2024 Travers Winner!

~Andrew Bates, Class of 2026

I screamed with all my might. Roaring with laughter, I raced down the stairs like Usain Bolt on steroids.

“Is it true? Is it really true?” I managed to choke out.

“Yes,” my mom replied, looking amused by my outburst. “Your grandma is coming to town. And you two are going to the circus!”

My reaction dimmed just a little. “With grandma? I thought I was going with you!”

The reason I was miffed was because grandma was kind of an odd duck. Clowns were all she ever talked about, and with her little gnarled fingers, she was strangely handy with a knife. But the circus is the circus, and I was excited to go either way. 

When we got there, I led Grandma to the ticket booth. As we were walking, I noticed that policemen were crowded around said booth. They were yelling about something. We sauntered past the cops, but one stopped us. 

“Hi there”, he said, and I knew at once he was very nice. 

“I can’t tell you why we’re here, it’s classified, but my name is Bob. nice to meet you.” 

We talked for a while before the show started, and while he pointed out the differences between policemen, Grandma showed us important circus landmarks. However, when she showed us the little known clown shack, Bob froze. He whipped out his radio and hastily whispered to the other guy on the line. 

“I-I have to go”, he unsteadily stammered. We watched him run off in the direction of the clown shack.

“What a Strange bird,” Grandma clucked, but there was something else in her voice. Fear?

The circus was amazing. Tightrope walkers amazed, sword swallowers astounded, and lion tamers subdued with what looked like ease. But the best act by far was the clowns. Their makeup was perfect, and their acrobatics rivaled even gymnasts. When I glanced to my left to check on Grandma at the end of the act, however, she was nowhere to be seen. Just a little handbag and some chalk white makeup. What? I thought. She was just beside me a moment ago! I suddenly remembered the clown shack incident and what her reaction was, so I crept down the circus steps and into the night.

It was dark at the back of the circus. Wolves howled and crickets roared an eerie symphony in the black of night. The brisk  autumn wind slashed my face. I piqued with curiosity. I started toward the run-down creaking old shack that, or so I thought, hid my Grandma. As I scoured the ground for footprints, I distinguished small tracks that looked like my tracks. Exactly like my tracks. But there was no time to examine them. I stepped through the doorway and examined the room around me. The primary thing that I noticed were cupboards. Huge, wide cupboards. In the full moon light, they looked like decapitation boxes. But after that, I spotted a well-lit table with people all sitting around it.

“Hello there!” I exclaimed, full of relief. “Have you seen anyone that is about 80 years old walking by?” But I didn’t get any response. They all just stared into space, not blinking, not moving. So I looked a little closer. There were daggers stuck into every one of them and pinning them to their seats, all of them grinning from ear to ear. My heart stopped beating. I was staring at the morbid scene, transfixed, as the cupboard closest to me creaked. The door swung open, and inside was poor old Bob. It was a Massacre! His eyes were bulging out of their sockets and his shoulders were, again, pinned to the wall with daggers. I screamed while the only entrance to the shack swung shut. I could now see the shadows writhing, and terror engulfed me. Three silhouettes stalked from the corner of the room. Two grabbed me, their stark white faces glinting in the moonlight, but the other one remained in the shadows. The two holding me down looked like they wanted to…

eat me.

I convulsed with fear.

“We’ve had our act,” a familiar voice snarled, “now for the victory feast.” 

And with a stark white face and blood running from her mouth, Grandma stepped out of the shadows.

Into the Night

Suddenly, as I was struck with fear, a scimitar flashed through the dim light and one of my assailant’s heads flew off its hinges. My so thought savior whipped his sword about like the gale on a stormy day, with blood as mist and fog. I would like to say I bravely stepped up to help him, but I instead cowered below the mammoth table. I peeked through a crack, and I saw grandma with two long daggers, pushing the man back and back.

“He’s mine, Abe!” She shrieked.“I haven’t tasted child flesh in years!” 

“You cannot have him”, the voice bellowed. “The moon Is full. The wolf rises! We must make a sacrifice.”

The scimitar flashed in the direction of her midsection and the daggers lashed around to counter. But that was what my so thought champion wanted! He faked and spun, driving the blade up to its hilt. Grandma roared like a lion, and then collapsed to the floor. I felt no sorrow as I gazed about the mass extermination all around. I hid back under the table. I had only seen up to his waist, but I already knew he could slice me into minced meat if he really wanted to. He sheathed his sword and stalked over to where I was. I was thinking about the name Abe. Where had I heard it before? Something about a… the man crouched beside me. And took off his head.

It was on his black horse when I realized. This dragoon was the headless horseman! The world renowned convict had lopped me over the back of his horse and dragged me into the deep, thick woods. I was next to the grotesque, decapitated head of a once handsome man when we entered a sort of camp. Hoots and hollers of not exactly people filled my ears. Suddenly, horrors with wooden masks came into my view. Dark fur covered their bodies and the masks had just two slits for eyes. Kin of the wolf. They threw me roughly to the ground and tied me to a tree. As the rough bark scraped my skin, a snarling captor slunk up to me. His rancid breath scorched my cheek as he growled, 

“you should be honored. You will be fed to the Great Wolf!” 

The wolf-men started screaming and whooping, the moon turned blood red, my heart ran a one hundred meter dash, and an awful howl filled the darkness.

The Cave

“Here we go”, My captor snarled, glancing worriedly at the cave overlooking the camp. The massive bonfire in the center of the encampment flicked dark green and two wolf men tore off the ropes around me. While they roughly dragged me up a turned over thoroughfare that led up the behemoth mountain, I noticed they were giddy with excitement. We suddenly came to a shuddering halt right before a large boulder. 

“This is it,” a barbarian said. “You meet your doom tonight.” 

He systematically rolled the boulder out of the way and I Started to cry. Inside were only two bright yellow eyes. That was not what worried me, however. It was the fact that they were ten feet above the ground.

Terror engulfed me.

I shuddered as the werewolf approached. It gnashed its foaming white jaws and flexed its bulging muscles. it looked at me and roared.

“Sacrifice!” 

It leaped at me and I froze with fear. But much to my awful luck(finally), a large stone had dislodged from the ceiling while it roared. It slammed into his shoulder blade and he howled with pain. I ran for it. There were many passages and forks, but I kept on running. ‘If only I could do this in track and field,’ My mind thought deliriously. Left, right, right, left, left, right, middle, middle. Sprint! I suddenly found myself in a large cavern, and to my horror, I realized that every single path led to this point. Bones were littered and discarded all over the rock, and I noticed that all the bones looked strangely like mine. Exactly like mine, in fact. But there was no time to unravel this mystery. I heard breathing. Heavy, ragged, panting. And the wolf swept into the room.

“They always come here,” he panted, “they all die here!”

he launched his body at me, and there was nothing to do but scream.

I woke up, panting and covered with sweat. Scanning my sweet, sweet room, I shrieked with joy. 

“Is it true? Is it really true?” I asked my mom, delirious with happiness. 

“Yes”, my mom replied, looking kind of amused with my question. 

But what she said next shocked me. 

“You and your Grandma are going to the circus!” 

My mouth filled with dread as I realized what this meant.