Amanda McNicolson was sitting dejectedly on the couch in her living room. She appeared to be watching the television set but was really not the least bit interested in what was on it. She was far too deep in her misery to care about it. Her gaze shifted over to the shelves nearby her and rested on the old photograph of her family, or rather of what her family formerly had been.
Her parents had just recently divorced and now she and her mother were living alone together. She truly did not like these new living conditions at all. She did not understand her parents reasons for divorcing, well perhaps she did in a way as they had been arguing vehemently with each other on and on for many months beforehand about things which she had no clue about. And this had gotten progressively worse and worse and at times she would be scared when she could hear their loud voices and would cry herself to sleep privately and just hope that they would not go away and leave her all alone.
And now it seemed one of them had indeed left her all alone, her and her mother. And in the past week her mother had seemed to be growing very distant from her. She rarely spoke to her anymore, and never smiled or showed any positivity whatsoever. When on one occasion when Amanda had asked her why this was she had replied that she was just so busy now in looking for a new job for herself. Amanda was not fully satisfied with this answer at all, as it seemed to her that her mother was neglecting the job she already had, which was in being a mother to her only daughter. And it seemed now it was only a matter of time before she also would be leaving her all alone.
Amanda sighed as she turned away from the family photograph before her tears could come. Well, she thought to herself bitterly, if they both don't care about me then I won't care about them either. And I will leave her before she leaves me.
She scooted slowly off of the couch and went to the closet where she got her blue hooded jacket. She put it on, tying the hood on, and then walked slowly towards the kitchen where her mother was busily talking on the phone with someone.
"Mom?" she said weakly. Her mother did not answer, or even seemed to hear her. "I am leaving you now," she continued. And again there was no answer or any motion of acknowledgment from her mother at all.
Amanda grimaced as she turned rapidly on her heel and rushed back out. She opened the front door and hurried outside. She found her bicycle that was parked near the garage and hopped onto it and sped away down the sidewalk to where she didn't know or much care where she went.
It was at this same time on the other side of the neighborhood that Andrew Kensley had just arrived back to his house along with his parents, and aunts and uncles and cousins, and a dozen friends of theirs. They had all just arrived back from the funeral of his just recently departed grandmother on his mother's side, and she had been the last of his grandparents to depart from this world.
As he and everyone entered into the house it became very crowded and very noisy with a dozen conversations between just about everyone there. Everyone seemed to be talking all at once. He could only catch a few words being spoken by a few of them.
"She has finally gone now," said his Uncle Chester to his Aunt Nell. "It's just unimaginable. She was so full of life all the time. I always thought she would live to be a hundred years old, or more than that."
"So did I," replied his aunt sadly. "So did I. But there comes a time for all of us when we must depart. And she is at least in a much better place right now."
"As I've heard, she has left half of her savings to me and you," he heard his father say to his mother. "And also her valued china sets and her collection of books and her priceless knick-knacks, and candles and..."
Andrew was confused by a lot of the things he heard everyone talking about, and not just about who his grandmother had left some of her belongings to, but mostly about how she could possibly be in a much better place right now and still be gone from them as they were all saying. After all, wasn't this place they had right here and now the best place for her, like he remembered she had always said to everyone she would rather be here with them than in any other place.
He then found himself remembering the last time he had seen his grandmother, it was two weeks before she had died, and she just played checkers with him as they liked to do and then she had said to him,
"You are very wise in your head, Andrew, and not just when it comes to games like this. I believe you can obtain the wisdom of all of the world if you just desired to do so, and that you are also very pure in heart and remember that it is the heart that always leads us home."
Andrew had not completely been sure he understood what she had meant by all of this. So he had just smiled and nodded to her. And then he and his parents had left her house, not knowing it would be the last time they would see her there.
As he looked around at everyone, all the faces and the voices of them became a blur. They all seemed to be so interested in only each others words that they didn't even notice he was right in the middle of them. The more this went on the more he felt like he just wanted to shout out loud enough to be heard above everyone else, but then he realized they would not like it if he did so. And so he decided he would just leave them to themselves and not bother them.
He crept quietly to the front door and turned the doorknob slowly and silently, and then crept outside. He went to the old shed by the house and got out his bicycle, hopped onto it, and then sped away on it down the sidewalk.
Amanda was speeding down the sidewalk on her own bike and her heart was so heavy inside her that it was a wonder why she could peddle so fast, and her mind was very cloudy also as she was trying to think about where she could go, or who she could go to, and what she could do there. But her mind kept coming up as a blank.
Andrew was at this same time thinking all of these same things with a very heavy heart also. And he was so preoccupied in his own thoughts that he did not even notice there was another bicycle with a girl on it speeding right towards him from up the opposite end of the sidewalk. And she did not even notice him coming up to her either, and so before either of them had known what was happening, there was a hard collision of wheels and handlebars against each other and they both came clattering down onto the solid concrete right along with their bikes.
Andrew got up slowly and shook his head, much dazed and confused by what had just happened. He looked over and saw the girl getting up slowly, and her face was very red and her hair was a mess.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" she exclaimed.
"I'm sorry," he said weakly. "I didn't see you there. My name is Andrew Kensley, by the way."
"My name is Amanda McNicolson," she replied as she stood up and picked up her bicycle. "Where are you going?"
"I don't know," he said with a shrug. "I just want to go someplace far away from here, to a much beter place. And where are you going?"
"I don't know, and I don't care, either," she replied. "I just want to get away from here and from everyone around here."
"Why?" asked Andrew.
"Because it seems no one wants me around here anymore," she replied hotly. "No one even notices I'm here anymore either."
"It's been the same way with me," said Andrew. "So you're running away," he continued thoughtfully.
"Yes, so?" she replied.
"So," he replied, "I guess I am running away too. And so since neither of us have any idea of where to go, maybe we should join each other along the way. You know, just to help each other get by, at least for a while?"
"You want me to come with you?" she asked skeptically. "This had better not be a joke."
"No, it isn't," he assured her. "I really am leaving this neighborhood, this city, this state, and maybe evn this country and world even. I just want to go to a place where I will be understood and accepted, and where I can understand everyone also."
"Me too," said Amanda. "So, okay. You seem like an okay guy anyway. So let's get out of here."
And so saying they each hopped back onto their bikes and sped away down the sidewalk once again by each others sides.
A few hours went by, and the sky overhead began to become overcast with very gray clouds, and the wind began to pick up steadily and then it started to become fierce. Then a low rumble of thunder was heard overhead and then a few small droplets of rain began to fall down.
Andrew and Amanda did not much care about the rain at first when it was rather light, but then as it began to come down harder and harder and then all of sudden it started to really pour and plummet down onto then and they started to become soaked and the sidewalk beneath them began to become rather slippery.
"We've got to find some place to go in for shelter from this storm soon!" Andrew exclaimed to Amanda above the roaring thunder.
Amanda needed to hear no other encouragement, and she looked around frantically and then she spotted a building far away to the left of them across the road.
"Quick! Let's go there!" she exclaimed to Andrew.
So they picked up the speed on their bikes and rushed towards the building. As they neared it they saw it was an enormous library with stone pillars and large stone lions on either side. The two children went up to the side of the library and leaped off of their bikes and left them leaning against the pillars as they hurried up the stone steps of the building and rushed through the doors.
Once inside of the warm and dry atmosphere of the library they both exhaled heavily with relief to be inside and away from the rain and lightning. Then as they looked around they saw tall shelves of rows upon rows of books, more than they had ever seen before, and more it seemed than they would be able to read in a lifetime.
They moved forward a short ways, and then they spotted a large wooden desk behind which they saw a tall and thin man with graying hair sticking out at either side of his head and wearing a dark brown vest and a matching bow-tie. He looked up from his seat and seemed to be delighted when he spotted them.
"Hello, my young friends," he said amicably as he stepped out from behind his desk to greet them. "I am very pleased to see you. What might I do for you two?"
"Thank you," said Amanda, "we just want..."
"Wait! Now don't tell me, let me guess. I have a talent for guessing what people need!" the librarian interrupted excitedly. "What you want... what you need... is... adventure... and excitement... and the means to gain knowledge, and wisdom, and to learn about life in general! Yes, what you need is... Fantasy!"
"You don't understand," said Andrew. "We just came to..."
"Now, if you please, come with me you two," the librarian continued anxiously as he led them down an aisle of books.
He stopped at the end of the aisle and took out two medium sized blue books, then he turned around and picked out three more books, one green, one orange, and one red from the bottom shelf. Then he stood up and he handed the first two books to Amanda and then the next three to Andrew.
"There you are," he said with satisfaction. "Now, I will lead you to where you may sit and read and rest until you are ready to leave here."
They followed the librarian to an open space in between the aisles of book where there was a long table and two small sofas where they could read comfortably. Then he turned around and he left them alone.
Amanda sat down and looked at the two books she had been given. They were Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Then Andrew sat down beside her and looked at the three books he had been given. They were The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Marvelous Land of Oz, and The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
"Well, what do we do now?" Amanda asked Andrew.
"Well, I guess we should just read these, until the storm has passed," said Andrew with a shrug.
And so they each opened a book... and then... something very strange happened...