Lost in Space

“This is such a cool planet,” I said looking up at Grandma. “It has such a pretty sky and I like hiking here.”

I followed her down Rusty Canyon walking fast. My brother Brandon is slow. He was behind us with my slow Mom.

“Grandma,” I said, “Can I go back and help them catch up?”

“Sure,” she said. She trusted me not to get lost. “It’s a canyon,” she said. “Only one way in and one way out; you’ll be fine.”

I looked behind me but didn’t see my Mom. The bend of the trail was full of tall rocky bluffs. Grandma knew I looked worried. “It’s OK,” she said. “Your brother is probably just around the bend.”

I walked past the jumble of rock, but Mom and Brandon weren’t there. I looked back for Grandma, but couldn’t see her anymore. The rock wall stuck out too far. I kept walking, thinking I would catch up to Mom. There was another bend in the trail, but Mom wasn’t there either. My knees got tired, because I got nervous. The trail was scary. Nobody was on it, not even Grandma. I started to run thinking Mom and Brandon would be around the next bend.

An alien bird that looked like a pterodactyl from my dinosaur book swooped over the canyon. I ducked, because I remembered that on Earth, Feifel got picked up by a hawk. I knew the ugly purple flying thing would pick me up and carry me away. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to cry because I felt so alone.

I sat down on a rock in the trail to raise my pointy walking stick like a gun. “I’ll get you, you nasty bird,” I said out loud. “I don’t like this planet anymore. I want to go home to Earth!” I thought the canyon walls were closing over me. I looked up at the rusty rocks shaking from fright.

A glow near the top of one wall lit up my shadowy trail. I looked at it and thought a ghost was up on the bluff. When I stared harder, I saw it was Obi-Wan Kenobi. He raised his lightsaber and blasted the alien bird. When he pointed his lightsaber back the way I had come and smiled, I knew he wanted me to go find Grandma.

I jumped off the rock. I ran as fast as I could. I ran around the first bend in the trail. Grandma wasn't there. Then I ran around the second bend and the third bend. Still there was no Grandma. When I got around the fourth bend, I found my Grandma. “Grandma,” I yelled. “I’m so scared.”

“Scared,” she asked. “Couldn’t you find your Mom and Brandon?”

“They’re gone,” I started to cry. “There was a big alien bird, and . . .”

“No, no,” Grandma said. “They're fine. Come on, we’ll find them together.”

I grabbed Grandma’s hand hard afraid to let go. Together we walked around the first bend, and the second bend, and the third bend, and even the fourth bend. But Mom and Brandon were nowhere in sight. “Where are they?” I asked Grandma.

“Maybe they went back to the hovercraft,” she said.

I was too scared to believe her, but when I saw the blue-white sky between the narrow rock walls, I knew we were almost at the trail-head.

Between the rocks Brandon’s head popped up. He scrambled back over the path yelling, “Caden, Grandma!” Right behind him came my Mom, reaching out her arms to hug me and saying, “Great hike, huh.” 

I let go of Grandma’s hand and fell into my Mommy’s arms.