Young Writers Society

Quinn had felt bad about scratching the little girl. She saw Vernon come out of his house and then go back in. A few minutes later a random Vernon popped up and headed over to the girls house. Quinn changed back to her human form and ran into Vernon's house.

"Vernon!" She yelled, not realizing he was just laying on the couch in front of her. "Oh, oops."

Quinn walked over to him, moving Vernon's feet of the couch and sitting down. She started hyperventilating. "I scratched the little girl! I didn't mean to but I did. I feel terrible!" Before she knew it she had tears flowing out of her eyes.

A brisk knock jolted Tempe from her stupor. She tentatively opened the door to a boy holding a medical pack. The boy was attractive, but had an air of superiority about him that caused Tempe to narrow her eyes. He raised his eyebrows and held out the first aid kit.

"I saw the little girl get injured. I thought she might need bandaging."

Tempe glanced back at her sister whimpering on the couch and back at the visitor. Tilly needed help. With a sigh, she swung open the door.

"May I?" inquired the boy.

Tempe nodded. He rushed over to Tilly and pulled out a bottle of saline solution. He rinsed the cut and applied a coat of neosporine. He wrapped it in bandages and turned to Tempe.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's only a flesh wound. Give it a few days and she'll be fine. "

Tempe sighed.

"Thank you so much ...?"

"Vernon."

"Thank you Vernon. I'm Tempe, by the way. And that's Tilly. My little sister."

Tempe started getting triped up over the words tumbling out of her mouth. Vernon moved toward the door. Then Vernon, the medical man with a red tie and winking buttons, marched smartly out the door and into the street.

Vernon was walking down the street rather pleased with himself. This was turning out to be quite a day; Two new acquaintances in this upside down world, and neither had tried to kill him. He could think of a number of people who would attempt to gain power should they be given the opportunity.
As he approached his house, he heard crying. For a moment he paused, bbefore entering the lobby, depositing the first aid kit on the hat stand, and waking up.
Vernon shook his head as the afterglow of the lobby disappeared from his eyes and he saw the living room again. Then he noticed Quinn on the sofa beside him, and the state she was in.
"Calm down!" he said. "Breath deeply. In. And out."
He put his hand on her shoulder and looked in her eyes. "Now, do you want to tell me what happened?"

Quinn tried to breath. She tried to calm herself down. "That poor little girl, I scratched her!" Quinn broke down yet again, her cheeks all wet.

"It's okay, she'll be okay." Vernon said, enveloping Quinn in a hug.

"Your shirts going to get wet, Vernon." Quinn said, her cheek against Vernon's shoulder.

Vernon seemed to chuckle. "It's fine. It's just a shirt."

"If she's hurt it my fault." Quinn mumbled, her head still resting on Vernon's shoulder.

Vernon held Quinn, gently soothing here as he did. "Everything will be fine. It was only a skin wound, she'll be better in a couple of days. It's not your fault." It was the first time he had hugged anyone, outside of his own family. They stayed like that for 15 minutes, maybe even 20, until Vernon finally said "It's getting late. You should be getting to bed now: You need the rest."
Quinn stood, trembling. Vernon put his arm around her shoulder to steady her, and together they went upstairs. Vernon showed Quinn to her room, and lay her down on her bed.
"Go to sleep now."
Vernon sat with her for a few minutes, until she fell asleep. Then, silently, he walked to his own room, and looked at his cat drawing for a moment, before going to bed himself.

Tempe needed a breather. Most phones were dead, but with lightning in her hands, and the help of her tech-savvy friend, she was able to place a call.
"Luke."
"Hey, Lil" a familiar, friendly voice responded. Tempe smiled. He was the only one who called her Lil.
"So, what happened?" Tempe always called him when something was wrong.
She explained what had happened with Tilly. Fifteen minutes of therapy later, Tempe ended the call.

Quinn awoke in a startle. She had had a nightmare. Her father was drunk laying on the floor, not breathing. She had ran over to him, crying and screaming his name. He didn't answer. Sure, Quinn was always disappointed at him for being a drunk but this isn't what she ever wanted. She tried shaking him but he wouldn't wake.

That's when Quinn awoke, tears rolling down her cheeks. She had already waken up once after Vernon had brought her to bed. During that time she had taken off her jeans so she was only in her oversized t-shirt. It covered most of her. She walked slowly got up, wiped her face, and walked out into the hall. She walked into Vernon's room, not knowing if he was still awake.

"Pssst. Vernon." Quinn whisper yelled.

"Quinn. I thought you were asleep. Is something wrong?" Vernon said as he sat up in his bed.

"I had a bad dream. I'm scared about my dad. He's a drunk and no one but myself takes care of him. I don't want anything to happen to him." Quinn said as she pulled her t-shirt down, trying to hide the fact she was cold.

Vernon stood up and took Quinn by the shoulder. He felt strange, he had never really met anyone with such a serious family problem.
"C'mon. It's alright. I am sure that wherever the adults are drinking won't be a problem."
Vernon sat Quinn on his bed next to him. He felt her shiver. "Can I get you something warmer to wear? Hang on..." Vernon took his tailcoat of the back of his chair draped it round Quinn.
"Everything is fine."
Quinn looked at Vernon gratefully, and asked "Do you know what's happened to them?"
Vernon shook his head. "I have very little idea although I think it may be a parallel universe containing only the adults somewhere. To them it would appear we disappeared. But that's very unlikely. "
They sat silently for a moment until Quinn said "I better be getting back to bed."
"O.k."
Vernon showed Quinn to the door. Just as she was about to leave Vernon kissed her on the forehead.
"Sweet dreams."

Quinn gave Vernon a small smile as she walked back to her room. She ran her fingers over the wall as she went, smiling to herself. Quinn had never had a pair of lips touch her anywhere. She laid in bed and quietly thought to herself.

Vernon was indeed a nice boy. He wasn't mean that she could tell and he let her stay here. It was a nice house. But if they had a relationship it could ruin their friendship. Quinn did not want that. She never really had friends and Vernon was one out of maybe three. She couldn't lose that.

As she laid her head on the pillow and closed her eyes she knew that she really liked Vernon. But she did what she thought was right. She convinced herself that she wasn't worth his time. Told herself that Vernon only liked her as a friend.

"That's all he is, all he'll ever be, is a friend." Quinn whispered quietly to herself as she fell into a deep sleep and with out dreams the rest of the night.

Vernon lay awake for a while, thinking. It was quite late and Vernon was a little tired, so his thoughts were not particularly organised and were rather vague. He was thinking about Quinn. He had never kissed a girl before. He wasn't even sure if kissing her on the forehead counted. He hoped he had acted natural, pretended he wasn't nervous, and Quinn certainly seemed that way. To look at her Vernon imagined she had kissed hundreds of times before, and she certainly took it in her stride. To be honest the closest to physical contact with a girl he had had before was holding someone's hand to help them climb of a bus.
He turned over and saw the cat drawing he had done, propped up against his drawing board, and remembered he had only known her for a day. She was just a little kitten really, whether in human form or not.

Isabelle Harnicks

Everything was quiet. Nobody outside. Everything was just deserted. I stood in my room, trying to find an old book that my Mom had given me on my 12th birthday.

I took a step back, but what I stepped on was quite slippery, and I lost my balance. Trying to steady myself, I placed a hand on my wall, but things didn't work out as I'd planed. My hand legitimately went though the wall. No, no it didn't. It couldn't have. I was just seeing things. My eyes were playing tricks on me. I'M GOING CRAZY.

As I desperately tried to come up with an answer for what had just happened, I couldn't help but stare at my hands, wondering what was wrong with me. What kind of sorcery was that? Am I cursed?

It had been hours, days, maybe even weeks since my sister had disappeared. The cars outside were still in the same place they were in before, except for the fact that they weren't on anymore. I'd watched a few kids bust the cars up ad take things from them. Why didn't anyone call the police?

By now, it was hard not to believe that I was stuck inside some dream. I wasn't in a dream. But then again, I could be.

Across the street, a girl held an animal in her hands, but soon fell to the ground, and made weird faces. Was she crying? Everything was silent.

Wait, everything was silent? Oh, no. I lost my hearing aid. Being deaf AND mute sucked.

All I wanted was for Hannah to come back so that we could finish celebrating my birthday, even though it wasn't my birthday anymore. What was it? Oh, man. I didn't even know the date.

I shook my head, and focused back on the girl across the street. She wasn't alone anymore, though. Another girl was out there...and things were...blowing around. It looked like a small tornado. But that's not even possible.

What was this world? And how did I get in it? Why did that book go through the table when I tried to pick it up? And why did my hand go through the wall when I tried to balance myself earlier?

I looked back outside, but the girls that were there before were no longer present. Feeling my tummy rumble, I got up, and went to the kitchen to try and find something to eat.

As sunlight peeked through the half-closed curtains, Tempe blinked sleep out of her eyes and stretched. Her arm brushed an unoccupied space next to her. Tilly must be awake. Tempe popped her neck and walked out the bedroom door.
"Tem, who was the nice man who fixed my arm?"
Tempe looked at her sister curiously.
"Vernon. I think he lives down the street."
"Will you help me find him?" Tilly pleaded. "I need to give him something." She held out a card covered in crayon. Tempe sat on the couch with Tilly and read the card. It had a heart and a bandaid on the front, and said THANK YOU inside.
"Sure thing sweet pea. Let's go."
They walked out the door and down the sidewalk.

Vernon woke early in the morning, as was his wont. He stretched, and opened his wardrobe, selecting his sky blue dressing gown with red dragons. He had a small collection of dressing gowns, and had arranged them to have a different one for every day of the week.
After brushing his teeth he descended the stairs to the kitchen. He got out bacon, eggs, sausages, tomato and mushrooms, and prepared a large traditional English breakfast, complete with freshly ground coffee. Vernon held freshly ground coffee was always better than instant, which he loathed.
He then placed this array upon a tray, and reascended to stairs to Quinn's room. He knocked (using Peter the Postman's knock from Trumpton, the cult children's TV program from 40 years ago) and called "Room service!"
He waited for Quinn to reply "Enter!", before opening the door, placing the tray upon the bed.
"Thank you for staying at the Bohay Knowles hotel." Without waiting for a reply Vernon swept out of the room, and slid down the banister.
Just as he was finishing of his own breakfast he heard a knock at the door. Taking his usual precautions in this time, he lay on the sofa and closed his eyes.
A few moments later a copy answered the door, to be met by the small girl he had helped today, accompanied by her older sister.
"Hello! How lovely to see you, do come in."

Tilly ran at Vernon and attacked him with a bear hug.
"Thank you for fixing my arm!" Tilly yelled at his belly button.
Vernon blushed.
"Erm..."
Tempe found it strange to see Vernon uncomfortable. He seemed the type of person who always knew exactly what to say.
"She wanted to give you this." Tempe said, holding out the card.
Vernon extracted one arm from Tilly's death grip like hug and took the card.
Upon seeing Vernon take the card, Tilly released him so she could see his reaction. His face was calm and cool as he read the card, but once he closed it he squeezed Tilly's hand and said "You are very welcome."

Isabelle Harnicks

My mind swirled as I put my hand through a book. How was this even happening? All of this was impossible. Literally, impossible.

I was out of food, and even though I couldn't hear it, my stomach growled, demanding food.

Maybe I could ask those girls..? No, too dangerous. I couldn't risk that.

But the last time I went without eating, I passed out for a long while.

Slouching down on the couch, I pulled the curtain back, and looked around. The girls from earlier stood on somebody's doorstep, and waited, I supposed. The door opened, and a guy stood there.

The memories from this morning came flooding back. The girl making her little tornado. She had powers, like me. I wondered if she understood her powers, or if she knew how to control them. Cause I needed to get this...power under control. I can't go around my house, trying to grab things, but instead having my hand go through it.

It could be dangerous, yes, but who cares? I need to do anything I can to find Hannah.

*************************

It took about 15 minutes before I actually left the house. I was afraid. Terrified, actually.

They hadn't left the guys house yet, and I wondered if the three all had powers of their own. I knew the older girl did, but what about the others?

Slowly, I crept up the lawn, and stopped in front of the small porch. Should I be doing this?

I leaned forward, and knocked three times. I wasn't sure how loud it was. If I was knocking really loud, or just quietly, inaudibly...but the door swung open a few seconds later, so I guessed it was loud enough for them.

The same guy who opened the door earlier stood there, his lips moving. I didn't know what the heck he was saying, so I stood there, staring at him.

Lifting my hands, I used sing language, hoping he understood.

As I did so, he just nodded, then moved out of the way and welcomed me in, by motioning his hand forward.