Raven Jackson

04/25/16
Nonfiction Writing

Exploration (Edited)

On a wet, muddy day with grey skies and a misty feeling in the air. The clock finally hit
one o clock and at that time, I and a friend who was a run away from a bad situation waited for
another friend to come through. The only thing that could be heard from my room was the
constant clicking of buttons and yelling that drowned out the noise of a video game beaming
from the TV. The knocks on the door nearby got our attention, the slow, annoying creak from the
door felt like it lasted longer than it should. Just open the door like a normal person! Our third
person finally arrived which meant it was time to go. Equipped with two cameras, three cell
phones, and one iPod for no reason in particular, we marched out of my house. Constant,
pointless chatter among us was quite loud! We were known for joking about dumb, senseless
things, and doing stupid things. We were young teenagers in high school so we were attracted to
doing dumb things now and then.
My neighborhood was quiet that day, with the rain subsiding earlier in the morning, we
were the only ones out besides a few wondering dogs. A short walk to the park was nothing new
to me, it sometimes became a game of try not to get hit by a car making a poor turn. Other than
that, it was always a peaceful walk, nothing but the sound of birds chirping and dogs quietly
staring me down from their fences. We were greeted by the woody park, snapped branches sitting
on the ground around the shortcuts entrance. I leaded my two friends toward the path leading

into the woods. The softness of the ground, the crunch of the leaves, and the occasionally and
accidentally smash of a few small frogs were under our feet throughout our venture. Accidentally
stepping on a frog was quite unpleasant to say the least, it was like stepping on a thick wad of
gum. Maybe this is how it feels when Mario steps on a Goomba, but times twenty. Acting like a
tour guide to our third member of our adventure squad, we started showing him the marvelous
scenery!
The amazing stove that sat behind the trees to our right, covered in rain water and
unknown substances. How about the ancient-looking TV set with a busted up screen? It looked
like one of those TV you would buy in the 1980s. You cant go a day in your life without seeing
a pile of broken toys, mostly plastic bits nobody wanted. It appears that people treated this area
like a mini junk yard Aside from the trash, there was nothing but the brown of trees that were
taller than the trees found in the neighborhood, the short green grass covered in mud, and the
foul smell of a thousand bathrooms. Our path is very straight forward and the smell just got
louder and louder as we continue trekking like were about to discover great treasure in a temple.
Our long walk eventually revealed an odd object, something thats bigger than all three of us. It
smelt horrible and you could clearly hear the sound of something similar to running water
coming from it. It was tan colored and looked like a top part of a crayon, but someone would
argue that it looked like something else.
We hanged around it for a few minutes before a light bulb flickered above my loud mouth
countered part. An idea only geniuses could come up with after Mars aligned with the Moon. The
words help me up, Im going to conquer this as my own. I looked and our third member
looked. Maybe the smell of sewage already destroyed his brain, we couldnt smell the scent of
wet grass around us anymore. With the help of us two, he climbed it like he was rock climbing.

How exciting Time went by and it was spent goofing off among the trees, climbing in ditches
filled with water and mud. We came across more of the odd sewage pipe things along the way.
Stopping at a halt with more mud and grass around us with half of a car sitting casually in the
trees decorated with police caution tape. The foul smell never left and it was like a travel partner
you couldnt get rid of. Hugging you tightly, nearly taking your sense of smell away before
destroying your train of thought.
We walked to our left following a path that lead to a wide, thick, brown metal pipe above
a body of dirty water. The pipe stretched across the water making the possibility of going to the
other side a no brainer. It smelt bad, but we have grown accustom to it already. The water below
was questionable. Was it deep? It was very hard to tell, but we didnt want to take any chances
due to our lack of swimming skills and our left for dead mindset. I was the second to cross,
following behind my loud mouth friend, and our third friend followed behind me. He was
scooting across like a dog scooting across a carpet. I turned back to snap a quick photo with him
having the widest, whitest, brightest smile on the face of the Earth. I was walking like a clown
walking on a tight rope trying to not make a fool out of myself in front of my audience. There
was room for error, but the horrible smell we been smelling for who knows how long isnt worth
it. Maybe the Ninja Turtles smelt like this? It became a running joke with us.
Getting across was fine except for me nearly taking a dive into an open man hole. Maybe
this was a sign that the Ninja Turtle joke got old extremely fast? The top of the hole which is a
part of the pipe thats also going downward to a place no human wants to be in beside the man
hole itself. A quick reaction and a few swears ringing out into an echo is all it took. It wasnt
enough to wipe my smile off of my face. It felt like nothing could ruin this day, even the foul
odor couldnt do that. On that note, we found another odd sewage thing from before, we all

climbed it to take countless photos. It was the worse photo shoot in existence! From where we
were, you could hear traffic, the sound of cars zooming ahead and the occasionally tires
screeching. We were in our own little world, nothing phased us anymore. We kept messing
around in what seemed to be an abandoned gold course with the grass going all the way up to our
chests. Not much to see here, more trees around, grey clouds, and grass. Whats new?
My two friends suddenly darted ahead, I followed from behind. A huge, wet plush doll of
a character from one of our favorite video game series (the now lame Sega franchise) sat on the
ground covered in mud and pebbles. The red plush is as big as me! We got out our cameras and
the series of flashing began. We were like three fans running up to a celebrity in downtown LA
with cameras and no body guard in sight. Sounds nice, but we were three dirty seventeen years
olds with cameras in the middle of nowhere making dumb comments and faces. Dragon flies,
black, long, annoying creatures I despise in the wild flew above us. Not knowing how long we
been gone for, we dragged the doll with us as we walked through the tall grass. Hidden in grass,
we eventually freed ourselves when a concrete path emerged in front of us. We felt free, there
was nothing around other than a busted up dog house in the distance.
Everything was a blur after that, but other than me finding a dollar and taking more series
of photos. We found ourselves going through more trees and being greeted by the smell of fresh
cut grass and the sound of someone in the distant. I looked around and came to the conclusion
that we were behind ITT at another golf course. We were gone for so long, but it didnt matter.
We gave the plush doll a watery grave in a nearby body of water before my two friends set off to
catch a squirrel while destroying someones golf game in the process. We were three strange kids
emerging from trees out of nowhere only to disappear quickly after my friends tried to climb the
tree the squirrel had ran up to. It was quite a day for us.