The Enchanted Town • Part 1

Written and illustrated by Kalpana Mudambi

6th grade at Newark Middle with Ms. Ramirez

Dedicated to:

My family, believing I could write and supporting me

My teachers, for teaching me 

My friends, for being there

And… shoutout to my little brother!

Part one: And so it Begins

Aurora:

Brooklyn, Emma and I take our seats at the crowded table. Both of them immediately add to the noise by arguing about which lip gloss is the best. I groan. I am their best friend, but sometimes… I sigh. Staring out the window, I see what I’ve always seen. The same old city, surrounded by the same people, year after year. “Hey, Aurora… Did you hear about Charlie? She and James moved to New York City with their parents!” Emma tells me, and I swivel around in my seat. “Really? She left us? I want to go to NYC!” I exclaim, only partly feigning distraughtness. Brooklyn laughs and says, “I know you want to move, but do you want to leave us that bad?” “It’s just… I’ve been in the same place for thirteen years! Don’t you feel… the longing to explore more, Brooks?” I ask. Emma eyes Brooklyn, and says, “No, but if you wanted to explore more at the mall, then sure.” She knows that’s not what I meant. I pretend to be interested in my food, distracting from the fact that, even though I am popular, nobody truly knows me. “Aurora! Aurora Harper!” Emma waves a hand in my face as we walk out of the school to be picked up. “You wanna hang out at my house today to finish homework and maybe watch a movie? Brooklyn already said yes. She’s calling her mom to make sure.” I snap out of my daydream. “Huh? Oh.. Sorry…I’m busy. I think we need to do shopping or something boring like that. For sure next week though!” I act dejected, but really I’m not. We don’t have to do anything today. I know I won’t be able to finish my homework with both of them talking about things I don’t even want to talk about. I’d rather be at my desk, listening to music and being solo for a few hours. I’ve seen them for the entire day, after all. 

Quinn:

Ever since we moved here, and I started to go to Oak Canyon Middle, I’m the quiet kid. Back home, in 6th grade… I remember when I was the cool kid, always getting shushed by the teachers, but at least it was worth it! I got all the friends, pokemon cards, and… well, friends. I sigh. I miss Andrew and Joseph. We still text, but they’re not as close as they used to be. It’s like they replaced me with Micheal. I mean he’s nice but not that nice. After all those years shooting hoops in my driveway, I’d think of myself as more than a replaceable friend. I fidget in my seat, twisting around to see Victor and the others on the basketball team. I thought we would be good friends until I joined the team. So much for them. Now I’m just ‘That quiet seventh grader’ And to be honest, sometimes I feel like an outsider. I don’t feel like the Quinn I know. 

Evie:

“I’ve-I’ve looked everywhere! I can’t find her!” I say while signing frantically, my gestures becoming more and more jerky as I try to hold back my sobs. Emmet sits by me, leaning against my shoulder. I can’t lose my triplet. I guess I’m really close to Elizabeth. “Where did she go?” Signs Emmet, questioningly. “I saw her this morning!” My mom calls out to me, cheeks still wet with tears, and tells me and Emmet to get inside. “The police are looking for her now. They told me they’d call if they found her and that it’s not a huge town to search.” I sigh and translate to Emmet, who nods and signs that she shouldn’t be far. I wish, for what will be the millionth time today, that Emmet could have heard what happened. It was such a simple moment, when I went to get lemonade, with Emmet scaling a tree and Lizzie watching. I thought she would be there to watch out for him. It was really her who needed help. She was gone and Emmet noticed nothing was wrong until I climbed up and tapped him on the shoulder. Emmet and I slowly trudge back to the house, looking out for our sister. 

Emmet:

I know Evie blames me for letting Elizabeth go missing. I wasn’t trying to make her get lost, and it’s not my fault I couldn’t hear her run. My-our- parents comforted me and told me it wasn’t my mistake. But if Evie blames me for it, I can’t help but wonder… Did Elizabeth run away because of me? She has gotten irritable lately, not signing and talking so I wouldn’t understand. Or maybe to leave me out. Tears well in my eyes. I hope Lizzie is okay. And it was my fault. I have to go look for her. I climb out of bed, tiptoe to the door of my room-and turn around. I can’t. Not today, at least. If Evie finds out that I’m gone too… I shudder. I guess I’ll just have to go back to sleep. I trudge back to my room and watch out the window, waiting, waiting for Elizabeth to come back. She was so quiet and loving in her own way, and I feel tears pricking my eyes as I realize it was all my fault. 

Aurora:

My dad, the Police Sheriff, let me know the next morning that that girl still hadn’t been found. Elizabeth. She and her triplets-How cool must it be to have a triplet?-moved from Sydney, Australia a few weeks ago- I’ve always wanted to go somewhere out of this boring little town…but they’ve lived in Australia! And yesterday, their triplet went missing. And if she’s not in town... I shudder, then run to the fridge, grab a pie, and look down the street. Yep, I’m pretty sure that’s their house. The best thing about your mom being a baker is that you always have a reason to visit your neighbor's house. I put the pie tin cover on, then grab my boots. I walk to the house,then knock on the door. Thumping footsteps follow, along with a clattering of items as somebody gets the door to open. I see a girl around my age, maybe a little younger. Her eyes are red and her clothes tear soaked. “Um…Hi?” She quickly tries to hide the fact that she was crying and smoothens her hair down. She glances at the pie tin and asks if I want to come in. “Sure?” I say, kind of questioningly. I hadn’t planned on it, but I was sure it was fine. I step inside and take a look around. I walk with the girl as we both introduce ourselves to each other. She takes me to her room, which is decorated with plants. “I really like gardening.” She says, “Before we moved here, Eli-I mean… I used to garden with my sister. But now she’s dead…” “Woah…Hey, she’s not dead!” I say to her defensively, “Why would you think that? She’s just…  missing. For now.” Evie smiles sadly at me. To break the silence, I say,“It’s so cool that you guys are triplets. That’s like two built in friends to explore the world with you. By the way, I really want to explore. I’ve lived my entire life in this town, and I want to see the world. None of my friends really understand me. They think it’s weird.”


Evie:

I frown. If her friends think she’s weird, are they really her friends? “You know they might not be true friends, right?” I say. She sighs. “Yeah, but they’re the only friends I have. I can’t really talk to specific people at school. It’s like everybody is staring at me. They took me in and I…just…I’m just really shy, I guess.” I nod. We talk for thirty minutes, then the girl, whose name is Aurora, invites me to her house for breakfast. She checks with her parents while I check with mine, and we both walk together down the street. We both got to know each other well and, by the time I came home around noon, I was feeling much more optimistic about Elizabeth. Emmet ran to me as soon as I stepped inside, and signed to me, “Where were you? I wanted to tell you something.” I signed back, “Sorry, I went out but I made a new friend! Maybe I could introduce her to you!” Emmet turns around, clearly mad, and stomps back to his room.

Emmet:

I wanted to tell Evie that I was sneaking out to look for Elizabeth this night after dinner. It’ll obviously take some time, maybe a few days. But she just…left me and went off to make friends!. This happened last time. Evie and Lizzie made their own friends and I was left alone, fending against the bullies. The good thing was I couldn’t hear what they said. The bad thing was, I was told about it later like I wasn’t there. I KNOW they were calling me names. I KNOW they threw popcorn at me. I KNOW!!! I don’t need to know the names they were calling me! I groan, or maybe I didn’t. I don’t know. Then I stare at the bag I packed. I put some snacks, money, water, and instant meals. I don’t know how long it will take for me to find Lizzie, or better yet, for Lizzie to find me. I grab a flashlight and my phone  from my table and my adventure survival book. I also take my first aid kit. Then I head to the dining table, bouncing with excitement about the upcoming adventure. All through dinner, Evie talks about her new friend Aurora, and how both of them are going to search the woods for Elizabeth tomorrow. Yeah, sure. They’ll just be talking and laughing. It’s like Evie doesn’t even care about Lizzie anymore. I roll my eyes and turn to Mom and Dad. They both are nodding, and although their faces look happy, their eyes are obviously sad. Because of Elizabeth. Because of me. After dinner, I wait in bed until I see Mom and Dad head upstairs. Then I wait for a bit more. I check the clock, and am shocked to see it’s only eight. Brushing it off, I place the note explaining where I went on the kitchen stove, where they’ll be sure to find it.  I open the door and step out. 

Quinn:

“I finished my homework! I’m going to ride my bike now!” I yell up to my mom, who then replies, “Did you finish your extracurricular activities?” “Yes…” I grumble. “Be back before 8:30. We’re going to have our party at 8:45, and me and Dad would appreciate it if you were in the house by then.” “Yeah, sure.” I say, then check my watch. It’s 7:55. I grin. All my friends back home had to eat dinner by 6:30, and even their parents would be in bed by 8:30. I’m allowed to stay up pretty late, sometimes even 11:00 on school nights. Then my grin fades away. I think of Mia, my sister, who is in missing. I think of our old house. Walking to the garage, I grab my bike and turn on the flashlight app on my phone. It’s not too dark, but I like the light on. Suddenly, as I’m riding, a silhouette of a boy pops onto the road. I swerve wildly, catch myself, and screech to a halt in front of him. He barely even registers me, but when he sees the light, he turns around. His eyes widen and he begins to run. I wonder what he’s doing. It’s obvious that he isn’t supposed to be out here. I begin to pedal after him, yelling. Either he doesn’t hear me, he doesn’t realize I’m talking to him, or he just doesn’t want to stop. Finally, he stops at the start of the woods. He plops down under a tree, and as I pull up behind him, he holds his hands out like he’s trying to stop me from hitting him or something. “Um…Are you okay? Are you lost? Hurt? Do you need help?” As I’m bombarding him with questions, he points to his ear. I watch him closely. Once again, he points to his ear, then shakes his head. He repeats it a few times and then I understand. When Mia and I were little, we used sign language to talk to each other when we didn’t want anybody to understand. I self consciously sign ‘Hi.’ The boy’s face brightens. “Hi! My name is Emmet. Do you want to help me look for my sister? She went missing yesterday.” I try to grasp the information he is conveying to me. I nod, then check the time. 8:15. I’ll probably be late on my way back. I shake off the thought, then follow him into the woods.

End of Part 1.

To be continued.

To be continued