Welcome Minecraft fan! This is not your typical guide, but sometimes different can be a good thing.
I hope you will find that to be the case here. The following short story is inspired by the game Minecraft®, and is best understood by folks who have played Minecraft. I hope that will be you and that you enjoy the story!

Let loose your imagination, open your eyes and step into the world of Minecraft from a simple point of view. Thanks for taking the time to read Withering Heights...

Withering Heights
© 2014 - 2020

“This is a fabulous sandwich,” Caleb exclaimed, between chews, with his mouth rather rudely still full of food. “Thanks for making it… um, um good!”

He could taste the bread’s freshness, and knew it was homemade, as the texture was soft and airy, with a hint of butter or honey in the taste. It even smelled as if it had just come out of a hot furnace moments ago. It had the same “baking dough” aroma that filled the grocery store early in the morning when the deli was baking their varied breads. If only he could bottle that smell he would make a fortune.

Ann smiled proudly at his comments. She wanted this picnic with Caleb to be perfect, from start to finish. She had spent most of the morning preparing a delicious lunch for their picnic. She had used fresh Italian bread her mother helped her bake, and thinly sliced roast beef from the free-range, grass and wheat fed steers that roamed her father’s pasture. Her mom was too busy this morning to teach her how to fry homemade potato chips, so Ann just brought a bag of Minecraft Munchie Chips along with a container of French onion dip.

The carrots she had picked right out of the garden, chopped off the leafy green tops, washed the tapered tubers in warm water, scrubbed them clean with the veggie brush, and then removed a thin portion of the outer skin with the vegetable peeler. She even took the time to carve the orange sticks into two-handed swords. Well they sort of looked like swords. She thought they were pretty neat and hoped they would impress Caleb. He was into that kind of boy stuff.

The rest of the picnic lunch she had packed included watermelon slices resting on a layer of ice chips, crisp slices of red apple, and some strawberry topped, vanilla cake. Surely Caleb would find plenty to eat that he liked. There was enough food for four lunches.

“I’m a sword swallower” he announced as he stuck the carrot stick into his mouth pretending to slowly swallow it whole, like the guy at the circus did. He took a big crunchy bite from the carrot sword. He proceeded to stab the French onion dip repeatedly with another carrot stick. At least he knew they were supposed to be swords.

The pair reclined on a two-toned green blanket spread out over mostly flat ground on a small rise that overlooked a pond. The pond was sapphire blue in the afternoon sun, the surface reflecting the white clouds that drifted overhead.

A pair of white ducks was enjoying a swim, except they were really just chickens that had fallen into the pond and were struggling to reach dry ground. They may as well have been graceful swans in her mind.

The occasional tree provided just enough shade for them to relax under, while not crowding them, blocking the slightest of summer breezes, or obstructing their view of the idyllic surroundings. She had selected a wonderful location for their excursion. The weather had cooperated as well, as there was not a hint of rain or a storm cloud to be seen.

“I like your skin Ann,” he nodded, finally noticing that she had selected a new player skin just for the occasion. “Is that new?”

“Thanks!” She stood up and twirled around slowly so he could see all the frilly details. “Yes, my friend helped me pick it out.” She reclined again on the blanket settling a little closer to him as she did so. “Want some watermelon?”

“Sure,” he accepted, taking a thick, half-moon slab of juicy goodness.

Watermelon was the best vegetable/fruit there was. Too bad the season for watermelon was so short, as he could never eat enough of it in the short timeframe it was at its peak flavor. The sweet red flesh melted in his mouth like cotton candy, as the juice spilled out from each side of his mouth and ran down his chin. Plus with watermelon it was fine to spit the seeds out and you wouldn’t get yelled at by mom or dad. He spit a couple black seeds out into the grass going for distance.

“Do you the like Stampy LongerNose videos on YouTube?” he asked, wiping juice from his chin.

“He’s OK, but I prefer Mary and Dad’s Minecraft Adventures.” She countered as she absentmindedly twirled a strand of her long hair with her fingers. “I mean this is the official DadsCanBFunny fan server after all.”

“True.” He snapped the head of a daisy from its stem and began plucking off the petals one-by-one and flicking them at her.

Ann laid flat on her back having eaten all she could handle for now. “Why do boys always have to throw things at you, or slap you on the back, or punch you on the tender part of your shoulder, or pull your hair?” she wondered. She didn’t get why he was pelting her with daisy petals instead of offering her the whole flower.

“She likes me… she likes me not… she likes me…” recounted Caleb to himself as he tossed the flower petals at Ann.

She stared up at the clouds as they shape-shifted, billowed and fluffed above her. She noticed that the clouds seemingly resembled all manner of things if you simply used your imagination. It was all in how you looked at them.

“That cloud looks like a rabbit eating a carrot” she said pointing low on the horizon.

“You’re right… but those are funny looking ears!” Caleb glanced around the sky looking for something he recognized. “Hey those clouds there look like a zombie attacking a villager!”

They watched the clouds meander and drift slowly through the wide open blue sky, forming and shaping, then reforming and reshaping into this or that or nothing. Both of them were intently focused on the sky.

“A unicorn reared up on her hind legs” Ann described the cloud she motioned to, being the first to observe another discernable shape.

“Nice one.” He caught glimpse of a cloud that caught his fancy and shook his finger at it. “A huge spider with a diamond sword stabbed into its head!”

It was clear that she and Caleb tended to see different types of images in the clouds. She saw cute animals, horses, fairies, princesses and the like, while he saw only zombies, spiders, creepers, and stuff. If only boys could be more mature. But for once she did see a cloud that he would like.

“Caleb… that cloud looks like a Wither” she blurted out, drawing his attention to it.

“Wow, that really does resemble a Wither” he agreed wholeheartedly.

The pulsating white cloud drew closer to the ground. In the next instant the pond exploded as the Wither hurled a fireball at the two chickens that were still clamoring to get out. The smell of fried chicken and burnt feathers filled the air as dirt, water and other debris scattered into the air. They suddenly realized that this wasn’t a cloud but an actual Wither, terrifying and dangerous, and it had spotted them.

“Run!” Caleb yelled.

He jumped to his feet and grabbed the half sandwich from atop the picnic basket with one hand and grabbed Ann’s hand with the other hand. He led her toward a small cluster of oak trees, both of them running for dear life. He pushed Ann behind a pair of thick oak tree trunks, just as the ground erupted behind them, leaving a large crater and showering dirt all over them.

“Oh, now you’ve done it!” he exclaimed. “You’re gonna pay for getting dirt all over my tasty sandwich!”

“Caleb, be careful please” pleaded Ann, peering out from the safety of the solid trees.

Caleb let out an angry battle cry as he withdrew his enchanted bow and notched an arrow. The flaming arrow streaked across the field striking the already wounded Wither square in the side. Caleb was already moving across the field attempting to draw the Wither away from where Ann was hiding. He could hear the excited yells and hollers of a group of people drawing closer, but as of yet he could not see anyone. They must have been battling the Wither when it escaped from them. Wither battles rarely go according to plan, he knew.

He kept firing his Flame Aspect II arrows at the angry Wither, never pausing more than a second or two in any one place, so as to avoid the deadly fireballs spewed by the creature. A Birch tree went up in flames as a fireball hit the base of the tree directly, toppling it over in a thunderous crash. The next arrow impaled the Wither’s leftmost skull piercing it through the eye. The Wither screamed in pain and unleashed another wave of hazardous fireballs. A burning fireball whizzed past Caleb’s head with only inches to spare. He felt the heat scorch his cheek as it whooshed past incredibly close.

Risking his life, Caleb stopped running, notched an arrow and fired, and another and another, firing them in a mad flurry of fiery missiles that slammed into the Wither one after the other. The Wither screeched in pain as it fell from the sky and hit the earth with a ground-shaking thud. The Wither shuddered once, then twice, as the light faded from it's eyes. It was dead and the threat was over.

Caleb stashed his weapon away and combed through the debris, searching for the heart of the beast – the nether star! He located the star and snatched it up just as Ann came running up. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a big hug and held on for what seemed like forever. She only let go when three other players jogged up, obviously tired from having pursued the Wither across the landscape.

“That was incredible dude!” said one, as they all exchanged high fives and fist bumps.

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” asked another.

After exchanging names, recounting how the Wither battle had gone awry in the first place, and some general chit-chat, the threesome head off to return home, leaving Ann and Caleb alone again. They returned to their picnic spot, which surprisingly had been spared destruction in the onslaught.

“Here Caleb,” said Ann as she handed him the last half sandwich from the basket. “You dropped your other one.”

“Thanks! Killing a Wither really works up your appetite.” He took a large bite into the sandwich and tore the hunk off like a hungry wolf gnawing the meat off the bones of a dead rabbit.

Ann snacked on a piece of cake though she wasn’t really hungry. It was just the opposite for her. The fear and stress of the events had driven away her appetite, but Caleb being next to her made her feel safe and secure.

They packed up the lunch leftovers, picked up their trash, and folder up the comfy blanket. Everything was accounted for and they were ready to go. They stood together quietly enjoying one last view of the scenic panorama, now littered with large craters, before leaving.

“That cloud looks like an Ender dragon!” noted Ann.

“Run!” yelled Caleb playfully as he jogged toward home with the picnic basket in one hand, and Ann’s hand in the other…

This story or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Minecraft is copyrighted by Mojang © 2009-2018.
"Minecraft" is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB

Thank you for taking the time to read this far. I sincerely hope you found this short story to be enjoyable. I have several other guides available from my profile page, so please take a moment to check them out. The Starpoint Gemini 2 guide is game-related but written in story form and folks seem to enjoy that guide also.

Click here to view more of Taskmaster's Guides!

If you enjoyed Withering Heights then may I suggest you check out my book, Task's Tales, which contains a collection of 16 short stories inspired by Minecraft®. You can read it for free if you have an Amazon Prime account I believe. Or get it the old-fashion way in the form of a book (look it up on Wikipedia! ha ha). Wither Heights is not in the book so there are 16 additional stories!

Kindle: Task's Tale[www.amazon.com]
Amazon: Task's Tale[www.amazon.com]

Again, thank you for reading this guide. I appreciate any feedback you may have and welcome any comments, positive or negative. I simply ask that you be respectful in your comments as I would be to you. If I get a few folks that enjoy the story I will be glad to post others as well. God bless.