The Middle Child By Ciyaliz Manoj

The Middle Child
-Ciyaliz Manoj

    Everybody knows about only two of my sisters, the youngest and oldest, because of the story “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”. Even though their names are not known, they are still known as the oldest and youngest and that they exist. But, they are only two thirteenths of my family, including my dad. Nobody knows about me, the middle child, so let introduce myself.
    Hi, I’m Caroline and I’m now about 12 years old and I was born at 12:00am. Something you don’t hear everyday. But that isn’t very important now since that’s about to change as the story goes on. Sounds strange, but you’ll see as you read on. I’m average height for a 12 year old,  usually dress like a princes, gowns dresses, etc., have dirty blond, mid-waist length hair, and greenish-brown eyes. The story that made my sisters famous was told in 1812. Back then, I was about 19. You might be thinking, ‘How in the world is that even POSSIBLE!!,’ but let me explain.

One day, at the age of 16, I was wondering around in the forest, I know what you’re thinking ‘Haven’t you ever heard of Little Red Riding Hood?’ and to answer that, yes I have, but I was very immature back then.

Where was I? Ah yes, well I was wondering around the forest looking for a gift for my sister’s birthday, Isabella. She was turning 10 and I wanted to get her something special. She was very girly and loved bright colors, nothing I was very interested in. I had no idea where to start looking for her gift, so I happened to start in the forest. I looked around for hours. Seeing many beautiful things, but nothing that suits Isabella’s standards. After a while, I was starting to call it a day and go back

home.
That’s when I saw the most beautiful flowers. I knew Isabella would love to have a small garden in her room, since she loved gardening. So, I picked a few. As I was doing so, I felt like I was being watched. Forgetting about it, not knowing not to ignore anything you feel suspicion for, like my youngest sister, I continued on picking more flowers. I started to smell a strange odor. I sniffed the flower to check if the odor was emitting from it, and as soon as I sniffed it I fainted. I woke up and found myself twenty feet away from where I was standing. But the flowers were lying exactly where I was standing. Thinking that the flower had a spell cast on it and had caused an explosion, I stood up, never wanting anything to do with that flower again, and walked back home. On my way I died. I know intense, but this is just the beginning of the story.
This is what really happened, in detail. I was walking on home when a pack of wolves attacked. They surrounded me and I had no weapons or anything to defend myself. They started to close in and I thought to myself, “If I’m already going to die by not trying to run away, I have nothing to lose if I do try to run away, right?” So, I ran for it. Surprisingly I made it! ‘But how did you die then?’ you might ask. Well, while I was running, funny story actually, I tripped… ‘And the wolves were behind you and devoured you?’ No… I tripped….fell….and hit my head on a rock and died.
How am I still alive then? That’s what I’m going to figure out. I’ve died at least four times before and I keep reviving. I am going on a journey to find a witch. To be specific, the witch that helped and gave the invisibility cloak to the soldier that married my oldest sister. Everyone says she is very powerful and only help the ones that truly deserve being helped.
The journey I’m taking will take a few days and I will need some company. I decided to take my next oldest sister. We are identical twins and always had a special connection with each other unlike the ones we have with our other sisters. I asked her a few weeks later to make sure I had the situation correct, “You want to go on an adventure with me?” “Sure!” She would do anything to help me. I told her what happened while I was gone.
“Well, you can put your name on the present I am going to give to her,” she said not noticing the importance of the situation. “You’re missing the main point!” I said. “Well, what’s wrong with not being able to die! That’s probably the best thing that could have happened to you!” said Candice. I started to explain some situations where I could really regret having the powers that I do. “I could never die! When I get old, I would just have to live in pain, instead of dying!” She got over the fact I didn’t want my powers anymore and we prepared for our journey.
We packed food and extra clothes and told our father that we were going to stay over at our friends palace. After that, we were off to reverse the curse. The path was simple, but the journey was dangerous. “I mapped out the journey and by foot it would take a week and a halfs journey,” she Candice, proud of her accomplishment. “Thanks for the heads up Candice, but I think we might take the shorter path.” “Caroline, that path is more dangerous than the one we are already taking. Besides it’s too late to go back and go the other wa-.” She paused and looked up completely astonished. “How-how-how did that get here? We passed that an hour or two ago,” looking at the fork in the path that we passed an hour ago. “I guess it’s fate!” I said without knowing what had happened. Candice stopped me. “Something could happen to us. We could die!” “I’m here and I can’t die so there’s no point in wasting time. Let’s take this path it’s shorter.” We walked down the path for the next few days with breaks in between and we were perfectly unharmed. “I feel like the forest is waiting for something and when that something happens we’ll be in trouble,” said Candice doubting herself for coming. “Nothing is going to happen, trust me,” I said to her. We kept walking for a few more days and reached a dead end. There was a huge wall in front of us. It wasn’t just any ordinary wall. It was an invisible wall. We knew it was there because when we were walking, since I was walking in front of Candice, I bumped into something. There was nothing there. I tried again. “UGGGGHHHHH!!! What is happening!!” This time I put my hand on it. That’s when I figured out there was a invisible wall in front of us. “The only person the I know of that could do something like this would be……. THE WITCH!!” We searched for a way to get through the wall. “HEY CANDICE! I FOUND SOMETHING!” She rushed over and saw me pointing to a small hole in the wall. “That’s great, but how do we get through that tiny space?” I looked through the hole and found myself looking at another eye. “AAAHHHH!!!” I jumped back. The wall started to fade and a great castle was revealed. It was no pink princess castle though. It was completely made out of the darkest copper and not very tall/big. Standing in front of the castle was the witch. “Are you the witch who helped my brother?” She stayed quiet for a while, but she started to speak. “Yes, I am. Who wants to know?” “I am Caroline and this is Candice, my sister. We want you to help us reverse the curse that was put on me. You see-” “I know what happened…” the witch interrupted. “How do you know?” “Well, I’m a witch. I know everything about everyone. To answer your question, I can help you but for a price….” “Anything! Anything at all!” I said willing to do anything to get this curse reversed. “You promise?” the witch replied. “I promise.” “Well then…. I’ll take one of your sisters,” as she grabbed Caroline by the arm. “NOOOOO!!! Don’t take my sister! What can I do to change your mind? I don’t care about reversing the curse anymore, just give me back my sister!” “Okay, I’m a reasonable witch…. Here’s the deal. Each time you get to your 17th birthday, you will start your life again , but starting at the age 10. Also, each and every day, you will have to sacrifice one thing you love.” “But my 17th birthday is tomorrow!” “Not for long. It’s 11:58pm and by the time your 17, the deal is no longer good.” Not knowing what to do, I accepted the deal.
There was a huge whirl of wind. WHOOOOOSSHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

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I woke up. At that time, I thought everything that had happened was a dream. I looked at the calendar. I was May 6, 1803. “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!”

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Two Years Later

    I woke up. At that time, I thought everything that had happened was a dream. I looked at the calendar. I was May 6, 1805. “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!”
I jumped out of bed and raced downstairs. My dad was waiting for me with 12 presents in his hands. I went racing towards him, when suddenly……. WHOOOOOOSSSHHHH!!!
I saw the witch that was in my dream. I was exactly where I was standing in my dream, but instead of being 19 years old, I was 12 years old. “You have obeyed everything I have told you to do for two years.” I have been sacrificing things that I loved  for two whole years even though I didn’t know it wasn’t a dream. I felt like I just had to do it. “You have obeyed me. So, both your curses are reversed and you are free.” “What are you talking about?” I said, not knowing about anything that had happened before I was 10. The witch explained to me what had happened. I walked out the door and turned back. “Thankyou.” “Charlotte, my name is Charlotte.” “Wait... that’s my mother’s nam- MOTHER!!”

The End