Big Fish Blog

It started out like any other wintry day in the quaint, little town of Livonia, MI. The lawns of the sleepy residents were swamped with the two feet of snow they had received the night before, and some children had already began to build snowmen. Those still inside were bouncing with delight as their disgruntled parents tried to dress them warmly enough to play outside in the snow. My siblings were among the latter group, running around the house trying to find gloves, scarves, and hats. I was upstairs in my room packing my own snow gear for the trip to my friend Madi's house. Earlier in the day she had called me to go snowboarding and hiking at a nearby mountain with our friend Batool. I was excited to go, but at the same time a little nervous. My mother had always told me the stories that surrounded the nearby river; the ones where hikers went there and never returned. But, I told myself, those are just myths told to scare little children. Either way, I would be staying far away from the river. I had just arrived at Madi's house when she came running out to the front yard with a panicked look on her face. "Something happened to Batool!" she sputtered, "I turned my back for one second and she was gone! There was just a hole in the snow where she was standing." I ran out back and saw for myself the gaping hole in the ground. I racked my brain for an idea until it hit me. "Kip and Max!" I exclaimed. Kip and Max were Madi's two dogs, if that's even the word to use. They were more like horse-sized wolves, and most importantly, they had been around Batool and knew her scent. Madi and I ran to get the dogs, a sled, and one of Batool's gloves. We tied the dogs to the sled, let them smell Batool's glove, and we were off. The dogs instantly set off towards the mountain, and to my slight fear, the river. On the way to the mountain we came across a strange tan farmhouse. We stopped to rest for a while here and went up to knock on the front door of the farmhouse to see if anyone was home. The door was instantly swung open by a girl that looked to be about the same age as us. "Hi! My name is Kelly. Welcome to the White House." Madi and I looked at each other a little confused. "Hi Kelly, I'm Madi and this Hannah." said Madi, "And not to be rude, but isn't your house tan?" Kelly just shook her head and laughed. "Why don't you both come inside and have something to eat? I hope you like your fruits and vegetables." Kelly turned and walked inside her house. Madi looked at me a little disturbed, though at this strange girl or the prospect of eating vegetables I wasn't quite sure. Kelly walked over to us and gave us both a bag that had an apple and a bushel of carrots in it and than said, "Well, it's getting late, you both better be on your way." She turned and closed the door, leaving us both standing there a little unsure of what just happened. "Well, we'd better be going." said Madi uncertainly. I nodded in agreement and we both got back on the sled, being pulled by the dogs to the mountain. We traveled for about thirty minutes more until we got to the base of the mountain a few feet away from the river. The dogs started pawing at the ground and whimpering so I got off the sled and starting looking around. "Hmmm, it seems like the trail just ends here." I said. "I wonder where she- Ahhhh!!!" I stepped forward and fell into a giant tunnel underground, followed by Madi and then the dogs. I sat up to see if everyone was alright, which they were. "What is this place?" Madi wondered aloud. "I believe I can answer that." said a new, high-pitched voice. Madi and I both jumped at the sound while the dogs didn't look at all alarmed. I saw a small figure step out of the shadows and I couldn't believe my eyes. There stood a groundhog, maybe two feet tall that was talking to us. "Hannah and Madi, it's me, Batool." the groundhog said. "But how? What? Why? What is going on?!" cried Madi. The groundhog shuffled over to us. "This is going to sound really weird," said Batool, "but I'm a shape-shifter." Madi and I just stood there a little too overwhelmed to make sense of anything. Batool continued on, "You see, my whole family carries the gene for shape-shifting, always have, and under certain conditions will turn into a groundhog." I was still lost. "So, kind of like a werewolf?" asked Madi. Batool just laughed. "There are no such things as werewolves Madi. I mean, come on." Just as Madi was about to say something, the dogs started barking and pacing, acting very nervous. Batool looked confused (if that's possible for a groundhog) and then panicked. "Wait! Stop!" she called out into the darkness but it was too late. Four more groundhogs came flying at us, snapping at our bodies. I heard Madi yell out and saw that a groundhog had a firm grip on her arm. I swatted it off only to see it had bitten her. She looked at her arm and than at me. All of a sudden she seemed to vanish and her clothes landed in a pile on the floor. The groundhogs stopped moving and stared at the spot where Madi was. All of a sudden a little groundhog popped its head out of the pile. "What the heck?" it screeched in a shrill voice. The groundhog that was Batool sighed. "Great job you rodent," she said to one of the groundhogs, "now Madi's a shifter too." Just as she said that though, Madi rose from the ground and turned back into her normal old self. "That was so weird," she said, "can I do it again?" Batool looked a little relieved that Madi wasn't mad and said, "Well, you'll probably do it again if you get scared by your shadow. Where did you think that silly Groundhog's Day myth came from?" Madi and I just looked at each other. We climbed out of the pit, followed by Batool now back in human form and saw it was still light out. "Well, now that episode is over," said Madi, "who's up for some snowboarding?" I looked at her as if she was crazy for being calm about what just happened, but then I realized this was Madi I was talking to. "Sure," I said, "but first I want to see something." Madi asked what it was. "Look! Your shadow's going to get you!" I exclaimed. Batool and Madi both flinched and then shrunk into groundhogs. "Hannah!" They both shouted. I just started laughing and thought to myself how I could get used to doing that.