Chapter 1 (March 30, 2012) Moriah Stone awoke with a start as her alarm clock jolted her awake, wrenching her away from her dreams. She stretched sleepily; she had been up past midnight drawing because she couldn’t sleep. She and her sister had been diagnosed with insomnia, which meant they rarely got a good night’s rest. She sat up, turning off her alarm clumsily. It’s six-thirty, so I guess I only got five hours or so of sleep, she thought, annoyed that she couldn’t sleep like a normal person. Better get ready for school, she thought to herself. Then excitement broke through her. In one week, the Stone family would be going on their first camping trip. They were going for six days, planning on going hiking, boating, and picking wildberries. Her parents didn’t like the outdoors; they hated bugs and the idea of sleeping in a tent, but the begging and pestering of Moriah and her sister, Autumn, had finally made them give in. She got lost in her thoughts, thinking about how camping would go. Okay, I should really get ready now, she thought, snapping out of her thoughts, rolling out of bed, and catching herself before she hit the floor. Dressing into her usual early spring clothes and throwing on her old hunter-green hoodie, Moriah wondered how the day would go. Probably the usual; she would just get through school unnoticed. Moriah didn’t really have any friends, but she was fine with that. She still liked school and all she needed for a friend was Autumn. Moriah and Autumn Stone’s relationship was different from that of most siblings. They were identical twins and looked almost exactly the same except for their different eye colours, Autumn’s being brown and Moriah’s being icy blue, and their height, Moriah being slightly taller than Autumn. They were always there for each other, did everything together, and rarely fought. After getting ready for school, Moriah began to draw, revelling in the mindless enjoyment of drawing. She added the last few strokes to a lithe cat’s fur, drawing whatever came to mind when a small, wet, nose nudged her hand. “Hey, Layla,” Moriah said affectionately. Layla was their family’s new dog, a small, five-month-old Australian shepherd that they had gotten for Christmas. She lifted Layla onto her bed and began to draw the small, shaggy dog when her mom called her. “Moriah!,” her mom called impatiently, “hurry up! You’ll miss the bus!” “Coming, mom!” she called back, quickly stowing her sketchbook in her drawstring bag, picking it up, and running out the door to catch the bus. She normally biked to school, but it had snowed the night before. “Hey, Moriah,” Autumn called, having already gotten on the bus, “Over here.” Moriah walked over to her sister and took a seat beside her, giving her a tired smile. “How’d you sleep?” Moriah asked, stifling a yawn. “Not well,” Autumn replied, “you?” “I didn’t sleep well either,” Moriah admitted, “I was up until one forty-five drawing until I practically fell asleep face-first in my sketchbook.” Autumn giggled. Moriah zoned out, lost in her thoughts until a voice jolted her out of them. “Moriah!” the voice called cattily, “made any friends yet?” It was Angelica Tevelbrooke, Moriah’s bully. She was one of those kids that sucked up to the teachers, but behind their backs, she was horrible to her classmates. All of Angelica’s friends laughed shrilly. Ugh, girls, she thought, shooting a glare at Angelica. Moriah wasn’t exactly a tomboy, per-say, but she definitely wasn’t one of those stereotypical girls that were obsessed with jewelry and makeup. “No, I already have one!” she whispered angrily, wanting to wipe that smug look off of her face. Moriah was the weird kid in her class; her obsessions with animals and drawings, the fact that she didn’t have any friends aside from her sister, and her ‘strange’ silvery-brown hair made her, and by extension, Autumn, the main targets for bullying in her class. Moriah dove deeper and deeper in her thoughts, blocking out all human noise, including Angelica’s smug remarks, and instead focusing on the quiet bird sounds from outside of the open bus window, the sound of the wind as it seemed to try to grab the bus. She took out her sketchbook and started to finish her drawing of Layla. Her art was the only thing she was admired for at school; she was amazing at drawing and painting for a girl in grade 7, but she rarely was complimented. Probably so they wouldn’t get on Angelica’s bad side, Moriah thought with a shrug to herself. Moriah continued to draw Layla, adding little patches of gray and brown, then adding some small strokes, giving the dog a shaggy look. A large bump interrupted her sketching and almost ruined her drawing. (Continued in Notes and Credits. It's too long to fit here.)
“Hey Autumn,” Moriah said, realizing that they had pulled into the school parking lot, “We’re here.” Autumn’s eyes looked weirdly glazed; she’s probably lost in thought, Moriah thought, not surprised. Her and Autumn were the thoughtful type, often forgetting that they were in a conversation because they got lost in thought so much. “Oh!” said Autumn, looking much more alert, “coming.” Moriah quickly but carefully started to pack her things into her bag, making sure to not bend her sketchbook. She quickly got out of the bus, giving the driver a quick ‘thank you’ on the way out. “Please turn to page forty-two,” Mrs. Macmillian, her history teacher, called, looking bored. Science can’t come soon enough! Moriah thought to herself. They were starting a biology unit, which was Moriah’s favourite subject, in Science that day. Moriah had always excelled in class for most things, like science, ELA, and math, but history was her worst subject. She could never remember all the names and dates, not to mention zoning out every other minute. “Moriah! Pay attention!” the teacher snapped, “what is the herb that the Canadian pioneers used to cure coughs?” “Tea made from the bark or branches of a fir tree,” Moriah replied with an inward sigh of relief. She was obsessed with plants and could list lots of Canadian medicinal plants by heart. The teacher nodded, disgruntled, looking as if she wanted an excuse to humiliate her. “Okay, class, get into groups!” she said, “wait, Moriah,” she added as Moriah started to walk toward Autumn, “If you had paid attention, you would know that I am picking pairs. Please join Angelica in the back table.” Without a word, Moriah walked sullenly over to Angelica, silently fuming. Why did it have to be her? She knew how this would go; Angelica would bully her while Moriah did all the work, Angelica copying. Moriah started quickly copying down her notes and answering questions, hiding her paper under her arm so Angelica couldn’t copy her. “Mrs. Macmillian, Moriah isn’t cooperating!” Angelica whined in her pleading voice that she always used for teachers. “Moriah!” the teacher snapped angrily, “detention! I am sick of your behaviour!” Moriah didn’t reply, just shoved her paper over to Angelica. I didn’t even do anything! she thought furiously. Autumn shot her a sympathetic glance. She continued having angry thoughts while writing the answers on her worksheet, Angelica looking over her shoulder. After her detention was over, Moriah walked out of her homeroom, grabbed her drawstring bag, and speed-walked out of the building. When she was out of the school building, she immediately started sprinting toward her house, running away from her annoyance and anger. Her silver-brown hair fanned out behind her as her shoes pounded down on the hard-packed dirt. She kept running until she could see her small white house in the distance. She was nearly there when a gray and brown blur made her trip. “Layla! You got out again!” Moriah gasped, winded. A small pink tongue licked Moriah’s nose while she grabbed Layla’s black collar and scooped her up in her arms. She got up, brushing the dirt off of her jeans, and continued walking toward her house. Moriah creaked open the door, terrified of how angry her parents would be. She let out a sigh of relief as she realized they weren’t home. She remembered them telling her that they were going to be out grocery shopping and wouldn’t be back until six o’clock. “Hey Autumn,” she called, “are you home?” “Yeah,” Autumn replied, “sorry about your detention; I won’t tell mom and dad.” “Thanks,” she replied, “Want to work on the canvas together?” For their twelfth birthday, they had gotten a large canvas made with pine wood and quality cotton that they had saved for her and Autumn to paint. She could see the finished picture in her mind’s eye: a ravine in a large gap between two mountains surrounded by a few bushy trees. Coming from a stone mountain, there would be a waterfall, filling up the ravine to make a creek. She had looked up the area her family would be going camping the next week and had found out that they would be hiking, then pitching their tents in this beautiful place during the trip. “Sure,” Autumn said, breaking through her thoughts. Here's chapter 1 part 1. Link to chapter 1 part 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/413916163/
