The Writer and the Rain

[Natalie]

[I didn't write this thinking it would be open but if you want to post to it just ask me!]

Natalie had her basket and she had her umbrella. When the eleven-year-old stepped outside, she stood on the top stair, taking a deep breath of the cool damp air before opening the umbrella and stepping down to the path. She loved the smell of rain. She liked how the world looked when it rained too, like the clouds in the sky were covering everything under a blanket. A grayer wet world. Maybe it was her years spent with the vampire counsel that made her appreciate the dark and the gloom. Or maybe it was the books she read. Either way she loved it just a little bit more than a nice sunny day.

It wasn't raining as hard as it was when she saw it out her window earlier, and she hoped that the rain wasn't thinking of stopping. Not until she was done with her mission, at least! What she read that gave her the idea to do this said there had to be rain, that was the necessary first ingredient. It didn't say whether it had to be day or night so she hoped twilight was an okay time. The necessary second ingredient was to find a place of mystery. Now Natalie had done a lot of exploring of the areas around the inn with DJ and because of that she knew the perfect place to go.

There were so many great puddles to splash in as she walked quickly down the path that would take her to the nearby caves. She made herself resist jumping into all of them but one that was one of the biggest puddles she'd ever seen taking up the whole stone walk. She put her basket and umbrella in the grass where they'd be safe and then got a running start so she could take a long jumper's leap into the center of the puddle. She had great puddle aim. The water when it settled came up to her ankles but she didn't mind having wet squishy shoes and tights. A person couldn't really love the rain if they hated getting wet.

Before she lingered too long, Natalie made herself wade her way out of the puddle and she picked up her basket and her umbrella. She wasn't too far from her destination now, which was good because she had to finish her mission before dark. Even with the overcast sky, it was still early enough in the evening that there was still some light to write by. When the caves where in sight she nearly ran until she skidded in the grass and almost toppled to the muddy ground. Boy that was close. If she fell, DJ would have been able to say I Told You So. She slowed down after that.

The girl had a decision to make now. There were multiple caves, which one did she think was the most mysterious? Veering off the path she slowly walked around the rocky tunnels and weighed her options. Finally she opted for the cave with the largest mouth. Because she thought the bigger the cave the more mysterious things could be in there. But she couldn't go too far inside - she needed some light so she could write. So Natalie had to settle for sitting just inside the cave on a rock that was mostly dry.

Setting the basket on the ground and the umbrella too, she lifted the lid of the basket and pulled out her journal first. Reaching into the small pocket on the front of her dress, she pulled out the small key and slid it into the lock. After it was open, she placed the key safely back in the dress pocket and picked up the pen. Turning pages until she found a fresh one near the center, as she wrote the words that were the third necessary ingredient to this task she spoke them too. The words were written and spoken in French, "Father Time and Fates listen to me, Here is writ the person I wish to be." Natalie always wrote in her journal in French.

It was a spell. The main character in one of her books used it to make sure they grew up the way they wanted to grow up. When she read it she thought that was a very good idea, and that's why she went on this mission. The main character of her book also happened to be Victorian. That's why Natalie had ordered the things she did from Maddie, and the main character even dressed very much like she had dressed herself up today, braid and all. Natalie wanted to recreate everything she could to make sure the spell would work. She'd never done magic before, and she was filled with a lot of nervous anticipation.

Now she just had to figure out the person she wished to be. She had just turned eleven-years-old, so she was confident it was time to make these important decisions about her future. The girl reached into the basket, pulling out a cucumber sandwich. She needed some food for thought.