Post date: November 2, 2022

By Ema Croj

My eyes widened as I listened to the words falling out of Ansa’s mouth. She quivered, and turned to a pivot. I could hear her breath in the cold, Minnesota air as the truth unfolded right in front of me.

Those were my last thoughts before… well, before absolute chaos.

You see, every morning, Ansa and I open the door of our beautiful cottage in the crisp town of Little Falls, and find the Minnesota Morning Times newspaper magazine on the porch. We participate in the daily crossword puzzle every morning. The rules are, if you get the word by noon, you can head over to the nearest train station and trade your newspaper in for coins.

Our town's mailboy, Jamal, delivers a pack of two per house, every morning. (Well, I have never seen him deliver them, because he comes so early, but I know he does) The reason for the pack of two is supposed to be that one is for the mother and one is for the father, to read and participate in the puzzle while they have their morning coffee, but Ansa and my I’s parents were different: they never drank morning coffee- they never did anything in general. Both our dad, Damien, and our mom, Desdemona (Dezzie) stay home every day. Mom cooks and cleans, and dad is usually on his computer all day, doing god-knows-what. Because our parents do not care for the town's newspapers, or the contest, Ansa and I took it into our consideration to take them, and lessen the litter of this town- they were fun to do anyways. The words of the crossword always had something to do with food, like yesterday, the word of the day was ¨ice cream.¨ I can assure you there was a large bowl of Ben and Jerrys chocolate chunk in my lap a few hours later.

It was a Saturday in mid-January, rain turning into hail (therefore turning into snow) as I cracked open the pale yellow door of our cottage and swiftly grabbed that morning's edition of the newspaper. Trying to push against the wind and close the door, I flew back into the house, as snow came in next to me.

¨Ugh Aggie!” Ansa groaned. “You just made this house a mess! Clean it up!”

Ansa gets mad at the most tedious things, so when she tells you to do something, you do it. I grabbed a small mop that sits in the corner of the kitchen, and began mopping the wet floor. I looked out the window- fog was covering the air. I stood there admiring the pale sky as an eagle flew up, spreading its wings high. ¨I like eagles,¨ I thought. ¨I like how they are so free in this world.¨

Ansa seated herself in the kitchen while eating homemade oreo pancakes, her favorite. I joined her, and attempted the crossword. The wrinkles formed above my forehead, and my bright blue eyes grew wider as I got closer and closer to finishing it. I paused for a moment, looking up at Ansa, and said, ``Huh?¨ She reached over and snatched the paper out of my hand.

¨Did you do this wrong Aggie?¨ She asked. ¨The word is always a type of food, why is the word ¨Drive¨ today?¨

We decided to take it over to the train station. We greeted the man at the station window, Harold, and asked if we were correct.

¨Looks correct to me! Great job girls, here's two coins today. One for you, and one for you!¨ Harold exclaimed, excitedly.

Walking back, I thought to myself, ¨This is a little strange,¨ but I did not mention my concern to Ansa.

The next morning, I repeated the process. I opened up the door of our cottage, grabbed the newspaper swiftly, watched an eagle fly by, and closed the door. We sat down at the table again, and attempted this newspaper a second time. Mom and Dad were nowhere to be seen- we are not sure if they left, or if the snow swallowed their car and they were just upstairs. They were never too interested in us. It was just Ansa and I against the world, for the majority of the time.

As we finished the crossword puzzle, both our foreheads wrinkled this time, and both of our bright blue eyes widened as we saw what was right in front of us. The word read ¨Eagleridge.¨

¨Okay, what?¨ I exclaimed. ¨Where is the food? This is getting weird,¨ I thought to myself. ¨What's an eagleridge?¨

¨Eagleridge?¨ Questioned Ansa.

So we decided to take our newspaper to Harold again.

¨Looks correct to me! Great job girls, here's two coins today. One for you, and one for you!¨ He repeated exactly what he had said yesterday.

I thought about eagleridge while I sat in bed all day, staring at the white walls. Neither me or Ansa have many hobbies. All we do is go to school, and go straight home afterwards. Mom and dad like to keep us here, even though they are never here.

Monday approached, and the process repeated, just a bit earlier, because school began again. I opened up the door of our cottage, grabbed the newspaper swiftly, watched an eagle fly by, and closed the door. The crossword was attempted again, and believe it or not, our foreheads wrinkled, and our bright blue eyes widened as the word was solved- well- it was not even a word today.

¨5-5-5?¨ I questioned.

¨What? That's what it says?¨ Questioned Ansa. She then whispered, ¨We are going to figure out what the hell is going on. No school today.¨

We crawled upstairs and began our thought process.

¨Drive. Eagleridge. 5-5-5. Is it a… code? Morse code maybe?” I guessed.

“No Aggie, I don’t think “Drive” is Morse code for anything,¨ she exclaimed in a condescending way.

“What about a…¨ All of a sudden, Ansa interrupted.

¨Aggie… read it backwards. What does it sound like?¨ Ansa demanded.

I felt tingling in my fingertips; my anxiety heightened. I tasted a bad feeling in the air. Something was wrong, and Ansa knew it. Her attitude changed, almost like she knew something I didn´t. But I did not say anything about it. I went along, and said ¨5-5-5 Eagleridge Drive.¨ There was a pause.. Nobody talked. ¨5-5-5 Eagleridge Drive! Ansa! It's an address! We have to go!¨

Ansa stood, not speaking, nor moving. She stayed like this for sixty whole seconds, then said, hesitantly, but firmly, ¨Let's go on a drive.¨

We were silent the whole ride. Ansa could not even bear to look at me. Sweat was dripping down my forehead in this negative-five-degree weather as I looked out my window, trying to figure out where we were. I saw nothing besides an eagle spreading its wings.

Ansa turned down a long, no outlet road. We drove down for about three miles until we got to the last house: A small, dark blue ranch with a black Ttoyota in the driveway, covered in snow.

¨Okay. Time to get out. And please, Aggie, just listen, and trust me on this.¨ Ansa said, thoroughly. My hands shook. My whole body ached. I opened the car door, and we walked to the front of the house.

Three knocks later, a woman comes out. She gasps. The unknown woman rocks long, brown hair, and wears a small, stud piercing in her nose. But the most intriguing thing about her? Her forehead grew bigger as her wrinkles grew wider, and you would not be able to miss her beautiful, bright blue eyes.

“Aggie… I would like you to meet mom…” Ansa trembled on her words. “…real mom…”

My eyes widened as I listened to the words falling out of Ansa’s mouth. She quivered, and turned to a pivot. I could hear her breath in the cold, Minnesota air as the truth unfolded right in front of me.

“Wha… But… Wait… So… You… My life has been a lie?” I screamed. “So if you’re mom… who the hell is at home right now?” I screamed again.

“Aggie baby, listen to me,” Ansa’s calming voice turned on. “The crossword puzzles love, I make them.”

“No… t-that’s not true. Jamal, the mailboy delivers them.” I stuttered.

“No baby. Jamal isn't real. Neither is Harold- well, Harold’s real. But I tell him to give you the coins. You see, I wanted to give you something fun to do, in that depressing house of ours. So I created puzzles, and placed them on the porch every morning. They were usually just about your favorite foods, but I had to warn you some way, without “Mom” and “Dad” knowing.” She put her fingers up, air quoted the words ``Mom” and “Dad,” took a deep breath, and continued. “The couple we live with now, Damien and Dezzie, took us in when I was four and you were two. They thought we were too young to remember. Maybe you were, but I was not. They were awful to us, back in our younger days when they could brainwash us into thinking they were great “parents.” They stopped after we turned ten, when we became more mature and started picking up on the toxic habits. I am so sorry Aggie. I wanted to tell you so badly. But I couldn’t risk it.” She finally stopped.

I scratched my head and paced. I was speechless. I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I had so many questions that stayed glued to the tip of my tongue, the main one being, ¨Why did they take us in the first place?¨ Instantaneously, five eagles flew by, but quickly changed direction when a car door slammed behind us. Two bodies in the shape of Damien and Dezzie walked out of it.