My Hero's Journey

My fourth novel was complete! Satisfaction flowed through me like a teenager who had just finished his homework and was headed to the beach. Unfortunately, I hadn't paid attention to hydrating myself, in the last few hours, and the base of my head was throbbing. Moving my head even the slightest amount made me feel nauseous. I drank a couple of glasses of water before taking anything for it. After an hour, the water had made no difference and I decided to take something for it. When I went to the medicine cabinet, I realized I was out of everything, so I drove to the pharmacy and bought some Aleve. 

Little did I know, but Aleveman did not want to leave his cozy, cotton-filled container. He also was unsure he could do the job. He thought he might be like all the others. What was different about him that would insure he could allev-iate Joe's pain? Maybe he could move to the bottom of the bottle when Joe opened it so another Aleve would fall out. 

When the cap was pulled off and the cotton was removed, Aleveman decided to take the challenge and  wrestle the headache to its death. What Aleveman didn't know was how well equipped he was to take on the problem. The magic helpers that made Aleveman work were 200 mg. of Naproxen and 20 mg. of sodium. The combination of these ingredients could cure headaches, back aches, muscular aches, toothaches, pain from the common cold, menstrual cramps, and temporarily could reduce a fever. Aleveman worked in the body by blocking pain chemicals called prostaglandins. In order to protect Joe, Aleveman would have to dissolve and spread out, to conquer the proglandins. 

Joe held Aleveman up to his mouth, placed him at the back of his tongue, and swished Aleveman down  a giant water slide, with a few gulps of water.  Aleveman's adventure had began. He could feel himself dissolving. He was scared, but knew what his mission was. As he melted apart he remember how boring and tight fitting it was to be enclosed in the bottle, surrounded by a bunch of "pills." Aleveman was changing. Soon he would be fighting off the prostaglandins.

Floating through bloodstream Aleveman met the first three prostaglandins. He pulled out his sword and successfully killed the first one, but the other two got away, banging their pots and pans. Aleveman determined not to let any of the other painful chemical enemies away, signaled to Joe that he needed back up. Joe took another Aleve. This is the most Aleve a person can take safely at one time. The result was a total victory. 

The second Aleve dissolved just in time to help Aleveman. Together they used their swords and went into battle. It was two against two. The Alevemen won. They brought down another enemy and had one left. This last one was the most difficult to get because it hid behind Joe's eye, and they didn't know where to find him. The Alevemen search the forehead, temples and finally spotted the bad guy, behind the right eye. Aleveman shouted forcefully, "You killed my father prepare to die." Aleveman struck the germ-inator and he fell to his death. 

Aleveman mastered his quest to help Joe get rid of his headache and killed the prostaglandins that were causing it. Aleveman is no longer afraid of new adventures. Instead, he has developed a new way to look at life. He is curious and lives moment to moment, happy that he could help Joe.