The Cherry Blossom

THE CHERRY BLOSSOM

So there I sat, under the tall cherry blossom playing my newly strung lute. A small breeze ruffled my hair as I played gracefully over the strings, each note filling the air with peaceful harmony. Some of the men just glanced but others stared intrigued by my beautiful skill on the instrument. I plucked out my last note and let silence fill the air. Everything stopped, the birds, the soldiers, time itself seemed to stop in the moment. It was the first time since I was captured there wasn’t any yelling or fighting.
It was one week to the day. The day had been cold for summer and mother had wanted me to run to the stream to gather a bucket of water. I obliged, and with my lute over my back, set out for the stream. It wasn’t long before I reached the stream and started filling up my bucket, that’s when I heard it. There was a shuffling in the brush across the stream from me. I set down the bucket and started to make my way to the other side of the stream across a small path of stepping stones. I was careful to pick my steps because the last night’s rain had turned the usually calm stream into a rushing torrent. Halfway there the shuffling got louder and out the bushes came a solider dressed in red armor. In his hands was a long yew bow. He looked at me and I stared back. With lighting speed he pulled an arrow out of its quiver and drew it back. The man let out a shrill whistle still keeping the arrow trained on me. Too scared to move I stood their puzzling as to why he whistled. I need not be puzzled for long because another man in red armor appeared out of the trees on the opposite side of the stream, an arrow drawn in his bow as well. “You know the drill! The chief wants us to be ghosts, no witnesses!” I knew what was coming and hurled myself into the stream as the Whoosh of an arrow went over my head.
I could hear yelling but my head was a dizzying rush of water and fear. I was like a rag doll, being swept to-and-fro by the rage of the current. I felt my side slam into something hard, probably a branch or rock, and signals of pain shot to my brain. My lute was smashed to a million pieces but that was the least of my worries as I was flung around the stream. Up was down, down was up I couldn’t tell where I was going; all I knew was that I wanted out of this horrible rage of a current. I tried to grab onto anything that came within the reach of my hand but everything evaded my grasp.
By now my whole body burned like fire from all of the bludgeons it had taken. As I started losing all hope and will to get myself out of the hellish stream a glimmer of light shined on me in the form of an overhanging tree branch a little way downriver from me. I managed to pull myself up enough to get my head above water and with a lifesaving grasp I caught hold of the branch. My achievement was short lived because a second after I grabbed hold there was a swift SNAP and I was flung back into the river. I was flung underwater and there was a bright white light as my head smashed into an oncoming rock. I blacked out instantly and from there on out is nothing but blackness.
The next thing I remember was the sight of a light blue sky with floating puffballs of clouds. I laid there for what felt like days just staring up at the clouds as they softly glided past. Nothing mattered; it was just me and the clouds and silence. There was a sort of buzzing in my ears but I ignored it, all I needed was my light blue sky and my nice puffy clouds. I even could have cared less as a strong red armored hand picked me up and slung me over their shoulder carrying me away because I had the perfect view of the clouds and sky through the trees as we went.
I woke fully later in the dark to a voice asking if I wanted some water. A sudden urge of primal fear rushed through me and I leapt to my feet and tried to run only to find myself face down a few seconds later, the shackles around my legs making a loud clinking noise. A pair of kind hands helped me to my feet and I brushed myself off.
“Where am I asked?” completely puzzled to where I was or what was going on.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you’re chained to a tree with the prisoners of Genghis Khan’s army.” Came the voice off to my right.
My heart jumped up into my throat as I turned to the voice and asked “Genghis Khan’s army? How did I get here?”
“The guards brought you a few hours ago.” Came the faceless voice.
By now my head was spinning and I felt sick. I laid down on the cold ground and fell into a deep sleep.
I woke the next to the face of a boy about my age standing over me.
“You ready to go.” He said offering a hand, more of a command than a question. I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up.
The guards came over to us and unbuckled our chains. They gave a crust of bread each and since I hadn’t eaten for about two days I gobbled it down as fast as I could. The other handful of prisoners slowly ate theirs savoring every bite. Before everyone was finished the guards, armed with swords and spears, ordered us to march and everyone did without protest. And that’s what we did we marched, day and night sun and rain we marched. Over the course of marching I befriended the prisoners and even got a spare lute from one of the other prisoners to replace the one I had lost in the river.
So that’s how I’m here sitting under this cherry blossom playing my beautiful instrument. The silence didn’t last long and everyone got back to their work of cleaning and polishing their weapons and armor.
One of my fellow slaves came up to me a pile of armor in his hands. He laid it at my feet and quickly made a small half moon with his hands. This was it that was the signal. Tonight was the night we were going to make our escape. I grabbed a breastplate and a rag and started to polish the armor.

My heart beat fast as the guards chained us up to a tall tree. We all looked at each other knowing that in a few hours we would all be free.
The darkness felt like it took forever in engulfing the sky. But as soon as it we all got to work. One of the prisoners pulled a small key out of hid garments and slipped it into the lock on his chains. With a small click the shackle broke into halves and fell off. My heart was in my throat as I thought of finally being free.
As soon as we were all free we started picking our way slowly towards the tree cover. The only problem was that we had to cross pass a small outer camp to get to it. The camp was in sight and we slowly went past it. Most of the guards there were passed out drunk but better not to take chances.
We were almost all passed when one of the slaves whispered “I have a small score to settle with these guards.” And started moving towards the middle of the camp. He slowly slid a sword out of its sheath and slit the neck of the guard with his own sword. Just then another guard walked out of one of the tents. For a moment he was surprise but the next he had his sword drawn and was calling for help at the top of his lungs. The prisoner charged him but none of us stayed to see who won the fight, we scattered in all directions.
Soldiers poured out from everywhere and so did their arrows. A slave to my left got hit with three arrows and went down hard. I ran for my life the Whoosh of arrows all around. The fear inside me was almost primal and nothing mattered but getting away.
There it was, in the first lights of dawn, the cherry blossom, and beyond that a vast expanse of forest. If I could only make it there I would be safe and could hind. I put an extra burst of speed in my run and that’s when it hit. An arrow sped across the field and buried itself in my lower leg. I fell straight to the ground, but not for long. In the next second I was up and limping towards the cherry blossom. Almost there! Almost there! I thought to myself. I was right under the cherry blossom when there was a Whoosh and a brilliant white light and then everything went black.
-A Blye

Backmasking

So, here's an interesting thing I heard (from Nicole Nelson!) Its called backmasking. Its where you take a song and turn it around to reveal a hidden message. Sort of like an Easter egg in a video game. Anyway most people speculate that these messages are demonic messages put their by Satan because that's what a lot of them have to do with. They're in a lot of songs, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, The Beatles's I'm so tired, The Eagles' Hotel California, and even the Pokemon theme song. Some artists put messages in their songs just to be funny such as Pink Floyd in their song Empty Spaces. It says Congratulations, you have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont. So a spiritual message, a fun little secret, or just a huge coincidence? You decide. Heres the link to a site I found, its really good: http://www.backmaskonline.com/index.php?page=oldrock