Ch. 1 re-edited

"LARICIA BELLE MOSAELE, GET OUT OF BED NOW!" Someone was screaming my name. Ugh, is it morning already? I feel like I just fell asleep.

I have been having this horrible dream lately. I dreamt that I was near an old dark castle. From far away it gave the impression of being in ruins, but as one got closer, the castle came alive and beautiful. I found my way into the castle and began to look around. There were pictures and tapestries hanging on the walls for as far as the eye could see. I tried to get a better look at some of the pictures but my dream became blurry.

All of the sudden I hear a quiet voice in my head telling me to run. Unexpectedly I see a bright red light looked like it was aimed straight for me from the corner of my eye! I take off running as fast as I can. I have no idea where I am going; all I know is that I need to avoid getting hit by that light. Why? I am not sure, but I know that I do not want to find out!

Finally after running for what seemed forever, (but was probably only a minute or two) I come to a wide, dark looking corridor. I stop and think about what I should do. Do I keep running and dodging the red light down this open area, or do I take the risk and run down the new corridor I found. I decide to turn down the corridor. As I walk, torches above my head light up.

"Back at last are we? Come to get some answers?" I turn towards the voice only to see a frighteningly beautiful, yet evil woman come right at me. She had this crazy look on her face! Almost like, she was sizing me up for dinner!

Her hair was a mix of black and white streaks that was curly and went down to her butt. She was so tall and horribly skinny. She looked like the last meal she had was a few years ago. Her eyes were so wide and wild, and she never blinked. At least, I guessed she did not, as I never
seen her blink once.

I turned to ask her what she was talking about. "I know you want some answers, but, I am not going to indulge that request! Find someone else. 3, 2, 1…"

That is all I was able to hear before she began chasing me down a bunch of corridors again. I was so confused. What was she talking about, answers to what questions? I was so confused and lost within the old mysterious castle that I was not paying close attention to where I was running. I almost ran into a brick wall only to be pulled out of my confusion by hearing her maniacal laughter.

Then time seems to stand still. I turn around after realizing that I am trapped. The only way to get out of this corridor is to find a way to pass by her. She must have planned all of this because right then she laughs evilly, pulls out this long, thin whitish stick, and points it at me. Just as she starts to speak, a small pixie like woman with a loving face pulls me out of the way.

This is where I always wake up. Sometimes I am glad to be awake, other times though, I wish I could stay sleeping so that I could see what happens next, and find out whom the two women are.

As soon as I am feeling more awake, I realize that today is the day that Mrs. Anastasia has been talking about! Today we are expecting special visitors. All that Mrs. Anastasia and Ms. Emma will tell us is that we need to be ready to expect the unexpected. Ok… well that should be a piece of cake, right? Yeah right!

I wonder why they are yelling at me. I sit up, looking at the clock on the wall, and then I gasp; it is 7:13am! I never sleep past 6:30! It's weird; like some clock that's ticking inside my head, you know? I'm always up early...at least, until today. I jump out of bed, running a hand through my hair as I blaze through the dormitory doors, bursting into the dining hall. Just then, I realize that I am still in my nightgown. Feeling embarrassed by all the laughing I turn and run back to the dormitory with the girls chanting, "Loony Lari did it again!" ringing in my ears. I hate that I am so forgetful sometimes. It is moments like this where I wish I could just find a deep hole to bury myself in, never coming out ever again.

I quickly change into my outing uniform consisting of navy blue pleated skirt, white long sleeved blouse, wide brimmed sun hat, stockings, and Mary Jane shoes. Half way to the door, I realize that I left my mother's necklace under my pillow! I am such a dunce! For that reason, I turn around to grab my necklace, when I find that one of my dorm mates has stolen it again!

Thank goodness, that dear old Miss Abbott cares for me! I do not know what I would do if she had not found it and placed it under the rug (Miss Abbott knows how mean some of the girls are to me, so she often puts my stolen things under the rug for me to find. After getting my necklace from under the rug), I quickly hook the clasp around my neck, heading down to breakfast and grabbing my sweater along the way. I'm clambering down the stairs when I remember that today is the day that we're expecting some people that Mrs. Anastasia and Ms. Emma described as 'special' visitors."

Finally, I arrive at the dining hall, grateful that I can eat finally! "10 more minutes, girls" calls Mrs. Anastasia. Why does it feel like I never have enough time to eat? Oh well, I finish what I can and hurry to join the line.

Mrs. Anastasia is super strict and protective of us. She says, "Now, ladies," Mrs Anastasia began, "you must always walk in pairs. This is so that you may protect each other from the..." her lips were a drawn into an ugly thin line by then, "unsightly things in this world." If others liked me here, that would be ok, but remember that these girls are evil? Well walking in pair's means that they get to play a rousing game of "let's torture Loony Lari!" thus the whole walk to town is full of pinching, smacking, braid pulling, and all sorts of heinous activities.

At last, we made it to the doctor's office on Ivy Street. Usually the younger girls go in first, but today must be my day because I was told to go first.

"Hello Rici!" Dr. Jansen calls out to me as I go through the door.

"Hello Dr. Jansen, how are you?" I respond. I like Dr. Jansen, he reminds me of someone from my visions.

"So you are turning 11 tomorrow eh?" he says.

"Yes sir" I say, I have no idea why Dr. Jansen is smiling so widely at me. He looks like a clown!

"11 is a big year ya know, I remember when I got my….." he trails off; I wonder what he was going to say?

"When you got your what, Dr?" I ask.

"Oh nothing, just remembering my first chemistry set!" he says a little too exuberantly. Chemistry set my Aunt Henie! I wonder what he really means.

"Well let's take a look at you shall we?" Dr. Jansen is so goofy sometimes; I just love him so much! He reminds me of what a father should be like.

After being examined, Dr. Jansen slips his usual candy bag into my pocket and says, "Now don't tell anyone you got candy! I don't want to have to give it to those other prissies out there!"

I thank him for the candy and promise to not tell a soul then skip out the door. Next stop, the ugly old barbershop. I hate getting my hair cut. I want to grow it long but Mrs. Anastasia says that our hair should never touch our behinds. I do not know why she cares about our hair length because we are required to wear it up. I go sit in the chair and wait for a few minutes.

"Oh, look it's her! Please can we try to get her back? I miss her so much!"

"We will try!

I miss her too! I just hope she doesn't feel the need to hate us when we tell her the truth."

Tell me about what truth, who are these people, are they talking about me? Was that in the past or future? I hate not knowing!

I look around and find a large Negro woman with a pair of scissors in her hand staring at me. "What jus' happin'd?" she asked me.

"Oh sorry I dozed off! Not a great night for me last night." I say.

"Well hunny chil' how much we gon ta cut today?" She asks me. "Do we have to cut any? I really love my hair," I say to her

"well I's supposed ta, but I kin fake it, chil' jus you's wait en see!" I love her already! I hope she stays in the shop. The last woman was mean and would always try to cut my hair short! After Delia finishes, (she told me that was her name.) I go to meet the girls back in line to go back to the orphanage.

Ms. Emma tells us to go put away our sweaters when we arrive back at the orphanage. I run up stairs to the dormitory and catch a glimpse of eight strikingly beautiful people in the sitting room.

"Look at this place Jas, she doesn't belong here."

"I know all the children here hate her because she shares your gift"

"Alice, Jasper, rest of the Cullen's we need to keep our cool if we are going to succeed in rescuing Laricia from this place."

"Carlisle is right. Jasper if you need to do something please try and use your power to sway the minds of Anastasia and Emma."

"As you wish Headmistress Granger, I will do my best to sway them ma'am"

"thank you Jasper, I know you are concerned about getting Laricia back, but please be assured that Laricia will be with you by tonight and on the express tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you Headmistress Granger! I truly want my baby girl back. I hated having to give her up, even if I did have to give her away for her own safety."

"Everything will be fine Alice! Please call me Hermione."

"Emmett! You are going to give us away stop trying to test the strength of their furniture. I do not want to tell them who we really are! Do you?"

"No I don't want to tell those stupid humans a thing, ok, Esme?"

"Emmett! Watch your tone! There are ladies here!"

"Ok Rosalie…. However, why do you care? They can't hear us anyways."

"Oh Carlisle, look at her!"

"Where?"

"Over there on the stairs Emmett!"

"She is beautiful! Don't you think so Edward?"

"Yes Bella, I do."

All right that was weird! Thank goodness, I am alone! Who are those people? Wow, that vision must come true soon! Besides, why do I need rescuing? I know that this place is full of horrible little prissies but it is not truly that bad.

"Hey look Loony Lari left Earth again!" yells Phyllis.

I turn around looking startled as a bunch of the girls walk in the dorm to put away their things. Phyllis is the worst! Some of the girls just ignore me, but Phyllis just has to point me out. I wish her hair would turn pink!

"Yeah Loony Lari what do you see this time? One of us gonna eat worms or are you singing at the Metropolitan Opera tonight?" Amelia questions me about this because when I was nine she pretended to be my friend in order to tell the other girls my visions. I did not know she was going to do that so I told her that I saw myself singing at the Met. What a mistake that was!

"Ladies! Our guests are here! Please come to the sitting room!" Ms. Emma calls up to us.

"We are coming Ms. Emma!" Laney calls down.

We all head for the stairs when I hear Minnie gasp. "Phyllis! What happened to your hair? It's pink!"

Oh, no it happened again! Sometimes when I get angry weird things happen, like last week when Mrs. Anastasia took us to old Mrs. Mathis' orchard to pick apples. I remember minding my own business when Jeannette began throwing apples at me from atop a ladder. I just remember thinking about how great it would be if she could just be quiet for a little bit. Next thing I know Jeannette cannot talk for three whole days! I worry that someone will figure out that I am responsible for all the strange happenings going on around here soon. I wish I knew what was going on!

Once we are all in the sitting room Mrs. Anastasia says, "Alright ladies, please form a line so our guests can get a good look at your pretty faces!"

Mrs. Anastasia looks like she is full of love, but the truth is that she is crazy. Never ever, ever make her angry! Her punishments are horrific! She reminds me of the crazy woman in my dreams. Hmm… I wonder what that is all about. We all line up from oldest to youngest. Then it happens… I see those eight faces and faint.

"Oh Hunny! Wake up!" a bell-like voice says.

What just happened, who just said that? I open my eyes to find a pixie-like woman with short spiky black hair staring at me.

"Umm hello?" I say as I start to sit up. I begin to look around and realize that a large group of beautiful people surrounds me.

"Hi, do I know any of you?" I ask the group. "Well sweetie I wish you did but it is most likely that you do not" the pixie woman sighs.

"So I did know you all at one time?" this is getting absurd.

"All right, let us let her get focused. We have a lot to do today!" the man next to the pixie-lady booms.

Like what? "What do we have to do?" I find myself asking the pixie like woman.

Just then Mrs. Anastasia starts saying "Laricia please remember your manners. These people are the Cullen's. Let's all introduce ourselves shall we?"

"Hi my name is Alice, this is my husband Jasper, my sisters Rosalie and Bella, my brothers Edward and Emmett, and my parents Carlisle and Esme!"

"Hello" they all say.

"I think you already know who I am! I am Laricia, but you can call me Rici if you want!" as I am saying this I notice another woman with light brown bushy hair give Alice a small hug. Hmmm, I wonder what is wrong. Did I say something I should not have?

"May I ask who you are?" I ask the woman with the brown bushy hair.

"Oh, hello, my name is Headmistress Granger, but for now please call me Hermione like the rest of us do" she smiles at me.

For about another hour I sit getting to know Alice and Jasper after they tell me that they want to adopt me. I am very wary about them wanting to adopt me. I would rather stay at hell house until I am 18 than be adopted out to become a servant.

I am not sure how anyone could tell what I was afraid of, but Edward replies "Alice and Jasper feel a special connection towards you. They cannot have any children of their own and Alice wants a little girl to spoil!"

"Yeah, hey there tiny, no need to worry Alice will only make you slave over shopping racks at a department store!" Another man chuckles from across the room. "Heaven forbid should you ever do any chores!"