Rhome

Connecticut was where I grew up. The smell of pine and oak all around me was delicious and I was always outside to smell it and play in the damp earth.
I remember so much about those years. I was only a child when I lived in that house I can�t get out of my mind. I had moved out at eighteen but I never stopped missing it. I can remember the house like I had just saw it. It was slightly blue, it reminded me of the sky when winter sit in. It never understood why they never closed. Inside, there was a giant living room and there was the big carpet. I would slide on it and mess up its alignment. Mom would yell at me for that. Upstairs, the hall stretched for miles and miles. When your first got up the stairs, you would be in the study next to the main bathroom. That was the one my brother and I fought over. Them came Mom�s room, the forbidden territory. We could go in there and watch TV which that�s what my brother did when I grabbed it from him, but we had to ask to do something else in there. Then there was �The Boy�s� room, the messiest room of the house. I bet one day he found a lost city in there and I�m not going to begin with under his bed. He went under there and I didn�t see him for days. I think he might still be under there. I haven�t seen him since I left. After that, there was another study and stairs leading to the attic with the washer and dryer. I always called that study to do my homework so I would not be disturbed that much by Mom going up and down the stairs. In the attic, well it was a regular attic filled with dust and old stuff that my Grandma Veronica left. Mom put Daddy�s things up there so she wouldn�t remember him much. He died when I was four, so I didn�t really know him. I don�t even remember his face. He was in a car accident with some friends when Mom was in labor with my little brother.
My room was at the end so was the game room where I would play video games like �Hache, Woods Warrior� and �Hide and Go Hunt� with my friends. I would always beat them, no matter their strategy. Through the living room were the kitchen and the spare bathroom. That room was more like the rejected bathroom. When I couldn�t get into the bathroom in the morning because my stupid brother was in there, I had to use that one. It didn�t have a shower or a bathtub. There was just a toilet, sink, and closet. Past the kitchen was the guestroom. We had Mom�s friends or Aunt Nora sleep there when Daddy died to comfort her until she got over it. We rented it out after that, but barely anyone took our ad. It was just the three of use in the big house. Many people told us to move out, but Mom always said, �We do just fine here thank you very much. And mind you don�t get into what�s not your concern.� I loved the way Mom always said things that weren�t mean and didn�t even sound scolding, just warning.
But the one thing I remember about my childhood was the lake, Languid Lake.

Chapter 2
The lake was in the park. Bosiano Park in my hometown of Finster, Connecticut. The lake was never an attraction. No one ever swam in it. Its waters were too cold even in the summer. The river warmed up quickly and we swam in that. Most people sat on its benches and read. The lake�s real name was Little Lake because Christopher Little was the first and only one to be baptized in it. But most people called it Languid Lake because it was never disturbed, not a ripple. Leaves from the autumn season fell on the lake, but it was like it hit glass, not even if a trace of a ripple. Nothing really lived in the lake, just frogs, tadpoles, lake weed, a couple kinds of fish, and water bugs. Deer always drank the clear, cold water from the lake. I guess they didn�t mind having fish and frog dung in their mouths, YUCK!
I walked through the park in the sidewalk next to the lake everyday on my way to school. I hated school. I was a whole nine years old. I was smart enough to do what I wanted and why did I have to take math and history when I wanted to be an actress? After I goat out of blue plaid jumpers and black sweaters, I was going to dance across the stage in a red sequin dress, feathered boas, and a wonder bra. People would come from all over the world to see me perform. And after the play was finished, a roar of applause would fill the theatre and roses would be at my feet. But for now I had to tolerate a five-floor school with 2,500 students and 175 nasty teachers. Burn Grove Academy was the only private school in all Finster, very crowded school and very strict too. Most private schools had flexible uniforms. We had to wear the exact same things except for the sweaters. We didn�t have to wear them if it was too hot, which it never was. One thing I did like about the uniforms were the shoes, black small heels that clumped on hard floors. As I walked through the park, they clumped on the sidewalk. They made me feel grown up.
But on this particular day, the clumps were quite rapid for I was late to school. It was hard to run in those shoes, but at least I could hear them clump on the sidewalk. Burn Grove was just up ahead. I saw the academy. I tried to run faster. I had to make it. I pushed myself speed up but I fell and scraped my knee on the pavement. I lied there still in the silence, crying softly. I heard a faint ringing in the distance. The bell had rung.

I staggered down the hallway to class silently. When the thick cotton hit my knee, I swallowed a scream. I didn�t want to disturb any other classes or else I�d be in real trouble. I finally got to the door that read Mrs. Brackett�s Fourth Grade Assembly: DO NOT DISTURB! I slowly opened the door and staggered in. I knew I was in for it. Everyone looked up and Mrs. Brackett gasped, �My heavens child! What happened to your knee?� I tilted my head and looked down at my knee. I was turning green. Blood ran down my leg. �Go to Nurse Holly immediately before you get sick!�
I sighed in relief. �Yes ma�am!� I replied gleefully. I didn�t get in trouble for being late, but I had never gone to Nurse Holly for a cut. I�d fake sick or get lucky and actually be sick, but not for a scrape. I reached her office (finally) after limping down three flights of stairs. I opened the thin door with opaque glass in the window and sat down on the small bench in the corner. She looked at me and smiled. Nurse Holly was one of the nice people at Burn Grove. Her hair was a little lighter shade of red than mine was, but we both had the same type of jade green eyes.
�What happened Archer?� she asked and laughed at the same time.
�I-I scraped it trying to get to school today. I was late so I ran.�
�Now you know it�s dangerous to run. You could have chipped a tooth or broken a bone. The sidewa- you weren�t on the road were you?�
I laughed. �Of course not. �I�m not that daring.� I said quite boastfully.
Nurse Holly sighed. �You mean not that stupid.�
�What eva darling.� I fluted, pretending to have a cigarette with a $700 holder in my hand. She laughed at me being cute and cleared her throat.
�The sidewalk is very slippery after an autumn rainfall anyway. Your cut is bleeding pretty bad, but the green tint is just a grass stain.�
�You mean to tell me I�m not turning into an alien? Augh! Just when I got my hopes up.� I whined as Nurse Holly laughed again.
�All you need is a little iodine and a Band-Aid.� And she went and got this orange liquid from the medicine cabinet.
�What�s iodine?� I asked just when she poured that liquid on my knee, �OW!� I don�t think any medicine was more painful and burned more than that. But Nurse Holly grabbed my knee and began to blow on it and for one moment the pain was gone. Amazing! I thought. She has magic breath! I knew it! I knew she was magic! She was too kind to be human. Maybe she�s a fairy! She kept blowing on it until it had stopped burning, put and Band-Aid on it, and sent me back to class. I wish I could have stayed longer for math was my worst subject. Too many numbers to remember to too many symbols to use. It made me sick to my stomach.
I started walking back to class when I heard my shoes. Yes, those glorious shoes! They clumped on the floor tiles like they did on the sidewalk. I started to tap my foot. Oh, how I loved the sound of those shoes! Then the other foot started to move. I started to dance, slowly. Suddenly, my jumper and sweater turned into a long tight red dress; diamonds on the collar and fur on the sleeves. I started to hear classical music. An audience appeared. The lights beamed on me, and the cameras rolled, live from ABC, FOX, NBC, and CBS. A man walked onstage and I gasped. It was Collin Grant, the hottest, cutest, most talented actor in the world!