The Enchanted Island.

My first novella.

To my dearest friends and followers,

Did you know that there is a holiday pretty much every day of the year? I recently found out. Quite recently in fact. There's no holiday today that interests me, but this past Tuesday, the 26th of February, was National Tell a Fairy Tale day. I'm serious. Who knew? So I thought I'd honor that by sharing a story with you. It's actually the first novella I ever wrote, back in 2008, inspired by Peter Pan. I came across it just a few weeks ago and it's pretty cringeworthy, so bear with me!! I decided to insert the original drawings as well, sort of like I'm archiving this entire thing on my blog. It is the original story, but I want to let you know that I corrected spelling errors and cleaned up the story just enough to somewhat make sense (trust me, there were some sections extremely difficult to read). I didn't have a computer back then, so I actually wrote the entire story by hand. This is the first time ever I'll be typing it out!! The story consists of 16 chapters. I am going to divide it up and post roughly 3 chapters at a time, sharing the entire story by the end of the month. I hope you enjoy and thank you in advance. XD

Thirteen year old me:

The Enchanted Island
CHAPTER 1
"Star"

"What a great book!" exclaimed ten year old blond haired, brown eyed Elina Trickle. She was sitting on the front porch steps of her house, listening to the frogs and crickets while she read.
You see, Elina loved to read. She also liked animals, learning about plants, ice skating, and roller skating.

It was a beautiful evening. The sun had already gone down for the night. You could see very few stars in the sky, because the moon was full and had a beautiful bright orange glow. It was bright, but Elina still needed the outside light on while she read.

Elina loved to read and right now she was reading a book called, "Shellie's Hidden Treasure." This book Elina quite enjoyed. It is about a mermaid with azure and lime green hair named Shellie. Shellie had taken a treasure chest from a sunken ship which was filled with pearls and gold and rubies and diamonds. Later Shellie had met two young human girls. Shellie made friends with them and told them about the treasure. Of course the girls wanted Shellie to share the treasure, but she was not going to just give it over. What fun would that be? Instead they had to hunt for it! Shellie hid the treasure under the sea, and she found it quite amusing to watch them hunt for the treasure in spots that would make her ask, "Why would you look there?" though sometimes she pitied them and would give them a clue to help them find the hidden treasure. Before the girls could use the clue, they had to decipher it.

Now you know why Elina had interest in that book. As Elina read she was becoming quite tired.
A few minutes later, Elina, still on the steps, looked up in the sky, and do you know what she saw? She saw what she thought was a rather large and strange looking bird. It was white with a greenish glow. I leave you to imagine her surprise when it flew closer to the ground not far from where she sat. It wasn't a bird at all, but a horse.
Suddenly the winged-horse landed, sending up a great gust of wind. The horse was just standing there, with her bright blue eyes fixed on Elina. At first neither of them could do anything, except stare at each other.

Finally Elina was the first to move and she slowly made her way over to the beautiful creature. All was so silent that when the horse said, "Are you coming?" It made Elina jump back and squeal.
"Please don't squeal!" said the horse rather stern.
"Oh!" Elina said. "I'm sorry."
"Well, are you coming?" repeated the horse.
"What's your name?" Elina asked, curious about her visitor.
"Star."
"Star?"
"Yes. At night when I fly high in the sky, I blend in with the stars, so they call me Star," she explained.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Elina."
"Yes, yes, now are you coming?" Star repeated again.
Elina then said, "I do believe you have asked me that question three times, and I have ignored you. Where is it we're going?"
"The Balodian Islands of course!" Star answered.
"The Balodian Islands?" Elina echoed.
"Yes," Star said, "Balodia is a beautiful magical island. Mermaids in the water, horses in the air, snakes in..."
"Snakes!" Elina interrupted. She was not too fond of snakes. Whenever she saw one on the ranch she lived on, she would scream and run.
"Why of course there are snakes," said Star. "Did you think there wouldn't be any?"
"Well, I didn't really think about it," Elina admitted.
"Are you afraid of snakes, Dear?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I am afraid they will bite me," said Elina somewhat ashamed of herself.
"A snake won't bite you unless he feels threatened," Star stated. "What do you say?"
"Um," Elina hesitated. "I say Balodia here I come!"
"Great! Get on my back," Star told her. Elina did as she was told. "Hold on tight!" Star shouted. "It's going to be a rough ride!"
"Is it?" Elina said nervously.
"Haven't you ever ridden before?" Star asked shocked.
"Well not exactly," said Elina.
Star could not believe her ears, but nothing else was said by either of them.

Though Elina had never ridden before and she was usually afraid of heights, she, for some reason, enjoyed that flight.
It was a wonderful view up there. Elina could see her whole ranch, no, the whole town, no, the whole state! Ok, maybe not that much, but she could see a lot. Elina lived on a ranch where her family raised about 200 goats. And in that one night they flew east, from the ranch all the way to Balodia.

*sigh** is this chapter painful to get through, or is it me? Ok, moving on...

CHAPTER 2
"The Balodian Islands"

Elina had been asleep for a few hours and woke up expecting it to be morning - and it was, but the sun wasn't up yet.
"Oh, you're awake," Star said. "Look, there are the Balodian islands, straight ahead."
Elina looked and didn't see anything.
Star explained that only a Balodian creature could enter the islands, or someone accompanied by one. The islands were covered by a magic shield of thick slime. They passed through and Elina was surprised she was dry. She noticed the islands they were flying over. The sun was just rising, giving a pink, orange, and golden yellow color across the horizon. The islands were as pretty as a picture, and hundreds of trees crowded each other in various areas across the islands. There was one area that had strange trees on it. Trees that you are not familiar with, but you will be.

Star finally landed and Elina got off her back. The moment she was, the winged-horse disappeared. If the child noticed, she didn't show it.
Just then Elina heard a kazoo being played by - well, she couldn't exactly tell who or what was playing it. A monolith and willow trees blocked her view. Elina ran a short distance, climbed and peaked her head over the giant stone. On the right side was a river. To the left were trees. Down below she saw that she was on a cliff, and she saw a mermaid with azure and lime green striped hair. She had on a blue top and a green iridescent tail. The mermaid was sitting on a rock under a waterfall, letting it shower down upon herself.
Not far from her was a small rock. On top of the rock sat a lizard playing the kazoo, holding the instrument with it's front feet and standing on its hind legs like a man.
The lagoon in which the two were in glistened in the sun. The reason for this is because there were thousands of diamonds floating in the water.

Elina, now standing with her feet in the water, said, "Oh, how pretty these are! I think I will take just a few. I'm sure it won't do any harm." She scooped up three precious gems and put them in the left pocket of her pants. Elina was the kind of girl who, if she saw something shiny, she had to touch it, but not always would she take it.

Suddenly the mermaid jumped to a rock where the water could not fall on her and sang:

"Isn't it just a beautiful day,

A beautiful day to be up here."

She stopped singing and turned her head back and forth as though she were looking for something. Then she continued,

"I wonder where Elina is,

Surely she must be near."

Though Elina was in plain sight, the mermaid, whom Elina knew to be Shellie, didn't seem to notice until Elina said, "Shellie! I'm right here!"
Shellie turned her head to Elina and said, "Oh, there you are! How silly of me. I didn't see you," she said excitedly and then got shy.
"Yes, how silly of you," Elina agreed playfully.
"Are you going to look for the - my hidden treasure?" asked Shellie.
Elina knew which treasure she meant. "Yes, yes, yes! I am! I am!" Exclaimed Elina, excitedly jumping up and down.
"Well then, search away!" Shellie told her grinning ear to ear.
Elina jumped into the water to look for the treasure and had no trouble swimming or holding her breath. What Elina saw in the water included diamonds, big rocks, strange but beautiful colored plants, and a large variety of fish.
"Oh, isn't it gorgeous!" she thought to herself. She had never seen so many fish. Then she saw a creature that looked like a spider, but had a tail and fins. It still had its spidery legs. It was about the size of a basketball. Elina opened her mouth to scream, but forgetting that she was under water, she swallowed some that sent her up to the surface choking and in need of air. She jumped out onto the soft sand. "Ah ha, ah ha," she coughed.
"Poor Elina," Shellie soothed from her rock. "What happened?"
"There's a weird spider in the water! A really big one!" she said, creating a large circle with her hands.
"Oh!" Shellie exclaimed. "I do believe you are talking about the common Spider-fish. They are very poisonous if they bite you."
Elina left Shellie and decided to come and look for the treasure a different time.

CHAPTER 3
"The Door"

The morning dew sparkled like diamonds in the grass, and as Elina walked, the cuff of her pants became all wet. Where she was going, I cannot say, but what happened is worth telling.
She came to a dirt path and on either side there were hundreds of trees scattered everywhere. The looked like ordinary trees, but they, in fact, were not.
Each one had a wooden latch that was attached to it. Elina, curious to see doors in the trees, and even more curious to see what was on the other side of the doors, thought to herself, "who can live in a tree so small?" The trunks weren't very big at all, and she thought only one person would be able to fit if he stood upright. So she walked over to a tree and turned the latch.

Inside was a whole new world! "This is amazing!" Exclaimed Elina, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. In the new world, there was a lovely little forest, with a lovely little cottage, and a lovely little old woman busily sweeping the front step.
"G'day Lassie," the woman greeted without looking up. "What brings ye into the forest today?"
"Hello Ma'am. I was walking along when curiosity led me to a door," Elina told her.
"A door?" the woman asked and stopped sweeping that she might look Elina right in the eyes.
"Yes, there were lots to choose from and I just happened upon this one," Elina explained.
"Ah, that is no good," the woman said, looking past Elina.
"Why, what did I do?"
"Tha' has closed the door."
Elina was worried and confused.
"When the door is closed," the woman explained, "no one can open it from this side. I've been trapped in this here wretched forest all alone for many a year, hoping someday some good soul would open the door. Finally some girl opened the door, but foolishly closed it!" she said angrily.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't know any better!" Elina cried.
"Oh, that's all right," the woman calmed down. "Within time someone else will open the door."
Elina sat down on the step next to the woman. She wondered how long she would be waiting for that good soul to open the door. She decided to get up and see if anyone could hear her if she knocked on the door, but before she could, the door opened and there stood Star with her head peeping in.
"Oh," was all she could say.
"There you are!" Star said. "How on earth did you get yourself stuck like that?"
"It's not like I tried to," Elina said. "By the way, thank you for helping us out."
"You're quite welcome."
The old woman saw her chance and ran through the door, nearly knocking Elina over. Elina then went through, closing the door again.
"Did you have any luck in finding Shellie's hidden treasure?" Star asked as she and Elina walked along a path with ordinary trees on either side.
"No, not really," she answered.
Star stopped walking and stared into Elina's brown eyes. "Elina," she said, "I don't know how much of this is true, but there may be something else of interest to you."
"Really?" Elina felt herself fill with excitement.
"Yes, they say about five years ago, a boy was found in Balodia - by himself. There wasn't a Balodian creature with him and everyone thinks there is a hole in the shield that he must have come through."
"What happened to him?" asked Elina, her excitement extinguished, hoping he wasn't hurt, or worse.
"He was captured and hidden somewhere."
"Why would anybody lock him up?" Elina asked, wondering if she too would be locked up.
"He was locked up for being here without a Balodian creature." As if reading her mind, Star continued, "No one can take you because you are here with me. However, I do not think he got here by mistake. I think whoever brought him here left him for some reason. Then someone else saw him by himself and saw that as a bad sign."
Elina felt sorry for the boy. "I'm going to find him," she said with a determined mind to do so. "I'm going to find him and help him get home."

**I will be sharing more chapters next week. If you made it to the end, THANK YOU!!

Yours truly,
Me