The Candlestick People

Chapter 1

  A candlestick is lit. A baby is born. If your candlestick is blown out, you are gone. This is life. I am Susan B. Ash. And I have no idea where I am. Let us start from the beginning, shall we?

"Susan," Mom called, "are you awake yet?"

I groggily open my eyes, looking at the clock. One minute until class begins?!

I leap out of my bed, tearing to the closet and throwing on the first clothes I can grab.

"Bye, Mom!" I can hear her laughter behind me as I jumped out the door.

I raced to school. I burst through the door to my classroom yelling, "Sorry I'm late, Mister Jack!" All the kids in the class turn around and stare.

I blushed. Oops.

"It's okay, Susan," he replied. "You have your Candle?" I nodded. "Yes? Good. Everyone, please gather around for your scripts!"

"Our scripts for what?" I whispered to my best friend, Serafina A. Burn. She and I had a long past together. We became friends when she volunteered to be my partner in GE (Glowing Education) when we were playing fire racket.

"Yeah. We're doing a play on how we became candlepeople," she replied.

" Oh. Okay," I answered. I walked up to Mister Jack and took my scripts. Uhhhh. "I have the main part!" I whisper furiously to Sera.

"Uh, Mister Jack, am I supposed to have the main part?" I squeaked. "You remember-" I pause, looking around nervously, "what happened last time?" I had thrown up on the first day we were practicing.That was when I had the flume, so of course I did, but what if it was from nerves and it happened again? I thought to myself.

"Yes. I want you to have a chance to stand out. While you're well. Besides, I thought you'd be fine with it seeing as you're fine with singing in front of the whole class while we're working," he said in his deep voice, raising an intimidating eyebrow.

I glumly headed back to my seat. Well, this day just went further downhill. Now its- it's like a cliff! First I wake up late, then I'm late for class, and now I have the main part of a play! I could feel the anxiety creeping up on me, making my stomach turn. Yep. Probably was nerves.

"You okay?" Sera asked, worried.

" Ummm, I'm not sure. Mister Jack gave me the main part. I'm worried that I'll mess up in front of everyone. Or worse, throw up," I said anxiously, turning slightly green.

"I think you're the best person for the part," she tells me. She gives me a hug and smiles encouragingly down at me, her height reminding me of a mom.

No, I'm not. But I can try anyway! I thought. Just... need to get my stomach under control first!

When I got home, I told my mom about the play.

"And you're nervous? Susan Black Ash, you are the best actor I know!

You're even better than Woody Aflame, and she's your favorite actor!"

"Really?" I said quietly, afraid of the answer (which would be "of course not", followed by loud, mean laughter, which I admit was completely unlike her).

"Definitely!" I looked up in surprise. Had I heard wrong? No! She even reached over to me for a hug.

"Thanks, Mom. Hey, shouldn't Dad be home by now?" I asked.

"He's getting you a surprise. Ok, you need to start your homework and then rehearse for the play."

"Okay, Mom," I replied, assuming she was joking. I started my homework. When I was about to get started on rehearsal, Dad suddenly burst in.

"Who is the best dad in the candlehouse?" He said, like every day.

"You are, Dad." I said, not really paying attention, my leg bouncing up and down. So many words! I didn't know how I was going to memorize all of it.

"Did you grab Susan's surprise?" Mom whispered to him, but I heard, and Dad noticed.

"What surprise? Oh, you mean the one I was late because of?" He teased her, winking at me.

"Haha. Very funny."

"The surprise is..." He paused dramatically, "Oh, no, your Candle is blown out!"

My heart skipped a beat, I will admit. I looked over at my Candle out of reflex, despite my skepticism. It was perfectly fine. I looked back at my Dad, exasperated. He was grinning.

"Dad!"

" Okay, okay, the surprise is... your new candlephone!"