Fiorella

Written for Fanciful Goddess' contest "Once upon a time Fairytale". "Fiorella" means "little flower" in Italian. :P

    Once upon a time, in a wide field with a town on the right side and a forest on the left, there was a house where the Brouillard family lived; Mrs. Brouillard(40), Mr. Brouillard(35), Tyler Brouillard(16), Chad Brouillard(14), and Shannon Brouillard(12).
    Tyler, Chad and Shannon were playing a ball game out in the pasture. Shannon, who has been in soccer her whole life while Tyler and Chad would play football, was winning significantly.
    “Ha ha! You boys can’t possibly defeat Shannon the Shark.” Shannon giggled.
    “A shark?” Chad asked, “More like a piranha.”
    Shannon’s face puffed up and she kicked the ball hard and it hit Chad in the head. The ball bounced off his head and flew into the forest.
    “Well, Piranha, you kicked it.” Tyler sighed, “Now go get it.”
    Shannon gulped, “B-but! It’s scary in there!”
    “Too freaking bad!” Chad yelled, “You deserve it for kicking me in the head!”
    “Chad. Don’t yell at Shannon.” Tyler scolded, “I’ll go and get it.”
    Tyler heaved himself into the dark forest, the sound of his boots crunching the leaves slowly faded away.
    “It will be your fault if he doesn’t come back, you know.” Chad poked Shannon’s forehead.
    Shannon bit at his finger and Chad yanked it away.
    “Man! You really are a piranha!” Chad laughed and ran away.
    “I’ll show you piranha!” Shannon ran after him.

    It must have been at least an hour, for all Tyler was doing was blindly walking around. He did not know where the ball went, but he searched anyway. That’s when he found an odd path. It was covered in pink flower petals. Tyler had suspicions but he followed it anyway. The pathway eventually led to a clearing surrounded by trees. In the middle was a large, not blossomed green tulip.
    “What is this?” Tyler asked aloud. He sprung back when he saw the tulip blossom.
    The flower opened up to reveal a small girl about the age of ten. She had short black hair that went around her head like a lion’s mane, lightly tanned skin, a skinny body, and lime green eyes. She was wearing a billowing green dress that matched her eyes, and an upside-down tulip as a hat. The girl looked up at Tyler and just stared.
    Tyler was a little nervous because her eyes seemed to pierce into his very soul. He backed out of the clearing slowly and began walking back to where he came from.
    “That was a little weird.” Tyler sighed, “Maybe hanging out with Chad has gotten to me.” Tyler looked behind him to see the small girl following him, with each step she took little green tulips grew.
    Tyler sped up, and so did the girl. Finally, Tyler went into a sprint. He ran out of the forest and tripped over the log at the entrance. He looked up to see the girl standing in front of him. He sighed.
    ‘Might as well bring her home.’ Tyler got up and asked, “What is your name?”
    The flower girl said nothing, but she did point at her hat which had a name stitched into it with golden thread.
    “Neecee?” Tyler read the name, “Is this your name?”
    The girl pierced more daggers into him, making him sweat.
    “Well, Neecee, my house is this way.” Tyler pointed to a large home in the middle of the pasture, “Come on.” He started walking towards his home and Neecee obediently followed.

    “Do you think he’s dead?” Chad asked.
    “No way!” Shannon yelled, “If it were you then you’d be dead, but Tyler has way more survival skills.”
    “Hey! I have plenty of survival skills.” Chad bellowed.
    “Remember when you were at 6th grade camp, you fell into a river and Kasi had to pull you out and carry you to your dorm?” Shannon giggled.
    “Who told you that?! Was it Kasi?!” Chad squealed.
    “Nope. You just told me, right now.” Shannon smiled coyly.
    “But…”
    “I’m a good guesser.”
    “Shannon!” Chad ran after the girl.
    Shannon was about to run away when she heard the door open.
    “I’m home!” came her eldest brother’s voice.
    “Tyler!” Shannon ran to the door with Chad at her heels.
    Shannon and Chad stopped when they saw the cute little girl by his side. The girl held onto Tyler’s hand.
    “So… CUTE!!!” Shannon and Chad’s eyes sparkled as they leaped for the girl. They stopped short when they saw the little girl’s piercing green eyes.
    “She’s kind of… scary.” Chad said.
    “Chicken.” Shannon smirked.
    “Shut up!” Chad hit her on the head.
    “Will you guys just behave for once?!” Tyler yelled. Which made the siblings stop and look at him.
    “Gosh, man. You never raise your voice.” Chad stood up, “What’s wrong with you?”
    “In only a week, I will be going off to an academy in the town and you guys are going to be in charge because mom and dad are off on a business trip and won‘t be back for months. Be serious.” Tyler scolded.
    “Take a chill pill. We can so handle it here.” Chad leaned against a wall.
    “You will not be able to handle Shannon.” Tyler glared.
    Shannon giggled and stuck her tongue out at Chad.
    “You get it now?” Tyler asked.
    Chad nodded.
    “This is Neecee. I found her in the forest.” Tyler introduced the little girl.
    “Hi, Neecee!” Shannon said, “I’m Shannon.”
    “This is the boy who will be taking care of you for the next few months.” Tyler pointed to Chad, “This is Chad.”
    Chad held his hand out for her to shake it but she just stared at it. She then grabbed the hems of her dress and curtsied to him.
    Chad’s face flushed and he awkwardly bowed.
   
    “She can sleep in my room.” Shannon offered.
    “Who would want to be in a room with you? That’s torture!” Chad laughed.
    “Oh, and you’re not a torture?” Shannon retaliated, “This is why you don’t have a girlfriend.”
    Chad was taken aback by this. He fiddled his shirt in embarrassment.
    “Alright then. Neecee will sleep in Shannon’s room.” Tyler said.
    It was already ten o’clock in the evening, which meant bed time for the little kids.
    “We aren’t kids.” Chad grumbled.
    “Just because you are home schooled and our parents are away, does NOT mean that you can stay up late. That is why I’m heading to an academy, because I actually want to learn some things.” Tyler said.
    “Whatever.” Chad was about to walk away when he felt a tug on his sleeve.
    Neecee was holding onto his sleeve. Chad blushed and pulled his sleeve from her.
    “Over here, Neecee.” Shannon lead the girl away.
    “Alright ladies. Night.” Tyler looked in and said.
    “Night.” Shannon said.
    Neecee crawled into the sleeping bag on the floor that Shannon had pointed to.
    A few hours pass and Shannon was snoring up a storm, causing poor Neecee to be awake for hours. She got up, grabbed her pillow and snuck out of Shannon’s room. Hoping that Tyler wouldn’t catch her, she tip-toed down the hallway. She opened door after door but failed to find what she was looking for. She opened a door and found her caretaker, Chad, sleeping soundly. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. When she got up to the bed, she clutched her pillow with one arm and used the other to gently poke Chad.
    Chad groaned and opened up his eyes. As soon as he saw the little girl beside his bed he squealed, “What are you doing in here?!”
    Neecee just stood there, clutching the pillow.
    “Do you want to… sleep in here?” Chad guessed.
    Neecee nodded.
    Chad’s face flushed, “Alright. I’ll make a bed on my floor.”
    Neecee shook her head.
    “You don’t want to sleep on the floor? Then where do you want to sleep?” Chad asked.
    Neecee pointed to the bed.
    “You want to sleep here? Does that mean you want me to sleep on the floor?” Chad pouted.
    Neecee shook her head again.
    “Then where would I sleep?” Chad asked.
    Neecee once again pointed to the bed.
    “You want us to… sleep together?!” Chad’s face resembled that on a tomato.
    Neecee smiled and nodded.
    Chad blushed and sighed. He moved over next to the wall to allow Neecee under the covers.
    Neecee put her pillow by the headboard and crawled under the covers.
    Chad rolled over and said, “Good night.”
    Neecee tried to roll him back over.
    “What?” Chad rolled back over.
    Neecee snuggled up to Chad’s warm chest. And she fell asleep quickly.
    Chad’s face was not going to lose its redness for nothing so he decided to let it slide and pull the covers over them both and go to sleep.

    It was morning, because the light was coming in through the windows. Chad felt something warm under him. He got up and saw Neecee curled up in a deep sleep. Chad was so sleepy that he laid back down and fell asleep again.
   
    “Chad! Wake up!” Shannon beat on him.
    “What?” He asked groggily.
    “We can’t find Neecee! Help us look!” Shannon panicked.
    Chad was getting up when he heard a small yawn from under him. He looked down and saw Neecee stretch and look up at him with emerald green orbs.
    “Chad!” Shannon yelled, “What are you doing on top of Neecee!?!”
    Chad got out of bed and tried to explain, “I must of rolled over on her when I was sleeping!”
    “And you are in your underwear!” Shannon shrieked.
    Chad looked down to his plaid green and black boxers and his white undershirt.
    “Pervert!” Shannon tried to pull Neecee out of the bed but she pulled away and hid behind Chad.
    Shannon gaped at what just happened. Tyler ran in at this moment.
    “What’s going on here?” Tyler asked. He saw Neecee and was quickly relieved, “Has she been here the whole night?”
    “Pretty much.” Chad said, “She came in here asking to sleep in my bed with me.”
    “That’s the only time you will ever get to sleep with a girl.” Shannon laughed.
    “Shut up!” Chad growled.
    Sensing that Shannon was making Chad upset, Neecee glared at the young girl and something weird happened.
    Vines grew up from the floor boards even though they were on the second floor. They wrapped around Shannon’s feet and pulled her through the floor and on to the first floor.
    “Did you do that, Neecee?” Chad asked.
    Neecee nodded for she was the only one who could of done it. The three raced down stairs to check if Shannon was okay.
    “Oh, my butt hurts.” Shannon groaned and rubbed her butt.
    “Are you ok?” Tyler asked, helping her up.
    “Yeah. But I don’t understand why she did that to me!” Shannon whined.
    ‘Maybe it’s because she made Chad upset.’ Tyler thought. He had to test this theory.
    “Alright let’s have breakfast.” Tyler said as he walked into the kitchen.
    “But what about me?!” Shannon whined.
    “You said you were fine so I expect you to be true to your word.” Tyler said.
    Shannon pouted and followed Chad, Neecee, and Tyler into the kitchen.
They all sat down, Shannon on one side, Chad and Neecee sat together on the other side, and middle belonged to Tyler. Tyler was bringing things to the table when he said, “Hey, Chad, I bet Shannon will get a girlfriend before you ever do.”
    Chad growled at him which made Neecee tighten her grip on Chad’s button-up shirt sleeve. Tyler was about to sit down when vines pulled his chair backwards and Tyler fell onto his butt.
    “Ouch!” Tyler groaned.
    Chad began laughing, “That’s what you get.”
    Tyler had gotten his evidence. Neecee seemed to react to Chad’s anger. And in return, she punished who made him angry.
    “This will be interesting.” Tyler said to himself.

                        …

    “Why do you have to go?” Shannon whined.
    Tyler was going to go study at an academy for a year. He had his bags packed and waiting for him in the car.
    Tyler said, “I’m sorry, sis, but I have too.” He patted her gently on the head. He walked to Chad and said, “You are in charge, sadly.”
    Chad pouted but shook his brothers hand.
    Before he left, Tyler bent down and whispered into Shannon’s ear, “I need you to watch them for me.”
    “No problem!” Shannon piped.
    And with that, Tyler went off to the academy.
    Shannon looked over at Neecee and realized that she was still in her green dress.
    “Let’s find you something to wear, eh, Neecee?” Shannon tugged on the girl’s arm.
    “Hey! Where are you two going?” Chad asked.
    “None of your business.” Shannon slammed the door.
    Shannon rumbled through her drawers to find Neecee some clothes. She pulled out a pair of black leggings and threw them at Neecee, who caught them.
    “Now for a shirt…” Shannon grumbled on.
    Neecee turned and walked out of the room.
    “Ah! Here we go!” Shannon turned around to see no Neecee, “Neecee?”
    Shannon ran out of the room just in time to see Neecee emerge from Chad’s room with the black leggings on and one of Chad’s green stripped button-up shirts on.
    “Neecee?!” Shannon gasped, “What are you wearing?!”
    Chad ran up to see what was all happening, “What’s going on?”
    “Neecee is wearing one of your shirts with just leggings on bottom!” Shannon squealed.
    Chad blushed at how cute Neecee looked, “Why are you wearing my shirt?”
    Neecee could tell that they were going to chase her down for the shirt so she made a break for it down the stairs. Chad and Shannon tried to follow but vines were wrapped around their feet so they couldn’t move.
    Neecee smirked and walked away feeling victorious.
    “After only a week of being here, she already has copied your attitude.” Chad said disdainfully to Shannon.
     Shannon just giggled happily as she wriggled out of the vines.

                    …

    Neecee continued to wear Chad’s shirts and when they went to town to visit Tyler people would give Chad funny looks when they saw the girl hanging off of him.
    It had been a couple of months and the Brouillard kids still haven’t heard any word from their parents. Boy, would they be surprised when they came home and found a flower child in their house.

    “We need to give her a last name. ‘Brouillard’ isn’t a good last name considering that she is not of our family.” Shannon explained.
    “Well I can’t think of a good name.” Chad yawned and laid his head back on Neecee’s lap.
    “Hmm…” Shannon looked at Neecee intently before gasped happily.
    “What?” Chad asked.
    “I have the perfect name!” Shannon smiled, “Fiorella. It’s Italian for ‘Little Flower’. It would be perfect for little Neecee.”
    “Neecee Fiorella, eh?” Chad said, “Sounds good to me.”

    And so Neecee was introduced to the townspeople as Neecee Fiorella, an orphan that Tyler had found.
    And one day they were all playing a ball game out in the pasture. Chad made a comment on Shannon being a piranha and was rewarded with the ball being aimed at his head. The ball bounced off his head and into the forest.
    “Great! That’s another ball lost! It’s all your fault, Chad!” Shannon complained.
    “Me? Why don’t you stop aimed for my head!” Chad retaliated.
    The two siblings continued to fight while Neecee ran off into the forest after the ball.
    She was blindly walking into the forest when she saw a path with pink flower petals on it. It looked familiar to her, so she began to walk down it. Suddenly, she began to change. Her body began to grow and she began to age. She trembled in fear as she now looked like a fourteen year old girl with long black hair. The shirt was an even fit on her now, but the leggings were a bit tight. Without getting the ball, Neecee ran back down the path. She jumped over the log that was at the entrance, sprinted towards Chad and held onto him with all her might.
    “Neecee? Is that you?” Chad asked.
    “Wow! She looks older!” Shannon observed. Now Neecee was taller than Shannon, but she still had a ways to go before she could reach Chad’s height.
    “What happened in there?” Chad asked, but he knew she wasn’t going to answer.
    The three went inside the house and Neecee sat in a chair to get her hair cut. She disliked long hair and wished for her lion’s mane again.
    “So, how are we going to explain this around town?” Chad asked from his seat on the couch.
    Shannon stood on a chair so she could cut Neecee’s hair.
    “I don’t know. We can’t tell them that he just suddenly grew when she went into the forest because they’ll think we’re crazy!” Shannon explained as she began cutting Neecee’s hair, “We’ll just have to not tell them anything and hopefully they won’t notice.”
    “Like that will ever happen.” Chad scoffed.
    “Alright. I’m done.” Shannon got off the chair and handed Neecee a mirror.
    Her hair now looked the same as it did before she grew older. Just the way Neecee liked it.
    “Hey we need to go to town.” Shannon said.
    “Why?” Chad asked.
    “Hello! Clothes for Neecee! She can’t fit into my clothes!” Shannon yelled.
    “Then what is she going to wear when we go to town?” Chad asked.
    Shannon had that smile on her face and that smile always involved Chad getting hurt, in one way or another. They strolled into town with Neecee wearing one of Chad’s button-up shirts and a pair of Chad’s blue jean shorts.
    “If it wasn’t her cute face, she’d be mistaken for a guy.” Chad sighed.
    Shannon laughed, “But, Chad, she’s your girlfriend.”
    “Chad’s got a girlfriend?!” a guy named Scott gaped, “Are you serious?!”
    “Yup, and here she is!” Shannon pointed towards Neecee, who was hanging onto Chad’s arm.
    “Whoa! She’s cute.” Scott said with jealousy.
    Chad smirked and bragged, “Yeah and she’s crazy for me.”
    “Don’t get a swelled head over this.” Shannon said as she continued to window shop.
    As Chad and Scott were talking, something in a window caught Neecee’s eye. She left Chad and walked over to the window. Inside was a display of dog collars. One lime green one caught Neecee’s attention. She smiled as she gazed at it.
    Chad saw her and decided to walk over to her, “What are you looking at, Neecee?”
    Neecee pointed towards the collar and had sparkles in her eyes.
    “What’s going on?” Shannon came running over.
    “I think Neecee wants a dog collar.” Chad said.
    “What?!” Shannon yelled, “She’s not a dog though.”
    “Let’s just get her one to make her happy.” Chad said.
    The collar that Neecee got was the lime green one with “Neecee Fiorella” written in pink letters around the collar and then a pink flower as a tag. Neecee was so happy with the collar that she fiddled with the flower tag.
    “Let’s go into this store.” Shannon dragged Neecee and Chad into a store. Shannon picked out a perfectly good outfit for Neecee. Even Neecee loved it for she decided to keep it. It was a lime green long sleeved shirt, a dark green jacket with puffy short sleeves, dark green jean short-shorts, lime green tights, and dark green shoes.
    The store’s clerk let Neecee wear it out of the store.
    “Look, you guys!” Shannon pointed towards a photo booth, “Let’s get pictures taken.
    It was hard to get all three of them in there without cramming, but they did it and some of the pictures turned out great.
    As Shannon and Chad were talking about the pictures, Neecee noticed something wrong with the water tower. It seemed rusty at the bottom and looked like it was going to fall.
    “Neecee!” Chad yelled, “We’re going!”
    Neecee glanced at it once more before running to catch up with them. All of a sudden…
    “The water tower!”
    “It’s falling!”
    “Somebody do something!”
    “How can we do something when it’s freaking huge!”
    “I don’t know! Just do something!”
    Neecee looked back, the water tower was going to collapse and kill numerous amounts of people and may even cause a flood if she didn’t do something about it.
    Neecee ran towards the tower.
    “Neecee!” Chad called and ran after her.
    Neecee stopped right under it and held her hands out. She called upon the forces of nature, and her eyes glowed bright green. Vines started growing around the water tower, trying to pull it back.
    Chad stopped dead in his tracks as well as most of the townspeople.
    The tower began going back in its original place and when it was finally there, Neecee collapsed.

    This was a dream. It must have been. Neecee was in a meadow surrounded by flowers. She saw little flower children emerge from their flowers and run around. Neecee smiled at this. Then an elder woman came up to her.
    “You must return to the Earth, Neecee.” the woman said.
    Why? Neecee thought.
    “Because you are a flower child. Every time you enter the forest, you age fours years. And besides, you don’t want to live in a place where there are no trees, no flowers, no nature.” said the woman.
    Neecee was confused. She was a… flower child?
    “Come back to the forest, Neecee.” the woman’s voice started to fade out like the meadow, “This is where you belong…”

    Neecee’s eyes cracked open.
    “Good! She’s awake!” Chad exclaimed.
    Neecee sat up to see that she was in Chad’s bed. She cocked her head to the side in confusion.
    “You fainted after saving the town.” Chan smiled, “That was really brave.”
    Neecee smiled but all she could really think about is what the old woman kept saying. Return to the Earth? What does that even mean? Only one way to find out. Neecee burst from the bed and staggered around the room, looking for the door.
    “Calm down, girl.” Chad laughed, “Why don’t you sit down?”
    Neecee shook her head.
    “Then what do you want to do?” Chad asked.
    The only way to make him fully understand was to let him hear her thoughts, so Neecee grabbed his face and put her forehead to his.
    ‘I must return to the Forest.’ she let her thoughts flow into his mind.
    “W-what?” Chad asked.
    Neecee looked at him with pleading eyes.
    Chad had no choice, he had to take her to the forest.
   
    Chad told Shannon to stay there while Neecee and him headed out to the forest.
    “You sure you need to do this?” Chad asked.
    Neecee nodded.
    They were at the forest and once they both crossed over the log, they followed the pink petal path.
    Something started to change on Neecee. It was as the woman had said. Neecee was aging, into an eighteen year old.
    Her hair grew longer and her clothes grew only a bit tighter. Shannon had made sure to get a size bigger and it certainly worked.
    “Whoa!” Chad was dumbstruck, “So that’s how you changed.”
    Neecee smiled and nodded. She stared down the petal path and saw the flower children dancing in the meadow and heard the old lady calling to her.   
    “So… does this mean… goodbye?” Chad’s heart sunk, he had gotten pretty attached to the girl.
    Neecee smiled at him and pressed her forehead against his.
    ‘There will never be a goodbye since I will always be in your heart and you will always be in mine.’
    Chad smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the lips.
    “CHAD! WHERE ARE YOU?!!!” Shannon called.
    Chad growled for his chance was ruined.
    Neecee smiled and kissed his nose. She waved as she ran off down the flower path.
    “We’ll meet again!” Chad yelled, “I promise!”
    ‘I know we will.’ he could still hear Neecee’s thoughts in his head.
    “Chad?” Shannon found him, “Where’s Neecee?”
    “She had to return to the Forest.” Chad said, “But we’ll see her again. I’m sure of it.”

Author's Note

Please review! BTW, flashbacks = italics and dreams = bold. :)

Reviews

[Kanattas Atir Enomo]

i gotta say this was a nice piece although im not as smitten with it as the others. i found quite a few punctuation errors and multiple places where it didnt flow well or was redundant. i think the story line and plot was great; fiorella is a beautiful surname, but i think that this should go through some editing and maybe be re-worded in some places. semi-colons, commas, and pronouns can be your best friends if used correctly. like at the beginning where you're introducing the characters, it should be a colon before the list, not a semi-colon. a few others too, but i don't think i should list them all here. again, great story, plot, you built the characters rather well, but it could be better. Also, i noticed that you described how Neecee looked, but you didn't really talk about the appearance of the other characters. good job though. ^.^

[∠( ᐛ 」..]

I really like this enjoyable story ^_^
100/100

[Linda Hogenson]

Nice story... I like the way that it ended. Almost a bittersweet taste, and a bitterness made stronger by a parting, and a sweet made stronger because of the hope promised despite the bitterness.

[KayRae]

Truly amazing! I really hope you end up getting first place! This story and you both deserve it!

[Nan]

Whoa! This is awesome. Best story so far.

[Petal]

woah that was so amazing and captivating i couldn't stop reading it and it was like i was really there

[Rain]

haha, nice story xD
fiorella is a nice last name, hehe
ummm...i couldnt find any mistakes, so all i have to say is
good job on this story, and gl in the contest

[Rose Tyler]

This was absolutely astounding! I loved the names of all of the people and Neecee especially. I loved all of their personalities and the way the story flowed.
Hopefully you get first place ^-^ It's an excellent read :D

[Ashimoto]

That was so adorable, Kasi! Hopefully, you get first place in the contest you put this in! I'm rooting for you!!