Chapter one

• This story started with this picture.

I had bought a pack of crayola pencils and wanted to try them out. I thought just coloured leaves was a bit boring, so I drew these bizarre creatures. I decided they were wolves that lived in a forest of vines. I liked the picture so much, I drew more like it.

I began copying pictures of wolves and huskies.

Soon after at my friend's writing club, the members were challenged to write a short story in two weeks using writing prompts. Mine was this:
Renee:
Dialogue: "You know what you should do? Go up there and tell her you love her."
"You act like it's so simple!"
"Or you could just wait years and forever be nothing. Which would you prefer?"
Story idea: while cleaning your attic you find a box of glass balls with names on them. You accidentally drop one, and as soon as it shatters, a person appears.
This was the perfect opportunity to use my pictures! I would manage it somehow.
I wrote my story in four weeks. Recently I revisited it and edited it. Here is the first chapter. Enjoy.


"Well, you know I can't!"
"Why not?"
"One: she is busy tidying her garden;
Two:... Well, she'll probably say no."
"When has my advice not helped?"
This argument had been going for about three minutes and already I was losing.
Jamal could always win an argument against me.
Jamal is... Well, if I describe him you'll need the whole story.
One day, about a year ago, I was cleaning my attic. I had just moved into my new house, which I bought from an old lady. In one corner of the attic I found a wooden crate with foreign writing on it. It contained beautiful glass balls with strange names on them. I picked one of them up to look at. Almost as soon as I had done so it began vibrating. I dropped it. It broke. And there was Jamal. He says he has to protect me and be my friend or he'll be stripped of his powers and banished, or something. It was weird at first, someone just living in my house whom I didn't know. When I asked him to leave, he said he couldn't. But we became friends after a while so it was okay. The reason we were having this argument today was because of Christmas. She is our closest neighbour for a few kilometres around. Not many people choose to live in a jungle of vines, wolves and other things. Christmas and I see each other a lot. I like her a lot. Maybe even love her...
Anyway, I knew Jamal was right that his advice always worked, but this was different! It's not the sort of thing you want to take chances on.
"What if she doesn't say yes? What'll I do then?"
"Then you'll know it just wasn't meant to be, and you can look somewhere else."
"And how many times have you done this?"
"I've never done it personally, but I've seen it work all the time. Just go and tell her.  I'll come with you."
"Alright." I said.
"Okay." He headed for the front door.
"Wait! We're not going now are we?"
"If we don't go now then we never will. Come on."
He opened the door and walked out. I followed, seeing no alternative. As we walked down the road I began to feel sick with nervousness. I wanted to run straight back to my house and go to bed.
Christmas was sitting by the red trunk of a vine patting a big black wolf. My heart turned into a butterfly and tried to escape my chest.
"Good afternoon, Miss White."

Jamal is always so formal when visiting.
"Robert," (that's my name) "and I thought we'd just drop over to see how your garden is getting on, and if we could help with anything."
One of the good things about Jamal is he has tact. He doesn't say: "Robert has something important to say to you."
And then stand and watch while you struggle to explain yourself.
Christmas looked surprised,
"Thanks... do you want a drink or something?" she said, rising.
"Yes, thank you," said Jamal.
I wasn't sure what to say, or what to do with my hands. We followed her to the house and waited on the veranda while she got our drinks.
Jamal turned to me. "If you need me, I'll be admiring Christmas's puppies," he said, and disappeared around the corner of the house.
My moment had arrived. I felt frighteningly unprepared. I could hear Christmas returning and began rehearsing what I would say in my head. My hands shook and I began to sweat. She reappeared. I cleared my throat.
"Christmas," I said. I meant to sound impressive, confident, but what I said, I must say, sounded a little strangled.
"Where's Jamal?" she said. I waved my hand stupidly in the direction he had taken and tried to say where he was, but all that came was,
"Um."
She either understood or didn't care, for she put his cup on the railing and gave me the other. She was always so relaxed about things. I pressed on.
"Christmas."
"Yes?" she said, nodding slowly and earnestly.
"Um..."
"Yes?" she smiled expectantly, and, dare I hope, excitedly.
"Um..." I put my drink down. I couldn't swallow anything just now. I ran my hand over my hair. What should I say? What I thought of before had completely gone from me at this point. I hid my hands in my pockets and glanced around. I needed to get out of this situation somehow. My throat and chest had gone all tight. I spotted Christmas's tiny windowsill cactus.
"Your, uh, garden is, uh..." stop talking about her garden!
"Christmas." She looked at her feet and then at me. I took my hands out of my pockets and hid them behind my back. I wanted to take a deep breath, but then she'd know I was nervous.
"Uh, can I have a look at your garden?"
Christmas looked a tiny bit annoyed.
"Sure, of course you can." She smiled.
"Do you want me to show you the new bits?"
I nodded. I couldn't say anything.
At the end of the visit I headed to the gate mentally punching myself in the face. Jamal stood there, patting a female puppy he had found.
"So it didn't go all that well?" he said, not looking up.
"No," I said. I opened the gate and began walking down the road with Jamal behind me.
"Why have you still got that puppy?" I asked, when I saw he hadn't let it go.
"Because no one else wanted it, not even its parents. And it likes me." The puppy did look extremely thin, and happy to have Jamal carry it.
We reached home in silence. I aggressively pruned the vines which grow on my house for the rest of the day, angry at myself for being scared of asking for something.
The following morning I found that Jamal hadn't made breakfast. He wasn't even out of bed so far as I could tell. This was weird. What could be the matter? I would see if he was in his bedroom.
The only light in the room came from a tiny tealight burning on the bedside table.
Jamal was in bed. I couldn't see him that well in the gloom, but he didn't look happy.

"Robert." he said, as I entered the room.
"Yes?" Jamal had never been sick before. What could be wrong with him?
"Robert, listen carefully," murmured Jamal faintly.  "Far away, on the other side of the jungle of vines, past the Unnaturally Cold Place, and over the crystal lake with the mermaids in it, there's an underground castle. In this castle are a fairy king and queen. Once I made them really angry at me and I thought they'd forgiven me, but it turns out I was wrong... To save me from eternal suffering you will have to steal the Queen's left bedroom slipper and get it back here. You can't do this by yourself. Get Christmas to go with you."
During his speech I had moved closer to the bed. Now Jamal reached out and held my hand weakly in both of his.
"Are you sick, Jamal?" I asked, worried.  "Can I get you anything?"
"No, just go..." breathed Jamal.
"I will go." I said.
"Thank you." Jamal lay back with a groan and closed his eyes.
As I walked up the road to Christmas's house again, I thought about Jamal, and what it would be like not to have him around. It was such a terrible thought I tried not to think it. This was impossible.
When I got there I sat down with Christmas on the old sofa with the crocheted blanket on it and told her everything Jamal had said. She was very concerned. It seemed she felt the same way about Jamal as I did.
"But won't someone need to, you know, look after him while we're gone?" She asked, when I had told her about the fairy king and queen,

"So you're coming?"
"Course I am." She leaned forward and clasped her hands.
"Wow. Thanks so much." It would be so much easier to make the journey if she was there.
"So will Jamal be okay if we leave him behind?" She asked, her worried blue eyes staring into my soul.
"He'll be alright. He once told me that he could easily go without food or water for a very long time." I said, to reassure her.
"Are you sure that's true?" Her brow furrowed sceptically.
"Yes." But just now I wasn't sure.
"I'm going to pack." She said. We rose at the same time.
"Same." I said. There was silence while we contemplated what we were about to do.
"So, tomorrow?" I said, at last.
"Yeah." She brushed a lock of hair from her face.
"See you then."
"See you."
I trudged back to my house. This week would be interesting.
(End of Chapter One)

PS you remember the post from a while ago with the pictures of the doll and the spooky house? http://reneethestoryblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/experimental-drawings.html?m=1
That story will be the sequel to this one.
Comment if you liked it.