2008 THIRD PLACE

A LONG TIME AGO
Justin Teague
15 years old, Alaska

A long time ago, back when technology was nothing but a whisper in the dark lived a hermit family in a cloister located on a massive hill far secluded from the rest of the world where peace nature could surround you. This was a large family, of about thirty people.

Among this giant family lived a young boy named Juan who was thirteen. All of his life he lived in this hermitage and he wanted out. He was tired of the idea of peace and nature, he wanted to see the rest of the world. Whenever a man turned eighteen years old he was allowed to go into the village and pick a wife to bring back to the cloister. This was five years away for young Juan and he couldn't wait any longer. He was going to sneak out when it got dark, defying one of the elders rules. Never go into town until your of age or accompanied by someone of age, and never live among the village people.

That night when it got dark and all where asleep, Juan snuck out into the hallway from his room. Finally Juan was free and he was going to the village. All there was left to do was follow the old dirt trail made by many hermits before him. He had only slippers and a robe because he was afraid of waking someone up by getting dressed. The old dirt trail was creepy at night and after about ten minutes Juan was instantly regretting his decision to sneak out. He stopped and weighed out his thoughts and decided it was best to keep going.

The sun started to rise in the horizon and this put a sense of happiness back into Juan. He could see the smoke from the village and instantly he started to run. He was there finally free to do whatever he wanted. A horrible thought hit Jan, he was alone and no money to buy food or water.

When he started to walk through the town, he was disgusted at what he saw, filthy people begging in ratty clothes, people being beat, and stray animals rotting away in old trash next to their knocked out owners. This scared him even more so he ran all the way back to the monastery, the whole time thinking how he would never leave his peaceful home, and how the rest of the world was not full of peace and nature but of poverty and recklessness.

Once he was back at home he made a vow, that the only way he would go back to the village was to bring the peace to them. That's exactly what he did. When he was twenty, he went back to the village and created a monastery there, five years later every inch of the countryside was full of peace and nature.