What's My Life?
By Jessie Bullens-Crewe

Chapter One — What's My Life?

Areena was lying on the grass near the lake. Actually, it was really her lake. Her lake because no one else knew about it. That's where she went when she was sad, mad, happy or just feeling plain old weird. But today she was especially happy because the next day she was going, for the very first time, to school. She was excited. She wondered what it would be like, if it would be fun, boring or hard.

Then she heard a high pitched whistle and knew it was her dad. It was dinnertime. She whistled back. She started up and looked around. She noticed that everything looked as though it was all fading away. She looked at the lake and when she looked up, everything was the same again. She thought the fading just might be the leaves changing color.

Areena started for home. When she got through the woods, she saw the fading again. The rest of the way back she thought about school. She thought about mostly the stuff she might play, and that she might learn new games.

She walked in the house and smelled chicken, potatoes and stuffing. Then the smells mixed together and the smell of that made her even more happy than before.

"Hungry Beetle?" she heard her dad call from the kitchen. "Chow time!"

Areena hurried to the sink and opened a new pack of soap, quickly washed her hands, and went to the table and sat down. It seemed like her father had prepared a feast for twenty men. She couldn't hold back, she reached out and grabbed a glob of mashed potatoes, and was about to throw it at her dad when he said, "Remember Aunt Claudia said if by the time we visit her again you didn't have good manners, then she wouldn't get you a mate for Laya."

"Dad, you have eyes in the back of your head!" Areena said.

"I know you too well, that's all. Why don't you go give that glob of potato you got dirty to Scorty?"

"Dad," Areena replied, " Rats don't eat mashed potatoes."

"Just go see if he likes it."

"Whatever." said Areena. She got up from the table and walked to the next room where her rat lived — and chewed on her cage vigorously until she finally gave up and slept until her stomach woke her up by growling of hunger. She had just woken up when Areena walked into the room.

Areena walked over to the cage and opened the door and let the potato out through her fingers. Scorty went to her dish to sniff what barely fell into it. Then a glob of it fell on Scorty's head. "Ewwww!" said Areena.

"How long does it take you to drop some potato into a furball's cage?"' asked her dad.

"I oozed it and besides, she's not a furball."

"Just sit down and eat your dinner." Her dad sat at the other side of the table.

"Ah, Dad, Jimmy's coming over tonight to play."

"He is?" her dad asked.

"Dad, come on!" replied Arena.

"All right."

"He should be here in about half an hour." Areena said.

"Good, that gives you time to do the dishes." her dad said.

"Would you do them for me?"

"Sure, if you want to do them for me on the weekend!" he replied.

"Alright." sighed Areena. "Oh, but that means you have to milk the cow. So there!"

"Aha! That's your regular job. I clean the hooves. If you want to swap I'll be glad to."

"No thanks." she said.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

"That's Jimmy," she said. "See ya Dad."

Chapter Two — Noises

"Bye, be back before dark." Areena's dad called.

When Areena got home, her dad was listening to the radio because they had no TV She walked over and sat down beside him. There was a silence for a few minutes then her dad said, "It's time for you to go to bed." So she walked silently up the stairs and went to bed.

Areena woke up at about one in the morning by her dad's s voice yelling, "NO! Please!" and that went on for thirty seconds. For a minute, she wanted to go and help but there she lay. Then she heard a choking sound and footsteps running down the stairs. The front door slammed and a car zoomed away.

"What was happening?" Areena thought. Whatever it was it was happening too fast and Areena passed out.

When Areena woke up she walked right past her dad's room and went downstairs. She decided to make something special for her dad for breakfast. After she was done she waited for a long time even though she knew her dad wouldn't come down.

When the sun was high in the sky she went down to her special place by the lake. She lay down and closed her eyes and thought. Thought about what happened last night.

Chapter Three — Destiny

I remember the day I decided never to live in our house again. About every five minutes I would start crying until I finally fell down laughing. I thought I had gone mad and become someone that would beat their dog if they had any change of feeling!

But I didn't and I started to calm down when I had something to eat. After that without thinking I ran up the stairs and started to pack all my belongings. Everything that I would need.