The Disappearance

by Lelia Byron

Chapter 1

The Real Story

As a girl walked down the street, she realized that something was wrong. She looked to her right at her six-year-old brother clutching her hand, he was fine. But somehow, she had the feeling she was being watched. She spun around and cautiously looked around her. Nope, nothing. She let out a big sigh, but still she knew something was wrong. Somehow she got the feeling to run. She carefully whispered to the little boy hanging on her hand to run. And that's just what they did.

The girl and boy ran six blocks home, and when they reached their house, the girl sprinted inside dragging the boy. She ran frantically through the house desperately trying to lock the windows and doors. The little boy standing in awe began to think that his sister had gone crazy. The girl managed to get everything bolted and started closing all the blinds and shades. It was 3:30, only an hour 'till I'm safe, thought the girl, for at exactly 4:30 her parents come home, and they would protect her, or so she thought.

The girl and the boy sat in front of the TV set waiting. But when 4:30 came, there was no voice saying, “Anna, Josh we're home.” Anna was not worried for there could have been traffic, but when 5:00 came, her whole body seemed to take a leap. She didn't know what to do. In confusion, she ran to the phone, but what would she say and who would she call? She couldn't call 911 and say, “Hi my parents are a half an hour late, could you send the police? Thank you.” She ran to the cabinet and thrust out the phone book. She frantically flipped through the pages until she found Hazelwood Bank where her parents worked. But before she dialed the number, Josh, being very confused, started howling with tears. Anna told Josh to shut up. Josh was afraid of his sister ever since she started acting crazy and told him to run, and he closed his mouth with extreme speed. Anna dialed the numbers and was talking to someone within seconds.

Chapter 2

The Babysitter???

“Hello is Mr. & Mrs. Gregory there?”

“No, I'm sorry, they left an hour and a half ago. Who is this? You can try and reach them at their home number.”

“This is their daughter, and they should have been home a half hour ago!”

“Honey don't panic, let me page them, if you could just hold a sec………………… no, they're not answering.”

“Oh my God!!”

“Could you hold, that's my other line.”

“Josh I swear if you don't shut up.”

“Honey, I have some bad news, your parents got in an accident. Tim, the neighbor, will take you to the hospital.”

Anna hung up the phone unconvinced that this really happened. She stood there screaming until she threw up. Tim came and guided Anna and Josh, one in each hand, out to the car.

Anna continued to throw up in the car, despite the leather seats. Tim was not the brightest duck in the pond, but he was very kind. He sat there oblivious to what was happening.

When the Corvette pulled up to the hospital, Anna ran in dragging Josh, leaving Tim dumbfounded in the car. As soon as they were inside, Anna ran to the front desk.

“Which room is a Mr. or Mrs. Gregory in?” Anna asked frantically.

“I'm sorry, there is no Gregory here” was the receptionist's reply.

“No, there must be a mistake!”

“No, no there is no mistake. We hospitals don't make mistakes.”

Anna ran with Josh to the car, but there was no car. Anna thought she had gone crazy and screamed, “Is this some kind of a sick joke?”

From somewhere, Anna heard a scream. Then, almost as if someone were right next to her whispering in her ear, she heard, “Anna this is no joke, we want you…………… and we will do anything to get you. Even if it means making you mad.”

Anna screamed, “Well you won't get me, you won't, ya hear? Now leave, leave, leave!! And I'm taking Josh with me!” Now Josh looked like he had just heard the entire conversation and turned a pale white. “Anna, what was that thing? Make it stop, it's scaring me.” “You heard it too?” asked Anna. Josh nodded.

Anna decided that she wasn't crazy and proceeded home like nothing had happened. But she knew that it had happened. And something in her head kept reminding her, because every time the wind blew and the leaves rustled, Anna tightened her grip on Josh's hand. When they finally reached home, everything was normal. Anna got a sickly pale look on her face and said “Josh look at the clock.” Josh looked and for a second stopped breathing because what he saw astounded him………it was 4:30. Anna said “Don't worry, the battery must be dead.” But then the two kids heard a familiar voice, but it wasn't their parent's voice “Anna, Josh, we're home early.” Then they saw their parents, how could this be? The woman said, “Kids, this is Mrs. McGradey, she will be babysitting you tonight.” Josh knew this woman would be trouble and tried to break for the stairs. Anna decided to make a good impression on the very suspicious woman, so she grabbed onto Josh firmly and put him in front of her. She politely said, “ How do you do Mrs. McGradey? I'm Anna, and this is my brother, Josh.” But there was no answer. Mr. & Mrs. Gregory left, leaving Anna and Josh stuck with this strange woman. You might ask how was she strange? And I will tell you. For one thing, whenever she breathed, she grunted in a deep male voice. She was wearing a poor ragged dress and expensive boots that must have cost millions. Oh, and did I mention that she had a beard and a mustache.

As soon as the adult Gregorys were gone, Anna and Josh ran to Anna's bedroom. Normally, Anna would object to having Josh in her room, but tonight was different. Around six, Anna & Josh heard a bell ringing. They went downstairs to investigate, and they found the strange babysitter ringing a little bell. She said, “Y'all been mighty quiet up there. Dinner's ready, and after dinner, y'all need to stay seated 'cause I got somethin' to say. And ya ain't gots ta put your dishes away.” Anna and Josh sat down to a delicious meal and ate.

The crazy woman (or so they thought) cleared the table. When she came back she said, “Now les get down to business. I know what happened to y'all dis evenin' and that's what I'm here for.”

Josh and Anna exchanged nervous glances wondering how much this woman really knew.

The woman just laughed and said, “A long time ago, ya grandma gave ya that necklace, right before she died, right?”

“Yes,” said Anna

“Did she tell ya'll what it was?”

Josh spoke up and said very quietly, “She told us that it was very important and special and so very valuable so that we were never to lose it or to give it to someone else, no matter how tempted we were.”

Then the woman relaxed a little, for she now knew that the necklace had been taken care of and prepared for a story, “ Well a long time ago in a land you kids," –Josh just had to interrupt and say, “You lost your accent.” “Why of course, honey, you don't actually think I normally talk like that, that was just my cover……… now where was I? Oh yes, a long time ago on this very planet you kids live on, there were three women. They decided to make a new world, a peaceful world away from the earth. So they set off into a galaxy far beyond. They reached an untouched empty planet and decided to make do. It was a small planet, so small and bare. Nothing on it, just one empty nothing. The three woman decided to put their powers together to create the land. Felisimo used her power of strength and force to build and mold a world. Shelon, with her power of beauty, created beautiful creatures and plants. Alicina used her powers of wisdom and courage to give everything a mind. The three women then forced the rest of their powers into something, but what was it? No one was really sure."

"Everything was perfect, nothing could possibly go wrong. But soon, a man named Clark Manteno entered the new planet and soon became very jealous that some people had lived here all their lives in beautiful peace and harmony. He tried to murder someone, but the three queens caught him and banished him from the planet. Clark swore revenge on the queens and spat in Felisimo's, Alicina's, and Shelon's faces. Felisimo wanted to kill Clark right then and there, but Alicina said it would not be wise."

"So Clark lived. But in a secret hideout, Clark came up with a master plan to ruin that paradise and make it into a planet just for him. He captured many of an animal called a Kelong. He tortured each and every one of them until they were no longer beautiful, but hideous. Then he said, 'Look what your queens have done to you, they destroyed you, and we must take revenge!' Clark tried to come back to the paradise planet, but couldn't. He was trapped out."

“He's still living, isn't he? So that's who spoke to me and that's who followed us home,” said Anna

“Yes, Anna, he's still here. At the time he was trapped out, he drank a potion that would keep him alive forever. He knew that finding the door to the planet would take awhile, and he needed much more time than he'd normally have. Clark somehow found a way to send his army full of Kelongs into the planet, in another secret hideout. Your great-great-grandmother was alive during the time of Clark's banish, so the queens gave her the door to the planet, and told her never to lose it. Now your great-great-grandmother wanted to live a normal life and left the paradise planet to live on earth. She had a child and gave the necklace to her, who gave it to your grandma, who gave it to you. I don't really know anything else except Clark thinks you have the necklace, and you must get into the paradise world before it's too late.”

“But how will we do it?” asked Anna.

“I'm not sure, you two must find a way,” said the woman, “but I must go, the spirits are calling me. Do not dawdle, you must hurry.”

And with that she was gone, just like that. Well, Anna and Josh were pretty stunned at the moment, and stood there speechless for a few minutes before Josh said, “Come on Anna, we must experiment with the necklace. Well don't just stand there.”

Chapter 3

The Door to Paradise

Anna and Josh were sitting up in Anna's bedroom, trying to figure out how to open the door to paradise. Josh had an idea that if they opened the locket, the door would open, so they tried everything to open in. Countless times did they try to open it with tweezers, fingernails, pins, but nothing worked. It was getting late, so Anna put Josh to bed and then went herself. It was Friday, so they'd have all day tomorrow to work on it.

The next day, the two kids woke at the crack of dawn to find some research. They went downstairs with flashlights into the dark basement to find some of their grandma's belongings, which might help them.

After hours and hours of searching through their grandma's books, Josh started to get cranky and fidgety and started to complain, “Anna, my feet hurt, and there's nothing in here about how to open a locket.”

Then suddenly Anna had a brilliant idea, “Josh, why don't we take the necklace to the jewelry store on the corner of Dorvy Street. Maybe they can open it!” Eagerly, Anna and Josh ran down to the jewelry store, but still had no luck. The man there said he could open it, but he would have to break it. Anna and Josh said, "No," and left sadly. When they got home, it was Josh's bedtime. His Mom sang him his lullaby and left the room.

Anna was so happy, she thought she knew how to open the door. She snuck into Josh's room and said , “I know how to open the door, we've been going at it all wrong. We can't open it by force, but we can open it with wisdom. That song Mom just sang to you, Grandma used to sing it. Try singing it, Josh.”

Josh opened his mouth and started to sing the lullaby and something magical happened. There were fireworks everywhere, and the next thing they knew, they were in a beautiful forest with flowers all around them.

Chapter 4

The Paradise World

After about an hour's magical ride, Anna and Josh ended up in a beautiful world and found themselves very wet.

"Ewwwwww” Josh screeched, “I'm all wet. Gross!”

“Be quiet, Josh, we don't know what sort of creatures live here.” Anna hushed Josh.

“ It's beautiful here. What could possibly go wrong?” Josh stood up and smelled the brilliant air.

Just then, a great big sort of huge hideous black bird swooped down and grabbed Josh's shirt. “HELP,” Josh screamed in a panic. Anna, without thinking, grabbed Josh's dangling leg and managed to free him from the three bird claws. The bird flew off in an effort to save himself from becoming dinner himself, but what he did not know was that the children had no intention of cooking the bird, for the thought hadn't even crossed their minds. Josh grabbed Anna's arm and sprinted into the bushes. He had become very nervous since the bird incident.

“Let's get out of here,” Josh pleaded. “We've done what she wanted, now let's go.”

“No, there must be something more we need to do, this just seems too simple, and besides, how do you propose we leave?” said Anna.

“The way we came in, of course.”

“I wouldn't count on it.”

“Well let's give it a try. If we leave, we can always come back again. Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaase.” Josh gave Anna one of his best puppy faces, and Anna found it very hard to resist.

“Alright, but you try it alone. I'm going to stay here in case you can't get back.”

Josh grasped the locket in his hand, and Anna backed far away. Josh started singing, and suddenly there was an explosion and a loud scream from Anna, and then they heard a man 's voice, "Thanks for letting me in kids, I knew I couldn't have done it without you opening the door for me.” And then the voice disappeared.

Chapter 6

Mr. Bopper

Anna and Josh stood there in confusion. What had just happened, had they really just let Clark into this beautiful paradise? Then out walked an animal, a cross between a penguin and a bear, “Come with me,” it boomed. Not knowing what else to do, the kids followed, but it was a mistake. As soon as they came close enough to his reach, the animal transformed into a man. “You fools,” it screeched, and those were the last words Anna and Josh heard. Clark turned the planet into a horrible place, a place you wouldn't even dream of in nightmares.

When Anna and Josh woke up they were very confused. They were in a small, cozy room, with some type of mannish bustling over the fireplace. When the mannish looked up and saw the two children were awake, he yelped out in joy.

"Who are you?" said Anna, rather alarmed.

"I am Mr. Bopper, I am the Queens' aid. And you children are in the palace!" he replied.

"You mean the three queens palace?" said Josh.

"Yes" said Mr. Bopper

"But how can this be? I thought we had let Clark destroy this world."

"Ah, but you did let Clark destroy this world, for about 30 seconds. The Queens' were very worried about leaving you children in charge of the necklace, so they sent me to await your arrival in the bushes. And so I waited for three days, Clark seemed to have the same idea and he waited also for three days. Because we are both, anamorphs (that means we can change into any form or animal that we want) we both changed ourselves into little bugs and did not recognize each other. When you two children showed up, Clark was quicker than me and jumped out and grabbed the necklace. I quickly turned myself into a giant beast and ate Clark, but I did not eat the necklace. As soon as I had the necklace, the world was beautiful again."

"So we did help save this world?" said Josh eagerly.

"Yes, you most certainty did," said Mr. Bopper "And tonight they will have a feast and ceremony in our honor."

"But, Mr. Bopper" said Anna, "there's one thing I still don't understand. How did we get from our world to this world?"

"Ah, that my friends," said Mr. Bopper, "is a story for another day."