A small soft golden glow peeked through the tiny slit. She imagined herself in that light, only a light a hundred times bigger, something like an umbrella. No, that wasn't it. Much bigger. Like being inside the arms of the sun as it wrapped itself around her.
"Hot dog or hamburger?" Dad was smiling at her. She blinked several times. The imaginary light had burned into them.
"Sure, a hot dog sounds good."
Dad didn't seem to notice how her mind was elsewhere. "Extra ketchup, right?" She nodded as he headed down the hill to the row of vendors. Once he was out of sight, Amanda unzipped the backpack.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Wow, this is a big deal, isn't it? I have never heard so many people at once."
Remembering it couldn't see anything, she said, "There's probably two hundred people here.”
"Wow!” It seemed to take a breath. “There's some kind of light."
Amanda's heart stopped for a second. She stared hard at the sparkling beam, the amber hue colliding with the ruby color of the backpack. Slowly, softly, she asked, "What did you say?"
"Something bright. I don't know."
Her breath got stuck in her chest, and if she had heartstrings, like the characters in her books always did, then they were being pulled right now! "Gold!"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing! You can see!" She unzipped the backpack and stared down inside. Bright blue eyes shined from its face, twin sapphires full of fire and curiosity, like the grey-blue hue of a newborn's eyes.
Jane and Simone came back to the blanket. "What are you so excited about?" Her sister frowned at her. Amanda jerked away from the backpack, wondering if they had seen anything. Should she tell them? Would they believe? Maybe they would just laugh. But she was tired of hiding this. And soon, she knew for certain, she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret any longer. Simone waved good-bye. Jane looked at Amanda, waiting for an answer. "Well?"
"Uh, nothing. Just the fireworks."
Summer went by too quickly, and with those passing months, Gold grew. The growth was considerable, its face now fully formed, having a deep bronze tone with small sculptured cheeks that lifted each time it laughed. Still present were those fiery blue eyes that twinkled when it talked. It had even sprouted a head of hair, black and glossy, down to the base of its neck. Indeed, the shape of its head was human, not the outline of the pebble it had once been.
But more amazing, it had grown a body, like the size of a miniature doll, with legs and feet, except it had no arms, and stood about a foot tall. It was far bigger than before, but still small enough to hide in her bag. It must have transformed when she was asleep, for it also wore a small outfit, a blue velvet suit that made its eyes even bluer, and a little white bow tie that gleamed as though it were a beam of light. Where had he gotten the outfit? she wondered. It didn’t seem to matter though, because the most surprising thing about all of this was the change in its voice.
Where once it had emitted a weak, watery echo, it now possessed a solid sound, much like that of a young boy. Not an "it" anymore. Now a boy. A tiny boy, but a boy nonetheless.
The typewriter had accumulated clumps of dust on its keyboard. The stack of papers that always perpetually gathered on her desk was now tucked away inside it. There was no longer a need for fantasy stories. The truth was better than any story she'd ever been able to conjure.
Gold was perched on the edge of the desk, swinging his little legs back and forth. They produced a quiet thump as they made contact with the corner of the wood. He and Amanda were both laughing about something they'd seen on TV. His face lit up. People's faces lit up all the time when they were happy or excited about something, but when his face lit up, a yellow ball of light splashed across the room, throwing dazzling shadows across the walls.
Amanda didn't know how to hide him anymore. It wouldn't be much longer until either Jane or Dad discovered him. But right now, Jane was running around the house in a frenzy and Dad was brewing coffee. The earthy aroma drifted into her bedroom. It was time to go to school. As if on cue, Gold sprang down to the floor and started to walk, but plunged to the carpet instantly. His feet were not quite ready to grip for motion, so he fell and rolled across the room and into the dollhouse in the corner. Amanda waved at him, and in reply he waved back by blinking his tiny eyes. She slung her backpack over her shoulders as she made her way to the kitchen.
"Ready for school already? That's great!" Dad was sipping coffee from a steaming cup.
"I have Mr. Ammons again."
"How wonderful."
"Oh, I forgot something." Amanda hurried back to the dollhouse in her room. Gold's eyes were dark blue as he peered up at her.
"What's wrong? You look upset." She wondered about his comment. How was he able to recognize her hidden feelings? How long would it be until others realized she was hiding him?
"I'm just a little scared about going back to school. Shane is always teasing me. Darla thinks I'm weird."
"Can you ignore them? Or tell Mr. Ammons?"
It was funny how practical Gold could be, considering not long ago he had been merely a pebble. "I try to pretend I don't hear them, but it doesn't work. Maybe I can tell Mr. Ammons. He's nice."
"I think you will have a better year." But she wasn't paying attention because something else began to concern her.
"I'm worried about you, Gold."
He was genuinely perplexed. "Me? But why?"
"If you lived in the forest for so long and I have only known you a few months, then how have you changed like this?"
He grew silent for a moment. "Well, I never thought about it. I don't know." A crease formed across his forehead as his eyes twinkled. She thought it interesting how he didn't seem to mind that he didn't know. But it was bothering her, and she felt her heart ticking like a clock about to run out of time.
Then she said, "If you keep growing this fast, I won't be able to hide you in my backpack anymore. I won't be able to hide you at all." The sting of those last words splattered across her heart. Amanda set down the backpack and wandered over to the window. Soon she would run into her old classmates again. She didn't feel close to any of them, except for one. Gina.
She had kept a secret for months. It was time to tell someone, to show someone. It would prove she was not imagining things and she could stop feeling uncomfortable about hiding something.
As usual, the hallways were inundated with shouting, laughing, and clamor as several students roamed up and down. The early bell rang. Amanda hurried to her classroom, nearly running into Darla, who was standing at the door, staring at her with those razor-sharp jade eyes. Why did she have to look at her that way? Before she could give it any more thought, Shane shoved past Amanda, pushing her into the doorframe. Nothing had changed.
Mr. Ammons was at the other end of the room, his back to the rows of desks. Shane simply glared at her, daring her to say anything.
Darla returned to her seat and Amanda slugged over to her own seat with tears boiling in her eyes, feeling humiliated and vulnerable all over again, just like in fifth grade.
"Welcome back, students! It's so good to see you all again. We are going to start with our first assignment." Groans filled the room. "A one-page summary about your summer." The mood quickly changed as hoots and hollers ensued. Amanda looked at her backpack and a wide smile filled her face as she remembered all her trips with Gold. Here was her chance to share the long-hidden secret. Shane watched her suspiciously, but she kept her eyes on her desk. She worked on the assignment while Shane continued to eye her. Her hand shook as she wrote about her summer.
She wished he would stop staring at her. Gina was busy scribbling away. Amanda wondered what she was writing about and hoped they could share each other's stories. Careful to avert her eyes from Shane, Amanda continued to write. She wrote down all of the things that had happened, knowing Mr. Ammons would never believe it anyway. Adults usually didn't, not when you said something that sounded impossible. The movie ET was proof, but there were ot
her movies to support the theory, like Halloween. According to Jane, the little boy in the movie kept trying to tell his babysitter about the boogeyman, but she kept telling him to stop, insisting there was no such thing as a boogeyman.
Just as she finished writing the last line, the bell rang, signaling the end of the period and the start of a morning recess. Amanda was the last student to set her report on Mr. Ammons’s desk. He winked at her as she passed by. She wondered if he would be one of the adults who actually believed her story, or if he would attribute it to pure imagination. She didn't have much time to ponder it.
Students quickly dispersed to reveal Darla, standing next to Shane and staring at Amanda. Shane snickered and whispered something in Darla's ear. Amanda brushed by them, which proved difficult as they were blocking most of the doorway to their classroom.
"Where are you running to? There's nowhere to hide," Shane taunted her.
Amanda stopped and looked down at the floor, willing herself to be strong. He laughed and took off. Darla shook her head at him and walked away in the opposite direction, but Amanda didn't notice Darla's reaction. She was too scared to look up.
When she was sure they had left, Amanda pulled her backpack close to her, protectively, and with tears in her eyes, rushed down the hallway. As she ran, she thought of Gold and the way he always seemed to be smiling. Then she wondered where Gina had taken off to. She hoped she would be able to tell her about Gold today. It was becoming harder to hide the truth. She had started to feel so guilty about it that the way Shane and Darla behaved toward her seemed ominous, somehow, as though they knew her secret and were waiting to expose it.
Her mind was so preoccupied, she didn't see Darla until she slammed into her on her way outside to the playground. Amanda's backpack was thrown to the ground. Darla's yellow bag slid across the floor, but she didn't seem to care. "Let me help you." She reached her hand down.
Amanda was sure it was a trick. "No!"
Darla just looked confused as Amanda grabbed her backpack and squashed it against her body more fiercely than before.
"I'm OK."
"Then why are you running?" Amanda simply stared. What could she say? A deep silence ascended between them.
Then Darla said, "Why is that backpack so. . .sacred?"
Amanda was too afraid to answer her. Darla shrugged and walked away. The echo of kids screeching and feet pounding on the pavement suddenly filled her ears. A strange symphony arose then as a bundle of hail began to batter the sidewalk. Amanda thought she could hear the sound of her own brain pelting her skull.
The playground was alive with all of her classmates. Both fifth and sixth graders were playing tetherball or kickball. Some kids had chosen a more remote place on the blacktop to start a game of jacks. Amanda spotted Gina right away. She had formed a small circle with Connie and Darla. They looked like part of a secret society as they huddled together, their heads touching. Darla's arms were thrown across both girls' shoulders. Her green eyes were lit up with happiness as she talked animatedly, her hands flying around in the air as though they were wings of a bird. She wondered what they were talking about.
A ball suddenly landed on the ground, inches from her feet. It was a large red kickball. She stooped to retrieve it and looked up to see Shane. Before she could react, he swiped it from her hands, bounced it hard against the blacktop, and raced away. A hard sensation hit her, similar to the way an ice cube might feel if it got stuck in your throat as you tried to gulp it down. She couldn't tell anyone about Shane, about the way he was always picking on her. The yard attendants were too busy monitoring the tetherball participants and guiding kids to the restroom. Because they hadn't seen him do anything, they wouldn't be able to help her. The pain in her throat quickly spiraled down into her chest as the air came into her mouth and got stuck there; it was too difficult to swallow, so the pain in her throat pressed down even harder. Tears sprang from her eyes as she watched the carnival of activity all around her.
In that moment, she believed no one cared about her. No one cared at all. Tears ran down Amanda's face as she darted across the playground, through the gate, and down the sidewalk. No one called out to her. It was as though she were invisible. Soon the sounds of her classmates faded. Soon she was alone.
Chapter Ten
When she got home, all was quiet. Daddy was at work. Jane was still at school. Amanda sank down into her bed, her face pressed hard into her pillow to muffle the sounds of her crying. She didn't want to worry Gold.
"Amanda, take us to the forest." She slowly lifted her head and turned to face him. He was standing in the doorway of her dollhouse.
"Why?" She wiped at her face with the back of her arm.
"You'll see." He grinned and jumped down. He lifted his tiny foot to move toward her, but wobbled instead. She scooped him up and carefully tucked him inside the red backpack.
When they got to the forest, the trees were glowing a brighter green. A soft wind curled around the leaves as Gold and Amanda approached the woods. Two trees paralleled each other, like a doorway to another land. A magical land. Chipmunks squeaked as they darted from branch to branch. The sound of deer hooves thumping across a patch of dirt sounded like a soft rolling of thunder. Amanda hesitated. This wasn't her land. It was Gold's. She didn't belong in this place. Just like she didn't belong at school.
"It's OK," Gold spoke from inside the backpack, urging her to go on.
The two trees parted as if a door opened on its hinges. With exaggerated caution, she forced herself forward. This was a familiar place, but something seemed different this time.
Amanda unzipped the backpack and Gold leapt to the ground. Like before, he found himself rocking side to side, not quite able to balance. Instead, he rolled himself near a huckleberry plant, zigzagged over to a cedar stump, and then came to a final rest next to a pile of multicolored leaves.
He peered up at Amanda with those gemstone eyes just as a bucket of wind swished through the trees and stirred the leaves up from the ground. They swirled across the dirt floor for a moment before they were tossed up into the air, up above the tops of the trees where they impossibly disappeared.
"How—" Amanda started to ask until she rolled her eyes back down to Gold.
"Everyone, this is Amanda." Behind him, another world suddenly emerged. A small raccoon was chittering as it scraped its claws across the ground. A deer was bounding down the path. A wolf was slinking toward a stump. So many other animals appeared before her eyes, all of them emerging from the shadows as if powered by an enchantment. She was breathless. It was as if she'd stepped inside one of her stories.
"Where did they all come from? I mean, they were never here before."
Gold shook his head. "They were always here. They were just too afraid to come out."
Amanda picked Gold up and they walked east to a hidden creek. Rainbow trout were swimming at the surface. Baby ducks dawdled behind their mothers. Amanda watched in silence. It was better than any story she had ever written because the animals were brighter, more three-dimensional, and they moved in synchronicity with a rhythm that was otherworldly. They were better than the ones in her story because they were real. Amanda's heart soared with disbelief. Even though she was seeing all this with her own eyes, she still couldn't understand how it was so.
The horrible ache in her throat from a short while ago was now completely gone and all she could sense was the fresh air as it tickled the inside of her mouth. She had to sit down on a rock so she didn't fall down from the shock of it all. And then something startled her. A low growling came from within the shadows. It was a deep hollow roar that made the ground beneath her rumble. She found herself gripping her hands tightly together, almost crushing Gold.
From the opposite direction, a grizzly bear crawled into the opening. "It's OK. He won't hurt you," Gold tried to reassure her.
"This is dangerous. I have to go." Amanda's voice shook.
"You're with me. It's safe." As if it understood Gold's
words, the bear abruptly ceased grumbling and sauntered away, deeper into the woods. The wolf was no longer by the stump. She saw it was nearing the creek. It circled the area as if marking its territory before heading off into a smaller patch of the forest.
Gold promised they wouldn't hurt her, but her heart was tapping like a broken clock that had been overwound. Gold must have seen fear in her. "They're just watchers, protectors. They won't harm you."
The rainbow trout suddenly splashed up through the water. A ring of colored light emanated from their fins. "Wow!" She couldn't help but be amazed at the wonder of it all. The ducks suddenly took off and a handful of feathers floated upward, spinning around Amanda and Gold in a swaying dance.
She looked up, her mouth open wide, her heart now tapping in tune to a song with a rhythm that seemed in sync with the swinging and gliding of the feather storm. Gold leapt out of her hands and reeled across the ground, as fascinated as she was. Amanda laughed as the feathers tickled her face.
All of a sudden, an incredible amber light passed through the narrow spaces of the trees and exploded all around her.
"What is that?" she gasped as she jumped to her feet. "Gold? Where are you?"
Gold appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere. The amber light was spilling from him! He had transformed once again and now had arms and hands just like any boy. He was complete. "Can you believe it?"
"No," she whispered. He stretched out his hand, and she took it. His fingers were so tiny, they all fit along the length of her ring finger. They were soft, like the plush fabric of her stuffed bears. But Gold wasn't a stuffed animal. He was something more. She hugged him tightly.
"I still can't walk."
"But you can hug."
Gold lit up the space between them as he smiled at her. The sky faded into a dark grey and snowflakes began to drop down slowly. Then something even more amazing took place. A snowflake landed on Gold’s nose and suddenly his body shot up, growing right before her eyes. It rose several inches until his head reached just above her knee. The velvet suit magically stretched to fit him perfectly.
The Gold (The Magical Forest Series Book 1) Page 6