Almighty Push

By Daniel Joshua

The room was red.

The alarm screeched.

Each hour turned into minutes.

minutes into seconds,

the time ticking,

the pressure on my back building,

the screams of my comrades crying.

I couldn’t handle it.

What could I do?

Why do I like this?

but all I ever neededwas just an almighty push.

Earlier that day,The sky was blue, the clouds were dreamy, and I could smell the freshly made food my mom made every morning. I was just waking up from a great sleep, filled with happiness and joy. I jumped out of bed and got ready for the great day ahead. I pondered what I was going to do today. I decided to call my friends later and ask them if we could all go somewhere together. I went down and greeted my mom and my dad while sitting down for breakfast and went through my phone just watching a few videos. After breakfast, I called my friends, and we decided to meet up in a bowling alley at noon. I was going with my school friends and my best friend, Kronos. I have been friends with Kronos since 1st grade. When the time came, I left home, saying goodbye to my parents. I hopped on my skateboard and drifted off. Soon I met with my five friends: Sasha, Mark, Fiona, Alex, Kronos, and finally me. When I reached the spot, only Alex and Mark were there. We three high-fived and greeted each other, and as we were talking, everyone else came one by one. After everyone assembled, we left for the bowling alley. Mark asked me, It has been so long since we saw you, Owen; where have you been?”. I told them that I was sick and couldn’t meet them. While on our way, Kronos asked us to stop to look at a mysterious box. We all took a close look at it, and the next thing we knew, we were all sucked into the box and sent to some funny type of room. We all screamed and panicked; a few of us were so shocked by the experience that we couldn't speak at all. What was next and was going to happen now? None of us knew.As we all stayed there, stuck in shock, a mysterious man came from the door, saying in a malevolent voice, "Welcome all to the Midnight Mansion, where all of you will go through a series of tasks; if completed, then you will go through; if not, then face the consequences'' He left all of us thinking about what was ahead of us and said, "I will be back." Fiona says "I just want to go home at this point”, Sasha goes to console her. While the girls were talking, the rest of us tried to find a way out, and while searching, we heard a loud voice shouting QUIET with a gruff voice. He announced himself as the “Midnight Master” and head of this mansion. He told us there was a set of six tasks, and each one of us should choose one task. The mysterious man was revealed to be the butler; he presented us with six doors, each one leading a task. Door 1 leads toward the Creaky Corridor, a long, dark corridor filled with strange noises and creepy shadows. They must reach the end of the corridor without being spooked or turning back. Door 2 leads toward the Whispering Room, a dark room filled with whispers. They must try to decipher what the whispers are saying and solve the riddle they contain. Door 3 leads toward the Library of Shadows, where the contestant must navigate a library filled with shadows. They must find the book they are looking for without getting lost or being trapped by the shadows. Door 4 leads towards the Dining Room of the Damned, where the contestant must sit down to a meal with the ghosts of the Midnight Mansion. They must eat the food and drink the wine without being offended by the ghosts' gruesome table manners. Door 5 leads towards The Ballroom of the Bizarre, where the contestant must dance with a variety of strange and unusual creatures. They must keep up with the tempo and not step on any toes. Finally, Door 6 leads to an unknown room. We all took turns and chose our doors. Alex took Door 1 (the Creaking Corridor), Mark took Door 2 (the Whispering Room), Kronos took Door 3 (the Library of Shadows), Sasha took Door 4 (the Dining Room of the Damned), Fiona took Door 5 (the Ballroom of the Bizarre), and I took Door 6 (the Unknown One). Prepared to face what's in front of us, we all nodded and went forward.Alex entered Door 1 and saw a dark, quiet corridor with only one light sparking at the end. He took one step forward and found himself surrounded by multiple shadows and strange creaking music that echoed through his ears. Each step caused more pain and agony; the shadows haunted him as if he were a meal; he covered his ears for the dreadful sound; he took it step by step, closing his eyes from fear and covering his ears from the sound. He thought to take a step back and return, but the friends in his mind and his determination pushed him forward, and he made it through. On the other end, there wasn’t freedom; it was the exact opposite. He faced imprisonment. Meanwhile, in Door 2, Mark was able to hear so many whispers all together and could only understand them very partially. He sat down on a table and saw paper there with a pen attached to it. The paper had written “Decipher the whispers or face the consequences”. Mark focused long and hard. Mark was already good at stuff like this, so he was able to complete the task with ease. After finishing the task, he went through the door and was pushed from behind into a prison, where he met Alex. In Door 3, Kronos entered the library of shadows. He was given a letter that had the name of a book written on it. He had to find where the book was without getting disturbed by the shadows that would disturb him. Kronos is a major bookworm, so he was happy to do this task, but one thing he doesn't like is when people disturb him, and currently that's exactly happening to him. The shadows were so annoying that he tried hitting them but failed miserably. He placed out his mind and focused solely on the book; he canceled out the'shadows, freed his mind, and found the book within minutes. Out of joy, he tried hugging the shadows and went through the door, only to fall to his demise inside the prison.

This is in Door 4. Sasha comes from a very rich family, and her dining etiquette came as a second habit; she couldn’t tolerate it when others acted rashly at the dinner table. When she was made to sit in a dining room filled with ghosts, she never felt so disgusted in her life. Watching them stuff food in their mouths as they chugged wine as if it were beer, she couldn’t help but gag. She pushed through her fears and started eating her food, following her etiquette. She lost it when one of the ghosts split some wine with her. She started screaming and fainted right then and there. The butler saw her lying on the floor in a wine-stained dress. He lifted her and threw her into the prison, where everyone else was. Meanwhile, in Door 5, Fiona was just amazed at how dark and starry the ballroom was. Fiona had loved dancing ever since she was young and loved how beautiful the ballroom was, but from the opposite door, she saw a bunch of strange creatures, each one looking more terrifying than the next. She was shocked by how different each one looked. A melodious ballroom song started playing in the background. Each creature took the other's hand and started dancing. Soon, a zombie came up to Fiona and asked for her hand. Fiona, still shocked by the ballroom and creatures, just took his hand and started noticing that the zombie was trying to stamp her toes while dancing, and then she remembered the challenge that she should dance without being stamped or stamping others. She precisely took every step, and 30 minutes passed before the music finally stopped. Fiona jumped for joy and felt her hurting pain. She limped towards the exit as the creatures went through the other door, but she fell to the same demise as the rest, into the big prison.

Finally, in Door 6, the unknown door that I chose held a huge surprise for me. As I entered, I crossed a long corridor, a whispering room, a library, a dining hall, and finally a ballroom. All these felt so similar, and then I remembered that these were my friends' task areas; since no one was there, I thought they all passed. Finally, after crossing the ballroom, there was a huge door in front of me. I pushed through and just saw a big chair. I slowly noticed that someone was sitting in the chair, and it was slowly turning towards me. To my horror, there was a similarly large desk with the name “MIDNIGHT MASTER” written on it. My legs started trembling as I saw the hideous face of the Midnight Master. His face was so creepy; he had a ghostly white skin color, which brought a chill down my spine. He said "Hello, my dear friend, it seems like you chose the 6th door; welcome to my humble lounge, where it's always night”, His voice sounded exactly like the voice of the speaker in the beginning. He continued "Oh, I have a little surprise for you, my friend”, He lifted a big switch, which started the light, and out rubbed me because of the brightness, but to my sorrow, under the light were all my friends in a cage, looking famished. I shouted at him, ” Why are they over here? I thought you would let them go if they won”. The Midnight Master let out a small giggle and grinned. He replied "Oh, my dear friend, you should have known betrayal is like a shadow in the dark; you never see it coming”. With that, he brought forward 10 weapons and said "Here, young lad, pick one of your choices; you shall try to get through me and slash that big golden button; if done, you and your friends shall go home; if not, you all shall be host bodies to my lovely shadows”. I took one look at my friend and kept my eyes on the price. I chose the Long-Armed Sword and thought to myself “This is exactly like the video games: slay the villain and go through”. With determination and taking the step, in front of me stood a giant, a menace, a god, and I, a mere mortal, shall put an end to his wrath.

He laughed in amusement as he said, "Oh, Kishishishishi Kishishishishi, we have preference over the weapon. How amusing. Well, let the battle begin." I knew there was no turning back. I gave myself a nod and thought “Let's do this”. The master went head first and threw his sword at full force. Surprisingly, I found the sword to have the powers of an ancient samurai, which allowed me many powers. I jumped on top of the sword and ran on it towards the Midnight Master. I leaped into the air and struck at him. I thought “Let's go; I did”, but when I opened my eyes, there was just a tiny scratch on him. He giggled and used his leg to kick me. Out of panic, I could escape. The entire mass of his leg plunged at me and crushed me to the wall. I wasn’t going to give up yet; I brought myself back up and started running towards the wall. He asked me, "What happened, young boy? Running in fear?”, I got enough momentum to start climbing up the wall, and I went to the very top. I leaped from there and made myself into a needle-shaped motion, and I started spinning, making me into a great spear. At the speed I was spinning, my sword caught aflame, but the flame didn’t hurt me; it only made me stronger. I shouted my best battle cry and lunged forward. The Midnight Master looked at my new form with surprise in his eyes. He shouted "YES, Magnificent, this is the battle I was wishing for”, and I continued shouting, and I managed to go right through him, making a big hole through his stomach. As I came to a halt, I saw the status he was in and thought I finally won, but no, he brought forth a few shadows from the ground and absorbed them, which made his entire wound I struggled to make disappear. I stood in front of witnessing this and thought, "How is this even possible? Is this the power of a god”, He cackled at me, saying “There is no way for you to defeat me, brat”, The Midnight Master grew in size, making the alarms go off, and the clock he had broken made a very audible ticking sound. The room turned red and started blinking in shades of red. I shouted, "What can I do? Why do I like this? I couldn’t even save my own friends. Why am I so weak”, The Midnight Master slowly walked towards me, slightly grinning.

I thought this was the end and closed my eyes, but under all this chaos, I heard a few voices. I opened my eyes to find out it was my friend. Alex, Mark, Fiona, and Sasha all shouted, "You can do this, Owen. You have the strength within you, Owen. Go for the gold, Owen”, I was overjoyed; my friends weren’t dead, but soon my happiness faded as I didn’t see Kronos. I didn’t have enough voice to speak up and closed my eyes again out of sadness, but I felt a push behind me. It was Kronos who managed to get out of prison, and he shouted at me right in my ears,Owen, get back to your senses; you can do this and you will succeed. He gave an almighty push, which restarted my mind, and I ran and ran and ran, so fast that I was able to generate sparks with my sword. I made my sword catch fire and leaped at the speed of light and did the same move again, but this time I had the hopes and strength of my friends with me, which set my heart ablaze and caused a huge flame, and I chopped the Midnight Master in. He gave an almighty push, which restarted my mind, and I ran and ran, so fast that I was able to generate sparks with my sword. I made my sword catch fire and leaped at the speed of light and did the same move again, but this time, I continued spinning till I reached the Golden Button. I reached there and pressed the button.

I saw myself and my friends slowly vanishing away and started smiling and rejoicing in joy as they did the same, but wait, where was Kronos? The Midnight Master had caught him and shouted at me "You young brat, you seriously thought you would face no consequences for messing with darkness”, and he shot Kronos right through his head. Kronos' last words were "Thank you”. I shouted "Noo Kronoss”, and appeared back in the normal world with everyone except Kronos. We all wept in sadness but knew that he died happily, seeing all of us escape. We wiped our tears, looked at the world with a new perspective, and went forward thanks to the Almighty Push.

By Daniel Joshua