Where the Water Takes You

Where the Water Takes You

Padma Mendelsund .

Dedicated to Maple Leaf for giving this experience

Copyright 2015

Maple Leaf Writing Project

Brattleboro, Vermont

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Chapter 1

“Remember girls, drawing day is tomorrow.” The voice came over the loudspeaker as I walk through the halls to my next class. I go to Dove Wing Academy (the boarding school) better known as D.W.A. Every year D.W.A and Hawk Wing Academy (W.W.A) put the name of every student on a small piece of paper and put in in a big pot and on drawing day they pick one name for each school. That person is banished from the school forever; not just the school but civilization itself.

The tradition was started by Melony E. Welsh over 400 years ago and still happens today. Really, no one knows what started it but there are rumors. One rumor is that it is for entertainment, but really I think Melony E. Welsh brother was banned from the city and she wanted other people to feel the sorrow of losing loved ones to the unknown world outside the safety of the city walls.

From what people say she wasn’t the nicest person on earth and I believe it, but I have a hard time believing she is worse than her great, great, great, great, great granddaughter, Cornelia E. Welsh. Cornelia just so happens to be the head of the Board and there has been a lot of disagreement with this because the first thing she did was to get rid of the rest of the board and replace it with her 10 clones: Cornelia E. Welsh 2 , Cornelia E. Welsh 3 , Cornelia E. Welsh 4, Cornelia E. Welsh 5, Cornelia E. Welsh 6, Cornelia E. Welsh 7, Cornelia E. Welsh 8, Cornelia E. Welsh 9, Cornelia E. Welsh 10 and Cornelia E. Welsh 11. Her clones call each other Cornelia but they call her “The one and only number one.” As you might be able to tell from all the Cornelia-number-1 and Cornelia-number-2-ing, she is rather self obsessed. For instance 2 years ago she walked into science class with her baby blue dress and her matching baby blue dyed poodle named Scruffins that everyone secretly felt bad for.

Cornelia does the drawing every year and always looks forward to it. She even has a calendar made just to count down to the day. Most of the kids in the school were scared of her and her whip but I’m not, and this irritates her more than I can say. I have been her least favorite student since the day I got here 5 years ago. She always has a clone looking out for me. Apparently she only needs 10 clones to watch the hallways and since we have 10 floors she seems to think one per floor is enough , so she assigns her extra one to keep an eye on me... but I’m good at throwing him off. There is one more thing I should probably mention about her clones: they are all male because she loves her love life and she thinks she is the most beautiful person ever to exist.

A shout reaches my ear, “Lizzy!’

It is Becca, my closest friend. She has dark skin and beautiful black hair that is cropped at her chin. Her eyes are a beautiful brown. She is average height and she carries a tarantula named Barney around on her shoulder. You might say a tarantula is a strange choice of pet but people here have everything from your usual cat or dog to cheetahs and polar bears. I have an over sized ferret that is mistaken for an otter a lot. His name is Mustard and he’s terrified of anything electronic, and Barney, which can be a problem.

Becca worries a lot and is afraid of a lot of things including, umbrellas, globs, polka dots, conventions, gold earrings, electric blue expo markers, microwaves, hot dogs with relish, dental floss, cupid statues, camouflage, coffee cups, and giant sock monkeys, but above all she is terrified of drawing day and Cornelia E Welsh.

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Chapter 2

ding dong ding dong,the bells wake me. I get up and change into skinny jeans and my favorite cookie monster shirt(nothing fancy). As I walk down the halls of D.W.A I pass a mirror. my dirty blond hair is pulled up into a tight bun.

“Lizzy.” It is Becca. This is Becca favorite way of announcing her presence (calling the persons name). She says it makes her seem brave even though she is really not.

As Becca approaches I notice that her hair is messy and she has dark circles under her eyes. S15he has probably been up all night worrying about today.I slow down so she can catch up.

We walk down to the great hall which was absolutely silent and filled with people to wait for the drawing to begin.

Chapter 3

As Conlia enters the room and walks up to the big bowls the crowd goes silent.

Conila is wearing a bright purple cardigan with a short pencil skirt and seems to be in a good mood.

Cornelia walks over to the big gold ball first( the boys ball) many people have asked why she does the boys first and she always answers “ I’m saving the best for last.

Cornelia makes a big show of swirling around the crippled up papers in the bowl finally she reached to the bottom and came up with a little slip of paper. She held it out in front of her and read one name “ Albert Ringing.” A boy about 13 I have never seen before walked out of the room to go pack they would send him off later.

Next Cornelia took big step over to the girls bowl and pulled out a piece of paper. She had a malicious grin on her face. When she saw the name she grinned even wider and read the name, “Becca Wood-wind”.

I looked over at Becca she had turned pale as a sheet and is looking a little off balance.I flashed back to a class when they told tell us about rivers that would end suddenly and all the water would drop off the the edge, Becca looked like what I think I would feel like if I was on one of those rivers. I come back to reality and take her arm leading her out of the hall.I’m afraid she’s about to faint.

I walked Becca up to our dorm and pushed her down on her bed she was shaking.

It’s me, I am the one, I was picked wasn’t I?” Becca seemed to not be thinking strate.

“It’s going to be all right.” I tell her. I could tell that she would not make it out there on her own. There was only one thing I could do.

Chapter 4

1 hour later we’re standing in the mess hall again but this time it is almost empty. Only a few people are allowed to the sending off and these people are usually close to the chosen one. So as I walk in to the hall I see Becca’s mother and father standing in a corner. Becca’s mother May seems like she has been crying. This will be the last time she will ever see her only daughter. I walk Becca up to the front of the room were all the Cornelia's are standing(Cornelia number 1 in the middle). Conlila 1 clears her throat to begin her speech. But I cut her off “I volunteer to go in place of Becca wood-wind” every one stares at me I know no one has ever stepped up to take someones place.

Cornelia looks taken it back and I think my plan has worked but then her face twist in to a look of pleasure. “ O what a glorious day if you are so happy to leave then why don’t you accompany your friend. You know the old saying the more the merrier!” Cornelia exclaimed. So ten minutes later the gates were opened and I and Becca stepped out into a new world.

Chapter 5

We wandered around for a little bit the trees towering above us.

the and Becca starts to look a little better. We find a stream and decide to follow it because all we know about or prir homes location is that it is on the summit of a mountain and My girls scout teacher always said

“If you're up high find a stream and follow it because it will lead you down the mountain.”

On top of everything I had a new list of worries that I had never thought about before today like will we find shelter to sleep under? will we find food? and above all will we survive? at home food had always been provided and when you turned 18 you were given a small house to raise a family in. After a while of walking in silence Becca tapped me on the shoulder “ Mably we should camp here for the night then build a raft in the morning and float down the river.” I approved of this plan so we made a small tipi out of sticks like we used to do for fun at camp when when we were little. I when I fall a sleep that night I dream of the shallow stream I used to watch the kids next door play in through the white picket fence. Splashing each other, and blowing bubbles underwater.I remember how I watched in envy, wishing I could swim.

I wake up to the sound of someone stomping their feet obviously frustrated, Becca got up early and i'm now trying to saw down a tree with scissors for the raft. I laugh and it feels good “ you try then” she sees in a frustrated tone. I walk over to her reach in to her pocket and pull out a rusty red pocket knife and flip out the knife after about an hour we managed to saw thru.

“you forget about this?”

“O” she answers. for the next hour we work on cutting down 2 trees (pretty small ones) we would saw a little on one side and then on the other. they looked pretty mangled but we were proud of or work.

Next we took some hay out of our bags to tie the wood together. Hay is the only food they provided us with for our journey to basically say you’ll become animals out there after long enough .

Finally at about noon we were on the river, it was a beautiful day.

Spray from the river would come up and hit me in the face and Becca would laugh so I would dip my hand into the cool spring water and splash her so we were even. As evening drew closer we calmed down. “ where do you think we're heading?” Becca looked worried.

“I bet to somewhere with fields full of flowers where it’s always summer. their food will be fit for a king and they will all be waiting for us, and throwing a big feast to honor or arrival.”

I’m being serious lizzy but i could see her trying to suppress a grin.

I looked up from our conversation to see where we were headed and notice that the water is moving faster than it was in the afternoon. It was moving a little too fast for my comfort because I couldn’t swim. But the river obviously did not pick up on my discomfort. The river was moving faster and faster and it was roaring louder and louder and then up ahead I saw the river end and water just flow off the end of the river. Was this the end of the world? Were the stories of the world being flat true were they going to go right over the edge just like the water? What was past that ledge, all I could see was blue sky. All of a sudden we were flying over the edge and it wasn’t the end of the world at all but a cliff with water running down it and the water was rushing toward us fast the last thing I remember was screaming and then I was under water, flailing around. Memories flashed before my eyes my first day of school and how nervous I was, the first time I rode my bike around my small quiet neighborhood. A dark shadow moved in the water. Getting my haircut by Rose who always smelled of cinnamon, winning a rough game of volleyball in gym. I was seeing dark spots. I wished I could swim. Becca where was Becca was she alright? Cornelia E Welsh flashed before my and then everything went dark as my last breath escaped me and I let go of life.