s awake,” said one man. The other man walked over to Sam and opened his mouth. Sam bit the man’s hand. The man yelped. “Be careful,” said the other man. Sam noticed the door was opened and he hopped off the table and ran out the door. A woman at a desk said “now, where do you think you’re going?” Sam whimpered and pawed at the next door and stared at a man sitting on a bench. The women opened the door and let Sam out. She must have thought I was that man’s dog, he thought as he walked past the man on the bench.
    The two men in white coats came chasing after Sam. He panicked and ran as fast as he could. He ran as far as he could then stopped to catch his breath. He looked behind him. The men were nowhere in sight. Sam then looked around at his surroundings. He was on the side of a small country road with grass on both sides. There were trees scattered here and there.
    Where am I, Sam asked himself. He kept walking, finding a puddle of water now and then to drink from. Soon Sam came to the end of the road. The road he had been traveling on lead to a highway. Sam looked both ways then decided to go right. He turned and started walking again.
    As it grew dark Sam grew hungry. He noticed something in the middle of the road. Sam looked around. No cars. Sam dashed out and picked part of it up in his mouth and dragged it to the side of the highway. He sniffed it and started chewing on it. Sam didn’t know what it was he was eating but it tasted wonderful.
    As soon as he had finished he noticed a large billboard. It was green with white letters. The sign said: 10 miles to Toronto. What are miles, Sam wondered. He didn’t know what miles were, but he did know Toronto was a city. Sam’s spirit was suddenly lifted by the thought of finally getting a good home in Toronto.
    Sam walked on. He quickly forgot about the sign except for the fact that he was headed towards Toronto. Soon it grew extremely dark. Sam knew he had to sleep somewhere. As he walked a tach of woods came into view on the right side of the highway. Maybe it’ll be safe to sleep there, he thought. He trotted towards the trees. Sam wandered into the woods and found a nice spot to lay down. Sam laid down under a tree and tried to sleep, but couldn’t sleep very well.
    Sam awake the next morning to a strange nose. A bird? A screeching squirrel? Sam had no clue what it was, but he wanted to find out. Sam followed the noise into a clearing. He looked around and jumped back about a foot when he saw an animal that resembled a dog like himself. Only this dog not only looked a little bit different than any dog Sam had ever met, it also acted a lot different too. This dog was larger then most dogs Sam knew of. Sam’s ears hung on the sides of his head, limp, rounded at the bottom, but this dog’s ears were on the top of its head and flat back. The dog was a grayish brown color, and had thick fur. The reason Sam thought it was acting strange was because this dog had a strange looking live rodent in its mouth.
    Sam blinked, not knowing what to do. The strange dog growled at Sam to try and keep Sam away from his food. Sam didn’t know exactly what the stranger was saying and took a step closer. The strange dog growled again. Sam then took another step closer. Then another, and another, his curiosity taking over. The weird dog growled many times, and eventually dropped the rodent, which ran away. Sam watched the rodent initially disappear out of the clearing. The strange dog growled low and ran off out of the clearing in the opposite direction of the rodent. Sam wondered where the weird dog was going, so he ran off after the dog.
    The strange dog ran fast, dodging trees. Sam chased after him. The dog ran out of the woods and kept running. Sam kept chasing. They ran up a hill and then down on the other side. As soon as they got over the hill Sam stopped, frozen in place, as the strange dog ran ahead a few yards to a large group of similar looking dogs.
    Another dog stepped forward. He was the biggest one there. Sam took a step back. The big dog walked over to Sam and sniffed him, then the dog gave Sam a look, and Sam knew what it meant. Finally, something he could understand! The look meant that the big strange dog accepted him. Did that mean he was part of the group now?
    Then the dog gave Sam a look that told him his name was Paahn. Sam found out that the other dogs names were. There were three small ones, Paahn’s pups, who were younger than Sam. They were Rookie, Noi, and Tai. Then there was Paahn’s mate. Her name was Toki. The dog Sam had chased out here was named Phoenix. There were four other dogs. They were Koh, who would be the leader if Paahn died, Leva, who was Koh’s mate, Volk, who was the groups main hunter. The last one was Otak, who had only just recently joined the group and who seemed a bit mysterious and a bit avoided by the others. Paahn seemed to make it clear to Sam that he was welcome to join their pack. Sam decided to stick with them, since he felt like he had no where else to go.
    Volk then made it clear that to stay with them Sam would have to be able to catch his own food, fight, and swim. Sam, of course, didn’t know how to do any of those things. He would learn.
    It was getting late and the pack decided to stay and sleep where they were. Sam had trouble sleeping at first, but he eventually fell asleep. He dreamt about the past, remembering his mother. He remembered the stories she’d tell about legendary dogs and other animals. Sam wondered if Phoenix was named the legendary bird, the phoenix. It would catch on fire and burn to ashes, but a new phoenix bird would rise up from the ashes. Sam remembered the stories about the dragons, unicorns, and flying horses. Then there were the stories of the half man half animals. Sam never lied those stories much, but then he remembered the stories about the legendary wolves. They were described looking just like these strange dogs Sam was with now. Their not wolves, Sam thought. If they were, they would have said so. Sam kept telling himself that they weren’t wolves until he believed it.
    Sam heard some barking and growling, then someone nudged him awake It was Volk. He followed Volk to a lake. He was going to teach Sam to swim. Sam didn’t want to get in, but Volk pushed him in. Sam yelped. It was cold. How do I stay up? How do I stay up? Sam thought. He took in big gulps of water. Sam started to move all his legs at the same time, and found that that kept him afloat. He was swimming!
    Volk helped Sam out of the water. Sam shook himself, sending water flying everywhere. Sam would now learn to hunt. Sam followed Volk into the woods again. Volk soon ran at something, then pounced on it. He trotted back to Sam with a rodent in his mouth. He dropped it at Sam’s feet. It was a chipmunk. Volk wanted Sam to try now. Sam ran and pounced on something too. It got away. Sam looked for something again. He spotted something that was an orange brown color like the chipmunk. Sam ran and pounced again. He grabbed the rodent in his mouth and took it back to Volk and dropped it at his feet. It was a rabbit.
    Sam followed Volk once more. They went back to where the rest of the pack still was. Volk wanted Sam to fight Phoenix. They started to fight. Phoenix pinned Sam down. Sam struggled to get up, but he couldn’t get free. He bit Phoenix’s neck. Phoenix yelpped and jumped back. Sam pounced him and pinned him down this time, but then Phoenix knocked Sam off him and jumped back up on all fours again. Volk barked at them, warning them to stop, and they did.
    Later that night Sam found out he could now stay with the pack. Sam had trouble sleeping again. He tossed and turned, but eventually fell asleep. He woke up early the next day. No one else was awake. Sam noticed that Otak was gone. Sam stood up and stretched, then walked over to Volk and nudged him awake.  Sam wanted to show him that Otak was gone, but before he could even try, Volk walked past him and began waking everyone up for the morning hunt. Sam was a bit frustrated because he had tried to show him about Otak and now Volk hadn’t even noticed Otak was gone.
    Sam followed along on the hunt. Sam caught a rabbit, and felt like his catch wasn’t that good compared to everyone else’. Even the little ones had caught more and better things than Sam. They all ate and laid around the rest of the day. The next two days were like this.
    Then one day in the late morning Sam heard a howl far off in the distance. Everyone else heard it too. Paahn ran ahead towards the sound, and one by one, the whole pack began to follow after him. Sam ran after them too. He was curious as to what they would find. Then all of a sudden something leaped from out of nowhere and landed directly on Paahn, knocking him over. Paahn got away and jumped on this new stranger, who was also a dog like Paahn. The two began to fight. Then after about a minute more howls were heard, and this time close by. Another different pack came rushing at them. Sam stepped back and looked in awe at the oncoming pack. Same’s eyes widened and he stepped back even further. For he saw, in the front of the oncoming pack, Otak. Otak was running straight for Sam. Sam was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. The rest of his pack had already started fighting this new rival pack.
    Otak leapt and pinned Sam down, biting at him. Sam yelped. He fell landing on his side, while Otak continued to bite at him. Then all of a sudden, with what seemed like a woosh and a blur, Otak was gone. What had happened? Where was Otak? Sam turned his head and saw Phoenix wrestling with Otak about three feet away. Sam stood back up wearily and walked a ways away with his back turned on the ensuing battle.
    He heard a lot of loud yelps and then a howl and turned around to see his own pack running towards him and then past him. Sam followed along. They traveled all the rest of the day. They did not go back to the place they had been before, but to the clearing in the woods where Sam had first met Phoenix. They slept the night there.
    The next day the only two that went hunting were Volk and Phoenix. They made more than one trip and brought back lots of food. Sam ate a lot the whole day and by time he fell asleep that night he was full and feeling better already, but Sam’s good mood didn’t last very long because when Sam woke up there was a strange smell in the air that brought back a memory that was just as strange. The memory was from when he was just two days old. He remembered the people talking about dinner and a stove and something burning.
    Smoke! Sam thought. He jumped up and looked all around. The trees around the clearing were ablaze. Everyone was still asleep somehow. How could they sleep? Then Sam noticed Volk and Phoenix weren’t in the clearing with everyone else. Sam ran around the edge of the clearing sniffing. He found the spot then entered the forest of blazing trees.
    Sam ran, dodging the flames and sparks and falling branches, and all the while still sniffing the air and ground for their scent. Soon he ran into something that smelled just like Phoenix. Sam pawed through a pile of leaves to find Phoenix laying on the ground, his eyes closed. Sam sniffed his friend who he thought was dead, but sure enough Phoenix was alive. Sam barked at Phoenix, and he slowly opened his eyes. Phoenix wanted same to leave him and go look for Volk, but as much as Sam wanted to find Volk, he new he had to get the friend who had brought him to the pack in the first place out of the forest fire. Sam helped Phoenix up and brought him back to the clearing. Phoenix went around to wake everyone up while Sam went back to look for his mentor, Volk.
    Sam ran through the flames searching for him. He passed the place where he found Phoenix. Sam kept running and sniffing. Soon there were others around him. He spotted Phoenix and Toki. Even Paahn was there. The pack is here! The pack is here to help me find Volk! Sam thought. The pack now ran together in search of their friend. They eventually found him, but they didn’t turn around and go back to the clearing. They kept running. They needed to get away from the forest fire.
    Sam wanted to know how the fire started. Volk seemed to think that men had started it. Sam didn’t understand. He had learned that people were good and he knew fire and killing a forest were bad. Why would a person have started the fire?
    The pack ran for a day, then stopped for the night, then traveled again the next day, then stopped again that night. The next day they were out about an hour and then they hit the farmland. They started running through the farms. They stopped that night in a field by an old farmhouse. Everyone stayed together in a group, but Sam was fascinated with the farmhouse and wanted to go closer to it, so he did. He knew he should be careful because it was dark out. Sam started walking towards the building. Soon he was very far away from the pack. He saw two dark figures. Sam hadn’t seen people in a long time, and it took him a while to figure out that that’s what the dark figures were. He walked closer to them. One said “Hey, look! It’s that dog that was hanging out with the wolves.”
    Sam froze in his tracks. Wolves! he thought. He had a sudden flashback to his mom and the stories of the legendary wolves. They’re wolves! he thought over and over again.
    “Yea,” said the other man. “Probably just as bad as them. We should get him too.” But Sam didn’t hear what the second man had said because he was so busy being stuck in his own thoughts. There was a clicking noise that seemed to be coming from one of the men. Then there was a loud noise from the same man. The noise hurt Sam’s ears and he ducked and covered his head with his paws for a moment. “Damn,” the man said.
    As soon as Sam’s ears had stopped ringing he stood up again. He turned and ran as fast as he could back to the pack, but the pack was gone. They were nowhere to be seen. Sam thought about it for a second, then didn’t care. He kept running. The man with the gun chased after him through the field. Then a sudden thought passed through Sam’s head. They started the fire! It was them! I have to fight them!
    Sam spun around, ready to fight, but the man smirked seeing the right moment and shot. Sam leaped jumped back a few inches because of the sound. Then something hit him hard in the chest. It hurt. Sam yelped and fell on his side. He whimpered for a few minutes, then his head hurt intensely. Sam closed his eyes slowly, blinking a few times. The last thought that ran through his head was the memory of the stories about the legendary wolves.

I didn’t realize something was actually something else, something better than what I thought it was. There is now a little Hiro (from the show Heroes, in case you didn’t get the reference) running around inside my head, throwing his arms up in the air, and yelling “yata! yata! yata!” (There might actually be two Ts in yata, I’m not sure…)

On another note, I’m about to post chapter one here of this book/thing/whatever I’ve been working on. It’s from when I was 12…that’s eight years ago. Wow…Too long a time haha. But I had written it all by hand between the ages 12 and 14, so I’m just now typing it up. It’s really interesting seeing what a bad writer I was when I was a kid. I still can’t spell though. There are a few little details I’m changing about it, but it’s all for the better. I still haven’t written the ending/last chapters of it yet. I had this whole plan for how I wanted to end it and then later realized that I kind of messed that up in the plot and made the ending I was going for kind of impossible…So I promise I will finish this, unlike all my other stuff. I just need to get reacquainted with the story and plot by rereading this thing as I type it up, and then I can probably rework the ending, and have it also be the kind of ending I wanted in the first place. We’ll see. I don’t know what to title it though. I’m usually really good with titles, but with this I’m not. I’ve just dubbed it “We Have Feelings Too” because that just seemed like the easy title, but I’m thinking also maybe “Third Wheel”. I honestly don’t know what to call it. When I have it all typed up I’ll see what all people think it should be called.

On another note, again, …

Does anyone know if this is actually Spike Jonze, the director, posting all the stuff on here? Google said it was his blog. WeLoveYouSo

???