by Grace Yip
Gnomes don’t bite… right???
By
Grace Yip
SMASHQORDS EDITION
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PUBLISHED BY:
Grace Yip on Smash-
Words
Gnomes don’t bite… right???
Copyright © 2012 by Grace Yip
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I'd like to thank Samar, Yianna, Vivian, and Anjali for helping me with the tiniest things like ringtones to gigantic things like the cover and my dad who taught me to always believe in myself. They have been giving me confidence and courage throughout the story and I'd like to say Thank you. I hope you enjoy the story!
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Thank you for picking this book and I hope you enjoy it!
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Table of contents
Prologue
Chapter1
Chapter2
Chapter3
Chapter4
Chapter5
Chapter6
Chapter7
Chapter8
Chapter9
Chapter10
Chapter11
Chapter12
Chapter13
Chapter14
Epilogue
Prologue
Beep, beep, beep. I woke up and clicked the snooze button of my alarm clock. Yesterday had been the last day of school and we were all happy to get out of school. But when summer actually starts sometimes you miss school I bit. Maybe it’s your friends that make you miss school? I jump off of my bed and started to dress. Mel was going to come to my house and we were just going to chill together. Pretty much that’s going to be our whole summer. Just as I came down the door bell rang and I rushed to get the door. “Hi.” I say. “You’re happy.” She said. “Why shouldn’t I?” I say smirking. “Well the fact that we might get Mr. Wong again next year creeps me out.” She said and I laughing as the phone rang. “I’ll get the phone mom.” I shout. “Hello.” I say. ‘Hi is this Alexa?” she asked. “Yes.” I say wondering who it would be. “It’s me Sophie can I talk to your mom?” she asked. “Sure” I say passing the phone to her and we go upstairs. “Who was it Mel asks. “My aunt I wonder why she’s calling.” I say. We spent the whole afternoon upstairs chilling. When lunch came we went downstairs. “Why did Sophie call?” I ask my mom.”Why don’t you guys sit and I’ll tell you as you eat.’ She said happy giving us lunch. I nodded for her to start. “Well your aunt called to ask if we wanted to come to stay with her for the summer and we can also invite Mel if you want.” She said. At first we were just staring at her mouths open. “That would be great.” I say excitedly. “I’ll chat with my mom tonight and I’m not taking no for a answer.” She said smiling. “Well you chat with her and I’ll call Sophie back tomorrow.” She said and we all smile. “So where does she live?” I ask my mom. “She lives in Ireland. They won 3 free tickets from credit card points and Sophie has two children and her husband needs to work so she thought it would be a lot easier if we came for a visit.” She said. ‘YES HERE WE COME IRISH LEPRECHAUNS!!!” Mel said yelling and we all laugh. ‘Mel your mom better say yes!” I say to Mel. “Duh she will.” She said like she already asked. ‘Remember about the party and how you said that my mom had to say yes.’ I say smirking. ‘Yes I do madam.” She said smiling. “Well what happened in the end.” I say. “Oh god you remember that! That was the only time I was wrong!” She said. “Well you better knock on wood.” I say.
Chapter 1
It was 10: 00pm when Mel called back. “Hi.” I say. “I’m in the kicking leprechaun butt club.” She said. “Great I say where going at July 2nd where setting off at 1:00 am and we are getting there at about 6:00pm earliest to 9:00pm latest. Bring enough stuff for 55 day and we are coming back at August 25th. “I say. “Uh what?” she said not catching on. “I’ll tell you all the dates tomorrow when I go to your house and my mom will clear it all with your mom.” I say slower this time. “Ok!” she said. “Well good night.” I say. “Good night.” And we hang up. Mom and I haven’t gone on any major trips since she always had to work so I was pumped for this trip. I went to sleep wondering what it would be like in Ireland and why they would live so far from us. The next morning at 10:00am my mom drove me to Mel’s house. “Hi!” Mel said opening the door before we even rang the doorbell. My mom went to chat with her mom and we went to the living room. “My mom told me yesterday at dinner that Sophie told us to pick some places we want to go at Ireland.” I say. “Want to search up some now?” Mel asked. “Sure.” I say and we go upstairs. I use Mel’s laptop and she uses her iPod. After a while I hear my mom going and I go down to say bye. “So did Mel’s mom say yes?” I ask. “Yeah she said it was nice to have some free time.” She said confirming. My mom had been best friends with Mel’s mom for a pretty long time so they trusted each other for taking care of us. I went back to Mel and she raised her eyebrows questioning if she was for sure going and nod and we went back to researching. After about 20 minutes I ask “You find anything?” She raised her head and smiled “Well nothing as interesting as last time but some great sights.” “You go first this time.” I say. “Well there’s the Cliffs of Moher it’s just a cliff but everyone’s saying it’s magnificent just like the Niagara Falls here. There’s also the Blarney Stone it says if you kiss the stone the stone will gift you gab.” She said like I would have known what gab meant. “What’s gab?” I say smiling. “You don’t know what gab means?” She said innocently smiling. “Mel seriously when did you turn into such a geek?” I say with a sarcastic surprised look. “Gab is a gift that has the ability to talk anyone into anything.” She said rolling her eyes. “Wow I so need some gab!” I say. “Yeah like to persuade your mom to make you have a birthday next year!” She said smiling. “Remind me next year now my turn. So I found the Belfast Castle I have to say it’s really beautiful and the rest of the time I want to maybe spend time together, finding gold, leprechauns, four leaf clovers, and chill.” And we smile.
Chapter 2
We spent the next day just planning what to pack at my house. “So here is what I got on my list clothing, iPod, a photo album, money, camera, yada, yada, yada nothing else major.” I say. “Same. My mom started giving me the lectures about be safe/be responsible/be nice and a hundred other lectures.” Mel said bored. “Well you are going away for a pretty long time.” I say while texting in my iPod. “Don’t start too.” She said and I smile. We spent our few last days here in Markham going to each other’s house, packing, saying goodbyes to family but today me and Mel were going to meet Alex and a few other friends at the park. They started to fight because some people wanted to play grounders and some didn’t. In the end Alex and I were sitting under the gazebo because we didn’t want to play. “So you’re going to Ireland?” Alex said starting a conversation.”Yeah Mel’s coming too my aunt invited us.” I say. “That’s really cool.” He said. “Yeah I have to agree my aunt is awesome to give us free tickets and let us invite Mel. I guess because we have an extra ticket.” I say. “So they invited Mel the magnificent!” Mel said popping from the back of us and we smile. The last few days past so slow to us but once you think about it every day pasts the same pace. The day before we set off to Ireland felt like the slowest. This was the only day that I didn’t see Mel. Mel had to do some housekeeping stuff and say bye to her mom so me and my mom spent the day double checking our bags and passports. My mom was just as excited as us and keeps talking about it. That night it took about a whole hour to fall asleep.
Chapter 3
The next morning I woke up at 6:00 am without an alarm clock I jumped out of bed and got ready. Mel was coming at 7:00 because we needed to get to Toronto Pearson International Airport a few hours early. We ate breakfast and Me
l came with her mom with a suitcase and a bag. Her mom was already crying and hugging her after all the goodbyes the taxi came. “I love you mom I’ll call when I arrive!” she said before we left and her mom cried even more. My mom hugged her and told her she would take care of her. We grabbed all our suitcases and bags and our vacation had begun. It took at least one hour to get to the airport not counting traffic. Once we arrived we went through all the security we where one hour early so we sat down and waited. My mom went to buy coffee and me and Mel chatted. “You ready for the million hour flight?” I say pumped. “Yep boy I am!” she said and we laugh. We chat about random stuff and then we decide to walk and my mom having the roll of a mom gave us the lecture about how we don’t talk to strangers/ go far/ and all the other ones. We walked around and came back. The boarding time finally came and I have to give props to Sophie. Using her credit card points she got 3 tickets in first class. We spent the hours watching movies and chatting because it wasn’t night but it would be much later at Ireland. Once we arrived Sophie and her family were already there waiting for us. We hugged her and she introduced us to her husband John. We went back and she gave us our room. It was about 1:00am there so everything was dark I couldn’t wait for morning so I could explore the new surroundings. I shared a room with Mel and my mom had her own room. We were all tired so we sleep at about 9:00 pm (Toronto time) but it was actually 1:30 pm there so I needed to have some time to get use to the time there. We didn’t bother unpack tonight because it was so late so we just got a bath brushed our teeth and went to bed. As I went to bed and turned out the lights we could hear light rustle of leafs. “I think there house is beside a small forest of something. I can hear the rustling of lot’s of leafs” I say. “Same. Did you see that creepy gnome outside beside their house?” she said sounding a bit weird out by it. “No sorry.” I say. “Well it was creepy I swear its eyes was glowing red and It was glaring at me.” She said shivering. “Well I was tired and the only thing I could pay attention to was where I was walking. I look at it tomorrow.” I say sheepishly. “It’s ok but I swear it was not normal.” She said. ‘Wow you are really getting bothered with that gnome.”I say laughing. “Yeah I guess I am just tired.” She said sighing. “Goodnight.” I say. “Don’t let the Iris bugs bite.” She said and we laugh.
Chapter 4
I woke up to find Mel having a nightmare. That was rare for her so I woke her up. “Mel.” I say shaking her but she started pushing me away. I pinched her and she woke up. “You ok.” I ask. “Sorry dreamed of a gnome invading me.” She said. Well it’s still dark I wonder what time it is.” I say glancing at the clock. “It’s dark for 7:30am.” She said. “I think it’s going to rain.” I say. Well today’s just the getting use to Ireland and house day.” I say. We got ready and went downstairs to find my mom and Sophie chatting. “Good morning.” Mel and I both said. “Morning are you guys settling in ok?” Sophie asked. “Yeah it’s great thanks.” I say and Mel nodded. “Well it looks like it’s going to rain so why don’t you just unpack and explore around today.” She said. “That sounds great!” we say and we start to eat our pancakes. “My husband is mostly working and on business trips so you won’t be seeing him for the first half of your trip but he’s think of taking a small vacation after that!” she said as we eat. “Well that’s ok.” My mom says. After we finished our breakfast I ask Mel if she wanted to go outside and look around agreeing as always we went outside. I asked my mom and we went outside. Sophie’s house looked nice and cozy from the outside and beside the house was a forest. There was only a trail probably leading to the town. They had a great big backyard with flowers and at the front was as what Mel said a gnome. “Mel the gnome has completely black eyes it’s only the hat that’s red.” I say. “But I saw its eyes it was glowing and he had an evil grin!” she said. “Sorry to break it to you but I think you’re losing your mind I say. Plus it was dark and we were all tired it was probably just your imagination.” I say. “You’re probably right.” She said and sighed. Plus if a gnome was going to attack you it’s a hundred times smaller than you.” I say. “I would punch that gnome if it wasn’t Sophie’s.” She said. As I glanced back I thought the gnomes smile had disappeared and instead it was glaring. “Mel the gnome….” I say grabbing her hand. “Is it me or did his smile disappear.” She said. We both blinked but he was back with his creepy smile. “I’m pretty sure I wasn’t dreaming.” I said. “Yep you weren’t.” she said scared. “Can you give me permission to kick him now?” She said. Knowing it was completely wrong to do but I nodded. “That was a bit too creepy” I say. She walked forward and kicked it lightly. I raised my eyebrow as the gnome tipped slightly and back. “That’s good enough.” I say smiling but as I said that the gnome mysteriously tipped again and hit the wall. The top of the hat chipped off and suddenly thunder and lightning started. Believe me it even sounded like a horror movie to me. Rain started pouring and Mel and I we stared at each other. “I say we keep it as a secret for now until we find out more of what happened.” I say. She nodded and as we walked inside Mel tripped on something but as I grabbed for her I fell too. It felt somehow like someone pushed me. I got up and pulled Mel and we headed into out room. Mel had scrapped her arm and was slightly bleeding. I cleaned it up and we sat on the bed. “Ok now I believe you. Something is really off with that stupid gnome.” As I said that the lightning hit a branch and it cracked. “Um I mean that uh interesting gnome.” I say trying to avoid the bad words.
Chapter 5
We sat there for a while and stared outside. I want to know a bit about that gnome before I ask Sophie some questions and Mel nodded. It turns out that Emma and Emily had gone to their friend’s house for a sleepover and was returning tomorrow. So we walked around the house a bit. The house was actually really big despite that it looked smaller from outside. The floor was wood downstairs and carpet upstairs. There was a big living room in the front and beside stairs lead to upstairs. The kitchen is at the back and the table. Upstairs there are five rooms and two bathrooms. At the top was an attic we didn’t even bother to go up and look. My mom was chatting with Sophie so we went to the front and sat down to watch TV. I brought my laptop to research more. After a few minutes when I looked Mel asked if I found anything. “Well I can’t really find anything but that a gnome is called a goblin in the older times.” I say sighing. “Gnomes or goblins I don’t really care which one it is but both are creepy.” She said. My mom went to her room to unpack and on her way told us there was tea in the kitchen if we wanted some. When she was out of eavesdrop distance I told Mel that I wasn’t going to wait anymore and I was going to ask. At the kitchen she gave us tea. “So what is it you want to ask?” We looked up shocked that she knew. “It’s not always that older kids will come to an adult just for tea plus you guys look a bit creeped out” She said. “Well you know that……” I say trailing off not really knowing how to start off. Thinking she might think we were crazy. Mel took charge and started. “You know that gnome outside?” she said. Sophie turned a bit pale and coughed. “What about it.” She said quietly. “Well yesterday when we came Mel told me that the gnome had had red eyes and was smiling at her. This morning she had a nightmare about it so I decided to go outside and have a look at it. When we were outside the gnome looked perfectly normal. Mel being her had said that she wanted to punch the gnome if it weren’t yours. As I turned around this is what I thought I saw but the gnome was glaring Mel saw the same thing too and we both got a bit creeped out so…….” I say trailing off again. “What did you do to it?” She said looking afraid. “Sophie I’m really sorry if it was important to you but I kicked it and his hat chipped off. I’ll pay if I have too.” Mel said sounding desperate. “When Mel kicked it, it was really lightly and it didn’t break at that time but suddenly it hit the wall. That’s when the rain started. When we were going inside Mel tripped and I grabbed on to her but we both fell. But we both didn’t trip on anything it felt like something or someone had pushed us.” I say. I
was ready for a lecture and I was already starting to say sorry when Sophie hugged us. “Are both of you alright?” She said worriedly. “Sophie we are both ok escape for the small scrap I got we’re just really sorry.” Mel said. “No it isn’t at your fault it’s just that the gnome…” she said hesitating. “What about the gnome.” I ask.
Chapter 6
“Well we aren’t very sure about it but we think that the gnome is…” she said looking very pale. I was pretty sure what she was going to say so I decided to finish her sentence. “It’s alive?” I say. “How did you know?” she said. “Well after dealing with the curse this isn’t much newer.” I say. “So what happened with the gnome?”Mel said cutting to the chase. Sophie sighed before she started. “Your uncle my husband’s dad had just died from the curse and we moved here to Ireland thinking we could run away from it. We came here to this town and after moving here we found the gnome. As I said we’re not even sure that the gnome was a warning about the curse but it was alive. It was actually the kids that had found it. They were exploring around and they said they found it beside the house at first we thought it was just a normal gnome. But after a few days I started getting a weird feeling about it and I wanted to get rid of it so I threw it away. Right after I threw it away it came right back.” Sophie said sounding scared. “After that we tried everything to get rid of it. “We tried burning it, breaking it, burying it, and sending it away but the next morning it would be there.” Sophie said almost crying. “Did it harm anyone?” I ask. “Well whoever harmed it would somehow get hurt and the gnome would sometimes be glaring with red eyes or smiling.” She said starting to cry. “If that gnome harms anyone I swear I will kick his ass off.” As she said that a burst thunder shook the house. She coughed when she realized the words she said. “Sorry” She said and we grinned. “Do you have any idea about why or who made it come here?” Mel asked. “Sorry but I don’t have any idea. But……” She raised her head. “Yes what… or who?” I say excited. “Well we actually do have a neighbor she lives down in the forest. I have been wondering about her for a while but she seems to be like some kind of witch.” She said blushing at what she said. “Sophie I had to beat a curse. If the curse is true I won’t be really surprised if witches are real. So what’s the deal with the witch” I say and Mel nodded. Sophie instantly turned red. “I’m not sure she’s a witch it’s just based on something’s.” she said. We nodded telling for her to continue. “When we moved here we found her wandering around the house and we told her to go. Later on we would often find her wandering at night around the house. That time we hadn’t found the gnome yet and I was pretty sure it wasn’t even there before. It was around 12:00 pm and we heard a burst of light at the spot the gnome was found. Me and John went outside to find her crouched by the wall. My husband was really mad and threatened to call the police but she said they were no threat to her the funny part was that she said she could snap her fingers and they would die if she wanted to.” Sophie said. “Well that sounds like a threat.” I say.