You will have to be patient with me for this one. It is the epitome of an experiment.
It is a prompt that was given to me by a reviewer on another one of my stories, so I thought I'd give it a go.
It will follow the story of The Sound of Music from the beginning to end from the point of view of two young girls who move in across the lake from our favorite family. Somethings will stay the same, others may change drastically.
The first chapter is more of an introduction, and we do not meet the von Trapp children until the very end.
I stare at the frighteningly large mansion, clutching my suitcase. Movers carrying large boxes brush passed me as I gaze upwards, my eyes bulging. This is by far the biggest house I have ever seen. Inside I know there is a maid, and a cook, and a butler. It is weird. Ever since my father became a decorated war hero, people have been treating us differently. I don't like it. I want to be back in the one-room apartment; Where my sister and I shared a bed, where I could always hear the sounds of the city outside even in the darkest hours of night, where I could write music by the blazing fire and no one would try to serve me tea. I miss my old home. This is the third time we had moved in the last year.
I feel a gentle hand rest on my shoulder. "It's going to be okay Dana." My sister whispers to me. I turn to look up at her, watching as she plays with the long brown curls that fall around her shoulders. She's curled her hair every night since she turned thirteen and our grandmother gave her a set of hot curlers. I never understand why. "Father says that we'll get to stay here." She assures me. She takes a deep breath and starts to walk towards the house.
"Angelina, wait!" I cry, running towards her. I grab her hand and the two of us walk towards our next adventure hand in hand.
After we finish unpacking, I beg Angelina to go exploring outside with me. It's a gorgeous day, with that crisp air that comes right between summer and spring, and I need to get out of the house. I never could have imagined that something so big could be so suffocating.
I pull her out the back door by the wrist.
I am immediately floored by the gorgeous view. I didn't realize we were living lakeside. The water stretches as far as I can see, and it shimmers as the sun bounces off of it.
"It's beautiful." I hear Angelina say, her voice full of wonder.
I smile to myself. "Yeah." I agree quietly.
We stand there for a moment, staring at the purples, reds, and yellows as they light up the sky and the lake.
"I wonder if it's cold." I whisper.
Angelina smiles mischievously at me. "Well," She pauses, eyeing me. Suddenly, she grabs my hand and bolts straight towards the water. "Let's find out!" She shouts.
I struggle to kick my shoes off before my sister pulls me in and we are surrounded in the clear blue. The coolness rushes over me as a let my hair and clothes sop up water.
We are swimmers, my sister and I. When we were little, we used to stay with our grandparents, who lived by a fantastically magical river. I adored getting swept away by the currents, or relaxing in the still water pools.
Now fully submerged, I start to think that this new home might grow on me.
I pop my head up, taking a gulp of air and looking around to find my sister. Two hands grab me by the feet and yank me under. I open my eyes, and see my sister, her hair swirling around. She grins and sticks her tongue out at me and then we both start laughing.
We are treading water now, as we've ventured further into deeper water.
As I gaze across the water, something catches my eye.
"Look." I cry, pointing.
My sister's eyes follow my finger and light up. "A house." She yelps.
"Let's swim to it." I suggest. Before I start paddling away, she grabs my shoulders.
"We can't swim to it silly." She informs me curtly, rolling her eyes.
Just when I had thought we might be able to make some friends, she goes and stomps out my excitement. I duck under the water not wanting her to see the expression on my face.
When I come back up, Angelina notices my disappointment and nudges me with her elbow. "It's okay. I saw a boat lying in some bushes over back at the house. We can row over."
Anticipation fills me as we swim back and walk up onto the grass, wringing out our clothes. I follow Angelina over to where, as she predicted, there is a small row boat just large enough for two people, and two paddles.
"Dana, before we go, let me fit your pigtails." She says, coming around behind me and trying to remedy my soaking hair. After a few minutes she steps back and sighs. "Alright, I think that is as good as it's going to get. Gosh, your hair is so long and unruly."
"Well, maybe I should waste hours trying to curl it every night." I retort, trying to insult her.
"Maybe you should." She gazes at her reflection in the water and combs her fingers as she talks. I'm not in the mood to argue with her, so I just let it go.
"Come on." I say. "Stop primping and let's go." I grab her and tear her away from herself.
With some effort, we manage to push the boat into the water and hop inside. We begin paddling determinedly towards the distant house. It's so and inviting, shaded by trees, with bright grass that somehow looks greener than the grass our house. As we get closer, Angelina and I start to guess what wonders could be awaiting behind that pristine, elegant gate guarding the boat ramp.
"A handsome prince."
"A giant library."
"A knight in shining armor."
"Other children."
"Boys."
I twist my body in my seat and look at her with disgust at that suggestion.
"What?" She asks, giggling a little.
I shrug and turn back to paddling. "You're weird." I mutter under my breath.
"No, I'm not. Everyone likes boys." She looks proud. "You're the one that's weird." I don't understand what she has to be proud of herself. Just because she got a valentine from some random kid at school doesn't mean she is somehow better than I am.
She's making me mad, so I use my paddle to splash water on her.
I figured she would get me back, but what I didn't suspect was for her to kick me hard straight in the back. I lurched forward and almost toppled off the front of the boat. Glaring I turn all the way around and lunge at her.
It was stupid idea and I didn't think it through.
"Don't stand up!" Angelina shrieked, but it was too late. The boat rocked for a second and then capsized, throwing us into the water.
I feel guilty, treading water as the two of us pull the boat towards the shore. We have traveled to far away from our own house to swim back, and all we can do is push to guide the boat to the nearest grass.
As we trample onto the shore and tie the boat to a tree, I wipe my bare feet on the grass to remove the mud. Looking up, I see the decadent house casting a shadow over us.
"It's even bigger than ours." I note.
Angelina just nods dreamily.
We start to walk through the yard along a stone pathway, and my eyes trace the brightly colored flowers that line the water.
Suddenly, Angelina sees something and breaks into a run. I chase after her and we arrive at a tall, intricately designed white gazebo.
Angelina sighs. "This is so romantic." She says, grinning.
"Don't get any ideas." I poke her.
"I'm not." But she is still grinning so I know that she is getting tons of ideas.
We stand there, looking at the gazebo, afraid to step into it, for a few more minutes.
I hear a door swing open, and whip my body around. My mouth falls open as I watch a line of children walk out of the house.
Angelina notices me staring and when she discovers what I am looking at, she grabs me and pulls me behind a bush. "Duck." She commands.
A woman pokes her head out of the door and issues a command to them and the children start to march in a circle.
We are crouched behind a dark green leafy bush. I am still shock. "Other kids." I count them. "Seven." I add, my voice a little too loud.
She hushes me.
"How strange." I observe quietly. "They are marching."
In the front of the line is a girl who is clearly the eldest, with short, soft brown hair and piercing blue eyes. She walks with her head held high, clearly aware of her superiority over her siblings, assuming they are all related.
Behind her is a boy who is clearly still growing into his body. He is almost as tall as his sister, with blonde hair and a bit of a baby face. He is somewhat clumsy, tripping over his long legs and nearly colliding with the girl in front of him.
The blonde girl behind him is smiling and biting back laughter. She is excited about something, and her march is more like a skip then a march. Her hair is very cliché, long and golden, catching the sunlight when she turns on a certain angle.
Next is a boy. There are only two boys in this crew.
I smirk at how wrong my sister was at the prospects of meeting a boy.
Anyway, this boy, he seems like he's my age, maybe a little older. He has a big, toothy grin and sparkly eyes. His hair is gold like his sisters, but in a more manly way. He walks with his hand in his pockets. His smile is so big that I think it would be fitting for him to be whistling or singing a song.
He turns and squints for a second in our direction. My heart beat quickens for a second. I wonder if her can see me here, hiding behind this not-so-discrete bush.
He whispers something in the ear of his sister. She smiles and whispers back, her dark eyes lighting up. Her hair matches mine in length, but only half pulled back in a braid. The rest falls in waves down her back. She holds under her arm, a book with a title that I can't quite make out.
The two behind her have identical hair styles in different colors. One is slightly taller than the other with darker hair and eyes. Her braids are adorned with a pretty pink ribbon. She walks on her toes, trying to hear what her brother and sister are saying.
The youngest is completely in her own world. His little hands play with the fringe on her dress as she straggles behind the rest of the group. She stares off across the lake, as if expecting to see a mermaid pop up out of the water.
"Now that I think about it, maybe casually walking onto someone else's property wasn't such a good idea." Angelina says beside me. "Let's get out of here."
I am frozen, mesmerized by this new discovery.
Kids. There are other kids here.
Maybe this new home won't be so bad after all.
I hope that you did not feel tortured by this tale so far. I am honestly in search of opinions and ideas for this, especially for the development of the two new characters.
This story will be mostly about family and friendship, though there will be inevitable sprinkles of Maria/Georg romance once the famous governess enters the pictures.
The next chapter will be from Angelina's point of view. What do you think should be going on in her head?