BOOK TITLE

Introduction

Introduction ~

Ever since I was little, I was in love with books. In fact, after I was born about five minutes later my mom put a book in my hand to keep me from crying. They actually videotaped it. I took the book and smacked my face into it. Well, my face smacked the book. Don’t laugh, or do because then I started to cry again, but the crying was more like little sobs.

My mother was so happy the day I was born. I was her third baby out of the five. Yup, five kids. Two older siblings, and two younger ones. I’m right in the middle. My mom was such a risk taker back then. I mean, wanting five kids? Only if she would have known the crazy fantasy that she would soon be stepping into.

Nate is the oldest. Man, we had the best of times always getting into trouble. I was four when he was eight. Nina who is  two years younger than him would always be scolding us. Whenever we ran around the house like crazy mad men she would always say, “Ohhh! Nate and Zoey. You is in trouble!”, but it sounded like “tu-bull” instead of trouble, which only made us laugh more.

A year after I was born, my younger sister Nelly was welcomed into our family. She was such a cute baby. Nate and I would always sneak into her room in the morning  before he had to go to school and squeeze her cheeks. They were just so chubby we couldn’t resist! If Nina saw us, she would warn us that we were in “tu-bull”, but Nate and I always ignored her.

I was a six-year-old sweetheart when Nando was born. The last of the West family.

By then my mom and dad were blessed with enough kids, more than enough to handle. I’ll name all of them for you. Nate, Nina, Zoey, Nelly, and Nando. I’m the only kid in my family whose name doesn’t start with a “N”. Should I be thankful? I mean at least Mom and Dad now had the big family they had always dreamed of, but how were they planning to take care of all of us?

Back to the day I was born. Happy moments for all, right? Nah, I don’t think so. Once I was sent to the hospital nursery I was just waiting and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I actually don’t remember much from then, but you would? I was like seven hours old. All I do remember though is being taken, and be crying so very loudly my lungs felt like they were getting scraped by a knife. Trust me, I had no idea what was happening. The guy stuck a pacifier in my mouth and told me to shush.

Apparently he was on some sort of drugs because his girlfriend dumped him, (I’m not too surprised), and he thought it would be a good idea to raise a child. Really?  I don’t really know. Teenagers, they have messed up minds. I should know. I have two older siblings!

When Nate was twelve he stopped being really nice to me. Always had his door closed. Never came down with the family to eat.  What was he doing on the computer the  whole time? A year later, Nina turned on me too. Although she never really liked me I still missed her.

“Zando? I know you probably don’t understand me but promise me. Promise me that you won’t  become a Nina. Or a Nate.”

“Bleff?” He looked up at me with his blue eyes.

“Bleff.”, I nodded. “Belff forever.” I promised Then  I asked my mom when Nina would come down.

“She’s a teen. They don’t like to socialize very much anymore. We’ll at least not with their family. They think it’s not cool.”

“What? I’m be looking so cool!” I argued. Mom only laughed.

“Yes, I’m sure that’s not the reason why, Zoe.”

“But, then why so?”

“They are going through some things.” She explained.

“Oh? They be nasty things? Or good things?”

“A little of both.”

“Bleff!” I shook my head, as if trying to get the words out of my ears. Nando copied me. “Bleff!” he spat. I hadn’t looked forward to puberty after that.

When I came home, two days later after the hospital accident I was kissed on the cheek by Nate. He just absolutely loved me! I wondered if he did the same for Nina, but I guess not. She was one year younger than him, and I was four years younger. Nina, treated me like a Barbie doll. I kid you not, full makeup and everything. She told me I was so pretty, but at the age zero, I had no clue what that meant.

Nate was definitely my role model. He was just someone I looked up to, literally. I wanted to be just like him. From head to toe. My big bro was perfect, until that whole teen thing. Bleh, I still get goose bumps. “When I get older,” I told him one day. “I am going to be a writer. And you Mr. Nate, are going to read my books!”

“Okay Zoe. Whatever you say.”

When I was four, one of the best years of my life, because of course, my look for books and writing got stronger. More powerful. When you're that little, you can’t read much. You can’t think about what’s going on in a book or relate to it yet because you haven’t experienced it yet. But, that’s why it’s fun. I can  think about anything I want.

I used to think that a book wrote itself. And that kids were made from plants. Also, hippo’s were tall and liked cheese, and would some day take over Canada! Okay, don’t get me wrong. I had nothing much to compare it too. I was small, and hadn’t seen the world very much. Dude, you wouldn’t believe the crazy mind that I still  have.

One day, I went into my parents room and saw some weird looking things. A lot of weird looking things. All stacked up, really pretty looking, on a shelf. What were they? Now I bet you can already guess. I ran downstairs as fast as I could. “Nina!” I shouted “Nina! Nina! Nina! Where are you?”

“Zoey, be quiet!”

“Nina! Nina! Nina! Nina!” I found her on the ground drawing. She had all of the coloring supplies that mom and dad bought for us. “Woah”, I said. My jaw dropping to the ground. “You can draw Nin!”

“Well, I can’t really draw when you're so loud.” She turned her head to look at me, and I saw what she was drawing.  

“That’s so very pretty.” It was a fairy. She had yellow and pink wings. She held a baby’s pinkie finger. She was kissing it, and the baby was smiling. At the top of the paper were words that said  ‘... And It Was Blessed’

“So…?” Nelly asked.

“Hmm?” I had already forgotten what I was going to ask her.

“You were yelling my name. Non stop. For what?”

“Oh, yeah. What is this?” In my hands I held a book. A small book. It was one of those Magic Treehouse books.

“That’s a book.”

“And what does it do?” I asked, still very confused. Nina came over to me. Picked me up and put my in her lap. She put a strand of my brushed brown hair behind my ear. I looked up at her now smiling face as she whispered.

“A book”, she said. “Is a collection of  pages, with words. And they… they tell a story… they can transport you into a magical world. Full of anything. Just think, anything.”

“Anything…?” I questioned her. Surely not believing her.

“Uh huh.”, She leaned her head down closer to my ear. “Anything.”

And that’s how it all began…

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