Heather Roberts October 21, 2002 Short Story O' Loughlin

Responsibilities

Once upon a time there was a young girl named Eleanor. Her family called her Ellie. She was a dreadfully shy girl with brown hair and blue eyes. Every summer before Ellie went to school she would have adventures in the woods behind her house. Ellie would usually go there after breakfast and explore. On one particular occasion Ellie was wandering around for too long and she got lost. It was dark and cold, and this made Ellie very scared. When Ellie began to cry someone suddenly rushed and picked her up. This startled her so much that she fainted right there in the stranger's arms.
When Ellie awoke she found herself in a very strange house. It was nothing like she had seen before. Instead of cold concrete floors there were carpets, beautiful rich navy blue carpets. Ellie's curiosity busted, and she got out of the bed. She almost screamed - the bed was so gorgeous! Gold headboards adorned with sparkling diamonds. On the nightstand beside the bed were four books, about the size of your fist. Ellie stepped closer and looked at each of the covers. The first book had a picture of a magnificently immense tree with lofty branches and green leaves. The second had a picture of a sunset over a dark blue ocean with large waves. The third one had red-hot molten lava spewing out of a mountain. The next one was of a tremendous tornado ripping up the countryside. Ellie liked the book with the tornado on it the most. As she was about to open that book a voice startled her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," The voice warned. Ellie turned slowly around with fear in her heart, to find a boy about her age sitting on the bed. "And why not?" She said relived he was not a four headed monster with beady eyes and sharp teeth. "Because if you do you have to accept the responsibilities," He said. "And what responsibilities would I have?" She questioned him. "To take care of the gift that would be bestowed upon you," He replied smiling. "Okay well I guess I want to do that, you know. what you said," She stated boldly. "'You guess' or 'will you'?" he said raising his voice considerably. "I will!" She said, matching his tone. After a period of silence, he smiled. "Fine then-follow me." He said getting off the bed and walking down the corridor. Ellie followed him timidly into a dimly lit room that smelled of burnt tea and stale crumpets. "Sit down please milady." He said politely. Ellie noticed that the boy looked considerably older, about fifteen or so. She watched him slowly put his hands over the table and spread them across it revealing the same four books. Only now they were moving like the picture shows Ellie knew and loved.
"Choose and choose well, but remember this once the choice is made there is no going back," he warned slowly, his eyes opened wide. Ellie let out a heavy sigh and contemplated what she was getting into. Now being the young toddler she was, the overwhelming curiosity of the unknown began to take hold of her. She looked at the boy, noticing how old he was now, his hair white and wispy, and his beard long and tangled. "Choose!" he challenged her. "Fine, I will!" She retorted, reaching for the tornado- covered book and opening it as fast as she could. The wind came from within that book and sucked her into the darkness beyond. The book fell and closed on the table. The old man let out a grunt and walked out of the room. As he closed the door he said, "They never asked what the responsibilities actually were. Ha! Third one this week. Geez, kids these days. Ha, ha, ha!" Ellie was never heard from or seen again. Along with all the other children that opened one of those four books.