I like stuffed animals, drawing, sleeping, cooking, and of course writing. I've lived in New York City for my entire life.
“Everyone was running around the library looking for the suitcase. The only person not in the commotion was Lily, since she could already see it.”
PROLOGUE:
In the middle of the night, the doors of the New York Public Library creaked open. Although it was called “The City That Never Sleeps,” everyone seemed to be asleep. Even the lions at the front doors seemed to be asleep. Except for one man. He stepped out of the doors to the library with an annoyed expression on his face. He was wearing a dark suit almost the color of the night sky. All of a sudden, a long black limousine pulled up. A short man stepped out of the car, whispered something to the man, and they both got back in the car. The car drove away. Two hours later, they were no longer in the city, maybe even the state. The car was driving towards a very, very tall building, almost three times the size of the Empire State Building. The two men stepped out of the car, and walked towards the building. As they walked towards the building, you could swear the car was driving away on its own. The car was taking the same exact route it took to get to the building, except the car was driving in the opposite direction.
***
“Wake up!” Lily’s three year old sister shouted.
“Why?” Lily mumbled.
“Because it’s time for school!” She screamed again.
“Rosie, you know I already have an alarm clock that works perfectly,” Lily said. There was a loud ring. “See?” Lily said with a smile.
Rosie started bawling. “Mommy! Lily wouldn’t let me be her alarm clock!” Rosie sniffled.
“Lily, be nice to your sister, she’s only trying to help” Lily’s mom said.
Lily grunted. “She isn’t as cute as you think. Thanks to her I was up in the middle of the night!” Lily said angrily. Her brown eyes were glaring at her sister.
Rosie started bawling again, and her blue eyes looked like they were made completely of water.
“Lily!” Her mom scolded. “Will you please stop tormenting your sister and get dressed?” Her mom looked like she was about to explode.
“Fine,” Lily said.
Her mom left the room. Lily put on her favorite shirt and threw her pajamas across the room. “Is it impossible for me to have one CALM day?” Lily sighed. In just two weeks Lily would leave for sleepaway camp for the WHOLE summer. No annoying Rosie, just her and her friends in a cabin far away from here. After Lily was done getting dressed, she ran to the kitchen to get breakfast. Out the window of the kitchen, Lily noticed a black car that looked a lot like the black car she saw out her window the night before.
“Lily, hurry up, you’re going to be late for school,” Lily’s mom said.
“Okay, fine.” Lily ran out the door as fast as she could. She got on the elevator and as soon as the elevator got to the lobby, she sprinted out to the bus stop. On the bus ride to school, Lily couldn’t help thinking about what she had seen out the window in the middle of the night. The man stepping out of the black car and the other man getting in. She wondered where the black car was driving. Just then, the bus got to a stop. Lily got off the bus and ran into the building and realized she forgot her backpack on the bus. She ran back to the bus as fast as she could and grabbed her backpack. As she got her backpack off the bus, she saw a man that looked a lot like the man she saw in the middle of the night. She ran back off the bus and back into the school building.
***
Lily sat up in her chair eagerly as she waited for the bell to ring so she could go home. Then the bell rang and Lily ran to her locker to get her backpack. After she got her backpack, she ran out of school and got to the bus stop so she could take the bus home. When Lily got home, she ran to her room so she could do her homework. She said hi to her pet turtle Green Bean and went to get a snack from the kitchen. When she got back she fed Green Bean and ate her snack. Like usual, at that moment Rosie ran into her room and almost knocked over Green Bean’s tank.
“Rosie please be careful with Green Bean,” Lily said.
“I want a turtle too!” Rosie said.
“But making Green Bean die doesn’t make a difference,” Lily replied.
“Lily, look! Long car, long car!” Rosie pointed to the window.
Lily looked over and saw that same black car, although it looked like it was driving on its own this time. Lily put on her shoes and looked like she was about to leave the apartment.
Rosie said, “Lily, where are you going?”
“To see that car.” Lily ran out of the apartment, went downstairs, and saw the black car about to turn the corner. She ran after the car and saw the car pull up in front of the New York Public Library. Lily saw the men step out of the passenger seat and she saw them walk into the library. Lily followed them inside. As they turned the corner into the nonfiction aisle, she noticed a small black suitcase sitting by one of the shelves. She kept following the men, and when she saw one of them about to turn around, Lily ran out the doors of the library and she kept running. She ran until she got to her apartment building and got on the elevator. She wished it could go faster to the eighteenth floor. She felt a little panicky because when she ran past the car, she saw that the car was driving on its own. She ran to her room, squeezed her stuffed teddy bear, and took a moment to calm down. Maybe I should go back to the library and see what was up with that suitcase, she thought.
***
“Did you hear those footsteps behind us in the library?” the shorter man said.
“I heard them thinking about the suitcase,” the taller one said.
“How come you get to be telepathic and I don’t?” the shorter one pouted.
“First of all, I’m telepathic and because I’m a better agent than you are, and second, don’t focus on that, focus on the suitcase,” the taller one said.
“So come on, let’s get the car and drive to the V.V.T.B.,” the shorter one said.
“Ah yes, the Very Very Tall Building. And please stop calling it the V.V.T.B.”
Two hours later
The men walked up to the front desk of the Very Very Tall Building.
“We’re here for the Suitcase Organization,” the tall one said.
“Okay, go up to the 304th floor,” the receptionist said. It was a very, very long elevator ride.
The men got off the elevator and walked towards a door that said Suitcase Organization on it. They opened the door and walked into a very, very big room full of rows of cheap plastic beach chairs filled with uncomfortable looking people. The men sat down on two pink ones with hearts on them.
“And I was expecting an inflatable baby pool,” the shorter one whispered to the taller one.
“Shh,” the taller one said.
A man almost seven feet tall and seven feet wide said, “Today we are here to discuss who the new ‘Suitcase Seer’ is. Does anyone have any questions or comments?” The taller one raised his hand. “Yes, Freddie Bob.”
“I heard the Suitcase Seer thinking about the suitcase in the library followed by thoughts about teddy bears, so I’m suspecting it was an 11-year old girl.”
“And did you see this girl?” the balloon man asked.
“No, she ran away before I saw her.”
The balloon man said, “Pathetic girls, always running away. Does Ricky Dave have anything to say?”
“No,” the shorter one whimpered.
***
Making sure that Rosie was still asleep, Lily quietly put on her sneakers (in case she had to run away again) and her sweater. Lily made sure that she had her phone in her pocket (her mom had given it to her for her tenth birthday and she had only had it for a year) and she quietly tiptoed to the door. As Lily walked out of the apartment, she decided to take the stairs, even though it was a very long walk down. Lily looked at her watch. It was 10:30 at night. Lily was thankful that she didn’t live that far away from the library so it would be a short trip. Lily couldn’t see any stars since it was New York. But she did see the moon. It was a half-moon that night. After she was done walking the one block to the library, she was hesitant to go inside.
¨I am going to be in so much trouble for this,” Lily said to herself. She stepped inside the library and closed the door behind her. She walked quickly through the library to the nonfiction section. In that same spot, she saw the suitcase again. Not being able to resist it, she went over towards the suitcase and unzipped to see what was inside. She immediately saw a bright light. Then it was complete darkness.
Fifteen minutes later
“Hello?” Lily heard a voice say. Lily opened her eyes. She saw the figure of a woman over her.
“What happened?” Lily said.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I just heard a sound over here and saw you lying on the floor.” the woman said.
“Who are you?” Lily asked.
“Lily, don’t you know me? I’m the librarian here,” the woman replied.
“How do you know my name?” Lily asked.
“Don’t you have a library card here?” the librarian frowned.
“Oh. Don’t blame me, I was unconscious for- actually I don’t know if I was. Was I? But, you get the point.” Lily said.
“I wasn’t blaming you, and you were unconscious. For fifteen minutes.” the librarian said.
“I was?” Lily said, not sure if she believed the librarian.
“Yes. And may I ask how you became unconscious?” the librarian said curiously.
“Um, I looked in this suitcase-” Lily started to say.
“Suitcase?” the librarian interrupted.
“Yes, suitcase. Here, look,” Lily held up the suitcase to the librarian, unaware that out of the 7 billion people on Earth, only Lily could see it. The librarian, on the other hand, knew Lily was the one, and that the Suitcase Organization would be out to get her. Oh, if only they knew what was inside, it definitely WOULD NOT be worth it. The librarian chuckled to herself.
“What are you laughing ab-”
“Hide!” The librarian whisper-shouted as she heard the door creak open. The only people who would come to the library at 11:00 at night were either the library staff, the person who could see the suitcase, or a member of the Suitcase Organization. The librarian did NOT want it to be the last one.
***
“The wheels of the driverless car go round and round, round and round, round and round, the wheels of the driverless go round and round, to the New York Public Library,” Ricky Dave sang rather tunelessly.
“Will. You. Please. Shut. Up. You’re a really bad singer,” Freddie Bob said angrily.
“Everyone in the Suitcase Organization is a really bad singer. You know Jeffrey Sam, Balloon man, founder of the Suitcase Organization? He can shatter a glass just by singing one note!” Ricky Dave replied.
“Ricky Dave, I told you to SHUT UP!” Freddie Bob yelled.
“Look, we’re here!” Ricky Dave said.
Freddie Bob took a deep breath… and punched Ricky Dave in the stomach. Ricky Dave threw up on Freddie Bob. Freddie Bob pushed a button that cleaned his suit. Then he opened the door of the car and pushed Ricky Dave out. Ricky Dave blew a raspberry at Freddie Bob. Then Freddie Bob got out of the car. They both walked into the library and the door opened with a loud creak.
***
“Out of all the people the Suitcase Organization could have sent to steal the suitcase, it had to be Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave,” the librarian said.
“Wait, their names are Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave?” Lily asked.
“Yeah, everyone in the Suitcase Organization has two first names with a total of three syllables,” the librarian said.
“It’s so annoying to look for something that’s invisible,” Ricky Dave said.
“It’s not invisible, we just can’t currently see it,” Freddie Bob said.
“I’m pretty sure that’s the same thing,” Ricky Dave said.
“No it’s not.”
“Yes it is.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“NO!!!”
“Okay fine, they’re not the same thing,” Ricky Dave said.
“Do you want me to punch you in the stomach again?” Freddie Bob said.
“Do you want me to throw up on you again?” Ricky Dave said.
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Let’s just keep looking for the suitcase,” Freddie Bob said.
“They’re weird,” Lily said to the librarian.
“Ricky Dave, I hear voices,” Freddie Bob said.
“Oh come on,” Lily said.
“And they’re coming from over there,” Ricky Dave said.
Freddie Bob looked right at Lily. Lily was so scared she could even smell her fear. “There!” Ricky Dave shouted.
Lily got so scared that she picked up the closest thing to her — which happened to be the suitcase — and threw it at Freddie Bob. Freddie Bob was very confused. He thought that a little girl had just thrown air at him, but surprisingly it hurt.
“Wait a minute,” Freddie Bob said. “That was the suitcase!” Everyone was running around the library looking for the suitcase. The only person not in the commotion was Lily, since she could already see it. When she thought everyone was most involved in the fight for the suitcase, she walked over to where she saw the suitcase and picked it up.
“She has it! She has the suitcase!” Freddie Bob yelled.
“GET HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Ricky Dave screamed.
“Oh no oh no oh no, IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!!!” the librarian shouted.
Lily ran into the librarian’s office and locked the door behind her. She heard the closet door swing open and the librarian walked out.
“How did you-” Lily began.
“Secret passage. Be prepared to run, because I’m pretty sure Ricky Bob and Freddie Dave or whatever their names are saw me go into the passage. You still have the suitcase?” the librarian said.
“Yes,” Lily answered.
“Good. You’re going to need it. And not just for throwing it at Bobbie Fred,” the librarian said.
The librarian had her gray hair up in a tight bun, right on top of her head. Her glasses sat on the edge of her nose, like every librarian’s glasses should. Her green eyes were looking directly into Lily’s brown eyes. Lily’s mom often said Lily was lucky to have her dad’s eyes. Lily had never met her dad, apparently something happened to him around when Lily was born, and she had never seen him. She was a little bit jealous of Rosie, because Rosie didn’t need to worry about Lily’s dad, since she was adopted. Lily’s mom really wanted another child, but that was after her dad went missing.
After the emotional memory, Lily and the librarian heard the closet door swing open. “Run!” the librarian shouted. Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave were close behind them. Lily decided to throw the suitcase at them again.
“Ow!” Ricky Dave screamed. “She threw the suitcase at me!”
“Stop being dumb, pick it up,” Freddie Bob yelled.
Lily slid over and tried to get the suitcase before them. Lily had an idea. She ran the other way and ran towards the exit of the library. She ran out of the library and got into the driverless car. She got down and hid until the men came out. When Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave got out of the library, they didn’t see her. They decided they would get into the car and drive to the Very Very Tall Building. When the car started, Lily jumped a little, but she managed to stay hidden.
Two hours later
“Well, Ricky Dave, turns out we managed to get the suitcase after all,” Freddie Bob said.
“Not for long,” Lily whispered to herself.
After Ricky Dave and Freddie Bob got out of the car, Lily made sure they couldn’t see her, and then she got out. She couldn’t help staring at the building in front of her. It was almost three times the size of the Empire State Building. She decided to go into the building. She saw Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave go into the front desk and tell the receptionist that they were here for the Suitcase Organization. Since Lily wanted to follow them, she went up to the receptionist and said the same thing.
“304th floor,” the receptionist said. Lily got into the elevator and pushed the 304th floor button. It took about five minutes for her to get there. When she got there, she saw a door with the words “Suitcase Organization” on it in big print. Lily got down on her knees and opened the door and snuck inside. Lily was surprised to see many rows of broken rocking chairs. Some of them fell over about every two seconds. Lily went into the last row and chose the one that looked the least broken. A man that was seven feet tall and seven feet wide came up to a little stage at the front. He announced that there was some very important news from two of the agents named Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave.
“Please let me carry the suitcase up,” Ricky Dave whispered to Freddie Bob.
“Why should I?” Freddie Bob whispered.
“Because if I carry it up, maybe they’ll let me get telepathy too,” Ricky Dave said.
“Hate to break it to you, but that’s not a good reason,” Freddie Bob said.
“And now, without further ado, the two agents who have managed to get the suitcase,” Balloon Man said. Before Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave were even done getting up to the little stage at the front, Lily ran up to them and grabbed the suitcase.
“Freddie Bob, do you know her?” Balloon Man asked.
“Jeffrey Sam, I can assure you that she does not have good intentions,” Freddie Bob said.
“Then I say, get her!”
The room was full of chaos. Broken rocking chairs became even more broken. Injured people became even more injured. And Jeffrey Sam accidentally swallowed someone. Lily managed to exit the room, but someone crashed into her.
“HI!!!!!” He shouted.
“Who are you?” Lily asked.
“I’M DANNY PHIL!!!!!!” He yelled.
“Uhh, hi?” Lily said with a confused expression on her face.
“HELLO!!!!!! WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” Danny Phil yelled.
“I’m Lily,” Lily said feeling weirded out.
“OH YEAH, YOU’RE THE PERSON WHO COULD SEE THE SUITCASE!” Danny Phil screamed, “HOW’D YOU GET HERE ANYWAY?”
“I snuck into Freddie Bob’s and Ricky Dave’s driverless car,” Lily said.
“I KNOW FREDDIE BOB AND RICKY DAVE!!!!! FREDDIE BOB IS MY UNCLE! HE DOESN’T LIKE ME THAT MUCH THOUGH!” Danny Phil yelled.
“Why doesn’t he like you?” Lily asked.
“I WAS LIVING WITH UNCLE FREDDIE FOR A LITTLE BIT AND I HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO JOIN A BARBER SHOP QUARTET BUT HE WOULDN’T LET ME AND MADE ME JOIN THIS ORGANIZATION INSTEAD! SO I THEN I STARTED LIVING WITH RICKY DAVE BUT THEN HE JOINED THIS ORGANIZATION TOO!” Danny Phil screamed enthusiastically.
“Wow,” Lily looked at Danny Phil with wide-eyes.
“YOU KNOW THAT GUY WHO JEFFREY SAM SWALLOWED — CUPCAKE BILL?! HE WAS MY BEST FRIEND!”
“Wow, I’m sorry.”
“DO YOU WANT TO HELP ME PLAN HIS FUNERAL?” Danny Phil asked.
“Okay,” Lily said.
“DO YOU WANT ME TO DRIVE YOU BACK IN MY DRIVERLESS CAR?” Danny Phil asked.
“Okay, but can you drive me to the New York Public library?”
“SURE, BUT I’M NOT DRIVING YOU. MR. INVISIBLE IS!”
“You got it!”
Together, Lily and Danny Phil walked to the parking lot of the Very Very Tall Building, and Lily was surprised to see that Danny Phil’s driverless car was really just a punch buggy painted pink. But it did actually drive by itself.
Two hours later.
Lily walked up the steps to the New York Public Library. She couldn’t wait to see the librarian again.
“Hello?” Lily said.
“Hi Lily. How was your trip to the Very, Very Tall Building?” The librarian asked.
“Oh, it was good, and this is Danny Phil,” Lily said.
“HI!!!!!!” Danny Phil said.
“Um.. Hi Danny Phil,” the librarian said.
“I think I might try opening the suitcase again,” Lily said.
“Well, what’re you waiting for?” The librarian asked.
“Okay,” Lily said.
She put the suitcase on the ground and slowly opened it. Inside, she couldn’t have been more surprised to see…………
A LITTLE BABY UNICORN!
Lily’s eyes were about as wide as oranges.
“You also get to be immortal,” the librarian said.
“How do you know all this?” Lily asked.
“Because I was the first person to ever see inside the suitcase…”
EPILOGUE:
“We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of my beloved friend, Cupcake Bill,” Danny Phil said for the first time, not shouting. “He was a very nice friend and he baked amazing cupcakes.”
Unfortunately, they did not have Cupcake Bill’s corpse. Instead, they had some “remnants” in a coffin (compliments of Jeffrey Sam).
Lily almost started crying at Cupcake Bill’s funeral. Jeffrey Sam was not there, luckily. It was almost time for Lily to speak, “He always knew how much frosting and how many sprinkles to put on every cupcake. Cupcake Bill’s cupcake shop will be left in the care of Danny Phil.”
“Wait, what?!” Danny Phil said.
“Yes you’ll be running Cupcake Bill’s cupcake shop,” Lily said.
“THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!” Danny Phil shouted.
Everyone at the funeral started staring at him, “I mean besides for Cupcake Bill dying,” Danny Phil looked embarrassed.
“Okay, and now for the crying break,” Danny Phil said and then he started bawling.
Everyone at the funeral was crying. It seemed as though every single tissue box in the world was empty.
“CURSE YOU JEFFREY SAM!” Danny Phil shouted while taking a break to blow his nose. “WE WILL MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU FOREVER, CUPCAKE BILL.”
Then a little girl wearing a little pink dress stepped onto the stage, “I have no idea who Cupcake Bill is, but my sister went to the funeral so I did too.”
“Rosie, I thought you wanted to go to the funeral,” Lily said.
“But I still don’t know who Cupcake Bill is… who is he?” Rosie said.
“Okay Rosie, why don’t you get off the stage now?” Lily said with a fake smile on her face.
EPILOGUE OF THE EPILOGUE:
Lily had to say it was pretty cool to have a pet unicorn. By orders of her mom, Lily was forced to give Green Bean to Rosie, since it wasn’t fair for Lily to have two pets and Rosie not have any. Lily could tell Green Bean hated Rosie, because he went into his shell whenever Rosie came into her room. Whenever Lily came into Rosie’s room, Green Bean came out of his shell and gave Lily a get me out of here look. Sparkly-Boo (Boo for short), as Lily had named her unicorn slept in Lily’s bed and gave Lily big pleading eyes to take her in Lily’s backpack to school. Rosie called Boo Shnoogie (Lily did not know why). For Rosie’s fourth birthday, Lily’s mom decided tell Rosie she was adopted. Rosie wanted to know where her “real mommy” was.
“Hey Lily, we’ve got new next door neighbors! Their names are Mr. Bob and Mr. Dave!” Lily’s mom said enthusiastically. Lily hoped she was kidding about their names.
“Oh, that’s cool mom, but do you know what their first names are?” Lily asked.
“Their names are Freddie and Ricky!” Lily’s mom said.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lily thought.
“Mom, is it okay if I go to the library?” Lily asked.
“Why not?” Her mom said.
Lily rushed out the door and ran the one block to the New York Public Library. She ran straight into the librarian’s office.
“Freddie Bob- Ricky Dave- Next door neighbors-” Lily panted.
“Okay Lily, what’s going on here?” The librarian asked. Lily took a deep breath… “FreddieBobandRickyDavearemovingintomybuildinginapartment18Cwhichisnextto18D
whichismyapartmentandcouldn’ttheyhavemovedinto17Cor16Cor15Cor14CandIwouldsay13Cbutthere’sno13thfloorinmybuildingbutmaybe12Cor11Cor10Cor9Cor8Cor7Cor6Cor5Cor4Cor3Cor2Cor1C? AndIdidn’tevenknowMr.Smithmovedout.” Lily said in warp speed.
“Slowly?” the librarian said.
“Freddie Bob and Ricky Dave are moving into my building in apartment 18C which is next to 18D which is my apartment, and couldn’t they have moved into 17C or 16C or 15C or 14C and I would say 13C but there’s no 13th floor in my building, but maybe 12C or 11C or 10C or 9C or 8C or 7C or 6C or 5C or 4C or 3C or 2C or 1C? And I didn’t even know Mr. Smith moved out.” Lily said normally this time.
“Well I have a plan. The Suitcase Organization has stolen all sorts of high tech devices from the government to find the suitcase.” the librarian said.
“So if we report them to the police…” Lily said.
“They won’t be your neighbor!”
2 Comments
woah lol
This is totally awesome! I love you Shiri! You’re an awesome member of the GWB’s!