My friend gave me some writing prompts one day to cure my boredom. This story is what came out of that.
Her prompts: a story about a girl and YOUR personal TOP 3 Fears (vomit, losing a loved one, spiders). Also include these 4 elements: elephant, tree, a leaf and a window.
So here you have it...
Chelsea’s Day Off
Chelsea Monroe did NOT want to go to school. She could hear her mother’s high heels click against the tile, making her way down the hall to Chelsea’s room. Chelsea had to think fast. There wasn’t much time. She pinched her cheeks hard until they turned bright red, ran her fingers through her hair so that it stuck up all over the place, and mustered up a tear or two behind her eyelids. Just as Chelsea’s mom began to inch open the bedroom door, Chelsea dove under the covers and gave a small groan.
“Chelsea?” her mother asked, “It’s time to leave for school, honey. What are you still doing in bed?”
Chelsea groaned a little louder this time and slowly pulled the covers down, revealing her teary eyes and rosy cheeks.
“Oh, are you not feeling good, baby?” her mother asked, placing her cool hands on Chelsea’s cheeks.
Chelsea shook her head and groaned again. “I feel like I’m going to puke,” she said in a barely audible voice. She felt a twinge of guilt at lying to her mother, but Chelsea pushed the guilt aside.
Chelsea’s mother examined her daughter closely; as Chelsea put on the most pathetic sick face she could muster. “Well,” her mother said, “I suppose I can keep you home from school today. You do look a little flushed and your eyes are watery.”
“Okay, Mom.” Chelsea croaked in her pathetic sickly sounding voice, “But will you stay home with me? To take care of me?” This was, of course, part of the scheme. Chelsea knew very well that her mother would not be able to stay home with her. In fact, if Chelsea had thought her mother would stay home with her, she would not have asked.
Chelsea’s mom hesitated briefly at her daughter’s request. It broke her heart to have to leave her baby girl at home alone when she was sick. But at twelve years old, Chelsea was old enough to stay home alone and Chelsea’s mother could not take time off work on such short notice. “I’m sorry, but I have to go to work, sweetie. I will call to check on you throughout the day. You’ll be okay,” she said.
With that, Chelsea’s mother kissed her daughter’s forehead, tucked the covers around her, and left.
Chelsea waited until she heard her mother lock the front door, then she let a huge grin cross her face and threw back her covers in victory. She crossed her bedroom floor, stepping over books, clothes, and hair accessories, to the window that looked out onto the street. She saw her mother’s car back out the driveway and then make its way down the street. Chelsea watched until she could no longer see the car, and then began dancing around the room.
Chelsea made her way to the kitchen for breakfast. Out of habit, she began to reach for the organic yogurt in the fridge, but she stopped herself. “What am I doing,” Chelsea thought to herself, “Today is my day off! I don’t have to eat mom’s health food!” She rummaged around in the fridge, shoving things this way and that, until she found what she was looking for. Chelsea brought the platter to the kitchen counter. There in front of her were two double fudge brownies leftover from her cousin’s birthday party last weekend.
“Breakfast!” Chelsea shouted. She grabbed a fork and got ready to dig in. Just then, she spotted something on the counter that made her scream at the top of her lungs.
“SPIDER!” Chelsea screamed, “EW! SPIDER!” Chelsea Monroe did NOT like spiders.
Chelsea ran to the hallway closet, grabbed the first tennis shoe she could put her hands on, and ran back to the kitchen. She raised the shoe high above her head, ready to smash it down on the ugly brown spider, when suddenly she realized the spider was no longer there! Panicked, she turned to the right and the left. She looked at every inch of the counter and the floor, but she could not find the spider. The hair on her arms stood on end. She knew the spider was still in the room. She could sense it.
“Are you looking for me?” a male voice with a British accent called out.
Startled, Chelsea froze in place. Was she hearing things? “He—Hello?” she asked timidly to the seemingly empty kitchen.
“Over here!” she heard in reply. The voice sounded like it was coming from her breakfast of brownies. She inched her way over to the plate, and slowly lowered her face to inspect the brownies up close. That’s when she saw him. The brown spider was sitting on top of her brownie, shoving chocolate crumbs into his mouth with one leg and waving hello with another. She gasped and jumped backwards in fright.
“Don’t be afraid!” the spider said in a friendly voice, “I’m just very hungry and when I saw you take these brownies out of the fridge, I knew this was exactly what I was craving. You don’t mind if I share, do you?”
Chelsea had never in her life been asked to share her breakfast with a spider. She suddenly no longer wanted the brownies. “Th—that’s okay. You can have them. I—I’ll just have my yogurt.”
“Very well then,” the spider said, “but could I ask you one favor, love? Would you mind putting down that tennis shoe? You’re putting me on edge a bit.”
Chelsea glanced at the shoe that she held in her hand, still poised to strike. She slowly lowered her arm and let the shoe drop to the floor. Then she pulled her yogurt out of the fridge and began to eat it. “S-so…you’re a spider. A-and. You…talk?”
The spider jumped off the brownie onto the counter, took a bow, and said, “Martin Emery, pleasure to meet you!”
“Chelsea. Chelsea Monroe. But…I still don’t understand. Spiders don’t talk.”
Martin gave Chelsea a puzzled look and said, “Have you tried listening?”
Chelsea had indeed never tried to listen to a spider. It never occurred to her that a spider might have something to say. She took a long look at Martin with his eight legs and tiny brown body. Chelsea Monroe usually did not like spiders, but she was willing to see what her new friend had to say.
“Okay, Martin,” Chelsea said, “What would you like to talk about?”
Martin’s face fell and he sat down on the counter sullenly. “These days I haven’t felt much like talking,” he said, “On account of I can’t find my wife. Oh, how I miss my Lucy. But I don’t know where she is! It all happened three days ago…
Lucy and I were out in the park, enjoying a bit of sunshine. She was napping under a big oak tree and I was getting a little exercise, spinning my web through the leaves. All of a sudden, a strong wind came out of the East and I found myself blowing away from the tree. I held onto my web for dear life as the wind blew me farther and farther away. I could see my Lucy, sleeping so soundly under the tree, getting smaller and smaller in the distance. By the time the wind died down, I found myself gently set upon a dandelion in a field of grass. I was so far away that I could not even see the top of the oak tree. The wind had spun me around on my web and made me dizzy. I wasn’t even sure which direction to go. I set out to the West, hoping I was going the right way, but I never found the oak tree again. I’ve been looking for my Lucy ever since.”
Martin finished his tale, wiping a tear from his eye. Chelsea was close to tears as well and she was suddenly filled with love and compassion for this poor spider that she had intended to smash with her tennis shoe.
“Martin,” Chelsea said with determination, “I will help you find Lucy. Together, we will find your wife.”
“Would you? Would you really? I would appreciate that so much.” Martin said, a smile beginning to play on the corner of his lips.
“I know just where to start!” Chelsea exclaimed with determination. “There is a park down the street with a big oak tree near the playground. If it’s the same oak tree, maybe your Lucy is waiting there for you!”
With that, Chelsea scooped up Martin in the palm of her hand, slipped on her tennis shoes, and off they went. The park was at the end of Chelsea’s street. Since it was a school day, there was no one in sight. Martin crawled up her arm and perched on her shoulder to get a better view. As she entered the park gate, she heard Martin exclaim in her ear, “That’s it, Chelsea! That oak tree is where I last saw my Lucy!”
Chelsea picked up her pace and hurried over to the tree. She began looking carefully along the bark of the tree, hoping to see a female spider sitting there. As she was inspecting the tree, Martin gave a deep sigh. “She’s not here.” Martin said quietly.
“How do you know, Martin?” Chelsea asked, “This is a big tree. Lucy could be up on the highest branch for all we know. You have to keep looking!”
Martin smiled a sad little smile. “She would not be up in the tree, Chelsea. If she were here, I would see her. I would know.” He turned in circles and looked around the park. “In fact, she is not here at all. She is nowhere in this park. My Lucy is gone.” A tear trickled down Martin’s cheek.
Refusing to give up, Chelsea marched on. “She has to be here, Martin! Lucy would not leave you.” Chelsea marched through the park, along the bike path. She marched up the hill and down the hill. She marched past the soccer pitch and marched past the baseball field. She kept walking and walking, all the while asking Martin, “Is she here? Do you see her?”
Finally, after quite some time, Chelsea and Martin heard music. There, at the outskirts of the park, a small traveling circus was set up. When Martin saw this, he got excited. “Go that way, Chelsea! To the circus! My Lucy might be there! She just might be there!”
Chelsea ran toward the circus. She saw a man and a woman practicing on a trapeze. She saw a clown putting on his makeup. She saw a lion in a cage, two horses running circles, and an elephant drinking water.
“THERE SHE IS!” Martin exclaimed, “LUCY! LUCY!”
Chelsea followed Martin’s gaze and started walking toward the animal pen. She did not know how Martin could spot his wife from so far a distance. When she reached the edge of the animal pen, she still could not see any spiders.
Just then, Martin hopped off of Chelsea’s shoulder, onto the wooden post of the animal pen, and then right onto the trunk of the elephant. “LUCY! My Lucy, I thought I had lost you!” he exclaimed.
The elephant’s eyes began to water and she wiggled her ears excitedly. Then, without warning, she gave a loud toot of her horn that sounded distinctly like the word, “Martin!”
Chelsea started at the pair with confusion. “Y-You mean Lucy is…an elephant??”
Martin looked at Chelsea with a grin on his face. “Well of course she is! My beautiful Lucy is an elephant. Thank you for helping me find her. Thank you, Chelsea Monroe!”
For a moment, Chelsea thought about asking more questions about this odd couple. Until today, she didn’t know that spiders could talk, much less marry elephants. Chelsea kept her questions to herself, deciding that the world is full of mysteries she will never know the answers to. It was with a mixture of sadness and relief that Chelsea said her goodbyes to her new friends Martin and Lucy. She then walked back to her house by herself.
As she walked in the front door, she heard the phone ringing. The clock above the fireplace told her it was just after ten o’clock. “Hello?” she answered the phone.
“Hi honey, it’s mom! How are you feeling? Are you any better? What have you been doing this morning?” Chelsea’s mother asked on the other end of the line.
“Hi, mom. I talked with a spider and took him to the traveling circus to find his missing wife, who is an elephant.” Chelsea answered.
Chelsea’s mother paused before saying, “Honey, you must be running fever. Should I come home?”
“No, mom,” Chelsea said with a smile, “I’m feeling much better. I think I will be able to go back to school tomorrow for sure.”
With that, Chelsea hung up the phone and went into the kitchen. She picked up a fork and began eating what was left of the fudge brownies. It was only ten o’clock. She wondered what the rest of her day off had in store for her.
