A Strange, Strange Thing

I am so, so, so, so very sorry that I have not posted lately! I am a terrible blogger. The worst. In summer the computer had to be repaired, then I forgot my blogger password for a while, and when I got it back school had started and my mom was taking her computer to school! And winter was SO busy... I hope you had the best Christmas!
(NOTE: This post contains very, very important news, but also spoilers for the Hunger Games book. Read at your own risk.)
I know I owe you a post...
But now I'm here (so, so sorry), my mother's got a free day so I can use her computer, and I have some very important news.
The strangest thing happened to me yesterday...
I saw a girl.
This isn't the strange part. I see Jess all the time, and she's a girl. I'm a girl. So is Giselle. There are some girls in the neighbourhood.
The strange thing is, that she was in my tree.
It's not my tree, but it's inside our property. So I had no idea how she got in here.
And I didn't see her completely, really, but I suppose I should start from the beginning.

~~~

I was outside, since it was a sunny day. I had a book, determined to sit under the best tree (what Jess and I call our tree) and read under it. The day was beautiful, really. And when I was about to sit down, I heard a bird chirp. I wanted to make sure where the bird was, so I wouldn't get pooped on. So I looked up.
And I saw the girl.
Not so much as 'I saw her,' because, technically, I caught a glimpse of her.
I think she noticed me. I was wearing my bright yellow dress.
And she was completely strange to me.
I saw, for a fleeting moment, her dark-skinned leg as she hid behind a clump of leaves. But even as she was hiding, I could see a pair of huge chocolate-brown eyes staring at me.
"Um, hello," I said. She blinked.
I walked over to another part of the tree, but I still couldn't see her very well. "My name is Elizabeth."
My heart raced. Who was that girl? What was she doing here? Was she from these times? A runaway? And if she was, why was she running, and from where? Or whom? Did she escape from her home? Did she have parents? Did they love her?
Or was she a scared time-traveler, like me? From where? From when? What century was she from? Fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth? Or was she from the future?
"I'm not going to hurt you," I told her. Her eyes stared at me skeptically. "I promise."
Was the girl even human?
"Can I go up?"
She seemed to think for a minute, taking me in. Then she gave a slight nod of her head and a little smile.
I climbed a bit, taking care not to catch my dress in the branches. A bit more. I was almost beside her. I sat on the branch she was in. She came out of her little hiding-place in the leaves and sat next to me.
I looked at her. She had satiny dark brown skin that looked as if someone had dipped her inside a barrel of hot chocolate; bouncy, springy dark-brown curls that reached her shoulders; and big chocolate-brown eyes. She was wearing a simple, drapey white dress that reached her knees, and she was barefoot. Maybe she was from ancient Greece? Or Rome?
"I'm Elizabeth. Elizabeth Jane Cole. How old are you?"
She seemed hesitant to answer, but after a few second she opened her mouth to speak. "Um..."
"LIZ!" Jess yelled. The girl gave a start and grabbed my wrist in alarm.
"Over here!" I said. Jess had to see the girl. Maybe she knew who the girl was?
Jess walked up to the bottom of the tree. "Liz, Coconut's lost. And I haven't seen her anywh--" That's when she noticed the girl. "Oh."
The girl studied Jess for a moment, then a look of infinite sadness came over her. She squeezed my wrist. Did she know Jess? How was that possible?
"Um, who's she?" Jess asked me.
"I don't know. Do you?"
"I don't think so..."
She climbed up so that she was standing next to me. She looked at the girl. And looked. As if she seemed familiar somehow. "Elizabeth," she said softly. (Jess rarely calls me by my full name. So naturally, I was alarmed.) "I think I might know who she is." The whisper was so soft I barely heard it, and I doubt the girl heard it either.
"Oh?" The girl let go of me and climbed up higher in the branch, looking around for what I did not know. "Who is she?" I said, my tone matching Jess's. My eyes never left the girl.
"I know you're not going to believe me," Jess whispered, and took a deep breath, "I think she's Rue."
"Rue? From the books?" The idea was so ridiculous! "No, Jess. You have to stop your imagination from being so wild. Just because she looks like her doesn't mean she is her."
She looked at the girl. "Hey," she said. Her tone was questioning and skeptical. "How old are you?"
"I'm twelve," the girl answered in a sweet, yet scared voice.
Jess turned to me with her eyebrows raised. "See?" she whispered smugly. "She's the right age. She looks like her. And there's a feeling in my gut--I can't describe it, Liz, but I always trust my gut. It tends to be right."
"Oh, so you were right the time you said--"
"When I have and have not been right is beside the point. She's her. I know it."
I rolled my eyes. "Sorry," I said apologetically to the girl. I pointed at Jess. "She's confused. What's your name? She's Jess."
"Rue. My name is Rue."
My eyes went wide. "Rue?"
Jess's mouth was wide open, and she didn't say a thing.
"Yes. My name is Rue. Is there anything wrong with that?" she said, worried.
"No--I, uh--no!"
"You're both ghosts too, right?"
Ghosts? What? This made no sense. I thought it was a coincidence that her name was Rue. But... but... ghosts?
"Ghosts?" Jess asked echoing my thoughts. Then she looked at me.
Ghost. The word sounds so strange. The girl--Rue--she can't possibly be a ghost. This is all a dream. I will wake up soon.
But...no. She can't be a ghost. She grabbed my wrist. Ghosts can't do that.
"But... you're not? I thought... I thought I was in Heaven. I'm not? You're not ghosts like me?"
"I--no." I shook my head.
"But... I thought... I heard most ghosts don't go back until after a year! No, no, no. This can't be. I died in the seventy-fourth hunger games two days ago!" Rue started hyperventilating. "I can't be here yet!" A tear rolled down her cheek.
"So they're real..." Jess muttered absentmindedly.
Rue looked at her with a mixture of fury and sadness. "Of course they are! Where do you live, under a diamond-studded Capitol rock!?" she yelled. "They're real! The Treaty of Treason entitled Panem to them seventy five years ago! And I was in the last one! I died there! With a spear in my stomach!"
She was shaking now, pointing at her stomach. "A seventeen-year-old boy killed me! He threw a spear at me, on purpose!" She lowered her voice and her face And... and... Katniss killed him. And she sang... until I died..." She stopped for a second to rub the tears out of her eyes. I put my hand on her shoulder awkwardly.
"Is Katniss still alive? I hope so," Rue whispered to herself. There was no doubt that she was the right Rue. Not anymore.
"She is," Jess said, but Rue didn't listen to her. She was sobbing. Rue rested her head on my shoulder.
In a desperate attempt to calm down the sobbing Rue, I started singing the song that Katniss sang in the book, with my own tune. It's a book, so obviously you don't know the tune, but I made one up... just because I enjoy singing.

"Deep in the meadow, under the willow

a bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head and close your sleepy eyes

And when again they open, the sun will rise..."

"How did you know...?" Rue whispered, incredulously. Jess seemed surprised, too. But Rue started singing with me in a beautiful voice:

"Here it's safe, here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you."

I'd just made up the tune. Never in a million years would I have guessed I was right. Ever.

I had succeeded: Rue was taking deep breaths, but she was calmed down.

"She's alive, you know," Jess said.

"Who, Katniss?"

She nodded. "Yes. She won the Games." Rue brightened a bit, and Jess hesitated before adding: "And so did Peeta."

"Good. Wait--Peeta?"
"Rule change," Jess explained, and she left it at that.

"But--weren't you confused? Weren't you surprised that the games existed? How do you know this? How do I know you're not lying? I thought--"
"It's a book," I said. "By a lady named Suzanne Collins. Everybody's pretty sure it's fiction."

"Yeah. There are no Hunger Games. Not now. Not yet. It's the twenty-first century," Jess stated.
Rue's eyes went wide. "Twenty-first? That's a long time ago."
Jess went on. "I thought... well, everyone thinks you and Katniss and Peeta and the Games are fiction. But who wouldn't? But... Collins... she predicted that horrible future... I wonder if she knows."

"Then... how did you know the tune?" Rue said, pointing at me.

"I made it up. I just... went with what my heart thought."

"Suzanne Collins wrote everything from Katniss's point of view. Maybe Katniss is her future life?" Jess asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

"Oh, okay."

I don't believe in reincarnation. It's just... I don't think so. It goes against what I believe in.

But somehow, this seemed like the least non-sensical option, so at least it was a straw to clutch at. 

~~~

By the way, ghosts do show up in pictures. Mom took some of Rue after we told her. She seemed confused, but not much. Just 'weirded out.' 

What do you think?

Love,

PS: Jess says I haven't blurred anymore. I think she was hallucinating.

Versatile Blog Award (thank you, Saoirse!) and American Girl Facebook

I was awarded the Versatile Blog Award by Saoirse from Saoirse's Space (http://saoirsesspace-ag.blogspot.com/)!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so very much, Saoirse!

Requirements:

1. State the requirements

Done!

2. Thank the person who awarded you.

Thank you, Saoirse! It means so much to me that you enjoy my blog! Thank you!

3. Pass the award on to five other bloggers

I will award five wonderful bloggers:

1. The Spicys! (http://the-spicys-doll-blog.blogspot.com/)
2. Sophie Amelie (http://sophie-amelie.blogspot.com/)
3. Nora and Maple (http://thedollwardrobe.blogspot.com)
4. Jamie (http://jamiesjottings.blogspot.com/)
5. Klarabelle (http://klarabellecandy.blogspot.com/)

3. (and a half) Notify the awarded bloggers by commenting on their blogs.

Done. :)

4. Share seven unusual things about yourself.

Okay, here I go!

1. Once I got stuck under my bed trying to get a book that fell under it. I wish I was joking.
2. I despise the word maggots. It sends my skins crawling at the very thought of it.
3. I am allergic to eggplant. I know because I tried one in 1774 and got sick, then in 2011 and the same thing happened. I don't like the word eggplant either.
4. My name in Spanish would be Isabel Juana. (I do not like it at ALL in Spanish, but I love it in English.)
5. I have my own horse, Lulu right now; and in 1777 my horse was very much alike to Lulu and even had her same name.
6. Once I spilled a huge sack of flour in the kitchen and I ended up with a white dress instead of a yellow one.
7. The color orange bothers me.

Thank you, Saoirse, again! :) I hope you guys all have a nice time. Jess will open her blog soon, and I joined American Girl Facebook: http://americangirlfb.webs.com/

Jess is a member there, and also a girl, Delilah.

Love,

I apologize for the lack of posts...

Hello...
I am so, so, sorry for the lack of posts. Mom's computer got fixed, yes, but school started and she's been taking it with her to school. The third part of my time traveling adventures is getting written and will be up soon, and Jess is going to get her own blog soon. Which means that the 'Our World' blog may get on a hiatus for and undefined time. (Jess says to beat around the bush--what does that even mean!?--and say that we may stop posting on it. But what if we don't?)

Anyway... Goodbye!

Love,

Traveling Through Time (Part Two)

So, on to continue with my account of traveling through time,  since I can't just leave you with a... cliffhanger, I suppose?
Well, onto the story.

(If you have not read Part One, I think you should read it here.)

I had been in the 'woods' a second before, and now, a dark tar road was in front of me. It was not sunny, as before, but cloudy and it looked like it was going to rain. The road and the sidewalk were full of puddles, but only of water and not mud as I was used to.
I had no idea what to think. I had just passed through a red-and-blue vortex with Giselle, who was whimpering a bit, but her face was still hidden in my dress. I had just been transported, somehow, into a place different than any other I knew.
Mama had always told me that if I ever got lost, I should ask a lady with children for help or head into a church. I saw no ladies with children, so I kept on walking. There was bound to be a church somewhere nearby. In fact, there was almost nobody close but a man holding a red parasol for some reason and talking to himself; and a beggar in a corner, sitting next to an old brown dog. 
As I passed in front of the beggar, he gave me the oddest look. His dog whimpered and barked, which made Giselle whimper a bit too.
"I am sorry. I have no money to give you," I said, and kept on walking ahead.
"Where are ye from? Ye'r dressed in the weer-dest stuffs I ever saw?" he said. But I decided to ignore him. He just wanted money for gin or rum. He muttered something under his breath and then I was gone.
On the tar road, there were many, many things that looked like strangely-shaped carriages. They moved without horses, like they had been cast with a spell. I quickly said a prayer, to protect both Giselle and myself from dark magic and went on.
After a couple of turns, I came about to a woman holding the hand of a young girl. They were both dressed most improperly.... The woman had on long trousers and a bright yellow, hideous, flimsy shirt (which Jess says was probably a T-shirt, and that they are not hideous at all unless they're bright yellow) along with high-heeled shoes and no stockings.The little girl had on a gingham yellow dress that was too short--it came to her knees--and sandals. No stockings either. She looked at me, since the woman was talking to herself and holding a squarish thing to her ear.
"Look, mommy, a princess," the little girl said, tugging on her mother's arm.
"Ally, mommy's busy," the woman said, covering half the square thing with her hand. "Yes, I'm sorry, Wesley, it's my daughter."
"But mommy, look, she's a princess." Ally pointed to me.
"I can assure you, I am no Princess," I said gently. Had the child not seen any paintings of royalty?
"And she's British!" little Ally said excitedly. The woman turned to look at me. She gave me the same odd stare the beggar had and pulled her daughter close to her, as if she was scared of me.
"Madam, have you seen a church around here? I believe I am lost," I said.
She did not answer me. Instead, she said into her square, "I'll call you back, Wes," and tucked it into her trouser's pocket. Then she started walking opposite to me, taking the girl with her. "She's no princess! She's a weer-do! Don't talk to her, alright Ally?" she furiously whispered to the girl.
The girl  looked sad. But she waved at me, and I waved back.
It had been the strangest experience of my life.
But I kept on walking. What had the little girl meant with British? It is true that Patriots and Loyalist were not mixing well, with the war and all, but how did she identify me as a British? And why had she said so excitedly, like there were not many British people in America?
Those were all questions I had no answer to, and I also had no clue as of how to get home.
Then I spotted a green metal bench. There was no one else there, so I sat down and set Giselle next to me. She was probably hungry, and so was I, so I dug into my pocket and took out the handkerchief in which I had wrapped two biscuits and two cakes (cookies). I gave one of the cakes to Giselle and ate one of the biscuits myself, then put the bundle back in my pocket. Two boys and a girl, wearing a very short and tight skirt, came along. One boy, a red-headed, green-eyed, and freckled one appeared to be about fourteen. He reminded me of my friend Felicity a bit... The other boy and the girl were older, about fifteen or sixteen, and they were holding hands. How improper! Especially since the boy was black...
The red-head walked in front of the others, and when he noticed me, he called out to them: "Hey, doods, come check this freak out!"
"Whoa, Lee, she's dressed all weerd and old-fashioned and stuff!" the older boy told the girl.
"Dood, don't say that. Be nice. What if she's Amish or something?" the girl, Lee, said to the boy that was holding her hand earlier. Lou looked like Mrs. Mei Chang, a woman who came from China to the colonies last year. Her coal-black hair was cut like a boy's, and had pink streaks in the front. Aside from the fact that it was not proper, it looked very nice. "Are you Amish?" she asked me.
I shook my head no. "I'm Anglican, if that's what you mean." I put Giselle in my lap and the red-headed boy sat down next to me.
The girl looked confused, but she was nice to me anyway. Not like the boys were. She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Shih, by the way. You?"
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Elizabeth Jane Cole, but you may call me Elizabeth."
The black boy rolled his blue eyes. How strange--blue eyes on a dark-skinned boy. But Lee elbowed him in the ribs and he said, "I'm Robert." I was surprised. (Before you judge me, I did not know that here everyone was equal, so I was a bit surprised he was talking to his betters.) I nodded a little to acknowledge him, but nothing more.
"Alex. What's your sister's name over there?" said the redheaded boy next to me.
"Oh, she's Giselle. My baby sister. You do quite remind me of a friend, Felicity. Do you know her?"
"I don't know no Felicitys."
"Oh."
Suddenly, one of those horse-less carriages came over. Again I did a silent prayer in my head. This one was big, much bigger than the others. It was mustard yellow with a white roof. On the side, it said Virgina Bus Line. 
This was Virginia? That was odd. Virginia was most certainly not like this.

Oh, well, I'm afraid I'll continue later. I have many chores to do!

Love,

PS: Sorry about the long overdue post! Mom's computer, the one I blog with, got damaged (something about a mother board? But boards cannot be mothers! They are not alive! And computer do not have boards. I think.) and this is her mother's computer.

'Brave' Movie Mini Review

Hello!
Jess made me go to the movie theater with her a while ago, claiming it would be very much like a play. Because, I admit, I'd never been before. I have seen movies before, just not at the movies. (I refused to go and see 'The Hunger Games' even thought Jess pleaded and begged.)
Well, I liked the movie very much!
I've seen almost all of the Disney Princess movies or read books and I believe that 'Brave' is the most realistic one of them all.
Her relationship with her mother is not "evil stepmother" nor "twins," but rather that they have very different personalities and opinions that clash.
Other realistic touches are that Merida's hair is wild and curly (very much like Mom's--AGLOVEELIZABETH's--hair but in red and longer); that Merida looks like both her mother and father; that they have fights like any other mother and teenager do; and that they both have to grow and change to solve the problems.
However, the demon bear Mu'rdu (is that how it goes?) may be a bit scary for some younger children.

But in short, I liked it very much!


Love,

Little Miss Playthings

I've officially entered LMPT 2012!

There are 5 rounds. I already entered Round One- Weather.
This is the photo:

Do you like it? Apparently I am being blown away by the wind... does it look like so?

Love,

Traveling Through Time (Part One)

Remember how I told you I'd tell you how I'd gotten here in another post?
Well, it's this post!

Let's set the scene. It's 1777, and I'm wearing the dress I wore two years ago to my sister Annabelle's (first yet failed!) engagement party because I'm going calling. Since I'm 12, I'm finally old enough to. I've convinced Mama to let me take Giselle with me (turns out to be a bad idea).
So I was walking, planning on going to Mrs. Anderson's house first and then stopping by my best friend Felicity's house. Mrs. Anderson was really nice, we always had a nice chat when we met, but her house was too far away. So I decided to cut through the woods.
They weren't really woods, I suppose. More like a place where a couple of trees grew together, since it wasn't  much, but it was between houses I couldn't exactly cut through.
Then I saw something shiny and silver-colored near the trunk of a tall pine tree. I figured it was a necklace or something, I'd pick it up and put an ad in the paper, and if no one claimed it, I could keep it or sell it. But when I came closer, it was much too big to be a necklace.
It looked like... a roundish silver box. There were five wires coming out of one end, shooting sparks that looked like stars were falling from the sky. It had a pad of buttons, it looked like a phone keypad (I know because Jess showed me one and it looked like what I saw) and a small screen. There was a dial, too, beside that keypad. Besides that, there were two bigger, rounded buttons: one red, one blue.
It looked like nothing I'd ever seen.
In hindsight, I guess I should have known it was dangerous to touch.
But I had a momentary lapse in reasoning--a brain fart, Jess calls it--and decided to press the blue button.
I saw a huge vortex in front of me, a red-and-black spiral that covered everything else.
Giselle started crying in my arms.
There was a loud waaaahh noise. I wanted to cover my ears, but I couldn't. I had Giselle.
Giselle wailed even louder.
Suddenly, I couldn't move. Only my eyeballs.
I looked down at Giselle, since I could no longer hear her crying and I was worried. Her mouth was open, mid-wail, and her eyes tightly closed.
Around me, the red light in the vortex changed to blue.
Like the buttons in the strange contraption!
The noise stopped. I could move again.
The vortex faded slowly until I could no longer see it, and Giselle started crying again. But only for a few moments. She looked around and stopped. She looked with curious eyes at first, but then hid her face in my dress.
I could not believe what I was seeing.
It was different to what once had stood here.
The 'woods' I had walked through were no longer. Instead, it was a thin whitish road (a sidewalk, I now know) and next to it, a dark, tar-coloured road.

Oh, dear. It has brought up quite the memories to tell you this... I will tell you more in another post.
I am sorry, I really am. But it's a little... strange, maybe... nerve-wracking. I don't know. I will tell you more, I promise, but later.

Love,

LMPT & Thoughts on Abortion

Hello, it's Elizabeth here.

I have two things to tell you:

1. I am entering Little Miss Playthings, or LMPT. You can learn more about it here, but it's basically a photo contest in which you get to be in photos with different themes for different rounds.
2. Yesterday, Jess, AGLOVERELIZABETH, and me did a post on what we think about abortion on my sister blog, the one we three share. It's called Our World: Elizabeth & Jess. 

What do you think about abortion? And about LMPT?

Love,

Sisters...

Sisters are so complicated.
I've had three sisters in all my life: Annabelle, who's still in 1777; Giselle, my baby sister who came to the future (er... present?) with me; and Jess. Jess is the strangest one so far, with Annabelle Bananabelle as a close second.
My guardian has one sister, my aunt, who Jess's guardian up until last year. She's not nearly as strange as Jess, so why is Jess so weird? I mean, fading? Seriously, Jess?
Anyhow, I'd like to have another sister. Although she'd probably have to room with Jess, since my room is tiny and my 'office' can't fit a bed. And what kind of mental damage might she suffer if she roomed with Jess? Alright, I might be exaggerating (right now, Jess looked over my shoulder and said, "You are."). But Jess really tends to think everything written on a book is real, like with that Gideon Trilogy and she's convinced I'm fading.
I remember last year she read some book about zombie apocalypses and she's convinced that in 2/2/2222 the apocalypse will start, and she said she was glad she wouldn't be alive by then but feels sorry for me and Gizzy since time-travel froze our ages.
Her age is frozen, too, I should point out, even though I don't know why.
When I told her, she freaked out and said the zombies would eat her brain and stuff. She calmed down when I told her she was a good fighter. But she does worry me a little.
Do you have any weird sisters like dear, strange old Jess?
Or do you want any more sisters?
Or... are you the weird sister?

Love,

According to Jess...

Well.
According to Jess, I faded again today. And it happened to be while I was remembering a day at home, back in the past.
I think she's just... um... confused. And obsessed.
What do you think?

Love,