Home Away From Home

Chapter 3: My voice and vision

Horus walks up the stairs, and halfway up motions me to follow. I nod. I have to trust him. When we get on the second floor, I see a girl in a boat, at the launching place. I never understood what it's called. The girl laughs to herself. She's having fun, I can tell- even though she's driving the boat back and forth in a little 3 by 3 square. She sounds about my age, and is wearing a panda hoodie. Her hair is rainbow coloured, and she has eyes that twinkle when she smiles. She reminds me of someone, but I can't figure out who. She spots me at that moment, and her little smile breaks out into a wide grin. "2BESTIES!!!!!!" She screams, jumps out of her boat, and runs to me, arms outstretched. I take a step back. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?" I ask, startled. She slows to a stop. "You don't remember me?" She asks, her voice wavering. I shake my head slowly. Suddenly, she breaks into sobs. "It's okay, 2besties doesn't remember me either. Something's wrong." Horus says to the girl, trying to calm her down. It doesn't help. She just sobs more. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." I say guiltily. I feel horrible. She sniffs. If she sobs any harder she won't be able to breathe, and every time we say something, it only makes her cry more. So we just stand there in complete tranquility. "Hey, is there any way to make you stop crying? I feel really bad." I whisper, breaking the silence. She nods, wiping a few more tears. The crying is starting to cease. "🎶Quack if you wanna, you can smile all the day, quack if you wanna, it's the only waaaaay...🎶" She starts singing in between sobs, and starts to smile. That song. It's so familiar. I start to sing, not knowing what I'm saying. "🎶Remove the worry, nothin' bad will come your waaaaay...🎶" She stares at me, her eyes as wide as the waffles they serve at those hotels. (Figuratively, of course.) And Horus is staring at both of us like we have just spoken in a foreign language. The girl grins and continues, and I do too. "🎶A quack or two...🎶"
"🎶Will see you through...🎶"
"🎶QUACK IF YOU WANNA!!!🎶" We sing together, and start laughing. Suddenly, I feel weird, like I've been under the sea (🎶UNDER THE SEA... UNDER THE SEA... SQUIDDY IT'S BETTER DOWN WHERE-🎶 I'm sorry, I had to... 😄) for the past 45 minutes, and I've just come up for air. "Whoa..." I trail off, and fall on the floor. "2b!!" I hear Horus and the girl scream, and I feel 2 arms grab me. My eyes are closed, but for some strange reason, I can see everything going on around me. I can see them lifting me up, like that game... What was it called again? Knights, Maidens, and Cavaliers? Something like that. I tense up from being sideways. I always doubt people's abilities to hold me, upside down or not. (Because I'm so tall, I weigh more then an average sized girl. I guess I forget that boys my age are waaaaaaaay stronger than my sister. Or any other girls my age.) "Whoa!" I hear him scream. "I think I just felt her tense up!" I try to open my eyes, but I can't. I try to speak, but I can't. I sign something out, and I see his eyes are wide open, but I keep trying to communicate with him. My efforts are useless. "Hey, do you know sign language?" I hear him ask that girl. "No." She says, and sniffs. I think she's crying. I move my mouth. I can open it, and make little noises. I can scream, kick, draw, write, the whole shebang, but I can't open my eyes or speak. Once I get that across to my new friends, they get a book and quill and make me write. They're both being really nice. They don't talk, they write what they want to say to make me feel better.
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H: Horus  2: 2besties  -: The Girl

H: Can you talk?

2: No, but I can make little noises, scream, and what not. I can also see, although my eyes are closed. It's weird.

-: WAIT!! Horus, remember when you were talking to your friend at recess in French?!

H: Um... Yes...

-: Maybe 2besties can speak in French to you, and you can translate!

2: That might work, but I haven't tried singing yet. I'll try singing, and then French.
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I put my pen down, and clear my throat. I started humming the intro to Rather Be. (I have it stuck in my head as I'm writing this 'cause it was on in a store) "🎶Do do do doobie do do...🎶" I sing, because I don't exactly know the lyrics. Horus stops me. "Now try to sing English." I open my mouth, and close my eyes, lost in the tune in my head. "Hey, 2b?" I open my eyes and look at him. I cock my head. 'What?' The movement says. He sighs. "You're just mouthing the words." I sigh too, and just when all hope seems lost, the Girl jumps up from her spot beside me, knocking the table. Quick as the Ender Dragon, I grab the edge of the table. "Oops, sorry. I just had an awesome idea!" She smiles, and sprints off. I lower the table slowly to the ground, when Horus turns to me. "Hey, I just wanted to say, nice job grabbing the table." He says, giving me a heart-warming smile. It seems familiar. I feel like I've known him for years... My inner debate is interrupted by the Girl coming back in the room with a jukebox and a music disc. A black ring is surrounding the hole in the centre, but this disc isn't cracked like 11 is. I hope it doesn't sound as eerie. She places the jukebox on the floor, and slides the disc in. I hear the sound of a pop song, and within 3 seconds I know what it is. I hear the lyrics float from the box, and clap my hands over my ears. I scrunch up my face. It's Shake It Off. I ha- no, strongly dislike pop Taylor Swift with a passion. But I have a strategy for blocking out the sound of any song from 1995 or whatever the album's name is. I sing an old Taylor Swift song. The song I've chosen when Shake It Off is playing is You Belong With Me, from the Fearless album. So although I know I won't be able to speak, I still feel like I should. I hum the intro, and start to sing my old favourite song.
🎶You're on the phone with your girlfriend she's upset,
She's going off about something that you said,
'Cause she doesn't get your humour like I do...🎶
I notice the girl stopped the music, so I stop singing. "Wait, sing again..." She says. I shrug, but do as she says.
🎶'Cause she wears short skirts,
I wear t-shirts,
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers,
Thinkin' 'bout the day when you wake up and find that what you're,
Lookin' for,
Has been here the whole time...🎶
I stop there, because their faces are too good. I muffle a laugh, and then start laughing out loud. By the time I'm done my laughing fit, there are tears in my eyes and cramps in my stomach. "Oh gosh, your faces, oh gosh, I can't breathe. Oh gosh, I can't handle this!!!!" I laugh, and realize that I spoke. My eyes are wide, and so are theirs, and I realize I can see properly. After 3 minutes of staring, I speak. "I-I'm cured. I'm cured!!!! PARTAY!!!!!!" I shout, throw in a different disc, and start dancing. The girl and Horus stare at me a bit longer, and the girl gets up. She starts dancing and laughing, and finally Horus gives in.
************************************* We collapse on the couch, exhausted, but grinning from ear to ear. My smile is wiped away by my vision adjusting. Memories come flooding back into me, but I can tell that one stayed behind. I look at the girl, and remember who she is. "Sarah?" I ask, and she stiffens. "What?" I ask. "Did- do you remember me?" She asks me, still facing forwards. "Sarah... You're one of my best friends... We're Stampy fans..." "I'll need a bit more proof than that, just to make sure. What you just told me- that's common knowledge." She crosses her arms. I sigh. "Okay... Well... There was that one time, the first time we hung out that summer, when we were baking cupcakes. Your brother had gone to England, and brought back some super sour candy, and left them on the table. I had the idea to shove three of the most sour candies onto a cupcake, and shove tons of frosting and cotton candy on the top so he would think that it was really sugary, and we gave it to him, and after about 5 or ten minutes... We... Heard him... Say..."Hey! There's... Toxic waste... In here!!!!!" I say in between giggles. I'm having a laughing fit right now. Once I calm down, I wipe a tear from my eye, and notice Sarah was quiet during all this. "You okay, Sarah?" I ask. She doesn't answer. "Saaaaraaaaah..." I say, waving a hand in front of her face. She turns around and hugs me, and I hug her back. "Sarah." I sigh happily. She sighs back. "2besties."

Hai people, 2besties again. I told you she didn't have amnesia! BTW, you should really check out You Belong With Me. For all the country pop fans like me, it's a really good song. So yeah, see ya later! Hope you're enjoying the book so far!
Your friend,
2besties :) <3

P.S: I hate how my iPod's keyboard has such tiny keys, so I keep going to type 2besties, but it comes out as 2nesties. Grrr...