Mysteries of the Wild West | Teen Ink

Mysteries of the Wild West

June 1, 2014
By Tyler Seabaugh BRONZE, Wentzville, Missouri
Tyler Seabaugh BRONZE, Wentzville, Missouri
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Mysteries of the Wild West

It all began in a small, undeveloped civilization south of the Rockies. The town was no shiny penny, but everyone loved it there and made due with what they had. Except for one person, little John Turner. John was 9 years old and would always complain and say, “There’s nothing here to do, but kick dirt around in this broken down town.” John always talked about going on adventures to his friends, but they all would said he’s crazy. “You wouldn’t ever leave this town, unless your momma was with you,” he children would exclaim. John began to grow away from his friends, considering that they didn’t support his idea of going on an adventure. As years passed, John and his friends were growing up. To this day John’s friends still give him trouble about going on an adventure.

A couple more years passed, as did John’s parents... “This is it, I’m on my own now.” John thought to himself. As the townspeople went to the river to fetch water, the river was dried up. As the town complained and bickered, John thought of a perfect idea. “What better chance to go on an adventure than this?” he asked himself. “I’ve never been out of the town before, and there oughta be so many things unexplored out there.” Through the bickering and complaining John shouted, “I’ll find out what happened to the river!”

The crowd was shocked and began shouting, “ You’re gonna die, you can’t defend yourself, you’ve never done anything right.” Granted these words did hurt John, but they weren't strong enough to keep him from the dream he’s had since he was 9 years old.

Going against the crowd’s negative feedback, John packs his belongings and heads towards the rockies. He would travel with the river until he found the source of their problems. He figured that the rivers source of water came from the ice caps and moisture on the mountains, so he figured that be a good heading. John saddles up and rides off into the wild, undiscovered west. Not knowing the dangerous ahead, John only packed what he needed for survival.

Riding for a little over a day, John had reached a trench similar to the grand canyon except for it was 100x smaller. Narrow, but John never feared that he couldn’t make it. As John proceeds into the trench the sound of movement passed over him. John just figured it was an animal of some sort and kept pressing on. Shortly after a whistling noise came from behind him. As soon as he turned around an arrow, slicing through the wind struck John in the shoulder. John was was thrown from his horse and basically left for dead with his horse taking off. “I laid there thinking, I didn’t come to this far to get killed, I have potential and I’m gonna find the water.” Within minutes Indians surround John holding him at spear point.

All John remembers is being held at spearpoint, all the sudden waking up in a buffalo hide tent laying on pelts from various animals. Regaining his strength John begins to sit up, still wondering where he was or how he got here. As John stumbles to the opening of the tent he sees indians, tons of indians. John jumped back when he first spotted them, panicking frantically and thinking “How am i going to get out of here unseen?” If John was caught trying to flee, not only would he have an arrow wound in his shoulder, but his heart as well. John needed to think of a fool proof plan and quick.

As John kept backing away from the tent opening he stumbled upon a couple sticks of dynamite. “Then the idea hit me, a simple diversion oughta do the trick.” John mumbled. John managed to crawl out from under the back of the tent and light the stick. John needed to throw it as far as possible to buy him the most time. “I counted to myself. 3..2...1!” John said. Throwing the dynamite over the hill was perfect. A few moments later, it was as if an earthquake was happening, the shock and shattering noise of the explosion rattled the ground. The Indians curious as to what that was, they all charged over the hill as if in a cavalry on the front lines. Now was John’s chance, he darted off running towards the mountains knowing that if he was seen he could lose them in there.

As John hiked through the mountains for a couple of days, he stumbles upon a freshwater spring. “The spring had a current so it must lead somewhere and I was determined to find where it lead” said John. Hiking back towards the bottom of the mountain John sees a dam up ahead. This dam was the one, the one that was prevented the river from flowing. Throwing countless rocks at the dam, nothing was able to bust through it. Finally John has the idea. There was a boulder next to the dam, half the size of John, but could break through the twigs and logs of wood. John tried pushing it off the edge, but it was no use. John with his wouldnt shoulder from the arrow began to slowly back up. Once the count came to three John darted off towards the boulder throwing all of his weight onto the surface of the boulder.

John bounced off of the boulder, but it was just enough to cause the boulder topple over the ledge and onto the dam. It broke free, the water was barreling out of the reservoir as if it was being vacuumed up. John as high as he was sat and watched as the water flowed down the mountain and began its path towards the town. John chuckled to himself, “And they thought that i couldn’t get the water back, Ha!” There had been a clear path cleared down the mountain from previous travelers. John began making his way down the mountain as he could still see the water and it had reached the town with ease. John was able to buy a horse off of a local mountain man that dwells at the foot of the mountain. Riding for nearly two miles, John arrived back in town. The town all stopped what they were doing and ran out the greet their hero.

They took John to the local saloon, bought him a drink, and all gathered around to hear of his adventurous journey. John goes on the tell the town how right off the bat was hit with an arrow and captured.

Some of the town laughed saying, “Dang, you didn’t get very far before you got yourself in trouble!”
Over the laughter John continued his story, his plan of escape, and how he managed to give the town back their water. As the town sat in shock and blown away, John thanked to ones that believed in him and left through those swinging saloon doors. After that day, John went back to his normal life doing everyday things like he use to. John had a whole lotta more respect for himself and the way the town treated him. He minded his own business as he did before, was still friendly, but was treated differently from there on out.


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