It was nighttime, and the stars glinted in the purple sky. It seemed as though they smiled at him, and Elias felt safe staring at them through the small gap posing as a window between the rocks shielding him from the cold.
"Mother, father, I wish you a good night," he said.
His parents, already sleeping in their beds, did not reply. These times were peaceful to Elias because it felt like he was the only person in the world.
Elias told himself a story about showing his carvings and gaining recognition.
"Once upon a time, you, Elias, created a ginormous carving of a wolf and showed it to your parents. They were very proud of you and decided to show it to their friends. While you were working at the farm feeding the chickens, they rushed in with joy on their faces, with your mom holding your masterpiece. They said that merchants, though you don't know what that means, said that your carving was amazing and that they wanted to have it. Of course, you would give it to them, and they would show it to everyone in their own other place you don't know about, and you'll get very famous. People won't mock you anymore, and you'll be recognized…"
When he was starting to feel sleepy and began to doze off, a sudden boom shook the hut, and Elias was jerked away from his precious sleep. It sounded like thunder. Now with his parents instantly awake and alert, Elias crawled to the opening and glanced outside. Above them, the stars were shining, but when he trailed his eyes a little farther away, he saw black and thundering clouds. He knew this was bad. He also saw the other villagers piling outside, and a commotion broke out.
Elias's mother, Sara, broke out in panic. "Oh gosh, I've never seen this big of a storm brewing in a decade!" Her mouth was open, and she clutched a stone in the wall, and began running out to the farm where food was stored. She was going to pack up to evacuate the place.
Elias's father, Jake, was also darting out to help his mother. Elias was only nine years old, so he didn't know what was coming his way. But he did know that it was going to rain and thunder hard.
Now the people were moving fast and tripping over everyone to get their possessions. Every minute, the storm moved closer by about a kilometer, and Elias knew that it wasn't going to be long before it arrived. Villagers were turning their oil lamps off, and everything was almost pitch black. He knew that if they were to run out of the village, they would at least need a little bit of light to do so. But since there was going to be rain, a normal candle holder and hard wax won't do, for it'll just be dampened and out in a second.
He had an idea. He rushed to his makeshift chair and grabbed a big piece of wood, and began carving, carving, and carving as fast as he could. Probably the fastest he's ever done. A wooden hand was going to be holding the candle, and another curved hand was going to be covering the top and a little bit of the sides to keep it from going out. It was perfect! He didn't care about it not being perfect; if only it could keep shining light throughout the storm, then it would serve its purpose.
He took a candle from his hut and placed it in the candle holder. He saw the fire still raging beside his chair from the teenage girl, but she was frantically trying to stop it. He ran over and went down on his knees to put a tiny bit of fire onto the candle and plopped it back into the candle-holder.
Elias said softly, "Even in the storm, we need a little bit of light."
The girl smirked with a worried face, mocking him.
"You really think that's going to work?" She raised her eyebrows, obviously doubting his plan would work.
This time, after all the doubts from the villagers, though, he wasn't ashamed. This might actually work after all, guiding everyone to safety somewhere else, to a safe barn.
"Yes - trust me."
And he stomped the fire out for her, though it hurt his feet. For once, he wanted to feel strong.
Elias's mother and father came running to him, but he told them to get a candle and use the fire in his candle to run away first. He would try and save the other people in a desperate attempt.
Of course, his parents would try and convince him to come with them, and even tried to come up with a stupid reason why, which is that he would be wealthy and treated like royalty if he went with them.
Elias realized that the only way he could do this quickly was if he went with them for a short time, but then ran away. He really hoped they wouldn't go looking for him.
Rain was starting to come down, so they departed right then and there. They almost got to the next part of a big hill when Elias heard a shrill scream at the bottom of the hill behind him. Elias knew that this was his chance. He pushed his parents down the way to safety, and seizing his candle, ran down the steep hill as fast as he could.