The Candlestick People

Chapter 5

  He turned toward the window. "Wait!" I realized I was yelling, but I did not care. "You're Unknown?!" And as I watched, he jumped out of the window and disappeared.

"Argh," I grumbled. I heard footsteps outside my door in the hall and realized Mom was coming. I quickly laid flat and shivered now and then.

She saw me laying down and must have thought I was only having a nightmare because she walked over and shook me. "Susan, wake up. You have to go to your play practice. Your play is today!" she murmured. I slowly sat up, stretched my arms, and yawned.

"What? It is?" I turned my head over to where my calendar is, and it had (written in purple ink) the word 'play' on it. I inhaled sharply and leaped up from my bed and asked Mom to let me change real quick. She obliged and I got dressed as fast as I could.

I looked out the window after I changed, hoping to see Un-. Ugh. I kept forgetting his name was Sawyer. He was pretty cute. Wait, what was I saying?! The only thing I knew about him was what his name was, and I was saying he was cute. I was so tired. I just wanted to skip the play and sleep more. Too bad. I had been working too hard to skip this. I quickly ran into my bathroom and did my make-up for the play. I was thinking hints of gold, with mostly red and a little white. Anyway, why had Sawyer run away right after I finally got to meet him? He was TORTURING ME!

Mom called me, so I ran downstairs, inhaling a statuestick, which I decided will be a statue of Gorgiana Inferno, whom I represented in my play, and I wanted to have it taste like mint chocolate, but I wanted it to be yellow so that Mom thought it was an egg- or banana-flavored statuestick, as when we do not choose what color it will be, it changes to the natural color of the flavor. I hopped in the car so we could drive to the play. I got a day off from school because of the play, since I will be graded on this instead of my normal schoolwork. I saw the school pass by and remember how I, uh, WE (I guess this main character thing was going to my head a little) were doing the play somewhere else, since no one would want to go to a school for a play. I thought we were going to the local stage, Canle. I was not only going to be the main character on a stage, but I am also going to be the main character on a famous stage! My flame, I thought I was going to either throw-up or faint.

I felt the car turn, and I started to inadvertently lean to the left, as we were turning right to Canle. I felt my stomach start to churn. "Mom, I can't do this! I'm not ready!"

"Of course you can! You have been practicing every day after school! You are so ready! If anyone deserves this, it's you! Besides, I'm not going to waste all that money I paid for this." she joked. Bella laughed. She wanted to come to help with setting up the stage.

"Ha, ha, very funny. You didn't pay at all." I was still not exactly reassured. I was still probably going to throw up. We turned into a parking stall. I pulled the door handle and got out. I heard the candlecar door open and turn. Mom was following me. "What -?"

"Just wanted to tell you that your sisters are all coming, and to tell you to break a leg." She replied quickly and stooped over for a hug.

"Thanks, Mom." I and Bella ran inside and backstage. Mister Jack was there. I ran up and asked, "What can I do to help?"

"Just go practice!" He barked at me. "No! The Fan goes over there, Kesha!" I could tell he was nervous so I ran off to practice. Bella and I met up with Sera. Bella wished me good luck and went to help set up the scenes. Sera was Gloriana, Gorgiana's twin.

After a while, Mister Jack told us to get in position. I ran up to the stage. The curtain rises. The show has begun. It had started with a speech to the past candlepeople. "Gorgiana" had touched on how the world was being infested with something called pollution, which no one knows what it is since it happened so long ago. "Gorgiana", aged fourteen, had gone to the leaders to plead that they go to find a new world for them to live in.

They agreed that if she managed to find an inhabitable world, they would take the people to the world. She went into something called a "spas-chip" to find this world. She blasted through "spas". She found a red and orange glowing planet. She was curious about why it was glowing. She steered her "spas-chip" to the planet. When she landed, there was a candle, sitting right in front of her. She reasoned that since the candle was burning, it must be a habitable world, where her people could breathe.

She went back to her home planet and told them about the Candleworld, as it had become to her, though she didn't mention what she called the world to her people. They all hopped in her "spas-chip" and flew to the Candleworld.

I climbed the hill where "Gorgiana" had originally landed. As I set "Gorgiana's" candle down (which was my candle) and, as the sceners turned on the Fan, I exclaimed, "Behold The Candleworld!". Then I doubled over. I had felt as if a part of me had disappeared. I looked at my candle. It flickered and died. I looked out at the crowd, at my sisters, at my family, and wondered if they had even noticed. I started to blackout and fell. I heard the crowd start to scream as I faded away.