Hello Warriors! Today I have one of my favorite entries from the AG Fine Arts Festival! This is my Book Chapter from 2022!
I could sense my long brown hair untangling the tiny knots as I ran my Eiffel Tower brush through it several times. My eight-year-old sister, Faith, was still sleeping in her bed, which was on the opposite side of the room, so I flung my pillow at her. It hit the side of her head.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. We have to get ready for school,” I said. Faith quietly groaned as she made herself rise from her Princess pillow looking like she very much wanted her auburn curls to hit her pillow again and sleep for a while more.
But since she knew she couldn’t, she instead decided to throw my pillow back at me, which she did right as I went back to brushing my hair. The pillow hit my brush and the force of it knocked the brush into my head and caused me to drop it onto my foot.
“OW!” I roared in pain and anger. “Careful where you throw things!” I threw the pillow back at her, aiming for her face, but missed and landed it right next to her. “You threw it first,” Faith retorted. She took the pillow and placed it on my bed, stuck out her tongue at me, then proceeded to change out of her unicorn pajamas.
“Girls,” said a male voice from downstairs, the voice coming as strongly as the smell from Mom’s delicious chocolate-chip pancakes. The voice belonged to Dad. “Hurry up and come eat, your pancakes will soon be cold, and you are going to leave soon.”
“Coming Daddy!” Faith yelled as she barely put some effort into pulling a brush through her hair once. When she made for the door, I stepped in front of her and demanded, “Where do you think you’re going?” Faith crossed her arms and replied, “I’m getting my breakfast, get out of the way please.”
‘Ah, to be a child again,’ I thought. ‘To be so blissfully unaware of the people out there who criticize how you look.’
“You must brush your hair first,” I said to her. My little sister didn’t appreciate the effort I was trying to make to save herself from embarrassment, because instead of doing as I said, she stuck her tongue out again and said, “No. My hair is fine. Now get out of my way, I’m hungry.”
I sighed and shook my head. ‘She just doesn’t understand,’ I thought. “No, you aren’t leaving until your hair is completely brushed through,” I said. I could see that I was angering her because her usually light pink cheeks were turning redder like they usually do right before she throws a tantrum. I could sense one coming.
“Mommy! Daddy!” she yelled. “Hope won’t let me come downstairs!” Then I quickly added, “I’m not letting her go down until she brushes her hair!”
There was silence downstairs for a moment. I was sure that my parents were sighing or running their fingers through their hair exasperatedly while quickly figuring out what to do with us. Then I heard Mom say, “Faith and Hope, I want you both to come down here please.”
“Just great. Now you’ve done it,” I said, glaring at Faith. “Thanks to you I am in trouble too. Good going.” I turned around to open the door right when Faith said, “It’s your fault that I’m in trouble.” We went downstairs angry at each other. I was going faster than Faith was, so I got there first.
Mozart, our Miniature Schnauzer puppy, was eating his breakfast in his little nook, and lapping up water. Then he went, grabbed a chew toy, and went into his crate to fall asleep.
Mom waited until Faith caught up with me before she said anything. “You two are not going to continue this silly argument. You both need to eat. We’re going to leave for school soon.” She moved her long curly auburn hair (that Faith had inherited) out of her face and set a plate of pancakes in front of me, and one in front of Faith.
I eagerly dug into my warm ooey-gooey, chocolatey, golden brown circle of pure deliciousness. Mom’s pancakes were truly the best. ‘Nothing beats Mom’s cooking!’ I thought. “Thank you so much for breakfast, Mom. It’s so good!” I said aloud, beaming at my mother. She returned my smile and said, “You’re very welcome, Hope, my dear.”
I quickly finished my meal and went back upstairs to finish getting ready, and I was back downstairs in a jiffy. “I’m ready to go,” I announced to my family.
I looked at the scene that was happening in my kitchen. Faith had managed to get chocolate all over her hands and face, Mozart had finished his meal and wanted to be let out. Dad was shouting his last goodbyes as he was walking out the door and leaving for work, Mom was cleaning the dishes she had used to make breakfast, and the radio was blasting some classical orchestral music.
This was a mess, so I was going to help clean it up. “Mom, should I let Mozart out?” I asked. Mom, turning around and accidentally spraying me with a little bit of soapy water replied, “Yes please, dear, then why don’t you help Faith finish getting ready?”
“Sure Mom.” I went to let the dog outside and then followed Faith to help her. I washed her face with a washcloth while she washed her hands in the sink. “I’m sorry about earlier,” Faith said. I decided that argument was foolish. I said, “I’m sorry too.” Then I grabbed her backpack and handed it to her and grabbed my own.
I went downstairs and found that Mom had let the dog back inside. His yips were louder as he dashed my lap when I sat down. I laughed and watched as he curled up and took a quick nap.
Mom then announced, “We’re getting in the car now.” She went outside the house to start the car. I put Mozart down and rushed outside, hopped into our black minivan, and got into the seat right inside the door, which Faith and I both agreed was the best seat in the car.
When Faith got in, she gave me a dirty look for taking the good seat, but she sat in the back without saying anything and we went off to school.
The school day was the same and it felt to me that it dragged on longer than it should’ve, but we still got out at 4:30 on the dot. Mom picked me up and we headed home to start dinner. Faith wanted to help, but I knew that she couldn’t do anything until it came time to mash the potatoes, which she would have to wait until I finished peeling them.
Mom must’ve known that too because she asked, “Faith, can you watch Mozart until I call you in here to mash potatoes?” Faith's face brightened, glad to be of help, and with an energetic, “sure,” she ran into the living room to have a wrestling match with the puppy.
After I peeled the potatoes, I left my sister and mother to finish up dinner while I went upstairs to do my homework. Around 6:30, Faith raced into our room and announced that it was time to eat.
I went downstairs just as Dad popped through the door. “Hello, pumpkin!” he said, greeting me. I gave him a hug and Faith pulled us both into the dining room so we could eat.
Dinner was delicious. Afterward, I helped clear the table, wash the dishes, and feed Mozart. Then it was time for bed.
Usually, I could go to sleep easily after reading but tonight something was off. I couldn’t get to sleep, no matter how many brightly colored sheep I counted in my mind. I decided to try keeping my eyes closed for a while, to see if I could fall asleep that way, but it didn’t work. And after what felt like five hours (which was probably way less than that), I realized that a faint light was on in my room. I slightly opened my eyes so I could see where it was coming from as frantic thoughts rushed through my mind.
‘Where did it come from? Is Faith playing with something? Did someone break into our house, and they are in this very room? Or is it simply Mom or Dad, coming to check on us?’ I thought worriedly. ‘But if it was one of my parents, why didn’t I hear the door open?’
I looked around my dark room to try and see who the light belonged to. Strangely enough, it looked like it was coming from Captain Cuddles’ paw. The Captain was the first teddy bear that I ever owned, which I passed down to Faith a couple of years ago.
The caramel-brown bear had his back to me, but he wasn’t the only toy on the floor. It looked like Faith’s stuffed cat and two of my Barbie dolls were standing in a circle in the middle of the floor. I would’ve just assumed that Faith hadn’t put her toys away, but ‘The Captain doesn’t have a night light, and my dolls can’t stand by themselves.’ Then the bear spoke in a deep voice;
“Remember the mission: get the answers we’re looking for and don’t take any risks. No human should know we exist.”
“That would be hard to do, considering you just went against your orders,” said a feminine voice, much like one of a human teenager. It was the cat. “What do you mean, Connie?” Captain asked. ‘Aha!’ I thought. ‘Connie Cat, Faith’s precious purple and pink stuffie.’
“The human known as ‘Hope’ is awake. Listening to every word we speak.” the cat said. Then all four toys turned to look at me. I just stared back, certain I was going crazy.
“Well, since you are awake I suppose we should fill you in,” the Captain said. “Faith is helping Molly Mayor with her evil plan, voluntarily or not, we don’t know. We are recruiting you to help us put a stop to this and save your sister.”
I gasped and Connie asked, “Are you willing to help?” I nodded. I would do whatever it took to save my sister.
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