Camp Story
By: Tara Perry
PROLOGUE
Amy was 11. In fact, she had just turn 11 the day before. Since she had no friends, nobody came to her party, but her mother gave her a bird, her father gave her a black bike, and her little sister Mina gave her a queer looking silver box with a silver kitten lying on it's cover. She said thank you, and went up the stairs to her room. After putting the box down on her dresser, she went back down the stair.
CHAPTER 1
The Kitten
The woods by Amy's house had always seemed magical. She often times walked her dog Ginger there, but sometimes she walked alone. Today however, the woods seemed more difficult to understand than ever before. She decided that if she sat down, she might feel better. As she sat down, she saw little flashes of silver light darting around on the ground. She looked down, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was, but it was too late. Whatever it had been was gone. She was extremely puzzled and went home to read.
Amy's room was neat and tidy. Everything was purple or silver. Even her stuffed animals, of which she had few, were purple with silver ribbons around their necks. In a corner of the room, there was a little purple dresser. On it had been carefully laid was the silver box. Just then, Amy came in. She smiled at the kitten and the kitten smiled back at her. Amy jumped! how could that tiny silver kitten have smiled at her? She turned again and said "Here kitty." The kitten winked at her and promptly jumped off her box and landed on the dresser top. There it stood, only one inch tall! Amy said to herself, "Amy Elizabeth Rebecca Moore! What is going on in your brain?" She looked at the kitten. It was stone still, and looking back at her from the top of the box lid. Was she seeing things or had that kitten moved?
"Amy Elizabeth!" called her mother. "Come down for dinner!"
"Coming mom," she said, as she turned out the light, closed the windows, and locked the door. Then she went down the stairs to dinner.
CHAPTER 2
Making Friends
Amy had been thinking about the kitten. Had it all been a dream? She excused herself from dinner early. She went upstairs, fumbled for her room key and it wasn't there! How could she have been so stupid! It could be anywhere now and worst of all, she would have to tell her parents. She was about to go down the stairs with the unfortunate news, when she heard a small, shy little "meow" and the latch turned. She tried the door. It worked! Then she saw the kitten again. So it hadn't been a dream after all.
She reached out her hand and said "Hello" in a low whisper. The kitten replied with a look of contentment and hastily clambered up onto Amy's hand and fell asleep. Amy gently put the sleeping kitten on the lid of the box before falling asleep herself. A hush fell over the room.
There was a little wooden bridge where Amy liked to sit and write. Sometimes she'd write for hours on end. Pages and pages and sometimes whole notebooks would fill up with the same long story. One day she was sitting on the bridge writing about some strange planet that she had made up. She was just about to get to writing about the inhabitants when something hard hit her on the head. Startled, she looked up from her notebook just in time to see a very peculiar object disappear under the bridge. Anxious to see what the strange object was, she turned over on her stomach and grabbed it as it emerged from under the other side of the bridge. It looked like a miniature boathouse. It was probably someone's toy. She would take it home for the kitten to explore.
CHAPTER 3
The Kitten's Discovery
The kitten tiptoed across the room and with much difficulty, managed to get on top of the bed. There was a soft, purple and silver patchwork quilt on the bed and she thought she might take a nap. On second thought, she could also go exploring underneath the bed and fall asleep there. It would be safer to sleep on the soft purple carpeting without being seen. Suposing someone other than Amy came in! The door wasn't locked. So without further ado, she slipped under the bed and promptly fell asleep. Amy burst through the door so loudly that the kitten woke up with a start and cautiosly peeked out from her hiding place to see who it was. When she saw it was Amy, she felt more comfortable. Amy set the boathouse down, and rushed off to write about the colony of aliens on her new planet.
* * * * *
The kitten went inside the house. It looked familiar. She was sitting in the kitchen on a moss rug. She really did remember this house! She had grown up here. Sne went into the next room. There was a fireplace. Every object she saw was like reliving her childhood. She remembered sleeping in front of the fireplace once. She went to the back of the house. She could almost hear her mistress calling her name: "Here, Xynthia!"
She sat down in the middle of the room and looked around. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming from the loft. The loft was a kind of attic. But in this little boathouse, where space was precious, there were a bedroom and a food storage place. She wondered if someone new had moved in. She was about to run out of the house and under the bed when a voice said, "Xynthia? You came back?" She turned and looked back. There stood a beautiful young lady. Xynthia just sat there, remembering the cold rainy day when the current had swept her out of the house and onto the banks of the river. The little girl who found her put her on a box and that's how she had become Amy's birthday present.
Amy came home about four p.m. and nearly fainted when she heard talking coming from the boathouse on the floor. She peeped inside and saw Xynthia and her mistress Mary sitting in the kitchen. She was a bit startled, but she asked Mary to come out and they soon made friends.
CHAPTER 4
Gone!
Amy woke up the next morning and found the boathouse gone and a note in its place. The note said: "You have until five p.m. today to get your little friends back. If you don't, I assure you I will destroy them. Sincerely, Miss Lilian S. Rpckford."
Amy wasn't afraid. She knew who Lilian S. Rockford was, and what the "S" stood for. Lilian was a pro sorceress. But don't assume that the "S" stood for that, because it didn't. Amy was very annoyed. What could she do? She decided she would have to go see Lilian herself.
Lilian lived in a small mansion in the forest. It wasn't really there, but it was real enough to Amy. Amy had been inside before. She knew Lilian was tricky. The house looked massive for a small mansion. Amy rang the doorbell and a man opened it. Inside, the house was beautiful and had a warm, sunny light all around. There were men and women there in fancy dress and they talked quietly and listened to the music. Amy raced up the grand staircase and ran to the room at the end of the hall. She gave the door a firm push and she was in. There was a crackling fire before her, with a big leather chair in front of it. From the back the chair seemed vacant, but Amy knew that Lilian was in it. With a loud, clear voice, Amy said, "Hello, Lilian, I've come."
The leather chair slowly turned and a beautiful young woman said, "Then let the fun begin."
CHAPTER 5
Lilian's Defeat
Lilian got up from her chair. Amy took a life threatening step forward. Just as she had expected, not two inches away from her foot was a gaping hole of bluish nothingness. She dreaded the thought of falling down into it. Then she got an idea. Amy ran around the hole once, turn around and looked at Lilian, and then ran out of the room. A few minutes later, Amy came back to the room and looked around. There was no trace of Lilian or the hole. Lilian had hopefully fallen in and the hole must've closed up after her. Amy picked up the boathouse, made sure that Mary and Xynthia were inside, and then dashed out of the house.
When she got to the bridge, there was Lilian as plain as daylight. Amy set down the boathouse, walked over to Lilian, gave her one strong push, and the last that was heard of her was a "Noooooo!!!" and a splash. And that was that. Mary and Xynthia came out and Mary said, "Amy, we would be safer in our boathouse floating down the river." So that was done. Amy often thought about them, but she always thought that they must be okay.
EPILOGUE
Two Years Later
Amy was turning 13! She was going to be a teenager. On her birthday, a small package arrived from her aunt. It was a small silver bloodhound statue. She set it down on her dresser, and said "Stay." And it stayed. For a long time.