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PART II
Welcome to Part II of ANTics! Enter the exciting and fast paced world of Urr, for a semi-permanent stay with our three main characters (maybe four now).
Will our daring heroes be able to save their frenemy and possibly the world from the disastrous days to come? Or will they all be struck down before anything can happen?
THIS. IS. THE. TIME.
FLETCHER
Sitting in the back of the library, Chyna, Olive, and I were trying to decipher the pickle that we were in.
"We know we have to go back," I said, "But how?"
Olive wiped the sweat off of her brow and opened her notebook. "According to my calculations, there's only one way, and it might not work."
Chyna interrupted. "Can't I just play the most beautiful melody? It got us to Urr last time."
Olive shook her head. "That will bring Melody, and we don't want that. If Melody comes, it could start a whole 'nother round of the games.
"When we were in the dream, we got to Urr in a train. The only question is how we got on that train."
Chyna snickered "Yeah, we'll just take a plane to England, walk through a wall, and get to platform 9 3/4. It's bound to work," she guffawed.
"Actually," said Olive, "You're 2/3 right."
"Really?" Chyna said.
"Yup," replied Olive, "Except instead of platform 9 3/4, it's 9 7/8. Urr is much farther off than Hogwarts."
"No one has time to go to England! Hello?! We have our whole lives to live here!"
Olive sighed. "Well, back to the drawing board."
After about another hour, she finally put down her pencil. "Sometimes, if you're moving to a new country, you have to have a life set up for you there before you can go. So if we emigrate to Urr, we could use our new lives to save Lexi. And since this is only a dream, we would be knocked in a coma and basically nothing would happen to us. Unless-"
"Unless what?" I asked.
"The only thing is, that if we get hurt or die in the dream, we die in the real world too. So we have to be extra extra careful and choose the right life. You know what they say - YOLO."
"You know what?" I pondered. "This sorta reminds me of that movie Inception."
"If you think about it...yeah, it kinda does!"
"Well, this all sounds nice," said Chyna, "But how would we get these lives in the first place?"
Olive said, "Since we've been there already, our names are already on file. And we've already had wings and all, so there is a little magic left in us. And with that, if we think really hard like we did in the dream to use our powers, we'll be transported to Urr-" She snapped her fingers. "-Just like that."
Chyna looked unsure, but she gulped and nodded her head. I grabbed her hand and whispered, "Don't worry. We'll be back."
"Just think really hard," said Olive. "We're farmers. We want a new life. We're looking for laid back opportunities."
Farmers. New life. Laid back opportunities.
Farmers. New life. Laid back opportunities.
Farmers. New life. Laid back opportunities.
OLIVE
Farmers. New life. Laid back opportunities.
I slowly opened my eyes, rubbing them as I stretched out my arms. Beside me lay Chyna, and next to her Fletcher. We were on a hard wooden bench, and there were plenty of people on the overcrowded moving train. The windows were barred shut. The air was raw, smelling like stale urine and waste. I tried to move, but it was useless. I had to stay where I was.
This was not the luxury of the first time we were here. We were no longer honored, pampered guests. We were poor emigrants, and we were looked down upon by the Urr population.
My stomach grumbled, and I realized we were not going to have a lavish banquet set before us. I would have to wait until the food rations were given out for the first day. After that, we would be on our own.
I shook Chyna, who bumped in Fletcher, waking them both up. Once they came to their senses, their faces scrunched up in horror. This was not what they were expecting either. When they looked like they were about to talk, I quickly shook my head. They shouldn't take up the few, precious wisps of clean, fresh air with their worthless speech. It could wait until we arrived.
The train slowly lurched to a stop. We heard footsteps, and then a man unlocked the door and heaved it open, sliding it to a stop. Outside was the poor side of Urr, the Slums. It was full of shacks, made of cardboard, wood, branches, boxes - anything that the government could spare to make a home for the poor. The shacks, some bigger than others, were on plenty of rich farmland, with plots of deep soil behind, in front, and all around them.
Chyna, Fletcher, and I quickly rushed out, watching our steps as we landed on the hard platform. There was no one there to escort us but ourselves.
Finally, we could speak. The air was not as bad out here, but it smelled of weakness and sorrows.
"Where do we go?" Asked Fletcher. "I'm hoping its somewhere our wishes came true." said Chyna. I reached in my pocket. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I pulled out a small piece of paper with our new address written on it.
"99 Willow's Edge."
We made our way there. We could tell it was all the way at the back. People stared at us, announcing to their family and friends that there were new arrivals. We tried to dodge them as best as we could, but it was no use. We kept going. The farther back we went, the better the shacks got, until we finally reached the end. 99 Willow's Edge.
There, standing before us, was a 3 story house. It didn't look much like a shack. It was made of hard wood, and looked pretty sturdy, but a rough wind would probably be able to shake it. The farm land was not empty. There were plants, two pigs and a chicken, and a lot of trees. Apple, citrus, peach, you name it. Off to the far side, not belonging to anyone, were plenty of willow trees and others that could provide plenty of wood for stock.
Now we knew that we had gained 'laid back opportunities.' Whoever had lived here before had left and left behind everything they had worked hard for, so we wouldn't really have to do anything. All we had to do was feed the animals, water the plants, and sell some was it.
Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.