 |
| The brown cows at the pumpkin patch |
 |
| Black cows at the pumpkin patch |
 |
| Piglets nursing at the pumpkin patch |
 |
| Bunnies and their mother |
 |
| A bunny I named Marley at the pumpkin patch |
Sunday, 20 November 2016
Photography
second language first term
I have been doing Welsh and a bit of Dutch on Duolingo. Here is what I have learned:
Days
Wanting
Present tense
clothes
work
numbers 1-99
places
past tense
the
animals
months
simple future
Basics
Phrases
Food
Animals
I also am watching Sinterklaasjournaal with my family 6 days a week which is all in dutch.
In Welsh:
GreetingsDays
Wanting
Present tense
clothes
work
numbers 1-99
places
past tense
the
animals
months
simple future
In Dutch:
BasicsPhrases
Food
Animals
I also am watching Sinterklaasjournaal with my family 6 days a week which is all in dutch.
Math Term 1
This is the math I have done in term 1 grade 7. I also did some math in a grade 7 work book but I lost it. I did this on Khan Academy.
Comparing decimals (Tenths and hundredths)
Estimating time (Seconds, minutes and hours)
Convert to smaller units (Seconds, minutes, hours)
Convert money word problems
Measuring angles
Draw angles
Angles in circles
Angle types
Benchmark angles
Factor pairs
Identify factors and multiples
Identify prime numbers
Intro to place value
Whole number place value challenge
Round whole numbers
Adding fractions with unlike denominators
Subtracting fractions with unlike denominators
Compare decimals through thousandths
Order Decimals
Regroup whole numbers
Regroup decimals
Volume with unit cubes 1
Adding decimals tenths
Adding decimals hundredths
Adding decimals thousandths
subtracting decimals tenths
Subtracting decimals hundredths
Subtracting decimals thousandths
Adding and subtracting decimals word problems
Multiplying decimals 1 (standard algorithm)
Multiplying decimals 2 (standard algorithm)
Interpreting negative numbers
negative numbers on the number line
Negative decimals on the number line
Rational numbers on the number line
Missing numbers on the number line
Number opposites
Number opposites challenge
Ordering negative numbers
negative numbers, variables, number line
writing numerical inequalities
Finding absolute values
Comparing absolute values
Comparing absolute values challenge
Interpreting absolute value
Greatest common factor
Data set warm-up
creating frequency tables
Creating dot plots
reading dot plots and frequency tables
Reading histograms
Calculating the mean
Calculating the median
Calculating the mean: data displays
Calculating the median: data displays
missing value given the mean
creating box plots
clusters, gaps, peaks, and outliers
Adding negative numbers
Subtracting negative numbers
Negative number addition and subtraction word problems
Reading stem and leaf plots
Measuring segments
Congruent segments
Equivalent fractions 2
Comparing decimals (Tenths and hundredths)
Estimating time (Seconds, minutes and hours)
Convert to smaller units (Seconds, minutes, hours)
Convert money word problems
Measuring angles
Draw angles
Angles in circles
Angle types
Benchmark angles
Factor pairs
Identify factors and multiples
Identify prime numbers
Intro to place value
Whole number place value challenge
Round whole numbers
Adding fractions with unlike denominators
Subtracting fractions with unlike denominators
Compare decimals through thousandths
Order Decimals
Regroup whole numbers
Regroup decimals
Volume with unit cubes 1
Adding decimals tenths
Adding decimals hundredths
Adding decimals thousandths
subtracting decimals tenths
Subtracting decimals hundredths
Subtracting decimals thousandths
Adding and subtracting decimals word problems
Multiplying decimals 1 (standard algorithm)
Multiplying decimals 2 (standard algorithm)
Interpreting negative numbers
negative numbers on the number line
Negative decimals on the number line
Rational numbers on the number line
Missing numbers on the number line
Number opposites
Number opposites challenge
Ordering negative numbers
negative numbers, variables, number line
writing numerical inequalities
Finding absolute values
Comparing absolute values
Comparing absolute values challenge
Interpreting absolute value
Greatest common factor
Data set warm-up
creating frequency tables
Creating dot plots
reading dot plots and frequency tables
Reading histograms
Calculating the mean
Calculating the median
Calculating the mean: data displays
Calculating the median: data displays
missing value given the mean
creating box plots
clusters, gaps, peaks, and outliers
Adding negative numbers
Subtracting negative numbers
Negative number addition and subtraction word problems
Reading stem and leaf plots
Measuring segments
Congruent segments
Equivalent fractions 2
Book, TV, and Movie Reviews
I had a lot of these and I tried to pick out just the ones from this term, but there might be a few from before still in here.
1) Where The Mountain Meets The Moon is an amazing novel by Grace Lin about a girl named Minli who goes on a search for “The Man Of The Moon”; a man who has a book that says everything about everything that has ever happened or is going to happen to anyone. It has a lot of Chinese myths and beliefs in it and it is one of my favorite novels. It also has really nice drawings. I recommend it for anyone who is capable of reading a novel.
Violence/scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
2) Ice by Bonita Forsyth. This is actually the first book in The Chronicles of Mineria. It is the only one of the books in the series that I have read but it was amazing. The story is about a 17 year old boy named Jonathan and his rabbit Sunny who get pulled to the mystical world of Mineria through a gazing globe they find in their garden. In Mineria every creature living there is somehow evolved from an insect. This book is pretty gory at some parts but it wasn't too bad. The Chronicles of Mineria only have two books out so far; Ice and Fire, but the author is right now working on the third book which will be called Air. I would recommend the book Ice for ages 11+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
1. Watership down by Richard Adams. This is a lovely book about rabbits who escape their warren because they sense danger coming. They set out to find a place to make a new warren. It is a slightly thick book so it will take a while to read. There are many rabbit fights in the book so this book may not be appropriate for very young readers. Even though it has violent parts this is a beautiful and well written book. I highly recommend it for ages 9+.
Violence/scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
2. The School Story by Andrew Clements. This is a wonderful story about a sixth grade girl who writes a novel. Then she tries to get it published by pretending to be an adult with the help of one friend. It doesn't help that her mother is the editor and keeps talking about the story to the girl without knowing that she wrote it. I loved this book but I don't know if everyone would because I love writing books and story's and I don't know if many people do. I would recommend this book for any writing enthusiast ages 7+
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
3. One Dog And His Boy is a spectacular book by Eva Ibbotson about a boy who loves dogs. In the story the boy thinks he's getting a dog for his birthday, but his parents fool him and rent a dog for the weekend, making him think the dog was to keep. When he arrived home from school and the dog was gone, he set out on a journey to find it. This is an amazing book and I recommend it for ages 8+.
Violence/scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
4. Touchblue is a book by Cynthia Lord about a family who takes in a teen-aged foster child named Aaron a 13 year old boy who is very glum and doesn't get along with them very well. The main character is named Tess. The family who takes in Aaron are lobster hunters and live on a very small island. This is a really great book and the story is amazing. I would suggest this book for ages 9+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
5. A Day of Signs and Wonders is a book by Kit Pearson about Emily Carr and Kathleen O'rielly when they were kids. It is a beautiful book and it all takes place in one day. In the book Emily is 9 years old and Kathleen is 13 years old.I would rate this ages 8+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 12
Movie Reviews:
Fantasy Fiction:
TV Show Reviews:
Reality TV:
Book Reviews:
Fantasy Fiction Novels:
1) Where The Mountain Meets The Moon is an amazing novel by Grace Lin about a girl named Minli who goes on a search for “The Man Of The Moon”; a man who has a book that says everything about everything that has ever happened or is going to happen to anyone. It has a lot of Chinese myths and beliefs in it and it is one of my favorite novels. It also has really nice drawings. I recommend it for anyone who is capable of reading a novel.
Violence/scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
2) Ice by Bonita Forsyth. This is actually the first book in The Chronicles of Mineria. It is the only one of the books in the series that I have read but it was amazing. The story is about a 17 year old boy named Jonathan and his rabbit Sunny who get pulled to the mystical world of Mineria through a gazing globe they find in their garden. In Mineria every creature living there is somehow evolved from an insect. This book is pretty gory at some parts but it wasn't too bad. The Chronicles of Mineria only have two books out so far; Ice and Fire, but the author is right now working on the third book which will be called Air. I would recommend the book Ice for ages 11+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
Non-Fantasy Fiction Novels:
1. Watership down by Richard Adams. This is a lovely book about rabbits who escape their warren because they sense danger coming. They set out to find a place to make a new warren. It is a slightly thick book so it will take a while to read. There are many rabbit fights in the book so this book may not be appropriate for very young readers. Even though it has violent parts this is a beautiful and well written book. I highly recommend it for ages 9+.
Violence/scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
2. The School Story by Andrew Clements. This is a wonderful story about a sixth grade girl who writes a novel. Then she tries to get it published by pretending to be an adult with the help of one friend. It doesn't help that her mother is the editor and keeps talking about the story to the girl without knowing that she wrote it. I loved this book but I don't know if everyone would because I love writing books and story's and I don't know if many people do. I would recommend this book for any writing enthusiast ages 7+
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
3. One Dog And His Boy is a spectacular book by Eva Ibbotson about a boy who loves dogs. In the story the boy thinks he's getting a dog for his birthday, but his parents fool him and rent a dog for the weekend, making him think the dog was to keep. When he arrived home from school and the dog was gone, he set out on a journey to find it. This is an amazing book and I recommend it for ages 8+.
Violence/scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
4. Touchblue is a book by Cynthia Lord about a family who takes in a teen-aged foster child named Aaron a 13 year old boy who is very glum and doesn't get along with them very well. The main character is named Tess. The family who takes in Aaron are lobster hunters and live on a very small island. This is a really great book and the story is amazing. I would suggest this book for ages 9+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
5. A Day of Signs and Wonders is a book by Kit Pearson about Emily Carr and Kathleen O'rielly when they were kids. It is a beautiful book and it all takes place in one day. In the book Emily is 9 years old and Kathleen is 13 years old.I would rate this ages 8+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 12
Movie Reviews:
Fantasy Fiction:
The Secret of
Roan Inish by John Sayles is
a story about a girl named Fiona who is searching for her younger
brother, Jamie. This movie mixes an Irish legend into a realistic
story. It is a very beautiful movie. In the movie Fiona's family had
a cradle for Jamie when he was a baby. The cradle was sitting on the
beach and the tide came in and washed it away. Seals carried the
cradle with Jamie in it an
island called Roan Inish (Island of the Seals) where the seals raised
him. Jamie's family does not
know that Jamie is safe, though. Fiona sees Jamie one day a couple
years after the seals had stolen him and tries to bring him back, but
he runs away. Then she starts looking for him. This movie is amazing
and I highly recommend that you watch it. It is great for all ages.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki is a story about two kids who move to a new neighborhood. The younger of the two kids dreams about a big cat/troll creature named Totoro. She goes looking for the creature later, but she can't find it. The children's mother is sick in the hospital and eventually the younger kid gets lost. This is a really good movie and I really recommend watching it. I think it is good for all ages.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 12
By Rhiannon, 11
My Neighbor Totoro by Hayao Miyazaki is a story about two kids who move to a new neighborhood. The younger of the two kids dreams about a big cat/troll creature named Totoro. She goes looking for the creature later, but she can't find it. The children's mother is sick in the hospital and eventually the younger kid gets lost. This is a really good movie and I really recommend watching it. I think it is good for all ages.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 12
TV Show Reviews:
Reality TV:
The Voice is a TV
show about singing. First there are the blind auditions where people
sing to the coaches (Who are famous singers). The coaches have their
backs turned to the person auditioning and if they want the person on
their team they turn their chair around. Once all the coaches teams
are full they have the battles where people are grouped into pairs
and each pair sings a song. Whoever the pair's coach likes the best
gets to stay on the show and the other person is eliminated. After
that there are the knockout rounds where people are grouped into
pairs again but this time each person gets to sing a song on their
own. Whoever does least well is eliminated. Last come the live rounds
where every person performs their own song each week and people can
vote on who did best. One or two people get eliminated each week
until one person is left. This show has some inappropriate language.
One thing I really like about The Voice is that the coaches are
always friendly to the contestants. I think it is fine for all ages
but it is probably more interesting for ages about 7+.
Violence/Scariness *****
Romance *****
By Rhiannon, 11
By Rhiannon, 11
Kyra's Country Part 1
This is the novella I am writing on NaNoWriMo. Part 2 will come out when the story is done.
Another thing that happens in the fall is school. Kids everywhere are going back to the place they spend about one thousand, one hundred hours at every year. Some kids love school, some hate it more than anything else, some just don't care about it. Kyra was one of those kids just didn't really care about school, she liked lunch break though.
Kyra lived in a village called Rose Crest with her brother, her mother, her father, and her cat. Her town was at the top of a hill. There was a cliff on one side of the hill and the other side was an ordinary grassy hillside sloping down to a valley. Kyra's favourite spot in the whole world was right at the edge of the cliff. She had hollowed out a bramble bush and made a fort inside it, right at the edge of the cliff. Kyra had made a little wall of wood to keep herself from falling down the cliff, now she could sit there for hours watching the clouds go by, or the rain fall. Below the cliff there was a little village called Crag Side.
Kyra's village was a pleasant little place. It had many tiny little businesses and lots of small houses with friendly people. It also had a school called Rose Crest Middle School, which Kyra attended. This is where you could find Kyra on October 3rd, 2016, sitting on the branch of an oak tree with her friend, Marley.
"But my house is so boring!" replied Kyra, sounding exasperated.
"But at my house I can't really have any fun because my parents are watching over me like crows to make sure I don't do anything they don't like,".
Marley could get like this. She and her family always seemed perfect, but once in a while she suddenly said something bad or really weird about her family, and then Kyra would start to wonder what Marley's life was actually like. Kyra gave in, "Fine, we can go to my house,".
"Great. I'll see you at your house at five thirty. Bye!". With this Marley slipped down off of the branch and walked off into the distance, leaving Kyra alone in the tree. Kyra jumped out of the tree and ran out of the schoolyard towards the road.
Kyra was approaching her garden gate. She walked up to the old, shaggy gate and opened it. Kyra's yard was just about completely filled with garden beds. Kyra's mum had just filled up all her yard space with gardens. Why doesn't she just leave at least a little room for running around in?
Kyra walked up to her door and opened it. In her neighbourhood no one really locked their doors because there wasn't really anyone there to lock them against. Her village was small and there was just a general attitude of kindness in the area.
Warm air wafted over Kyra as she stepped loudly into her house. Kyra had a habit of entering her house very loudly without making it obvious that she was trying to be loud. She did this to notify her parents that she was home without actually having to shout hello.
"Hi Honey!" shouted Kyra's mother.
Kyra replied with another shout "Hi Mum!". After answering her mum, Kyra ran around the corner, past the kitchen, and up the stairs.
When Kyra got into her room she looked at the clock. It was four thirty. So she had about an hour before Marley would arrive. Kyra picked up the clothes off of her floor and brought them into the laundry room. She dumped her clothes into the big dirty laundry basket. A couple of her shirt sleeves were hanging out the side, but she didn't bother to put them fully into the basket.
Kyra walked back to her bedroom. She picked up a few pieces of paper off of her desk and crumpled them, then she tossed them into the paper recycling. After that she just picked up a couple of pens and put them away in the turning pen holder on her table. Now Kyra's room was slightly clean. Kyra sat down at her desk and stared out the window. She looked out at the trees and her little village as she slowly let out the stress from the day. After a few minutes she decided to go downstairs to get some food because she was extremely hungry.
When Kyra entered the kitchen she saw that her Mom was there making muffins. Her Mom asked her "How was school?".
Kyra thought for a moment before she answered "It was good. Marley is coming over at five thirty. She's staying the night,"
"Great. Could you quickly vacuum the hallway upstairs and all the rugs before she gets here?"
"I guess, but first I'm going to eat something," replied Kyra, slightly disappointed. She picked up a banana from the fruit basket and opened it. Some people opened their bananas from the bottom, but Kyra always opened hers from the top. It was kind of gross to open it from the bottom because then it got a bit squished. Kyra ate her banana and then she walked to the closet under the stairs where they kept the vacuum and rolled the vacuum out into the living room. She plugged the chord into the outlet behind the couch and turned on the vacuum. Kyra vacuumed all the rugs and then she unplugged the vacuum and bumped up the stairs with it trailing behind her.
Once Kyra was upstairs she plugged the vacuum in to the outlet by her bedroom door. She vacuumed the hallway and her room. After that she took the hose thing out of the side of the vacuum and cleaned all the edges of the hall and her room. Once that was over she was finally done.
About half an hour later Marley arrived knocking at the door. Kyra went to open it. "Hi," said Kyra.
"Hello," replied Marley, rather unenthusiastically. She started to take off her shoes.
"Do you want to go up to my room?" asked Kyra
"Sure," said Marley. Kyra took Marley's sleeping bag and pillow from her and Marley took her backpack off of her back and carried it. The two of them headed up the stairs.
"I have a thin mattress in the storage room for you if you want to sleep on it." offered Kyra.
"OK, that sounds nice," replied Marley. The two girls walked into Kyra's room. Marley set her bag down in the corner and sat heavily on Kyra's bed. Kyra set the sleeping bag and pillow down on the floor and went to join Marley on the bed.
"I'll go get the mattress for you," said Kyra. Kyra left the room and went to the end of the hallway where the storage room was. She walked in and dragged out a big mattress into the hall. Kyra dragged the mattress through the hall and into her room. She lay the mattress down on the floor. "Here it is," she said to Marley.
"Thanks," replied Marley. Marley knelt down on the floor and set her pillow on the mattress, then she rolled out her sleeping bag on to the mattress and straightened out the bed she had made. Marley sat back down on the bed next to Kyra.
"How's that song you were writing coming along?" asked Kyra, trying to start a conversation.
"It's fine. I still haven't showed it to anyone. I don't think my parents would like it at all." mumbled Marley.
"Oh. I don't think they'll mind it too much, I mean. I don't know. But saying you want to be more free in life through a song shouldn't upset your parents, if anything it will make them understand you better,"
"I just don't even know how to show it to them. I recorded it, but now I'm stuck. How do I show it to them?"
"I'm not sure. I've never really had that problem before. You could Email it to your mom from school, that way if she was upset at least she would be over it by the time you got home,"
"I don't want to make, like, a detective plan for showing my mother a song I wrote!". Marley lay down on her back and closed her eyes for a few moments, she did this often. Whenever Marley was upset, stressed, confused, or really any other not very good emotion she would close her eyes for a few moments, as if to process her thoughts without distraction. "I don't know," concluded Marley.
Marley and Kyra stayed silently on the bed for a minute, then Kyra heard her brother come in the front door. Her brother had to go to school in a town called Shafruny because he was fifteen and there were no high schools in rose crest. Because he went to school in a different town he always came home at about five thirty.
"Oh, good morning," replied Marley. Marley put her bookmark in the book and closed it. She set the book down next to her mattress. Marley yawned, which made Kyra yawn.
Kyra sat up and said "We should go downstairs and get breakfast soon,"
"OK," answered Marley, "what will we have for breakfast?"
"I don't know, we could have eggs and toast,"
"OK, that sounds good," concluded Marley. Kyra stood up off of the bed and stretched. Marley sat up and put her book in her bag. Marley always kept her sleeping place at sleepovers extremely clean. She never left a single thing she wasn't using out of her bag. Kyra walked across her bedroom to her dark brown dresser and opened the top drawer of it. She picked out a plain black shirt and then closed the drawer. Kyra bent down and opened the bottom drawer. She took out some stretch pants and closed the drawer. Kyra walked across the hallway to the bathroom with her clothes flopped over her arm. On the way out of her room she grabbed some underwear and a bra.
Once she was in the bathroom Kyra took off her grey pajamas and put on the clothes she had picked out. Most of Kyra's clothes were black. She didn't particularly like black, her mother just always got her black clothing.
When Kyra walked back out into the hallway she saw her brother coming towards her. "Hi Tristan," she said as she walked across the hall.
"Good morning," he replied.
The door to Kyra's room was locked so she knocked. "Can I come in,"
"Just a minute, I'm changing," replied Marley.
"OK," said Kyra. Kyra waited outside the door until Marley opened it. Marley was dressed in a pink T-shirt with a knee-short white skirt. It was strange how different the two of them were from each other, but yet they still got along so well. "Do you want to go get breakfast?" asked Kyra
"Sure," answered Marley. Marley went to the stairs and started to walk down them slowly, she closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them again and smiling slightly at Kyra.
As Kyra and Marley walked down Sable road towards Falcon they talked about what they were going to buy. "I'm going to get an Oh Henry Bar. I love stuff with peanuts and chocolate," informed Kyra
"I think I'll just get a little toffee or something like that. I don't want to spend too much money," Marley said.
"You can use some of my money," offered Kyra
"I'm alright. I don't need lots of candy anyway,". Kyra and Marley walked in silence for a couple of minutes, then Kyra decided to suggest something fun they could do.
"Do you want to go to to the museum after? I heard they have a new exhibit with ancient artifacts from this village hundreds of years ago. I haven't gone yet." offered Kyra
"Sure, that sounds cool." replied Marley. Marley could be so confusing; one second she was gloomy and didn't want to do anything and the next second she was just as cheery as any other person and wanted to have fun.
Inside the main room of the museum there were a couple of old boats from about two hundred years before lying on the floor. There was also a life size replica of an old farmer's cottage with real household items inside.
After they explored the main room Marley suggested that they go into a little room near the back of the museum. It was dark in the room and there were a couple of cool glow-in-the-dark paintings. Marley walked up to a painting of a little girl on the branch of a tree reading a book and crying into an ocean below her. "This one's really nice," said Marley. She pulled the painting away from the wall. Kyra thought Marley was trying to see who made the painting. There was a flashlight in the corner of the room that Marley picked up and shined on the back of the painting.
As Kyra walked up next to Marley to look at the painting Marley suddenly gasped. At first it frightened Kyra. Then Kyra asked "What happened,"
"Nothing happened. There is a tunnel behind this painting," whispered Marley
"A tunnel?"
"A long dark tunnel. Look," Marley moved aside to let Kyra see the tunnel. It was true, there was a tunnel leading off into the darkness.
"Let's go in!" whispered Kyra
"Go in the tunnel!? No way, that would be sooooo against the rules!"
"But it would be so fun,"
"How would we even see anything?"
"I've got a flashlight in my raincoat pocket,"
"I guess we can go in. But we we have to come back out right away,"
"Fine. I'll get out the flashlight," answered Kyra. Marley leaned the painting back against the wall while Kyra rooted around in her coat pocket for her flashlight. Eventually she pulled out a mini blue flashlight. "Let's go,".
Marley pulled the painting away from the wall, Kyra switched on her flashlight and crawled into the tunnel, then Marley crawled in and pulled the painting back over the hole behind her.
Marley replied even quieter than Kyra had been "Yeah. I want to know what's in it,". Kyra lifted the heavy wooden lid and leaned it against one wall of the tunnel. Marley moved forwards and reached inside the box. She pulled out a scroll. The scroll was burnt at the edges and was tied with a patterned red and purple ribbon. The ribbon had mini pictures of little diamonds and a couple of sword-shaped things. "Wow," breathed Marley.
Marley untied the scroll and Kyra shined her flashlight on it. "It looks like a map," whispered Marley
"Yeah, a really old one," replied Kyra "That's Rose Crest about four hundred years ago," Kyra pointed to a little building with a cross on it "That must be the church, it was so tiny,"
Marley pointed at one of the little paths on the map "That looks like it would be Falcon road, and that's this museum four hundred years ago,"
"Yeah, this is so cool," breathed Kyra.
"We should go back now," decided Marley, "Those people are probably gone,"
"OK,". Kyra led the way back with the flashlight. She decided the people must be gone by now, and she seemed to be right because when she stopped behind the painting to listen for them she didn't hear anything. Kyra pushed the painting away from in front of the hole and held it while Marley climbed out. Then Kyra pushed it back into it's place.
The two of them stood in the dark room for a moment in silence before Kyra said "That was awesome,". Kyra thought that Marley would definitely agree. Even if Marley Hadn't been very festive recently, this would definitely impress her.
Marley replied "Yeah, that was cool,".
Kyra got out of bed and walked to the window. The sun was rising and creating a beautiful and colourful sky. She walked up to her dresser and picked out her clothes.
Kyra picked up her backpack and packed her binder and books into it. She put on her clothes and headed downstairs. Her mum was in the kitchen making breakfast. "Good morning K," mumbled her mother. Kyra thought it was strange that her mother called her K and she called Tristan, who had a much longer name, by his full name.
Kyra sat down at the table. "What's for breakfast?"
"I'm making porridge. It will be nice and tasty because it has cinnamon and apples in it. I also soaked the oats for it overnight so it would be healthier," informed Kyra's mum
"Hmm," replied Kyra. Her mum was always trying to be all healthy. Soaked oats were so gross!
Just then Tristan came bumbling down the stairs rubbing his eyes. "Are you making breakfast?"
"Yes, I'm making porridge. You'll like it," replied his mother
"Oh," Tristan sounded disappointed. Tristan sat down at the table and sighed. Then he started talking about the dream he had had; "I dreamed that I was on a spaceship and suddenly the engines started released C4 and I had to escape on a parachute that used static energy and it was really annoying because that's not even possible because parachutes don't need energy,". Kyra's brother was a crazy scientist and he always behaved as if he knew everything there was to know about science. It was annoying. He also was a bit of a show off.
The breakfast came to the table and the three of them started to eat. Kyra's dad came down and joined them.
When breakfast was over Kyra packed her lunch and left for school. The walk to school wasn't very long, you could listen to about two or three songs on it. Kyra had a feeling that Marley might not be at school that day. She had seemed kind of tired the day before, maybe she was sick or something.
Kyra was right, Marley was not at school. The day went by slowly. It seemed to Kyra like she knew everything that day. In math she thought she had gotten all the questions right, and it turned out she actually had! For English they had descriptive writing. Kyra thought her paragraph was really good, maybe even good enough to be an example, and In the end of English her teacher actually held up the paragraph and read it as an example. After school she got to play Capture the Flag with the whole school.
Kyra knocked on Marley's door, her mother answered. Her mother was named Kristen and Kyra had always really liked her. Kristen exclaimed "Oh, hi Kyra! Would you like to see Marley?"
"Yes please," replied Kyra as she stepped inside and took off shoes.
"Marley stayed home from school today because she was feeling a bit sick, but I'm sure she'll be fine with you being here," Kristen turned in the direction of Marley's room "Marley, Kyra's here to see you!"
Kyra took of her coat and headed across the living room towards Marley's room. Marley stepped out of her door and said "Hi,". Marley's eyes were baggy and red, as if she had been either rubbing them a lot or crying. Kyra and Marley walked into Marley's room and Marley closed the door behind them. Marley sat down on her bed and Kyra followed.
What Kyra saw when she looked around the room surprised her very much. The walls were black instead of their normal baby blue. Did you paint your room?" asked Kyra
"No, I have no idea what happened. After I got home from the museum I was feeling upset. I don't know why I was upset. I went straight to my room and I closed my eyes for a few moments, I imagined I was in the pitch black, just so I could process the day. But when I opened my eyes my room was black. It was almost as if my imagining I was in the dark just came true. And the strangest thing is that I, and I guess you, are the only people who can see the black. Mama thought I was crazy when I told her my room was black," blurted out Marley. Now she looked slightly out of breath.
"That's strange," replied Kyra "That doesn't even make any sense!". Marley just sat there. Kyra wasn't sure if Marley had heard what she had just said. It was as if there was a wall between Kyra and Marley. Only certain words could pass through the wall, others just floated on Kyra's side, unable to pass the barrier. Suddenly Kyra couldn't see Marley. Instead she saw an old and mossy wall made out of cobblestone. "Marley!" Kyra exclaimed. Kyra saw Marley's name shoot like an air plane out of her mouth and fly through the wall.
"What happened?" replied Marley "What is this wall?"
"I don't know," the words flying out of Kyra's mouth spelled. These words lingered on Kyra's side of the wall. "Can you hear me?". These words didn't go through the wall either. Kyra stood up so that she could climb over the wall, but the wall went all the way up to the ceiling. "But the wall isn't real! It can't be, that's impossible!" raged Kyra's mind desperately. As Kyra thought this the wall disappeared again, revealing a crying Marley curled up on the floor. "Marley, are you all right?" Kyra ran to Marley's side and knelt next to her.
"What do you think is happening?" prodded Kyra.
"I think... No, it can't be true. But it seems like everything we think is coming true,"
"That's is! You're right! But why doesn't your mum see anything we see?"
I think it may have something to do with that map, if it's true. Maybe it's just the two of us because only we saw the map,"
"Perfect. That would make sense. Do you think anyone else has looked at the map?"
"I don't know. I'm sure whoever put it there looked at it. Does that mean that their thoughts will come true for us too?"
"I guess it probably does. Actually, their probably dead by now. That place looked like no one had been there in many years,"
"Careful! If their not dead you could kill them with your thoughts!"
"Oh yeah, sorry. It's hard to un-think something,". Marley turned and looked out the window. "I wonder what my mother sees,"
"I have no idea," replied Kyra. The two of them looked out the window together before Kyra said "I should probably go home soon,"
"OK. I'm glad we finally kind of understand what's happening,"
"Me too," Kyra stood up and left Marley's room. She headed down the hallway. Marley's mother saw her "You're leaving?"
"Yeah, I need to get home for dinner," she replied
"How's Marley?"
"She's fine," lied Kyra. Kyra put on her coat and her shoes and stepped outside into the cool autumn air. The air relaxed her tense body and cooled her mind. This had been the strangest day of Kyra's life, but she decided there were probably stranger ones coming.
Once Kyra had packed her bags she decided that she would just wait up in her room for a few minutes before going down for breakfast. She sat down at her desk and stared out the window. It was raining a bit, it was supposed to stop raining in the afternoon, but yet again, the weather report was always wrong. Kyra thought it would probably just keep raining for the whole day. She looked at the stuff that had accumulated on her desk over the past few days; most of the stuff on her desk was paper. There was also a library book she needed to return soon. In the corner of her desk she saw an envelope with something in it, it was probably her letter to her pen pal for school. Good thing she had seen it. Kyra got up and stuck the letter in her bag.
When Kyra arrived at the bottom of the stairs the rest of her family was already sitting around eating breakfast. Her Mum looked up at her and said "What took you so long? Sit down and eat quickly, we have to leave very soon,"
"OK," replied Kyra "What's for breakfast?"
"Muesli,"
"Oh,". Kyra sat down and picked up her spoon. Her food looked particularly bad today. Once she had put the first bite in her mouth she knew that it really was bad. It was like slimy oats with way to sweet raisins and tooth-breaking almonds. She barely could finish it because it was so bad.
When breakfast was over Kyra picked up her lunch box from the kitchen counter and shoved it into her bag. Her lunch box always just barely fit inside her bag. Suddenly Kyra's bag shrunk a bit and her lunch bag was almost impossible to move at all. Shouldn't have thought that.
Kyra's first class that day was math. The questions were easy and they got to play sudoku in the end if they finished early, which Kyra did. But Wyatt also kind of wrecked the sudoku because he was telling everyone the answers.
After math she had expository writing. It wasn't very interesting. Her teacher for expository writing was tall, thin, and wore huge rimmed glasses. She finished her essay about cows in farms and handed it in.
Next Kyra had physics. This was Kyra's least favourite class. They watched a boring video about gravity and the differences between earth's energy and other planet's energies. Then they had to write a report on what the video had said.
During lunch Kyra hung out with Layla and Hailey. The three of them sat in the library and played a hilarious game of scrabble because it was raining.
After lunch Kyra had socials. In socials everyone played a board game about native Americans and the Europeans invading. It was fun and Hailey won. Wyatt got second place.
Kyra's last class of the day was PE. They had a race down the road in the rain and everyone got totally soaked. Kyra came in fifth place. After that they went inside and alternated between doing stretches, jumping jacks, and sit ups for about half an hour. They also got to listen to The Greatest, Stronger, Firework, Can't stop the feeling, and Just dance.
At the end of the day the school had their end of day meeting and the best piece of work from the day was read out loud. That day it was Wyatt's, of course.
But, to be honest, Kyra didn't enjoy herself at all that day. The whole day she was hearing voices in her head. They were the voices of Marley's family. Once in a while she also heard two other voices. These other voices were of men. They were low and quiet, as if they were trying to hide something, they were so quiet that Kyra couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
Kyra knew by the end of school that she had to stop by Marley's house again that day. She didn't even know if she and Marley would ever be able to part again.
"Hi Liam, is Marley home?" answered Kyra as she took off her shoes and coat.
"She's in her room," Liam replied, then he left back to the kitchen where he was making some food.
Kyra walked down the hallway and up to Marley's door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" asked a weak voice from inside.
"It's Kyra. Can I come in?"
"Uh huh,". Kyra heard no movement coming from the other side of the door, so she just opened it. The sight overwhelmed Kyra. Marley's room was pitch black and there was rain coming from the ceiling. The light from the open door let Kyra see Marley, huddled in the corner and looking very terrified. Kyra closed the door and ran to Marley.
"What happened? Are you OK?" she franticly asked
"I don't know, there's a monster in here somewhere," trembled Marley. Kyra reached out to Marley, except she couldn't reach her because there was a firm bubble separating them.
"I can't reach you," said Kyra "and it's impossible that there's a monster,"
"I guess you're right, now there isn't a monster. Were you hearing voices in your head all day?"
"Yeah, who were those two guys talking quietly?"
"I was about to ask you that! I have no idea,". Marley and Kyra sat and thought in Marley's rainy room for a minute.
"I should probably go, I just wanted to make sure you were alright,"
"OK, I'll be fine. You can go,"
"It's Mama, she was mad at me for not cleaning my room so she took away my Lana Del Rey CD and yelled!" exclaimed Marley.
"Oh. I think we need to stick together until this curse is off of us,"
"But how? How do we tell our parents? I don't understand!". Marley sunk back under the covers and Kyra heard a few small sobs.
"It will be fine, we can just have sleepovers for a while,". But Kyra knew something would happen to them, even if they stuck together. They needed to get rid of this curse quickly.
"I don't think I'll be allowed to have a sleepover every night. I am only allowed to have maximum three per week," sobbed Marley.
"We'll have to run away then. Let's pack our bags tonight. You need to come to school tomorrow. After school we can leave,"
"But our parents, they'll be so worried,"
"But we have to. I wish they knew what we were seeing,"
"We could try to tell them,"
"I can't,". With this Kyra had concluded the conversation. Suddenly Kyra heard a faint murmur. It was getting clearer. "Do you hear that voice, Marley?"
"I do, let's listen,". The two girls went silent and Kyra started being able to make out the conversation she was hearing.
A low and gruff voice raged "But their so young! How could they figure it out? I don't.."
A slightly higher voice loudly whispered "Be quiet! They could hear you,"
The lower voice got a bit quieter "But they are two young girls, they won't figure out our trick. I've heard them talking. One of them is so silly that she can't even stop crying for a few hours when she's at home,". At this remark Marley opened her mouth as if screaming, but she held back the sound. Then she stuffed her face into her pillow to muffle the sobs.
The slightly higher voice was talking "But didn't you hear them? They figured out the curse of the map so easily!"
"Now they want to run away, though. We could catch them so easily. They don't know anything!"
"Be quieter!". The talking became to quiet to make out the words again. Kyra was hurt and scared. Marley was still lying with her face in her pillow, it looked like she was going to suffocate.
"Marley, get your face out of there," urged Kyra.
Marley lifted her head from her pillow and looked out the window. "Who are those people?" she asked wearily. It sounded like she didn't really expect an answer, so Kyra stayed quiet. Kyra looked out the window too. It was still raining out. There were a few crows on the dirt road that Marley lived on. A blue jeep drove by and the crows flew off into the distance. The world seemed so detached and yet so beautiful. The air was so still and the world seemed to be holding it's breath, not letting anything make a sound. It was silent and there was a throbbing pain in Kyra's chest from watching her friend suffer.
After a long while, Kyra spoke "I don't care if they want to catch us, we need to leave,"
Marley took a few moments to reply, and when she did it was weak and short. "OK. See you soon,"
Kyra said goodbye as she tore herself out of the black and miserable room into the brightly lit hallway. Marley did not reply. Every step Kyra took made the surface below her feet black and empty.
On the way home Kyra ran because the earth was turning to black quicksand as she put weight on it. Her mind was getting the better of her and now the earth was trying to swallow her.
During Life Skills class Kyra let the other people in her group do all the work. It just wasn't in her to do things like cooking at that time.
After school Kyra and Marley went into the forest and started heading down the hillside. They had to go through the forest because Tristan would be coming home around this time and they didn't want him to see them. The forest was cold and wet.
After about twenty minutes of walking down through the thick brush Kyra and Marley emerged into the valley and the town of Shafruny. The two of them walked down the main street, Croxley Drive, until they came to town square, at which point Kyra started to hear a voice again. "Let's listen," she said.
Kyra sat down on a bench on the side of a building and Marley followed her. The two of them sat and listened. It was the higher voice they heard now "They are on their own now. We should get them."
The low voice answered "Let's go,". There was a quiet shuffling sound before there was silence. Kyra and Marley looked at each other, both thinking the same thing and saying nothing.
Eventually Marley said out of nowhere "We need to go back to your house fast,"
"But they'll find us at my house!" exclaimed Kyra
"We have to do it, it's our only hope,"
"I guess, but how will we tell our parents?"
"I have no idea, just run,". The two girls ran as fast as they could back up the hill, this time they took the road because there was no worry of Tristan walking on it. They ran until both of them collapsed about halfway up the hill and decided to take a little break. Kyra was so tired that she could barely stay awake. Marley suddenly said "We need to go again,". So the two of them ran again until they reached Kyra's door. The two of them walked inside and went straight up to Kyra's bedroom.
Marley and Kyra made a bed for Marley on the floor and they both went to bed right away. It had been a very long day.
Marley woke up with a start "There's a guy at the window?"
"He's was knocking on it so I pulled back the curtain and there was a guy there,"
"What are we going to do?"
"Let's both go in your bed and try to fall asleep,"
"OK. I don't know how I'll fall asleep with that guy there, though,"
"You'll have to try,"
"OK,". Kyra got into Marley's bed and lay there for a while with her eyes open. No matter how hard she tried she could not close her eyes.
"The window's open and the guy's still there!". Just then the person at the window grabbed Kyra's arm.
The man whispered "Come or I will come through the window,". His voice was deep and cold. He sounded almost sad.
"Where do you want me to come?" whispered Kyra quietly. Marley ran up so she was close enough to listen.
"Come down this ladder and follow me. Your friend can come too," said the man, eyeing Marley.
Marley stood tall "I will come with you,"
"Good, let's go. Follow me down the ladder," said the man. He disappeared down the ladder and the two girls followed. The ladder was cold and wobbly. Kyra was terrified, but Marley didn't seem the slightest bit scared. Marley looked like she had a plan.
When they got to the bottom the two girls silently followed the men until they came to a little shack with a sign saying "Candsurby Cottage". Kyra had seen this shack before, but she had always just thought that Candsurby was just someone's last name. Now Kyra thought it probably meant something else.
They were led into the cottage and the men sat them down on a patterned orange couch on the side of the living room. The couch was dirty and ripped in a few spots. It puffed underneath Kyra and Marley softly as they sat down. The two men sat down on a black couch across the living room from the girls. Suddenly part of the couch caught fire. Kyra jumped to smother the gently burning flame.
Marley's eyes became huge and when the fire was out Kyra sat back down, her eyes just as big as Marley's. The two girls sat in expectation for what seemed like forever, waiting for the men to say something. The faces of the men were of concern and frustration.
"Stop!" One of the men held his hand up. "Come back here,". Marley obediently sat back down on the couch beside Kyra.
The other man was mumbling something about maps and sorcery. "What do you want with us?" exclaimed Marley.
The men were both glaring sternly across the living room at Kyra and Marley. "We want to know... what... the map...,". Nothing was really happening at that moment because all Kyra and Marley were thinking about was how scared they were, which kind of sent reality nowhere since they were thinking about what was happening in that moment.
Suddenly both the men fell asleep. They were lying there snoring as if they had been sleeping for hours. Kyra jumped up, ready to leave. The man with the higher voice suddenly screamed terrifyingly in his sleep "No, not the map! Anything else! Destroy it!". The man broke off sobbing and curled up on the floor, the other man was still asleep.
This time Marley stood up. "Kyra, I know what we have to do. Follow me," she informed nervously.
"What are you going to do?" anxiously asked Kyra
"Just follow me,". Marley led Kyra tiptoeing out the door and into the cold night air. They ran to the end of the road and Marley pulled Kyra into a bush. "Listen," whispered Marley "we need to go back to the museum and get that map. I think it might undo the curse,"
"I never thought of that!" replied Kyra. "And now that you said that it definitely will work!" She added enthusiastically.
"You're right! But do you know what I think happened to those men?"
"I know what happened to them, they found the map and went crazy from the curse,"
"Exactly. I think we should look at the map ourselves and then bring it to them to look at so they can undo the curse,"
"Yes. I actually feel bad for them. And now that you said we should bring it to them, we have to!".
The two girls burst out in laughter. "This curse can actually be pretty fun,"
Chapter 11
They arrived at the museum at about ten in the morning and they went straight to the room with the secret tunnel. There was a couple and their little kid in the room. The mother smiled sweetly at Kyra and the little boy who looks about three walked up to Marley and waved as he said "Hi,"
Marley looked surprised for a second and it made Kyra laugh. Then Marley turned around and replied to the little boy "Hello, what's your name?"
"My name's Samuel!" he exclaimed excitedly. He seemed very exited to be asked his name.
"That's a nice name," commented Marley. This was all making Kyra kind of mad at Marley.
Kyra leaned forwards and whispered into Marley's ear "Stop it, we're trying to get them out of this
room,"
Marley turned around and sighed at Kyra "Just a second," she whispered back. Marley turned back to Samuel.
"I'm going to go out now, bye!" said Marley sounding exited. Marley walked out of the room and Samuel followed her, his mother trailing behind. Kyra ran out after her friend.
"What are you doing?" whispered Kyra
"Just wait and see," replied Marley. Marley turned around the corner so she couldn't see into the room with the tunnel. She pointed to a sculpture of a cat on a stand at the side of the room. "Look Samuel!"
"Cool!" exclaimed Samuel
"Guess what, Samuel?"
"What?"
"I know a story about this sculpture,"
"Can you tell me the story?" asked Samuel
"Sure," replied Marley "Once there was a man who hated cats. His neighbours had cats and every time he passed his neighbour’s house he scowled at the cats and walked past them without even saying hello. One day, during the man's morning walk, he saw a black cat sitting on the road staring at him. This was enough. The man believed that black cats were bad luck, so he ran in the other direction. Eventually the man came back, and to his surprise, the cat was still there. 'Why are you still sitting there?' asked the man, and of course the cat didn't answer. eventually some road workers came to re-pave the road and the cat was still sitting there. They poured asphalt over him by accident and it hardened around the cat. Someone called the animal rescue group and they cut open the asphalt-covered cat to save it. They got the cat out and kept the mold that had been made around it by the asphalt. This is that mold,"
"Really?" asked Samuel
"That's really what happened," replied Marley, pretty proud of herself for coming up with that story right there on the spot. Samuel pulled his mother up to the statue and started telling her the story.
"Perfect," Marley whispered to Kyra.
Kyra and Marley ran back into the room with the tunnel. "I'll get the painting," decided Kyra as the approached it.
"OK," replied Marley and she went under the painting into the tunnel as Kyra held the painting. Kyra followed Marley into the tunnel.
The two girls crawled slowly through the damp tunnel trying not to think anything bad. When they got to the box with the map in it Kyra immediately lifted the lid and took the map out. The two girls grinned as they looked at the map. Just in case they both ran their fingers along a couple of the roads and smiled. Marley stuffed the map into her pocket and said, sounding very relieved "No more looking at that map!"
Chapter
1
It
was autumn, that time when you feel like everything is beautiful and
nothing will go wrong. You get cozy in your little house and start up
the tea and movie nights again. The wind at this time smells of a
comforting dampness and slightly of smoke from people's wood stoves.
It feels like the earth is settling down for hibernation, it's lungs
slow to many times less than their former speed and the world
prepares for a deep sleep. Sweaters are dug up from the bottom corner
of a forgotten drawer and you settle down for the winter.
Another thing that happens in the fall is school. Kids everywhere are going back to the place they spend about one thousand, one hundred hours at every year. Some kids love school, some hate it more than anything else, some just don't care about it. Kyra was one of those kids just didn't really care about school, she liked lunch break though.
Kyra lived in a village called Rose Crest with her brother, her mother, her father, and her cat. Her town was at the top of a hill. There was a cliff on one side of the hill and the other side was an ordinary grassy hillside sloping down to a valley. Kyra's favourite spot in the whole world was right at the edge of the cliff. She had hollowed out a bramble bush and made a fort inside it, right at the edge of the cliff. Kyra had made a little wall of wood to keep herself from falling down the cliff, now she could sit there for hours watching the clouds go by, or the rain fall. Below the cliff there was a little village called Crag Side.
Kyra's village was a pleasant little place. It had many tiny little businesses and lots of small houses with friendly people. It also had a school called Rose Crest Middle School, which Kyra attended. This is where you could find Kyra on October 3rd, 2016, sitting on the branch of an oak tree with her friend, Marley.
***
“We always go to my house, can't we go to yours for a change?”
Asked Marley. It was a Monday afternoon. Marley and Kyra were making
plans for a sleepover that night. Kyra didn't like going to her own
house. If she was at her own house it was boring and she never had
anything to do."But my house is so boring!" replied Kyra, sounding exasperated.
"But at my house I can't really have any fun because my parents are watching over me like crows to make sure I don't do anything they don't like,".
Marley could get like this. She and her family always seemed perfect, but once in a while she suddenly said something bad or really weird about her family, and then Kyra would start to wonder what Marley's life was actually like. Kyra gave in, "Fine, we can go to my house,".
"Great. I'll see you at your house at five thirty. Bye!". With this Marley slipped down off of the branch and walked off into the distance, leaving Kyra alone in the tree. Kyra jumped out of the tree and ran out of the schoolyard towards the road.
***
Kyra walked home slowly that day. She had a couple of hours before
Marley arrived at her house. As Kyra walked she thought about Marley,
what was up with her recently? Marley used to always seem bright and
happy, everywhere she went she seemed to make her surroundings shine.
But something had changed about Marley. Marley still could look
happy, but she was always calm. Marley barely even laughed anymore.
Kyra could sense that something was wrong, but it was hard to tell
what.Kyra was approaching her garden gate. She walked up to the old, shaggy gate and opened it. Kyra's yard was just about completely filled with garden beds. Kyra's mum had just filled up all her yard space with gardens. Why doesn't she just leave at least a little room for running around in?
Kyra walked up to her door and opened it. In her neighbourhood no one really locked their doors because there wasn't really anyone there to lock them against. Her village was small and there was just a general attitude of kindness in the area.
Warm air wafted over Kyra as she stepped loudly into her house. Kyra had a habit of entering her house very loudly without making it obvious that she was trying to be loud. She did this to notify her parents that she was home without actually having to shout hello.
"Hi Honey!" shouted Kyra's mother.
Kyra replied with another shout "Hi Mum!". After answering her mum, Kyra ran around the corner, past the kitchen, and up the stairs.
When Kyra got into her room she looked at the clock. It was four thirty. So she had about an hour before Marley would arrive. Kyra picked up the clothes off of her floor and brought them into the laundry room. She dumped her clothes into the big dirty laundry basket. A couple of her shirt sleeves were hanging out the side, but she didn't bother to put them fully into the basket.
Kyra walked back to her bedroom. She picked up a few pieces of paper off of her desk and crumpled them, then she tossed them into the paper recycling. After that she just picked up a couple of pens and put them away in the turning pen holder on her table. Now Kyra's room was slightly clean. Kyra sat down at her desk and stared out the window. She looked out at the trees and her little village as she slowly let out the stress from the day. After a few minutes she decided to go downstairs to get some food because she was extremely hungry.
When Kyra entered the kitchen she saw that her Mom was there making muffins. Her Mom asked her "How was school?".
Kyra thought for a moment before she answered "It was good. Marley is coming over at five thirty. She's staying the night,"
"Great. Could you quickly vacuum the hallway upstairs and all the rugs before she gets here?"
"I guess, but first I'm going to eat something," replied Kyra, slightly disappointed. She picked up a banana from the fruit basket and opened it. Some people opened their bananas from the bottom, but Kyra always opened hers from the top. It was kind of gross to open it from the bottom because then it got a bit squished. Kyra ate her banana and then she walked to the closet under the stairs where they kept the vacuum and rolled the vacuum out into the living room. She plugged the chord into the outlet behind the couch and turned on the vacuum. Kyra vacuumed all the rugs and then she unplugged the vacuum and bumped up the stairs with it trailing behind her.
Once Kyra was upstairs she plugged the vacuum in to the outlet by her bedroom door. She vacuumed the hallway and her room. After that she took the hose thing out of the side of the vacuum and cleaned all the edges of the hall and her room. Once that was over she was finally done.
About half an hour later Marley arrived knocking at the door. Kyra went to open it. "Hi," said Kyra.
"Hello," replied Marley, rather unenthusiastically. She started to take off her shoes.
"Do you want to go up to my room?" asked Kyra
"Sure," said Marley. Kyra took Marley's sleeping bag and pillow from her and Marley took her backpack off of her back and carried it. The two of them headed up the stairs.
"I have a thin mattress in the storage room for you if you want to sleep on it." offered Kyra.
"OK, that sounds nice," replied Marley. The two girls walked into Kyra's room. Marley set her bag down in the corner and sat heavily on Kyra's bed. Kyra set the sleeping bag and pillow down on the floor and went to join Marley on the bed.
"I'll go get the mattress for you," said Kyra. Kyra left the room and went to the end of the hallway where the storage room was. She walked in and dragged out a big mattress into the hall. Kyra dragged the mattress through the hall and into her room. She lay the mattress down on the floor. "Here it is," she said to Marley.
"Thanks," replied Marley. Marley knelt down on the floor and set her pillow on the mattress, then she rolled out her sleeping bag on to the mattress and straightened out the bed she had made. Marley sat back down on the bed next to Kyra.
"How's that song you were writing coming along?" asked Kyra, trying to start a conversation.
"It's fine. I still haven't showed it to anyone. I don't think my parents would like it at all." mumbled Marley.
"Oh. I don't think they'll mind it too much, I mean. I don't know. But saying you want to be more free in life through a song shouldn't upset your parents, if anything it will make them understand you better,"
"I just don't even know how to show it to them. I recorded it, but now I'm stuck. How do I show it to them?"
"I'm not sure. I've never really had that problem before. You could Email it to your mom from school, that way if she was upset at least she would be over it by the time you got home,"
"I don't want to make, like, a detective plan for showing my mother a song I wrote!". Marley lay down on her back and closed her eyes for a few moments, she did this often. Whenever Marley was upset, stressed, confused, or really any other not very good emotion she would close her eyes for a few moments, as if to process her thoughts without distraction. "I don't know," concluded Marley.
Marley and Kyra stayed silently on the bed for a minute, then Kyra heard her brother come in the front door. Her brother had to go to school in a town called Shafruny because he was fifteen and there were no high schools in rose crest. Because he went to school in a different town he always came home at about five thirty.
Chapter
2
The
following morning Kyra woke up in her bed and looked down at the
floor where Marley was reading a book called Unhooking The Moon.
"Good morning," said Kyra.
"Oh, good morning," replied Marley. Marley put her bookmark in the book and closed it. She set the book down next to her mattress. Marley yawned, which made Kyra yawn.
Kyra sat up and said "We should go downstairs and get breakfast soon,"
"OK," answered Marley, "what will we have for breakfast?"
"I don't know, we could have eggs and toast,"
"OK, that sounds good," concluded Marley. Kyra stood up off of the bed and stretched. Marley sat up and put her book in her bag. Marley always kept her sleeping place at sleepovers extremely clean. She never left a single thing she wasn't using out of her bag. Kyra walked across her bedroom to her dark brown dresser and opened the top drawer of it. She picked out a plain black shirt and then closed the drawer. Kyra bent down and opened the bottom drawer. She took out some stretch pants and closed the drawer. Kyra walked across the hallway to the bathroom with her clothes flopped over her arm. On the way out of her room she grabbed some underwear and a bra.
Once she was in the bathroom Kyra took off her grey pajamas and put on the clothes she had picked out. Most of Kyra's clothes were black. She didn't particularly like black, her mother just always got her black clothing.
When Kyra walked back out into the hallway she saw her brother coming towards her. "Hi Tristan," she said as she walked across the hall.
"Good morning," he replied.
The door to Kyra's room was locked so she knocked. "Can I come in,"
"Just a minute, I'm changing," replied Marley.
"OK," said Kyra. Kyra waited outside the door until Marley opened it. Marley was dressed in a pink T-shirt with a knee-short white skirt. It was strange how different the two of them were from each other, but yet they still got along so well. "Do you want to go get breakfast?" asked Kyra
"Sure," answered Marley. Marley went to the stairs and started to walk down them slowly, she closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them again and smiling slightly at Kyra.
***
After school Kyra and Marley decided to walk over to Falcon road
together to buy some candy. Falcon road was the road in Rose crest
that had most of the shops and community things on it.As Kyra and Marley walked down Sable road towards Falcon they talked about what they were going to buy. "I'm going to get an Oh Henry Bar. I love stuff with peanuts and chocolate," informed Kyra
"I think I'll just get a little toffee or something like that. I don't want to spend too much money," Marley said.
"You can use some of my money," offered Kyra
"I'm alright. I don't need lots of candy anyway,". Kyra and Marley walked in silence for a couple of minutes, then Kyra decided to suggest something fun they could do.
"Do you want to go to to the museum after? I heard they have a new exhibit with ancient artifacts from this village hundreds of years ago. I haven't gone yet." offered Kyra
"Sure, that sounds cool." replied Marley. Marley could be so confusing; one second she was gloomy and didn't want to do anything and the next second she was just as cheery as any other person and wanted to have fun.
***
After Kyra and Marley had paid for their candies and left the
candy store they headed down the street to the museum. Sucking on
their candies, they walked inside. The Rose Crest museum was always
free for anyone to go in, they ran off of donations. As they walked
in Kyra dropped a Loonie and a couple of quarters into the donation
jar.Inside the main room of the museum there were a couple of old boats from about two hundred years before lying on the floor. There was also a life size replica of an old farmer's cottage with real household items inside.
After they explored the main room Marley suggested that they go into a little room near the back of the museum. It was dark in the room and there were a couple of cool glow-in-the-dark paintings. Marley walked up to a painting of a little girl on the branch of a tree reading a book and crying into an ocean below her. "This one's really nice," said Marley. She pulled the painting away from the wall. Kyra thought Marley was trying to see who made the painting. There was a flashlight in the corner of the room that Marley picked up and shined on the back of the painting.
As Kyra walked up next to Marley to look at the painting Marley suddenly gasped. At first it frightened Kyra. Then Kyra asked "What happened,"
"Nothing happened. There is a tunnel behind this painting," whispered Marley
"A tunnel?"
"A long dark tunnel. Look," Marley moved aside to let Kyra see the tunnel. It was true, there was a tunnel leading off into the darkness.
"Let's go in!" whispered Kyra
"Go in the tunnel!? No way, that would be sooooo against the rules!"
"But it would be so fun,"
"How would we even see anything?"
"I've got a flashlight in my raincoat pocket,"
"I guess we can go in. But we we have to come back out right away,"
"Fine. I'll get out the flashlight," answered Kyra. Marley leaned the painting back against the wall while Kyra rooted around in her coat pocket for her flashlight. Eventually she pulled out a mini blue flashlight. "Let's go,".
Marley pulled the painting away from the wall, Kyra switched on her flashlight and crawled into the tunnel, then Marley crawled in and pulled the painting back over the hole behind her.
Chapter
3
Kyra
and Marley inspected the walls of the little tunnel. The walls were
damp and made out of rock, they were also very bumpy. Kyra led the
way through the tunnel, shining the flashlight ahead. There was a
turn in the tunnel. As Kyra and Marley turned the corner they heard
loud voices coming from the painting room. Kyra turned to look at
Marley. The looks they gave each other communicated everything they
needed to say; they were trapped in the tunnel, and they should be
silent and go fast.
Kyra and Marley followed the tunnel until it ended abruptly with
an old wooden box on the ground. The box was embedded with precious
gems and carvings more detailed than anything Kyra or Marley had ever
seen before. Kyra whispered "Should I open it?"Marley replied even quieter than Kyra had been "Yeah. I want to know what's in it,". Kyra lifted the heavy wooden lid and leaned it against one wall of the tunnel. Marley moved forwards and reached inside the box. She pulled out a scroll. The scroll was burnt at the edges and was tied with a patterned red and purple ribbon. The ribbon had mini pictures of little diamonds and a couple of sword-shaped things. "Wow," breathed Marley.
Marley untied the scroll and Kyra shined her flashlight on it. "It looks like a map," whispered Marley
"Yeah, a really old one," replied Kyra "That's Rose Crest about four hundred years ago," Kyra pointed to a little building with a cross on it "That must be the church, it was so tiny,"
Marley pointed at one of the little paths on the map "That looks like it would be Falcon road, and that's this museum four hundred years ago,"
"Yeah, this is so cool," breathed Kyra.
"We should go back now," decided Marley, "Those people are probably gone,"
"OK,". Kyra led the way back with the flashlight. She decided the people must be gone by now, and she seemed to be right because when she stopped behind the painting to listen for them she didn't hear anything. Kyra pushed the painting away from in front of the hole and held it while Marley climbed out. Then Kyra pushed it back into it's place.
The two of them stood in the dark room for a moment in silence before Kyra said "That was awesome,". Kyra thought that Marley would definitely agree. Even if Marley Hadn't been very festive recently, this would definitely impress her.
Marley replied "Yeah, that was cool,".
Chapter
4
The
next day was strange. Kyra woke up to her alarm clock screaming into
her dreams. She turned it off and decided she was going to have a
good day. Kyra's days always seemed to only be good for about one
hour, then they would become tiresome and boring, unless her friends
were over. But Kyra had a feeling that today would be different.
Kyra got out of bed and walked to the window. The sun was rising and creating a beautiful and colourful sky. She walked up to her dresser and picked out her clothes.
Kyra picked up her backpack and packed her binder and books into it. She put on her clothes and headed downstairs. Her mum was in the kitchen making breakfast. "Good morning K," mumbled her mother. Kyra thought it was strange that her mother called her K and she called Tristan, who had a much longer name, by his full name.
Kyra sat down at the table. "What's for breakfast?"
"I'm making porridge. It will be nice and tasty because it has cinnamon and apples in it. I also soaked the oats for it overnight so it would be healthier," informed Kyra's mum
"Hmm," replied Kyra. Her mum was always trying to be all healthy. Soaked oats were so gross!
Just then Tristan came bumbling down the stairs rubbing his eyes. "Are you making breakfast?"
"Yes, I'm making porridge. You'll like it," replied his mother
"Oh," Tristan sounded disappointed. Tristan sat down at the table and sighed. Then he started talking about the dream he had had; "I dreamed that I was on a spaceship and suddenly the engines started released C4 and I had to escape on a parachute that used static energy and it was really annoying because that's not even possible because parachutes don't need energy,". Kyra's brother was a crazy scientist and he always behaved as if he knew everything there was to know about science. It was annoying. He also was a bit of a show off.
The breakfast came to the table and the three of them started to eat. Kyra's dad came down and joined them.
When breakfast was over Kyra packed her lunch and left for school. The walk to school wasn't very long, you could listen to about two or three songs on it. Kyra had a feeling that Marley might not be at school that day. She had seemed kind of tired the day before, maybe she was sick or something.
Kyra was right, Marley was not at school. The day went by slowly. It seemed to Kyra like she knew everything that day. In math she thought she had gotten all the questions right, and it turned out she actually had! For English they had descriptive writing. Kyra thought her paragraph was really good, maybe even good enough to be an example, and In the end of English her teacher actually held up the paragraph and read it as an example. After school she got to play Capture the Flag with the whole school.
***
After school Kyra decided to drop by Marley's house.Kyra knocked on Marley's door, her mother answered. Her mother was named Kristen and Kyra had always really liked her. Kristen exclaimed "Oh, hi Kyra! Would you like to see Marley?"
"Yes please," replied Kyra as she stepped inside and took off shoes.
"Marley stayed home from school today because she was feeling a bit sick, but I'm sure she'll be fine with you being here," Kristen turned in the direction of Marley's room "Marley, Kyra's here to see you!"
Kyra took of her coat and headed across the living room towards Marley's room. Marley stepped out of her door and said "Hi,". Marley's eyes were baggy and red, as if she had been either rubbing them a lot or crying. Kyra and Marley walked into Marley's room and Marley closed the door behind them. Marley sat down on her bed and Kyra followed.
What Kyra saw when she looked around the room surprised her very much. The walls were black instead of their normal baby blue. Did you paint your room?" asked Kyra
"No, I have no idea what happened. After I got home from the museum I was feeling upset. I don't know why I was upset. I went straight to my room and I closed my eyes for a few moments, I imagined I was in the pitch black, just so I could process the day. But when I opened my eyes my room was black. It was almost as if my imagining I was in the dark just came true. And the strangest thing is that I, and I guess you, are the only people who can see the black. Mama thought I was crazy when I told her my room was black," blurted out Marley. Now she looked slightly out of breath.
"That's strange," replied Kyra "That doesn't even make any sense!". Marley just sat there. Kyra wasn't sure if Marley had heard what she had just said. It was as if there was a wall between Kyra and Marley. Only certain words could pass through the wall, others just floated on Kyra's side, unable to pass the barrier. Suddenly Kyra couldn't see Marley. Instead she saw an old and mossy wall made out of cobblestone. "Marley!" Kyra exclaimed. Kyra saw Marley's name shoot like an air plane out of her mouth and fly through the wall.
"What happened?" replied Marley "What is this wall?"
"I don't know," the words flying out of Kyra's mouth spelled. These words lingered on Kyra's side of the wall. "Can you hear me?". These words didn't go through the wall either. Kyra stood up so that she could climb over the wall, but the wall went all the way up to the ceiling. "But the wall isn't real! It can't be, that's impossible!" raged Kyra's mind desperately. As Kyra thought this the wall disappeared again, revealing a crying Marley curled up on the floor. "Marley, are you all right?" Kyra ran to Marley's side and knelt next to her.
Chapter
5
"I
think I know what happened, but it's impossible, but what else could
be happening? I don't know what is happening, Kyra,". Marley
closed her eyes and the room went dark. The light only came back when
she opened her eyes again. "Sorry, I shouldn't have closed my
eyes," she sobbed.
"What do you think is happening?" prodded Kyra.
"I think... No, it can't be true. But it seems like everything we think is coming true,"
"That's is! You're right! But why doesn't your mum see anything we see?"
I think it may have something to do with that map, if it's true. Maybe it's just the two of us because only we saw the map,"
"Perfect. That would make sense. Do you think anyone else has looked at the map?"
"I don't know. I'm sure whoever put it there looked at it. Does that mean that their thoughts will come true for us too?"
"I guess it probably does. Actually, their probably dead by now. That place looked like no one had been there in many years,"
"Careful! If their not dead you could kill them with your thoughts!"
"Oh yeah, sorry. It's hard to un-think something,". Marley turned and looked out the window. "I wonder what my mother sees,"
"I have no idea," replied Kyra. The two of them looked out the window together before Kyra said "I should probably go home soon,"
"OK. I'm glad we finally kind of understand what's happening,"
"Me too," Kyra stood up and left Marley's room. She headed down the hallway. Marley's mother saw her "You're leaving?"
"Yeah, I need to get home for dinner," she replied
"How's Marley?"
"She's fine," lied Kyra. Kyra put on her coat and her shoes and stepped outside into the cool autumn air. The air relaxed her tense body and cooled her mind. This had been the strangest day of Kyra's life, but she decided there were probably stranger ones coming.
Chapter
6
The
next morning Kyra woke up at 7:00 and started getting ready for
school. She was really glad that she hadn't had any dreams that night
because that would mean that they would come true.
Once Kyra had packed her bags she decided that she would just wait up in her room for a few minutes before going down for breakfast. She sat down at her desk and stared out the window. It was raining a bit, it was supposed to stop raining in the afternoon, but yet again, the weather report was always wrong. Kyra thought it would probably just keep raining for the whole day. She looked at the stuff that had accumulated on her desk over the past few days; most of the stuff on her desk was paper. There was also a library book she needed to return soon. In the corner of her desk she saw an envelope with something in it, it was probably her letter to her pen pal for school. Good thing she had seen it. Kyra got up and stuck the letter in her bag.
When Kyra arrived at the bottom of the stairs the rest of her family was already sitting around eating breakfast. Her Mum looked up at her and said "What took you so long? Sit down and eat quickly, we have to leave very soon,"
"OK," replied Kyra "What's for breakfast?"
"Muesli,"
"Oh,". Kyra sat down and picked up her spoon. Her food looked particularly bad today. Once she had put the first bite in her mouth she knew that it really was bad. It was like slimy oats with way to sweet raisins and tooth-breaking almonds. She barely could finish it because it was so bad.
When breakfast was over Kyra picked up her lunch box from the kitchen counter and shoved it into her bag. Her lunch box always just barely fit inside her bag. Suddenly Kyra's bag shrunk a bit and her lunch bag was almost impossible to move at all. Shouldn't have thought that.
***
When Kyra got to school she wasn't feeling very exited, she had
physics, her least favourite subject. Marley still wasn't coming to
school and the only person Kyra didn't like in the slightest bit who
went to her school, Wyatt, was back from vacation.Kyra's first class that day was math. The questions were easy and they got to play sudoku in the end if they finished early, which Kyra did. But Wyatt also kind of wrecked the sudoku because he was telling everyone the answers.
After math she had expository writing. It wasn't very interesting. Her teacher for expository writing was tall, thin, and wore huge rimmed glasses. She finished her essay about cows in farms and handed it in.
Next Kyra had physics. This was Kyra's least favourite class. They watched a boring video about gravity and the differences between earth's energy and other planet's energies. Then they had to write a report on what the video had said.
During lunch Kyra hung out with Layla and Hailey. The three of them sat in the library and played a hilarious game of scrabble because it was raining.
After lunch Kyra had socials. In socials everyone played a board game about native Americans and the Europeans invading. It was fun and Hailey won. Wyatt got second place.
Kyra's last class of the day was PE. They had a race down the road in the rain and everyone got totally soaked. Kyra came in fifth place. After that they went inside and alternated between doing stretches, jumping jacks, and sit ups for about half an hour. They also got to listen to The Greatest, Stronger, Firework, Can't stop the feeling, and Just dance.
At the end of the day the school had their end of day meeting and the best piece of work from the day was read out loud. That day it was Wyatt's, of course.
But, to be honest, Kyra didn't enjoy herself at all that day. The whole day she was hearing voices in her head. They were the voices of Marley's family. Once in a while she also heard two other voices. These other voices were of men. They were low and quiet, as if they were trying to hide something, they were so quiet that Kyra couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
Kyra knew by the end of school that she had to stop by Marley's house again that day. She didn't even know if she and Marley would ever be able to part again.
***
When Kyra arrived at Marley's door it was about 3:30. She had left
as soon as school finished because she was really worried. Kyra
knocked on Marley's door and Marley's older brother, Liam, answered.
"Hi Kyra," he said in a low voice. Liam was small for his
age and he always tried to act extra mature."Hi Liam, is Marley home?" answered Kyra as she took off her shoes and coat.
"She's in her room," Liam replied, then he left back to the kitchen where he was making some food.
Kyra walked down the hallway and up to Marley's door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" asked a weak voice from inside.
"It's Kyra. Can I come in?"
"Uh huh,". Kyra heard no movement coming from the other side of the door, so she just opened it. The sight overwhelmed Kyra. Marley's room was pitch black and there was rain coming from the ceiling. The light from the open door let Kyra see Marley, huddled in the corner and looking very terrified. Kyra closed the door and ran to Marley.
"What happened? Are you OK?" she franticly asked
"I don't know, there's a monster in here somewhere," trembled Marley. Kyra reached out to Marley, except she couldn't reach her because there was a firm bubble separating them.
"I can't reach you," said Kyra "and it's impossible that there's a monster,"
"I guess you're right, now there isn't a monster. Were you hearing voices in your head all day?"
"Yeah, who were those two guys talking quietly?"
"I was about to ask you that! I have no idea,". Marley and Kyra sat and thought in Marley's rainy room for a minute.
"I should probably go, I just wanted to make sure you were alright,"
"OK, I'll be fine. You can go,"
***
Kyra left, but on the way home the whole world suddenly became
blurry, quiet, and slow. Kyra knew she had to get back to Marley, and
fast.
Chapter
7
Kyra
ran to Marley's house, the voices still playing in her head. The
world was a blur and Kyra was extremely dizzy from running through
the slow motion and distorted world she now lived in. She pushed
Marley's door open and ran to Marley's bedside. Marley was lying
still and was completely submerged under the covers. "Marley?
What's wrong? You made the whole world go still!". Kyra pulled
back the covers to see a red and tear-drenched face that belonged to
her friend. Marley opened her eyes and looked up at Kyra.
"It's Mama, she was mad at me for not cleaning my room so she took away my Lana Del Rey CD and yelled!" exclaimed Marley.
"Oh. I think we need to stick together until this curse is off of us,"
"But how? How do we tell our parents? I don't understand!". Marley sunk back under the covers and Kyra heard a few small sobs.
"It will be fine, we can just have sleepovers for a while,". But Kyra knew something would happen to them, even if they stuck together. They needed to get rid of this curse quickly.
"I don't think I'll be allowed to have a sleepover every night. I am only allowed to have maximum three per week," sobbed Marley.
"We'll have to run away then. Let's pack our bags tonight. You need to come to school tomorrow. After school we can leave,"
"But our parents, they'll be so worried,"
"But we have to. I wish they knew what we were seeing,"
"We could try to tell them,"
"I can't,". With this Kyra had concluded the conversation. Suddenly Kyra heard a faint murmur. It was getting clearer. "Do you hear that voice, Marley?"
"I do, let's listen,". The two girls went silent and Kyra started being able to make out the conversation she was hearing.
A low and gruff voice raged "But their so young! How could they figure it out? I don't.."
A slightly higher voice loudly whispered "Be quiet! They could hear you,"
The lower voice got a bit quieter "But they are two young girls, they won't figure out our trick. I've heard them talking. One of them is so silly that she can't even stop crying for a few hours when she's at home,". At this remark Marley opened her mouth as if screaming, but she held back the sound. Then she stuffed her face into her pillow to muffle the sobs.
The slightly higher voice was talking "But didn't you hear them? They figured out the curse of the map so easily!"
"Now they want to run away, though. We could catch them so easily. They don't know anything!"
"Be quieter!". The talking became to quiet to make out the words again. Kyra was hurt and scared. Marley was still lying with her face in her pillow, it looked like she was going to suffocate.
"Marley, get your face out of there," urged Kyra.
Marley lifted her head from her pillow and looked out the window. "Who are those people?" she asked wearily. It sounded like she didn't really expect an answer, so Kyra stayed quiet. Kyra looked out the window too. It was still raining out. There were a few crows on the dirt road that Marley lived on. A blue jeep drove by and the crows flew off into the distance. The world seemed so detached and yet so beautiful. The air was so still and the world seemed to be holding it's breath, not letting anything make a sound. It was silent and there was a throbbing pain in Kyra's chest from watching her friend suffer.
After a long while, Kyra spoke "I don't care if they want to catch us, we need to leave,"
Marley took a few moments to reply, and when she did it was weak and short. "OK. See you soon,"
Kyra said goodbye as she tore herself out of the black and miserable room into the brightly lit hallway. Marley did not reply. Every step Kyra took made the surface below her feet black and empty.
On the way home Kyra ran because the earth was turning to black quicksand as she put weight on it. Her mind was getting the better of her and now the earth was trying to swallow her.
Chapter
8
During
school the next day Kyra could not concentrate. She got every
question wrong and sat silently in the woods with Marley for the
whole lunch break. Kyra still heard the voices once in a while during
the school day.
During Life Skills class Kyra let the other people in her group do all the work. It just wasn't in her to do things like cooking at that time.
After school Kyra and Marley went into the forest and started heading down the hillside. They had to go through the forest because Tristan would be coming home around this time and they didn't want him to see them. The forest was cold and wet.
After about twenty minutes of walking down through the thick brush Kyra and Marley emerged into the valley and the town of Shafruny. The two of them walked down the main street, Croxley Drive, until they came to town square, at which point Kyra started to hear a voice again. "Let's listen," she said.
Kyra sat down on a bench on the side of a building and Marley followed her. The two of them sat and listened. It was the higher voice they heard now "They are on their own now. We should get them."
The low voice answered "Let's go,". There was a quiet shuffling sound before there was silence. Kyra and Marley looked at each other, both thinking the same thing and saying nothing.
Eventually Marley said out of nowhere "We need to go back to your house fast,"
"But they'll find us at my house!" exclaimed Kyra
"We have to do it, it's our only hope,"
"I guess, but how will we tell our parents?"
"I have no idea, just run,". The two girls ran as fast as they could back up the hill, this time they took the road because there was no worry of Tristan walking on it. They ran until both of them collapsed about halfway up the hill and decided to take a little break. Kyra was so tired that she could barely stay awake. Marley suddenly said "We need to go again,". So the two of them ran again until they reached Kyra's door. The two of them walked inside and went straight up to Kyra's bedroom.
Marley and Kyra made a bed for Marley on the floor and they both went to bed right away. It had been a very long day.
Chapter
9
Later
that night Kyra was just about to fall asleep when she heard someone
knocking on her window. She nervously reached up and pulled apart the
white and blue curtains hanging by her bed. The sight outside her
window gave her such a fright that she froze for a few moments. Then
she jumped off her bed and whispered loudly to wake up Marley
"Marley, there's a guy at the window. Wake up, come on Marley,".
Marley woke up with a start "There's a guy at the window?"
"He's was knocking on it so I pulled back the curtain and there was a guy there,"
"What are we going to do?"
"Let's both go in your bed and try to fall asleep,"
"OK. I don't know how I'll fall asleep with that guy there, though,"
"You'll have to try,"
"OK,". Kyra got into Marley's bed and lay there for a while with her eyes open. No matter how hard she tried she could not close her eyes.
***
It was about four in the morning and Kyra was drifting in and out
of sleep. Suddenly she was very cold. She looked up at her wall and
saw that the window was open. She walked over to the window and
reached out to close it. Suddenly a face popped in and Kyra screamed.
Marley woke up and looked around. "Kyra? You're not in the bed,""The window's open and the guy's still there!". Just then the person at the window grabbed Kyra's arm.
The man whispered "Come or I will come through the window,". His voice was deep and cold. He sounded almost sad.
"Where do you want me to come?" whispered Kyra quietly. Marley ran up so she was close enough to listen.
"Come down this ladder and follow me. Your friend can come too," said the man, eyeing Marley.
Marley stood tall "I will come with you,"
"Good, let's go. Follow me down the ladder," said the man. He disappeared down the ladder and the two girls followed. The ladder was cold and wobbly. Kyra was terrified, but Marley didn't seem the slightest bit scared. Marley looked like she had a plan.
When they got to the bottom the two girls silently followed the men until they came to a little shack with a sign saying "Candsurby Cottage". Kyra had seen this shack before, but she had always just thought that Candsurby was just someone's last name. Now Kyra thought it probably meant something else.
They were led into the cottage and the men sat them down on a patterned orange couch on the side of the living room. The couch was dirty and ripped in a few spots. It puffed underneath Kyra and Marley softly as they sat down. The two men sat down on a black couch across the living room from the girls. Suddenly part of the couch caught fire. Kyra jumped to smother the gently burning flame.
Marley's eyes became huge and when the fire was out Kyra sat back down, her eyes just as big as Marley's. The two girls sat in expectation for what seemed like forever, waiting for the men to say something. The faces of the men were of concern and frustration.
Chapter
10
After
a few more minutes Marley stood up and declared "Well, if we're
not going to do anything, I'm leaving," she turned to Kyra "Come
on, Kyra,"
"Stop!" One of the men held his hand up. "Come back here,". Marley obediently sat back down on the couch beside Kyra.
The other man was mumbling something about maps and sorcery. "What do you want with us?" exclaimed Marley.
The men were both glaring sternly across the living room at Kyra and Marley. "We want to know... what... the map...,". Nothing was really happening at that moment because all Kyra and Marley were thinking about was how scared they were, which kind of sent reality nowhere since they were thinking about what was happening in that moment.
Suddenly both the men fell asleep. They were lying there snoring as if they had been sleeping for hours. Kyra jumped up, ready to leave. The man with the higher voice suddenly screamed terrifyingly in his sleep "No, not the map! Anything else! Destroy it!". The man broke off sobbing and curled up on the floor, the other man was still asleep.
This time Marley stood up. "Kyra, I know what we have to do. Follow me," she informed nervously.
"What are you going to do?" anxiously asked Kyra
"Just follow me,". Marley led Kyra tiptoeing out the door and into the cold night air. They ran to the end of the road and Marley pulled Kyra into a bush. "Listen," whispered Marley "we need to go back to the museum and get that map. I think it might undo the curse,"
"I never thought of that!" replied Kyra. "And now that you said that it definitely will work!" She added enthusiastically.
"You're right! But do you know what I think happened to those men?"
"I know what happened to them, they found the map and went crazy from the curse,"
"Exactly. I think we should look at the map ourselves and then bring it to them to look at so they can undo the curse,"
"Yes. I actually feel bad for them. And now that you said we should bring it to them, we have to!".
The two girls burst out in laughter. "This curse can actually be pretty fun,"
Chapter 11
The
next day Kyra and Marley walked to the museum together. It was a
sunny day and there were robins all over the street.
They arrived at the museum at about ten in the morning and they went straight to the room with the secret tunnel. There was a couple and their little kid in the room. The mother smiled sweetly at Kyra and the little boy who looks about three walked up to Marley and waved as he said "Hi,"
Marley looked surprised for a second and it made Kyra laugh. Then Marley turned around and replied to the little boy "Hello, what's your name?"
"My name's Samuel!" he exclaimed excitedly. He seemed very exited to be asked his name.
"That's a nice name," commented Marley. This was all making Kyra kind of mad at Marley.
Kyra leaned forwards and whispered into Marley's ear "Stop it, we're trying to get them out of this
room,"
Marley turned around and sighed at Kyra "Just a second," she whispered back. Marley turned back to Samuel.
"I'm going to go out now, bye!" said Marley sounding exited. Marley walked out of the room and Samuel followed her, his mother trailing behind. Kyra ran out after her friend.
"What are you doing?" whispered Kyra
"Just wait and see," replied Marley. Marley turned around the corner so she couldn't see into the room with the tunnel. She pointed to a sculpture of a cat on a stand at the side of the room. "Look Samuel!"
"Cool!" exclaimed Samuel
"Guess what, Samuel?"
"What?"
"I know a story about this sculpture,"
"Can you tell me the story?" asked Samuel
"Sure," replied Marley "Once there was a man who hated cats. His neighbours had cats and every time he passed his neighbour’s house he scowled at the cats and walked past them without even saying hello. One day, during the man's morning walk, he saw a black cat sitting on the road staring at him. This was enough. The man believed that black cats were bad luck, so he ran in the other direction. Eventually the man came back, and to his surprise, the cat was still there. 'Why are you still sitting there?' asked the man, and of course the cat didn't answer. eventually some road workers came to re-pave the road and the cat was still sitting there. They poured asphalt over him by accident and it hardened around the cat. Someone called the animal rescue group and they cut open the asphalt-covered cat to save it. They got the cat out and kept the mold that had been made around it by the asphalt. This is that mold,"
"Really?" asked Samuel
"That's really what happened," replied Marley, pretty proud of herself for coming up with that story right there on the spot. Samuel pulled his mother up to the statue and started telling her the story.
"Perfect," Marley whispered to Kyra.
Kyra and Marley ran back into the room with the tunnel. "I'll get the painting," decided Kyra as the approached it.
"OK," replied Marley and she went under the painting into the tunnel as Kyra held the painting. Kyra followed Marley into the tunnel.
The two girls crawled slowly through the damp tunnel trying not to think anything bad. When they got to the box with the map in it Kyra immediately lifted the lid and took the map out. The two girls grinned as they looked at the map. Just in case they both ran their fingers along a couple of the roads and smiled. Marley stuffed the map into her pocket and said, sounding very relieved "No more looking at that map!"
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)