The great escape! Or was it?

 

Near the apple tree there lived a centipede named Roxie, she had a lot of fun with her friends and family. One day, Roxie decided to take a stroll. She saw an apple fall from the tree and ran after it, she took a bite, but it didn’t satisfy her. Roxie took another bite, then another one, she kept eating until she made a big hole in the apple. There was a boy playing near the apple tree where Roxie was eating, his house was just a couple of feet away. His name was William Adams.

“Mmm, this looks like a delicious apple, I want to eat it,” William said, he didn’t realize the hungry centipede was in it, so he bit and realized Roxie “Eww there’s a worm in it!” 

William threw the apple as far as he could and went inside the house. When Roxie landed she was furious.

Yuck!  Did I just bite an apple with a worm in it?

“He called me a worm!!!!! Anyway, where am I?” She asked herself.

Roxie crawled out of the half bitten apple and looked around, suddenly a dark shadow appeared on top of her, it was a crow! As the crow landed with a big “Thump!” Roxie shuddered and turned around. 

“So what’s your name? My name is Roxie” Asked Roxie nervously

“Tommy. Now get ready to be eaten.” Tommy said, smacking his lips together.

Then Tommy grabbed Roxie and put her in his mouth and flew to his house. After 10 minutes of flying around Tommy threw Roxie on the wooden floor in his hole. 

“Now time to eat!” Said Tommy joyfully.

Nice juicy worm! Lucky me! 

“Wait! Don’t eat me yet. I have a question for you. What’s that? Your last wish perhaps? Well, it is an offer that you can consider. If you eat me, you will only eat for a day but I’m willing to trade my colony of family and friends in exchange for my life. You can feed juicy centipedes for months and months. What do you say? I will take you to my home where you can feast on my friends and family for at least months, or a couple of years, you won’t have to search for food for a long time.” Roxie cried.

“What if you are lying to me?” Tommy asked.

“Then you can eat me tomorrow.” Roxie replied.

Tommy thought and thought about it “She could be lying to me, or maybe she is telling the truth, maybe her community did something bad to her.” Tommy thought.

“Okay I guess I could go hungry tonight,” Tommy answered.

“But how will I tie you up, I mean, you could be lying to me, you’ve got like a million legs. Hmm…” Tommy asked.

“You could put me in a box.” Roxie guessed. 

“Okay.” Tommy said.

“Goodnight!” Roxie whispered.

“Good last night!” Tommy thundered.

“Hey Tommy, I am feeling kind of hungry, would you mind getting me an apple?” Roxie asked.

“Okay, but what if you escape while I am getting the apple.” Tommy said

“Centipedes can’t climb!” Roxie shouted.

“Okay.” Tommy said.

So Tommy left and went to a nearby apple tree, then some other crows saw him picking an apple.

“Hi Tommy, since when did you start eating apples?” Asked one of the crows, Mathew.

“Oh nothing Mathew, just going to trouble some people,” Said Tommy.

“Ooh, can we come? That sounds like fun!” Mathew asked

“No, that is okay.” Tommy said.

The crows, especially Mathew, weren’t believing Tommy. They followed him back to his house, and saw him drop the apple inside the box. 

“I thought-” Said another crow.

 

“Shhhh” Mathew interrupted.

Tommy sat on the box and got settled.

“Thank you for getting me an apple to feast on Tommy, you such a sweetheart.” Roxie thanked.

An Apple a day keeps the crow away... thought Roxie!

“Ah ah, I am only doing this for food and if you don’t take me to your home tomorrow at least I will have a juicy centipede to eat!” Tommy said.

“Wow this crow is not letting go of the eating thing, I don’t want my family to suffer, maybe I should just get eaten.” Roxie thought.

Her whole life flashed right in front of her, but then she thought how sad her friends and her family might feel if she didn’t return.

“I am not going to give up!” Roxie thought.

In the morning it was brighter, humming birds were chirping and bathing in the sun’s warm glow. 

“Wakey wakey! Time for breakfast, or my breakfast!” Tommy said cunningly.

Roxie crawled out of the box and yawned.

“So what’s it going to be Roxie? Will you get eaten? Or will you take me to your home?” Tommy asked.

“Home.” Roxie answered.

When the other crows saw this they started laughing hysterically. 

“No guys. Stap laughing! Roxie will take us to her home so we can feast on centipedes for years, months! C’mon!” Tommy stammered.

About 20-30 crows followed Tommy as he flew with Roxie in his mouth following her instructions.

“Okay, my home is near the sunrise.”

“No way you traveled that far!” Said crow.

“Pardon me! A boy threw me here and I rolled around for a while, I am telling you my home is there! Also if you think I am lying to you and will escape, then there are 20-30 crows following you and no way I can outrun you guys!” Roxie yelled.

“Okay, okay whatever!” Crow yelled back.

When they arrived at Roxie's home, William was playing with stones. He saw all the crows landing and got confused.

“Is this because I threw the apple with the worm in it? It can’t be.” William thought.

“Well I don’t want all of these crows near my home!” William thought.

Go away... you crows! You're not welcome!

So he picked up one of the stones he was playing with and threw it at the crows. Some flew away, he picked up another stone and again threw it at the crows, some flew away, again and again he threw stones until only Tommy was remaining, when William raised his hand to throw another stone, Tommy yelped and jumped, Roxie fell off. She landed right next to William, then William’s foot went up, it seemed like he was going to crush Roxie, but he was just getting a better balance. Roxie quickly scurried away, while William was beating up Tommy. At last Roxie was reunited with her friends and family. 

“Where have you been? We were so worried about you!” Roxie’s mom cried.

Laughing Roxie narrated the whole story. 

“Huh? You fought a crow? We don’t believe you.” Said her dad.

“I have proof, look in that tree, there is a beaten up crow in it.” 

“Oh!” Said her friend, Riley.

On the other hand, Tommy slaps his forehead.

Well! Roxie got me good, thought Tommy

“Oh, What a dumb-dumb I have been, I can’t believe a centipede escaped from me!” Tommy said, while the rest of the crows were laughing at him.