It was summer in New York, where Ariel Nellen lived. Ariel happened to be
extremely bored. Camp didn't start for another two weeks, all her friends
were away (the ultimate terror for a 15-year-old) and she couldn't go
outside because it was 98 degrees and humid. For the past week, since
school had ended, Ariel had retreated to her computer for comfort. She was
spending most of her waking time eating and going on fanfiction.net.
Ariel's mother, however, abhorred the site, so she was careful to turn back
to summer reading books when her mother was near.
Ariel's current argument with her mother was over her room. The walls were yellow and the bed was blue and yellow. There was almost no decoration at all. Ariel wanted to get special wallpaper depicting dragons, unicorns, pegasi and other magical creatures. She also wanted a bed with an enormous dragon on it. Her mother, however, insisted that Ariel's unnatural obsession with magic would not spill over onto her room.
"Ariel, what are you doing?" Her mother's shout penetrated the loud music Ariel was blasting.
Ariel quickly exited fanfiction.net and grabbed her required reading book, Catch 22. Although she liked it, she would have much rather been reading her new copy of Dragons of a Vanished Moon. "Homework, Mom!" she yelled back. Once she finished the chapter she was reading, Ariel turned back to the computer. Opening Fanfiction again, she was bombarded by popup ads. "I have to get Ad blocker going again," she muttered. Closing all the ads, she noticed one. It said:
Johns Hopkins University has added a NEW online tutorial! Click "join now" for a FREE trial of the new fantasy tutorial! Learn about ALL kinds of fantasy, specializing in the Dungeons and Dragons collection, which includes the best-selling DRAGONLANCE SAGA!!!
Ariel sighed, glaring at the computer. Definitely time to run Ad Blocker. She was about to exit the ad when she noticed the words were fading and in their place was a picture of a dragon. It was surrounded by silver mist. The mist expanded to fill the screen, and then slowly filtered into Ariel's room. The fuzzy outline of a dragon appeared in the mist in front of Ariel. "Are you sure you want to do this?" it said, sounding like the whisper of the wind.
Ariel was entranced. Whether or not this was magic, her mind insisted it was; and magic was one of the only components of her life that had always been missing, or so she had felt.
"Not missing," breathed the dragon. "You just didn't see it. We tried everything, but you were too blind. Magic is normally not found through an ad on fanfiction.net."
Ariel stared. "How?"
"You will learn that soon. Will you come?"
The outline of the dragon was becoming fainter. Soon, only the voice would remain, Ariel knew, and then even that would vanish.
"I will come," she said, and the mist closed around her, and she was falling.
I know it's bad. Reviews are great - constructive criticism is best!! I re- uploaded this chapter for the first time (I expect to do it many times over in the future). By the way, Johns Hopkins University does run online programs for literature and math. I didn't completely make that up.
~*~Alexa
Ariel's current argument with her mother was over her room. The walls were yellow and the bed was blue and yellow. There was almost no decoration at all. Ariel wanted to get special wallpaper depicting dragons, unicorns, pegasi and other magical creatures. She also wanted a bed with an enormous dragon on it. Her mother, however, insisted that Ariel's unnatural obsession with magic would not spill over onto her room.
"Ariel, what are you doing?" Her mother's shout penetrated the loud music Ariel was blasting.
Ariel quickly exited fanfiction.net and grabbed her required reading book, Catch 22. Although she liked it, she would have much rather been reading her new copy of Dragons of a Vanished Moon. "Homework, Mom!" she yelled back. Once she finished the chapter she was reading, Ariel turned back to the computer. Opening Fanfiction again, she was bombarded by popup ads. "I have to get Ad blocker going again," she muttered. Closing all the ads, she noticed one. It said:
Johns Hopkins University has added a NEW online tutorial! Click "join now" for a FREE trial of the new fantasy tutorial! Learn about ALL kinds of fantasy, specializing in the Dungeons and Dragons collection, which includes the best-selling DRAGONLANCE SAGA!!!
Ariel sighed, glaring at the computer. Definitely time to run Ad Blocker. She was about to exit the ad when she noticed the words were fading and in their place was a picture of a dragon. It was surrounded by silver mist. The mist expanded to fill the screen, and then slowly filtered into Ariel's room. The fuzzy outline of a dragon appeared in the mist in front of Ariel. "Are you sure you want to do this?" it said, sounding like the whisper of the wind.
Ariel was entranced. Whether or not this was magic, her mind insisted it was; and magic was one of the only components of her life that had always been missing, or so she had felt.
"Not missing," breathed the dragon. "You just didn't see it. We tried everything, but you were too blind. Magic is normally not found through an ad on fanfiction.net."
Ariel stared. "How?"
"You will learn that soon. Will you come?"
The outline of the dragon was becoming fainter. Soon, only the voice would remain, Ariel knew, and then even that would vanish.
"I will come," she said, and the mist closed around her, and she was falling.
I know it's bad. Reviews are great - constructive criticism is best!! I re- uploaded this chapter for the first time (I expect to do it many times over in the future). By the way, Johns Hopkins University does run online programs for literature and math. I didn't completely make that up.
~*~Alexa