Fiasco Vacation

Eleven-year-old Alex Sherwood and her two siblings, Alyssa and Jen, helped their parents carry several bulky suitcases to the boot of their car. It had been more than eight years since Luna was left at her adopted parents’ doorstep. The Sherwoods were going on a vacation to the beach with their friends, the Krests’. It was the summer holidays and Alex was about to start Secondary School.

Alex was rather short for her age with very tan skin and black eyes. She’d let down her shoulder-length wavy and neat jet-black hair, which she usually tied in a ponytail. Jen, unlike Alex, was quite tall for her age. She had slightly darker and tan skin, straight black hair, a round nose and black eyes. She was the pretty one in the three sisters, even though all three of them looked very alike. Alyssa was almost the spitting image of Alex, but she was less tan, quite gangly, bespectacled, and had long straight hair.

After getting all their belongings inside the boot of the car, they drove off to the Krests’ home. The Krest family’s children were waiting for them outside the gate. Ellen Krest, the eldest child, disappeared into the house and her two younger brothers, Colin and Ron, moved away from the gates. A few minutes later, the gates swung open and a people carrier drove out of the house’s garage and halted next to the Sherwoods’ car. Alyssa, Alex and Jen decided to ride in the Krests’ people carrier for the rest of the journey. The Krests had two cars, so Mr and Mrs Krest rode in another car to make room for the three Sherwood children. The people carrier which the children rode in was driven by the Krests’ family driver whom they, the Krests, treated like family.

Ellen and Alex were classmates and best friends. They’d been friends since kindergarten. Ellen was a thin girl with slightly sun-kissed skin, and large brown eyes. Her straight black hair fell to her waist, and was tame enough to stay away from her slim face. Colin was rather skinny and short, even for his age, and he had fair skin and the same straight black hair and large brown eyes. But he had his father’s strong eyebrows which gave him an almost hawkish look, unlike his sister’s soft eyebrows inherited from their mother. Ron, unlike his two siblings, was plump and had rosy cheeks, and he too had his father’s strong eyebrows.

 On the way, the children talked excitedly about what they were going to do when they arrived and which hotel they were going to stay in. However, the euphoria and excitement vanished when Colin and Alex began bickering. During the time of their argument, Ellen, Alyssa, Ron, and Jen continued to discuss their plans for the vacation: where they would go, what they would see and what they would do.

 The car soon came to a halt at the side of a road outside the city. There were lush trees and plants on either side of the road. The other two cars also came to a halt on the roadside. Everyone stepped out of the cars and inhaled deeply. Some of them stretched their legs whereas others simply took out the snacks from the snack boxes in the cars and began to eat.

 Alex and Ellen discussed their new school year since they were both going to start secondary school. While chattering, Alex spotted a yellow butterfly fluttering in the air. It kept flying in circles and it was flying up and down. Yet, it was drawing closer to the ground. It suddenly zoomed up in mid-air. However, once it was about two metres away from the ground, it suddenly dropped onto Ellen’s head.

Ellen panicked when she felt something soft fall on her head, worried that it might have been an unpleasant insect. Revolted, she shrieked, ‘Get it off! Get it OFF!’ and she attempted to slap it off her head. The butterfly then landed on her hand.

 ‘You panicked for nothing, Ellen. It was just a butterfly,’ Alex chuckled.

 ‘Shut up, Alexandria,’ Ellen snapped flatly, clearly embarrassed.

 ‘No one calls me that,’ mumbled Alex.

 Ellen turned her attention to the insect that was lying on her palm. She realised the reason why it had fallen on her head.

 ‘Alex, its wing’s broken! Look!’ she held out her hand so as to let her friend see it.

 ‘That’s a wing?’ Alex asked incredulously. ‘What happened to it? Looks more like a miniature yellow rag than anything.’

 Ellen gave Alex an impatient look and sighed ‘If you’re not going to give me any suggestions on what to do with it, you might as well not talk at all. Honestly, at times you can be so childish, even if you’re half a year older.’

 ‘I’m trying to lighten the mood here and clearly I’m about as successful in it as I am at growing two inches in a month. Anyway, the only sensible thing we can do is to put it out of its misery. I mean, there’s no way its wing’s ever going to heal.’

 Ellen ignored Alex’s comment and stroked the butterfly gently. Strangely, its wing seemed to look less and less like a ‘rag’, as Alex called it, and more and more like a proper wing. Later, the holes and cuts in the wing got smaller and smaller until there were no cuts at all! Its wing was perfectly mended. Ellen stared at the butterfly and slowly looked up at Alex. She, Alex, stood a few feet away from Ellen, rooted to the spot and petrified. Her face had gone very white.

 Without thinking, Ellen shook her hand violently. The butterfly flew off her hand, did a somersault in mid-air as if to say ‘Thank you,’ and zoomed out of sight with incredible speed. Ellen and Alex stared after it, thunderstruck. After several minutes of silence, they both slowly craned their necks in each other’s direction and screamed.

 ‘What’s going on? Why did you two just run amok?’ asked Alyssa.

 ‘W " W " we didn’t run amok!’ stuttered Alex.

 'Of course you did! Well, Ellen did, anyway. She was swinging her arms around so violently, she could’ve beheaded someone if she was holding an axe,’ Alyssa said dryly.

 ‘That’s because we were t " telling each other ghost stories,’ Alex lied.

 Ellen stared at her. Alex Sherwood, one of the most honest people she knew, was telling an outright lie to her own sister " and she actually didn’t give her dishonesty away.

 ‘Oh! Okay then, let’s hear it. I just love ghost stories,’ Alyssa said excitedly.

 Alex grimaced. Why did Alyssa want to meddle in matters that did not concern her? Luckily, Mrs Krest announced that their short break was over and that they should all get back in the cars and carry on with the trip. Alyssa scowled and walked towards the car, where Mrs Sherwood spoke to her with a furtive and serious look on her face while Alyssa nodded obediently every now and then. Alex sighed with relief. What made Alex and Ellen feel even better was the fact that Alyssa did not bother to ask them to tell her any ghost stories for the rest of the way, as if it had been driven out of her mind " or as if Mrs Sherwood had ordered her not to bring up the subject, for she, Alyssa, was obedient and had always been expected to be a good role model for her two younger sisters, which often irritated them.

About two hours later, they finally stopped. They had reached Shorewood Hotel. It had glass doors at the entrance and several marble pillars. There were beautiful plants near the entrance. A doorman in a scarlet and gold uniform opened the door to let them all in. The lobby was just as magnificent as the rest of the hotel. It was lit by several light bulbs inside frosted glass containers. There were several soft armchairs and sofas arranged around carved wooden tables. The floor was carpeted with a soft and thick rug that had light brown and grey patterns on it. The children walked swiftly from the lobby to the swimming pool area and there, a wonderful sight met their eyes.

 There were two swimming pools; one was deep while the other was shallow. The latter was three times the size of the former. There was a minuscule ‘island’ between the two pools which was made of cement but it had real grass growing on it and there was a small coconut tree on it. There was also a small bridge between the ‘island’ and a barrier that separated the two pools. On one side of the deep pool was a drink stall with barmen serving cold refreshments such as fruit punch. In front of the stall were several metal stools with leathery cushions submerged in the water. After gazing at the pool area as if in some kind of trance, the children trooped back to the lobby and sat on the armchairs.

 Once their parents had booked their rooms and transferred their luggage onto trolleys, the two families arranged to meet back in the lobby after an hour and headed for their own hotel rooms.

*

The Sherwoods and the Krests gathered in the lobby again as planned. The parents discussed where they should go out for dinner while the children continued to talk excitedly about what they were going to do after dinner. Ron said that Mrs Krest had bought a large chocolate cake for everyone to eat in ‘celebration’ of Ellen and Alex starting secondary school. Despite the fact that they were not related, Alyssa, Jen and Alex could not help seeing Mrs Krest as their second mother.

 On their way to the restaurant, the six children poked the heads out of the sunroof of the Krests’ people carrier. Since it was already past sunset, they enjoyed a refreshing oceanic breeze. The stars overhead glittered in the night sky and the moon looked ever so serene. The breeze that was blowing against them ruffled their hair and slightly stung their eyes so that they could hardly see properly, but they didn’t mind.

 Ellen closed her eyes and inhaled deeply; taking in the salty sea air. This was undoubtedly an unforgettable night. She wanted to remember every single moment of this vacation. She visualised herself flying above a wood, a cooling breeze enveloping her. She smiled but did not realise she was doing so. The only thing about the trip that Alex did not enjoy was the fact that Ellen’s and Alyssa’s long hair kept hitting her in the face " which she initially mistook for incoming insects " but she eventually got used to it.

 Soon, the car approached a road with woods on either side. The woods looked so frightening and foreboding at night that children found it hard to believe that these were the same woods they had passed by on their way to the hotel.

 Alex shuddered violently as strong blasts wind began blowing at them. As the minutes passed, the wind grew stronger and colder. It howled and sounded like the moaning of several despairing ghosts.

 ‘Alyssa, you don’t think there are ghosts in the forest, do you?’ asked Alex, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice, but to no avail.

 ‘Of course there aren’t,’ retorted Alyssa, but she did not sound too certain.

 Eventually, the wind blew so strongly that it almost carried Colin along with it. Everyone panicked. The wind persisted to grow in strength and the terrified children clutched onto the railings around the sunroof as if their lives depended on it. Either because they had all lost their wits or because they were too afraid to let go of the railings, the children did not plunge back down into the safe environment of the car.

 At last, the wind succeeded in carrying, not one, but all six children along with it. They screamed in horror until their throats were sore and their voices were hoarse. They hovered above the woods. Frightened though she was, Alex could not help enjoying the ride that the wind was giving her. It annoyed her that her mind could get distracted even in a life-threatening situation like this.

 Soon, they were hovering over a clearing in the woods with very little trees. The wind seemed to be abating. Everyone’s faces went white. They all noticed the wind growing less strong as the minutes passed by.

 ‘I wish there was a lake or a river so that we don’t hit the earth and end up either dead or fractured,’ whimpered Jen.

 ‘But some of us can’t swim, mind you!’ exclaimed Alex.

 She was actually referring to Colin, Ron and Jen herself, for they could hardly keep afloat without the holding on to a wall or barrier for support. Strangely, right after Jen had mentioned a water source, Alex noticed a small lake in the clearing that, she was certain, had not been there before.

 ‘Let’s hope the wind dies away when we’re right above that lake!’ said Ron desperately.

 Whether it was simply a coincidence or because there was some magic in the forest, the wind died away as soon as all six children were directly above the lake. ‘Hold your breath!’ Alyssa demanded to everyone else " which Alex found redundant as they all had the common sense to do as Alyssa said even without her instructions " just a few seconds before they all hit the water with a deafening ‘Splash!’