The Other Side
Book #1 in the Sparkle series
By Ashlynn Elliott
The Other Side
Copyright 2015 By Ashlynn Elliott
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, April 14
Dear Diary,
Today was the day. Today was going to be the day that I would climb the fence, despite what Dad said. Today was the day that I would see what was on the other side. To see what was so horrible about it.
He has kept me closed up inside this yard since I was born. Eight years, to be exact. Never go back there, Barbara, He’d say, You’ll regret it!
But today was the day. There’s something back there that he’s hiding from me. And today, I was going to see it.
I looked at the fence. There were three bars to climb. I placed my arms up on the third, and hoisted myself onto the second. Then I placed my legs on the second and sat on top of the fence.
That was easy! I thought.
But then, Mom and Dad came rushing out of the house. “Barbara! NO!” Dad screamed.
I took a glance at Dad and thought, He can’t stop me this time! I turned myself around and flung my legs to the other side of the fence. Without looking down, I jumped off the edge, ready to hit the ground on the other side.
I waited a few seconds, but I kept falling. Falling, falling, falling, and falling. I made a huge mistake! On the other side of the fence was a bottomless pit!
Falling, falling, falling forever! I should have listened to Dad! Oh NO!!!
Chapter 1:
“AAAAAH!!!!!” Barbara Wilson woke up on her bed at two o’clock in the morning, after having a terrible nightmare.
Barbara’s dad, Thomas Wilson, quickly dashed to the room. “What’s wrong, honey?!” He said as he plopped down on her bed.
Barbara saw her dad and sighed in relief. “Just nightmares again,” She sighed, slightly laughing at herself.
Thomas picked up his daughter and put her in his lap. “Oh, more nightmares?” He asked as he tickled Barbara on the stomach. “What happened this time?”
Barbara sighed again. “Oh, Daddy. It’s nothing important!”
Thomas scoffed. “Not important?!” He tickled her again. “How can my favorite daughter’s dreams be not important?!”
“Favorite daughter?” Barbara asked. “I’m your only daughter!”
“That’s why you're my favorite!” Thomas smiled. Barbara rolled her eyes. “Now, tell me about that dream of yours.”
“Um,” Barbara sighed, “I already forgot!”
“Bar-bear!” Thomas called Barbara by her nickname. “You didn’t forget! You just don’t want to tell me!”
“Daddy…” Barbara blushed, since she didn’t exactly want to tell her father about her dream. The dream about disobeying him.
“Barbie…” He smiled in return, calling her by her other nickname.
“I just don’t want to tell you!” Barbara finally blurted out.
“Why, Barbie?” Her dad asked.
“You’ll be mad at me!”
Thomas sympathetically smiled. “Honey, how on Earth could I be mad at a dream?”
Barbara looked away. “You-you just would, Daddy."
“Please tell me!” Said Thomas.
“Fine," Barbara muttered. “I dreamed that I jumped over the fence,"
Thomas’s smile withered away. “Oh.” He simply said. “Then what happened?”
Barbara started crying as the fear from the dream returned. “It was a bottomless pit.” She cried. “And I kept falling and falling and falling!”
Thomas smiled in relief. “Barbie, it’s okay.” He hugged his daughter.
“You’re not mad?” Barbara asked.
“No, I just want you to listen to me. NEVER go over that fence.” Thomas sternly replied.
“But why?” Barbara cried. “What’s back there that you don’t want me to see?”
Thomas sighed as memories flooded in. Exchange students...Maryrose....curse....Freddy…It was all too much. He couldn’t bring himself to explain it to Barbara, and he has never explained to anyone else either.
“Barbara, go back to bed.” He muttered.
“Daddy, what’s wrong? Why won’t you tell me?” Barbara cried.
“Go back to bed, Barbara.” He replied even louder.
“Daddy, no! I want you to tell me!”
Thomas scowled, picked his daughter up, and put her in the bed. “Barbara, go to bed!” He yelled.
“Daddy, why?” Barbara cried. “What is it that you aren’t telling me?!”
“GO TO BED!” He got up off the bed, and a tear rolled down his eye.
“NO!” Barbara screamed. “STAY, DAD!”
“JUST GO TO BED!!!!” He yelled and slammed the door. Barbara finally cried herself to sleep.
After Thomas walked out, his wife, Layla was at the door. “What was that all about, Tommy?” She asked in her soothing voice.
“Nothing,” Thomas closed his eyes and hoped he wouldn’t have to explain it. But the memories came flooding back in.
“Tommy?” Layla asked again, but Thomas was already lost in his memories.
Chapter 2:
21 years ago, in 1994, Tommy sat in his sixth grade classroom, waiting for class to begin. Class should have started a few minutes ago, but the teacher was missing!
Finally, she walked in, with two new kids by her side. “Class? May I have your attention?”
Tommy and the rest of his classmates turned around to face the teacher.
“Today we have two new foreign exchange students.” She pointed to the two kids. One was a tall, pretty girl with light, blonde, curly hair and green eyes, and the other was a very short tan boy with dark black hair and brown eyes.
She pointed to the boy and said, “This is Federico from Spain.” Freddy waved and the class waved in return.
“I-I Freddy. Nice to meet.” Freddy stammered. They could all tell that Freddy could not speak good English.
“And this is Maryrose from London.” The teacher pointed to the girl, who smiled and flipped her hair.
“Greetings, friends. I’m Maryrose and I am delighted to join your class!” She said in a very extreme English accent.
“Hi, Maryrose!” The class responded.
After class that day, Thomas went to meet Freddy. “Hi, I’m Thomas, but you can call me Tommy.” He said as they walked home from school.
“I Freddy. Want to come see family?” Freddy asked.
Thomas assumed that Freddy wanted him to go to his house. “Okay!” So the two boys went over to Freddy’s house.
The boys soon became good friends. Thomas taught Freddy to talk English very well, and Freddy taught Thomas a little Spanish.
One day, Freddy told Tommy a huge secret on the way home from school. “I like Maryrose!” He whispered in Tommy’s ear.
Tommy’s heart sank. TOMMY liked Maryrose! “What’s wrong?” Freddy asked.
“I-I-I like Maryrose, too.” Tommy stuttered.
Freddy frowned. “Oh. Let’s ask her who she likes!”
“Okay!” Tommy and Freddy rushed over to Maryrose, who was jumping rope.
“Maryrose, I like you.” Tommy blurted out.
Maryrose looked shocked! “I like you too, maiden Maryrose!” Freddy exclaimed.
Maryrose’s mouth hung open. “Um… Sorry, Tommy. I like Freddy, too.”
Tommy’s heart was destroyed. He started to cry and ran home.
“Tommy, wait!” Maryrose cried.
Thomas stopped. “What?” He asked.
“We can still be friends.” Maryrose smiled.
And from that moment on, Maryrose, Freddy, and
Thomas were all friends. But soon, they both realized that Maryrose wasn’t as pretty and graceful as they thought she was. She tripped and fell and was always covered in bumps and bruises!
One day, Thomas asked Maryrose why she was always hurting herself. “I’m bad luck.” Maryrose muttered.
“No, you’re not!” Thomas replied.
Maryrose sighed. “Can you keep a secret? I’ll tell you if you promise to not tell Freddy.”
Thomas nervously looked around. How bad could this secret be? “Um.. okay.”
“Alright.” Maryrose sighed. “My family has magic.” Tommy’s eyes were ready to burst out of his head! “We each inherit a power or extreme talent on our eighth birthday, and mine happened to be bad luck.”
“But-But-But that’s not even a talent!” Thomas stuttered.
“I know. I’m just bad luck! I give other people bad luck, too.” She moaned.
“Oh.” Thomas sighed, trying to believe this incredibly unbelievable story.
“Promise you won’t tell Freddy? He might not like me anymore.” Maryrose nervously smiled.
“Okay.” Thomas said and ran off. Of course, Thomas ran right to Freddy and told him about it.
“What?!” Freddy gasped. “That cannot be possible!”
Freddy ran over to Maryrose and asked if this was true. “Of course not!” Maryrose angrily glared at Thomas.
“Ok,” Freddy ran off.
Angry Maryrose stormed away to Tommy. “I told you not to tell him!!!” She shrieked. Thomas had never seen Maryrose this angry before.
“I know,” Thomas simply smiled. “I lied.”
“LYING IS RUDE!” She screamed.
“I know,”
Maryrose’s eyes flashed red and she levitated a few inches. Thomas knew he was in trouble now! Why had he made her mad?! She shrieked, “THOMAS WILSON I WILL CURSE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!”
Thomas paused for a second. Didn’t she say she could give other people bad luck? “Please don’t!” Thomas pleaded. “PLEASE!!!”
Maryrose sighed. She wasn’t going to be this mean. “Okay.” She sighed and sunk down to the ground.. “Only on Thursdays you will be cursed.” She flipped her hair, turned around, and stormed off.
And it was true, Thomas and his family were cursed on every Thursday, which he called, BLT, (Bad Luck Thursday). But little did he know, that it was going to get worse.
Chapter 3:
“Tommm….. Tommmy...Tommmy! Tommy! TOMMY!”
Thomas immediately snapped back into reality to see Layla standing by his side. “Tommy! Are you okay?”
Thomas sighed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Honey, what was that all about?” She asked.
Thomas sighed. “Barbara’s asking about the fence again.”
“Why can’t she go see the neighbors?” Layla asked. Thomas glared at her. Layla sighed. “I know you don’t like them, and I can’t exactly trust that blonde woman, but why can’t she play with that little girl they have?”
Thomas didn’t exactly want to get in detail about everything, so he just said, “Can’t we just go to bed now, Layla? I’m REALLY tired.”
“Alright,” Layla sighed, and the two walked back to bed.
As soon as they laid back down in the bed, the memories came flooding back into Thomas…..
Ten years later, Tommy graduated and moved as far away as he could away from Freddy and Maryrose. He met a wonderful girl named Layla and they soon got married.
Soon, they had a little girl named Barbara. She had reddish-brown hair and blue eyes.
But around the time Barbara was six months old, the neighbors behind them had moved. About a month later, new neighbors were trying to move in.
“I wonder who our neighbors are?” Thomas asked himself.
Finally came the day that the neighbors moved in for real. Barbara, Layla, and Thomas went to greet them.
When the moving truck pulled up into the house, three people got out. One was a little girl who looked like she was about 1 year old, her dad, and her mom.
But there was something odd about the dad’s face. To Thomas, it looked VERY familiar. “Hi!” Tommy called out. “We’re your new neighbors! I’m Thomas!”
The dad’s face spun around. “TOMMY?! AMIGO?!” He shrieked.
Thomas recognized the voice immediately. “FREDDY?!”
The two men gasped in surprise and Thomas ran to Freddy’s house. “Man, I haven’t seen you in so long! How are you doing?”
“Great, amigo!” Freddy replied.
Thomas laughed and poked Freddy in the ribs. “Still with that old witch?” He joked.
“What do you mean?” Freddy asked.
“Maryrose!” Thomas laughed.
Freddy looked shocked. “Maryrose isn’t a witch! She just has bad luck powers!”
“Yeah, she is.” Thomas replied. “Besides, today’s BLT.”
“WHAT?!” Freddy laughed. “Today’s Bacon Lettuce and Tomato?”
“No!” Thomas chuckled. “Bad luck Thursday! Maryrose cursed me! Anyways, when did you stop liking her?”
Freddy cocked his head. “Stop liking her? What do you mean? I married her!”
Thomas’s jaw hung open. “Oh, no.” He said in disbelief. “Maryrose lives here now? And-and-and you guys got married and had a daughter?! With magical powers of her own?! NO! YOU CANNOT LIVE HERE!”
“Thomas, we already paid for the house.” Freddy sighed.Thomas muttered something. “What?” Freddy asked.
Thomas muttered something a little bit louder. Freddy told him to say it louder, so this time, he yelled it out as loud as he could,
“YOU AND YOUR EVIL WIFE, STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!!!!” Thomas stormed off into his house.
That afternoon, Thomas and Layla hired a carpenter to put up a fence to keep Barbara away from Maryrose and Freddy. After the fence was put up, Thomas hoped he would never have to deal with Freddy, Maryrose, or their daughter ever again.
But they did. Thomas knew that one day, Barbara would question that fence.
And Today was the day.
Thomas groaned and fell asleep.
Tuesday, April 15
Dear Diary,
My teacher, Mr. Marcantel, gave us this diary assignment to work on yesterday. I have to write the diary and he will skim it to make sure I did the assignment. He won’t actually read it. I am not all that good with writing, and yesterday, I didn’t know what to write, so yesterday I just wrote down my dream I had last night.
These were the rules of the assignment:
#1: There must be a cover with a title on it.
#2: No illustrations.
#3: No foul language.
#4: Must be turned in by April 23.
#5: Have fun!
I can’t draw and I don’t say mean words, but I don’t exactly know what title I will put. “Barbara’s Diary” Maybe? No. “Barbara’s awesome life”? No. Besides, my life isn’t all that awesome. I only have one friend, and that’s Laura.
Laura’s pretty awesome, though. She loves coming over to my house and playing in my yard (The one with the fence around it), but my parents don’t let me go to her house much. Laura’s super-popular, so we don’t talk much at school. The popular girls don’t like me either, so I just ignore them.
Chapter 4:
Barbara closed her diary as the bus screeched to a stop in the school parking lot. She put it into her pink and purple backpack and walked off the bus.
“Hi, Laura!” She waved to a girl with long black hair as she walked into the building.
Laura smiled and waved in return. Then, Laura turned to another girl and kept talking. Barbara sighed. Laura never talked to her at school, and besides Laura, no one else really liked her!
On the way to her third grade classroom, she felt a small tug on her backpack. Ziiiiip…..She felt it unzip and quickly spun around. Fifth graders! The three fifth grade boys snatched her diary.
“Give it back
, Mason!” Barbara cried and reached for her diary.
“Dear Diary,” Mason mocked, “Today was the-”
BRRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!
The school bell rang and Mason and his gang of boys moaned. Mason dropped Barbara’s diary and walked to class. Barbara angrily picked it up. I wonder if EVERY day is BLT? She thought. It sure seems like it.
Barbara walked into Mr. Marcantel’s class. She sat in the desk next to Laura and Laura’s friend, Macy. “Laurie, why is that DORK sitting right here?” Macy sneered when she saw Barbara.
“She’s not a dork.” Laura replied.
Another girl sitting on the side of Macy said, “Sure…. Barbara’s not a dork…” She winked at Macy.
Barbara sighed. “Stop it, Grace!”
“Stop it, Grace!” Grace mimicked. “Oh, please. The dork thinks she’s the boss of me! Now move over and sit somewhere else. You’re in Natalie’s seat.”
Barbara looked up to see Natalie looming over her head. “Hi, Natalie…” Barbara nervously smiled.
“Get out of my seat.” Natalie growled.
“It’s not YOUR seat.” Barbara replied.
“I know, but I like sitting in it, so get out.”
“You’re not the boss of me!” Barbara cried.
“Mr. MARCANTEL!!!” Natalie shrieked. The teacher turned his attention to the girls. “BARBARA STOLE MY SEAT!!!!!”
Mr. Marcantel sighed. “Natalie, first of all, we don’t have a seating arrangement, so you can sit wherever you want, and Barbara was sitting there first.”
Natalie paused for a second. “No! I was there first! She pushed me out!”
“WHAT?!” Barbara cried. “No I didn’t!”
“Yes, she did!” Grace lied.
“I saw it with my own eyes!” Macy added.
Mr. Marcantel turned to Laura. “Laura, is this true?”
Macy, Grace, and Natalie shot Laura a look. “Yes,” Laura sighed softly, but she was upset because Barbara was going to get in trouble.
“Barbara, go to the office. No pushing in this class.” Mr. Marcantel groaned.
Barbara sighed and walked out of the door. Why does everyone hate me? She thought.
Wednesday, April 16
Dear Diary,
Dad’s never told me much about the curse. He’s never told me much about WHY it’s on Thursday’s only. He’s never even told me where or who he got the curse from!
But he tells me it's always on Thursday. Something ALWAYS goes wrong on Thursday. And it’s never something small, like catching a cold or scraping my knee. It’s something Terribly wrong. I can list some of the worst:
The house burning down last Christmas
The EF-5 tornado to hit my house a couple years ago
Termites invading the house on my 6th birthday