It was a dark and stormy night at the Cucumber family mansion….
Yes I know, that was the most cliche' way to start a story but it was true. The date was late February 2017 and it is late at night. A young rhubarb girl is seen in her bedroom, but by the looks of it, she's not happy.
So, here she was, in her own bed that she hadn't seen or felt in weeks. Was she comforted by her familiar surroundings? Not in the slightest.
Actually, she sorta wished she were back outside in the streets. At least then her guilt escaped her.
She shivered from both the cold and fear. Who's idea was it again that she "sleepover" to be back with her family?
Oh, right. It was her cucumber brother Perry's idea. She sighed.
Since when did she decide that taking her younger sibling's advice was a good plan?
She had no idea….but then again he was desperate. She remembered Perry's words loud and clear.
"Carrie, you have to come back!" Her brother moaned. "Mom and dad have spent 6 weeks looking for you! Dad is still looking for you..." The tears were visible on the nine-year old's face. "Dad is one of the only ones with faith that you're still alive..."
She could still hear the sincerity in his voice. "Please, come home"
The thunder snapped her out of her flashback. The rain and wind beat heavily outside her window. She looked around again at her surroundings in the semi light.
Knowing she wouldn't sleep in the noise, Carrie got up to walk around.
First she walked over to the mirror that was collecting dust and stared. It had been a long time since she'd had a good look at herself. "Almost like mom..." she thought as she gazed in the mirror. Her red hair that was tied up in a ponytail was limp from not being washed properly, same with her light pink dress. She had to admit her whole self looked a bit ratted out after so many days out of doors. Of course, this was her choice. How else would she be sure her parents wouldn't find her? At least, not yet. She wasn't ready.
She walked away from the mirror and stared at everything else.
Everything was exactly the way it was when she ran away. The wallpaper, the carpet, the desk…. the desk. She walked over to the opposite side of the room. Pulling open a secret drawer on the side, she looked in. She had carved this secret drawer herself several months ago. Of course, no one knew about it. If they did, she was sure she'd never hear the end of it, especially with the contents inside.
There lay the forbidden blueprints. She cringed and felt her stomach jump from anxiety. She pulled them out anyway and laid them flat on the desk.
On one was a model of her dad, Larry, and on the other was one of her mom, Petunia. A tear slipped down her cheek.
"These robots are the thing that caused all this trouble" she thought bitterly. Next she pulled out an inventor's magazine and opened it to the page of the contest. She sighed heavily. She hadn't thought about that in weeks.
Why did she secretly participate? To bring back the spirit of her parent's show? That was a lame excuse. If only she'd listened to her conscience and backed out when she learned the truth.
"It's under the same leadership that made our show go downhill in the first place" Larry told Carrie. "They controlled our show, gave us almost no creative freedom and to top it all off, to make it appeal to a "wider audience" they wanted to make the lessons more shallow!" Her mom nodded in agreement.
Another streak of lightning flashed. Carrie felt awful. After a moment of contemplation she made up her mind.
"I can't stay here..." she said quietly to herself. Tears rushed down her cheeks like mini waterfalls. "They'd never want me back after what I've done..." She quickly put on her black hooded cape and made her exit.