“Woohoo!” Einstein applauded.
He jumped onto the rocks one by one until he reached the last rock. Einstein and Popcorn were now standing in front of this opening at the center of the lake.
“HELLO, TUH!”
He jumped in.
“HELLO, TUH!”
3
White Room
When I was with my fourth foster family, Danny and Irina, we lived in a condominium. There was a big community swimming pool, but no one ever used it because the water always looked so dirty. There was this one time I heard people yelling and screaming around the pool. Curious, I went over to the kitchen window and watched. A little neighborhood boy fell in and almost drowned. His parents pulled him up just in time. They held on tight to that little boy, obviously traumatized by the whole experience. However, the boy surprisingly had a huge smile on his face. He insisted that he saw an amazing castle under the water and he wanted to go back. They moved out the very next day. I thought about what that little boy said every time I see water…Was there really a castle down there somewhere?
It was a beautiful summer afternoon. Popcorn was standing on a rock in the middle of Laketuh Lake playing a lovely tone through an invisible piano. A mysterious opening in the lake had materialized in front of her and kids were jumping in one by one with huge smiles on their faces.
At that moment all I could think about was that pool back at that condominium.
“Let’s go. It’s our turn now.” Achilles shook my hand.
“Is there a… a castle… down there?” I hesitantly asked.
“It’s a very romantic place, you’ll love it! There will be jellyfishes, mermaids…” He explained. My eyes opened wide with excitement to the prospect of this fanatic place.
“And SHARKS! DINOSAURS! AND KING KONG!!!! THEY’LL ALL TRY TO EAT US!” Achilles suddenly screamed.
“BUT!” He said arrogantly.
“Don’t worry, baby. Don’t forget Achilles is the best fighter and he’ll protect you!!! Muhahahahahaha!” He chuckled. A small amount of split flew off his lips and almost hits my face. I tried shaking him off but that just made he hold on to my hand tighter.
“Come on baby, you know Achi…”
“AHHHHHHHHH-CHIIIIIIIIIIII-LEEEEEEEEEEEE-SS!!!!!!!!!!”
Popcorn suddenly screamed. We were both startled.
“See, the Queen’s mad now. You don’t want to mess with that crazy woman.” He mumbled.
“I promised you there won’t be anything too scary… but maybe... you’ll see some…”
“ACHILLES! HURRY UP!” Popcorn screamed again.
“Okay, okay… geeez.” Achilles whined.
“Achilles… hurry up…” He said in a funny feminine tone clearly trying to imitate and mock his sister. I lowered my head and giggled.
He let go my hand and jumped onto the first rock. When he reached the second one he turned back and motioned for me to follow.
“Come on, baby, you can do it. Make me proud.”
I jumped on the first rock but almost lost my balance on a patch of slippery moss.
“EASY, girl!” Achilles quickly grabbed my arm before I fell into the lake. I gasped, thrusting my tongue out awkwardly.
“Now we’ll jump. I’ll go first then you follow, okay?” He winked at me.
“Wait, Achilles, take her with you.” Popcorn spoke without turning her head while still playing the invisible piano.
“Take her with me?...” Achilles murmured to himself.
“Oh… that’s right…” He started to giggle. “Last time Caterpillar scraped his knees and bumped his head.”
I gulped. At that instant I recalled seeing Caterpillar return from the forest with a limp and a bruise on his head the size of a baseball. Naturally I thought that Achilles and Einstein must have been bullying him again, but was this the real reason?
Achilles dragged me on to the last rock and made me stand in front of him. His arms were around my waist, holding on tightly. I blushed.
“I’ll count one, two, three, then we jump in together. Try to stay with me, okay?”
I nodded.
One
Two
Three
JUMP!
Next thing I knew we were falling into the darkness. We were sliding faster and faster, spirally, turning left and then right with the cold water flowing beneath us. Our clothes were wet and our bodies shivered.
“UGHHHHH!!!”
An unexpected drop separated us and I began sliding further away from Achilles. He reached out and pulled me in. As soon as I felt his chest on my face, I wrapped my arms and legs around him and held on tightly like a koala bear. I closed my eyes and as we continued to fall I focused on listening to his heartbeat, the gentle rhythm made me feel safer.
Moments later, a strong opposing force pushed us from below, slowing our descent. I could feel an intense warm light bathe every inch of my body.
“Hey, baby koala.” Achilles gently whispered in my ear.
While still holding on to him, I lifted my head, opened my eyes slightly and the first thing I saw was him smiling at me. I looked down and saw that we had safely landed on dry ground so I let go of him immediately.
“So…” I fixed my bunched up clothes.
“Where’s this?” Before he could answer my attention was drawn towards the opening we just came through.
I looked up and saw this strange black twisting and swirling opening on the ceiling. All of a sudden Popcorn appeared from the darkness. She jumped down from the opening with her arms stretched out and then landed gracefully on the ground like a gymnast. She pulled out a silver necklace from her red jacket, lifted it upward and the black opening immediately began to shrink. It grew smaller and smaller until it vanished completely.
“Hey…guys?”
I turned around and saw Caterpillar limping towards us with a drop of blood on the corner of his mouth.
“OH MY GOD! AGAIN!?” Achilles angrily exclaimed. “Are you really that clumsy or something?”
“I… I…” Caterpillar stuttered, obviously embarrassed by the situation.
“Don’t you remember what I taught you last time? It shouldn’t be that hard to land without killing yourself!!” Achilles walked over to his little brother and wiped off the blood on his lips.
“I DO…but… but… Einstein mooned me while I was coming down. I was laughing too hard…forgot to… and before I could remember to… I hit the ground…” His voice became weaker and weaker, and it seemed like he was about to cry. I didn’t know if I should feel sorry for him or just laugh.
“It’s okay Caterpillar. Just be careful next time.” Popcorn tried comforting him.
“Well, at least you didn’t hit your head this time, idiot.” Achilles stood with his arms on his hips.
“Enough, Achilles, give him a break.” Popcorn said in a stern manner. “Just go in first. They must be waiting for you.”
“How about her? Is she coming with me?” Achilles pointed at me.
“She and Caterpillar will wait here for today.”
“Oh, okay. Fine…” He shrugged. “Sorry, baby. I can’t take you this time. You stay here with my stupid brother. Don’t worry, if he does anything stupid, he’s so weak I bet you could take him with just one finger. Or just poke him in his stomach and he’ll…”
“SHUT UP! Achilles!” Caterpillar’s face turned red as he furiously stomped the ground.
“Ughhhhhh...” Caterpillar cried out in pain. He had forgotten that he twisted his ankle coming down the opening.
“Told you he’s an idiot.” Achilles teased while Caterpillar lowered his head in shame.
“All right, I’m taking off now…Hey, baby…” He looked right at me.
“Don’t miss me too much, okay? See you soon. Muah!” Achilles blew me a kiss, I blushed almost immediately. He then walked into a dark tunnel and disappeared.
I looked around and saw that we were standing in an empty white r
oom. There was nothing here but the dark tunnel that Achilles just stepped into.
“Popcorn! I want to go too!” Caterpillar anxiously pulled on his sister’s arm.
“Please! I promise I won’t be any trouble!”
“Caterpillar, you have to stay here with Beanie today.” Popcorn rejected him.
“Why!? Let her stay here herself!” He wailed, unhappy with the answer he was given.
“You can’t go in without permission.” Popcorn responded softly.
“But… But… fine…” He sighed and finally gave up.
“But… you ask the permission for me, please?” He begged. Popcorn nodded with a smile.
“You two stay here, I’ll be back later.” Popcorn then vanished into the tunnel.
“Hey Caterpillar, what’s in there?” I asked curiously.
“I don’t know. They never let me in.” He muttered.
“You never asked?” I stood in front of the tunnel and tried peeking inside, but it was too dark to see anything.
“I did.”
“Really?” I jerked my head back towards him. “What did they say?”
Caterpillar didn’t respond, pretending he didn’t hear me.
“Tell me!” I rushed over to him.
“I CAN’T! ACHILLIES SAID IT’S A SECRET!” He pouted and then turned away from me.
“TELL ME!!!” I shook his shoulders.
“NO!”
“TELL ME!!!
“NO!”
I was beginning to get irritated when I remember what Achilles said…
“Hey, see!” I pointed to the tunnel. “Popcorn!”
“Really? Hey! What are you do??OUUUUUUUCHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
I wrestled Caterpillar down to the ground and started frantically poking his stomach. He wriggled and squirmed like a caterpillar on the ground.
“Ouch... ouch… OUCH!!!!!!!!!” He screamed. “OKAY, OKAY, please stop, PLEASE! I will tell you! But you have to promise you won’t tell anyone!”
“I promise.” I stopped and helped him back up.
“It’s so not fair.” He grunted. “ Took me three hours of being hung upside down on a tree to get this secret… and it only took you 10 seconds…”
“You remember the story of Peter Pan we read in class?” Caterpillar asked.
“Peter Pan? The boy who can fly?”
“Yes. Achilles told me?” Caterpillar lowered his voice, even though we were the only two people here.
“It’s like Neverland through that tunnel. Kids don’t grow up, you can fly and do a lot of crazy things that…” He paused and looked up towards the ceiling. “You can’t do up there.”
REALLY?
Could that little boy back at that condominium be right? Was there really a secret entry way into a magical world?
“I need to see it for myself!” I got up and walked towards the tunnel, but Caterpillar quickly grabbed on one of my legs and started to scream hysterically.
“NO! YOU WON’T DO IT! YOU STAY HERE!”
I shook my legs frantically trying to get rid of him.
“NO! ACHILLIES WILL KILL ME IF I LET YOU IN! POPCORN WILL BE ANGRY TOO!”
No matter how hard I tried to get him off me he would not let go. Although the temptation to see this magical world was overwhelming I decided not to be selfish. They were already generous enough to invite me here so I shouldn’t get Caterpillar or anyone else in trouble.
“So, Caterpillar.” I sat down with him.
“What?” He said softly while nursing his ankles. You could see bruises of varying sizes on both of his legs.
“How old are you?”
“Nine.”
“You look five.”
“Shut up! I’m just skinny and my clothes are too big for me, they’re Achilles’.” He replied angrily.
“How old are your brother and sister?”
“Popcorn’s twelve and Achilles’s eleven.”
“Why do you guys call her Popcorn? She likes to eat popcorn?”
“Oh that… haha.” He stopped rubbing his ankles for a moment and giggled.
“You were not here at that time. We used to call her Queen because you know... Anyway, there was one time… Oh well… long story short, some kids wanted to eat popcorn because they never had it before and it looked really good from the picture Ms. Crystal showed us. My sister brought back some corn out of nowhere, so we got to make popcorn ourselves! It was so fun! Everyone jumped up and down when they popped. And they tasted…Ummmm… SUPER GOOD!!”
Caterpillar closed his eye and imagined that he was eating it right now. I giggled when he started making the chewing motion with his mouth.
“And that’s why we started calling her Popcorn. She’s really something, don’t you think? I’m so proud to be her brother!” He had a big proud smile on his face as if he just won the Nobel Prize or something.
We talked for long time and eventually grew tired and fell asleep on the floor together.
“Hey, kids.”
“I already showered yesterday…” Caterpillar rolled over and slapped his hand on my tummy. I woke up from my nap and found Popcorn standing next us.
“Get up, Caterpillar.” I sat up and patted his cheek.
“Come on! Achilles! Leave me alone.” He pushed my hands away.
“Caterpillar, it’s me! Wake up!” Popcorn shook his shoulder. Finally he opened his eyes.
“HEY POPCORN! You’re back!” Caterpillar eagerly jumped up and then moaned. He forgot about his ankle again.
“Did you ask for me? Can I go next time? When can I go?” He impatiently prodded.
“Maybe next time.” Popcorn smiled.
Caterpillar was clearly happy to hear this answer, but something didn’t feel right. I didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was the sadness I could see in Popcorn’s dark blue eyes because they didn’t sparkle as usual.
Popcorn dragged Caterpillar to another side of the room and whispered something to him. Whatever she said it made Caterpillar’s face turned white and I could sense panic in Popcorn’s expression. Popcorn stuffed a note into his pocket and made him nod reluctantly. She gave him a hug and kissed him on the forehead.
“Beanie.” Popcorn walked towards me. “We’re going back now. And… Thank you.”
I didn’t know what to say because I was confused by everything that just happened, so I just gave her smile.
“Wait, Popcorn.” I suddenly thought of something. “Where’s Achilles? And the others?” It didn’t feel right leaving without them.
“They’re not coming back with us today. You’ll see them next time when you’re here.” Popcorn answered calmly.
She pulled out her necklace and inserted the pendant at the end of it into a blank wall as if there was an invisible keyhole. A section of the wall began to vibrate and then a rectangular door appeared. The door slowly opened, and behind it I could see a white stairway leading to the surface.
“You guys follow me and then go back to Laketuh House immediately. Don’t wait for me okay?” Popcorn spoke to us in an unusual serious tone. “You remember what I said, right? Caterpillar?”
Caterpillar stood there silently looking at his feet and didn’t respond.
“YOU REMEMBER WHAT I SAID, RIGHT? CATERPILLAR?” Popcorn stared at her little brother and repeated the sentence in an irritated tone.
Caterpillar bit his bottom lip and rubbed his head with his hand for a few seconds. He then let out a long sigh and reluctantly nodded.
“NO! YOU WON’T DO IT! YOU STAY HERE!”
4
Monsters
My ninth foster parents were a Chinese couple. Mr. and Mrs. Huang were nice, polite and hard working people who owned a restaurant in a small town. They made me a little waitress so they could watch me while they worked. I loved it, I loved taking down orders for customers, telling them about the daily special and my favorite part was explaining to them which dish I liked the most. Customers adored me, and whenever
someone left me a generous tip Mr. Huang would always give me a funny wink. One night after closing, as I walked out of the kitchen to show Mr. Huang all the tips I made, I saw something that made me stop dead in my tracks. A robber, in a black ski mask was pointing a gun at Mr. Huang. He glared at me with his scary eyes, the only feature I could see through the mask. Frightened, I dropped all the money I was holding on the floor. He rushed over and grabbed me. Before I could scream Mr. Huang tackled the robber to the ground and they began to struggle with me in between them. Without warning, I heard a piercing crack and Mr. Huang suddenly stopped moving. The next thing I felt was the undeniable warmth of blood sliding across my face. I looked at my hands, they were blurry and everything became slow motion. All I could hear was Mrs. Huang’s cries of despair?
“Wake up, Huang… Wake up… You promised… Please… Wake up…”
It was a lovely evening, Caterpillar and I hid behind a tree and watched Popcorn played the invisible piano to close the opening. No, we didn’t go back to Laketuh House like she told us to. Would you?
The lake was so pretty. The cool breeze brushed over the water and made the reflection of the sunlight danced like twinkling diamonds. With the beautiful music Popcorn was playing the atmosphere truly felt magical.
“GAAAAAA - GUOOOOOWWWWWW!!!
An unexpected loud, raspy quacking sound interrupted this peaceful moment. Instantly Caterpillar and I covered our ears.
“WHAT - IS - THAT!!??” I exclaimed in shock.
Up in the sky, there were two flying creatures swooping down towards Popcorn. Each of them had six long limbs with four joints, which made their movements extremely bizarre. Their heads were long and sharp, their bodies were colorful but it looked like it was covered in moss. They were enormous and grotesque. If I had to use one word to describe them it would be MONSTERS.
One of them, a purple and yellow one, hovered around Popcorn and screeched.
“NOOO!” Popcorn howled.