The Forbidden Side

Lizzie

"Julia," Lizzie crashed into her sister's bedroom.  It was bland.  The walls were painted yellow, but you could barely see them.  Every wall of her sister's perfect-square bedroom was lined with a bookshelf or two.  Every shelf was packed until it looked about to explode.  Lizzie looked down at the plain yellow carpet.  It was littered with textbooks and binders.  Lizzie had expected her super smart sister to be a little neater, but she stayed focused on why she was in the room in the first place.

        "Julia did you hear those alarms?"

        "Hmm?"  She looked up from her book.  "Alarms, yes, but I paid no attention to them."

        "Why not, what were they for?"  Lizzie asked.

        "Someone unregistered from Home tried to sneak into the Forbidden Side where we live.  A minor, I think."

        Once again, outsmarted by a nine-year-old.  "A minor?"

        "Yes, a person under the age of legal responsibility.  Usually under eighteen years old."

        "Erin and Adam," Lizzie mumbled.  "Thanks, sis."  Julia put her nose back in her book.

        Lizzie ran back down the long hallway and into her brother's room.  His walls were painted orange with a poster of Dash from The Incredibles stapled on.  Other than that, his walls were bare.  There was no carpet in the room so he could practice his super speeds, and his desk and bed were stuffed into a corner so he wouldn't bump into them.  But he did bump into Lizzie.  Lizzie looked up and saw a mess of blond hair and screaming blue eyes.  "Get off," she ordered, pushing her brother off of her back. 

        "Sorry."

        Lizzie stood up and brushed herself off.  "Hey, did you hear those alarms?"

        "Yeah," Justin said.  "What were they for?"

        "They were for Erin and Adam trying to get here!"  A smile grew on Lizzie's face.

        "They're coming back!"  Justin yelled.  He sped around the house six times in a second before coming back to his room.

        "No," Lizzie said, the smile disappearing.  "They were trying to, but they were caught."

        "Wow," Justin looked angry.  "Home stinks."

        Lizzie nodded.  That's why they were chosen.  To help the people of Home get their choice back, to get their freedom back.  Lizzie walked out of the room and thought, just briefly, about going to Katie's room.  She smiled to herself.  No way.

            Lizzie walked back to her room.  She sat at her desk and opened her Thought Log to the next clean page.  She closed her eyes, and tugged the thought of the alarms out of her mind and into the book.  What were the alarms for?  Erin and Adam were trying to come home?  They were captured?  She closed the journal and put in the shadows of her desk.  She walked around her room to clear her head, and then walked over to her giant arch windows. She opened it, and stuck her head out.  Erin, she thought.  Adam?  I know you're out there.  I know your trying to come home.  I know you can't do it alone.  You know I can help you.