Lilac Valley

History of Lilac Valley

"Good morning class."

A room filled with second semester seniors.

Marty has seen it before.

"Thank you for signing up for History of Lilac Valley. I remember some of you from American History last year."

He waves. His former students hide behind their textbooks.

"I was bumped from the movie class," a boy in the back row says.

"Anyway," Marty continues. "This is an excellent class if I do say so myself. When you chose History of Lilac Valley, you thought it would be just a bunch of boring laws and dates and people you could care less about. You thought wrong!"

Some of the students startle. They are not used to his enthusiasm.

"I make history come alive. When you came in, you all took a syllabus." He grabs the packet from his desk. "As you can see, it's not chronological."

"But isn't that how you're supposed to teach history?" a girl in the middle row, who looks like she'd rather be at the mall, asks.

"Who is the history teacher?" Marty asks. "In elementary school, I'm sure the teachers told you the history of our town. Mostly good things. You find out the bad later."

"Like all the other towns filled with magical creatures, Lilac Valley is land created by witches and warlocks."

"The first magical town in America was Harper's Cove in Massachusetts, a safe haven for witches and warlocks during the Salem Witch Trials."

"As time passed, witches and warlocks spread out. Other magical creatures found their way to America."

"Lilac Valley was founded in in the 1730s by a woman named Lilac Marshall."

"As the human world changed so did Lilac Valley.

People came to town.

People left."

"We could live as our true selves, while also benefitting from the human world that surrounded us."

"As a child, teachers probably told you that everyone lived together in peace and harmony.

As you got older, you realized that was not the case."

"Magical creatures could only go into the human world if they hid their true form.

Humans hate what they can't understand."

"If that weren't enough, there was fighting within Lilac Valley.

Witches and warlocks always thought they were better than everyone else."

The witches and warlocks look uncomfortable.

"Then came the fairies.

Then vampires.

Then mermaids and mermen.

Then werewolves.

No one questioned it in the beginning."

"As the rest of the world fought for injustice, so did Lilac Valley and other magical towns."

"In that list, where do humans rank? It depends on who you asked.

Over time, many became friends with humans and married humans.

They left Lilac Valley and settled in the human world.

There have never been too many humans in Lilac Valley until recent history.

The humans in town knew they were judged.

Their children were judged."

"Sometimes when things went really bad, the witches and warlocks sealed the town with magic.

They could get out, but humans could not get in."

"Some magical people hated humans as much.

Maybe more."

"But I'm not going to bore you with that now.

You will find out soon enough."

"Mr. Rosen," a girl in the front row raises her hand. "The first unit is on the road to peace."

"I know," he says. "Next time."