Fantasia

Chapter 3

The next day was a Saturday, so, their parents didn't wake them up. Ellie was the first one to wake up. She stretched and yawned, and then shook Vicky up.

Both of them then went down for breakfast. After that, they decided to go for a walk in the park. It was cold outside, so they got their coats. They walked through the park.

Ellie looked around and took a deep breath. 'it's a wonderful day, isnt't it?' She said.

Vicky was focused on a rock that she was kicking. 'yeah...' she muttered.

Ellie glanced at her from the corner of her eyes and said, 'anything wrong, vicky?'

'nothing...' Vicky replied. 'ok, fine, I'll tell you. I kind of have this feeling that –' she stopped in mid sentence, as it started raining at the exact moment.

They didn't have an umbrella with them, so they ran to the nearby café and slid into the nearest table.

'hooh!' Vicky exclaimed.

Ellie had her pocket money with her, so they ordered a slice of chocolate cake each.

As they were eating their cake, Ellie said, 'Now, what were you saying?'

Vicky looked confused.

Ellie sighed impatiently and said, 'whatever you were telling me when it started to rain?'

'oh... right. I was saying that I kind of have this feeling that something exciting is going to happen. That happens when something exciting is actually going to happen. And this time, the feeling is really strong.' Vicky replied.

Ellie frowned, and Vicky could almost see her sister's mind working in front of her.

After a moment or so, Ellie just shook her shoulders really fast and said, 'I need to use the bathroom. Come with me.' Both of them stood up, and went to the ladies' bathroom. While Ellie used the bathroom, Vicky waited, thinking about the exciting events that were about to take place. Ellie came out and together, they came out.

Suddenly, she yelped and grabbed Vicky's coat, pulling her as well. They both fell with a thud, tripping with a thud and they fell so hard that the gems in the necklaces they wore were pushed back (funnily in unison) and suddenly, there was a vortex of light that sucked both of them in, and as they were going, they could hear two little boys giggling and their mother shouting an apology to whoever was near her.

They fell through the vortex with such force that they couldn't breathe, let alone scream or yell. After what seemed like a century (it was only ten minutes), they stopped and fell on the hard ground.

'ouch!' they both yelled, and got to their feet.

Vicky looked around. They weren't lying in the café anymore, but they were in a kind of forest surrounded by trees of all sizes. There was a pathway in the middle, exactly where they had fallen.

'where are we?' Ellie asked, now brushing off the dust from her hands.

'well, we certainly aren't in the café anymore.' Vicky replied, staring around in awe.

They heard rustling and crunching of dead leaves, indicating someone coming.

'hide!' Ellie whispered and they dived behind a bush.

A boy about the same age as the twins appeared on the path. He was slightly taller than Vicky, had sap-green hair, brown eyes, was wearing a painter's apron and was holding a small paintbrush in his hand. He had a small pair of translucent wings, and he walked down the path nervously.

Ellie tried to peer over the bush both of them were hiding behind and fell over, and the boy heard the sound of crunching leaves.

He spun around, saying, 'who's there? Show yourself!' he tried to sound brave and confident, but the twins still could hear the nervous quiver in his voice.

Without a choice, they slowly stood up. The boy noticed them and yelled. This startled the twins and they started screaming too.

After a minute or so, the boy calmed down and walked up to them. Now that he was close, they could see that his ears were pointed.

He said, 'who are you?'

Ellie was quick to introduce herself and her sister. 'My name is Elizabeth. She's Victoria, my twin sister.'

Vicky scowled. Her sister always used their actual names when she was introducing them to others.

The boy frowned. 'Elizabeth? Victoria? What kind of names are those?'

Before Ellie could say anything, Vicky piped up, 'Our mom is a fan of vintage stuff, so she named us those. But you can call us Ellie and Vicky.'

The boy looked at both of them with strange looks. Finally, he said, 'my name is Strokes. Where do you live? I can drop you there if you like.'

Vicky tried her best to control a giggle, 'Strokes? As in, painting Strokes?' she asked.

Strokes stiffened and said, 'yes, the painting strokes. I am a painter elf, and do you have any problem with that?'

Ellie nudged Vicky in the ribs and said with a sweet, forced smile, 'oh no, no. We don't have any problem with that at all. Oh and I was meaning to ask you, would you mind telling us where we are?'

Strokes looked confused. 'we are in the corner forest of course. How could you not know that?'

'um... can you please tell us in what country we are in?' Ellie asked.

Strokes looked so confused that his face was all scrunched up. 'We are in Fantasia. There's no other place, right?'

Ellie and Vicky were so overwhelmed, they sat on a tree stump in complete silence.

Strokes finally said, 'Are you girls lost? If you are, you can come to my house and stay there for the night. Then, we can find a way back to your place.'

They looked up at him gratefully and followed him to his house.

On the way, he told them about fantasia. 'Fantasia is an island, and there are so many kingdoms here. There's the corner forest, where we are now. Then there is the Elf Empire, ruled by Empress Esmeralda, The Fairy kingdom, ruled by Lady Iris, The witches' brew, ruled by Cackle. Then the dwarf caves, ruled by Sir Grumpy, the Troll Territory, ruled by king crackhead, the Lilliput kingdom, ruled by Sir Smallface, The pixie kingdom, ruled by Queen Pixella, the goblin garage, ruled by King greenface, and the mermaid bay, ruled by Queen Oceana.'

'Interesting!' Ellie said, as she was keen to learn more about Fantasia.

Vicky was getting bored and interrupted, 'I hate to cut the history lesson, but can we just get going now? I'm starving and really, really tired.'

Ellie giggled and Strokes said, 'Sure. Right this way.' He led them to a small tree house. They went in and looked around. It was a big room, with a hammock in a corner, a small kitchenette, a big couch and a table filled with paint pots and canvas.

'I'm sorry, it's a bit messy.' Strokes took his paintbrush from his pocket and picked up a canvas. Without even dipping the brush in paint, he began to paint a bowl of fruits. He went close to the canvas and muttered something to it. Suddenly, a bowl of fruits popped up. He carried it to the twins, who were sitting on the couch.

'Help yourself.' He said, and they did.

As they ate, strokes looked at them in a strange way, as if he was trying to scan their faces and match it with some faces he had in mind.

Vicky noticed this and frowned. 'why are you looking at us like that?' she asked, and strokes shook his head. 'sorry. It's just...well...I think I have seen you somewhere before. I just cant figure where.'

Vicky shrugged, and Strokes continued to think. Why did Ellie and Vicky, whom he had just met, seem so familiar to him? He decided to let the matter be, and he created two more hammocks and all of them went to bed.