The Hero’s Journey in Samantha Collins’ Transformation

Samantha Collins seemed like your average high school senior next door; however, she was very smart. Samantha was a beautiful young adult with bright, shiny brown eyes and long, thick brown hair. Samantha lived in a small town in Minnesota with her parents and her sister. She and her parents didn’t exactly see things eye-to-eye, and her sister could be extremely rude to Samantha at times. But even though Samantha didn’t have a good relationship with her family, Samantha had a best friend named “Elise.

” Elise was another beautiful, average girl who, like Samantha, was very smart. The two best friends shared laughs, called each other “weirdo,” shared experiences, complained about their lives, and made each other feel better when they were feeling down.

One day as Elise and Samantha were walking to school they had a fun conversation of “what would life be like if we weren’t able to...”, when all of a sudden Elise turns to Samantha and says, “Oh shoot! I forgot my reading project at home, and you know how mad Mrs. Smithers gets when we don’t turn in our projects.”

“That’s ok,” Samantha exclaimed, “ I don’t want you to forget our project. You better head home and I’ll keep waking to school.” Elise turned around to head home and the two girls went their separate ways.

Once Samantha made it to school, she spotted three men wearing, what appeared to be, dirty, messy clothes in a jacked-up red car within the school parking lot. Usually, she wouldn’t worry about such a sight; however, this time was different. For this time, Samantha had seen these same men following her all weekto her acting class, her private music lessons, and even when she went grocery shopping. The strange men seemed to be following her everywhere.

Samantha started to walk towards the men when a familiar voice called her name: “ Hey Samantha! How are you?” Samantha turned her head and learned that the voice belonged to Jake Pietts, her current crush, who she felt might just ask her out someday. “Hey I was wondering if you could help me with my math?” Jake asked. Samantha was confused because Jake was really good at math. Samantha shyly responded by nodding her head to Jake. When Jake left, Samantha turned to see if the suspicious men were still present in the parking lot, but they were gone. Samantha then turned and walked in the direction of the school’s entrance, when all of a sudden a car came speeding towards her at what appeared to be 90 miles per hour. Not being able to react, Samantha looked up towards the sky, and then everything went dark.

***

Samantha woke up in a tiny, dark room that looked like a basement of some sort. She sat up and looked around. Standing there, was Jake and an older man who she had seen with Jake before. Samantha had just assumed it was Jake’s grandpa. “Hi!” the older man said in a deep voice. “I promise you’re safe. And I am sure you must have a lot of questions, so let me start at the beginning. Those men who you saw in the parking lot right before they hit you, have been following you for a while now because they thought you might be a member of a secret organization. The organization they suspected you were a part of, is called 'S.M.A.R.T.’, which stands for 'solving major assassinations and rejecting thieves.’ Members of S.M.A.R.T. are spies who go after the worst of the worst. My son here has been getting intel on you because we will have to train you in case those men come back. Now, do you have any questions?”

Samantha, looking somewhat bewildered, shook her head “no” and Mr. Pietts turned to walk up the stairs. Midway to the stairs Mr. Pietts stopped and looked at Samantha and stated, “Ohhh. Also you will have to stay here for a while to attend spy training. And in order to ward off any suspicion, Jake told your parents that you were accepted to a fine arts school in Europe and you were going to major in orchestraso hopefully, your parents will not worry about your whereabouts while you train here.”

Samantha just nodded and laid back down. Then she heard Jake’s voice say, “I will come back in a few minutes and show you to your room. My mother is making dinner because you must be starving; you were out for nine hours.” It was true Samantha was starving, but that hunger went away after Jake spoke. His voice sounded like angels singing from heaven above. Samantha knew she might in love, but would spending time trying to train to be a spy even worth it? Samantha knew she would have to run far away from here. And where was “here”???

***

“I can show you to your room now if you’d like?” Jake stated in a soft, low voice in case Samantha was asleep. Samantha bolted right up because she want to sleep forever and she wanted some food.

“Yes please!” Samantha said.

“Wow! I didn’t know you could talk!” Jake said laughing to himself. Samantha gave him a cold-hard stare. “Sorry!” Jake cried out, still laughing. “Follow me!” Samantha had realized she had never seen Jake’s house before, but when Jake opened the door, her mouth dropped. It was a huge place, similar to the mansions she had only seen in movies, with crystal chandeliers as well as white and black marble pillars. Samantha tried to keep up, because she knew if she didn’t , she would get lost; as this was one huge, beautiful house.

Finally, they made it to Samantha’s bedroom, which, unlike the rest of the house, was very dull. However, Jack stated that they had her belongings and she could design the room how she wanted it to look. Then Jack said, “Dinner will be ready in forty minutes. Also, training starts tomorrow so get some good sleep. My sister Alice went through your stuff, sorry for that, and she noticed you only had dresses. So, she gave you some of her training clothes because you guys are about the same height and both extremely skinny. She decided to take you shopping on Wednesday, so be prepared, or say you don’t want to go. Now, I will stop bugging you and let you be. See you at dinner!” He turned and left before Samantha could say anything. Samantha knew even if she did run away, they would eventually find her, or the bad guys. So she decided to make the best of her new home.

***

Wednesday came around, and Samantha started getting ready for the mall. The first day of training didn’t go so well, and Samantha didn’t want to kept training. However, she knew that training wouldn’t be for the rest of her life. How long DID she have to train for? Samantha had just realized that she had never met Jake’s sister. Judging from the training outfit, Jake’s sister had some great taste in clothes. This was going to be a fun day.

Samantha went down to the kitchen and saw a young woman, who looked around 18, standing by the counter, drinking coffee. It was weird though, she looked nothing like Jake or his parents. She turned around and said, “Hi! You must be Samantha? I am Alice, Jake’s sister.”

“ Hi! I am am Samantha. It’s really nice to meet you. What places are we going to today?” Samantha stated.

“Today we will be going to Fun Apparel, Anytime clothes and more, and some other stores”

“Ok. Let’s go.”

***

After having a great morning shopping, Alice brought Samantha to an office. Curious, Samantha asked what they were doing. “Today is your first mission. You have to go into room number 75, level seven, and grab an authentic painting stolen by those men who followed you and sold it for $18,000. So it’s up to you, good luck!”

Samantha got changed and snuck on inside the building. She went into the elevator up to level seven and into a long hallway. All of a sudden, she heard someone coming, then realizing she had nowhere to hide. She looked around and saw a room that said 75. It was the room she was looking for! Then, Samantha ran inside the room, trying to be as quiet as a mouse, and locked the door. She searched for the painting and finally found it behind a couch. “Who’s in there?! Open up!” It scared her. Being rushed, she had to find a way out without being caught. The only way she found, was out the window.

***

Samantha carefully plopped down on her bed, aching with pain. Did she really just jump down from the seventh floor? Luckily, there was a garden to catch her fall. More importantly, she got the painting. However, grabbing the painting wasn’t worth it. Samantha will be sore for weeks. How will she ever be able to train?

***

It was several months since her first mission. After that, Samantha has grown and able to adapt to any situation. Today, she is finally going to go on a mission with Jake’s whole family, which was pretty exciting for Samantha. Also, Samantha gets to get all dressed up for a ball. “Who wouldn’t want to play princess for a day!” she said to herself. Then on top of that, she had to pretend to be Jake’s girlfriend. It was her dream come true! “Now, its time to get ready!”

Samantha wore a blue, off-the-shoulder, flowing gown, with a silk, crystal-embroidered, skirt. For the top, it was a v-neck, with a lace up in the back. Her hair had two braids that crossed in the back, with the rest curled, hanging down, and a crystal crown that laid on top of her head. She also had sparkly-crystals that covered the open-toed high-heels. She was positive she wold be the prettiest at the ball.

***

“All right, everyone knows what to do?” Mr. Pietts said. Everyone nodded and left to go on their mission. Samantha started feeling queasy, but she had to do this. It could be her last mission, then she cold go home and see her family. Wait. Her family. Samantha always hated her family, and her family hated her. So, why did she want to see her family?

They arrived at a giant mansion. They front looked so gorgeous to Samantha. Samantha got out of the car and walked with Jake to the front doors where they were greeted with other guests. Samantha was fine until everyone’s eyes fell on her. She turned to Jake and said, “I’m sorry I cant do this. I was already nervous, but now that everyone is looking at me, I cant do this.”

“You can do this. I’ve watched you for a year, and even though you may freak out a little, you always complete your goal.” Jake said in a calming way. “Come on, follow me.” He led Samantha to the garden in the backyard. There were several trees blocking a pavilion, strung with several lights. It felt like magic in the air to Samantha.

Jake turned to Samantha and said, “Look, I have been trying to tell you this for a while, but never had a chance, so I am going to tell you now. I really like you, and I would like to go out some time. Also, would you like to be my girlfriend?” Samantha beamed with happiness. She had waited so long for this day. It was just how she had pictured it.

She smiled and replied, “I would to go out with you and I would love to be your girlfriend!”

At that moment Samantha saw someone coming. Somehow, she knew he wasn’t apart of the ball. The man pulled out a gun and shouted, “I told you I would see you again, Jake, but now you will never see anyone ever again.” At that moment he fired the gun at Samantha, but Jake jumped in front of her and took her bullet. Samantha screamed in terror as the man ran away, and Jake’s lifeless body resting as his blood covered the floor.

***

My scream bled out in terror. I was too scared to do anything. I couldn’t move or breath. It was just to terrifying for me. Luckily, Jake’s family heard me scream and came running as quickly as possible. They helped me pick him up and put him in the limo. We drove quickly to the nearest hospital and hoped for the best.

***

We had spent over two days in the hospital, with nothing to do. I honestly couldn’t have been any more bored. While I was there, I met some nice doctors who told me a lot them. I also got to help out with some patients, which was really fun. However, I really wanted a shower and a good nights rest.

What was really surprising is when Jake’s parents explained what had happened. They said that the man who had shot Jake had been apparently trying to kill him for years. Jake had somehow found out that the man worked with the other spies, who quince dentally, tried to kill me. Now that I work with Jake’s family, my life got so much more difficult.

***

Jake was released for the hospital a week later. He was out much earlier than I expected. It was good to finally get to sleep in my own bed again. Also, I’m really like spending time with my new “boyfriend”. Even though, I’m pretty sure, everyone knows. I am almost positive Jake told his family, long before he asked me to be his girlfriend. However I’ve never had the chance to say how sorry I was for letting him get shot and jumping in front of a bullet to protect me.

***

We were at dinner when Jake’s parents delivered some of the worst news in my life. By the worst, I mean THE WORST. However, Jake didn’t happen to be there, but now I understand why. They decided that they would go and follow the evil spies to Florida. They stated that it would be best if I returned home to my family and continued with school. Basically they stated that I wasn’t qualified to come with and that it would be to dangerous.

I honestly don’t know how I will be able to live without them. They are like my family now. I also don’t like the idea of Jake and I having a long-distance relationship. However, we just started dating. I know I will do anything to make this relationship work, but how about Jake?

***

I ran to my room holding back my tears, ready to ball my eyes out once I closed the door. I don’t know what to do with my life at the moment. I’m drained with depression and grief. I close the door and started letting it all come out. After crying and screaming for hours into the night, not being able to sleep, I decided to finally star packing. I wanted to leave unnoticed so I wouldn’t have to face Jake’s family, trying not to hurt myself.

***

It was 4:09 in the morning. I was all packed and ready to go. I really didn’t take much, I only took my clothes and some other things from my other home. I really didn’t want to leave this beautiful place. I quietly snuck down stairs, careful to not wake anyone up. Before I headed out the door, I heard someone coming. It probably could have been a butler or a custodian, but for extra precautions, I quickly and quietly shut the front door. However, who ever was behind me let everyone in the house know I was running away, because I turned and saw everyone staring at me. My heart stopped for a second, while my brain said start running.

As I started running, I heard a voice behind me. It was Jake’s angelic, beautiful voice. I turned to look at him. He appeared like he was healthy, not like he was just shot. That’s what I have always admired about him, he always looked fine but deep down I know something was wrong. He looked at me concerned and said, “What are you doing?”

Looking down I whispered, “I running away.”

“Why?” He said angrily.

“With you guys moving and all, I didn’t want to hurt myself watching you leave. I care about you guys to much.”

“Do you not think we care about you?” he yelled.

“If you cared about me, you would let me go.” I yelled back.

“I care about you too much, to just let you walk away right now.”

“I’m sorry Jake. I really enjoyed becoming a spy, but I just can’t do it.” I calmly said in tears.

“Please just go back inside the house, and you can unpack, and we can discuss things. Things can go back to normal, and if you enjoy being a spy, you can come with me on another mission.” He said ting to stay calm.

“Ok.” I said sweetly. And we went into the house.”

***

After lunch, everything seemed normal to me. We were all on the same page, or so I thought. Around 2:00 I got an unexpected phone call from my mother. So, like any other human being would do with their parent, picked up. “Hello.” I said confidently, ready for this call turn into a nightmare.

“Hello, sweetie.” She said sounding angrily, “Is anyone around you?”

“No.” I said confused. All of a sudden I heard my dad’s voice in the background.

“Is she dead or are the men right?” Right then and there my heart stopped again. I could hear my parents arguing over the phone. Were my parents calling to see if I was dead? Was my parents working with the evil spies? Or did my parents hire them to kill me?

I quickly hung up and ran to tell Jake. A million thoughts are rushing through my head. Is this real, I thought, or am I just dreaming. I had checked the whole house, but I didn’t see anyone. Finally, I decided to head in to the basement. I saw everyone huddled in a circle, and as i walked closer to them, they turned to look at me. They asked what had happened. I tried to speak, but nothing came out. Then, I fell to the ground and everything went blank.

***

I woke up surrounded by Jake and his family. I bolted upright when I remembered what had happened. The nurse came running in to tell me to lay back down. I told her that I needed to talk to Jake’s family alone. She nodded and left the room. I looked at Jake’s family and said, “Before I passed out, how ever long that was, I go an unexpected call form my parents to check if I was dead. I am not sure how or why, but I think they have something to do with the evil men. Please you have to help me.”

Jake’s dad said, “Of course we will help you. Just give us a day or two and we’ll be back.”

Knowing Jake’s dad, I knew they weren’t going to go home for a couple of days, they were going to fight my parent. “No. Please don’t go. You guys mean to much to me. I would rather have my parents kill me than you.” I said crying, “Please don’t go I love you.” Everyone left the room, except for Jake, looking depressed to see me sad.

He turned to me and said, “I love you too, but if you died I would never forgive myself, it would be like torturing me. Your love for us will help us win, because love conquers everything. That is why I must go. Then, we can run away and live in peace.” As he was talking about all of the good things that could happen, I drifted off to sleep, imaging what like could be like.

***

I woke up a couple of days later to find Jake and his family by my bed, again. Before I could sit up Jake said, “We won.” Everyone was smiling and hugging, it felt like a good day. We went out to celebrate later that day. Jake stood up and gave an entire two-minute speech, and at the very end he said, “To Samantha.” While everyone replied, “To love.” I had realized a long time ago that this was the family I want to spend the rest of my life with. Now, my dream has come a reality. Love truly conquers all.

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