Leeya Key(a secret place)

                   Leeya Key(a secret place)

Leeya, Lee, Porta was one of several kids in one family. With so many kids, she was easily left out of something, or left somewhere. The bright side was her uncle Jason. She could call him if she got left somewhere or wanted to do something and no one else took any notice.

Her parents were planning a get away for themselves, and asked the kids who they would like to stay with.

Everyone’s response was either grandparents of either parent, or friends.

Once the others finished and left, Leeya asked, “can I stay with uncle Jason?”

Her parents smiled and nodded.

She ran smiling back to her room. She would be spending time at her uncle’s place.

Early the mourning that they planned to go off on their trip, they dropped off the kids. They managed everyone, except Lee.

She sighed and called Jason, who arrived sooner then she thought was possible.

“I figured they would forget, so I started heading over about an hour before they said they would drop you off. Now climb in and lets be off,” he said as he placed Lee’s bags in the car, she climbed in and grabbed the plush she had left at his house last visit, sitting in the glove compartment.

It felt like the greatest day of her life. Her and Jason, spending time together. They both smiled the whole way home.

Lee set her things in her usual room, that looked like she lived there more then at her own home, then ran down stairs to see what Jason had planned. For the rest of that day they just hanged out, making Lee feel that she really mattered.

After a few weeks Lee’s 10th b-day came, though the rest of her family didn’t seem to notice, so Jason did a small party for her.

“that was the best party ever. Thanks Jason,” Lee hugged Jason tight around the neck till they both laughed.

Jason pried Lee off his neck and said, “I have one last present for you. Wait here and close your eyes,” he slipped into his office space while Lee covered her closed eyes with her hands. Just when she thought she was being pranked she felt something around her neck and heard Jason say, “open your eyes.”

Lee slowly opened her eyes and saw herself in front of a mirror, with a uniquely beautiful key pendant necklace around her neck. She lightly touched the key pendent and said, “I love it. Thank you uncle Jason.”

Jason hugged Lee around the middle and kissed her on the side of the head, “it was my pleasure. Now I am going to call your parents and have them tell you happy birthday, because they should.” He grabbed the phone, pushed a few buttons, then tossed it to Lee.

Lee held the phone to her ear and asked, “hello?” on the other end she heard her parents murmur for a moment, then they said, ‘we are so sorry we forgot about your birthday Lee. Thank Jason for us. Happy birthday Sweety,” she heard a double kiss and the call ended.

She let the phone hang by her side as she relayed what they said, “they say thanks for throwing a party for me. May I go to my room please?”

Jason saw Lee trying to keep tears from flowing from her eyes, “yeah, go ahead. I need to work on something.”

Lee quickly walked back to her room and shut the door just before tears fell and she sobbed into her pillow.

Jason shook his head, “something tells me what they said was not enough, for a girl who has been left behind far to often. I will be calling them again tonight, and have a serious about how they are handling this.”

He banged his office door shut behind him, {though he knew/knowing} Lee would likely fall asleep from crying.

It was nearly 4:30 in the afternoon before Jason got worried about Lee, she hadn’t made a sound sense she ran to her room to cry. He opened her bedroom door, saw her laying on the bed with a stuffed toy in her arms, and a tear stained face. He brushed hair out of her face, and lightly kissed her cheek.

Lee groaned and looked up at Jason, “hey. How long have I been up here?”

Jason sat down and rubbed Lee’s back, “we had your party just before noon, and now it is a few hours till supper time. You ok?”

Leeya looked away as she answered, “I wish I could just live with you Jason, then I would never be left anywhere ever again.”

Jason’s heart ached for Lee, wanting to help more then he had already done. He saw the necklace he gave her and said, “you don’t have to show or tell anyone else in your family about your necklace. It is just for you. What do you want for supper, pizza or Chinese take out, or what?”

Lee smiled back and said, “do we have stuff for making pizza at home?”

“we could really go scratch and make the dough. Wait, there are big tortillas we could cover with cheese and other toppings, pop them in the oven, and have as many as we want that way…or at least till we run out of something,” Jason winked and headed downstairs to make sure they had all they needed to even do this.

When supper time came around, the kitchen became a total mess in no time flat. Bits of food were everywhere, and even on the light overhead. After eating they spent half an hour cleaning it all up, and themselves as well.

When they finally sat down on the couch Lee said with a huge smile on her face, “that was the best, even with the mess. I wish it could be like this all the time.”

Jason pulled Lee close as he asked jokingly, “that was not you birthday wish was it?”

Lee just giggled and leaned into him as she grabbed the remote so they could watch a show they both liked to watch.

It was so great Lee didn’t want it to stop.

But all good things must end.

Lee’s parents came back a few days later, though Jason had to drop her off at home again because they kept having to go and find one of the other kids who decided to run off somewhere.

Jason helped Lee get her things back to her room, then hugged her one last time before having to leave.

“you know you can call me anytime,” he gave her one small kiss on the forehead before walking out the front door and driving back to his home.

Soon everything settled back to the way it was, just plain crazy.

School started up like normal, but to Lee it was a welcome relief from her family. Regular kids, regular classes, regular teachers that would actually ask how things were doing at home now and then. She would just say ‘one plain kid, and a dozen hyper ones. Need I say more’.

Lee stood in front of school, like she always did, waiting for her parents to pick her up. She checked her watch, nearly an hour had past. She huffed, “I am better off being adopted.”

She jerked as something by her neck thrummed. She grabbed and pulled out her key necklace, it vibrated in her hand. Before she could wonder why it was doing that, she saw a small sparkling orb in the air. She walked over and without questioning why, she put the key in the light and turned.

Slowly a line formed around the orb to form a door, that she pushed ajar and stepped inside.

~

Lee looked around at the ‘room’ she had stepped into, and was stunned.

There was a path with silky smooth stones with seashells lining the sides.

The air was filled with hummingbirds and dragonflies, buzzing from flowers of every color imaginable.

She walked along the path, admiring everything she saw.

She leaned over and smelled a flower, “that smells like…honey!”

She sniffed another one, “that one is vanilla. This is crazy, but I love it.”

she ran down the path, wanting to see where it led to.

It stopped at a huge tree with a beautiful pool of water at the base on one side.

She took off her shoes and put her feet in the water as she sat on the edge.

She sighed and leaden back, being in the moment, “this is almost perfect. I wish I could bring uncle…what was that noise?”

she turned and saw a door form on the side of the tree.

She put her shoes back on and looked more closer at it.

It did look like the first one, but it had a dull look, like it had been there for a while.

“if the first one took me here, I might as well see where this one goes,” she put the key in the hole, turned, and walked through.

~

Lee’s jaw dropped, this time shock of annoyance. She was back home.

She turned to go back, but the door was gone. She pouted, “that is not fair. I was not done there.”

The front door of her home opened and one of her siblings poked his head out.

He said, “I thought you were left behind again. Mom and dad were about to come get you, NOT!” pulled his head in and ran back to his room.

Lee headed inside, her shoulders sagging. She walked right by her family, with none of them saying a word to her. She sank onto her bed, “I want to go back to that place. How did I go there anyway?” She held up her key necklace, and took a closer look at the pendent.

The pendent had a design that looked Victorian, with twists flowers and leaves along the whole thing.

The center of where you would hold the key, had stars and their tails woven together to form a pattern.

Lee leaned even closer to try and figure out what they formed, but her little sisters ran in yelling at the top of their lungs.

Lee held her necklace against her chest and shouted, “sense when can people just barge in without knocking?”

The girls giggle and screamed their heads off.

Lee couldn’t stand this, and stormed out of the room and headed for the backyard. She open the tool shed door, shutting it knowing her siblings would never go in there. She leaned again the side and breathed out, “now maybe I can have some peace and quite. Lets see what you look like exactly.”

She tried to see in the dimly lit shed, but she would have been better off trying to look at it in the dark.

A bang on the shed door scared her nearly out of her skin.

Her dad said, “I got the girls out of your room, and your mom will help you clean up…once she gets the girls cleaned up.”

As always Lee had to clean up everyone else, and herself, and she was not even a teen yet.

When she did get back to her room, her jaw dropped.

It was a war room, with paint and glitter.

Lee grabbed the cell phone Jason had given her after one time she had been left somewhere and had no way to contact him.

She ran out back and dialed him, barely able to keep from screaming into the phone, “ sorry about this Jason, but my parents will never get any time for me to tell them. The twin terrors splattered paint all over my room, and because mom has to clean them up I am left to clean their mess by myself. Preteens should not have to worry about this, we have to worry about when zits come in, and how we will look when we do become teens.” She wiped at the tears that had suddenly started flowing down her face.

“I really want to help Lee, but law and all that means I have to make an agreement with your parents. You know as well as I do getting your parents to sit down and talk for more then a few minutes is near impossible. All I can offer is a weekend stay at my place, they will always say yes to that,” Jason said as calmly as he could, though annoyance was welling inside him from everything.

Lee smiled through the tears on her face, “thanks Jason. I’ll go ask them now.” she could only find her dad, who was fine with it sense to him that meant one less kid to handle.

Lee knew she took on jobs young adults normally do around the house. The one bad thing was that she had to wait the week out, and that nearly sent her over the edge.

Just two days later Lee had to wait for her little sibs while they played in a field on a school team. She turned her back for only a moment, but that was long enough for them all to split off at sprints in different directions. She looked for a few hours, and found herself lost in the woods. “great, not only do I lose track of my little siblings, I get lost myself. This can not get any worse,” she leaned on a tree, but soon felt the same thrum on her chest. She grinned as she pulled out the key necklace and saw the design lightly glowing on her palm. She looked around for the glowing spot to show where the ‘door’ was.

The spot was just off center on a huge tree, who’s trunk looked several feet around.

She pushed in the key, then whispered in her mind ‘anyplace but here’, and walked in.

~

This time Lee was in some woods, the one thing that told her she was not back home was the leaves.

One tree had all red leaves, another had all pink.

Small critters ran around her feet, a little bird landed on her shoulder and rubbed it’s head into her cheek.

She reached down and picked up one of the furry critter while cupping the other hand over the bird.

The furry one ran up her arm and jumped on her head, and then jumped to a tree branch and scampered off just before the other one scrambled after it.

She sighed and giggled at the same time, “this is just what I needed.”

A tall deer like thing walked up to her, looked her in the eye with it’s head just slightly cocked to the side.

She had a good idea what it wanted.

“alright. I’ll follow you,” she placed her hand on the deer-thing’s back and let it lead her through the woods, which gave her a chance to see more trees with more colored leaves.

As they walked on the ground, critters ran through the trees overhead as if in a race with the ground walkers or with each other in the trees.

They soon reached a open glade, with tree stumps in the form of chairs tables and several other things.

She walked around and saw a small stream winding halfway around the glade before flowing back into the woods to somewhere.

She set the bird on a high plant next to a chair she then sat in, and just relaxed.

More critters ran out and jumped onto the tables and chairs, some got in fights over who got to sit where.

She laughed at the sound, “sounds like my brothers and sisters at dinner.”

She leaned back and found the wooden chair surprisingly comfortable.

The deer nosed her shoulder till she looked up, then pointed at the big table with various kinds of fruit on it.

“I am kind of hungry,” and bit into a purple apple, that tasted as sweet as watermelon.

After a few more pieces of fruit she laid in the grass, close to the water and listened to it gurgle slowly by, “I could stay here forever.”

Her cell phone buzzed on her hip, “must be Jason. He left a message. I should show this place to…that is a new one.” right on top of the large wooden table a door appeared.

She had an idea of where it would lead, but she wanted to tell Jason about all of this.

She stepped up to the door, put in the key, turned it and walked out into the park Jason had taken her to a few times.

~

Lee was glad she was not home right now. She grabbed her phone and called up Jason, “Jason, sorry I didn’t get your call sooner.”

Jason sounded relieved when he heard Lee’s voice, “its ok, I was just worried when your sibs came home without you. Where have you been by the way?”

Lee grinned from ear to ear, “I will tell you this weekend. For now I think I should get home and keep the peace.” She knew was only a few minutes from home, so she jogged home to see some of her sibs out front screaming and yelling as they ran around. She sighed, “no place like home, I guess. Better check in with my parents.” She dodged her way to the door, then made her way to find her parents.

Her parents were so busy, that when they saw her they only asked if she could check on the kids.

She rolled her eyes, ‘yeah, they were really concerned about me’. She did her normal sib check, clean up any messes, then locked herself in the bathroom; the only room she could use that had a working lock on the door.

The moment she pulled out her phone to call Jason, it rang. She flipped it open and said, “you have amazing timing.”

Jason chuckled on the other end, “thought I should check up on you. Now let me guess, your parents didn’t know you didn’t come home with the others?”

Lee slumped her shoulders, “yeah. The only thing they asked was that I check on my sibs. I really wonder if I am related to any of them some times. How did you know I didn’t come home with the rest?”

“I happen to be driving by the house as they got there, and didn’t see you. I…I really care about you…how do I say this and not sound creepy?” Jason was having serious trouble getting his words out the way he wanted.

Lee knew what he was trying to say, “I love you to d…Jason. Maybe if they even bothered to see what happened around them. Sorry about that Jason, I didn’t mean to.”

“yeah, me to. See you this weekend Lee,” Jason blew a kiss through the phone before hanging up.

Lee flipped the phone closed, her heart ached over the whole thing.

She broke up a fight between her sibs, picked up a few tossed cloths, then shut and locked the door to her room.

She wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment, but had a feeling the door wouldn’t show up where crazy kids could get in and wreck havoc on such a beautiful place.

The next day was a day off of looking after her sibs, a day of piece and quiet to her.

She went to the library early so she could some reading in before school, but found the librarian cleaning up after the last time her sibs were in here doing ‘research’.

Lee waited till after school to go to the park to relax on the swings.

Some kids ran by, but nothing like the noise her brothers and sisters made.

She saw a parent pick up their child that had fallen and bruised themselves somehow, and wished Jason was there, just to be there with her.

She wanted to be by herself, her own world. She felt a thrum in her pocket, reached in and pulled out the key pendant.

She didn’t remember putting it in her pocket, but she looked for the door anyway.

She saw the glow spot by the big tree behind the bathroom building, and ran right to it.

~

Lee eagerly entered the door, but was confused as she saw she was in a dark wooded area.

“not what I was expecting. Maybe there is a…path!” she ran along a path lined with something glowing brightly.

She didn’t have to run long, she soon reached a large area with a playground full of every kind of play set made out of the vary woods.

She jumped on a mushroom, and bounced right off and fell onto a big blanket of moss that felt some as cotton.

“I don’t want to play here all alone!” She yelled out with a cheer.

She could hear the animals coming before she could see them.

Deer, ferrets, thin bears, some other furry things ran around the area and jumped on and off everything.

She giggled as she said, “wait for me” and ran to join in.

She played for what could have been hours, and the animal even played fair.

She found stomach growling, “I am a little hungry. Where are the fruit bushes?”

A pair of young deer lead her to some small bushes with bright fruit growing all over them.

She bit into a neon pink one, and stifled a giggle, “they are sweet, and juicy. Lets see how to get some over to the table so everyone can have some.”

She found a basket made from roots and carried several bunches to a trunk table, then let the whole contents roll out on the table moment before everyone lined up to eat.

She helped some chipmunks onto the table and said, “no need to wait. Just be careful with the juice, and the mess that could result.”

Everyone dove in, keeping the mess more or less contained.

Soon all the animal were taking naps, after helping clean up from their meal.

She laid next to a fluffy bear thing, and relaxed.

“after a good meal, a nap is a really nice idea,” yawned big, and dozed more then sleep.

She was disturbed by her phone buzzing on her hip.

She flipped it open, and her jaw dropped at the time.

“I better get home, before something happens to the house without me being there,” she saw the glow spot in the middle of the playground.

Her shoulders slumped as she put in the key and walked back home.

~

Some of Lee’s siblings seemed worried, for a moment, then they just went back to what they had been doing.

Lee whispered to herself as she went to ‘work’, “just wait till tomorrow, the you will be at Jason’s.”

But to her tomorrow could not come fast enough.

The next mourning Jason drove up early, to see Lee waiting on the front porch with her mom and a bag.

Lee climbed in as her mom said, “should I say sorry or thanks about this?”

Jason chuckled, “I guess a little of both. Thanks for taking Lee for a while, and sorry I can’t take a few…” Lee made a motion to stop talking where he was.

“I will get her to school as usual the day after the weekend ends, then she will just come back home after. Bye,” and with that Jason drove back to his home, with a vary happy Lee in the front passenger seat.

The moment they were inside, Jason grabbed Lee around the middle and asked, “now what was it you had to wait till this weekend to tell me?”

Lee squirmed in his grasp, but didn’t care if she got out or not, “the key you gave me is really great. It somehow takes me to…” but the thought left her before she could finish it.

Jason turned Lee around to see her face, “Lee you ok? What is it?”

“I wanted to tell you something, but I can’t remember what it was now. My head feels funny,” Lee leaned to one side as she started to lose her balance.

Jason caught and carried her to her room. He checked her for a fever, but she felt fine. He gently felt for a scratch or something stuck in her somewhere, but found nothing.

He took the key necklace off her neck and placed it on her bedside table, and for a moment thought he saw a glimmer. He ignored it and tucked Lee for some rest.

“get some sleep, you deserve it,” he kissed her on the forehead and left.

*Lee found herself running through the very woods she had been in yesterday.

She looked to the sides ad saw shadows running along side her.

Now and then one shadow would jump across her path, but was not there long enough for her to see what it was.

She tried to call out, but couldn’t find her voice.

A sudden light ahead seemed to burst right in front of her.

She raised her arms to block it, and for a moment felt like she was falling.*

Lee jerked awake in her bed at Jason’s house.

She reached for the key around her neck, then spotted it on her bedside table, “why couldn’t I say anything about it? I wonder what time it is?”

She walked downstairs to find Jason cooking up mac-and-cheese for lunch.

Jason turned and smiled as Lee came in, “feeling better sweetie?”

Lee blushed a cherry red, “I don’t know what happened, or why. I really wanted to tell you something, but its like my mind wont let me. Sorry, I must sound crazy.”

Jason hugged her with one arm, “as long as you are ok, I am fine with whatever you say. I have a fun filled weekend for us both, hope you’re ready.”

After lunch they played cards for a few hours, then sat and watched a movie or two.

From backyard games to any indoor game, they played them all, and still had some time left over for some lay back time.

Just after lunch the next day, Jason and Lee were just watching TV on the couch.

Lee was just happy to be with Jason for such a long time.

She yawned and said without thinking, “this is nice, don’t you think dad?” her eyes sprang open as she realized what she said. “I didn’t mean any…”

Jason kissed her on the forehead, “I love you to Lee. I wont tell if you wont.”

Lee smiled as she laid down with her head in Jason’s lap.

He slid one arm around her back, and the other around her front.

As he pulled her close in a hug, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him back.

They just sat hugging until both their stomachs growl in hunger.

“I am thinking tacos for dinner. What do you think?” Jason asked as he let Lee sit up.

Lee headed for the kitchen, “tacos, and home made ice-cream with all the trimmings. So do you call up a taco place, or do you…?”

The ringing phone interrupted Lee.

Jason picked up and said, “Hello? Oh, hey. Is everything ok? Yeah we’ll be right over.” he hung up the phone and told Lee, “the younger twin girls have a really bad bug. Your parents are at the hospital, so they want us to keep an eye on the others while they look after the twins. Come on, put on your coat.” he held out her coat for her.

Lee grabbed the coat, then ran upstairs, “just let me get one other thing,” and placed the key around her neck before running back downstairs and out the door to join Jason in the car.

“not to try and turn this back on me, but, I guess our little weekend break is over.”

“yeah, you did kind of turn it back towards you,” Jason watched Lee out of the corner of his eye, and grinned when she blushed, “but you are allowed that. We will try another weekend. Ok sweetie?”

Lee nodded, then sat quietly till they got to her home.

When they reached the house, all the kids were quite; for about ten minutes.

After having to keep the piece for several hours, Lee’s parents finally came home with two vary tired girls in their arms.

“they said it was just a stomach bug that is going around. It’s late, do you want to stay the night Jason?” Lee’s mom asked.

Lee gripped Jason’s hand hard, giving him her answer.

“sure, one night wouldn’t hurt. I think you can guess who I will bunk with,” Jason stated as he ruffed up Lee’s hair.

All the kids crowded around Jason for a few hours, but Lee knew she would have him to herself once they grew tired of his way of doing things.

One by one they left to do their own thing, and Lee sat down next to Jason for ‘us’ time.

Jason wrapped his arms around Lee’s middle, and pulled her close.

“I don’t know your movie selection. Have any action or adventure ones?” Jason asked, looking at the shelves of videos on either side of the TV.

Lee shrugged, “nothing to thrilling. Mainly educational, and vary kid friendly. I just sit in my room, or the shed, and read most of the time. We do have several games you can choose from, like card and board games.”

Jason looked down his nose at Lee, “you read in a shed? Guess that is why you like watching movies half the time your at my house. May I ask why you read in a shed at all?”

Lee closed her eyes as she leaned back into Jason, “because the others will just barge in at random, and I can’t even get them out without getting mom and dad involved. Last time they covered my room with paint and glitter. I just wanted to cry right then and there.”

Jason opened his eyes wide at this new info. ‘she is practically a maid and nanny for them, and them don’t even seem to see that happening’. “the best I can do now, is maybe put a better lock on your door,” he offered.

Lee griped Jason’s hands in her own, “don’t bother. The last one they bought and put in, broke within a month. I wish I lived with you Jason,” her voice cracked with her last few words.

As Lee started to cry, Jason got up and carried her back to her room. He tucked her in, and kissed her goodnight before heading to the spare room to sleep till mourning. “I really need to talk to them about her now, before she runs away or something.”

The next mourning he helped Lee get everyone ready to go out, including finding cloths and packing lunches.

With them all piled in Jason’s car, he dropped them off at their schools; but waited at Lee’s school to talk to her. “Lee, please try and hang in there until I can talk to your parents about what you told me. Ok?”

Lee leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “ok Jason, I wont run off and join the circus,” jumped out of the car and ran inside the school.

Jason sat there for a while, but then drove back to his own home to get ready for work.

The week was normal for Lee, help her sibs with their homework then try and do her own before going to bed.

Jason called once to say he was going out of town for work that following weekend, and wouldn’t be back until mid Sunday or so.

Lee wanted more then anything to either stay at his home or be with him on his business trip, but she knew she would never get her parents to listen long enough to even hear her ask about going anywhere. She dragged herself through the week, not having anything to look forward to.

It was Saturday, so Lee wanted to sleep in for a while. Her mom and sibs had other ideas.

Her mom came in and asked, “Lee, would you take the younger ones to the pool for some swimming?”

Lee groaned into her pillow, “they have fun, while I sit on the benches. You know I can’t swim.”

“yes, I know that, but you could try and learn to swim while they swim.”

Lee looked at her mom with one eye open, “they don’t play fair in the water. Last time three of the boys cannon-balled at one end, and I was forced into the deep end, where Jason had to jump in and get me out cause I couldn’t tell up from down under the water. Why do I have to go anyway?”

“cause I know you will look after your siblings and keep them out of trouble,” her mom blew her a kiss before going back to what she was doing.

Lee rolled her eyes and groaned, but grabbed her bag with a first aid kit and a basic swimsuit.

Trying to keep her siblings together on the way to the pool was hard enough, with them wanting to go and get some food or talk to someone or play at the playground as they saw it over a fence.

They finally reached it and Lee corralled them into the changing room to put on their swim suits, then sat down for a moment breather.

The moment they were dressed, they ran out screaming and jump into the pool.

“No! You shouldn’t,” Lee started to say, but leaned away as the spray cover the edge of the pool, “yeah, whatever. If any of you break another rule, I will call the police to drag you all out of there. Understand!?”

They just kept playing and screaming like she hadn’t said a word.

Lee tried to read for a moment, but between the water splashing around and the others making such noise, she settled on watching them to make sure they didn’t go over board with their ‘watery’ fun.

She ran to the bathroom for only a moment, the mixture of water sounds and possibly having to much to drink before coming, but came back to find everyone gone.

She sat down hard on the bench, “mom is going to kill me. I lost my own siblings. What do I do now?”

She heard a familiar thrum come from her bag. Inside the front pocket, was the key necklace.

She smirked, “might as well, seeing as I have no one to look after now.”

She turned, and saw the glow spot next to the cleaning supply closet.

She eagerly put in the key, and walked through with her bag over her shoulder.

~

This time Lee was nearby a lake the size of a pool, with a one story tall waterfall cascading into.

All the animals from her last visits come and nuzzle her lovingly.

She scratched behind the ears of a deer with twisty antlers, “this looks lovely, but can we go back to the small park?”

The deer perk up their ears at her request, then go behind her and push her toward the lake.

For the first time in this world, she felt nervous.

She talked as fast as she could, “I can’t swim, really. Can we just go to the…what in the world.”

In the lake was something that looked like a dolphin, but was purple.

It swam close to shore and clicked a hello to her.

She was about to step in, but turned and grabbed her bag before running for some trees that reminded her of Asian silk screens, “just let me get into me swimsuit. shouldn’t get my cloths wet if I can avoid it.”

She was soon back, in a swirly blue and purple suit.

With a ran she jumped into the water, and was completely covered.

She started to panic, but then the dolphin was next to her helping her back to the surface.

“thanks. That was a bad idea. Lets start with basic swimming stuff, ok?” she looked into the dolphin’s big Aqua eye.

It clicked in agreement, and swam over to some roots had grown into the water, and made a sort of underwater training thing.

She giggled, “guess I start here then?”

The dolphin nudged her onto a bar, then lifted her legs with it’s nose.

They moved from one root to another, until she felt ready to swim on her own.

“just be ready to help me, ok?” she told the dolphin, with some fear still in her eyes.

The dolphin rubbed right up against her, to say it would be with her in seconds if she need it.

She stumble at first, but soon found a grove and was doing laps around the lake.

She climbed onto the shore and asked the deer, “can we get up there, for cannon balls?”

They nod, and one lowers so she can climb on.

Once she was comfortable, the two deer ran up a small hill that led to the top of the waterfall.

When they stopped running, she got off and took a look down at the lake.

She felt her knees shake, “that is kind of high.”

The dolphin down below jumped and flipped to try and encourage her to try it.

Taking a deep breath, she and jumped/kicked off the edge and plunged into the water.

The dolphin was by her side in moments, getting her head back above water.

She spit out some water and said, “ok, never doing that again.”

With all the noise, more animals soon came and they had a swim party.

The smaller ones jumped around on the training roots, and the big ones just get drifted around as the waves everyone else caused moved him around.

As the sun set she finally got out of the water and searched for a way to dry off.

Out of nowhere a wind kicked up and spun around her, and just as fast it stopped leaving her dry.

As she head for the trees to change back, she commented, “speed air dry, not bad.”

With her regular cloths on and her suit in her bag, she walked with the animals to a vine hammock under the shade of trees with huge leaves.

She wanted to lay down, but glanced at where the sun was said, “I better get back, though not sure why right now. Bye, till next time.”

She walked past the hammock, and saw the spot on a wide trunk of a tree.

She sighed as she put in the key, and head for crazy old home.

~

Lee stepped out to see her mom pacing on the front porch. She ran up and asked, “is everything ok?”

Her mother just stared at her for a moment, hugged her once, then walked in saying, “I see nothing wrong if she wants to run off sense you all did.”

Lee just gets inside, before her sibs run over and asked her a hundred questions.

“where were you?”

“why did you leave the pool area?”

“were you kidnapped?”

Lee ignored them all as she made her way to her own room. She check her phone for a message from Jason, there were none. She laid in her room quietly till she was called for dinner, then went to bed when she finished eating. She wondered as she fell asleep, ‘why don’t I stay there? I can’t think of anything for me here to make me stay. Think more tomorrow, sleep now’.

The next mourning she was woken up by her cell buzzing and ringing. She groaned as she flipped it open and held up to her ear, “yeah, what do you want?”

She heard a chuckle on the other end, “not the response I was expecting. You do remember me right?”

She smiled at the sound of Jason’s voice. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to wake up, “sorry. I went to the pool, and the other ran off. I didn’t care at that point so I went and did my own thing.”

Jason stated, “that does not sound like you Lee. What really happened?”

Lee could hear the other little kids already running around, “I don’t think we will get far in this little chat Jason. I can hear the natives stirring.”

Jason chuckled again, “that is the best way to describe them. I will be by around lunch, I want to tell you what my trip was about.”

Lee heard a click as he hung up on his end. She closed the phone and thought, “what was I thinking about last night anyway. Guess it doesn’t matter now.”

She got to the kitchen just as her mom was saving her breakfast from some diving kids.

“here you go sweetie. Do you have any plans today?” her mom asked.

Lee smiled and shrugged, “Jason is coming by around lunch time. So…can I…”

Her dad walked in and said off hand, “go ahead, have fun, it’s the weekend.” and her mom nodded in agreement.

Lee walked back to her room to eat, “something tells me they only half know what they were saying yes to. doesn’t matter, cause I get to be with Jason anyway.”

She absently put on her key necklace before sitting down to read to pass the time till Jason came.

It was around 11:30 something when she heard a car horn out front.

She ran down and swung the door to see Jason smiling back at her.

Jason wrapped his arms around Lee’s middle and hugged tight, “I don’t like going on trips on the weekend, it means I can’t take you away from the crazy here.”

Lee hugged him around the neck, “yeah, and yesterday was the worst Saturday ever. So are we going to grab some lunch from a restaurant, or go back to your place and eat then do stuff?”

Jason lowered Lee back to the floor, “actually, I wanted to try and talk to your parents about things.”

Lee’s mom and dad wander by each other, don’t say a word to each other or those by the front door.

Lee rolled her eyes, “like always. Please, take me out of here!”

Jason chuckled and together they walked back to his car.

By the time he dropped her back at the house it was nearly sunset, no one was outside waiting for her.

“they probably didn’t even notice I was gone. I’ll walk in there, to a mess in each room that I will clean by myself. Thanks for today Jason,” Lee dragged herself out of the car, not really wanted to go inside and face everyone.

Jason sat there and watched until Lee had been inside for a few minutes, then drove home to try and figure out how he can get his brother and sister-in-law to sit down for more then two second and talk about Lee.

Lee woke up late the next mourning, on a school day. She hurried to get dressed, but when she came downstairs she saw both her parents cars gone and all her sibs. She felt left behind, confused, hurt, and just plain mad.

She ran back to her room, dressed in casual cloths and grabbed her key neck lace. “if they can forget about me like that, then I can go and do my own thing,” and marched out back.

Like it was waiting for her was a glowing door frame next to the shed.

She shoved the key in and pushed through till she was staying in her own world.

~

The animals were waiting for Lee, and a new horse stood ready for her to ride on.

She mounted the horse easily, and yelled, “lets have some fun.” all the animals noisily agreed.

~

It had been three days sense Jason had heard a thing from Lee, and he didn’t like that at all.

He had filed a missing child report after the regulatory 24 hour wait, but the police wouldn’t do anything because the child in question was not his.

He called up his brother’s house, but one of the kids answered. He asked, “put your mom or dad on, please?”

A girl answers back, “they are busy. Sorry.” then hung up before he could say anything else.

Jason would not accept this as is.

He hung up his phone, then drove over to talk to his brother face to face. He knocked on the front door until one of the kids finally open the door, then marched in and found both his brother and sister-in-law at the table lounging.

He banged his fist on the table and asked, “have you done a head count of your kids recently?”

They both jumped at the sudden noise, but Leeya’s father said, “it is a little hard with them running around so much.”

Jason tried another approach. “how are the piles of food growing? The mess of cloths? The general state of things?”

They look at each other, and realize what Jason meant.

They grab their coats and say to Jason, “tell the kids to stay here, and if they don’t we will take away everything that will cause a mess. Meet us at the police station when you can.”

The kids heard most of it, and said they would just sit and wait till their parents got back home.

Jason entered the station just as the head policeman finish saying how he had been placing the reports.

The policeman finish with, “I told him only the parents can file a report.”

Leeya’s mother looked at Jason as she said, “he has done more to raise and look after her then we ever have. He is more a father then her real father. Sorry honey.” but he just shrugged, knowing it was true.

Jason turned to the policeman and asked, “now will you do something? A little girl is lost out there!”

The policeman blew a whistle and got everyone’s attention.

Soon practically the whole town was out looking for Lee, what none of them knew was that she was not even in the same world as them.

~

Lee was happily dozing away in the vine hammock, hearing water slowly flow by.

Everything was perfect and peaceful, and she was loving it.

A small roll of thunder sounded somewhere.

She sat up and looked around, and spotted a few dark clouds coming her way, “what is going on?”

all the animals were running around, trying to find cover or just get away.

Some ferrets wrapped around her feet and worked their way up to her shoulders, and nuzzled into her neck as they shivered.

She looked in the direction from which the clouds were flying from.

“if they are from that way, the problem must be from there. Find a better hiding place guys, I need to check on something,” she pulled the ferrets off her shoulder and placed them on a deer as it stood nearby for her.

When the deer ran away from the darkening clouds, she ran right for them.

It felt like it took her several minutes to get far, with the high winds blowing into her.

She finally reached the tree pool glade she had seen the first time she came here.

A loud thunder roll drew her head up, and saw a swirl of dark clouds right over the small area.

A lighting bolt shot straight down and hit the surface of the water, the water swirled around and slowly rose slightly along the edge.

She looked at the water as it slowly turned into a window showing what was going on back home.

It showed the whole town was out, looking for someone.

Her parents were shouting out a name, maybe one of her siblings.

Far off to the side Jason was shouting as he walked along the edge of the woods.

She knew he would only ever look for her.

Over head a storm was quickly growing, though no one seemed to see it.

She kneeled down to get a better look, “why don’t they get to safety? Who are they looking for?”

when her head was close enough to almost feel the water spray her face, she could hear who they were looking for.

Everyone was shouting for ‘Leeya’.

She stood up fast and stepped back, “how long have I been here?”

She saw a thunder cloud gathering over Jason, like it was getting ready to strike.

She had to do something, but what?

The key around her neck thrummed, like it knew what she was thinking.

She held the key in her hand with it between her eyes and the water, and just saw a glow spot on the water.

She knew if she did this she could never return, but if she didn’t she could lose Jason.

She jammed the key into the water, and a round door formed right in the image.

She looked around one last time, then jumped through the hole back to home.

~

Jason could hardly hear anything, but felt when something rammed into him and slam them both to the wet ground.

The first thing he could do was open his eyes, and saw a tree get hit by a bolt of lighting that could have hit him easily.

He said through the wind, “thanks for the save.”

“I had to save you, Jason,” Lee stood up and offered her hand to Jason.

Jason grabbed her hand and pulled himself, then pulled Lee into his arms.

He started to cry, but couldn’t tell from all the rain on his face, “I was so worried when you didn’t call in like you always do. Where have you been?”

Lee tried to think of how to tell him about the other world, but a big roll of thunder drew their attention up to the sky.

The clouds seemed to be fighting with themselves, rolling and churning around.

Suddenly a light shot out of nowhere and hit the clouds.

The two colors rolled around, causing beams of intense light to shine down allover the place.

Just as the light grew unbearable, it wrapped around itself and zoomed up past the clouds to somewhere else.

Lee hugged Jason close, “can we go home, please?”

Jason nodded.

They walked back to the others hand in hand.

Her parents hugged her and kissed her all over her face, the town went to work to find the searchers that were still out there.

At the police station Lee sat in Jason lap, each one had a towel around them to dry them off from the rain, but Jason held her close anyway.

The police saw how she was with him, and asked her parents, “who does she spend more time with?”

Leeya’s parents grinned as they looked at the two of them, “he helped me deliver her the day she was born. When she was sick he would sit up with her, and sleep with her at night if she needed someone there with her. She got scrapped up, and he carried her to the doctor to be stitched up. Can you make that they are living together, they would be happier that way?”

The police agreed to the idea, then they all turned back to watch Jason and Lee slowly fall asleep in the wooden chair.

The judge the police called in, after hearing how the couple was treating their kids and how Lee was so different from the rest, said she will stay with Jason as his daughter.

Lee was so happy she jumped into Jason, and they both fell onto the floor giggling and laughing.

It didn’t take long to move the rest of Lee’s things over to Jason’s, sense she had nearly everything over there anyway.

Lee hugged her parents and asked one thing; “could I call Jason dad, if he is ok with it to?”

Her parents were not stunned by the question, and were fine if she did call Jason dad and them aunt and uncle.

Lee thanked them before running inside to her new home, and her new life.