I smelled cool but stale air being circulated through my nose

I tasted the sweet aftertaste of cookies lingering on my tongue ,and toothpaste, strawberry flavored and then the metallic taste of blood in my mouth

I heard my cats patting around on my soft carpet outside the doors of my room, then I heard my door creak open, beds creaking and a man’s angry voice, screams of terror and some prayers, and lots of very loud bangs

I felt the bed underneath me, I felt piece and comfort, I felt myself rise from the bed, I felt the fear coursing through me, I felt the carpet Beneath my feet, I felt the cold wood on the floor, I felt the confusion in my brain, I felt my chest constrict, I felt more fear than ever before, I felt the sharp pain of the bullet sink into my skin

I saw my quiet peaceful room and when I went downstairs to see the commotion, I saw a man with a gun and my fathers un moving body, his pail face and unblinking eyes, my mother on her knees her hand clasped together her eyes closed and looking toward the sky to god. I saw the metal rocket from the gun in the man’s hand and sink into my mother’s skin, I saw her face pail and I saw her slump against the ground as the life flooded out of her. I saw the man Turn to me, a bloodthirsty look in his eye, his face twisted into one of rage, and his gun steady as it pointed at me, as his hand pulled the trigger and, I saw blood on the floors and I saw the sealing as I slumped belly up onto the ground, then I saw my world fade, then I saw nothing.

Jenna Gray woke up when the door to her room opened and she heard someone walk in. Her mum Athena walked in and sat on the edge of her daughter’s bed, and whispered in her ear, “wake up sweetheart it’s time to get up.” Jenna was supposed to go shopping with her mother that morning. “I’m awake.” Jenna said from under the blankets. “Ok I’ll make you some breakfast while you get ready.” Jenna thanked her mum and got out of bed. She went to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Although usually she was not a morning person and could easily sleep until 10:00 am. This week was exciting, she was waiting for an important letter. Jenna had  just celebrated her eleventh birthday, and was waiting for her Hogwarts letter. Jenna came from a magical family and both her parents went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when they were kids. They grew up making posions and casting spells, Jenna couldn’t wait to go herself. Jenna’s father had died right after she had been born, so it had always just been her and her mother. Jenna was so exited about getting her letter that she had been having dreams about Hogwarts and what her classes would be like. Jenna smelled something delicious coming from the kitchen, so she got dressed and went downstairs to eat the breakfast that her mum had made her.

After Jenna finished her breakfast, she took her dog Lady for a walk. When they got back from the walk, she ran to the front door to see if the mail was there and it was. It was sitting by the mail slot on the floor. There were six letters on the floor, but peeking out from the pile there was one red sealed letter that caught Jenna’s eye. It had the Hogwarts stamp in the corner of the paper. Jenna grabbed the rest of the mail and ran to the kitchen. She found her letter and ripped it open tossing the rest of the letters on the table. She was so excited that she screamed at the top of her lungs. She screamed so loudly that her cat, who was curled up on the cabinet, bolted out of the room for safety. Jenna’s mum was laughing at her daughter, who was still screaming.  Once Jenna stoped screaming she took a few deep breaths and then she read the letter. 

The Letter said:

Dear Miss. Jenna  Gray,  

I write to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Here are a list of things that you will need to buy for school. 

1.	Wand
2.	School Books 
3.	The Standard Book of Spells Year 1 by Miranda Goshawk.
4.	A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch.
5.	One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore.
6.	Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology
7.	A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
8.	Hogwarts, A History
9.	Monster Book of Monsters

10. School Robes and uniform 11. Pet (optanal) 1. Cat 2. Owl 3. Toad4. Rat

Jenna was so excited she wanted to go back out to get her school things right away, but Athena said they should wait until they got closer to September when she was going to Hogwarts. Although she was slightly disappointed, Jenna understood. For the next few months Jenna wanted anxiously for the start to her exciting new chapter of her life!

I lower my tray table, eyes locked on the snack cart as it creeps closer. Mom raises her eyebrows, and I know I have a decision—cookies or pretzels. I’m leaning toward cookies when, out of nowhere, the cart rolls right past us without stopping. I huff, leaning toward Mom. “Did they seriously just take away our snacks?”

She chuckles and pats my hand, but I feel Disgust stirring in my head, like in the movie Inside Out, playing on the seat in front of me. “Unbelievable,” I mutter under my breath, channeling Disgust’s eye roll, as I notice a man standing up front in the aisle, each hand gripping the back of a adjacent seat. He raises his voice, and I catch the words, “…pilot is unable to fly…” My stomach flips.

“Wait, what?” I glance at Mom, and she’s tightening her seatbelt, her mouth pressed tight. Fear jolts awake in my head, hitting every panic button he can reach. Joy goes silent. I am about to drill Mom for answers, when a few rows ahead, a woman stands. She’s older than Mom, with short gray hair and a sharp look that makes her seem like she knows exactly what she’s doing. She introduces herself as a pilot, saying she’s handled emergencies before and is our “best bet” to get home.

I lean forward in my seat, whispering, “What’s going on, Mom, what did I miss?” Mom’s about to answer until someone behind us mutters, “Isn’t she that one from Florida? The one who nearly crashed cause she broke protocol?” Another voice chimes in, “…yeah, Miss acting all high and mighty towards the other pilots…”

I sink back, feeling Fear ramp up again. “Did you hear that, Mom?” I whisper, as I think this lady is either great or a danger to us all. Disgust pops up again, crossing her arms. “Why can’t people just follow the rules?” I mutter.

Then the copilot steps forward, clearing his throat. He’s really young, almost like a kid himself. “Mom,” I whisper, “isn’t he, like, barely older than me?” She gives me a look. “Honey, he just looks young.”

But I can tell she’s as unsure as I am. The copilot says he knows the controls and promises he can fly us safely, but there’s a wobble in his voice, like he’s trying to convince himself, too. I watch him, eyes wide, feeling Fear pacing nervously around inside my head.

The flight attendant starts making her way down the aisle, stopping at each row, and it occurs to me that the passengers are being asked to vote. For what, though? It becomes clear the moment she reaches us. Mom replies that she is voting for the woman, Miss Carlyle, I think. “At least she’s done this before, right?” she murmurs, half to me, but mostly to herself.

I bite my lip. “But… she’s the one people say almost crashed.” Mom nods, her fingers tapping anxiously on her armrest. “Sometimes you just have to go with your gut, honey.”

Relieved I don’t actually have to choose due to my age, the copilot breaks me out of my reverie by announcing that the woman has been chosen. She steps forward, looking calm and focused. “Mom, she doesn’t look worried like at all,” I whisper. “That’s good, right?” Mom nods, squeezing my hand.

From behind us, someone grumbles, and another voice rings out, strong and steady: “Listen up! This is who we picked, people. Live with it! She’s counting on us, and we’re counting on her.” A chorus of applause springs up around me, with a few boos sprinkled in. I turn to Mom, trying to process it all. “So… that’s it? She’s in charge now?”

Mom smiles slightly, “Yes, she is our new pilot.” I sit back, letting the hum of the engines calm me. “Well, I guess Fear can chill out now,” I mutter, mostly to myself, imagining him pacing around in my head but finally sitting down.

As I settle into my seat, I look around at everyone else. “Alright,” I whisper, quietly but just loud enough for Joy and Fear and maybe even Disgust to hear. “She’s got this. She’s got us.” When the snack cart finally returns, I don’t feel like the same kid who was just debating between cookies or pretzels. This isn’t just about me or Mom anymore. It’s about all of us, trusting the person we chose. After all—we’re relying on her to bring us home.

Este’s eyes are wide.

She just can’t wait!

“Mamá, can we start yet?” She asks, bouncing up and down on her light up sneakers.

Ever since Roman got her them for her birthday, she refused to take them off.

They’re so pretty, lighting up in pink!

“Soon, mija. Jeremiah is getting Roman.”

“Yay!” She exclaims, clapping her hands. After Mamá and Miah, her brother’s soulmate, Ro, is her favorite person.

He is funny and makes her laugh. And when she hurt her knee, he took her pain with his powers.

And he makes her brother smile which means a lot of happy plants in the house. So there’s that.

As if summoned by a fairy’s magic spell, Miah and Ro appear.

“Family game night can commence!” Miah announces, scooping up Este. She squeals as he throws her over his shoulder like a bag of patatas instead of the 7 year old that she is.

“You’re the guest, so you can choose Roman,” Mamá suggests.

Guest? Este frowns. “I thought Ro is family?” Familia is the people that you love. At least that what Mamá and Miah always tell her.

“Of course he is,” Mamá agreeing.

“But you said guest?”

Miah picks her up again and sets her between him and Ro. “Someone can be a guest of this house and also be familia, hermanita,” Miah explains.

She guesses that’s an ok answer. “Ok.”

“Hey Este, what is your favorite game?” Ro asks, leaning over to her level, his breath tickling her ear.

Immediately, Este grins and goes off. “I love Candyland. But that makes me want candy and we haven’t had cena yet.”

“Good point.”

“Uno!” She shouts.

Mamá must have guessed that. She had the cards ready. Este likes Uno. It uses Mamá’s language.

And she wins a lot.

They play a few rounds and Este is winning. She likes winning.

Getting down to three cards, she says, “Tres.”

“You don’t have to say how many cards you have until uno,” Ro advises. He has five cards, having just had to pick up from a great plus four move by Miah.

“But Mamá likes us talking español,” Este points out.

“I don’t want you to lose your roots, mija,” Mamá agrees. Este beams at Mamá’s smile.

Though the words puzzle her. “My roots? Like árboles?”

“She means where your family came from. Before moving here,” Ro says, putting down a cinco verde.

Este likes the image of a tree with roots of español sprouting into a strong trunk with bonito blossoms.

Miah places a ocho verde. “Uno. Your move, hermanita.”

She chooses her card carefully. In her hands, there is two options, a card of the same number but different color and a +dos in verde.

Looking at her hermano, he is practically shaking from excitement. The plants in their casa are perking up from his abilities being tied to his emotions.

Smiling, she puts down the ocho rojo.

He throws down a wildcard. “Yo gano!”

When they all laugh at his win (since he never wins), Este looks around and doesn’t feel bad for losing. At least not this time.

There will be more games and more family nights.

——— (I always pictured Jeremiah being Latino. I only know Spain Spanish (which I know is different than for example Mexican Spanish) that I had two high school classes of, so please forgive my lack of knowledge. I’m not sure exactly how a bilingual child would think, so I’m just been incorporating some Spanish words. I think you can guess for most of the words. “Yo gano” means “I win.”)

The police officer bent down. He said “Buddy what happened yesterday.” Jay sat silent, staring at his teddy bear. The officer got impatient he said “Buddy tell me what happened last night?” Jay shook his head violently. The police officer glared at Jay. Suddenly Jay broke down in tears.

The police walked away. After that Jay accidentally wet his pants, starting another meltdown. Jay whispered “Mamas gone”

The day before today he had seen a guy come into the house, he thought it was one of Mamas friends. Then he heard his Mama scream “GO AWAY, I HAVE NOTHING YOU WANT.” The man killed Jay’s Mama. Then the man looked at Jay and said “She’s wrong, I wanted her.”

Jay had realized that the police officer had been the man that killed his mama.

I’ll miss my best friend, but mommy said he has to go on a big journey. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t tell me. He just didn’t move, didn’t make a noise, just sat there, even when I touched him, running my fingers through his fur. We waved goodbye to him and put him in a box where he curled, sleeping. Mommy said he was very tired and had to save his energy for the trip. I asked where he was going and she said somewhere far away, but he might be able to send me postcards. I didn’t know what that meant because I knew he couldn’t write or speak our language. In the backyard, daddy dug a big hole and we put the box in the hole. Before that, though, we put in some things he needed for his travels: his favorite toy and blanket, some pieces of his favorite foods, and his collar. He looked so naked without his collar, but mommy said it would be uncomfortable for him to wear on the trip. I wished I could go with him, but instead I watched as daddy lowered him into the ground and covered him with dirt again. I asked how being in a hole would get him anywhere, and mommy said that once it was all sealed up he would dig his way out and go further down into the earth, to appear on the other side of the planet. I wasn’t sure how that worked but I didn’t ask anymore questions because daddy was already crying and I think he cried harder each time I asked something. The house was quiet tonight. I hope his travels are good. I miss the feeling of his fur in my fingers. I guess I’ll wait for his postcard.

i dont understand it becus ive never seen papa cry befor and ive never seen mama so cuiet in my hole life today we went to a big bilding with a lotta benches that were rilly smooth and my family was sat in the front and the sealing was rilly far away thare was a big box and it was also rilly smooth it lookd like a door becus it was open but was posishand so i cudnt see and evrybody wokd up but my uncle took me to the back and papa went up to it and wisperd sumthing in to the box and then so did mama and i thot it was weerd but i wanted to see wat was in it but thay didnt let me go up becus they sed i was to yung and i wood understand wen i got older and wen we were driving home it was raining so i asked if we cud get starbucks becus i wanted hot coco and papa sed not today so mama told him that after wat just hapend i deservd a treat and thay argude and papa kept yeling no but mama shouted at him and she wun the fite and got on her fone and papa yeld at her to keep her ise on the rode and she sed that evrything was fine and she was fine and i was fine and he was fine and evrything was fine and then thay sat in silens and i sat in silens with them then we got to starbucks and mama ran thru the rain to get inside so then me and papa sat in the car and watchd the rain fall down the windows and then i asked wat was in the box and papa sed that evrybody is luvd by at leest one uther person but sometimes humans get to tired and broken for the luv to protect them from evil things he sed that eventully humans move on to a difrent part of life ware thay are luvd but in a difrent way and sometimes it herts to have to let them be luvd by somewun els i askd him if luv was in the box and he sed it was sumthing like that

Five year old me wouldn’t know until I was nine that ‘luv in a box’ was just a euphemism for my dead grandfather.

The show was about to start. Mom and my sister Danny said they would be front row in the middle. As the curtains opened i scanned the front row, and the third row and the fourth and fith and sixth, all the way to the back; mom was there, but i couldnt find Danny. All of a sudden i didnt feel so good. My tummy felt all twirly and heavy. The show was starting; i was supposed to sing first, so i opened my mouth , but when i tried to sing, nothing came out. I think that all the games of ghost town (thats the silent game mommy really likes), were mad at me for losing (i always lose).

The curtains started to close and Miss Martin came over to me and asked if i was okay. I still couldnt say anything so i shook my head. I would really like to know where my voice went.  I have heard that you can “lose “ your voice so maybe thats what happend. But where does it go when you lose it? I do sure hope it comes back soon though, i really like my voice. 

Before the currents closed, Danny ran in. Maybe she took my voice with her by accident because when i saw her, the tummy twirling stopped and i could speak again! Miss martin mustve seen something, because she said i lit up, so bright and i smiled. Maybe when you get your voice back, they have to use a light, to know where it goes. Im not too sure what she meant. Miss martin always says silly stuff like that. Anyways, Miss martin asked if i was ready, and i said “YES,!” super duper loud. 

A faceless voice said, “Curtains in 3,2,1.” The currents started to swing open! I think its really cool that the walls can talk. Mom said it would be interesting if they could talk, and i agree. I mean how would that work? Maybe ill bring her on stage after the show, because everytime we change scenes, i hear a voice, but no one is there. Then, like magic,  the curtains open and close. Isnt that cool!? Once again, i scanned the first row. This time they were both there, waving and smiling. Miss Martin was in front of us on the floor in case we needed help. The music came on again and I opened my mouth, and this time i actually sung!  After everyone sung, It was time for the bow. Thats my favourite part, i feel really fancy, like a princess. The curtains closed and everyone was still clapping super loud. 

After the show, mom and Danny came up to me and gave me a huge hug. Danny pulled a bunch of flowers from behind her. Between you and me, i think she may be magic; but i dont have time to talk about that right now. I told Danny about everything that happened. Shes a really good listener, she doesnt tell me im talking too much like some people do. Danny always says things that make me smile really really big, like huge. So after i told her what happened she looked at me for a minute, a little weird if you ask me. Then she said “ i may not always be on time, but i will always show up for you” and then she hugged me. She always tell me the same thing when she wants to make me feel better. “Izzy, i am so lucky to have you”. Which i never really understand becasue, she can pull flowers out of actually no where and gives me my voice back when i lose it. So i think that i might be the most lucky person in all the universes to have her to look out for me. 

• a little reminder that all you have to do, is show up

I was supposed to be in bed but I couldn’t sleep. So I walk out of my room and tip-toe over to the stairs. ding The doorbell rang. Who is coming this late to our home? I pause, Squat down near the railing; looking through it seeing my father. He looks around before he goes towards the door and slowly opens the door. He whispers something into the mystery person’s ear. It’s a woman. She’s got long hair as far as I can see, and wearing a very revealing outfit. Who is this? The women struts over to the lightswitch and flips the switch. “Hey! My sons asleep, I don’t want him to wake up you know.” Father whispers. “Oh please, he’s not gonna wake up from this tiny light. I can’t see anything in the dark!” She retorts back with no intent of being quiet. “Penny please! I don’t want my son to see.” Father says in a apologetic tone. Penny? I’ve never seen her before. Does she work with father? “Good god, calm down a bit; your always so tense it’s annoying.” Penny speaks. At this point I am so confused, who, what, why? I keep still at the top of the staircase, still looking down towards them; finally seeing them and not just outlines of them. Father looks frightened “l-l-listen, I don’t know if this is a good idea afterall.” “James, I didn’t come here to talk, so make up your mind already.” Penny whispers into his ear. Her hands trail up to his hair, playing with it, touching it. I feel sick. My legs start to tremble a bit as I get up to stand when the wood creaks below me. Oh god! Both their heads turn towards the stairs Panting, sweating so badly through my shirt I hide behind the little corner and start dashing to my room. I gently close the door and jump back into bed; closing my eyes, hoping this is all a dream no, a nightmare and when I reopen there is no such person as penny. I take deep breaths and just keep counting to 10 in my head. Please let this be a nightmare..

It was hot outside and my feet hurt from walking all day. The crowds around me were very tall and I didn’t like that feeling. I thought I was going to be crushed, or lost, or forgotten. There was too much yelling and fighting. The air smelled of sweat and alcohol and the motion of the train was causing me to be nauseous. The moving stopped and my dad told me were finally at our station. When the doors open, we practically exploded through the door and onto the platform. Finally, I could breath again!