The Storyteller - ONC 2022

Chapter 5: It's Nice To Have Friends

"Now, I think it's time you got to meet some of my friends," Aunt Penelope said cheerfully starting to lead Amy towards the house, only to feel resistance, her long, blue-and-white laced sleeves pulling even tighter as Amy's feet remained planted where she stood.

"What's wrong, dear?" Her aunt could see the tears welling up again as Amy's mouth quivered.

"What if they don't like me?"

Aunt Penelope bent down, her heavy cotton skirt billowing out around her, until her eyes were on the same level as Amy's.

"You know, it's funny, but they asked me the very same question about you.' She lent in close,  and whispered "And I think they were even more frightened then you are. But don't tell them I told you so." 

She winked then stood up slowly. 

"Amy my darling,"  Aunt Penelope's voice suddenly flowed like warm honey. "Life is too short to wonder 'what if?' or 'why not?', just because we are afraid of the answer. Yes, it's true some people will like you while others won't, and that's alright. Because you may not like everyone you meet either. I like to think friends are similar to food. I absolutely love ice cream and I don't mind carrot cake, but I dislike pumpkin pie.  It's not the foods fault, its just my personal taste. Except pumpkin pie.. that's  definitely its fault. It's disgusting. Ughh!!! " 

Aunt Penelope shuddered once, then put her arm lightly around Amy's shoulder, hugging her

"The secret, I always say, is to be yourself. You see, the right people will like you for who you are, and those who don't aren't worth a moment of your thoughts." Amy felt a comforting warmth spread throughout her body, before her aunt let her go. "So  what do you say? Are you going to give my friends the chance to get to know you? I know I'm looking forward to it." 

With her heart beating very fast  and her  bottom lip caught between her teeth, Amy gingerly nodded, placing her hand in her aunt's and took a deep breath before walking side by side up the concrete path. Lucky it was a wide one, as her aunt's dress took up most of it. They had only gone a few steps  when the woman suddenly stopped.

"Are you ready, my dear?" Aunt Penelope's eyes were bright almost glowing  with excitement.

"I think so."

"Good. Because I would like you to meet my most dearest friend, Alfred."

Amy looked around and couldn't see anyone. Then she noticed her aunt was looking at the roof.

"Come on Alfred, don't be shy."

Amy looked up. Her mouth dropped open.

The face!

Frightened, she would have stepped back if her aunt hadn't still been holding her hand.

Could it be a troll?  Books and movies didn't do it justice  at all, if it was.

It wasn't above the roof, anymore, like she had first believed. In fact, to Amy, it looked like the troll had merged with the house, as its giant face protruded from the middle of the roof. 

It was looking right at them.

And... it was not happy.

Amy's eyes grew so wide, they threatened to pop right out of her head.  

The face's forehead was creased, eyebrows pulled together over  furiously squinting eyes, and his cheeks were puffed as though he was going to explode. The fierce expression made her flinch.

With no body, arms, legs or hair,  she supposed it looked a little like the face on Thomas the Tank Engine, except  it was oval not round and its fat lips formed a straight line with no smile in sight. 

She was sure it was the same face she'd seen earlier, only this time, it was very angry indeed.

Amy had the horrible feeling that she wasn't welcomed here.

"What's wrong Alfred?" Her aunt pulled Amy behind her back.

"Penelope, I couldn't stop them. They walked right  through the barrier."

 Amy was stunned... The face could talk? The ripples in Alfred's deep voice very much reminded Amy of her dad's base guitar. 

"You have to get inside." He continued. "I can't protect you out in the open." 

"Do you know who they were?" Aunt Penelope's usually calming voice sounded abrupt and worried.

"No. But the window was still set to your last destination." Alfred shook his head, " I don't understand how they got through the mesh fortress. I was so careful." Amy couldn't tear her eyes away from his face, noticing the emotions quickly flicker from anger to confusion and then to something else. All she could think of was that his big brown eyes now looked so sad. He was even biting his lip like she did when she was upset.

"Its not your fault, Alfred, I know you did your best. We'll get through this, my friend.  You know what to do." As the face nodded, Aunt Penelope looked down at her little niece. "I was hoping for a bit more time, but I suppose nothing teaches you to swim like jumping straight into the deep end. Come Amy. We had better prepare for our visitors."

"Are they more friends of yours?" Amy asked, not really understanding the situation.

"Oh, my dear child, if these are who I think they are, then they are friends to no-one."