The Tasks to The Secret Middle Ground (By: Carys)

                                      

Once upon a time, in a small town, there lived a miller named Mr. Charlton. He had two grown-up sons. They were living in rags. Mr. Charlton’s wife, Madam Erica, had just passed away a few years ago. Even though the man got a decent career, working as a fisherman in a fishing village that was a stone's throw away from the small town, his salaries predominantly are not sufficient to take care of the entire family. To settle the problem, one day night, something popped up in his imagination. Therefore, the next morning, he called his sons: “I got one assignment for you all. Go outside to look for jobs. You must do it. The money you all earned, both give it to me.” The boys agreed.

   The first son, Anton, walking along the street, walking and walking, until then, he saw a vacancy for a job---------to become a waiter in a western restaurant named Neo’s Euro Appetising Cuisine. He felt exhilarated and asked the owner of the restaurant, Mr. Barry, to give him a job to work there for a month. Mr. Barry thought that Anton had an incredibly outstanding point. Thus, from that day onwards, Anton did the jobs given by greeting and asking the orders from the customers politely. He also served the scrumptious, juicy delicacies to them cautiously. In addition, to boost up his new flairs, he also asked Mr. Barry to guide him on how to prepare the cuisines. He listened and learnt from him. With his hard work and considerations, he was loved by most of the customers. At the end of the month, he had completed his career to become a waiter. He was given a salary, but not enough, as it was just 30 dollars. Anyway, he kept it. The next job is Anto organising them in a mannerly way and being a cashier to receive and return the cash from customers. He did this job for one month only, and he received an income of 40 dollars. Although improved from the previous year, he was dissatisfied. Why? It was the same reason; the money was not enough. As a result, he continued to look for other jobs, like being a barber to help and groom customers’ hair, a tailor, and a salesman. The salaries attained by each job mostly are around 30-50 dollars.

  The youngest son, Christopher, like his elder brother, came along the street to look for jobs. He first saw a job vacancy to become a worker in a bookshop. Christopher was a smart person. Besides arranging the books, being a cashier, and listing down all the resources and information, during break time, he would take out one of the books to read, especially encyclopaedias. Subsequently, he increased much knowledge and learnt a lot of vocabulary that was difficult to understand. Apart from being a worker in a bookshop, he also becomes a worker in the pastry shops, where he learns some skills of baking and arranging the pastries and, as usual, being a cashier. He also used the money he earned to buy some simple products to make into stupendous drinks. He sold them and made a handsome salary. Altogether, the income that Christopher gained from his Jobs were around 60 to 90 dollars. Like his elder brother again, the income was not enough to give to his father. He felt disappointed.

                                            

  Does the struggle continue again? To answer this doubt, it was a nope. One day, he was searching for jobs as usual. Abruptly, he saw a flyer adorned brightly, colourfully, and gorgeously, written: “Go to a haunted and abandoned bungalow, and submit the tasks in 3 days, where each day offers 3 tasks. If completed, press the button, and you will be led to the secret middle ground, which is your prize.” He grabbed the flyer, embarking on his journey to the bungalow following the route on the map.

                                             

  When he approached the bungalow, he was greeted by the guards, who also wished him all the best before he started. What’s more, one of the guards, Wade, added, “This bungalow is owned by a businessman of a hardware shop, Mr. Brad. His businesses used to be stupendous; many of the customers liked to visit his shop and purchase his items, but due to personal reasons, plus fraud, his whole shop was bankrupted. He had too many debts. As a result, he was charged and imprisoned for his entire life. His bungalow, which is the location where you are going to participate, was seized, abandoned, and became haunted. No one even wants to buy, rent, or stay and stay there.” Once again, he added, “You must be precarious, as it is an outrageous game. Many participants were fatal during the tournament.” Christopher understood. He entered the bungalow meticulously. Later then, the door closed loudly, and he began to shudder. The first thing he saw in the bungalow was very filthy; spiderwebs and dust were everywhere. The whole rooms there were indeed vague and tranquil. He felt uneasy at first. Until then, he asked, “Anybody home?” He searched for broomsticks and mops everywhere. Finally, he found them near the laundry. He got them. Suddenly, something strange occurred. While he was going to clean the entire bungalow, he turned his head back and saw two humongous, stern dogs facing him. He was frightened but curious. The moment he wanted to hug the dogs, one of them pushed him. He felt indignant, seeking revenge to fight against the dogs. He beat them, using fire to have slaughtered them, but failed to do so, as the dogs are more mystical and powerful than him. Therefore, he took the dog’s toys, which Mr. Brad had used to play with his pet dog, shaking them in front of the dogs’ eyes gently. The dogs stopped being ferocious but played with him gleefully. Not long after, the dogs disappeared like magic.

  Later, he was going to sweep the whole floor. That time, he saw something flying in front of him. He became more curious and chased to see what that was. Then, he found out that he saw a grotesque-looking witch. He nearly fainted and became frightened. He attempted to run away from her but was stopped by her. The witch asked, “Hey, why are you here?” Christopher answered cowardly. “Sorry…. I just wanted to stay here 3 nights, plus I am here to help in cleaning the entire house to make it neater.” The witch became more enraged and said, “You are such a rude dude; don’t simply enter people’s houses without permission.” Raising her wand, she stroked Christopher many times. There are moments when Christopher fell. But, at last, he thought of an idea. He filled a bucket of water and tossed it towards the witch to refrain her from attacking him. Consequently, the witch melted like an ice cream and disappeared straight away.

  Christopher continued to sweep and mop the floor and wipe the windows until night. Feeling exhausted, he was about to enter the bedroom to sleep. After tidying up himself, when he was about to sleep on the bed, something made him become shaken and jump. He opened his eyes wider, and then he saw that the entire bed was moving; the same goes for the lamp, the cupboard, and the table. He got down from the bed, trying to stop the movement. He even took a pillow and tossed it towards them. Since Christopher’s action is childish, they rejected and combated against him momentously. Therefore, he thought of making an “experiment” to make a cosmic wildfire according to the books that he had used to read while working in the bookshop. After that, he threw the fire towards the furniture that was in motion. Then, spill a large bucket of water to stop them. Aftermath: the whole furniture vanished too. To find a place to rest, Christopher slept on the ground. Although it was hard for him, he managed to overcome them and felt cosy.

  The next day, Christopher woke up; after washing and tidying up, he cooked himself breakfast with the food he brought. After having breakfast, while trying to go upstairs and into the study room, he was obstructed by a ghost, who was like a witch, flying around, sounding “boohoo…” At first, he bawled and ran. Scurrying and scurrying, he felt tired and had nowhere to flee. So, he used a tactic. He took a candlestick, pointed to the ghost, and waved to threaten it with mortality. The ghost spun like a wheel and felt deeply tired, nearly to decease. After that, the ghost faded away. Christopher was able to go inside the study room, taking out one of the novels to read. At that moment, “Bang…” When someone banged the door, his whole body shivered. He sheepishly opened the door and saw a monstrous, tremendous Frankenstein. The Frankenstein said, “HMMMMMM…. I am going to slay you.” Taking out a sweet, luring Christopher, “Do you want it?” Christopher said yes, and they began to battle against each other. During this fight till noon, Christopher was the winner. He removed the confection from the Frankenstein that was lying on the ground—ground—ground Frankenstein—and placed it in his pocket. ground-ground-ground-ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein and put it in his pocket from the Frankenstein that was lying on the ground. Put Frankenstein in his pocket after grinding him—grounding Frankenstein—grounding Frankenstein. Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein and put it in his pocket. Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground— ground— ground—ground Frankenstein—ground—ground Frankenstein—ground—ground Frankenstein—ground— ground—ground Frankenstein—ground -ground Frankenstein—-ground Frankenstein, and then he put it in his pocket. Frankenstein was ground—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein. Frankenstein—ground—ground Frankenstein. pocket. Ground Frankenstein—pocket Frankenstein. Pocket. They found the Frankenstein. on the ground. Frankenstein was lying on the ground. lying-on-the-ground Frankenstein on the ground—ground-ground-ground-ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground-ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein—ground Frankenstein -ground Frankenstein and put it into his pocket. Since it was lunchtime, besides cooking himself mouthwatering dishes, he also ate the sweet. While eating, he heard a voice saying, “Helloooooo.” Raising his head, he saw a charismatic vampire was sitting in front of him. He was shocked unconscious. The vampire said, “I am going to bite you….” For Christopher, he knew that the vampire was joking. While attempting to touch the vampire, Christopher was pushed. Pushing and pushing many times, at the last fight, he took a garlic and a wooden spoon and asked the vampire whether he wanted to eat it. Christopher also opened the window. Fluorescent light caused the vampire to be stunned and vanish immediately.

  The following day, during the morning, when Christopher was about to wake up, he was shocked to see three coffins lying open on the floor, depicting Egyptian figures open on the floor. floor. floor. floor. floor. He saw three mummies walk out from the coffins and raise their hands, trying to capture him. He moved backwards, but his head was caught by one of the mummy's hands, but he was able to push it back. He used water, mixing it up with toothpaste, shampoos, conditioners, and water, hurrying down the stairs and boiling them to cook. During the moment they were boiled, Christopher tossed the solutions towards the mummies and pressed their heads towards the fire on the stove to death. The mummies, together with their own coffins, disappeared too. After Christopher tidied up himself and had breakfast, he was going to clean up the entire house again. While he was wiping the window, at the time when he was standing on the stool, he looked down and saw a standing skeleton, saying, “Boo!” Since he was doing his own job, he replied with an excuse, “Sorry, I am hectic currently. We talked later, alright?” After wiping all the windows swiftly, he came down and went to deal with the skeleton. He used a broomstick to beat it into pieces of bones, but the skeleton was so indomitable. It replenished itself back, using some strategies to make Christopher apprehensive. But Christopher reacted to it in the other way round. He knew how skeletons danced, and he did so. Gradually, the skeleton followed his movement, enjoying it. Not long after, the skeleton disappeared too. After having lunch, he played a Sudoku game. At that time, he heard a sound asking, “Do you want to compete with me?” He turned his head to the back; it was a guy with half a human body and half a tail of a snake. He wore a t-shirt. Like a vampire, he was nice-looking too. He had small, sharp fangs. Slithering to take a seat in front of him, Christopher continued to play the game but was blocked when the snake man went to spray venom towards him. He took the sudoku book rapidly and obstructed the venom spray. Taking out two knives from the kitchen, he combated against the snake man. During the final combat, the snake man was about to be assassinated. Therefore, he pleaded guilty. Some more he added: “I promised I won’t do so. I will lead you to the location of the button later.” He guided Christopher the direction, and Christopher pressed it, but nothing worked. He asked why, notwithstanding of submitting all the tasks. The snake man told him, “You still need to stay here for one night, its “nice”, the next day you will understand what was occurring.” Christopher understood.

  In the next morning, Christopher woke up again, saw nothing was happening at all. It was time for him to leave the bungalow. He packed all his items and looked outside the window; it was seen to have a coach, and the same guard navigated the two horses. Stopping the horses, the guard came down, congratulated Christopher. He even invited him to ride in the coach to the secret middle ground. When they approached, Christopher came down faster and rushed towards it. What he saw was indeed a huge pile of money, golds and jewelleries. He even saw a minuscule card, writing about the proposals of marriage towards the king, King Benson’s daughter, Princess Gloria next week. He was indeed overjoyed. He grasped the card and most of the money, golds, jewelleries backed home.

  When approaching his home, Christopher, together with Anton, showed the money and items they earned from their work to their father. Mr. Charlton was surprised but did not care how much they earned. He then pointed to the gold, jewellery, and the card, asking, “What were those?” Christopher answered that those items were earned by him during a 3-day competition. Nevertheless, Mr. Charlton was still proud. What made Mr. Charlton prouder was their diligence, versatility, and wisdom. Christopher also invited Anton and Mr. Charlton to his and Princess Gloria’s wedding. They all agreed. In the end, Christopher married Princess Gloria, and they lived happily ever after.