The Lost World – A Story

Once upon a time, there lived a young boy who went by the name João. He was seven years old at the time, he lived with his parents; Francisco and Juliana in a village called Felicidade; the village of happiness. Felicidade was a developing village, located near the Amazon basin in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil. João was a very inquisitive boy and he loved to learn about animals because they always fascinated him. Because of the zeal he had to learn about animals he always dreamed of being a zoologist, just that his parents disapproved this profession and wanted him to become a merchant so he would be wealthy and respected in the village.

 On one fateful day, João had an August visitor who would change his live forever. It was Santiago, João’s uncle. When he arrived, everyone was so shocked, as they had not seen him in years! They were so happy that they warmly welcomed him. In fact, the king organized a welcoming feast for him. The following day, Santiago noticed his João was writing about the animals he learned about. Then he said to João, “I see that you know a lot about animals”.  “But have you heard of dinosaurs?” he asked, “No uncle I have not”, João replied. The curious boy eager to know, with his pen and notepad ready to jot down what his uncle would tell him asked, ” Uncle, please what are dinosaurs?”. Santiago answered, “Dinosaurs are animals that lived long before humans did but are now all dead”. João then asked Santiago, “What killed these dinosaurs?”  Then his uncle said, “We do not know, we can only guess, like some paleontologist say it was a big rock from the sky while others say other things…” Then João interrupted, “Sorry uncle this is my last question, who are paletologist?” “Paleontologists are the people who study these dinosaurs, they look for their bones underground and give us information about them”, he answered. “I am a paleontologist” he added. João then said, “Wow! So you study this dinosaurs, your job is very interesting”.  “Now I want to be a paleontologist in future just like you”, he added.

Then his father, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, worked in, grabbed hold of João by his hand and then said to his brother, “My son would not become a paleontologist like you! He is going to be a merchant and become rich and successful in life unlike you! So do not tell these nonsense things to my son! Okay?” Then with a furious stair, he dragged his son out of the room. João had no choice other choice than to fulfill his father’s wishes to become a merchant against his own.

One afternoon Santiago managed to convince João’s parents to allow João to follow him to the United States of America. So he could study business studies and administrations in the university to become a merchant. But this was just a cover-up for what he truly had in mind. So the day before Santiago’s departure, he was not the only on packaging his luggage, João was also doing the same. Then they organized a set forth party for both Santiago and João wishing them success in their various fields. Then they departed. This was the tip of the iceberg of João’s adventure.

 When João arrived at U.S.A, he was so amazed because never knew that a civilization like this ever existed, he had only being hearing rumors from his friends and family members, then after ninety minutes of travel, they finally arrived at Santiago’s house. The following day, Santiago took João out so he could enroll him into a new school. When João saw other students he felt very shy as he thought that he was awkward due to the fact that he came from the village and not the city like all of them. When they got to the principal’s office they met the principal; George Abraham. He warmly welcomed João and Santiago then, gave João his pairs of school uniform and new shoes and called Donny, one of the students of the school to show him around and escort João to his class. When Donny and João were on their way to their classes Donny asked João “are you new here?” he asked.  João stammered before giving the answer, “yes I am”. João and Donny got to class, greeted their teacher; Mr. Orlando and sat down, Donny saved a seat for João because he was a new comer and had no seat, then classes commenced. Mr. Orlando then asked João to stand up and tell the whole class his name, João was a shy boy and didn’t want to talk, but when he looked at Donny and Donny smiled at him it gave him the courage to say his name, then he said his name, so the class continued the other one did then he graduated from primary school and secondary school with his friend Donny and he entered university.

 João who is now twenty four years of age has graduated from university and has become a prestigious paleontologist; he has earned a lot of money and made his uncle proud. João travelled back to his village to visit his parent for it had been seventeen years since they’ve seen each other, João arriving at Felicidade surprisingly found Santiago on his way to his parent house they greeted their self and hugged each other and they both travelled together. When they got to his parent house they met João father ,then João greeted him and told him the truth, that he did not really study business study and accounting administration but he studied paleontologist and he has been really benefitting from it, his parent who knew about it did not worry because he has what they wanted of him, he hugged his son and they both went into his house, and they had and invited the whole village and they had a feast till the following morning.

João invited his friend Donny to his village because he found the bone of a Vespersarus paranaenis an extinct species of a carnivorous dinosaur, and he wanted the both of them to find more clues about the Vespersarus paranaenis life style, they both set out at morning to find more clues about the extinct dinosaur , they found a cave right in the middle of the Amazonia rain forest where no one has ever explored, inquisitively they wondered into the cave and found many brightly shining crystals on the cave wall not paying attention they both fell into a hole in the cave and found a whole new world under the cave, it was a dinosaur world ,when the mass extinction took place not all the dinosaurs died off some survived by entering that cave , both big and small survived, they were so amazed but also afraid because they were also carnivorous dinosaurs around,

 then suddenly João heard a rattle behind the bushes and wanted to know what was there but before he could reach out to separate the bushes a titanoboa slithered out, knowing what to do João and Donny stood still then the snake started slithering around the two and came up to Donny and looked him in the eye, Donny who was terrified manage to stand still till the giant serpent left him and went to João, João on the other hand was braver Donny and didn’t move a muscle when the monstrous snake brought fort it tongue right into its face, after a while the titanoboa left then the two boys were free, Donny who had a terrible time told João that both of them should to leave the place that they are, but João wanting to explore more told Donny that he can go if he wanted to, Donny was a good friend and would not leave his friend alone especially in that kind of place, then they continued their journey. As they were on the move they saw a river, and it looked like a fresh water supply they opened their water jug and headed close to the river, they both started to fetch water, when from nowhere something drags João into the river  suddenly a  sarcosuchus pops up and threw João out of his mouth and immediately used its tail to wipe Donny away and Donny used his back and hit a tree then he fainted, João on the other hand tried his best to wake up Donny but he could not, then the sarcosuchus  faced João and ran towards him, João also started running for his live when a spinosaurs came out from the blue and started to fight the sarcosuchus, João seeing the opportunity quickly carried Donny away to a place that is more safe. When Donny woke up João told him ever thing that happened and they were on the move again. João was wondering how these massive creatures survived all this while and how they were made hidden from the whole world, then João looked up and saw another cave entrance so something hit João’s mind and he found out that cave entrances to this hidden world was everywhere in the seven continent, surprised João immediately tapped Donny who was already tired of walking in that deadly world ignored João and laid down under a monkey puzzle tree and slept off, two hours later Donny woke up and saw a brachiosaurs eating leaf and tapped João, João who still had sleep in his eye yarned before he saw brachiosaurs and yelled in surprise , Donny told João to keep quiet in order not to spoke the heard, they both gently backed off until they got to a safe distance, after a while they realized that they were climbing a mounting and that they have already gotten to the peak João looked down and saw a great view of the landscape then he started wondering how such a beautiful place would be so dangerous then he sighed and walked away.

 When João had reached half way of the mounting he looked an did not find Donny beside him, then he went up again to the peak of the mounting and found Donny sleeping, he used a thin grass and tickled his ear, Donny woke up in laughter and then stood up, before he could asked João any question he saw the great view of the land and was also amazed. Suddenly a gush of wind came and blew João and Donny off the mounting and took them to into a cave and sat them down , then a strange voice started to talk saying ” my animals survived under this world for millions of years and now the animals you see with you are now disappearing why are you and your species destroying other organisms  ” João and Donny were afraid and asked the owner of the strange voice who he was then he answered ” I am the animal maker the one who creates animals, now you will go back to your people and tell them to stop expanding and live in harmony with the other creatures” João agreed and they later found their self back on the surface of the earth, João and Donny knew that what that strange voice said was true and they were going to do what the strange voice asked of them, but first they had to go and meet their family who had been worrying about them because they had been away for two weeks. When they got home they met João’s father, the whole family and village taught they were dead, but seeing them alive made them happy, João mother who cried when João never came back hugged him and gave him food and new cloth. João told his family about the hidden world and what happened there, and then João and Donny also told them the reason why they had to back to America to raise awareness of deforestation and loss of habitat.

When they got to America they immediately started a campaign and to their surprise many people joined, and they were also planning to go back to the underground world to study more of the dinosaurs, but they didn’t have any finical support so one day the government agreed to sponsors them in their mission, then they went to the underground world and then made it a tourism site. Two years passed and the underground world then became a popular place and they named, ‘The lost World’. THE END!