I heard adults say all the time that it must be hard to be a child today. We are bombarded with information and dependent on social media and apps and whatnot. Adults say we do not have time to be children. We are slaves to the media on how we should look and act. We are in a fast-moving time where we get new music and new movies every day. Unlike the children of the past, we have no time to be bored or just let the days roll by. Some adults think that children cannot even play!
I do not think this is true. Let me introduce myself. My name is Stephanie and I am 11 years old. I live with my mom, dad, and older brother.
I do not believe what older people think about childhood today. I do not think we are victims of technology. I love my cellphone and tablet. They are like a third arm. I like that I can contact my friends at any time. I have a nice mom and dad. Even my older brother is nice. Mom and Dad both have good jobs, so I never tried being hungry or things like that
I have friends at school. However, I hate some subjects. Maths and history were the ones I hated the most. I would often daydream or draw as the teacher went on and on and on. I did not understand a lot of what the teacher was trying to tell us. I could not see why it was important. Take history for example. Why should I care what people did a few hundred years ago?
The history teacher told me to stay behind once. She was confused. She thought I was an intelligent girl but did not understand that I never paid attention in her class. She heard the same about maths class.
"You have a bright future," She said "you need to pay attention in all classes, not daydream or be in your own imaginary world. We all need to do things that we do not like or even understand why we do them. I do not want to hear excuses or promises from you. I do have ways so that will make you will pay attention and learn something. I hope it does not come to this!"
I was made when I left school. The teacher did not even allow me to answer or defend myself. When I came home, I was still annoyed despite that grandpa was there. I told him the whole story, hoping that he would have some sympathy for me. All I got was a speech on how spoiled children were and we had no sense of responsibility and all that. I ended up in my room getting hugs from my teddies.
I really tried my best the next day to concentrate during history. The teacher was talking about the cave days. All I could think about was who cares. We have learned a lot since then. It must have been boring back then. I mean who wants to live in a cave? Before I knew it, I was daydreaming again.
The teacher put an old book on my desk and told me if I could not pay attention, I could read this book. I looked at the book and could see it was covered by some animal skin. There were gems around the side and old writing on the front. It was not English. Why would the teacher want me to look at an old book?
I opened the book, and it just had pictures. However, these pictures were strange. They were clearly a picture of history. Like there was a picture of Vikings surrounding a boy with a modern school uniform on. There was a picture of an old Indian camp with a girl tied to some wooden post. There were loads of old pictures, but the children all had modern school uniforms.
I finally came to the last page. It was a page with a picture of cave people. There was no modern child in this. I looked at the picture as it was different than the rest. The old book started to spin around which nearly made me scream. Then things got far worse. The walls of the classroom started collapsing and blackness surrounded the room. I started screaming and I admit, I was very afraid. The blackness started coming into the classroom. Everything disappeared and it was only me and the book on my desk.
The book was still spinning around and I managed to say a quick prayer before I started spinning around. There was now only blackness around me. Somehow I was still alive but I was floating in the black emptiness.
At one stage I could see the earth below me. I started to fall down to the earth. I was moving fast and I could see the ground beneath me get closer and closer. I knew that this would be the death of me, as no one could fall from the clouds and survive. The strange thing is that I could see no cities or lights, just huge forests.
I closed my eyes just before I hit the ground.
Everything went black.
I was a bit surprised when I woke up. I was sure that I was dead. I mean I fell down from the clouds. How could anyone survive that? I looked around and could see a few huts around with a big fire. It looked like I fell in the middle of a museum. I closed my eyes and fell asleep again.
The second time I woke up, this girl that was older than me was nursing me. She looked so strange. Her hair was messy and she wore a dress made from skin and fur. Then I realized that my school uniform was gone and I was wearing the same. The dress I was wearing was a bit coarse and itchy. It was definitely not fashionable! There was also a necklace around my neck that was stones and bones. I looked like one of the Flintstones. Then it hit me... Somehow I traveled back in time and was now stuck in prehistoric times!
This was too much for. I closed my eyes and everything went black again.
I woke up and the girl was still beside me. However, this old man was also there. He looked so strange. His hair was like a mad scientist and he painted black around his eyes. He also had blood smeared on his face. He was chanting as he waved this big bone over my body. He was chanting to a Goddess called Pia to restore my health.
I felt fine, so I sat up. Then everyone started cheering. The old man stopped chanting and went back to his hut. The older girl was still sitting beside me trying to get me to eat some berries and drink some water. I told her that I did not know where I was and I didn't know the people that were here. She looked worried and called this man and woman over. I told them that I had no clue where I was. The last I remembered was that I was sitting in class.
Of course, none of them knew what a class was. The man said that my spirit must have been held captive in the demon world. Everyone was telling me how lucky I was that I could escape.
The girl told me that my name was Ladybug. Her name was Bluebell and she was my older sister. She was now an adult. I figure that she was around 18. she told me that she lived with her husband. She pointed at the other two people there and told me they were my parents. My new mum was crying and saying it was good that I was back. Dad told everyone to be careful as the demons could be living in my head.
I asked what year it was. They all went silent and said wondered what I was talking about. Bluebell told me to rest as it has been a hard day. So rested again on a matt that was close to a big fire.
Somehow, I was thrown back to the past and now a cave girl. A man and woman thought I was their daughter and I had an older sister. I convince myself that this must be a bad dream. My real body was asleep in the classroom. Still, this was strange as it felt so real. I could not wake up, so I was stuck here in the past and I knew nothing about them besides they all had names of animals or plants.
I really missed my tablet where I could use Google. I always wondered what people would do before that Google was invented. Google has the answer to everything.
My cave mom came and sat beside me.
" I am worried," she started. "When we could not find you, I was sure an animal had eaten you. However, your sister found you suddenly here on the ground. The witch doctor explained that a spirit may have returned you. He also told us that an evil spirit may have returned you because your head is empty. You do not remember anything. You do not remember your name, your family, or this clan. I am so worried that an evil spirit has emptied your mind."
I explained to them that I remembered nothing. I had no clue where I was, or who anyone was. I had no idea how we lived or what people have done. I knew nothing!
"It is obvious that an evil spirit has stolen your soul," Bluebell said, " The Evil spirits name is Darz. The question is why did Darz take your memory and thoughts, and left you to live as an empty shell. If the others know what Darz has done, they would demand that you be sacrificed to SOL, the God of Gods."
Mom finished by saying, "We must not let them know you are like an empty shell! Bluebell will help you remember new things, who people are, and how we live. I do not want to lose another daughter. I will pray to Sol and the other Gods, asking them to help us."
How could I tell them that I came back from the future? The Easiest thing is if I could find my way back to 2021. The question was how?
To be continued.
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