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OPENING SCENE: Introduces main heroes on the deck of a flying ship in space, during an astral travel. This scene serves as a flashforward. The children-heroes travel to the main adventure place, into the dimension of the living people. There is much tension as they fight off negative entities.                                  

 

                                                                                                                                   1. A Day of Surprises.

 

 ‘Ouch!’Roserin winced. Something had hit her arm. She rubbed it to ease the pain and looked to her right. A copper pot with a long arm was now hovering, spinning like a top from the strong impact.

‘It’s a ‘briki’!’ Stamatis told her, using its Greek name. ‘It looks like the one that grandma used to make granddad’s coffee!’ He grabbed the tiny Turkish coffee maker to examine it up close. It was a funny looking pot that Cretan people used to make their Greek coffee, one that reminded Roserin of Pinnochio’s long nose.

‘It could belong to Pinnochio!' She thought and felt amused by the idea.

'It DOES belong to me!' The puppet's voice sounded suddenly within her consciousness. 'Help! I will not lie again!' was the second sentence that she heard right after. And then...silence.

‘Why is the briki’s main body so small? I always wondered why they made them so small.’ Alexander said.

    Before anyone had the chance to reply, Roserin, whom her friends and family also called ‘Rosie’, was startled by something that pulled her backward violently. A dark arm was visible right in front of her stomach, as well as the same distorted face that had been seen out of Roserin’s and Stamatis’ house. Some parts of the face seemed to dissolve in dark energy, before it would connect its particles together again to form evil expressions. This face was one that was NOT afraid of crocodiles or any other threatening animals in its former life. Its eyes, with miniature crescent irises, were popping out all round, a hollow spot appeared in place of its nose, and it grimaced, showing a number of razor-sharp teeth. Its chin was doubled and had a few dark spots. But what kind of entity was this?  The dark spots were spread on the rest of its face too, causing it to resemble a mountain of sand with pebbles in it. It was a ‘Goliath’s Tigerfish, the most terrifying fish of the Congo River in Africa.

On the ship’s deck, everyone froze in their positions, apart from a penguin wearing a scarf around his neck, who ran away from the threat, terrified. Alexander ran after Roserin, while the dark entity used its fists to start hitting the girl on her sides continuously. Rosie cried in pain with every blow, and her eyes and nostrils emitted a light blue neon light caused by her fear. Her veins started glowing in that same light and her complexion turned into white, making her resemble an ice statue. She was now floating in space far away from the ship. Astrapi, an African cat, floated after Rosie and the entity, in his effort to save his friend. Everyone was now on the one side of the deck, not having the slightest idea how to help the girl.

‘He is taking her toward a black hole!’ Stamatis shouted desperately. We MUST do something NOW!’

‘The Astrolabe!’ Bernard, a little boy, shouted. We can turn back time! Then Rosie will be pulled back to the ship, and we will stop his attack!’

‘We cannot do that my boy!’ Sir Hipparchus shouted to young Bernard. ‘We cannot play with Time. It is the Astrolabe itself that will decide that. We can only freeze time…’

‘Let’s do it then! Quickly Sir! My sister is disappearing!’ Stamatis shouted in despair.

‘I would have already done it if I could, my boy. But you see…this device is more complicated than you think.’

'See what you have done by touching that thing? Are you happy now?' Stamatis turned toward Bernard and shouted.

    Alexander took a crystal out of his pocket. It blazed in colors of turquoise and green on its surface. Henrietta turned to tell him that this was not the time to admire his pebbles, when the boy raised his palm and blew the crystal in the direction of Roserin. A rather long turquoise flame surrounded Rosie and formed a big round energy ball, from which emerged a face that blew the dark entity away. As soon as it received its first blow, Rosie happened to glimpse a different being at its place, for a fraction of a second. This being was an extremely distressed young lady with dark red hair that floated around her. Rosie felt instantly that this had been an earthbound ghost with some unfinished business in her previous life. And after the strike of a lightning, this restless soul got lost within a vast space of darkness. Alexander took another pebble, this time a blue one, out of his pocket and placed it onto his palm. Once again, he blew the crystal hard, in the girl’s direction. The stone remained in his palm. Nothing seemed to be happening. Everyone stared in agony, unable to utter a word to ask whether something would happen. The words would not come out of the mouths of these souls, who felt their hands tighten in front of grave danger. After a few seconds of unbearable silence and no reaction, Henrietta’s voice filled the huge void.

‘Alexander?’

    The sound of breaking branches made everyone turn their heads. And branches they were…they materialized from the trireme's (an ancient Greek warship with many paddles) mainmast. While everybody's attention was drawn to the newborn branches above, some thick roots appeared behind them and hugged the malus mast (one of the ship’s main masts) tightly. They seemed to be originating from Roserin’s side.

 ‘They are growing out of my feet!’ The girl shouted from a distance. Everyone looked at these thick roots that resembled a Giant's long beard (if the beard’s hair had been magnified a few thousand times). As the roots grew away from Rosie’s body and wrapped around the mast, the branches grew toward the girl. They stopped growing right behind Astrapi, who was still hovering in the air. They were knitted to each other and formed a bridge. Roserin was suddenly pulled forward like a comet, almost past Astrapi. The African cat changed his direction and ran across the bridge, back to the ship. The girl was now standing on the deck, still glowing in turquoise-green light. Sir Hipparchus and the children all sighed with relief. The roots started to dissolve from her feet and the remains were now floating away from the mast.

‘That was close!’ Bernard sighed and relaxed. Henrietta’s eyes popped out:

‘Get away from there! Get away from there!’ She shouted, panicked, at Roserin, while Bernard jumped as if he had just been electrocuted.

‘How many are there?’ Stamatis asked, terrified, and looked around in all directions.

‘There seem to be more than there are stars…’ Alexander commented, and in his panic, he grabbed something that looked like a mop, to defend both himself and his friends.

‘Use the Mirror Rosie! Use the Mirror!’ Sir Hipparchus urged the girl, in his despair to keep her, himself and the other children safe. Rosie stood still and focused with a decisive look in her eyes.

'What do we do now uncle? What do we do?' Henrietta asked in panic.

 

        But wait! Let us pause the story at this point...who is Alexander? And who is Henrietta? Who are Stamatis and Roserin, and why does she seem to have been somebody’s target? Who is Astrapi and who is Bernard? Are there any black holes in the sea? And how about the dimension in which we seem to find these people? They seem to be in space!

You are not afraid...are you? Our hero depends on us and our help! The dark entity is not able to pass through these pages unless you give them power with your fear...So, do not be afraid, and follow me!

          Roserin, Stamatis, and Astrapi –Roserin's African cat- were having their breakfast. The siblings were pondering how to spend their holiday. Astrapi was a beautiful big cat with a funny curly tail. Between his eyes, he had a white line of hair, whereas the rest of his body was brown, with a few white patches in front of his chest. He was a very clever African big cat and sometimes he would play hide and seek with the children.

The children would ask him to ‘stay’, and then they would hide somewhere and call him once they were ready. He would always find them by using his nose! This cat even knew how to go down the slide by himself at the park! He would do anything to make Rosie laugh! And beware anyone who would try to hurt his friend or her family. He would bite that person’s leg at once, and not let go!

        ‘At last!’ sighed Stamatis. ‘We are on holidays. After such an exhausting semester at school, we do deserve some good holidays. But where would we go? We cannot stay here in such heat.’-The weather was too warm and the children felt unable to do anything.

        ‘I did enjoy school a lot though.’ Roserin said. ‘I loved the breaks and especially the last day when we celebrated.’

        At Roserin’ and Stamatis’ school, several athletic activities had been organized last year, including ice skate racing where students had been divided into groups and tasked to find a lost treasure within a certain time limit. With the use of a map and a pair of ice skates, each student would come across various clues that would lead them to the treasure. It had been a rather complicated route, and therefore a great challenge, inside an enormous labyrinth in the shape of a snow flake. Every student had carried a personal flashlight on their forehead to find their way inside the dark slippery grounds of the maze. Stamatis had somehow managed to lead his team to the treasure: a giant frozen-looking ice skate with embedded diamonds. It had been lent to the school by Mr. Stone –the owner of a cute and welcoming jewelry store in their city of Iraklion. The team that found the treasure was awarded with a very respectable amount of beautiful crystals along with diplomas of excellence and a grade of distinction in the lessons of ‘Sixth Sense’ and ‘Awareness.’ And the best part of the final celebration was that all the students were winners in the end. They each received an individual basket with their name on it, a letter of appreciation concerning their efforts and respect of rules in this game, along with several wrapped gifts that served as useful tools in their spirit lives. And had a student offered their total focus in finding the treasure, they had the chance of being awarded wrapped chocolates and sweets, gathered from all over the world. These treats were wrapped in the most beautiful paper that had ever been made, which, when unwrapped, made the most mesmerizing sounds that could ever be heard. No wonder every single school in the city would participate every year in the big treasure hunt.

       ‘Ha! Another hilarious memory’ laughed Stamatis. I remember when Rosie made that sculpture...you cannot imagine what she went through to make it and then transfer it to school! It was a bust of a girl wearing a hat. And not only did the bust weigh almost more than Roserin, but all of a sudden, the hat was lifted in the air along with the wig, and it flew away to God knows where!’ He giggled. ‘So poor Rosie had to go to school carrying a bald head! When I imagine it lifting in the air...’ He was not able to complete his sentence though, due to his loud laughs that he could hardly control.

        ‘You are so insensitive! It was a horrible moment for me and you are laughing! What else can we expect from a boy? Anyway, let’s get back to our subject. Does anybody have an idea as to how we could spend the holidays?’

        ‘What would you say to asking your friends Henrietta, Barnard and Alexander to stay here with you? I bet you would be having a great time together!’

       ‘His name is Bernard…’ Stamatis corrected his mother.

       ‘But of-course! –Roserin shouted- What a splendid idea mom! I believe that they will love this idea!’

        Then, it was their father’s turn to speak. He had not said a word since they sat for breakfast; He had only picked up the newspaper and sat listening to his family’s conversation.

        ‘I find your idea very good. I am sure it will be very good news to them too, since you are always having such a nice time together. Am I right?’

Mr. Leon Elephantinos and his friend and colleague Sir Socrates Marmeladas - the latter one being the father of Stamatis and Roserin- had just been transferred to another department of their scientific job of Astronomy, Lightworking, and Research, and had to travel by train every morning to get there.

        ‘I have something else to tell you.’- Mrs. Adele Aurora continued, who came from Finland.        ‘A few days ago, we received the tickets to Finland. I want to get my books published and attend a crafts presentation. We are leaving soon; Tomorrow noon is our departure.’ –said their mother, who happened to be a crafts presenter and a writer of comical stories. She loved imagining and creating situations that would cause a sudden mood lift in her readers. In her last book, she wrote about some young boys who kept diving in the sea with their masks on to peek at the body of a half nude overweight lady underwater.

        ‘This is perfect! We will have a great time! You have made me happy with this news, mom!’ –Roserin shouted while her mother looked at her, astonished. Was she happy about her friends’ possible visit, or was she feeling ecstatic because her parents were leaving? ‘Henrietta will be very happy as soon as I tell her! Where is she now? Is she still sleeping?’

       ‘However, that does not mean that you will do whatever crazy thought comes into your mind, during the time we will be away.-‘Mr. Socrates said, to bring his daughter back to her senses....-‘Well, why are we sitting here? We need to call them and their parents as well, to ask them whether they want to and whether they can. We have a lot of preparation to do for the children, in case they accept our invitation.’-At once, Mr. Socrates ran toward the living room to make the phone call, and the children ran behind him glowing with excitement.

       ‘Freeze! Police! You have the right to remain silent!’ –A shout was heard all of a sudden. This shout disturbed neither the children nor Astrapi. - ‘Malaka...malaka...malaka!’ The popular swear word sounded in the Greek language, from the same source.

       ‘Shut up you stupid thing!’ –Roserin shouted playfully. This voice came from a mynah bird, which Rosie and Stamatis had taught to say a few words and phrases. She looked like a crow, with a yellow stripe around her ears, very black feathers, and a beautiful orange beak. She was the sixth and not least member of the family. She was

very clever and funny. She would perch on a thick beam in the inner garden and fly around freely. She always stayed close to the children and liked to land on their shoulders.

       ‘Petra feels like talking today! My efforts to teach her have bloomed...it may have taken me three months to teach her: ‘You have the right to remain silent’ but, I did succeed in the end!’ Stamatis said.

       ‘Yes. And you have driven me nuts all this time! Both you and her! I should have bought you an owl or a tortoise. At least THEY would let me sleep in the mornings. I wouldn’t even consider a hamster who might start running around on their wheel at night, so that nobody can sleep! Yesterday morning I woke up again by this dinosaur’s distant cousin...I was dreaming that I was in the middle of an adventure, and as soon as I was about to get inside a crypt, I heard a voice saying: Peeeeeetraaaaaaaa...’ ‘Petra’ being the mynah’s name.

Right at that moment, their dad hung up the phone receiver and walked toward the kitchen with Roserin and Stamatis behind him, asking: ‘Did you call them already? What did they say? What did they say?’

 

 

 

FIRST VIGNETTE exercise:

 

(energetic and filled with conflict)

 

The children looked around desperately for weapons on the flying ship’s deck. Henrietta ran behind the sails’main mast and her eyes fell onto a fishing rod. Alexander pulled a cannon out of its gun port, and pushed it toward Rosie’s predators, whereas Stamatis ran up the stairs back from the Captain’s cabin, holding a mirror with a threatening gaze on its reflective surface. Young Bernard on the other hand, grabbed a mop that stood against the deck’s fence, and Sir Hipparchus their uncle was trying hard to recall which of all needles of his invented Astrolabe, was appropriate to use in case of grave danger. The chameleon guardian skeleton of one of the hidden treasure chests and the Greek boogeyman Baboulas, were holding Rosie captive, whispering a collection of negative affirmations into her ears: “You are the family’s parasite,” “You should take responsibility,” “You are not worthy to breathe the air I breathe.” A cannon fire ball was fired by Alexander, which ejected the skeleton against the poop desk house, and disturbed Robert their penguin while he was having his dinner inside a barrel that was filled with fish. As soon as he got up obsessed with his victim, Henrietta’s fishing rod’s hook hooked his eye’s hollow socket and pulled his skull apart. He now staggered around, unable to sense where he was heading. This is when eight-year-old Bernard struck him with his mop, and caused him to jump from the ship’s hostage plank into the sea, with fractured bones left behind on his trail. When Stamatis showed Baboulas his true self in the mirror, consisting of multiple personalities, worms and bugs, the boogeyman caught fire in green tormenting flames and ran toward the hostage plank in despair. Astrapi, the children’s African cat, slipped his head through the fence, and thought in silence: “Good riddance…”

 

 

SECOND VIGNETTE:

 

A visual phenomenon with unusual nature, making a statement on the human condition.

 

 

Rosie felt her strength abandon her as soon as she encountered the scene of ultimate audacity in front of her. She felt her heart ache right after her eyes met the green sad eyes of the suffering dragon tree that bled heavily from its exposed trunk. A majestic big tree that resembled a giant mushroom with a vibrant green cap that was now losing its color. It was unable to move away from the Narc monster that had just inserted its multiple sharp teeth into its vulnerable bark, sucking away his red sap. The unfortunate tree was only just becoming aware of its fatal mistake to remain dependent on other dragon trees to transfer it from place to place, instead of using its own roots for total freedom and independence. The Narc paused its blood sucking activity when one of its numerous side eyes caught Rosie in his optical field. Its very big head turned around and looked at her for a while. He then turned his attention toward his shadowy hand that materialized into a thick hand with claws and a mirror-palm on which he admired his perceived reflection of a handsome and awesome man. The rest of his body consisted of dark energy, whereas in the area of the heart, there was nothing but a big hole. The girl felt sick. The tree cried red resin from its eyes. And the Narc monster instantly put on a charming mask with a smile above its empty eyes, ready to strike again. This time to another potential victim…

 

 

 

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