Part 4: Just Friends

Missed Part 3? Catch up here. Want to start at the beginning? Go to Part 1!

“I know who Jackson is!” Jared declared.

Cooper stopped sorting chests and joined Mama Hen in front of the aquarium to listen to Jared the Axolotl. Ever since Master Ryan left for the mines, Cooper had been wondering who Jackson was. Cooper heard Master Ryan talk about Jackson wanting to escape. This confused Cooper. It seemed like Jared found the answer.

“Who is he?” Mama Hen asked the axolotl.

“He’s a chicken! I swam out of the aquarium and into the pond area that Master Ryan made me and I talked to a chicken named Tommy. He isn’t one of the chickens inside the huge fence area. Tommy was just wandering around. But that meant he could go find Jackson and come back to the pond to tell me about it!”

“Well, go on. Who is he?” Mama Hen said.

“Jackson… is… a Chicken of the Week!” Jared twirled in the aquarium.

“What’s a Chicken of the Week?” Cooper asked.

“They are chickens that Master Ryan names! And he gives them their own special area. Tommy told me that Jackson has his own treadmill cuz he’s running every day for 2026. He’s also running for Rooster.”

“Who’s Rooster?” Cooper asked.

“Rooster was Master Ryan’s dog before he found me,” Mama Hen said.

“Is Rooster outside with the chickens?”

Mama Hen and Jared became sad. They both told Cooper that at the beginning of World3000 Master Ryan and Rooster ran into some mobs. They fought them with the best tools Master Ryan had at the time. Alas, this was before diamond swords and enchantment rooms. Rooster fought a Creeper and didn’t make it. Master Ryan was very sad to say goodbye to his first dog in World3000.

Mama Hen assured Cooper that Rooster was in Minecraft Heaven.

“Rest in peace, Rooster,” Jared said when the story was over.

Mama Hen turned to Jared, “It is very nice of Jackson to run for Rooster.”

“I’m glad Jackson doesn’t want to escape anymore.” Cooper nodded and returned to his work of sorting chests.

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Cooper sighed. “Master Ryan has been in the mines forever.”

“You should take a break,” Mama Hen suggested.

“What should I do on a break?”

“Have you read any of the books in Master Ryan’s enchantment library?”

Cooper eyed the library. “I haven’t, but I have been there a couple times to make sure Master Ryan didn’t leave blocks anywhere. The books do look really interesting.”

Cooper waddled over to the library. His eyes roamed over all of the book titles. One of the books had big white letters that read: “JUST FRIENDS”

I like friends, Cooper thought.

He grabbed the book and turned it over to see the front. It showed a beach with a couple on it.

Cooper gasped and ran to show Mama Hen the cover. “Mama Hen! The man on this book looks like Master Ryan!”

“Oh! Master Ryan’s wife, Haley, wrote that book!”

Cooper’s eyes sparkled. “I didn’t know that Master Ryan had a wife who wrote books! I must read it!”

The copper golem returned to the enchantment library, climbed to the top of the shelves, laid back, and began to read the book. He was instantly swept away into the story of Blair and Declan’s romance set in beautiful Seabrook, California. Joy begot joy begot joy while he read. In the chapter he was reading the couple were playing catch with a football. Declan called Blair a Blue Footed Birdy because of her blue shoes and clumsiness (those birds are known for walking funny). Declan was just about to show Blair a video of a dancing blue footed bird when Cooper heard Master Ryan’s voice!

“Have you ever seen that many mobs? Because I haven’t.”

Cooper sat up on the top shelf of the library. It sounded like Master Ryan was coming from upstairs. But that couldn’t be right. Master Ryan should be coming back from deep inside the underground mines.

The copper golem returned Just Friends on the top shelf and began climbing down the side of the library. He needed to go back to sorting chests so that Master Ryan could see him working! And there was Master Ryan right by the ladder to the outside world. He should’ve been near the mine stairs, not the ladder! Although there was something even stranger than where Master Ryan came from… His clothes! He wasn’t wearing his fancy iron armor anymore! All he had on was a white T-shirt and shorts! How could this be? Master Ryan did say something about mobs. Could the mobs have destroyed Master Ryan’s armor?

Cooper was shocked. What could have possibly happened down there?

To be continued…

The events of this story were based on the following ryan3000 YouTube video: RAGE QUIT

Special thanks to @TheBrightonAussie on Instagram for the illustration.

And thanks to @CTP_048 on Youtube for commenting the name of the chicken Tommy!

You can find Haley Pham's book Just Friends at bookstores or Amazon!

Comment below if you loved the book!