The Collector and The Magic Map

It was a regular day, in a regular neighborhood, with a regular girl, which was me, Lizzie. I lived in a small, but cozy town in Georgia. The trees made the houses look like doll houses. One day, I was strolling home from school when I saw a map drifting in the wind. It looked like it was surfing the soft breeze. I leaped on it at once! I scanned it from top to bottom. I didn't recognize the continents. I didn't know it at first, but this map was special.

I raced home as fast as my little legs could take me. If you hadn't met me, or seen me I had long black hair, with blue eyes the color of the sea. I was eleven at the time, and a mature one too. The bad part of being me was I was short, not athletic, and I was not popular at school. On the other hand I was the best person at riddles and maps. My nickname was Geo Genius. Everyone calls me that, even the neighborhood boys. 

When I got home I slapped down the map on my desk and stared at it for a while. All of the sudden the red dots on the map started to shift. I blinked in astonishment. The dots made a riddle. It said “I am a riddle master, but you must think faster.” I threw the map into the trash! It bounced back right when it hit the container. I screamed, and ran away. Once I calmed down I tiptoed into my room. In my surprise it had another riddle. I read it to myself . It said “a place where people play is where you are going to visit today.” 

“The park!” I raced to my bike and rode off to the local park. That is how my adventure began.

  Once I reached the park, I dropped my bike and ran to the middle of the park. “Now what,”  I whispered to the map. A new riddle popped up. “A thing like me will be the key. Say I’m here and a message you'll hear.”  I saw a sign with a map of the vast, open park,

and as the map instructed I told the sign that I had a map. Nothing happened. I repeated it over and over again. Still nothing happened. I thought about what everybody else was thinking. It must have been weird to see a person speaking to a sign. Well, the map came and I think he came for a reason. 

Again, I now whispered “I have a map, and he told me you might help us, or him.” I held the map in front of the sign. Suddenly, the sign moved. The rules of the park’s letters moved. It read clearly, “I am here to help. I do not riddle like her, but my name is Instructor. You can trust me. I am a friend. I am lost just like your friend, but I can not tell you anymore. I have promised just like your friend. She is brave. Braver than I am. She taught me a lot, and then paid a price. I am in her debt. What do you need?” I was confused.  Everyone could tell by the expression on my face. 

 “You have to ask her what she wants. I am just a helper,” I said.

  A riddle appeared on the map. This time in a different language.  The maps chatted until I

interrupted them. “What are you saying!” I yelled. That was a big mistake. Everyone came rushing over. “Oh, no. What have I done.” 

  “Why are you talking to a map?” asked the person on the right.

  “I, I was practicing my speech.” I answered.  My head was spinning one hundred miles per an hour. I felt dizzy, so I fainted. My head slammed on the ground, and all I saw was black.

  Once I woke up, I saw a white room with a bed. Oh great, I was in the hospital. A man in a white coat marched in. He had a woman following him like he was a magnet. They walked right at me and then stopped. His eyes scanned me like I did to the map.  

“I guess you are the delirious person speaking to a park map,” the doctor said in a stern voice.  “Well it looks like you are just a waste of time. You look perfectly healthy, so I will go get the bill for you to sign.”

“Wait, what bill?” I yelled.

“You have been her for 48 hours, there is a cost. It is not free Ms. Merie.”

I looked at him for a while. It took me a while to say two words, but I knew I had to. “How much?”

The doctor immediately replied a number that made me feel like I was going to faint, again, but I didn't want to make the bill higher! “$1,000,” he said. 

I realized that I would have to pay. I told him that I would be back tomorrow with the check. He waved us goodbye, and we were off, again.

  I asked the map which way we should go. 

“The person in most power lives in this tower.” 

“The White House!”  And our journey begins, again.

  I bought a ticket to D.C. on a bus. That was all I could afford after the medical bill. It took us eleven drowsy, long hours on the bus. I never slept a minute. I was too afraid, because I had no one who I could trust! I spent most of my time staring at the map. I tried to make out any kind of familiar continent on the map. I also wondered about

Instructor. He or she was very friendly, but also I was confused. I was confused about all of this map stuff to the start. Why did I even help The Map?! I am only ELEVEN for crying out loud! We started getting off the bus. Well, here we go, again.

  We all raced out of the bus. Some people sprinted toward the bathroom, others dashed outside. I just stood there, while all the craziness happened. I was pushed and shoved out of the away. I decided to run somewhere. I don't know where, but at least I will fit in with the crowd. Once we got outside I asked the map another question. An important one too. 

“Where and why did you make me go here? Why did you pick me to go with you?” 

The map replied in another riddle. “I sent you here for my friend, I knew from the beginning to the end. And for you child, your intelligence is not mild.”  I thought about it for a while, but then I asked one more question. “Where to next?”

It replied “ I am here to go home to my collector, find a person named Hector. To the White House we must go, but there might be a foe.”