Red Notebook Story part 1

The bus doors creaked slowly open to an empty road. There were no cars in sight and no lights on in any of the nearby houses. Clouds were thick in the sky as Matti stumbled down the bus steps, right into a large puddle. She rolled her eyes and sighed as the bus drove off, stepping into the road where it had been and shaking her feet, trying to get at least some of the water out of her sneakers. Throwing her bag over her shoulder, she cast one last glance down at her blue converse. She had gotten them less than a month ago, but already they were turning the color of dirt.

“Ah well,” she sighed to herself, “I’ll just have to put them in the sun again.” With a little shake of her head, Matti set off down the street toward her house and pulled a book from a hidden pocket in her jacket. Halfway back, large drops of rain began to fall, leaving dark splotches on the pages. She slid the book back under her coat and started walking faster. She broke out into a sprint as rain began to pour down. A tiny river had formed around her front yard, carrying pebbles and twigs down the street to a huge storm drain on the curb. Matti leapt over it and dashed the last few yards to her garage. While searching for her keys, her backpack slipped off her shoulder and fell straight into a mud puddle at her feet. “Well that’s just wonderful,” she groaned, picking up the dripping bag and barreling through the door.

Her house was a small, single story, made of fading red brick. The rooms were small but homey and the mess everywhere gave the place a “lived in” feeling. Matti threw her muddy bag down on a rug by the door and slipped out of her coat and shoes, adding them to the pile. She pulled her book out and ran through the house to her kitchen. Her damp socks slid across the stone floor, almost sending her flying headfirst down the stairs to her basement. She grabbed the corner of a wall as she slid into the kitchen and slowed herself down just enough that she didn’t wind up sprawled across the table. When she had finally come to a stop, Matti went to the sink and let her long dark brown hair out of its ponytail and wrung the water out of it. She watched it, swirling down the drain, rushing away. For some reason, she was suddenly tired. The only thing she wanted to do was finish her book. She didn’t put her hair back up, instead, left it trailing down her back where it fell past her waist.  Then, she sat down at the table and opened her book once more.

For ten minutes, the only sound in the house was the ticking of the wall clock and the sound of pages turning softly. At the last sentence, Matti hesitated, her finger on the back cover, holding the book half open. With a light sigh, she let it fall shut and turned to look out the window, watching the dark clouds race by, but at the same time, seeing beyond them. 

“Why can’t I live there?” she sighed, “with the excitement and adventure. Every day here is just like the others; school, home, homework, bed. Nothing ever changes!! I would give almost anything to have a life like the ones in there. I could go places! The world would be huge! There would be something waiting around every corner. Even if it was the medieval age, it would have been better than this. But that’s impossible. Lucky me, I live in reality and nowadays, reality is just boring.” Matti shook her head and brought herself back to reality with a glance at the clock. “Oh crud, I’m gonna be late!!!”

Reaching for the phone, she dialed her friend’s number almost without thinking. It rang three times before a breathless voice answered from the other end, “Hello?”

“Hey, is this Caylin?” Matti asked as she moved toward the door.

“Yeah, that’s me,” a staticy voice responded.

“It’s Matti,” she slipped her feet into her shoes.

“Oh Matti, there you are! I was worried when you hadn’t shown up!”

Matti groaned as the shoes squelched beneath her feet, but reached for her coat anyway and shrugged it on as she said into the phone, “I’m kind of running a bit late. I had to finish my book and then…”

Caylin cut her off. “Of course, you and your books, I completely forgot you had started a new one today. I should have known where you were.” She laughed “It’s no big deal. I figured you would show up sometime. Just hurry over once you’re done.”

Matti hung up the phone and laughed to herself. If anyone understood her opinion when it came to books, it would be Caylin. She and Matti had practically grown up together. They both loved to read even though most people at school had called them nerds at some point because of it. Matti scrabbled through her bag for a pencil and notebook before running out the door, not bothering to grab an umbrella. It would take only a few minutes to get to her friends. How bad could it be?

Once she got outside, Matti saw that the rain was no better than it had been when she was walking home from school. Uncaringly, she pulled her hood up and slid her notepad under her jacket’s waterproof lining, clutching it to her chest. She then began the walk toward her friend’s house. Even through the thick sheets of rain, she couldn’t help but think of the book she had just finished. The mysterious island was all around her. Instead of houses, there were trees, and the road had turned into a small path. This was how time usually passed for Matti after she had finished a book.

Before she even realized it, she was at Caylin’s door, ringing the bell. Through the window, she watched as Caylin came running toward her and opened the door so fast that Matti was almost sent tumbling off the porch and into the bushes. “Caylin!” she yelled, “what’s going on? Have you gone crazy or something? That could have hurt! Be more careful when you open that thing!”

Ignoring Matti’s protests, Caylin grabbed her wrist painfully tightly and dragged her inside, slamming the door shut behind her. “Hah,” she gasped, “you made it!” Glancing out the window, Caylin pulled Matti up the stairs toward her room. As they walked down the hall, Caylin met Matti’s eyes for the first time since she had gotten there. “Matti, don’t scare me like that! What’s going on? That creepy guy following you, who was he? Why was he coming after you like that?”

Matti frowned and gave Caylin a confused look. “What guy?” she asked, “I didn’t see anyone following me.”

Caylin stuttered in shock, “You mean you didn’t see him? But he was totally weird! He was wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and dark sweatpants and he was running really hard. It looked like he was chasing you!” Caylin opened the door to her room and ran over to the window. She pulled back the ruffled purple drapes and pointed wildly out the window. “See? Over there! He’s right over there!”

Matti cautiously picked her way over the piles of junk that littered Caylin’s room.  She looked over Caylin’s shoulder and scoffed. “That could be anyone. Are you sure that’s who you saw following me down the street? He’s really far away now.”

“Maybe he’s just really fast,” Caylin retorted. “You should be taking this more seriously. He could be a stalker or something! You should be worried!”

Matti laughed, “I think you’ve been watching too much television lately. Nothing like that really happens. Maybe in big cities, but never around here, this dinky little town isn’t even on maps.”

“I guess I must have been imagining it. I mean if someone was really following you, they would have stopped when you came to my house. He just kept running.  And it is a bit hard to see up here. That might not even be him, right?”

Caylin still looked worried so Matti smiled reassuringly as she unzipped her jacket. “Exactly Caylin, It’s just a coincidence. You don’t need to let something like that bother you.  Your imagination is running away from you again.” Matti’s smile faded as she added, “nothing exciting like that would happen here anyway. This is reality, remember?” then she smiled, wiping away her worries before Caylin could notice. “Isn’t your mom going to be mad when she finds out that you really didn’t clean your room?” Matti asked, glancing around. The floor was almost invisible under piles of books and clothes. “I can’t remember, did your room have carpet or wood floor?”

“Ha ha, very funny Matti” Caylin made a face from where she was pushing junk off of the computer desk to find her keyboard. “I lost something last night and I had to look for it.”

Matti laughed “Really? You find your stuff by setting off a bomb in your room? That’s a new tactic.”

Caylin smiled grudgingly. “Can we skip the comments and just work on our story? That is what we planned to do today wasn’t it?”

Matti could tell Caylin was still worried, so she said loftily, “I suppose we could work on it, but if you’re too upset after all that excitement, I could go home and sit in our tree house by myself. It’s alright I don’t mind” Matti turned for the door, hiding her grin.

Caylin stood shocked, her mouth hanging slightly open. “You wouldn’t! You wouldn’t go up there without me!  Don’t be mean!” then, smiling as she realized the joke, she sat down in the newly cleared chair and motioned to the stool beside her.  “Fine let’s get started” With that, Caylin flipped the power switch and began booting up her computer’s ancient hard drive. It groaned with strain before the small loading screen popped up and the screen filled with color. Once she had logged in, Caylin opened her file folder and clicked on the file labeled “joint story”.

The document opened and Matti gave a low whistle. “Wow Caylin, we really did put a lot of effort into this story last time I came over. I can’t believe how long it’s gotten in just the time we have been working on it. I am really impressed.” She was careful to keep her face completely blank in awe as she turned to Caylin. “It’s really coming along well, we should see if we could get it published someday. I mean, right now, I have to say it is probably the best thing I have ever read in my entire life.”

Caylin rolled her eyes but couldn’t help giggling. “You’re right Matti. This blank page is so exciting that I can hardly stand it!” Then more seriously she added, “We don’t even have any character names picked out yet. We should probably work on that first.”

“You’re right,” Matti sighed, “Hey,” she brightened, “we could name them after us! Wouldn’t that be cool?”

Caylin smiled. “Yeah, I can see it now our story being published and the two main characters become famous. Everywhere you go there will be merchandise and action figures. We could even name the book after them. Matilda and Caylin Save the World. It’s a wonderful title.”

Matti frowned. “Matilda is a dumb name. Why can’t it just be Matti? Matti is a perfect nickname! No one likes the name Matilda, not even me. It’s my name! If I don’t like it, why would anyone else?”

Caylin grinned mischievously. “Because Matti, we can’t give a character your nickname, and you’re enough of a character on your own. You don’t need the help. But either way you can’t deny the fact that Matilda really is your name. Even if only the teachers call you that, it’s your name. It’s going to be everywhere when you grow up.” Caylin stood up with an evil laugh, knowing Matti was just hating this. “It will even be on your driver’s license!” with a sigh, Caylin sank back into her chair. “So you will be haunted by it for the rest of your life. You might as well get used to hearing the name Matilda.”

“Thanks Caylin. You are just so comforting. But back on topic, I think we should have a character named…”

Just then, a shrill ringing noise came from behind the computer, making the picture on the screen jump and vibrate. Caylin jumped up at the sound and thrust her arm behind the monitor, "I knew I lost the phone while I was typing last night!" She came out with a small phone clutched in her hand, shaking violently. Matti laughed to herself as Caylin put the phone to her ear and answered it.

"Hello? Hi Ms. Treyawn. Yes Matti's here, should she not be?" a pause, "Oh, well if that’s all, of course I'll send her home right away." Caylin paused again, "Don't worry; we weren't working on anything that can't wait another year or so."

Then, ignoring Matti's hand, reaching for the phone, Caylin cut the connection and set the phone on the desk. She then spun her chair toward Matti and smirked, "Someone's late! Your mother thought you would be home, getting the house clean. She said something about impressing your grandfather with it when he arrived from the airport in a few hours."

Matti was out of her chair so fast, she knocked the phone off the table and sent it flying into a large pile of clothes on the floor. "Funny," Caylin laughed, "I'm pretty sure that's how it got stuck behind the computer in the first place.”

Matti sighed, “You never cease to amaze me Caylin.” She finished tying her shoes and stood up to leave. “I’m really sorry I have to go. I forgot that I was supposed to clean up around the house before he came!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Caylin said with a knowing smile, “I bet you were reading a book and forgot all about it.”

Matti tried not to smile as she kicked a dirty shirt toward Caylin. But as she turned to leave she couldn’t resist adding, “You might want to get your phone out of that pile of clothes. It might be under there for weeks and no one would be able to find it.”

Before she could be hit with a shoe, Matti ducked into the hall and dashed to the front door. Back into the rain, she dashed away as quickly as she could.

From her window, Caylin looked down at the forlorn figure of Matti as she jogged away. Her long dark hair was not up in her sweater hood, but down, already soaking with rain. As Matti faded into the distance, Caylin shook her head sadly. “One of these days, I just have a feeling something weird is going to happen to her and she’s going to lose herself in a book. But then again, it’s really none of my business.” A final look and Caylin closed her shades and sat back down at her computer to stare at the empty screen.

Minutes later, Matti finally made it within sight of her house. The rain was coming down in sheets and she was completely drenched from head to toe. She ran through her yard and grabbed the doorknob leading into the front room of her house. The wet metal slipped from under her hand though, and she crashed into the door, landing at the bottom in a heap. From her new seat on her front walk, she savagely kicked the door only to have it swing open as if inviting her inside. Picking herself up, Matti quickly put on dry clothes and wrapped her hair in a towel before heading down to the basement.

Down the stairs was the room her grandfather always stayed while he was visiting. The bedroom was small, with only an old spring mattress and a cracked leather armchair on the dust covered floor. Matti set clean sheets down on the bed, sending a cloud of shimmering dust up into the air and reflecting the light from the dim ceiling lamp. Coughing, she made the bed and was getting ready to try sweeping the floor when she heard the sound of a car pulling into the garage just above her. As fast as she could, she leaned the broom in the corner and dashed up the stairs. The back door of her house swung open and through it came an elderly man in a worn fleece jacket. His hair was white with age, and he walked with a marked stoop, but even so, his very presence in a room commanded attention. Matti ran up to him and hugged him around the waist, ignoring the bag in his hand and her impatient mother waiting to enter the house behind them.

“Tilda, calm down,” the old man laughed. “Give your grandfather some air dear. I’ve only just got here and you’re trying to suffocate me.”

“How was your trip?” she asked, taking his bags for him and motioning to a chair. “Where did you go?” She left her last question unspoken, but it was precisely the one her grandfather answered first.

“Of course I got you something,” he said with a mock sigh. At the sight of the puzzlement on her face he winked. “Have you ever not wanted to know the answer to that question the moment you saw me? This, Tilda, is for you.” A small box wrapped in bright green paper appeared in her grandfather’s hand.

Matti eagerly reached for the box but her grandfather pulled back his arm and slipped it into his pocket, the shiny wrapping paper crinkled merrily. “No early presents. Just like your birthday last year, and the year before that and all of the years before that. You will have to wait until tonight when we all sit out by the bonfire.