The 2009 Children's Fiction Writing Award WINNERS

2012 by Maseyla

I moved to Cosmo at the end of summer 2012. I had grown up in the city of Wickstead and really enjoyed living there. I skateboarded and played video games with my friends, went to movies on weekends and went out for dinner every Sunday with my mom. That was our bonding time, and it was important to us, especially since she worked full time and wasn’t around much during the weekdays. But all that changed when she informed me that she had got a promotion at work, which was great news. The bad news was we would have to move. She was re-assigned to a town called Cosmo. I couldn’t even find Cosmo on the computer when I Googled it on the Internet. Everyone I talked to said they had never even heard of it. I knew my life was going to change. But I never expected what was about to happen.

Before I continue, I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Ty, and I am thirteen years old. I was born on December 21, 1998 at 12:21 AM. Weird, right! All those coincidental numbers, 12-21, 12-21. I never really thought much about them until I lived in Cosmo. When I was little, my mom would tell me that the dark sky lit up for a moment when I was born, but I think she was just delirious from being in labour for too long. I think I’m a pretty normal kid; nothing special.

I loved growing up in the city. Even with my mom working long hours, I was never bored. There was always something to do and somewhere to go, and I had lots of friends. The news of moving did not go over well with me. I never thought I would ever leave the city and my friends. She said that small town living is just as much fun. Plus, I could keep in touch with my friends with texts and e-mails.

On the September long weekend, my mom and I drove off to Cosmo. It was a really quiet car ride. My mom was focused on the directions, and me, well, I was still upset by the whole move, so I was not talking. I should have picked up on the first warning sign on how weird this town was. As I was in the process of texting a friend, my mom let me know that we just passed a sign saying Township of Cosmo. At that exact moment my phone shorted out, sparked and went dead. Very weird, since it was a new phone and worked fine up until that point. My mom assured me that she would get it fixed as soon as we got settled into our new house.

Our new house was big, but really old. From what I could see it was the oldest house around. It had a flat roof with a side ladder leading up to it. I remember thinking that it would be great for looking at the night sky. The interior of the house was clean and pretty basic. There were still a few boxes of stuff sitting around from the previous owners, so I moved those down to the basement. It took us the whole weekend to unpack and settle in. I was excited about setting up my computer and e-mailing my friends, letting them know I was doing okay. But for some crazy reason I wasn’t getting any Internet connection. We couldn’t even get cable channels on the T.V.

I decided to walk to school on the first day instead of getting a ride with my mom. Since this was her first day at work, I knew she would be a little stressed. I left the house early and headed down to the main street. I wanted to find a cell phone outlet to get my phone fixed before I went to school. As I was walking I could not believe what I saw! I felt as though I was in one of those old black and white T.V shows from the fifties that they show on cable. A milk truck was parked on the street, with an actual milkman delivering milk. Kids were playing in front yards with hula hoops, dogs were running loose, and most of the cars being driven were really old. I mean, I’ve never seen cars like that before. The main street had a diner, a hardware store, a barber shop, and a music store that sold nothing but vinyl records. Everywhere I went people stopped and stared. I realized I was new in town, but the attention I was getting was really embarrasing and uncomfortable. I had the feeling that the people of Cosmo did not like outsiders.

My first day at school was terrible. I thought fitting in at a school in the city was hard, but in this town, it was impossible. None of the teachers welcomed me and no one offered to show me around. There were little cliques, such as jocks, cheerleaders, and nerds. I was surprised that there were no goth, emo, or skater cliques. This town is really behind the times! I am not a sports kind of guy, except for skateboarding, so I guess I’ll be on my own. I’ve never been a loner before.

On December 19, just a couple of days before my birthday, I was feeling miserable. School was still the same, Iwas officially a loner. No one in this town knew how to fix a cellphone and nowhere in this town could you buy a cellphone. My mom looked into getting Internet connection for my computer, but no one did that either. Apparently the town was content functioning without modern technology. My mom said that the people here like the simple life, and it’s just as quick to run to a neighbour’s house as it is to send a text. She also said that before the Internet, people would go to the library and spend hours looking at books or doing homework. Well, since I was bored just sitting around the house doing nothing, I decided to go to the library. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to a library before. When I was little, my mom often took me. But as I got older the Internet was all I needed to find information for school. I decided to buy a journal and write about my experience moving and coming to this town. As I sat in the library writing about the past few months, something on the floor caught my eye. It was a really old, grimy book. I picked it up and looked at it.

After wiping off some of the dust I saw the title, The History of the Township of Cosmo, but there were no library numbers on the book. I wondered if someone had dropped it, so I flipped through it to see if there was a name inside. The inside of the book was so yellowed it was hard to see the printing on the pages. The only thing that stood out was a date in black pen at the top of each page, December 21, 2012. How could this old book, at least a hundred years old, have a date of 2012 in it? What is this book about and why is the date on each page, I wondered. I decided to stick the book in my backpack and walk out of the library. I had never taken anything before, but I had a feeling there was something in this book I needed to know. I can’t believe I walked out of the library with the book. I was still shaking, but also really excited. I had been so bored in this town and now I had a mystery to solve. What is the importantce of December 21, 2012? I know I was born on December 21, but that is just a coincidence. The printing was so faint. I didn’t think I would ever be able to read it. I remembered seeing a CSI show on T.V. where lemon juice was sprayed on paper to bring up some fingerprints. I wondered whether it would work on these pages, so I gave it a try.

Amazing! I never thought it would work, but it did. I was really shaking now. The story and message that appeared really freaked me out. I didn’t know whether this was a joke that someone was playing or whether it was real. The book revealed how the town of Cosmo was created. Apparently someone called the Guardian of the Galaxy came to Earth and built a town in the 1900s. He built it at this location because it had something to do with the longitude and latitude lines of the Earth. I wished I had paid more attention in Social class as to what those lines meant. Anyway, the town was built here because, according to the book “this is where the doom is supposed to ignite.” I was not sure what that meant. The story refers to doomsday and the numbers 12-21-12. At that moment I realized that those numbers were the same as the date on all the pages, December 12, 2012. The story continued with how the Guardian settled and lived in the town, waiting for this day to arrive. The Guardian apparently really enjoyed life here during the 50s and 60s. But then he was needed somewhere else and had to leave this town he built. There was nothing written as to why he had to leave. Anyway, the story said that anyone with “the light” born on 12-21 can change the doom that has been set to destruct. Three items that the Guardian treasured and loved were left behind and must be found and placed in a straight line facing the dark sky at the highest point of the house where the Guardian lived when he was in Cosmo. The three items were the key to the town, a 1940s Superman comic book, and a 78 rpm Elvis Presley record. These are really weird items left behind to stop the doomsday from happening. I figured this was a joke! But the last few sentences in the book made me think again.

"AND THE TOWN SHALL ALWAYS REMAIN WITH NO INTERFERENCE TO STAY THE SAME UNTIL THAT DARK DAY THAT MANKIND FEARS ONE BORN TO CHANGE THE WAY IT APPEARS"

Wow, as I read this I wondered whether the Guardian was referring to me. I mean, it seemed as though this town was stuck in some sort of time warp, a time that the Guardian really enjoyed. And I just happened to come along, and happened to have been born on the same day and month as this doomsday was to take place, and just happened to find this old book that revealed all of this information. I needed to think about this for a while.

I decided to find these items and place them on the roof as the book said. I figured I had nothing better to do. I just needed to figure out where to locate them and find the house where the Guardian used to live.

The next day was December 20, and I had until midnight to find everything. I faked being sick to my mom so I could stay home from school. I figured that the Elvis record would be at the record store, but I wasn’t sure where to look for the key and the comic. Plus, I had to find out where the Guardian of the Galaxy used to live so I could place the items on the roof. I hoped I could figure all of this out by midnight. I started at the record store.

I walked into the store, scanning through the different sections of music they had. I had heard of records, but I had never actually seen them in real life. I picked up a random record and slid it out of its cover. They’re really cool looking, but they’re so big compared to CDs! I continued to look around, trying to see where the Elvis Presley records were. I went to the the E section and found them. He must have been really popular as the section was huge. I wasn’t sure what a 78 record looked like, so I took a few records to the cashier. While the cashier was ringing it through, I asked him if he knew the name of the person who built the town. The cashier said his name was Mr.Cosmos, but he didn’t know where he lived. I left the store, record in hand, with some valuble information. The Guardian of the Galaxy was named Mr. Cosmos. I wondered where I could find an old town document of land owners that showed where Mr. Cosmos used to live. The library wouldn’t have those kind of documents, but maybe the Town Hall would. I made my way to the Town Hall hoping to get one step closer to stopping doomsday.

I swung open the doors to the Town Hall and walked inside. It was really quiet, except for the sound of a typewriter. A secretary directed me to the records room. I hurried away down the hall to where she pointed. The walls were covered in glass cases that were filled with sport jerseys, medals, and trophies. Then I saw it. I pressed my face against the case, taking a closer look. Below it was a small card labelled KEY TO THE TOWN. My eyes widened. The second item I needed! I somehow had to steal this key. I looked around to make sure no one was coming. I managed to unscrew the bolts in the glass with my fingers then carefully took off the front panel of the case and placed it on the ground. I reached in, pulled out the key, then ran down the hall. I made it to the records room, sweaty and out of breath. I had become quite a thief.

I tucked the key into my pocket and made my way through the rows of town records. I searched under last names that started with C and pulled out one of the last books in the section. I flipped through it and found Mr. Cosmos. When I saw the address, I nearly dropped the book. It was the address of the house I was living in. I couldn’t believe it, he used to live in my house. Another weird coincidence! I made my way back to the front door, hoping no one would notice me or that the key was missing. As soon as I got outside I ran as fast as I could. I did not want to get caught with this key. Now I needed to find the comic. I went to the used bookstore to see whether I could find the Superman comic. I went through the comic sections, but found nothing. Disappointed, I went home.

Where could that comic be? The sales clerk at the bookstore indicated that they had never had a 1940s Superman comic in stock, so I knew that it had never been sold. Where would the Guardian have placed it? Looking around the old house made me realize that maybe the comic might be in the house. I went to the basement and found the boxes full of stuff that I brought down when we moved in. Since I was running out of time, I just dumped the contents out on the floor. There was a lot of old clothing, books, dishes, and trinkets, but no comic. I knew my mom was going to be mad at me for making this mess, but I didn’t have time to clean it up. I searched everywhere, but no luck. I remembered that old houses usually have attics, and I was right. I went up into the attic and all I found was a chair with a comic sitting on it. A 1940s Superman comic. Again, weird, or was it meant to be found?

It was now five minutes to midnight. The book indicated that the three items had to be placed on the roof in a single line on December 21, 2012. Since the book didn’t give an exact time these items should be placed, and the 21st was five minutes away, I took them and headed up onto the roof. It was really cold and I was worried my mom might notice that I wasn’t in bed. I had done everything the book revealed: I found the three items that the Guardian treasured, and I’d placed them in a straight line on the roof of the Guardian’s old house by the start of the 21st day of December. Maybe this was just a joke that someone was playing. I was about to head in when all of a sudden a bright light lit up the sky. I looked at my watch and the time was 12:21 AM. Was that the sign that the doom was reversed? It was just a bright light for a second. I then remembered it was my birthday and I also remembered that my mom used to tell me that the sky lit up for a second when I was born. Nahh, this is all too weird for me, I thought to myself. I figured it was some type of practical joke that fell into my hands, and the numbers matching my birthday and the book were just coincidental. Before I froze, I headed inside to get some sleep. It’s Christmas and I’m back in the city — for good. It turns out that my mom wasn’t happy living in the town of Cosmo either. On the day of my birthday we had a really good talk and she told me she also missed the city and the time we spent together. So we packed up and moved back. I’ve really enjoyed writing in this journal and I will definately find the time to continue writing. As soon as we left the boundaries of Cosmo my cell phone lit up. That was really weird. I haven’t thought much about the adventure I had; until today I still believed it was a practical joke. But then I Googled December 21, 2012, and I was shocked at what came up. This date was to be the date for the apocalypse, which was to be the end of the world as we know it.

Did I change history?

That’s up to you to decide.