Richard J. Ronayne

Novella

Phenix Publishing Ltd

Nation-X Project

Dozens of my stories are currently being illustrated for release by Phenix Publishing Ltd for their Nation-X project, a multi-year project for 4-8000 word educational novellas.

This series was designed for young adults and high schoolers across Chinese and American schools, harnessing anthropomorphism to help digest mature, dark or joyful topics, whilst reflecting life, and exploring real social issues in an exciting and educational way.

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Death Bed
By Richard Joseph Ronayne

CHAPTER 1: Acceptance
Ben ran around the corner, stopping so he could try to hide. He was terrified of the incredible danger he was in, feeling helpless hoping that she wouldn’t find him.
Moments passed, and nothing happened. The cavern was quiet, too quiet. Holding his breath, he decided to risk peeking back around the corner. She had gone, the cavern was empty.
Then a large dollop of something wet and sticky landed on his shoulder. He realised it was saliva, and slowly looked up to the carven ceiling. She was above him, staring down. Then she pounced. 
Ben managed to throw himself out of the way just in time, scrambling away in the rock and dust cloud the evil Abyssal Queen Viola had kicked up where he was standing just a moment ago.
Laying on the floor, he turned over and looked back, as from the cloud of dust, the massive, fifty-foot long ancient Komodo dragon reared back on her hind legs, standing thirty feet tall. She opened her enormous jaw, filled with razor sharp teeth the length of swords, long trails of the deadliest venom dripping from her massive tongue as she let out her earth-shattering voice, “I see you little wizard! I have not lived for ten thousand years just to be slain by the likes of you."
With no spells left to cast, Ben hopelessly took out the small dagger he carried and pointed it out toward the ancient Queen as she set herself to charge. But just before she could leap and devour the helpless bear wizard, an arrow flew through the air, striking her in the neck.
“We’re here now Ben, it’s going to be OK!” Monica the forest ranger shouted out.
Ben looked around and saw all his companions rush out from the cavern tunnels, Max, Sam, Peter, Tim, Amy, and Bill, each attacking the Queen together. His friends had arrived to save him, just in the nick of time.
As Sam ducked under Viola’s massive form, he let out a great roar of his own as he cut his great sword along her soft underbelly, “Your reign of terror ends now!” he shouted out, as the Queen shrieked in pain. 
As Peter the master monk helped Sam to his feet, everybody cheered as the evil Abyssal Queen Viola rolled over and fell still. 
“Well done everybody, we will have to end the game there until next week though,” Mark, the Cavern Master, said.
All the friends were sat around a large table playing their favourite role-playing board game Caverns and Komodo’s. They had their representative miniatures on the table between them, cheering further as Mark reached over and turned the miniature model of the Komodo dragon queen onto her side to represent the party’s victory.
“Phew, that was close Sam, I didn’t think we were going to get to your character in time,” Amy said as they all packed away their dice and helped Mark tidy up the snacks and drinks.
“Alright everybody, before we all go home, all the pizza, snacks and drinks come to 10NXD each, so cough up,” Mark calculated.
Everybody was happy to pay, quickly reaching in their wallets and purses to pay for their share, but Sam looked nervous.
“Sam, just you left buddy, you can transfer the money to me if you haven’t got any cash?” Mark said innocently.
“I, umm, I’m sorry guys, but I don’t’ have 10NXD. I’ll have to pay you back next week,” Sam said, head bowed in shame.
They all shared glances with each other, before Mark said, “Sure. No problem, mate, next time, don’t even worry about it. But you have said that for the last five weeks, is everything OK, Ben?”
Everybody was thinking the same thing and were each equally worried about Ben’s circumstances. Finally, Ben said, “I know I’m a bit out of pocket at the moment guys, and I don’t like not paying for my part. I’m sorry. But playing this game with you guys is my favourite part of the week. It really cheers me up when other things aren’t going so well in other parts of my life.”
“Oh Ben, it’s OK. We love you and we want you here, that’s all that matters. Come on everybody, let’s just sit and talk with Ben for a bit, tell us buddy, what’s going on?” Amy empathised.
They all sat around for another hour, as Ben explained that he hasn’t been able to get any work for months now. He was feeling depressed and anxious, sometimes not even able to get himself out of bed.
The friends were all so close and loved each other like brothers and sisters, tears were shed, and hugs were had in comfort, as they all listened, “I’m just so tired, I’ve been trying so hard, and I haven’t got anywhere in life like you guys have. I don’t want to be like this, I want to be successful like you. I feel like I’ve been left behind, I don’t know how you all did it,” Ben emotionally admitted.
When the tears stopped, Monica stood up, “OK. Here is what we’re going to do Ben. We’re each going to spend a day with you, starting tomorrow. We’re going to show you what we do to improve our lives a little bit every day, but you need to want it. Otherwise, there’s nothing we can do to help you. Do you accept?”
“Yes, I accept. Thank you everybody,” Ben said, feeling inspired by the love of his friends.
“Good. Then tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your life, Ben.”  
CHAPTER 2: Tidy Home, Tidy Mind
The next day, Ben’s alarms went off at 7am. He snoozed them all without pause because he felt so constantly exhausted. He awoke everyday feeling hopeless, not wanting to leave the safety of his bed, where the harsh world could not hurt him.
Usually, he would lay in bed until the afternoon, scrolling through the internet on his phone, until he would get too hungry and have to get out of bed to eat.
So, he was surprised when there was a knock on his bedroom door at 9am. He ignored it, assuming they would give up and go away. Then he heard the door open, and a voice shouted out, “Ben? It’s me, Tim. I’m coming in.”
Ben jumped out of bed suddenly to put some clothes on, “Just a minute Tim.” 
“OK, I’ll make us both a coffee then,” Tim replied. He saw a huge pile of post on the floor behind the door. He continued scanning through the room, seeing laundry, and used dishes laying around everywhere. The bedroom was dusty and there were crumbs and spills on the floor. One corner was overflowing with dirty dishes. The bin overflowing with rubbish. The laundry basket overflowing with dirty clothes. 
Tim opened Ben’s separate cupboard in the kitchen downstairs looking for a pair of mugs, finding expired foods instead. He decided to wash up a pair of mugs that were hidden unwashed in the cupboard, made coffee, and waited for Ben in the living room.
“Sorry Tim, I didn’t know you were coming over, otherwise I would have tidied for you,” Ben said as he sat and took his coffee.
“Well, Ben, I’m here to introduce you to mindfulness, and here’s the thing, you should tidy for yourself, not for anybody else. Your path to a better life starts at home. The world looks ugly if your room is ugly. This should be your sanctuary, your safe space, where you can be yourself, at peace. Your room is where you start and finish your day, it is your foundation,” Tim explained.
“Yeh, I know, it just piles up on me so quickly. I can’t find the time or energy to keep on top of it,” Ben ashamedly admitted.
“And that’s OK, Ben. There’s nothing wrong with that. You need to know that you never need to feel ashamed around us. We accept and love you for who you are, and we want to help. Come on, let’s get started.”
Tim stood up, he led Ben back up to his bedroom, “It starts here, Ben. Every day, the first part of the routine we’re going to help you establish is so simple; make the bed. That’s all you need to do to leave that negative thinking behind and face the days challenges.”
Ben didn’t really see the point; he was just going to get back into it when he went to bed later anyway. But when he finished making the bed, he was surprised to find that it did feel good.
“See, feels good when you accept it as the first step in what I call ‘attacking the day’. It is the small things that help you build up to bigger challenges Ben. I’ll show you, next step for the day, wash your face, brush your teeth, and look yourself in the eyes, using a mirror.”
Ben laughed in doubt, but he did it. When he got to the mirror, he gave Tim a silly face. “I know, it seems silly, but it works Ben, trust me. I want you to look yourself in the eyes and tell yourself that you are going to be OK. That today is yours,” Tim encouraged.
Ben reluctantly did so, but Tim said, “Not good enough. Say it again, you need to believe it Ben!”
Ben tried several more times, each time Tim pushed him to say it louder, until finally, Ben stared himself in the eyes and shouted it at his reflection. He stood panting, then realized he was smiling.
“See, now you’re starting to believe. This is mindfulness Ben. Becoming aware of now, pushing away the fear and believing in yourself. From here, you figure out what the next step is and do it. Follow each step with the next, and you’ll be surprised how far you end up walking. Do this whenever you’re struggling, in any given moment each day, to calmly acknowledge yourself and your feelings. When you recognize them like this, you can identify them and figure out how to improve how you feel,” Tim continued.
“I think I get it, thank you Tim,” Ben said, stepping back into his bedroom, where he suddenly saw the messy state it was in and immediately felt rubbish again.
“See what happened there, I know it looks like a lot, but let’s tidy your room so you can get rid of feeling as if you have too much to do.”
It took hours, but working together, they did it. Ben knew that his room had never looked so clean, “It does feel really good, you were right Tim. I immediately feel more comfortable and freer in my own personal space,” he said, smiling.
“Less weighed down, right? Good. This is your foundation Ben, maintain this everyday so it doesn’t build into an impassable mountain, simply by cleaning as you go. Finished your coffee, don’t put it on the side, wash it up immediately before it dries out and requires more energy to clean. From here, you can attack everything else that you need to do with more energy, as you’ll have a stronger, more positive frame of mind when you walk out the door. And I promise you, you’ll sleep much better and wake up feeling better too, because your safe space won’t be filled with the negative energy of all the things that you have to do,” Tim said as they hugged each other.


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