the Forest of Emmitaenu

Prologue

[Art by Valeria Bogado]

Dedicated to all the authors whose novels and series have had an impact on my life and how I write, thank you!

To my mother for being so supportive and my family and friends who've been there through thick and thin, I truly appreciate it.

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The round plastic clock on the wall had ticked its way to three twenty.  Ten minutes to go before the final bell rang.  That's when all the students would race out of the room ,dash to their lockers to stow away all their books (out of sight, out of mind) and push their way to the waiting buses.

A note slid across a table in the third row on the left side of the classroom.  Lara Eliza Liam, a pretty sophomore girl with medium length red hair and bright green eyes, discretely concealed it under her hand.  The French teacher went on lecturing from the front of the room completely unaware.  Peeking under her palm, Lara could read the letters TGIF scrawled across the paper in classmate and best friend Eli Roger Williams' chicken scratch.  He had decorated the acronym with a rudimentary smiley face.  Lara bent her head over the scrap paper to write back.

Thank goodness, she scribbled neatly.  I have the house to myself this weekend, its mom and dad's anniversary and they are flying to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate.  She pushed it across the desk to him with her eyes innocently locked on the chalk board where Madam Francis taught first year French to them.  Lara had already completed the assignment in class that was being given to them as weekend homework.  Eli read the paper and watched their teacher for an opening to write back without getting caught.

When the note came sliding back into Lara's possession, Eli had written an excited suggestion that she throw a house party.  He even offered to help set up.  Lara didn't write back since the bell rang at just that moment and everyone was on their feet before she could completely crumple the paper in her hands.

Together Lara and Eli left the classroom, half shoved out the door by eager students behind them trying to escape.  Lara pitched the crumpled note in the trash bin by the water fountain in the hallway.  "No." She told Eli at last.

"Lara are you sure?  You know most kids are just dying for opportunities like this."

"Which is probably why they never happen to most kids.  My parents trust me Eli, because they know I wouldn't blow it doing something ridiculous like that."  She rolled her eyes at the idea.

Lara and Eli navigated their way through the halls to their lockers.  The frenzy of underclassmen racing around like a flock of panicked geese gave away their status in the high school hierarchy.  Every freshman and sophomore was rushing around trying not to miss their buses.  Lara and Eli would have behaved the same way if it wasn't for Christopher Raven-Cooper who always gave them a ride home with minimal teasing at their expense; which would only last until next year when they would be driving their own cars.  

Chris dropped Lara off first since she lived the closest to Darby Dale High, the home of the Dolphins.   A cab was waiting in front of her driveway and Lara tripped over one of her parent's suitcases at the front door.

"Oh good! You're home," her father David commented as he walked down the stairs with another suitcase, this one smaller than the one she'd fallen over.  "Lara sweetie there is a list of emergency contact numbers on the fridge, okay?  And you have our cell numbers if you need to reach us."  He kissed her forehead and continued past her out the front door to put their luggage in the cab.  Triauve, her mother, strutted gracefully through the living room into the foyer.

"Lara princess, we have to go or we'll miss our flight.  If you need anything just call.  Phones were invented for a reason," she said as she beamed a smile at Lara.  Her mom always had this odd pridefulness when it came to technology, as if she'd invented it herself.  A kiss on the cheek, a hug, one I love you  later, and Lara was left in the house by herself.

She hadn't budged a single step from the entry since the moment her father picked up the toppled suitcase and scooted past her out the front door with her mother close behind.  I hope they catch their flight, Lara worried after them.  Slinging her empty backpack over one shoulder, she started up the stairs to the second floor of the house.

On the landing Lara had the option of two doors to the right, one to the left, and one more (a bifold door) situated just above the first floor entryway.  No sense in her going there unless she wanted to throw her backpack in the washing machine.  Instead Lara walked through the first door on the right which led to her bedroom.  She dropped her backpack beneath the wall shelves that held her framed photos.  On the top was an old collage capturing years of friendship between her, Eli, and Chris.  One shelf down had a pretty silver frame featuring her favorite close up of her parents from their wedding.  She hadn't been born yet but the pictures made the whole day look absolutely magical.

Against the wall at the far end of her room, wedged in the corner by the foot of her bed was her computer desk.  The screen glowed as the screensaver of dancing shapes changed colors and spiraled across the monitor.  She wasn't in the mood to play games on her desktop and she didn't have any homework to do so she decided to head back downstairs.

From the stairwell to the living room, Lara sifted through their collection of Blue-Rays and DVDs on the racks inside the entertainment center.  When she had rifled through the entire collection and none of the movies appealed to her, she sat back on her heels and pursed her lips together.  It was barely past Four o'clock.  She needed something to pass the time.

Remembering her fathers VHS collection, she knew she would find something she was in the mood for among the classics.  Maybe she'd even find a copy of Monty Python!  Bouncing to her feet, she cut a 'u' shape walking through the dining room and kitchen to get to the garage.  Is she could find the right box in there she could find her favorite VHS tapes.

The garage was not an organized area.  It could shelter one and a half cars, but since they didn't really expect to store an extra half-car in the garage, the rest of the space was free storage.  There were shelves all along the back wall to organize everything, but things had gotten so out of hand that they didn't even put the car in here anymore.

Boxes were stacked from front to back in no particular order.  The shelves held random tools and supplies. A box of light bulbs sat next to a wrench, and next to that was a fishing box.  Leaning in the corner was the fishing rod, sharing space with a push broom and a weed whacker.

With nothing but time on her hands, Lara got to work searching through the rubble to find the object of her desire.  Four-thirty came and went before she maneuvered her way back toward the shelves where she started.  Giving a longing glance toward the kitchen door, and then an equally longing glance back toward the unlabeled mass of forgotten possessions, Lara resolved to give it one more shot.  

Climbing on top of a mountain of stacked boxes, she reached for the top shelves along the back wall.  If she could get her hands on just one tape it would all be worth it.  Leaning precariously into the shelves, Lara balanced the best she could on the uneven boxes.  Her hands scanned the top shelves where her eyes couldn't see.  When she bumped something with her wrist that was overhanging the edge, it fell off the shelf, hitting her hard on the shoulder.

"Ow!" Lara shouted and reflexively yanked her arm back which made her teeter off balance.  She started to pinwheel her arms in large circles and less than a blink later she was twisting in the air.  She didn't have time to adjust feet first before she hurled right for the hard concrete floor with nothing to break her fall!