The Stone

Adam and his sister were playing tag in the forest behind their village. There was not many exciting things to do in the village, so the children often found some game to play in the forest. All of these games were simple childish games like tag, king of the hill, capture the flag, all except one. One game most parents frowned up to the point where many friendships were broken because of it. Adam had heard only tiny pieces of info about this game, but he had been warned many many times to never play it if he was asked. Little did he know he would not take that advice.

"Hey Adam" his sister Mary called, "Come check this out."
Adam yelled back "Where are you? I can't see you."
"Over here" she yelled back, waving her arms frantically in the air to catch her brother's attention.
Adam saw his sister over by one if the fallen temples, her head just poking over one of the stone pillars. He ran over to see what she was talking about. She held in her hand a glowing red stone.
Adam asked his sister "Is that...?"
"Yeah..." She replied, "I think it is."
"Mary," Adam said, his voice shaking from fear, "Put that down right now,and let's go back to mom."
"Why?" Mary questioned, "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Just put it down Mary" Adam shouted, still scared, "We need to go."
Adam grabbed his sisters arm and tried to shake the stone out of her hand, but she wouldn't let go.
"Adam!" She shouted, "Let go of my arm!"
"Just drop it," Adam replied, "That stone is dangerous."
Just then the stone glowed brightly. Mary shrieked in pain and dropped the stone. As soon as the stone left her hand, it stopped glowing. Mary cried and held he'd hands close to her chest. Tears began to stream down her face.
Adam asked "See, I told you not to play with it, it's dangerous."
"It burned me" Mary sobbed, "it burned my hands, look"
She showed her brother her blackened hands. They looked as though a fight had been lit in her hands.
"We need to go find mom, NOW!" Adam commanded.
"Okay" marry snuffled, "it hurts so badly."

They both ran back into the village, and searched for their mother. They found her sitting in the river washing thief clothes. Mary ran ahead of Adam and began crying again. She wailed to her mother about the stone.
"It burned me mommy" she sobbed in her mothers arms, 'it burned my hands."
Her mother coddled her and asked "What burned you, where?"
"My hands" Mary said as she held up her hands, " that glowing red stone burned me hands."
Adams mother glared at him and said very sternly, "I told you never to play that game. She could have been hurt way worse than this."
Adam said "I was any, we weren't. She just found that stone. I have no idea what it even was. What does it have to do with that game everyone is talking about?"
His mother said "How did she find the stone if you weren't playing the game?"
"I don't know" Adam replied, "we were playing tag in the forest when she called me over to come look at something."
Adams mother scolded him, "That stone is dangerous. It's what killed your father, you know that."
Mary looked up at her mother and cried some more, "It killed daddy?"
Their mother hugged her and said "Yes honey, that's how he died. He was playing with the stone. That's why I don't want you to ever touch it again."
"But, what even is the game?" Adam asked their mother, "All I know is it involved that rock."
"I won't tell you how to play," their mother explained, "I don't want you to even be tempted to go near that stone."
"But..." Adam protested.
"No buts," his mother interrupted "I forbid you from playing that dangerous game."
Their mother began to inspect Mary's hands. They were very badly burnt. Their mother gently lowered Mary's hands into the cool river, washing them off. Some if the charred skin brushed away to reveal the red blisters underneath. Some of the blisters had burst and were bleeding, turning the water red.
Adam asked "How did that stone even do that to her? She was only holding it for a few moments before she dropped it."
Their mother stayed silent, she just looked up at Adam briefly and then went back to washing Mary's hands in the stream.

Adam got up and went back into the village. He looked for the one man he knew would tell him what he wanted to know; his uncle Greg, or Old Greg as most of the village knew him. Old Greg lived alone just outside the village, most people liked to avoid him for many reasons, the main being he was very ugly. Adam had never understood why people avoided his uncle, and in fact, he loved him, and loved handing around his uncle.
Adam ran into his uncles shack without bothering to knock or to announce himself. His uncle always told him to just come in and not bother waiting outside. Old Greg was siting in his rocking chair like he usually was, drinking a cup of funny smelling milk that he always seemed to be drinking.
"Hello Adam," Old Greg welcomed, "What brings you here today?"
Adam was panting a bit from all the running, so he took a few moments to catch his breath before speaking. "The game," Adam said, "That one everyone is always too scared to talk about."
Old Greg sat up straight in his chair and said, "Your mother told me never to tell you about that game."
"But..." Adam began to protest.
"Stop right there," His uncle interrupted, "Just because she is my sister doesn't mean I have to listen to her."
"Oh," Adam said, shocked that his uncle would disobey his mother.
"Everyone is too scared to talk about it," Old Greg explained, "Except me, because I played it, and I want to show people what happens when you play it."
"What happens?" Adam asked.
"Just look at me," his uncle explained, "This is what happens when you play with that stone." His uncle pulled up his sleeves and showed all the scars on his arms. Some of them still were black like those on his sisters hands. The black marks looked like lightning streaks along his skin.
"That stone did this to me," Old Greg explained, "it gave me some kind of shock, and then I fell on the ground in pain."
"But..." Adam asked, "What even is the game? I don't understand how you could possibly play a game with the stone."
"Ahh, the game," old Greg said, "That part is easy."
"So," Adam questioned, "Can you tell me?"
"Yes," his uncle replied,"the game is to hold the stone as long as you can."
"That is so stupid," Adam said, "Why would someone play that game if it burns you like that?"
Old Greg chuckled lightly and said, "It doesn't burn everybody, and it doesn't always burn you. It will only burn you when you are scared. The goal of the game is to prove your bravery."
"Oh," Adam said, finally beginning to understand why the game was popular. "then how did my dad die?"
"Your father," Old Greg paused for a moment, he looked sad as he remembered his death, "was a very brave man."
Old Greg got out of his rocking chair and walked over to a picture of Adams father hanging on the wall. "Your father was a brave man." Old Greg continued, "He held that stone longer than anyone ever had. He was the main reason it has been banned, both because he died, but also because so many people tried it, hoping to beat his time."
"But, how did my father die?" Adam asked.
"I'm getting to th at, be patient." Old Greg said. "Your father never got shocked by that stone before. He only got shocked once, and that one shock was enough to kill him."
"Then why didn't you die Greg?" Adam asked.
"Well, that's a bit harder to explain," Old Greg explained. "From what we know, the stone can tell how long you've been holding it, the longer you hold it, the bigger the shock you get. Since your father never got shocked before, all that time he held it must have built up into once massive shock."
"Oh," Adam said, finally knowing the truth, it felt like a weight off his shoulders, yet more questioned popped into his head. "Where did the stone come from?" Adam asked.
"That one," Old Greg replied,"no one knows. It's always been there, that game has always existed. At one point, the leader of our village was chosen by who could hold it the longest. We have long since abandoned that form of choosing a leader."
Just then Adams mother came into the shack. She angrily asked, "Have you been telling my son about that horrible game?"
"Yes," Old Greg stood up defending himself, "I did. I told him everything. He, and all other children have a right to know the truth. If they know what happens, and they know the real dangers, then they won't be tempted to play the game. Just telling them it's dangerous will only make them more curious."
"He is my son, and in won't have you putting any thoughts of playing that game in his head" Adams mother shouted. She stomped angrily over to where Adam was sitting on the ground. She grabbed his arm tightly and lifted him to his feet.
"Ow," Adam cried, "That hurts, let go."
"No," his mother said firmly, "We are going, you're in big trouble."
"But I didn't do anything," Adam protested, "She found the rock on her own, I told her to drop it. I didn't want her to even touch it."
"Oh no," Old Greg said, "That's what brought those questions on. Who got hurt this time?"
Adams mother glared at her brother, and said angrily, "Mary, she had her entire hands burnt."
"Oh no, is she alright?" Old Greg asked.
"She will live," Adams mother said with clenched teeth. "now we are going." Adams mother walked away dragging him behind her by his arm. She didn't lessen her grip on his arm until they were back in their own shack. Mary way laying in her bed sobbing, her hands were covered in white bandages. Adam could smell the horrible medicine the used to heal burns, it made him want to vomit. His mother let go of his arm and went to go tend to his sister.
"It's late, you're going to bed now." His mother said without turning her back.
"But..." Adam tried to protest.
"No buts!" His mother interrupted,"Go to bed now!"
Adam was very upset, he did nothing wrong, yet she wouldn't believe that he was innocent. Adam covered his head with his blankets and cried a bit before falling asleep.

In the forest, in the ruins of the temple, the stone glowed bright red again, yet there was no one around. It lit up the forest with a red glow, casting long black shadows into the village. This happened once every night, always at the stroke of midnight. The stone would always move back to the same location in the fallen temple, no matter how far away the stone was thrown, or where it was buried, or if it was locked in a box, it always appeared in the temple at midnight.

Over many year, the villagers have tried to find a way to rid themselves of this stone. They have thrown it in the river, they have tossed it into a fire, some have smashed it with a hammer, but at the stroke of midnight, it always appears in the same exact temple. One brave person put it in his backpack as he went for a long walk through the forest, he had hoped that if he got it far enough away, that it would not be able to go back. Yet, at midnight, while he was warming himself by a fire, the stone began to glow bright red, and disappeared.  

The villagers have even attempted to burry the stone where it is, so that no one could see it. Yet, without any logical explanation, anything they use to cover or hide the stone disappears at midnight as well. Any walls they build around the temple just disappear without a trace. The only way to rid themselves of the stone is to try and pretend it doesn't actually exist, to avoid talking about it entirely, mainly out of fear.

The sun rose up over the trees, casting long shadows in the villagers shacks. Adam turned over in his sleep as the sun began to shine on his face. Eventually, the sound of birds chirping outside his window woke him up. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked over at his sister. She was still fast asleep, but she was moaning in pain every few moments. Adam had stopped feeling sorry for what happened to his sister, her mistake had gotten him into big trouble with his mother, so in his eyes, she deserved it.

Adam crawled out of his bed and got dressed quickly. Today was the day when his friends had planned to have a giant game of hide and seek. They often planned one big game a week, where all he children of the village would join in. Throughout the weeks, the children usually played in smaller groups made out their closest friends. The elders of the village always encouraged them to play games together as much as possible, get to know everyone, build community.

Outside of his shack, he heard other children laughing, and the laughter was coming closer. A few moments later, there was a knock on the wall. One of Adam's friends Mia, yelled out "Hey Adam, are ya comin?"
Adam relied "Shh, my sister is sleeping."
Mia said back, more softly this time, "Are ya comin or not?"
Adam replied "Yeah, I'm coming, I just have to grab something to eat first."
Mia replied, "I'm not waitin for you all day, you can catch up to us."
Adam grabbed a banana from the bowl in the table, and ran out of his shack. The sun was already hot, even though it was still early in the morning. Mia was walking with another two of his friends, Anna and Jake. Adam ran up behind them as quietly as he could, and tried to scare them by shouting "Boo!" But, both had heard him coming, so they didn't even jump.
Anna asked "So, what game do you think we will be playing?"
Mia replied "I dunno, but I hope it's fun."
Jake added "I hope it's better than last week."
Adam said "Who is running the game this week?"
Anna relied "I think I heard someone say it's Brett."
Jake groaned, "Oh, not him."
Mia patted jake on the back a but roughly and said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't pick on you."
Jake said in a sad tone, "Thanks."

Brett was the bully of the village, he was bigger than most of the other children, and stronger. None of the parents did any then about it, because he never actually did anything wrong. Brett always had one of his friends do it for him, so they would be the one to get in trouble. One time a friend of his told their parents that Brett forced him to bully another kid, Brett just lied and said that he did no such thing, and got away with it.

All of the children had gathered in a large circle at the outside of the village, just before the forest started. Surrounding the circle, spread out evenly around the outside, were Brett's closest friends, or henchmen as other children often refereed to them.
Mia said "Wow, he has his henchmen surrounding them."
Jake said nervously, "Yeah, I wanna go home."
Anna said "Yeah, I don't want to play if that bully  Brett is running the game."
Adam added, "Yeah, let's just skip the game today."
Just then one of he henchmen noticed the four kids standing outside the circle. One  of them shouted, "Hey, you four, get in the circle, or do you want to get hit?"
Mia shouted back "I'm gonna tell my dad what you're doing."
"Oh yeah" the boy added, "let's see how well that turns out for you tomorrow, when you wake up tied to a log floating down the river."
Mia growled in frustration and looked back at the rest of her friend.
Jack said "Mia, let's just going the group, it's not worth it."
Mia gave the henchman a very angry glare and said, "Fine."
The four walked past the henchmen into the rest of the group of children.

Brett used this older kids to intimidate the younger ones. They were older than the rest of the children, yet not old enough to have to work with the rest of the adults. Brett himself was close to becoming old enough to have to find a job to do, but he still had a few more months before his birthday.

Adam, Mia, Anna, and Jack all stayed close together in the larger group of children. They had been the last to join the group, so Brett started talking right away.
"Hello everyone," Brett started, "Today we will be finding out who amongst us is the bravest." Many do the children started whispering to each other after Brett said this. They got so loud that Brett had to have all his henchmen yell "QUIET!" To get them to be silent. Several of the kids became worried, a few began to cry.
One boy named Alex shouted out, "You know we aren't allowed to play that game."
A few other children yelled in agreement with Alex. Anna shouted "You can't force us to play it."
Brett had his henchmen quiet the group of children once more. Several of the children had begun to cry. Brett shouted above the noise "You don't want to play? That's too bad. You're gonna play it. If any of you can beat my time, the rest of you can go."
Many of the children began to protest. "That's not fair." One girl shouted for the crowd.
"Our parents will punish us if we play it." And other boy yelled,
Brett shouted over their protests "YOU DECIDE THE ORDER THAT YOU GO IN! NOW LETS MOVE TO THE TEMPLE" Brett signaled to his henchmen and they gradually began to move the circle of children into the forest. Many of the children were already very afraid, and they knew that they would be hurt quickly.

When the circle of children arrived at the temple, the henchmen expanded their perimeter to allow the children more space to move around. One of the children tried to run out of the circle and escape, but one if the henchmen grabbed her arm. "Let me go!" she shouted in protest as she scratched at the older boys hand. "You guys are bullying us, you will be thrown out of our village."
The henchman brought the young girl right over to where Brett was standing beside the stone. Brett said, "So, we have our first volunteer." Brett took her arm from his henchman and continued talking "Anyone who tries to escape will automatically volunteer them self to go next."
The girl struggled in Brett's tight grip. Brett said to the girl "Pick up the stone." The girl refused. She said,"No, you can't make me."
Brett asked rhetorically "Oh, I can't?" Brett took her hand and placed it on the stone, which immediately started to glow a bright red. The stone shocked the girl almost immediately, and she screamed. When she looked at her hand, only a tiny portion was blackened. She began to cry a bit, and tears rolled down her face.
Brett shouted "Not even a second and she gave up. What a wimp. My record is two whole minutes. If someone can beat my record, I will let the rest of you go."

Anna whispered to her three friends "Two minutes, anything after that would kill you."
Jack began to cry, "I don't want to do it." He sobbed.
Adam said "I know, neither do I, nor do any of us."
Mia said, "Why are there no parents watching us? Usually there is at least one."
Anna said "It's because Brett is running it. Most of our parents think he is a nice and responsible guy. They don't know he is a bully. If they did, they never would have chosen him."
Adam, "So, no one is going to come check up on us?"
Anna said in a sad tone "No, they aren't."
Jack began to cry even more. Mia tried to console him by hugging him.

The group of friends watched as more children went up to the stone. Most of them only lasted a few seconds before they were shocked, but others didn't get scared at all, and were able to put the stone down before they were shocked. As more children went, Brett had his henchmen separate them from the rest of the children.

Twenty children had gone up before none of the remaining children would volunteer. Fifteen of those kids had been shocked, five of them didn't. The longest any of them had lasted with the stone in their hand was fifteen seconds, no where near the two minute record.

Brett asked the group, "Is no one else going to volunteer?" The crowd of children stayed silent. "Fine," Brett continued, "We are going to pick people at random to go." He signaled to one of his henchmen, who randomly picked an older boy out of the crowd. The boy went peacefully towards the stone, but gave both the henchmen who picked him, and Brett a very rude hand gesture, one most children were punished for if they were caught using. The boy also gave Brett a very angry glare. The boys name was Justin, he had stood up to Brett many times in the past, so it wasn't by random that he was chosen. Justin picked up the stone, and held it in his hand. The entire time he held it, he glared angrily at Brett. The amount of anger in Justin's eyes was enough to make the children close to him whimper with fear.

Justin held the stone for almost a full minute. As time went on, more of the children began counting along. "Fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven..." They all counted. Justin was almost halfway done when Brett signaled to another none of his henchmen. The henchman moved through the crowd towards a young girl, who happened to be Justin's younger sister. The henchmen dragged the girl over to Brett, who took the girls arm. Justin saw this, and he became angrier than he was before, the stone glowed brighter. Justin put the stone down just as the children counted to 75.

Brett released Justin's younger sister arm, and he let both move to the group of children who had finished the game already. Justin's knew that if he did not forfeit his win, that Brett would hurt his younger sister. Brett didn't have to say this, but all the children knew that's what he would do.

Brett was obviously a bit scared when Justin got so close to beating his record, that he had to intimidate and threaten Justin. The children knew that they could not beat his record is he was going to resort to intimidating others.

Anna shouted "That is not fair, he was going to beat you if you didn't threaten his sister."
Brett looked right at her and said "Oh yeah, who ever said I was going to make this fair?"
Anna stayed silent for a few moments before Brett personally grabbed her out of the crowd and dragged her to the stone.
"You are just a big bully." She shouted at him. "You should be thrown out of our village."
Brett laughed and said, "No they won't, none of them would believe you if you told them what I did. They all love me."
Anna asked him "This doesn't even prove that you are braver than us. It just proves that you are a bully,"
Brett laughed again, "Oh yeah, then how come none of you have beaten my record? Justin is the only one who came close."
Anna said "Just you wait." She picked up the stone and it began to glow bright red. Anna glared at him with pure hatred in her eyes. She was very determined to beat him, not just his record, but beat him up. Anna didn't dare say that out loud though, if Brett knew that she wanted to beat him up, he would have his henchmen prevent her from even getting close to him. So, she kept her mouth shut, but have him a very very angry glare.

"Thirty eight.... Thirty nine... Forty..." The children chanted in unison. Jack say silent in the crowd with his other three friends. Jack was scared, he did not want his best friend to get hurt. Yet, he was too scared to do anything about it. Jack couldn't even count with the crowd, he just stared at his friend holding the cursed stone, hoping she didn't get hurt.

"Fifty five... Fifty six... Fifty seven..." The crowd chanted. Brett was getting nervous once again, and Anna showed no sign of giving up. In fact, the longer she held the stone, the angrier her glare got. The children standing close to her began to move back slowly, they could feel the intense anger em imaging from her.

"Sixty two... Sixty three... Sixty four..." Brett signaled to one of his henchmen once more. The old boy moved easily through the crowd, as all the children were hypnotized by Anna holding the stone. They barely even noticed the old boy moving close to the group of three friends. The boy grabbed Adam's hand and dragged him over to Brett. Anna knew what this meant, she knew that she should give up unless she wanted her friend to get hurt, but she hated Brett too much to let him bully her into giving up.
"That won't work for me, Brett." Anna shouted in defiance. "You can hurt my friend all you want, I am just going to hurt you twice as much once I beat you."
Brett laughed, and replied "Oh, sure. Like a little tiny girl like you can even touch me, let alone hurt me."
Adam shouted out, "Please Anna, just give up. It's not worth either of us getting hurt."
Anna yelled back, "No, this needs to end. Brett is a scared little boy who uses threats to get his way. I will not give in to him."
Adam cried out "But he is going to hurt me..."
Anna replied "Be strong Adam, prove you're stronger than Brett."

"Eighty nine.... Ninety... Ninety one..." The crowd chanted with more energy, she was three quarters of the way done, they were excited, they wanted her to beat his time, to prove she was the bravest.
Brett signaled to another one of his henchmen, who took Adam's other arm. Brett cracked his knuckles. Brett looked over at Anna, almost as if asking her once more if she really wanted to do this. When Anna showed no sign of giving up, Brett gave Adam a very hard punch in the stomach. Adam cried out in pain, making the while forest echo. Birds flew out of the trees in a massive crow. Anna did not give up, she held onto that stone so hard her knuckles became white. The stone glowed even brighter, turning the entire crowd into shades of red.

"One hundred and one... one hundred and two... one hundred and three..." The children chanted together, getting even more exited. They sounded as if they were now cheering instead of chanting. Adam coughed up blood, which dropped down his mouth. His arms were still being held firmly by the henchmen, so he could not wipe it off his face. Adam groaned and said out of pure hate a horrible word that all children were forbidden to say to anyone. Brett slapped Adam across in his face with the back of his hand. Anna screamed out "BRETT STOP IT NOW!"
Brett laughed and replied "Ha ha ha, drop the stone and I'll let him go."
Anna suddenly became afraid, and the stone shocked her. A flash of bright red light flashed across her arm, burning every part of her skin that it touched, leaving charred skin leaking deep red blood.

Anna screamed out in both pain and pure hatred "I AM GOING TO KILL YOU BRETT." She dropped the stone and ran right after him. She got within two feet of Brett before she swung her charred hand at his face. She made contact with his jaw and the blood in her arm flung onto his face, and in his eyes, blinding m for a few seconds. The impact knocked Brett off his feet,which Anna used this opportunity to sit on his chest and punch his face even more.

Brett's henchmen were stunned, they couldn't believe such a young girl could be brave enough to do this. They just stood there watching in disbelief, they didn't try to help Brett. Most of them hated him just as much as the other children. Brett used fear to control most of them as well. Either he threatened to kill their friends, or hurt their siblings, sometimes going as far as threatening the life of one of their parents. Brett was evil, and everyone who had not been deceived by his fake niceness knew this.

In the crowd, one child used this opportunity to grab the stone. It glowed in their hand. Only a few children noticed this, and began counting. The cheers of the children watching Anna beat up Brett drowned out the other children's counting. In fact, the fight took almost everyone's attention completely off of the stone.

Anna punched Brett in the face again, breaking his nose, sending a steady stream of deep red blood down his face and into his mouth. Anna sat on his chest, with her feet on his arms, so he couldn't fight back. He just could lay there having his face being attacked by the young girl. Her punches grew in strength, and Brett was knocked unconscious by her blows.

Meanwhile the child had been holding the stone for a full minute, yet only a few children noticed. The shouting, cheering and screaming had alerted some of the parents in the village that something was wrong. In a few short moments, a group of parents had arrived at the temple, running as fast as they could.

"One hundred thirteen.... One hundred fourteen... One hundred fifteen..." The few children paying attention chanted. More of the children started joining the others who were counting. Less of them payed attention to breath getting beat up. The henchmen holding Adam had let go, but stayed where they were, they were too shocked to move. Adam had fallen to the ground, and curled into the fetal position crying. He coughed up even more blood, and his face was bright red.

"One hundred nineteen... One hundred twenty... One hundred twenty one..." The children chanted. Even though the child had beaten Brett's record, they held firmly onto the stone. The parents broke up the fight between Anna and Brett. The remaining henchmen abandoned their positions around the perimeter and blended in with the rest of the children. Brett regained consciousness when Anna stopped punching his face. One parent pulled her off him and started yelling at her for hurting that nice boy.
"He is not nice at all, he is a big bully." Many of the children yelled out in various ways. "He forced us to play that game, and threaten us." More yelled out.
Anna glared angrily at Brett as he was helped to his feet by another parent.

"One hundred fifty.... One hundred fifty one... One hundred fifty two..." Many children chanted. When Brett heard this, he became very angry. He tried to shake his head to rid his vision of the bright lights so he could see. His nose was bleeding a lot, and blood dripped down his face, down to his shirt, staining it. He tried to walk towards the boy who was holding the stone, but he stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Two hundred...." The children chanted. One of the parents finally noticed him holding the stone. They went over to him, and turned the boy around. Jack was holding the stone. His face completely wet with tears, his eyes almost looked like they were on fire, his teeth were clenched very tightly shut. His knuckles were bone white, and the stone was glowing very brightly, glowing brighter with every passing second.

One parent said "Drop that stone this instant young man." Jack didn't even seem to hear the woman, he just glared at Brett who was hobbling towards him, TRIPing every few feet.
Another parent said "Jack, out down the stone, you will be killed."
Jack spoke for the first time, but he said it through clenched teeth, "No, I will not."
Anna shouted out from across the crowd, "Jack, you've beaten him, just put down the stone or you'll get hurt like me, it's not worth it."
Jack said, "No, I'm done being the scared little boy that everyone picks on."
Mia shouted "Jack, you've beaten his time, if you don't let go now, you will die."

"Two hundreds forty four... Two hundred forty five... Two hundred forty six..." The children chanted, cheering him on. Just then Jack's father appeared in the crowd, and saw his son holding the stone. Jack's father was speechless for several moments, he realized how long his son had been holding the stone: over four minutes. His father said "Put down the stone Jack, I don't want you to get hurt."
Jack said, with his teeth still clenched, "I am going to make that HE can never beat my time. He has pushed us around and bullied us, while you have thought he was such a nice boy."
Jacks father asked him, "Who has bullied you?"
Jack pointed with his empty hand at Brett, and said "Him, Brett. He has bullied us, intimidated us for years. He always used some older boys to push us around, and they would get in trouble for him. He would threaten their families to make them do what he wanted."
All of the parents were completely shocked at this news. They had always liked Brett, he seemed so nice and sweet, they would have never imagined that he could be the monster that he was to the children.
Many parents said to Jack's father "Your son is a liar, sweet Brett could never do any of those things, he is always so nice to everyone."
Anna shouted out, while being restrained by another parent, "He forced us to play that game. He had the older boys surround us, and bully us into playing. He told us that if we could beat his time, that he would let us go."
Many of the parents looked shocked, some gasped, but many of them did not believe what Anna and Jack said.
"They are telling the truth" many if the children shouted out from the crowd.
"Brett has bullied us for years, and threatened to hurt us more if we told our parents" Mia said from somewhere within the crowd.
Adam was still crying on the ground, coughing up blood. Since he was low to the ground, the parents had failed to notice him before then. Adam said "Brett had those boys hold my arms while Brett punched me in my belly, he did it so Anna would give up."
Adam coughed up some more blood and moaned after he stopped speaking. Many of the parents began to turn their gaze towards Brett, who had begun to try and hobble away from the crowd.
Mia said "When Anna was getting close to beating Brett's time, he had those HENCHMEN" she spit the last word out as though it tasted horrible in her mouth, "grab Adam's arms and hold him still. When Anna wouldn't give up, he punched him in the stomach so hard he has been coughing up blood since. When Adam called Brett a mean word, Brett slapped him across the face."
Many of the parents could not believe that any of that was true. One parent asked their child "Is any of this true sweetie?"
"Yes, all of it is true" the young girl answered, "Brett is a big meanie, he told me he would kill you if I told you he bullied us."
Many more of the children began telling their parents what Brett had done to them. Spilling all the secrets that they had kept from them over the years out of fear.

Meanwhile, Jack was still holding the stone. It was close to ten minutes since he picked up the stone, although many of the children had stopped counting. The red stone began to glow a bright white, no longer any trace of red. All attention had been taken off of the stone, and now focused entirely on Brett and his bullying. Now, many of the henchmen came forward and told their parents what Brett had done to them to force them to bully the other children.
"He threatened to drown my sister if I didn't follow him" one boy said.
"He told me he would break my grandmas legs if I didn't follow him" anothe boy said.
"Brett told me he would push my mother off a cliff if both my brother and I didn't follow him."

All of Brett's horrible threats were now coming to light, all of the parents slowly began to realize that the very sweet and kind child they we as Brett, was really a horrible monster who had been bullying their children for years.
One of the oldest of the henchmen, named Nathan said "He actually did kill my little brother. When I didn't listen to Brett, he shoved him off the cliff into the river. He lied and said he tried to pull my brother away from the cliff, but I knew he pushed him." Nathan started crying, but continued his story, "Brett told me that if I didn't listen, he would do that to my mother next. I had to listen to him, he already killed my brother."

All of the parents now had no doubt that Brett was a horrible person. That all of their kids were innocent in this, that they were forced to play the game. Jack was still holding the stone, and it was almost fifteen minutes since he picked it up. Jack said "My hand is starting to hurt, but I am not afraid anymore."
Jacks father said "Please son, put the stone down. It's okay, we believe you."
Jack went to put the stone down, but just as it touched the temple, there was a very bright flash of white light which blinded everyone. Jack screamed out, but no one could see what happened.

When everyone could see again several moments again, they saw that Jack was perfectly fine, no scars or charred skin, but the stone was no where to be seen.
One of the children asked "What happened to the stone?"
Jack was too stunned to speak. Jacks father ran over to his son and hugged up. He examined his sons hand and saw no marks or anything.
Jack spoke "It burned my hand a tiny bit, then disappeared."
Everyone looked around on the ground for any sign of the stone, but it was gone.


The stone was gone, it never reappeared in the temple after that. At midnight of the following night, there was a bright red glow coming from the forest, which everyone had assumed was the stone returning, but when they went to see, there was not even a temple, nor any red stone. Instead, a single white stone sat atop the stump of a tree. Many of the villagers were too afraid to go near the stone, let alone touch it. Though, Jack was brave once more, and picked up the white stone. Nothing happened at for Jack, but when Anna picked up the stone after him, something happened to her.

"My arm feels funny, warm kinda." Anna said as she held the stone in her hand.
"Put it down then," Jack said.
"No," Anna replied, "It feels good."
After a few more moments, the stone began to glow white, and her charred arm began to heal. A white light streaked across her arm, just as the red light had done many days before. Everywhere the light touched was healed, just the same as everywhere the red light touched was burned.
"Woah," Jack said, "what's happening?"
"My arms is being healed, I think, I feels really good though." Anna said.
After several minutes, all the damage done to her arm was gone, and she looked like she did before.

Jack and Anna shared this news with the rest of the village. Over the next few weeks, any villager that was burnt by the red stone was encouraged to have their wounds healed by the new white stone. Once the last person had been healed, the stone disappeared.

No new stone ever appeared after that, the village was free of the cursed stone. None of the village elders could explain why the stone disappeared, or even why it had appeared in the first place. The white stones appearance baffled them even more.

Brett had been exiled from the village for life. They could not kill him, since he was still a child in their eyes, but they would keep him from ever entering the village again. All of his former henchmen came forward and told their parents about everything that happened. Most of them