Jessica was drawing again. The only problem was it was in the middle of class.
"Jessica Times," It was Mrs X her English teacher "since you seem to think you are so smart you do not need to pay attention to my class. Would you like to tell the class what we have to do for your end of year assignment?"
"Um..uh," She stuttered.
"I thought not, Please pay attention next time," She continued to drone on for a few more minutes until she told the class that they were dismissed.
Jessica ran to the pickup line where her dad was waiting for her.
"Hey kiddo, how was school?" He asked when she got in the car.
"It was good," She said as she got out her art book and pencils. From there they drove home in a comforting silence.
Once they got home Jessica went to her room and made sure the door was shut behind her.
She grabbed her homework book and opened her art journal.She started to draw a tree with soft grass beneath it. Someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," Jessica called over her shoulder.
"I just got a message from you teacher Jessica" Her mother said in a stern voice "You need to pay attention in class and get your head out of the clouds. I'm sorry but I need to take your journal away,"
"Whatnoyoucan'tdothat!" Jessica protested. This was not going well.
"I'm sorry Jess, but this needs to stop. You're in year 9 you need to pay attention in class and stop dreaming like a little kid," She started to reach for the book. Jessica had to make a split decision. She grabbed the book in one hand and her mum's hand in the other. She ignored her Mum's protests and concentrated. Jessica took a deep breath and she entered the world she was drawing.
They fell through a whirlwind of colours until the world was formed and solid. She let go of her mum's hand and turned to face her. When she could see her face Jessica almost choked, trying hard not to laugh.
Her Mum was flabbergasted. She hid a smile.
"You look a bit pale Mum. Do you need to sit down?" Jessica took out a pencil and quickly drew a pair of chairs. They materialized in front of them. She guided her Mum to one of the chairs and then sat down in her chair.
"What," Her Mum said when she could speak "what just happened?"
" I discovered that I could draw or describe a world with pencils and paper and enter it when I was in Year 5. I was scared and so I didn't tell anyone." Jess explained.
"Oh,We should get back, we've been here for a while."
"It's OK Mum, Time doesn't pass in the worlds I make. So we can stay here as long as we need. The longest I've stayed in one is about 5 hours. I was sad When Grandma died and you were not home. But you should leave now,"
She reached out and touched her mum on the arm and she was transported back to her room.
As soon as she disappeared in a swirl of colours Jess made a cute dog appear and played with her for a while to calm down.
Once she had calmed down she went back to her room. When she got back her mum was standing next to her desk.
"Well I better get going," She was saying "you go to bed soon it's getting late,"
After her mum had walked out Jess got into bed ready for a good night's sleep. All that drawing had made her really tired.
Jessica awoke in the middle of the night to footsteps creaking outside her door. She decided it would be her dad going to the bathroom or going for a midnight snack. That was the annoying thing about being next to her dad's room. She heard a light knock on the door. Jess turned to face the door slightly to see if she could figure out who it was. Her dad never did this. She could see a silhouette of someone through the crack in the door. They were shifting their weight as if they weren't sure of what they were doing. Then slowly,ever so slowly,the door opened. In the doorway there stood a girl a little older than Jessica. "Who-" Jess got no further because quicker than the eye could see the girl moved across the room and shoved something over her mouth. Jess tried to turn away but she could feel her body going numb and then she faded into unconsciousness.
