I had a blast at Wonderland Camp last weekend! I saw my old
friends: Gianna, Dustin, Melissa, Shelby, Ann, Mark, and Jason. I also made some
new friends: Abbie, Cindy, Aaron, and Kalie. On Friday, before dinner, I got on the zip line. I always love that thing. It feels like I'm flying. Then, we were supposed to do a craft, using popcorn and candy corn but I was too busy eating the candy corn to actually do the craft. :) During crafts, a guy dressed as a pirate walked in. He called himself Captain Scalawag. I think that he was from a restaurant or something. He looked so much like Johnny Depp that I wanted to take a picture with him. After dinner, we had a camp fire. We sang silly camp songs and ate gooey, delicious s'mores in the chilly evening.
On Saturday morning, we painted pumpkins and colored pictures. Then, we played inside hockey in the dining hall, using pool noodles as sticks and a beach ball as the puck. It was funny. I got confused to what team I was on but I got the ball in a goal once.
In the afternoon, we then rode the boat. The wind was freezing cold but everyone bundled up and the boat ride was still relaxing. I just took a shower afterwards to warm up. For a craft, we made ooey gooey (it's like slime that you play with). We then shot BB guns (Dustin helped me). During rest time, I told a scary story to Kalie about a camp demon that knocked on cabin doors at night. Everyone was laughing hysterically.
Later that evening, the real Halloween fun began. I dressed up as Jack Skeleton. We trick-or-treated around camp (more candy, yay). Then, we went through the haunted house. There were fake, stringy spider webs everywhere, spooky music, red and black lights, and people were jumping out at us. It was awesome! Other campers were sort of scared but I thought that it was cool. I only screamed to make campers waiting in line think that it was scarier than it really was. ;) After the haunted house, we took a hayride. Finally, after the hayride, we went to the dance. I was dancing, singing, laughing, and playing around with friends. It was so much fun!
On Sunday, everyone got ready to go home. The weekend was very cool and it was good to see old friends and meeting some new, awesome people. I always have fun at my secondary home. I can't wait until next summer, for more amazing stories.
On an unusually
blustery summer night, the impairies had gathered around the small log cabin
where the Veiled Women lived, for it was the night that they picked an impairy
to have the Daé Nít Potion. The Veiled Women had changed over the years, coven
members passing away and new women joining but they always continued with the
tradition of giving the three bottles of potion. The women never seemed to look
for specific qualities in an impairy. Most impairies thought any one of them
could be picked but Shadow noticed that they seemed to always chose the younger
ones. Shadow and Donella were the youngest at the time.
As they waited
outside of the cabin, Shadow sat beside Moonlight and was looking around at the
others. The others were giggling devilishly, stirring about excitedly, and
chattering about who they think was the lucky one but Shadow saw Donella
smirking and rolling her eyes unenthusiastically. Donella didn’t want the
potion. For reasons that were beyond anyone’s comprehension, she had no desire
to be with humans or be in the light again. She thought that the darkness was
enjoyable to play in and that it was easier to trick humans at night.
“They better not
pick her,” Shadow whispered to Moonlight heatedly, “It’ll be a waste. The
humans wouldn’t even go near her with that ugly smirk of hers!”
Moonlight let out
an half chuckle, half meow and replied, “Don‘t worry, they‘ll do what‘s right.
They‘ll pick an impairy with a personality.”
Most humans
didn’t know it but animals could actually talk. Only magical beings could
understand them though and Shadow always confined in Moonlight. He was a wise,
friendly, humorous, loyal cat.
Finally the
Veiled Women emerged from the cabin, all thirteen women standing in a straight
line and the impairies unusually in a hush. Impairies normally had no problem
expressing their exhilaration even during the most serious of situations, but
when the potion was given, they somehow managed to control themselves.
“Friends,” loudly
announced Orrla, the eldest of the coven, “We have chosen the impairy to
possess the three bottles of Daé Nít! Enough magic to be out in the light and
be among humankind for three months, then come back to tell you what they have
seen!” She paused and the impairies’ gleaming, cat-like eyes burned into her,
as they smiled widely and licked their lips in anticipation for the news.
“This is a great
privilege…a honor,” continued Orrla, “and this honored impairy is Shadow!” They
all gasped with shock then suddenly cheered for her, hollering and hooting
loudly. Even though they thought that she was just a misfit and resented her
because they thought that they deserved it more, a part of them was still happy
for her.
With her heart
pounding, Shadow flew towards Orrla, who was holding out the wooden case of the
three bottles of potion. “Before you can drink the first bottle,” Orrla said to
Shadow, who was barely listening because she was too ecstatic, “you have to
learn some human knowledge. The world had changed and is always changing. Are
you ready to begin?” Shadow just said yes without thinking. All she could think
about was meeting the human girl.
For weeks, the
Veiled Women taught Shadow about literature, geography, history, science, and
mathematics. Shadow loved the literature, geography, science, and the history.
The knowledge made the outside world seem more fascinating to her. She even
learned that they lived in a country called United States, in a place called
Salem Massachusetts but she loathed mathematics. In mathematics, the numbers
were confusing to her and the adding, subtracting, and dividing of them was
just maddening. It was like a puzzle
that couldn’t be solved. When they would ask her a math question, she would
cheat and use magic, making my answers appear in her head. The Veiled Women
always caught her but as long as she was at lease aware of the concepts, they
didn’t care much.
Then, on the
third week of autumn, they finally let her drink the first bottle. The sun was
slowly rising, making the sky have many shades of red and purple. Shadow was in
the darkened cabin and couldn’t look straight into the light-filled sky yet,
but she saw it from the across the room and thought it was beautiful. Moonlight
was there for support and Shadow kept patting his head out of a mixture
nervousness and excitement. With a flick of her wrist, Orrla made the bottle
miniature sized and carefully handed it to Shadow.
“Drink it in the
light,” instructed Orrla softly. Shadow flew towards the window where the
gorgeous sun was now high in the sky. The light was burning her painfully but
she took a deep breath, smiled widely at Moonlight and took a drink. The potion
tasted as sweet and as sticky as maple syrup down her throat. She then begun to
glow brilliantly. “Here we go!” exclaimed Moonlight, arching his back
excitedly, as a huge, blinding flash of colors suddenly exploded from Shadow’s
tiny body.
Meanwhile,
outside of the forest, it was just another Monday morning for a
fifteen-year-old girl named Anna White. The alarm clock was buzzing annoyingly
and the smell of her step mom burning the breakfast was throughout the house.
Just as she turned off her clock, the fire alarm then went off with its earsplitting
shrill. “Oh not again,” she groaned, covering her head with her pillow. She
just laid there on her stomach, hiding from the world, when her step mom yelled
for her to come downstairs. She grumpily got out of bed and slowly stomped to
her bathroom. She was exhausted.
She was reading a book of Robert Frost poems
until midnight and then sneaked out to meet her friends in the park. They walked
to a party, which was boring and she only stayed at for about an hour. She was
walking home by two but she made a stop on her way and didn’t come home until
four AM.
After Anna washed
her face and put on her black eyeliner and brown lipstick, she put on her gray,
long sleeved shirt, her favorite black Hollywood Undead t-shirt, skinny jeans,
and her black Converses. She combed her hair, letting her dark bangs fall
halfway over one side of her face. She then went downstairs with great dread.
She already knew that her step mom would criticize her the moment that she saw
her. Confirming this, her step mom saw her walk in the kitchen and exclaimed, “You’re wearing that shirt again? And why do you wear you’re your hair like
that all the time? You need to expand your horizons.”
Her step mom,
whose name was Christine, acted close-minded and sometimes snobbish. Just
because she was treated like the queen bee all of her life and was always the
family’s fashion police, she tended to expect everyone else to be perfect like
she pretended to be with her bleached blond hair and green eye contacts that
obviously hid her mix-matched colored eyes; one being gray and another being
black. Besides her constant judgment, what made it difficult and a bit awkward
for Anna to call her step mom was that Christine was actually her aunt before
she married her dad. They married six months after Anna’s mother was gone. Anna
knew that they were marrying each other just because they didn’t want to be
alone. They weren’t in love but no one listened to her. She didn’t know whether
to think of it as a heartbreaking tragedy or as the grossest taboo ever.
“I like this
shirt Christine because it has one of my favorite bands on it,” Anna said
flatly but forcing a smile as she sat at the table, “And I think that my hair
looks cool this way. Makes me look mysterious.”
“We should go
shopping,” said Christine, practically ignoring Anna’s answer, “And I can give
you some much needed fashion advice.”
“No thanks.” Due
to lack of sleep, Anna’s patience with her was slowly waning that morning and
she was thinking about storming out when her dad walked into the kitchen, all
dressed in his handsome blue suit. He was a car salesman. He said that looking
business-like made the buyers trust him faster. Her dad Peter, was a tolerant,
calm, understanding, and funny man. It seemed like he always saving her from
Christine. Maybe he knew that his new wife was a pain in the butt.
“Hi Dad,” said
Anna with a more sincere smile.
“Hi Sweethearts,”
he replied, kissing Anna’s forehead then Christine’s “What are my ladies
talking about this morning?”
“I want to take
Anna shopping,” Christine said, “but she’s being stubborn.”
Her dad seeing
her exasperation in her face, he winked at her and said to Christine with a
smile,
“Shopping? I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ve seen our closet. You
might buy out the stores and then we’ll have to file for bankruptcy. It’ll be
such a headache.”
Anna giggled
underneath her breath, as Christine looked like a pouting child, putting their
burned crisp breakfast on the table.
Anna then picked
up a half black piece of toast from her plate but sneaked a Pop Tart into her
book bag so Christine wouldn’t nag her about eating. She stood up and said,
“Gonna see Mom before school.” She saw Christine glance nervously at her dad.
She didn’t like Anna visiting her mother so much. It made her uncomfortable, which
Anna didn’t understand because it was Christine’s sister after all, but they
never dared to say anything to each other.
“Okay sweetie,
just don’t be late for class,” her dad told her, as he opened the newspaper.
“I won’t.” She
kissed his cheek, grabbed her book bag and jacket that were hanging on a chair,
and headed towards the front door.
"Oh…Anna,” he
called, making her stop mid-step, “Were you sleep walking again last night?”
Her dad would hear her walk out of her room at night and she would tell him
that she was just sleep walking. She was shocked that he bought it for so long.
Sometimes she wondered if he really knew the truth and if he was just waiting
for her to confess before grounding her for life.
“Yes,” she lied, feeling a little guilty.
“We’ll need to
take you to the doctor if it continues like this,” her dad said firmly.
“I agree with
your father,” replied Christine. Anna just walked out the door without a word.
She darted out of
her neighborhood and across the street, swooshing leaves underneath her shoes.
It was very brisk autumn day and she ran to keep get from quivering. She walked
to an iron, rusty gate and carefully unhinged the lock, slowly going in and closing
it behind her. It was the entrance to Salem’s centuries old, spacious cemetery.
Most people thought that cemeteries were spooky, almost evil, but to her, it
was serene. It was the perfect place for loved ones to be remembered. She threw
the burned toast in a crash can and took out the Pop Tart from her bag, eating
and walking up a small hill. She stopped at the newest grave that was
underneath a huge oak tree, which had the most beautiful red, brown, and gold
leaves falling from it, making the whole scenery of the grave look like a water
color painting.
She put down her
book bag, sat on the ground in front of the grave, and with a soft, loving
voice, she said, “Hi Mom, I’m back.”
Just then, back
in the Veiled Women’s cabin, Shadow was standing in front of a mirror, her
nakedness only being covered by her long, jet black hair. In the flash she had
grew instantly and the clothes that she was wearing earlier fell off. She was
now as tall as a human teenage girl and her skin pigment was now peach. The only
thing that gave away that she was a magical being was her massive wings that
still poked out from her back. She was staring at the mirror and giggling,
admiring the change. Moonlight said with a paw covering his eyes, “Shadow, I
think that you need to put some clothes on.”
“Yes you do,”
said Orrla, handing her a plastic bag. The bag had a few clothes that they
thought that Shadow might like. There was a slightly low-cut, white tank top
with a red skull on it with two holes cut out in the back for her wings, even
though they could fold in small if need be. There were also some black leather
boots, some blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and of course some
undergarments.
“You will get
some more clothing later,” she told Shadow, “This is for your first day of
school today.”
“School?” Shadow
exclaimed, puzzled.
“A place of
learning for young people,” Moonlight reminded her.
“Oh yeah,” she
mused, as she was getting dressed. When she was fully dressed, she wanted to
gaze into the mirror some more. She just loved her new clothes but Orrla made
the mirror disappear with a quick snap of her fingers.
“Shadow,” Orrla
said with great seriousness, “Please listen. While with people, you’re going to
be a normal teenager. You won’t use magic in front of a human and won’t tell a
human what you really are unless you can truly trust them.”
“And please not
too much mischief,” added Moonlight.
“Sure,” replied
Shadow with a mischievous grin, clapping her hands and making the mirror
reappear in front of her, “whatever you say.”
“And you will be
provided with food, clothes, and shelter by our new sister,” added Orrla,
pointing to the young woman next to her. Shadow turned around and saw that the
woman was one of new ones in the coven. Her name was Linda and she was
magnificent looking, being very tall and slender. She was so graceful that it
looked like she was floating in the air instead of just walking on the ground.
Also, despite her wearing a red veil and robe, everyone could still see her
curly, brunette hair and her ocean blue eyes that seemed to sparkle.
“I will be
helping you,” said Linda, “but you will never see me. I won’t interfere. You
will just stay at my old house and I will only act as your parental figure so
no suspicions will fall upon you.” Linda was the only one who had lived in the
outside world with an ordinary life before being with the Veiled Women. She
just couldn’t control her magical abilities so the Veiled Women took in to help
her. Since she had been outside of the forest the most, she often assisted the
impairies who drank the potion.
“We better be
leaving now,” Linda said, “I don’t want you late for school.”
“Okay.” Shadow
eagerly headed towards the door but was stopped.
“Wait,” exclaimed
Orrla, handing her a bag with the two bottles of potion that were labeled 2 and
3, "Don’t forget to drink the next bottle on October 31st before
midnight.”
“Don’t worry, I
remind her,” Moonlight said, jumping into Shadow’s arms. Then, looking
affectionately up at her, he said, “I’ll be around and visit if you need me.”
“Thanks
Moonlight,” replied Shadow, stroking him soft once down his back. Moonlight
then hopped down and to save time, Linda snapped her fingers and materialized
her and Shadow out of the cabin, out of the forest.
They were now
standing in the back of cemetery, crouching behind an unknown grave. Shadow
looked around and everything seemed so peaceful. She could feel the sunlight on
her but could also feel the bitter wind and she got a chill down her spine.
“The house that
you will stay in is over there,” whispered Linda, pointing at old, baby blue
house that was right across the street from the cemetery.
“Alright,”
replied Shadow, “But why are we whispering?”
Ignoring her,
Linda continued and said, “And you are going to Salem High School.”
“Where is that
place?”
Shadow didn’t
know this but Linda had immediately saw and heard Anna, the girl that Shadow
was so fascinated with meeting and she thought that this was the perfect time
to do so.
“Somebody will
show you,” smiled Linda slyly.
“Who?” exclaimed
Shadow. Linda just smiled again and she said, “I’ll bring you some food later.”
Then she disappeared silently.
“Wait…!” Even
though Shadow was clueless, she didn’t panic. She actually was just shocked
that Linda was acting so secretive and mischievous. She personally thought that
the Veiled Women followed too many rules to be free-spirited like they said
they were.
“Hmm, who knew,”
She marveled to herself with amusement, “One of them has it in them to act
impish.”
Not knowing what
to do, she walked through the cemetery, trying to find a way out and find
someone to show her where the school was, when she heard some voices by a tree.
As she walked closer, she could see that it was the girl and some strangers.
Shadow didn’t know why but she had the urge to hide from their view so she took
cover behind another grave. Listening to their conversation, she realized that
the strangers were being cruel to the girl and quickly came up with a plan for
revenge.
Anna was sitting
in front of her mother’s grave, carefully eating and quietly talking to her,
telling her everything. She had visited last night but she liked to visit
before school. It somehow made her day less stressful. She was about to leave,
when Kayla Wiching and her older brother Lynn saw her and barged into the gate.
Kayla and Lynn had bullying her since the first grade and she never understood
why. Her mother always told her that they would realize the error of their ways
and be her friends someday but after her mother died, it only got worse. It
seemed like her extreme pain was their greatest pleasure.
Kayla had red
hair, which was always in long ponytail and she was constantly flipping it off
of her shoulder when she talked. Being very athletic, she was stronger and
taller than Anna and she took advantage of that fact, shoving and knocking her
down. Anna didn’t know how many times that Kayla bumped into her in the hallway
on purpose and then blamed her but Lynn was the one that Anna disliked the
most. He looked like an ordinary boy with short, dyed black hair and an acute
sarcastic attitude but she just knew that he was heartless. Her mother’s death became his punch line
every time he saw her.
“Hey emo girl,”
mocked Lynn, “Crying to your dead mommy again?”
“Can I just visit
my mother in peace?” said Anna, glaring at him.
“I bet that you
even want to cuddle with her dead body in the coffin,” added Kayla. Lynn
laughed and agreed with his sister.
“You love her so
much,” Lynn said to Anna sardonically, as he and his sister began to circle
around her slowly like vultures on prey, “but she probably thinks that your
whimpering is so annoying!”
Anna tried
to run away from them but Kayla pushed her back. She felt scared and angry but
she refused to act helpless.
“Lynn, you jerk,”
exclaimed Anna, “I’m just paying respect to my loved one!”
“I’ll show you
respect freak,” shouted Kayla angrily, about to grab Anna.
Shadow crept
towards the tree and stood where only Kayla and Lynn could see her. In a deep,
ghoulish voice, she said in their minds, “Maybe you two are the freaks!” With a
blank expression, she then made her eyes blink red and let herself levitate off
the ground, floating towards them. “Maybe I need to show you what respect
really means!”
Their eyes
bugging out wildly, they both screamed in horror. They wasted no time. Lynn
grabbed his sister’s arm, practically pulling it out of its socket, and they
ran towards the gate. Because their hands were shaking so bad, neither of them
could unlock the gate at first but they finally got it open after a few seconds
and ran out and down the street. Of course they left Anna behind and the gate
open.
Anna was confused but was laughing. “What the…?”
She then heard
someone else laughing behind her and she quickly turned around, almost jumping
out of her skin. Shadow’s face went back to normal and she now stepped closer
so Anna could see her. Anna smiled at herself and let out a sigh of relief, but
asked Shadow, “Who are you?”
“My name is
Shadow.”
“Cool name. I’m
Anna.”
“Thank you,”
Shadow replied, holding out her hand, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Anna shook her
hand awkwardly and asked, “Was it you that scared those two?”
“Yes,” Shadow
giggled.
“How?”
“A mask.” Shadow
knew that she had to lie. “I just was walking by and I saw them being rude to
you so I sneaked up behind and put on a mask that I have in my bag.”
“I usually don’t
like help but that was priceless,” Anna chuckled, “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“If there’s
anything I can do for you,” said Anna, getting ready to leave, “just let me
know.”
“Actually there
is,” Shadow replied abruptly, “I’m new here and I’m lost. Can you show me where
Salem High School is?”
“Well you’re in
luck,” Anna said, “That’s where I’m heading. We can walk together if you want.”
“Oh Thank you
very much.” Shadow went towards her and they walked side by side. Shadow was
trying to conceal her joy as they exited the cemetery and walked down the
street. Being human was easy so far. She already made a friend. Turning around
and looking from afar, she saw that Anna forgot to close the gate so when Anna
wasn’t looking, with a wave of her hand, she shut and locked it.
Fairy: Little,
beautiful, winged creature with magical powers.
Impairy:
Little, beautiful, magical, winged but a mischievous and troublesome creature.
the Impairy Story: Prologue
Impairies became
to be centuries ago, when a young, rebellious group of fairies sneaked out of the
forest one Halloween night against their queen’s commands to dance underneath
the full moon in a cemetery with a coven of witches called the Veiled Women.
The fairies’ queen, Ryannon was very strict and she didn’t want them to be
influenced by humans. When she found out that these young fairies had danced
with witches, she cursed them and tried to turn them into imps. She expected
them to be ugly, useless, creatures, but she was wrong. Except for the purple
pigment to the skin, their sharp horns on their heads, their yellow, cat-like
eyes, their lust for causing trouble, and their hypersensitivity towards light
and bright colors, they still had the magic and beauty of fairies. Even though
Queen Ryannon was very displeased and they scared the other fairies, the
impairies were still allowed to be in contact with the fairy clan, but they had
to live deeper in the woods, in an underground dwelling. The group of impairies
then reproduced over time and gradually began their own clan.
The impairies’
wings were very dragon-like, pointed, flexible, and large. The outside of their
wings were black and scaly but the inside of them had a gray tint and were so
see through that you could see their pumping veins. They could fly quicker than
fairies and were rarely caught if chased. They weren’t bad but weren’t always
good either. Impairies were known for being deceitful and provocative,
flirting, playing mind games with humans at night. Adding to their alluring
charm, the females also wore low-cut black dresses with their mid-drift showing
and the males didn’t wear any shirts, only wore black pants.
The impairies
remained allies with the Veiled Women as well. The Veiled Women were a free
spirited, caring, skillful, and open-minded coven but they always had their
faces covered with red veils. They believed that one didn’t need a face as long
as their soul showed beautiful kindness towards others; towards the sinners and
the pure alike. The Veiled Women helped impairies greatly by sewing them dark
colored clothing. The Veiled Women also gave them something of a great power.
They gave a very potent potion called the Daé Nít Potion that made an impairy
human-size and made them able to be in sunlight for a short time but the potion
was only made once a year and only three bottles were made, enough for three
months for one impairy. Each year, a different impairy was randomly chosen.
Now, time had
passed and one particular young impairy couldn’t wait to have it and join the
outside world. Her name was Shadow and she was ironically known as the misfit
among outcasts. She enjoyed causing trouble like the others, but unlike the
others, she wanted to find a true companion in a human besides the Veiled Women. The others laughed
and ridiculed her for this hope but she didn’t care. She knew that humans were
forthcoming and elegant, not just naïve beings that fell for the impairies’
pranks. In search of this human comrade, she and her black cat named Moonlight,
began to roam the sleeping town beyond the woods every night.
Finally, after
months of looking, they found someone one night. It was an adolescent girl with
long brunette hair. They observed her for many nights afterwards. They didn’t
know much about her but Shadow was drawn to her for some odd reason. When she
wasn’t sleeping like the other humans, the girl would be reading, becoming
totally absorbed in the words of a book. She also would sneak out to the
cemetery or meet some eccentric, introverted humans that dressed like
impairies, wearing dark clothes, hair, and make-up. The girl looked out of
place among this group. She wore the same clothes and hair but she had a
positive aura about her, a type of light that wouldn’t hurt. Shadow had to meet
her…she just had to!
To be continued…
(c)Lena Holdman, all rights reserved
I'm going to re-visit this story series and finally finish it.
Pinkstylist is one of my favorite Youtubers. He usually makes make-up tutorial videos. For Halloween, he made a video, showing how to make fake, theater blood. It looks like a fun, Halloween craft. It's October, Let the pumpkins grin, The skeletons chatter, The witches soar in the air!
