Chapter 2: The Poem

"Tyler, do you have everything packed?" Mom asked out loud.

"Yeah, Mom." Ty called from the other room. "I just finished packing up my socks."

"Oh, terrific!"

Well, the day finally arrived. The day my older brother Tyler would be taken to college so he could become a dentist, and the day I'd be home alone for a whole week straight after that billboard/paint bomb incident. To be honest, I couldn't tell which sounded better: the golden child finally leaving or that I had the whole place to myself. Either way, I'd be in Heaven if it meant Ty would be gone for an entire school year.

I, on the other hand, was keeping myself busy by doing some more sketches up in my room. That is, until the prodigal son showed up with a suitcase next to him. Most likely to brag about how I got into trouble for doing something bad and how he didn't for the millionth time. I admit what my friends and I did was bad, but at least I didn't blame them or lie and say that they made me vandalize the billboard. Heck, it was my idea in the first place.

"Pity you can't come help." Ty smirked as he leaned against my door. "I could've used your help with the mini fridge."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at my older brother, correct about my previous observations. "Yeah, I can practically see you leaping for joy at that thought."

"Just don't kill yourself while we're gone."

"Yes, I'd bet you'd hate that."

Ty dropped the smirk and went straight to being the annoying older brother he was. "So long as you're out of the way, I don't care what happens to you."

I rolled my eyes and went back to sketching. "Suck a truck and tell me something I don't know."

"Tyler, let's go!" Mom's voice called from the other room.

Ty looked back and pulled out an innocent voice. "Coming, Mom!"

Ty started to head out of my room before looking back to give me a half-hearted goodbye. "Bye, brat."

"So long, chicken boy." I replied.

Mom then came into my room to get Ty. "What is taking you so long?"

"Frankie was sulking, so I was trying to cheer her up." Ty played innocent as he lied to Mom.

I rolled my eyes at his lie. How my mom ever believes that sneaky, no good, lying, S.O.B is way beyond me. But I guess since he's the oldest and golden child, she's completely oblivious to reality when he lies to her face. In fact, he's less like the golden oldest child and more like a spoiled rotten toddler in that sense. He gets away with everything, while I get stuck with the blame. Y'know, if I were some kind of a villain, that'd be my quote-unquote "tragic backstory" and motivation, but I feel more like the hero who's stuck with an annoying bully instead.

"That's nice, dear." Mom smiled at him, falling for his lie. "But she knew her punishment the moment she vandalized the billboard."

"Alright." Ty gave a shrug.

"Now, get in the car. We're going to be late." Mom told Ty.

My older brother nodded, grabbed his suitcase, and left my room. And not even two seconds later, Mom quickly dropped the sweetness when she turned to me to reset the ground rules of my punishment.

"Okay, young lady, you know the rules: No friends." she said.

"I'll cancel the slumber party." I cynically said.

"What?!" Mom shouted, thinking I was serious.

Dad quickly rushed in, holding my baby brother Leo in his arms, to prevent her from shouting. "Carol, she's kidding."

"You really need to understand sarcasm." I casually interjected, much to my mom's disappointment.

"Just think about what you did, and I might shorten your punishment." was all Mom had to say to me before she left my room in a huff.

Dad shook his head at her and her actions before turning back to me. "You think you can handle it? Being on your own for a week?"

I gave him a confident nod as Leo giggled at me. I couldn't help but smile at my baby brother. Sure, he was also praised by my mom, but I couldn't be hateful to the sweetest and cutest little bean in the whole world. I'd be a monster if I hated my younger brother that hardly knew what praise was.

Dad noticed Leo trying to reach at me and smiled as he held him close. "Also, Leo's coming with us, so you don't have to worry about him."

"I figured." I gave a simple casual shrug.

He came over and gave me a small hug and a kiss on the forehead. "See you in a week, Frankie."

"Love you, Daddy." I smiled.

"Love you too." Dad said as he closed the door behind him. Signaling that he, my mom, and brothers were now gone off to take Ty to a dental college in upstate New Hampshire.

Things felt quiet in the loft for a while, and when it's that quiet, it makes it perfect for turning on relaxing music (in my case calming piano music) and pulling out my sketchbook for some more drawings. I know I could've done more scandalous things like leave the loft and keep doing the paint bombing on another billboard or an abandoned building, but when you're left home alone with those perfect conditions, who could resist?

I had just gotten into some comfy clothes -a sweatshirt and some blue-plaid pajama pants- and had gotten in the perfect position on the couch to start drawing when I was rudely interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone -told you I had one of those.

I grumbled as I put down my sketchbook and answered the phone.

"Hello?" I answered.

"It's me. Are your folks gone?" Pearl's voice answered from the other line.

"Yeah, why?"

I heard the sound of knocking on glass, and when I turned around, I hung up my cell phone when I saw Alex and Pearl standing eagerly outside the terrace of my loft. It didn't surprise me that they were there to visit me, what surprised me was that they snuck over and didn't get caught -by Fishbreath or by any other civilian- considering the fact that my building didn't have a fire escape that was accessible via. ladders but via. ground exits. It's unsafe, but it's all the builders could afford when they built the building.

I put my phone in my pocket as I went over to open up the window to talk to my friends.

"Hullo there." Alex greeted in an Obi-Wan Kenobi impression.

I gave both of my friends a surprised look. "You dorks. What are you doing here?"

"We bring you comfort during your solitary confinement." Pearl briefly explained. Hinting that neither her father nor Alex's mothers punished them for vandalizing the billboard the other night.

"You dorks are gonna get in trouble." I smiled as I opened up the window to grant them access into my home. "Come in."

Alex and Pearl grinned brightly as they snuck in through the window. Once in, I shut the window and they quickly made themselves at home. Which didn't really bother me as much as it would other people. We were all comfortable with being in each other's homes that each one practically felt like another home to us. Sure, my mom and Pearl's dad aren't the most welcoming or supportive parents when it comes to people just coming in uninvited, but my dad and Alex's moms were super okay with it. All the more to make my friends and I closer, I suppose.

"So, got the whole place to yourself?" Alex asked as he started looking around my home as if it weren't the eightieth time he came over.

"Yeah. And Dad's got Endy looking after the shop for him. He did say that if he needed the help, Endy could just ask me, and I could come to work." I explained to them.

Endy Thompson was my dad's store manager, and acted as head of the store whenever my dad was too busy to work. He's a nice and funny guy and understood what it felt like to be in the shadow of an older sibling because he grew up with three older brothers. To me, Endy always felt like a cool and fun older uncle to me. Kind of like Genie from Aladdin, but obviously doesn't match his humor because -and let's face it- no one does.

"Noice." Pearl said as she sat herself on the couch.

"So, whaddya wanna do first?" Alex decided to ask me.

I thought for a moment before I gave my answer. "Watch a movie?"

"Disney?" Alex and Pearl asked in unison.

"Obviously."

Alex grinned at us two girls. "You two pick some, I'll make the snacks."

Alex then left for the pantry in the kitchen to get the food as Pearl and I went to dig through my family's old Disney VHS tapes to find our perfect movie marathon. I was eager to pick first as I placed my most favorite one in a pile next to me as Pearl gave it a small glance.

"Hercules?" she asked in an unsurprised way.

"It's my favorite and you know it." I said defensively before teasing her about her crush on the villain in the movie. "Besides, it's funny to watch you swoon when you see Hades."

Pearl's face turned bright red as she repeatedly -yet playfully smacked my shoulder. "I do not swoon!"

"Yeah, ya do, Pearlie." Alex butted in as he continued to look for snacks in the pantry.

Pearl smirked at me as she changed the subject. "Well, at least I don't think a certain lizard monster is cute."

"Leave Randall out of this!" I yelled as I felt my own face turn red. Yeah, so I may think Randall Boggs from Monsters Inc. is kind of attractive in a personality and understanding his character sort of way. Don't ask me why, I don't even know how I developed a crush on him with just those reasons. It just happened.

Pearl's teasing shortly died off when she opened up a VHS tape holder. "Hey, what's this?"

I arched a brow at her, thinking she found something regarding my Randall crush. "What's what?"

"Found it in your copy of The Sword in the Stone." she said as she handed me a small piece of old paper.

I took the note and opened a corner to see the last two sentences on the paper, one with the last word rhyming with the previous last word.

"Looks like some poem." I summed it up.

"Whaddya mean?" Alex asked from the pantry.

"I dunno." I shrugged. "Maybe my dad wrote it to my mom when they were first dating?"

"Read it!" Alex dared me as he entered back to the living room and chewed on some M&Ms he found in the pantry. "I love dorky love poems!"

"Okay." I gave a casual shrug. "No harm ever came from reading a poem."

I opened up the small piece of paper again and read the poem loud and clear:

"A kingdom of magic calls to you,

Where hopes and dreams all come true.

To the land of dragons to the realm of mermaids,

A friend shall come to your aid.

To whisk you away to a land of wonder,

Come, traveler, and seek these to wander."

"That did not sound like a love poem." Alex pointed out when I finished reading.

All of the sudden, a strange wind began to slowly blow. Which was odd considering that the A/C never blew that hard and there were no windows opened to have any air come in. And then, the room began to shake -but strangely enough, not so violent so that the breakables would fall and shatter to the floor. But the way my friends and I were practically hiding underneath sturdy places, it sure felt violent enough.

"Earthquake!" Pearl shouted in fear as she hid underneath the coffee table.

"In New York?" Alex questioned as he took shelter under one of the support beams in the apartment.

Unless the geography text books have been wrong in recent years, it was possible for an earthquake to happen where we lived, but they hardly ever happened. Just then, a swirling vortex of color appeared from the floor, causing things to fly and swirl in the air as if they were caught in a tornado. And If things couldn't get any worse, I found myself getting dragged towards said vortex from my hiding place under the kitchen door frame.

"Uh, guys?" I started asking in a scared tone as I tried to pull away from the vortex. "What's happening?"

Just then, my feet gave out, and I was being pulled much quicker into the vortex. Most of my body was already in before Alex and Pearl came to try to save me. Pearl grabbing my hand and Alex holding onto both Pearl and the support beam. All in an attempt to try to get me out of that kaleidoscope of color.

"Hang on!" Pearl grunted as she pulled.

"I can't!" I shouted in panic.

And not even a second later, my hand slipped from Pearl's grasp, and I fell into the vortex. The last thing I saw was Alex and Pearl's horrified faces when they saw me fall in before the portal closed.