Finalist, Middle School Category
I hung up my apron about to close my restaurant. I washed the used dishes, and grabbed my coat from the hangers. I pulled on my hat and scarf, and took the keys from a table. I heard a shrill giggle. I clutched my heart feeling faint.
“I must be hallucinating,” I mumbled. I shook my head and continued my work.
“Are you usually this stupid?” The voice called.
The kitchen!
I rushed over to my counter.
WHY WAS THERE A BOWL OF RAMEN THAT WAS ALIVE?!
“The name’s Alina” The ramen replied.
“Y-you can talk?” I whispered.
“Obviously! I’m not just any bowl of food.”
“Why are you here?” I stuttered. My heart was still racing from dying of fear.
“I need something.” Alina said.
“Why me?” I questioned.
“Well, I figured since you were a restaurant owner you wouldn’t have a heart attack from seeing a bowl of ramen talk, but clearly I was wrong.” Alina said.
“What do you need?” I asked.
“I grant wishes and you have 2.” Alina explained.
“I’m sorry, but this is obviously a scam,” I said, turning back to my cooking. Alina jumped in front of me.
“I may be ramen, but that doesn’t make me braindead,” Alina growled. “Ok… Let me think…” I mumbled.
“How can you be so absent minded?!” Alina shouted. “Wish for wealth! Or eternal life! Then you can get out of this dumpy place and get a life. “First of all, this place isn’t DUMPY. If you had any sense of sentimental value, you would understand.” I grumbled.
“Ugh. Will you hurry up?” Alina whined. I turned to Alina and covered her with a lid. Muffled protests came from the container, but I didn’t care. “You’re such a-”
“Hey. I’m your wish person. Don’t push it or I will serve you to a customer.” I warned.
“You wouldn’t dare. I can tell you have wishes you want me to grant.” Alina smirked.
“Two wishes… ok. I know.” I exclaimed
“Well? What are they?” Alina asked impatiently.
“First question… tell me why you’re stuck granting wishes. It’s clearly not something you want to do.” I questioned.
“Fine. but only because I don’t want to see your ugly face any longer.” Alina growled. “I gotta grant some wishes. For a dare. Got it?” “That wasn’t a great explanation, but ok.” I said. “But, I don’t need anything.”
“Wow. I would have done anything for this opportunity, AND YOU’RE GIVING IT UP?!” Alina shouted.
“What? I just don’t need anything. I’m successful, and I have a stable job. What else could I want?” I asked. “What would you wish for if you could?” “I guess I would want to go back to Silverwood.” Alina said. “It’s the most beautiful place ever.”
“How do you get there?” I questioned.
“I’ll take you there if you count it as one of your wishes,” Alina grinned. “Fine…” I sighed.
“OFF TO SILVERWOOD!” Alina chanted. She floated off to a ramen shaped spaceship parked outside my restaurant.
“YOU SMASHED PEOPLE’S CARS!” I screamed.
“Whatever. Nobody will believe them when they report it to the police,” Alina said dismissively. I pulled open the door to the ramen bowl ship. Alina hovered over to the control room. She smashed the glass on a red button about to jump on it.
“What are you about to do? That looks UNSAFE,” I whimpered. “Stop being such a baby. PREPARE FOR LIFTOFF!” Alina trilled. I could feel my eardrums begging for mercy as the ramen bowl boomed and spewed smoke. I could see people pulling out their phones from the ground. “This is going to be on the news,” I groaned.
“WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU. SPEAK UP!” Alina shouted. I rolled my eyes. I turned to look out a window to realize we were in space. This was a LOT scarier than it looked. Finally, the noise died down, and we were at a peaceful cruising altitude.
“Now that we’re in space, and you can’t back out, you might need to know that the path to silverwood may be a little… bumpy.” Alina said. “That sounds so wrong,” I mumbled.
“Don’t worry. Only a few demons,” Alina whispered.
“DEMONS?!” I screamed. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD?” “It’s. That. Bad,” Alina grumbled.
After hours of riding in a ramen bowl, we approached a pitch black part of the journey. A glowing red planet with a dark hole through the center was there. That planet reeked of bloodlust. The glowing comet -like fireballs swirling the planet gave it an ominous look. Suddenly our spacecraft started going at a higher speed straight towards what looked like a death trap.
“Are you insane? Why are you flying us towards that inferno?” I thundered. “I’m taking a shortcut. I’m gonna fly through that black hole in the center of it,” Alina said dismissively. She hopped on a button in the control room dropping what looked like a mini ramen bowl in my lap.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“If the demons manage to get into the ship, that’s for self defense,” Alina explained. I squinted my eyes and peered out the window. Those weren’t fireballs. They were these blood red lizards with fiery claws.
“No. I’m out,” I squealed.
“Too late,” Alina grunted. I squirmed in my seat as we approached the fiery beasts. When we were at least within a few hundred feet of them, they immediately spotted us. The stampede of demons came towards our ship. They tore at the metal outer layer, and I could hear their ravenous growls. They were relentless. They wanted me dead. And Alina. I could see their eyes light up in anger, and I started screaming.
“I DON’T WANT TO DIE YET!” I whined.
“STOP BEING A CRYBABY!” Alina ordered. I silenced my pleads and squeals. A hand covered in razor sharp claws stabbed into the roof of the ramen bowl. I pulled a heavy metal pole off the ground and tried to bash the hand. All it did was enrage the demon. It tore open the roof and I could see the pure black eyes that led to nothing. What was this creature?
“THROW THE RAMEN BOWL!” Alina shouted. I did as I was told. I launched the ramen bowl out of the spacecraft, distracting the demons long
enough for Alina to pull away and make our escape into the black portal in the center of the planet.
After that little bit of excitement, we were able to safely land on Silverwood. I hopped out of the spacecraft, and took in the scene. It was a site of mutilation. The ground was ashy and burnt. There were infested logs lying on the ground, and there was a river with murky water. The air was smokey and sticky.
“You like this place?” I asked Alina in disbelief.
“What happened to it? This used to be a place of life and purity. There were once beautiful forests and crystal clear lakes! The air was fresh and crisp. Not like this!” Alina shouted.
“Well, clearly not,” I grumbled.
“We are going to find the culprit,” Alina boomed. We walked around until we found a modern village. It looked like any other town, except everything was shaped like food.
“I think your planet got polluted.” I said.
“Well DUH,” Alina said, annoyed. Alina stormed over to a building towering over the rest. It was shaped like tempura.
“Your village is making me hungry,” I said.
“DON’T YOU DARE EVEN THINK ABOUT IT,” Alina warned. I held my hands up as if she was about to arrest me. Alina zoomed up the stairs and I struggled to keep up with her. When she reached the top of the building, she stood glaring at a piece of toast sitting behind a desk.
“Alina. Look who’s come to join the party!” Said the toast.
“You. YOU RUINED SILVERWOOD!” Alina screamed. “I thought I told you to leave it alone,”
“And I thought I told you I don’t answer to you,” The toast laughed maliciously.
“Get rid of your town so we can fix it! You already have a home on another planet,” Alina thundered.
“We did. We were invaded by demons,” the toast said blankly. Alina stomped out of the tempura building looking like she was ready to commit murder. “What just happened?” I asked.
“Something I didn’t like, and you’re going to help me fix it,” Alina said.
Over the next few days, Alina forced me to follow her to every house in Silverwood. She told sentimental stories about how she had spent days in silverwood. Splashing in rivers, playing with the creatures, and running through forests. And she managed to make every citizen burst into tears after her stories. She had over one million signatures on her petition to help clean up Silverwood. She never gave up, no matter how much work it took, and in less than a week, she went back to the tempura building to argue with the corrupted piece of toast.
“HEY TOASTY! I went over the laws of Silverwood. If a citizen can get over one thousand signatures on a petition, the ruler is forced to obey. I got one million instead of your petty one thousand.” Alina smirked. That piece of toast looked shocked and angry at the same time.
“Since I am forced to oblige to the rules of our society, what do you want?” Grumbled the toast.
“The petition was to clean up Silverwood by making me the new leader.” Alina said, grinning wickedly.
“No,” The toast replied.
“Look out the window,” Alina replied. The entire nation of silverwood was gathered outside the building. They were holding up signs to get rid of the corrupt ruler. “Seems like your time is over, isn’t it?” Alina said. And with that, She shoved the toast out the window, and plopped into the office chair. The crowd was cheering, and applauding.
“Thank you for sticking by me during this long journey,” Alina smiled sincerely.
“Everyone needs a hand sometimes,” I said. “Now don’t you have a mission?” Alina worked tirelessly fishing trash out of rivers, planting trees and flowers, and extinguishing burning fires. The entire Silverwood pitched in too. Within the span of a few months, Silverwood was beautiful, and Alina had never been happier. To this day, Alina and I remain friends. I work part time at my restaurant on earth, but I have another job assisting the ruler of Silverwood, who’s also my best friend.
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