Something You Wanted

It was raining in Scream Street. The rain poured down like a million tiny water bombs, waiting to make puddles everywhere. Some water trickled down roofs and fell on the heads of unsuspecting residents, making it a very bad day for some. But for me, my Aunt F and my cousin Six, it was a joyful day. We always find fun when we go out for walks in the rain, and that’s why, with our raincoats and boots on, we always like to jump in puddles as we go along. Best of all, there are no cars to worry about - except for the gross Goblin Taxi that passes every so often. Being in the rain was our favourite part of going outside. “Ah, I see you like the rain more than anyone else.” said Aunt F, smiling proudly. “Look at that zombie over there - he had to shelter from the rain using a newspaper.” Sure enough, we saw a zombie struggling through the rain, holding his wet newspaper over his head like an umbrella!

This made us both giggle. “Why aren’t there any umbrellas for everyone to stay dry under in Scream Street, auntie?” I asked, suddenly concerned. “Well, some of the residents’ umbrellas have holes in them.” “Save for my brothers and sister - they always have umbrellas which don’t have holes in them. Yours doesn’t too.” “Or else your hair will be let down loose!” We laughed at that thought of Dr F letting her wild black hair down! Dr F groaned. She knew it was going to be one of those days. Suddenly, a huge lightning bolt came crackling through the sky! “Quick, jump!” cried Aunt F, and we jumped out of the way just as the lightning bolt struck Six in the head. She wobbled a little, and then fell into a huge puddle. We ran out of our hiding places just to see poor Six with her eyes crossed and her tongue hanging out. “Oh my god, Six!” cried Aunt F. “Speak to me, speak to me!” Six got up and rubbed her head…and then, patted her own head! Aunt F and I gasped. “Bibidy boo-boo-doo!” rasped Six.

“What?!” I asked. “Fruit-happy-tea-tree-leaf!” she responded, speaking in tongues. “Auntie, what’s going on?” I asked. “Six is allergic to lightning, darling,” responded my aunt, “This is why I pretended - or rather, they forced me - to pretend to power up Six when she ‘runs out of power’ during the show. But we mustn’t talk about it now. We have to go and see Eefa. She knows of a medicine that can cure Six’s allergy. Come on.” Aunt F led me and Six, who was still twitching and speaking nonsense, to Eefa’s Emporium. It felt warm and dry inside, and music was playing on her gramophone. Eefa was cleaning the counter, when Aunt F and I entered with Six. “Oh dear, your cousin doesn’t look too well.” said Eefa. “Yes!” said Aunt F, “It’s because she got struck by lightning earlier on. I don’t blame her, I blame her allergies.” “Ba-ba-boo-billie-bay!” rasped Six. At first, I giggled, but then I understood that it wasn’t funny. “Six is just saying annoying things and we don’t know how to cure her.” “I think she needs my anti-lightning-allergy medicine, clinically proven to stop lightning allergies and photosensitive epilepsy.”

“Eefa, what is epilepsy?” I asked. “A condition which makes someone allergic to flashing lights on the telly,” said Eefa. “Now come with me.” Eefa lead us to the shelves of her spell counter and took out a beautiful pink flower. “This is a lotus flower. According to the witch’s code, this flower will only be used in the spell if it is sprinkled on with gold glitter. I seem to have some gold glitter upstairs. Sophie, you keep guard of the flower. Don’t let anything happen to it. Now, I’ll be back in a moment.” Eefa disappeared in a puff of smoke to get her gold glitter. I was curious about the flower. I sniffed at it. It smelled wonderful. I then threw it up in the air, and it fell gently into my hands like a parachute. However, I held it gently in my hands, and watched Luella doing her stock count for the day. I looked over to Six, who was still twitching as if she was a glitched out phone app.

But when I looked over to Aunt F, I saw her crying. I had never seen a mad scientist cry before, so I went up to her, placed the flower into a jar that was placed randomly on the table (thank goodness nothing was in it) and placed my hand on my aunt’s shoulder. “If you want to comfort me, please, just stay near the counter until Eefa does something about it.” she sobbed. “No, auntie. Why are you crying?” I asked. With a sniff, Dr F looked at me with tears in her bespectacled eyes. “They were wrong! The producers were wrong!” she shouted. Luella turned around, and ran to my crying aunt. “No need to blame yourself, Dr F. What is, like, wrong?” “In the show, they told me that Six was my creation, but I didn’t find her to be that way. It was the way of telling the show’s viewers that genetic experiments will suffer if they be on soothing TV shows about a street full of monsters suffering everyday teenage issues.” explained Aunt F, “But off the show…” Dr F’s lips trembled. She reached out for a hankie, took off her glasses and wiped her tears away. “...Six is my daughter. My adopted daughter.”

“No way…” I gasped softly. “Six was your daughter? How?” “She was born in an orphanage for monster children who have no parents. I always wanted a child, but when I was expecting a baby, the doctors told me that chances of having my first child were negative. It’s because…because…” Aunt F sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.” “I think she’s talking about infertility,” whispered Luella. “What’s infertility?” I asked. “I can tie my shoelaces!” rasped Six. “Infertility is when someone can’t get pregnant.” explained Luella. Aunt F began to cry louder. “No, no, NO! My first child! I want to see her!” “There’s no chance, auntie,” I said, feeling a little sad. Luella was in tears too. “Crying won’t bring your first child back.” “That’s what I wanted to tell you,” sobbed my aunt, “When I lost my first child, I set out to find a new one. But what was the point of that? Every single baby in the normal world foster homes had been adopted by other loving couples. I felt left out…that is, until I moved into Scream Street. I went to the local foster home and saw other babies wailing for parents, some were biting and some had toys shoved up their noses.” Luella and I stifled a giggle, but we sobbed a little. “That was when I found Six. She grew up in my loving care, and when she was 14, just like now, we were offered a role in the show Scream Street…but it just got worse.”

I felt a bit sorry for my aunt. If she wanted a child, then what’s the point of having Six instead of a normal born child? A child that wasn’t even born…but claimed to be born yesterday. Where were Six’s parents? At once, Eefa returned with the gold dust. “I’m back,” said Eefa. Then she noticed Dr F with her face buried into her gloved hands. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “Auntie, let me handle this,” I said. I took the jar which contained the lotus flower and went up to the counter. “Dr F suffered infertility before she adopted Six. That’s when a woman can’t get pregnant.” Eefa was deeply moved by all this. “If you could just make that spell for Six, don’t just do it for her…do it for my auntie. Please, do it for her attempts at getting a child.” Eefa looked at the depressed mad scientist sitting at the table. She gulped, and said, “For Dr F’s child.”

She put in all the ingredients. Jellybeans, the leg of a lizard, the pure scent of fresh daisies and a little bubble mixture. She then poured the gold dust on top of the lotus flower, and placed it into the mixture. I watched as the flower melted away and the liquid turned orange. I smelt it - it smelt like fresh tropical fruit juice. “Potion’s ready,” called Eefa. “Yay!” Luella and I cheered. “Biddy-boo-boo-biddy!” rasped Six. “Thank god,” sighed Aunt F. Eefa laid the potion onto the table in a little bowl and said, “Go on, Six, drink up.” Six placed the straw into the bowl, and much to our amusement, nearly put the straw up her nose. “Oh no no no,” I laughed. I gently let Six guide the straw to her mouth, and with that, she drank every last morsel until she let out a huge burp, and bubbles came out of her ears. Once they popped, Six shook her head and snapped back into reality.

For a few moments, the whole emporium was quiet. Then Six scratched her head and asked, “What happened to me?” “SIX!” I shouted, and ran to hug her. Aunt F cried again, this time happy tears, as she ran towards Six and hugged her. “Six, I’m so glad the potion worked,” sniffed Aunt F, “I’m sorry I was hard to you all these years, I’ll never let you go out in the rain again. “But how will you jump in puddles?” asked Luella. I thought for a moment. Then, I suddenly had it. “Keep Six indoors while the rain falls, and check to see if it’s stopped every 10 minutes. Then when the rain has stopped, you can let her go outside and jump in puddles!” “That actually is a very good idea, darling. Thank you, Eefa, I had never let Six use one of your spells before.” “Well, now you have.” smiled Eefa. Everyone laughed, including Dr F. This was the first time she laughed in a non-maniacal way, as she was now very proud of her daughter, Six.

Dr F, Six and I ran all the way home, and Aunt F tucked us into bed after a lovely afternoon in front of the fire drinking mugs of cocoa. It was a good thing we were wearing our pyjamas. “I’ve checked the weather forecast on my phone. It’ll be most likely sunny tomorrow.” she told us as she tucked us in, “So, I’ll keep you indoors until it becomes a bright and sunny day tomorrow. And then, you know what? You’re going to jump in puddles.” “Yay!” we both cheered. “Now, get some sleep. Things will seem better in the morning.” Dr F kissed me and Six goodnight and left the room, turning out the light. I snuggled up next to Six, my dog soft doll Squeaker in my arms. Six looked out the window near her bed and saw the lightning light up the whole of Scream Street. “I’m glad I’m safe from the thunder,” she sighed and she turned over. “Yeah, and I’m glad Dr F is keeping you safe from your thunder allergy,” I said. Six yawned and snuggled under the covers. “Goodnight, Sophie, tomorrow, it’ll be even better.” “Better it will be,” I yawned, and snuggled up next to my big cousin.

The next morning, it was just as predicted - it was a sunny day in Scream Street. Six and I ran outside into the garden and began to splash in all the puddles outside, splashing each other. Aunt F stood outside, watching. She could see her first child standing before her, waving slowly. With a tear streaming down her face, she waved and blew him a kiss before he disappeared. He then could hear us shouting. “Come on, auntie!” “Yeah, join us!” Dr F was working on an invention, but she forgot all about what she was supposed to be working and joined us, laughing as we splashed about in puddles. She had learnt that having a daughter like Six could mean that she could leave inventions she had been working on for later, and instead, just be silly and have fun, not be eccentric and serious. Forever will her first child live on in her heart.

THE END.