Arethia

Preface

Kneeling by the window, the light rain softly taps on it, as she gazes outside watching the children splashing in the puddles on the sidewalk. She frowns at their happiness and excitement. If only Tommy Dweiler didn't get her sick with the flu, she would be outside with her friends, stomping in puddles with her purple galoshes.

Her mother kneels beside her and drapes a blanket over her shoulders.

"Awww, I'm sorry little bug," she rubs her shoulders. "There will be plenty of rainy days. You'll see, Emily."

Emily looks over at her mother and smiles. She gets up and lies down on the couch. She wraps the electric blue fleece blanket around her for warmth. She begins to drift off to sleep, when a ring of the doorbell wakes her up.

Her eyes are glued to the ceiling as she hears her mother open the door.

"Oh hello, Gavin!" Emily's heart leaps at the sound of his name.

"Hi, Mrs. Crane." His tiny seven year old voice says. "Is Emily home?"

Emily turns over and peeks her head up over the arm rest. She hides her smile underneath the blanket.

"She indeed is, but poor little girl's got the flu."

"That's alright," he says, "my mom made me get a flu shot last week." His eyes dart to Emily, peeking over the couch. "Hi, Emily!"

Emily waves, shyly. She hops off of the couch and over to the door next to her mom.

"You should rest, Emily," her mom says.

Emily shakes her head, "No, I feel fine! See?" She begins hopping up and down to show her energetic self.

Her mom smiles down at her. "Well," she turns to Gavin, "Since you had your flu shot-"

"Yay!" Emily shouts. She squeezes her mothers waist as she lets Gavin inside.

"Here, let me take your coat to dry."

"Oh, thanks," Gavin says, giving her his jacket. "So, what do you wanna do?"

Emily shrugs her shoulders, "I dunno."

"I know what I'm gonna do," Mrs. Crane interjects. "I'm going to make you two kids some snacks. In the meantime, why don't you two play up in Emily's room?"

"Okay," the two kids say simultaneously.

They run upstairs to the light green room with a fake vines glued to the wall. Emily's dad modeled it to look like a forest.

"Wow," he says as he enters the room. "It's like magic."

"Thanks," she blushes.

He turns around and faces her. "Do you believe in magic?"

"Of course!"

He smiles at her, and it's a genuine smile. "Would you like to see a magic trick?" She nods her head.

He grabs a water bottle from her bedside table and curiosity rises in Emily. He pours a little bit onto the floor between them.

Emily gasps, "What are you-"

"Shhh. Now give me your hands."

Her heartbeat increased as they sat there and held hands. She didn't even care that her palms were sweaty and every inch of her was riddled with disease, because in that moment, she fell and fell hard.

Gavin closes his eyes, breathes in and breathes out. He opens them and looks at the water. "Look," he whispers.

She looks down at the water and little droplets start to float up in the air. All of the water he poured on the floor is now in the air around them.

Her breath is taken away. "Whoa," she exhales. "You're like. . . like a wizard! You're like Harry Potter! This is- This is amazing!"

The droplets are above their heads now. Gavin lets go of her hands and the water falls all over them.

"What was that for?" she exclaims.

He laughs at her. "Because you couldn't play out in the rain." His smile turns into a serious face. "You can't tell anyone, Emily. I mean it. You can't tell anyone."

She nods her head. "I understand."

"Pinky promise?"

She links her pinky with his. "Pinky promise."

"When you get better, I want to show you something."

"What?"

"It's a magical place with the most awesome castles and unicorns and stuff."

"Unicorns exist!?" He nods his head. "What is this 'magical place' called?"

"Arethia."

A/N

This is a rough draft for a story I literally came up with half an hour ago.

(So around 5:30.)

Anyways, I would love to hear some feedback for you guys on this preface. Please let me know what you guys think, what I should add any suggestions, characters, anything really!

Thank you lovelies for reading this!

-J.A.