“The girls were always, always criticizing their parents on how overprotective they were. And they had a reason to be criticizing their parents.”
Chapter 1
“Girls, when you get to school, don’t forget to text us.”
“Ok, Dad,” they said in unison. They were 12. Their birthday was April 19th, and they went to Salt Lake High School (it’s a private school).
“Why do Dad and Mom have to be so overprotective?” Julia said to Sarah as they walked out the door with the same steps. They were fraternal twins and they looked almost completely different but they acted similarly. Julia had brown hair and brown eyes and a pretty face and she was slender and attractive-looking. Sarah had blonde hair and blue eyes and always had a happy look on her face no matter what. She was slender and attractive-looking as well. They both had straight hair that came down to their shoulders but they always wore it in a ponytail, though those were the only looks that the twins shared. They were both sporty but at the same time feminine. Sarah was shy and quiet but Julia was outgoing. They both were very studious and smart. They were the kind of kids who were popular but not in a bad way. They had a lot of friends and some of them were almost the same as them and some of them were the complete opposite. The girls were always, always criticizing their parents on how overprotective they were. And they had a reason to be criticizing their parents.
Julia wanted to try out for the soccer team but her parents wouldn’t let her because they were scared that she’d get hurt playing soccer. And Sarah, when she was really young, went into the laundromat and her parents yelled at her for that because they were scared she would go into a washing machine and the washing machine would turn on and she would die!
Chapter 2
That day at recess (or as they like to call it “hang out time”), their best friend, Hallie, came up to them and handed them an invitation to a double sleepover in two weeks birthday party for her also twin sister Annie. The girls were very excited to go, but they knew they couldn’t tell their parents because their parents wouldn’t let them go. So they said that on November 15th they were going to a high school curriculum meeting at school, so they would be back late. No parents allowed. But they didn’t say the time because they didn’t want their parents to know. If they said, “We’re leaving on the 15th and we’re coming back on the 17th” their parents would say “Wow. That’s a very long curriculum meeting.”
On the 15th, after school, their friend’s older sister, Betsy (who had just turned sixteen two months ago), drove them over to Hallie and Annie’s house for the sleepover. Once they got to the sleepover Hallie and Annie welcomed them by throwing streamers in their face and popping a balloon. The eight girls stayed up till two in the morning and they watched horror movies and played truth or dare. When they finally went to sleep they were not tired at all, but embarrassed by what they said on the truths and the dares and scared because of the horror movies.
In the morning they woke up at 5 o’clock (no sleep at all) and they were very tired. They each grabbed a small mug of coffee that, by the way they were not allowed to drink. Then they sat on the lounge chairs next to Hallie and Annie’s private pool. The city was quiet. Nobody else was awake. The only sound was the wind whistling in their ears. As they jumped into the pool, Betsy declared a game of truth or dare.
“Annie, Truth or Dare?”
“Truth, duh,” said Annie, rolling her eyes.
“Have you ever been to a different continent?”
“Yah, like three!”
It went on like this for three minutes until it was Julia’s turn.
“Julia, Truth or Dare?” asked Olivia.
“Truth,” said Julia.
“Have you ever kissed a boy?”
“Ooooo,” Sadie and Betsy said together. Allison made a kissy lips face. Julia’s face turned bright red.
Julia waited about a minute before answering. “Yes,” she whispered in a little voice.
“I can’t hear you,” Olivia said in a sing-song voice.
“Yes,” Julia said stronger.
“What!?” Sarah shouted, and she suddenly stopped splashing Sadie. “How could you not tell me that?” She yelled at her twin, sounding close to tears.
“What do mean!? Why did I have to tell you?!”
“We’re sisters, we tell each other everything!!!”
“I don’t have to tell you everything that goes on in my life!” Julia cried.
The rest of the girls backed up nervously.
“But we share everything else with each other, why not this?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve kept secrets from me too. Plenty of times,” said Julia.
Sarah tried to speak, but her voice wouldn’t work. She turned bright red. Allison stepped in front of the girls, trying to stop the fight, but Sarah just pushed her out of the way. The rest of the girls were stunned. Sarah has never done that. She’s too peaceful. Sarah stormed out of the pool in a rage of anger. The rest of girls were stunned and Annie started crying. Then Olivia started crying. “This is all my fault!” Olivia cried “If I hadn’t asked you that we would all be having fun!” No one agreed with her, but no one disagreed.
On the way home from the sleepover, the twins weren’t talking to each other and they avoided each other’s eyes. All of a sudden, a piece of paper fell down at Julia’s feet. Sarah stopped walking, too. Julia bent down to pick it up and as soon as her fingers touched the paper, she disappeared into thin air. Sarah looked at the paper and then back to where her sister had stood and then to the paper and then to where her sister had stood.
The people who were walking by stopped in their tracks. Just like Sarah, they looked at the paper and then back to where Julia had been standing. Somebody fainted. Sarah did not notice anyone around her, until Mr. Hill, Sarah’s (former) art teacher, came rushing up to her.
“Sarah, are you alright? What happened to Julia?” he cried.
Sarah thought (randomly) of what Julia had told her once when they were younger. Sarah, don’t mix other people up in your personal life. It will only make things worse.
“She’s gone.”
Chapter 3
Sarah
As Sarah ran to her house (220 Nether 56 St.), she was about to knock on her door when she suddenly stopped. Mom and Dad are going to be so mad, she thought. Suddenly she was nervous to walk in. A second later, Sarah saw her mom’s face in the window.
“Uh-oh,” she said out loud. Her mouth dropped open.
Her mom ran out the door and embraced Sarah with strong arms.
“Sarah, Julia where have you been? Me and your dad have been worried sick about you!” Her mother shouted at her. She looked at Sarah, peeking around her back. “Wait, Sarah, where’s Julia?”
“We were walking down the street and then, um, there was this piece of paper and Julia kind of went down and touched it and then she went poof?” she said, her words kind of jumbled up hoping she didn’t sound crazy.
Her mother hurried her inside. “Sarah, go to bed,” she said in a calm, quiet voice.
“Umm… okay,” she said, uncertainly.
When she was about to close her door, she heard her parents say in a hushed whisper, “We can’t tell her yet, it’s too dangerous.”
“But we have to, her sister just disappeared!”
“We can’t, it’s not fair to her.”
Then, they closed the living room door. After two hours of constant worrying, she finally fell asleep to terrible dreams.
Chapter 4
Sarah
When Sarah woke up from tiresome dreams, she decided that she needed some fresh air to read the note that for some reason had made her sister disappear. She thought about leaving a note for her parents, but she didn’t because she knew that she would be back before they got home from work.
While Sarah was walking down to the park, she was surprised that no one was taking particular interest into why she wasn’t with Julia even though they were barely ever apart. Ms. Figg came up to Sarah and said,
“Hi Sarah, what a beautiful day.”
Sarah was shocked. She said, “Um-Ms. Figg, have you seen Julia in a while?”
“Who’s Julia, dear?” Ms. Figg replied.
“Only my sister,” Sarah said, incredulously.
“Sarah are you feeling alright?” Ms. Figg asked, concerned. “You don’t have any sisters. You’re an only child, remember?”
“I’m not an only child, I have a sister!” She shouted.
“Now Sarah, don’t lose your temper with me. I advise you go back to your parents so they don’t worry about you.” Ms. Figg said stepping back a step surprised that Sarah was yelling.
Ms. Figg is a bit crazy. I’m sure no one else thinks I don’t have a sister.
As she walked down the street she bumped in to her BFF Kyley.
“Hey Sarah. how y’u doing ?” Kyley exclaimed
“Not asking ‘bout Julia I see” Sarah replied. Kyley and Julia had had an argument, so she wasn’t surprised that Kyley didn’t say anything about Julia.
“Um-remind me who Julia is again,” Kyley said hesitantly. “Too many friends to keep track of,” she joked.
Sarah’s face had mixture of shock and utter confusion. It’s not only Ms. Figg, it’s Kyley too? Uh-oh.
Chapter 5
Julia
As Julia woke up, everything seemed kind of blurry. It looked like she was in some sort of cage. Huh? I don’t remember being put into prison, she thought.
“Who’s that?” Julia asked out loud. She was looking at a short, rotund woman with eyes that looked pure evil and a serpent smile.
When the woman heard Julia, she laughed out loud. “I’m Alice,” she said in a sugary, sweet voice that sounded phony.
Julia shook her head, trying to make sense of all of it. “Funny woman who’s kind of fat, round shape prison thingamajiggy, and no more Sarah,” she mumbled under her breath. “This makes complete sense except for about everything!” She declared loud enough for Alice to hear. “Why am I here exactly?” asked Julia.
“Well, I have two reasons that I captured you,” Alice replied. “Number one is so your sister would say the magical words that I will not repeat right now or I’ll get a big headache. So, I’ll go to Earth and be able to take it over.” At that, Julia’s face got a bit of a smirk on it.
Obviously this Alice person doesn’t know that half of Earth is run by a democracy and she won’t just be able to ‘take it over.’ Julia thought.
“And my second reason I captured you,” Alice continued, while pacing around Julia’s cage, “is so you and your sister can’t use your powers to overthrow me.”
“Ummm…powers?” Julia questioned, wondering if Alice was a crazy woman.
“You don’t know about your powers?” Alice suddenly stopped pacing.
“Uhhh, not exactly,” Julia replied, still with a questioning look on her face.
“Well then, just forget everything else I said, and that was just a joke, only the first part of the plan is true. Ha ha ha, I’m a jokester,” Alice said, obviously hiding something.
Alice walked into the other room, but she didn’t know she had left the door partly open. Even though at that moment Julia didn’t know it, this changed everything. “Her parents haven’t told her yet about her powers. This may mess everything up, or it might make everything better” Alice said unaware that Julia could hear her.
What the heck is she talking about? Julia wondered.
Alice walked back into the room. “Sooo,” Alice said pacing around Julia’s cage/prison. “Your parents haven’t told you about any planets other than Earth?” she asked casually.
“‘Course they didn’t, ‘cause there aren’t any other planets. Right?” Julia said trying to not explode with curiosity.
“Right, so your sister is going to bring me down to earth then your world will be run by me! Ha ha ha ha ha!!” Alice declared evilly
“That will will never happen, you witch!!!” Julia shouted
Chapter 6
Sarah
“You okay Sarah? You look like you just saw a ghost,”asked Kyley worriedly.
“Look, Kyley, this will be hard to explain but just listen,” Sarah said.
After she explained everything to her BFF, Kyley whispered, “That is more complicated than this!” She showed Sarah her math homework. “Simplify x[y+(2*8)] +24( xy+ 28)”
“I know, but you’ve gotta trust me on this one,” said Sarah.
She and Kyley started to walk down to the old willow tree, which had been their playhouse since they were three. The reason it had always been their playhouse was because nobody else could interrupt them. Nobody else dared to go there because it was surrounded by old mansions, which were falling apart.
They sat down on the bean bags which they had put in there and started to read the note together. The note said: “To see your sister again, you must got to the top of Mount Hood and say ‘sasi-da-la-poo’ with your hands held out. From Alice :).”
“Uhh… sasi-da-la-poo?” Kyley said, snorting. “Whoever sent this note definitely has no style at all.”
“I guess you’re right,” said Sarah, “but I still wonder why she would take my sister. And I also wonder why she would leave her name on the note. Know what I mean?”
“Well, she’s definitely a stupid witch,” said Kyley.
“We should probably go to Mount Hood,” Sarah stood up.
Kyley went to the app store on her phone and bought a map of the state.
“I wonder if Mount Hood is in Portland.” Kyley looked at her phone. “Oh lookie, it is! The only problem is that it’s 11,235 feet in the air. We can totally climb that in like two days.”
“Don’t joke, Kyley, it’s true. It’s going to take a long time to get to the top of the mountain.”
“Hey, gloomy Gus,” Kyley started shaking Sarah. “Go away we want Sarah. We don’t want anymore Gus.”
Sarah faintly smiled. “We should go get our stuff,” she said.
Chapter 7
Julia
That night, when Julia thought that Alice was asleep, Julia went to the lock on the outside of her cage, took her hair pin off and started to pick the lock.
All of sudden, an alarm started to blare. Julia had to let go of the lock in order to grab her ears. All of a sudden, Alice appeared with a creepy smile on her face.
“Oopsies,” Julia whispered.
“Oopsies is right,” Alice said in her ‘sugary sweet’ voice.
Alice yanked her out of the cage and threw her down a trapdoor with the cockroaches. It was dark, dusty, and Julia couldn’t see anything. All she could do was feel and hear the little cockroaches and trying not to step on them. There was a cot at the end of the room and Julia had to step over and around billions of cockroaches in order to get there.
“Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick,” said Julia.
When Julia woke up the next morning, there wasn’t breakfast waiting for her like there usually was. When she yelled that up to Alice, Alice replied, “You try to escape and you get no food for three days.”
That was the first time Julia heard Alice’s real voice. It was mean and rough. It even sounded like her personality.
Chapter 8
Sarah
Sarah ran home as fast as she could, her boots tapping on the sidewalk. She burst into the house, not even thinking about why the door was unlocked. She ran into her room and started to pack.
“Hmm, what will I need to climb a 12,000 foot mountain. Gee, let me think,” Sarah said. “Umm, I have a rope, a big long rope, actually. A grappling hook, no idea why I have that in here”
She paused.
“Wait, why aren’t Mom and Dad here?” she said out loud. Then Sarah thought of how the door had been left wide open when she came home. “That’s weird. Mom and Dad always lock the door. They don’t want robbers coming in. They are crazy about protectiveness.”
She walked into her parent’s room and saw that her mom and dad’s favorite bag was out of the closet and it looked like they had left in a rush. I wonder where they went, she thought. All of a sudden, she heard a crash from her room.
What the–oh it’s the grappling hook. She walked into her room and saw her grappling hook lying on the floor.The wood on the dresser was scratched. This isn’t going to be a good grappling hook if it always falls. Then she saw that the grappling hook was broken.
‘It’s alright. I’ll fix it at a “Pro Ski and Mountain” shop,” she shrugged.
It took Sarah 20 minutes to pack up everything she needed. This is what was on her list,
She packed everything in her very large furry backpack, (which she could turn into a pillow). And, she went back to the clubhouse to meet Kyley.
Chapter 9
Julia
Julia was starving. She hadn’t had food for two days and she only had muddy water. Then, Julia had a lightbulb. “Ooh Alice!” she called out in a friendly voice.
“What is it?” Alice called out in a crabby voice. It sounded like she had just woken up.
“Would you like some compliments, friendly morning compliments, Alice?”
“Why would you compliment me? I threw you in a room with cockroaches and I haven’t fed you for three days.”
“Because you deserve it, Alice!” continued Julia. “You deserve it because you’re so kind, you’re so beautiful. You deserve to be the ruler of this universe. It would be better that way for everybody.”
“Well,” Alice said flipping her hair, clearly flattered, “I am beautiful. And I am kind. And I do deserve to be the ruler of the universe. But how can you help me?”
“I can do so much. I can open the portal for you without my sister’s help. I can hypnotize people and make them love you.”
“You can hypnotize people?” Alice’s eyes were as wide as saucers and she was looking at Julia like she was some kind of goddess.
“ ‘Course, I’ve never done it before because you shouldn’t be hypnotized. You don’t deserve to be hypnotized. You’re too good.”
“I’m not good, I’m evil! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“You’re too good at being evil to be hypnotized. I could help you, but in order for that, I’d have to be out of this dump.”
“You promise not to kill me when I let you out?”
When Julia heard Alice say ‘When I let you out’ she practically jumped for joy, but she couldn’t because she was on the tiny bench so she wouldn’t step on a cockroach.” This is my chance to get back to Earth Julia thought.
“I promise not to kill you,” Julia told Alice.
When Alice opened the door a barrage of light entered the room blinding Julia and making her cover her eyes. Alice dropped the ladder and Julia climbed up.
“How do I know you really hypnotize people?”Alice said narrowing her eyes.
“I hipnotized my teacher into thinking that I brought in my homework the day before instead of that day, so I didn’t have to do it.”
“Okay, we’ll determine if you’re lying later,” Alice said, turning away.
Chapter 10
Sarah was so hot, but she was so cold. Kyley next to her, was huffing and puffing just like her, but both were shivering in their winter jackets. The sky was blue over them and there was nothing but mountains as far as they could see.
“Stop, just stop please,” Kyley said. They only rested once and that was at the beginning of the mountain.
Sarah cursed herself for not remembering that Kyley had asthma and got tired very easily. They sat down to rest and took out actual food–canned beans, canned soup, canned goods. Most of the stuff, as you can see, was canned.
“Kyley, come on, can we keep going? We have to find my sister soon. We don’t know what’s gonna happen to her.”
All of a sudden, Kyley got angry. “You’re lucky I’m even coming with you. For all I know, your sister could be somebody fake. This could just be a stupid joke on me.”
“I’m sorry if you feel that way, but I hope you’re not giving up on me,” Sarah said holding back tears, not sure if they were angry tears or sad tears.
She stood up and started to go up the mountain.
“I’m still coming with you, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” Kyley stood up and walked up to Sarah
***
For a little while they didn’t talk, but when they were close to the top Kyley turned to Sarah.
“ListenIdon’twanttofightbutyoucan’tblamemeforwondering,” Kyley said sounding rushed.
“I forgive you if you can say that again but a lot slower so I can actually understand it,”Sarah joked
“Thanks Sarah I’m really sorry. I will help you find Julia no matter what.”
***
A few minutes later, Kyley said “Hey you know that day in first grade when I lost my first tooth at recess and you took me to the nurse?”
“Yes, why?”
“I feel like someone else was there, a pretty girl with light brown eyes and hair.”
“OMG! That’s Julia! You remember her! That’s awesome!”
“Slow down, Sarah. Yes, I remember her, but not everything. I only remember bits and parts. I didn’t even know who she was. Also, it kind of hurts when it happens. Like a headache or something,” Kyley explained.
“Well, it’s something, at least you remember some of her,” said Sarah.
It seemed like they were at the top, but they couldn’t be sure with all the switchbacks. It was getting colder, and each switchback it got colder and colder. But, it was so early, and they had been walking for so long that the cold seemed normal.
Chapter 11
Julia
“These cookies are really good.” They were sitting in Alice’s room having milk and cookies.
“I know right? They’re a family recipe,” said Alice.
“We should get down to business now.”
“Okay, here’s the plan,” said Alice. “You’re going to open the portal by saying the words I’ll write down, ‘cause again I can’t say them or I’ll get a big headache. Then, when we get onto the mountain, you’re going to close the portal by saying the words again. While you’re doing this, I’ll make sure that all the security slash defences on Earth go out so nobody can stop us. And, also with my powers, I will make every weapon explode. Except for ours of course.”
“Okay, that sounds great, but number one, what are the words to open the portal to the human world,” Julia said, after Alice told her the plan.
Alice wrote down on a piece of paper the words
sasi-da-la-poo
“That’s what I have to say? sasidalapoo. That is kinda lame.”
“I know I know, but I don’t choose the spells, I just know them,”
“Okay, so I say sasidalapoo,” said Julia almost laughing, “Then what?”
“Then the portal will open and we’ll go through the portal out to earth and I’ll go straight to the king’s office and I’ll demand him to come clean or I’ll kill all of his children!”
Again, Julie almost laughed.
“Obviously,” she thought, “she doesn’t know that there’s no king and she can’t just take over the world.”
To Alice, she said, “Okay this is a great plan. We should do it right now,”
“Wow, you’re eager,” Alice said. “This is the first time one of my captives has gone along with one of my plans,”
“Yeah, well I’m special,” said Julia.
They walked to the door and Julia held out her hand and said, ‘Sasidalapoo.” A big purple swirling portal appeared in front of Julia and Alice. Julia stepped through, a blast of icy cold wind hitting her square in the face, saying, “sasidalapoo” again before Alice could jump over to the earth. When she turned around after closing the portal she saw Sarah and Sarah’s friend Kyley staring at her with their mouths open in shock.
“Sarah!” Julia yelled.
“Julia!” Sarah yelled at the same time.
They tackled each other in a big bear hug.
“Oh my god, how did you get back!? I was about to say these really weird words to get you back but then YOU said them when you came onto the peak and you know I’m really confused I’m just gonna sit down for a minute,” she said as she sat down.
“Hi Julia,” Kyley said, “Hey, I remember you now. I remember all of our memories together!” Kyley’s face lit up like she just got the best present ever.
“You forgot them?” Julie said because of course she had no idea that everyone on earth had forgotten about her when she had disappeared.
“Yeah,” Sarah said, “Everyone on earth forgot about you when you disappeared, so they’ll probably remember you now but I’m not sure”
“Well let’s go find out!” Julia said, running down the hill, eager to find her parents.
“Wait, Julie, you’re wearing summer clothes and we’re on a hill that’s below zero degrees! I brought an extra jacket but I don’t think that will help,” said Kyley.
“Okay, can I have it? I really want to get down this hill.”
“Alright.” Kyley pulled out the extra jacket out of her backpack and handed it to Julia.
Julia put it on, picked up Kyley’s bag, because Sarah already had hers on her back, and once again started running down the hill but this time with Sarah and Kyley trailing behind her. When they got home,and they ran inside their house they saw their parents who were sitting on the couch, frantically wondering where their daughters were. Kyley’s parents were sitting on the other couch.
“Julia! Sarah!” their parents cried out.
“Kyley!” Kyley’s parents cried out at the same time.
Julia and Sarah ran to their parents and hugged them while Kyley ran to her parents and started crying in their arms. When Julia and Sarah pulled out of their parents hugs, their parents said, “We should all probably go back to our houses so we can get out explanations for why our children were gone for so long,” Sarah’s mom said.
“You’re right,” Kyley’s father said, “Our children have a lot of explaining to do!”
Kyley and her parents walked out the door. Julia and Sarah sat on the couch next to their parents. Julia opened her mouth to speak.
“Stop, it’s okay,” said the girls father. “We know exactly why you were gone and the person who has explaining has to do is us.” They explained to the children how they were actually kings and queens of a magical world. Alice had wanted to be the queen and had almost succeeded if it hadn’t been for Sarah and Julia. Alice had launched an attack with her evil followers, forcing the king and queen to take their children and flee to earth. The reason the parents had been so protective is because they didn’t want their child to be captured by Alice to be killed.
That night when they went to sleep, Sarah and Julia decided to pull out an air mattress and sleep on the floor together. Instead of talking they just sat next to each other, resting, acknowledging each other’s presence. Sarah and Julia closed their eyes, still smiling knowing that everything would be okay as long as they were together.
THE END
FOR NOW…
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