Month: August 2011

My wanderings always seemed to take me under the willow tree. The willow tree stood in the middle of our town park. No one went there. All of the kids in our town were busy texting on their phones. They were way too busy to go to the park and chat. All of the grown ups were stuck inside, too busy worrying about deadlines to do the things on time. They never got out of their house either because of that. So it end up being my place to stop to think and read and do all the other things everyone else was “too busy” for.

I was glad no one came too. Others would scare away the animals that were my friends. When I was little I told people about how I talk with the animals, but they always told me that animals don’t talk, and that good girls did not lie. Now I know not to talk about it. Only Harriet ever knew, but she had moved away.

They didn’t exactly talk to me, but I heard their thoughts. Some animals weren’t too interesting and only thought in single words. Squirrels and rabbits were like that. They thought things like happy or nut. Deer were a bit better. They thought in sentences, but only things that directly involved them. It was the birds that learned to talk to me in thoughts. I was able to talk back to them regularly.

That day I had gone to the tree out of habit. I had done my homework and was just thinking. When I sat down my favorite bird landed on my shoulder. I called her Mapleseed because those are her favorite things to eat. Birds do not have names like we do, but she let me call her that. Today she had a message for me. “Malina, the phoenixes call to you. They need your help. The world is slowly dieing. The willow reaches to the clouds Malina. Climb it and they will meet you there. Go fast Malina. The world is dieing.” She flew off and I had nothing to do but climb the willow.

All my family was around me. I knew that they would miss me, but I wanted to move on. They deserved a goodbye though.  “Good bye my friends,” I said, “do not mourn my loss for I have not lost anything. I am ready to die.” It took all the effort in the world though. At peace I knew no more.

Then I knew again. I was standing in, no I wasn’t standing, I was floating. I had no arms to touch or feel. I had no ears to hear or a nose to smell. Wait, I could smell, but how was that possible without a nose? I had eyes, but even those were slits.

I was floating in a glass tube. All around me were things like me in other glass tubes either sleeping or slamming the glass with their backs. Even though they had no faces, I could tell they were scared. What were they going to do to me here? I had to get out but I could find no way to do so.

Then a figure, also like myself, came up to my tube and opened it. It seemed like a she; the little features she had seemed feminine. All of the beings, including myself, had diamond shaped faces and short bodies with no legs. Just like humans, they varied in size and shape.

Then I felt her say, how are you doing? I did not hear her voice in my head like you might think, but she just radiated how are you doing. I tried to radiate back that I was not sure. It worked.

“You have woken up for you dream state. This is what you life is. I dare say, you will have many questions,” she said/radiated.

I definitly did have questions but I had to clarify first. “So all that was just a dream?” I asked.

“Yes” she answered.

“I can smell but I don’t have anything to smell with. How is that possible?”

“Of course you have something to smell with,” she said with a laugh. These slits help you see and smell.” That really cleared things up for me.

“The last thing that was puzzling me,” I said, “was how do you eat without somewhere to put the food in?”

She laughed again, “We do not eat food as you call it. We consume knowledge. One will only die when there is nothing more to know. If that was your last question, would you like to see the outside world?”

“Wait I have one more question. How could someone have such a complex dream?”

This time she thought a bit. Slowly she answered, “Maybe this is the dream.’”

The world is measure on a scale of order and chaos.

Equal to each other they snap and snarl looking for a weakness.

A foolish man might say for paradise is the more honorable.

But answer me this, would good be in a world with no bad?

The willow tree had low branches so it was very easy to climb. I was very athletic so pulling myself up to each branch was easy. The slender top branches bended under my weight so I thought I would fall.  Somehow the remained intact and I was able to get to where the clouds touched the tips of the topmost branches.

A  beautiful bird swooped down from the heavens and grasped my shirt with golden razor sharp claws. It flew higher and higher until we above the the clouds. I loved the exhilarating  feel of the wing on my face and how my long black hair streamed out behind me. I had know fear of the beast for I knew this was a good animal.

She flew us into a land of tall trees that echoed with the musical  cries of birds. They were phoenixes. The phoenix that was holding me then gently set me down on the spongy ground below. The great bird folded her wings and looked and me with piercing amber eyes. Now that I could take a closer look I could see that her fiery red feathers were tinged with emerald green at the edges. The phoenix’s long tail ended in curled blue feathers greatly contrasting with the red.

The phoenix spoke to me in the same way as the birds. “We need you help Malina. Our daughters the birds told us of you, and how you talked to them like no other human they had seen before. That is a mark of a Golden Weaver. You are a phoenix Malina. This is why you are not like the others. You are in the form of a human because only human hands can do what we so desperately ask of you. Will you help us?“

I had no idea what to answer. This had been completely unexpected. Even with the shock I knew I wanted to help so I nodded my head.

She grabbed hold of me again and we flew back into the sky. This time low over the trees. Gradually the landscape shifted and we were over a lake fed by a crashing waterfall. Over the

So, it’s come to my understanding that not every teenager out there can hold fire in the palm of their hands…  So it’s just me out there? Great… that little talent started at the end of the year party, where the whole 7^th grade was meeting to swim at a community pool. Yes, the whole 7^th grade. I was having a blast… Sun, friends, water…what could go wrong? Being me, everything… Melissa, Troy, and I were swimming around, celebrating the end of school.

“So, we’re out of school…”Melissa said.

“Don’t say it like that… say it like, ‘We’re finally out of that prison they call school where they hold children hostage 7 hours a day!’” I said.

“No kidding…” Troy agreed silently.  Everyone thought it was freezing in the water, but no one seemed to care. Me, well, I was boiling.

“Is it me, or is it really hot in this pool?”

They gave me blank faces, confused.

“It’s freezing, Jenna.” Melissa said. “Sun screen?” she asked. She had enough sunscreen for 3 people on her face. The white cream was visible.

“No, I think I’ll be fine.”

I ducked my head under the water, away from the sun. I was still burning up. I swam around, trying to find a cool spot in the pool, but it was warm everywhere. I sat on the ledge, letting only my legs dip in the water. Melissa followed me. “What do you think 8th grade will be like?”

“7^th grade, but more annoying, complete with more homework and Mrs. B.”

“You mean Mrs. Buzz kill… Are you staying in the boarding school next year again?”

“Where else would I go? Hey, do you have any ice?”

“There’s some at the table… But…”  I ran to the ice and popped some into my mouth. When I breathed, there was steam. Steam…There was steam in my mouth. I looked like a dragon, or like I just smoked, but no one noticed. The ice wasn’t even that cold, and melted in a matter of milliseconds. I jumped back in the water, and looked like I must’ve seen a ghost.

“You okay?”

“Yeah… So what are you doing this summer?”

As I listened to her yap on about vacation plans, I rubbed the warm water on me… because it wasn’t boiling, and I was.

“Jenna?” She asked, touching my arm. She jumped back. “God! You’re freaking on fire!”

“Really?” I said, looking at my arm. I thought she was being literal, because that’s how I felt. “Oh, yeah. I’m really hot.”

Troy treaded through the water, with a smirk on his face. “You’re hot?”

“You know I am…” I said. “Anyway, that’s not what I meant.”

“Sure it wasn’t. What are you girls talking about?”

“Jenna’s, like, burning!” Melissa said. I watched as Troy’s slight smirk disappeared, and his eyes drifted to me.

“Nah, I’m fine. Come on. Our class is playing Marco Polo over there…” but it only got worse. What was wrong with me? I tried everything from standing in front of a fan, to pouring water on top of my head. Troy and Melissa watched as I steamed when the water touched my skin. I decided to avoid the pool because I was pretty positive normal children didn’t steam when they touched water.

“Maybe the pool would help…” Troy said.

“Maybe.”

“Should we tell someone?”

“Yeah, like, ‘Excuse me, but I steam when I touch water. Please help me.’” I said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes.

“You’re so difficult.”

“It takes work to get this way, thank you for noticing.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was sweating like crazy, and Melissa insisted on getting me out of the sun. I followed her into the lobby, where she sat me down and gave me more water… which I gulped down with unnatural speed. That felt a little better…

“What is happening to you?” she asked, pacing around. “Are you sick?”

“I don’t know… but I’m not enjoying it much either. Go swim, I’ll be in here. It’s better in here.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, ‘course.” My mouth was dry, and I grabbed 3 bottles of water, two at my feet. I gulped the first one down… Melissa raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll stay, just in case.” She decided.

Troy stood behind her, silent as ever. His eyebrows scrunched together. My skin became an unnatural red… like, very red. Like, Elmo red.

“I told you to use sun screen!” Melissa scolded. There was a ringing in my ears… I grabbed them, and shut my eyes. I was on fire, I knew I was… I had to be. It couldn’t be just a sun burn. Tears streaked down my face, and they started boiling. I was going to explode. I wanted to explode. I couldn’t take it anymore. I started to scream and Troy threw water on me. I decided to hit him later… Steam rolled off of me… More boiling… I felt like the blood inside of me was boiling, too. Even my eyes… just get it over with! I was in pure @#!*% … How long would this last? The manager behind the counter ran over, scolding us for spilling water. Then he saw me… he put his hand on my shoulder, and then yelped.

“You burnt me!” he yelled, his hand red. Tough! I was the one who was burning! Help me! I yelled inside of my mind. Then, he came to his senses. “Are you alright?”

I couldn’t answer. I clutched my ears, shaking my head, silent tears streaming down my face. He grabbed a towel, and used it to pick me up. He carried me away, in his arms. “Call 911.” He barked to Melissa.

“No!” I yelled. 911? No thank you, sorry! “I’ll be fine!” I barely managed to speak, my mouth was so dry.

“Kid, it’s okay. I’m going to help.” He said. I wanted him to put me down… he couldn’t carry me forever. Then he started muttering, “Ouch, ouch, ouch…” he ran back to my chair and sat me down, rubbing his arms where’d I’d burned him. “Where are your parents?”

I couldn’t answer… I didn’t want to. Try answering stupid questions while your body starts to burn. It’s not the easiest thing in the world. Troy answered for me. “She doesn’t have any.” How’d he sound so freaking calm? What was happening? The man ordered them to call 911 again. I gave up on trying convincing them not to. No one listens to the kid on fire… In a matter of terrible minutes; I heard the sirens rip through the deafening silence. They loaded me on gurney, which rattled and made noise as I was put into the ambulance. Then, fierce as I am, I passed out…

I climbed up the stairs to Melissa’s room, where she sat awake, looking at her palms. She wore her cute pajamas that always matched, while I wore a t-shirt and gym shorts. ‘Cause I’m stylish like that…
“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking up. “I thought you were leaving…”
“Troy convinced me to stay another night…” I said, passing her by. I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel… disappointed with Troy, mad or something with Melissa? I honestly didn’t feel either of those things… I was confused.
“I knew you’d be back! But what took you so long?” Ha, she expected me. Figures.
“I was practicing.”
“Wait, really? For three hours?” why was she so surprised? I could pull three hours off easily, I thought, as my eyes drooped and started closing without my permission.
“Yep.” I yawned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh.” How’d she know something was wrong? She was my best friend, she always knew. Freaking annoying… “I was just talking to Troy.”
“Did you two fight?”
“No, Melissa. I don’t fight people that often. It’s nothing… I’m going to bed, alright?”
Okay, fine. I admit. I was upset. He had a whole romantic thing going, then just turned around and left me there. Instead of sleeping on the bed with Melissa, I took her bean bad chair and a blanket. She sighed.
“Jenna, are you sure you’re okay? What did he say?”
“I’m just tired. I was practicing for three hours.”
“But something’s bothering you.”
“Well, I was scared you wouldn’t want me back here after we fought.” I made up. She pulled up next to me, sitting in the other bean bag chair.
“My life isn’t perfect…”
“I know… but you wouldn’t understand.”
“I wish I had hands like yours.”
I paused. What? Hands like mine? She was jealous of me? Was she kidding? My hands always hurt, and every time I touched cold water, I’d fall to the floor. How could she want hands like mine?
“Why?”
“They’re cool. I wish I had powers…” I decided not to let her know how wrong that was. I rolled over in the chair, facing away from her… she turned off the lights, wished me a good night, and crawled into her bed. Her life wasn’t perfect… she had a freak for a best friend…

DAY: 9, May 12, 3012
Sorry, I forgot to write the date last time. Home was just a very shocking place. Me and Tyler rented Jet Bikes and took off to find another glowing orb. I was going to solve the mystery of why the government wants the two worlds disconnected, but in the meantime, we needed to get home. When we were approximately 9,962 Melolengths (A foot and 2 inches is one Melolength) in the air, my engine stuttered and crashed. Suddenly, I was rocketing towards solid metal at about 25 CPT. (Crepolengths per Tiefo.) (One Crepolength is like 5 miles.) (One Tiefo is like 1 second.) Tyler rushed down towards me and her engine gave out too.
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I had to save us but I wasn’t sure how. All I knew was that we needed to survive. The ground was coming on fast. I grabbed my emergengy parachute, and strapped it one. I tried to grap Star, but I slowed my fall, and she didn’t. I had to save her. There was no questions about it, because if I didn’t, she wouldn’t survive.

END OF BOOK ONE

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