Fed Ex Delivers the Wrong Package Again

Introduces some of our main characters.

Nikki Forrester stared out the window of Bus 217. Surrounded by noisy kids, she shut her eyes and tried to block it all out.

"Hey! Sticky Nikki!" Bobby Mason shouted, popping up in the seat behind her. "I heard about your fight with Cassidy."

"Shut up, Bobby." Nikki mumbled.

"Come on, Sticky! I bet you two hate each other, huh?"

"Hey, Bobby! I heard about you getting dumped by Adeline Herning; how's that going for ya'?" Nikki snapped. Subdued, Bobby sat back down.

But the jerk was right, sadly. Nikki was pretty popular, surrounded by tons of "friends" that, on windy days, if you listened closely, you could hear the wind whistling through their ears. Nikki had only two true friends: Cassidy and Ellie. Ellie Roster was a happy, bubbly girl, with curly, bouncy, blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, and pink glasses. She talked a mile a minute, and had more energy than a puppy. Cassidy Hart had beautiful, long, soft, auburn hair, and green eyes. Her parents had both come from Ireland, and talked in an Irish accent. But Cassidy had lived in America all her life. She was totally obsessed with romance novels, and truly believed that happy endings happened all the time.

That morning, Cassidy had been talking with Henry, Nikki's brother. Cassidy has a HUGE crush on Henry, along with a hundred other girls, which was no surprise. Henry had wavy, caramel brown hair that swept across his forehead, and dark, tanned skin. Those lucky enough to see him at the swimming pool knew he worked out often, and his eyes were gorgeous olive green ones. Nikki and Henry's mother used to work as a model in New York, when she met the pair's father, and fell deeply in love with him. They married, and moved to a small town to raise their children. As a result, their children inherited their mother's good looks; Nikki was lucky, with high cheekbones, dark hair, good skin, and a naturally curvy figure.
Anyway, Cassidy called the conversation a "crucial point" in their "relationship", and when Nikki unwittingly interrupted it, the redhead was furious. Nikki apologized a million times, but Cassidy refused to even speak to her. Miserable, Nikki boarded the bus alone. The bus finally screeched to a stop in front of a road with pretty houses lining it.

Climbing down the steep steps, Nikki waited for her brother as he said goodbye to his two bazillion friends while trying to disentangle himself from a particularly desperate and smitten freshman. Finally, with the help of his friends Patrick-who's built like a refrigerator-and Kenneth, who has abs that look like they were chiseled in rock, Henry freed himself and literally ran off the bus. Ignoring the freshman's screams, Nikki and Henry silently greeted each other and walked up the sidewalk.

Kicking a pebble, Henry spoke first.

"So, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing." Nikki avoided his eyes.

"Aw, c'mon, Nickel! I'm not stupid." he pretended to think about that. "Okay, maybe that's stretching it, but I can tell your upset." Nikki laughed, and immediately felt better. Good old Henry. He could always make her feel better.

"I had a little fight with Cassidy." she admitted. Henry stared at her. "Okay! Maybe it was a not-so-little fight. But she was being stupid."

"How so?" Nikki clammed up. She couldn't spill her friend's secret. Seeing her expression, Henry snickered. "EVERYONE knows she has a crush on me, Nickel. Even the lunch lady." Nikki grinned.
"Well, you know that talk you were having this morning?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, well, she said-and I quote-it was a 'crucial point in your relationship'." Henry stared at her, then busted up laughing.
"Nickel, we were talking about ketchup packets. I had a few from our trip to Washington for Doris' collection, and she was like, 'Cool ketchup packets.', and I was like, 'Thanks', and then you walked in." Nikki felt like laughing, but she smothered it. The siblings stopped in front of a charming blue house with yellow shutters, then entered it.
"That doesn't change anything." Nikki frowned as she put her backpack and shoes away. "Cassidy is furious, Henry. Nothing can sway her. Doesn't matter, anyway. She'll probably forget about it by tomorrow."
"Most likely." Henry agreed, and went into the living room. He flopped down on the couch, and opened up his homework. Nikki tramped upstairs to her room. Luckily, she only had a science paper due tomorrow, and she had finished that forever ago. Humming to herself, she put in her earphones and turned on "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull. Strolling over to her dresser by her window, she pulled out a magazine.......and stopped. Looking out the window, there was a little bundle on her porch, all by itself. She was going to ignore it, but something whispered in her head, saying, No, go get it. Curious, Nikki shut her dresser, pulled out her earphones, and clumped downstairs.

Opening the door and crouching down, she picked up the package and felt a tremendous jolt run through her. Gasping for air, Nikki dropped the bundle and fell to her knees. Clutching her sides, she heaved until she caught her breath again. When she finally recovered, she stared at the object with fear and apprehension. Plucking up her courage, she poked it again. When nothing happened, Nikki picked it up again, and ran into her house. She dumped it on the coffee table in front of Henry, who eyed it with interest.
"What's that?" he asked, closing his math book.
"It was outside on the porch." Nikki answered. Henry straightened.
"It could be dangerous, Nickel! Open it outside!" he cried. Nikki scooped it up and followed Henry out back. As soon as she set it down on the grass, Henry shoved something at her.
"Gloves." he said, wiggling his own blue ones. Rolling her eyes, Nikki tugged on the purple polka-dotted gloves. Taking a deep breath, she pulled at the bundle's linen wraps, pulling it back, to reveal.................
A baby.
A girl, with raven black curls and chubby cheeks, her eyes shut. Completely removing the wraps-careful to not even touch the baby-revealed the infant was wearing nothing but a cloth diaper, and a quick check proved that she was not dead, only sleeping. The siblings stared.
"How could it possibly be asleep?" Henry asked. "You dropped it like five times." Nikki blushed.
"Did not!" she said hotly. Henry hid a smile.
"Well, let's bring it inside, then." he told her.
"Me? Why can't you? Nikki said, still unwilling to touch the strange baby.
"You found it." he reminded her. Nikki sighed, and pulled off her gloves. Brushing back her midnight black hair, she cautiously picked it up. The eyes sprang open, and Nikki almost dropped it. The baby looked around for a minute, then stared at Nikki, who stared back. They eyes were weird; one minute they looked blue, then green, then gold, then silver, and so on, until they finally settled on a bright emerald green. The little girl cooed, and wrapped her chubby arms around Nikki's neck. Nikki grinned as the baby snuggled up to her.
"Aw, Henry! She's so cute!" she exclaimed.
"We are not keeping it, Nickel." Henry said sternly. "I'm calling Mom."
"She won't answer, Henry." And it was true; kind of. From six o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock at night, Mr. and Mrs. Forrester were at work. They were so busy, they answered calls from home, but never really paid attention. They were only focused on work, work, and more work. Not that they had to, just that they loved to work. They loved the deadlines, the planning, the calls, the faxes, the workloads, and the sheer work.
As a result, Nikki and Henry were treated like they were little kids, their parents too busy to realize the real ages of their children. The two learned very quickly to never open birthday presents from them in public.
But Henry ignored her and began dialing. After a second, Mrs. Forrester picked up.
"Hi, Mom, it's Henry." Henry twisted the phone cord around his finger.
"What, dear? I'm very busy." her musical voice floated from the phone speakers.
"Nikki found a baby, and we were wondering what to do about it."
"That's nice, darling. I'll be home at nine."
"But Nikki found a baby-"
"Sweetums, Mommy is working. No more phone calls, okay? I love you!"
"Mom, I'm sixteen. Don't-" he stopped as the line went dead. "Call me that." he finished, and hung up. Looking angry, he imitated strangling someone, and began to dial their dad's cell. He did not answer, and Henry finally gave up.
"Fine." he grouched. "We'll wait until they get home." Nikki cheered, but she couldn't resist.
"Thank you, Sweetums." she cooed in baby talk to her older brother. He put on a goofy expression.
"You're welcome, Mommy's Pwecious Pwincess." he replied, and Nikki shut up. Sticking out her tongue, she carried the baby upstairs to her room. Digging into her closet, she pulled out her fourteenth birthday presents from her parents that she hadn't gotten around to throwing away yet. Laying out the Dora the Explorer blanket, she played with the little girl, letting her gnaw on the Pooh Bear stuffed animals and the plastic Pretty Ponies with sparkly manes. Henry suddenly appeared in her doorway.
"Shouldn't we, like, feed it or something?" he asked as the infant tore out some of poor Barbie's hair.
"Yeah, probably." Nikki agreed, picking the kid up and following Henry downstairs. She tried to balance the baby on her hip while she peeled a banana without success. "Here, hold her for a sec." she told Henry, dumping her in his arms. The baby widened her already big eyes.
And then she began to cry.
No, no, cry was an understatement. More like blare. Her howls echoed off the walls, and she struggled in the confused Henry's hands. The light bulb shattered, and Nikki snatched the little girl back.
The newborn stopped immediately, and thrust her chubby arms around Nikki. Henry stood there, looking lost.

"Um, maybe you should hold her." he stammered, taking the un-peeled banana from his sister and removing its shell.

"Uh, yeah." Nikki managed. "Now you have to mash it up." she told him. He obediently fetched a bowl and fork, and turned the banana into a sticky paste.

Nikki started to spoon the banana into the baby's mouth when Henry stopped her.

"Wait," he took her hand and pointed. "Look at the ears." Pulling back the curls, he revealed pointed ears.

"Weird. It must be a birth defect or something." Nikki observed.

"It's awesome!" Henry cried. Nikki rolled her eyes and resumed feeding the child, who eagerly devoured the fruit.

Henry threw himself back onto the couch and continued his homework. After the baby was done, Nikki got the blanket from her room and spread it out in the living room by Henry. The rest of the afternoon was passed in silence, except from the occasional babble from the little girl.

At ten, their parents were still not home, but this happened often enough. Nikki and Henry heated up some leftover spaghetti, fed the baby some more banana, and got ready for bed.

At eleven o'clock, the adult Forresters unlocked the front door and stumbled inside, groaning.

"The car broke down." Jasmine Forrester moaned.

"And the tow people didn't come for three hours." Harold Forrester slumped in his easy chair.

"We are-" Mrs. Forrester stopped. "Is there a baby on the floor, or am I more tired than I think?"

"She was on the porch, Mom." Nikki told her.

"All by herself." Henry added.

"Did you two even check to see if she belonged to one of the neighbors?" Mrs. Forrester shrieked. She was hysterical within seconds. Her husband put his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

"No." Nikki responded guiltily. "No, it didn't even occur to me." Mrs. Forrester groaned.

"We'll deal with this tomorrow." she announced. "It's too late to start now. Henry, run up to the attic and fetch the old crib. Nikki, the baby will sleep in your room. There isn't room in ours. " Henry bolted upstairs, and Nikki carried the baby back up to her room with her parents following. Henry was already in there, unfolding the baby blue crib. Mrs. Forrester ran her hand over the crib, and smiled.

"You kids are so big now." she said. "Why, Nikki probably hasn't used this bed in almost five years." Nikki rolled her eyes and Henry moaned.

"Mom, Nickel is fourteen; almost fifteen. It's been ten years since this piece of junk has been used." he reminded her.

"Of course, dear." Mrs. Forrester said patronizingly. Setting out the Dora blanket in the bed, she took a small pillow from Nikki's bed and put it in the crib. Nikki put down the infant, and tucked it in, being obvious about the fact that she was going to sleep right next to her. Luckily, the little girl stayed silent, and Henry left the room, followed by his parents. Alone, Nikki turned off the light and crawled under her covers. Snuggling down, she fell asleep.
A crack of lightening startled Nikki out of her sleep, and she jolted up, clutching her covers. The storm was terrifying, worse than any other storm Nikki had ever seen. Branches banged on the walls, demanding to be let in. The wind clawed at the windows, howling in frustration as it sought a way through the glass. Raindrops fell against the house, scrabbling for a foothold before sliding to the ground. The lighting lit up the sky as brightly as the sun, causing the thunder to bellow with fury. 

Shivering, Nikki burrowed down deeper in her bed, casting a glance at the crib next to her. Miraculously, the baby slept on, completely oblivious. Nikki screwed her eyes shut and willed herself to fall asleep, only to scream as a loud thump echoed in her room. Thankful that the thunder had drowned out her scream, she spied that the cause of the noise was only her flashlight, which had rolled off her desk. Sighing, she threw off her covers and crept over to the flashlight, then picking it up and setting it back on her messy desk. Turning around, Nikki started for her bed just as another crack of lightning burst. Nikki screamed at the top of her lungs and raced to her bed.
There was someone outside her window.
Footsteps thudded as her family pounded into her room, with her dad wielding a lamp. Nikki's mom did a double take at her husband.
"Harold! That's my best lamp!" she scolded. Mr. Forrester examined his weapon with new found confusion.
"No wonder the bat felt so heavy." he muttered. The trio examined Nikki's room, but when they saw nothing out of the ordinary, they turned to Nikki with questioning glances.
"Th-there's someone outside my window!" Nikki stammered, pointing a trembling finger. Setting the flower-patterned lamp on the floor, Harold Forrester strode across the room and flung the window open. Ignoring the rain, he looked up and down, left and right, before coming back in and closing the window.
"No monster here." He said cheerily.
"I know the storm is scary, sweetie, but there's no such thing as monsters." Jasmine put her arm around her daughter.
"I know that!" Nikki snapped, shoving her away. "I'm not a baby. But there is someone out there! I know what I saw!" Her mother pursed her lips.
"Of course, dear." she said soothingly. "Here." she left the room, only to return with a box in her hands. Henry yawned sleepily, scratched his head, and trundled back to bed, seeing no imminent danger to protect his sister from.
Mrs. Forrester dumped out an odd assortment of plastic items; a moon, a Pooh bear, sleeping baby, and an Elmo. Going around the room, she plugged in each thing into the four outlets she found, and each one lit up as they received a jolt of electricity.
"There." Jasmine said, satisfied with herself. "We all know that light keeps monsters away, so we'll just have this night-lights in here tonight, okay?" Before Nikki could respond, she smiled. "Good! Good-night!" And with that, she exited with her spouse, closing the door behind her.

Shuddering, Nikki took a deep breath.

"Okay, NIkki," she murmured, creating a cocoon with her blankets. "It's only a storm. That face was just your imagination. Get over it. It's only a storm. The face was your imagination. Get over it. It's only a storm......." Nikki trailed off as the lightning flashed yet again, but this time with no spooky face outside the window. The thunder rumbled. Then there was the sound of shattering glass.

Nikki jerked up again, her fingers gripping the sheets.

I've gotta be dreaming, she thought, fear curling its icy claws around her heart. But this was no dream. There was a group of about five men in her room. Shining gold armor glittered with malice when the lightning flashed, and the men all held sharp pikes that looked sharp enough to stab through titanium. And they-wait, that couldn't be right. Nikki rubbed her eyes, but she was not imagining it. Each man had wings sticking outside his back, fluttering to keep the stranger afloat. They were in varying colors of blue, purple, red, green, and pink, and so on. The one with pink wings stepped (Or would it be fluttered?) forward.
"Nikki Forrester," he said in a deep, commanding voice. "You have been accused of kidnapping Princess Vinessan of the Fairy Kingdom. You will be escorted back to the kingdom, where you will have a fair trial and then be executed. Escape is futile, and resisting is unwise." One guard came over to that stupid crib and scooped up the sleeping baby, who awoke as soon as she was touched and began to wail. The thunder drowned out the loud noise, and the guard placed the child in a small pack that was designed as a bed, pink, and decorated with daisies. When the guard put the pack on his armored back, he looked so funny Nikki would have laughed if she wasn't about to wet herself.
Two guards gripped each of Nikki's arms, and lifted her into the air as if she weighed nothing. There was a sharp crack in the air and a blinding pain in the back of her neck, and then Nikki's world went dark.

Author's Note

Just a start....tell me what you think!

Awarded Best Use of Word in the "Just a Peek..." contest
Awarded Pixie in the "Take Me to Faery!!" contest

Reviews

[paparapapa]

Loved it! Really interesting. But please don't tell me there won't be any Henry anymore in the next chapters. Haha. Anyway, very good beginning. It's captivating and fun to read. But I just want to suggest to edit the formatting of the chapter. Like put spaces in between paragraphs or dialogues so that it won't be unpleasant to the eyes. Also, please separate the dialogue of 1 person from the reaction of the 2nd person.

For example, '"You found it." Nikki sighed, and pulled off her gloves.'

It was Henry's line, but the name immediately after the dialogue is Nikki, so sometimes I find it confusing and I have to read it again. Well, just saying. =)) But still, great details and I have to say you've got a fascinating imagination. Great job. ;)

[OhNova]

Wow, this was a very interesting start! Finding a baby, being accused of kidnapping a princess from some kingdom, then being told you must face execution! Can't wait to read what comes next. =D

[SparksLC]

Oh my god.... i LOVED this! This was amazing! I was captivated the entire time. You have an amazing writing style =). Great work! I feel as if great is too lesser of a word for how good this was. I would pick this up in a bookstore any day!

[Barbie]

OOOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goodie goodie!!! This is pretty darn good Bella... Amazing actually...

[Jasmine Thousand]

Well, I did like the overall SUBJECT, but I didn't find it written in an "eye catching way" unfortunately, But still, I did like the story, just the bait wasn't tasty enough! XD
~The Book Contest~