This is a short story I made for my school project. I hope you like it.
It was a quiet, typical day. The cool breeze was sweeping my hair gently, and as I listened to Adele’s “SLY,” I daydreamed of living a life of passion and peace. I suddenly felt a slight vibration which snapped me out of my reverie. I sighed and flipped open my old pink battered mobile phone. “1 NEW MESSAGE,” it said. I ran my finger through the control ball and saw that it was from Marci. The message said, “Hey! Want to come to the mall with me?” I felt my mouth curl into a smile and texted back, “Sure, I’ll go with you.” I got up from my bed and tottered to the bathroom. I took a hot shower and dressed up. I wore a white sleeveless dress with a denim vest. I slipped my Sanuk on and headed for the door. To my surprise, Marci was in front of me causing me to let out a little squeal. Her hair was up and she wore her usual outfit: t-shirt, denim shorts, cardigan, and her Sperry Top-Sider boat shoes. “Hey, Ella. Ready to go?” she said. Laughing, I said, “Yeah, let’s go!”
The streets were deserted. Our voices echoed back after every word, fragment, or sentence. Man, that’s creepy, I thought. After some blocks, we finally arrived and headed inside. The mall wasn’t jam-packed today as usual. Well, Alderato was never a tourist spot, just an archetypal place. Fully Booked was in front of us. It had a small entrance with glass windows that let you see right through it. Marci said grinning, “To the bookstore!” I laughed right through the spot. After I realized that she was already off to Fully Booked, I tried catching up with her.
I went to the young adults section and saw a medieval styled book. The moment I touched it, I felt something strong. It felt somehow wrong, but I couldn’t help my curiosity. I grabbed the book on the wooden shelf and felt power rise in me. The book lied on my hands and when I was about to open it; it opened by itself. I yelled for Marci. Finally, she appeared. Marci asked, “What happened?” “I don’t know. One minute, I was holding this book; and the next, this,” I said. My feet were turning blue. I dropped the book in horror. It wasn’t even cold in there.
Before I could stop her, Marci took the book from the floor. I yelled at her, “What are you doing? Are you insane?” Marci smiled, “Oh, don’t be silly. I’ve been rummaging this bookstore for 15 years to see this and now you found it. Thank you.” I was confused, 15 years? What’s happening?
I felt the ground vibrate; the walls were changing. I felt like the oxygen was being sucked from the world. Worse, I can’t see Marci. For a minute, my vision darkened; but it returned swiftly. I was in a castle, I guess. Instead of concrete walls, there were brick walls. The place was lighted by some half-used candles. In the dim light, I saw two armored knights by a carefully made door. The knights were unmistakably sleepy with the lit candles showing the dark circles under their eyes. I crept up near the grand staircase. The grand staircase looked like it belonged to a fairytale. I climbed down the stairs as silently as possible but I don’t think my effort on it was working at all. I felt a cold hand on my shoulder; it felt hard on me. I turned and saw Marci. “Where do you think you’re going?” she said with a grimace. I stood there stunned; she was wearing a long red velvet dress with a matching headpiece. Her hair was in a bun. Marci looked at me with a disapproving look. “You are going with me pronto,” she said with a sigh.
Marci explained everything to me. She wasn’t from my generation; she was from the Middle Ages. Marci was the one of the people the king assigned to help him to save the Kingdom of Encatho. The only way to stop the evil warlocks and witches was to find the Pecradiolith. It was a powerful book the warlock, Adremiah, stole from the king. The Pecradiolith was a powerful spells book. The spell they wanted was Gretad. It was the spell that would destroy any chosen one and the power of the one destroyed will be given to the one who casts it. Finally, we stopped. We were in front of a cathedral, I think. It had glass windows with different colors. The cathedral was in the suburbs. That’s peculiar, I thought. Cathedrals were to be in the town square. I brushed it off; it wasn’t like I’ve been to the Middle Ages anyways. We went in. There weren’t pews at all. It was full of doors and surrounded by books of all sorts of stuff. The books’ names were written in Latin which I never studied.
Men wearing long red cloaks were staring at me. Questioning looks, disdainful stares, and murmurs were there. Marci pressed her lips together and said, “Est puella de qua dixi. Ella Allegro.”
“Est illa humana?” a man asked with curiosity. “Sic, est. Ella credit quod sunt bonum folks,” she answered, greatly relieved that I didn’t know what they were talking about.
Marci saw me, staring at the man I just noticed. He was hanging from the ceiling with blood smeared all over him. I knew this was all wrong, and I was wrong too. They weren’t the good ones; they were the bad ones. I felt like falling to pieces. Marci said something in Latin which sounded like cursing and suddenly I was thrown to the brick walls. I felt my back hurt and my hands were spattered with blood. I felt my mind racing. I thought of my reverie again; passion and peace, passion and peace. Suddenly, I’m back in my room. I felt dizzy. My iPod was still on and Adele’s “SLY” was playing. I checked my phone, and there was no message. I felt relieved.
Knowing I will never know what happened to Marci, I cried my tears out. She was evil but it was like her kindness was sincere. I still miss Marci up to this day, but even if I could bring back time; I wouldn’t help her in that moment to destroy the kingdom. I am Ella Allegro and that was the story of how I lost my only best friend.
