Finding Spring

Welcome to the Spot Writers. This month’s prompt is “expectations for spring”.

This week’s contribution comes from Chiara De Giorgi. Chiara is an Italian author and currently lives in Berlin, Germany. She writes fiction, with a focus on children’s literature and science fiction.

 

Finding Spring

(an “Inn at the End of Dreams” story)

by Chiara De Giorgi

 

Canva AI text to image

I am very lucky because I go to a very special school. It’s called The Boarding School at the End of Dreams and it is for 7^th to 12^th grade students.

The best thing about going there is that I get to meet the most bizarre creatures – don’t tell them I said that – because students come from four different worlds: the human world (where I come from), the World of Dreams, the Realm of Fairy Tales, and the Lands of the Gods. There are no kids coming from the Province of the Talking Turtles, they really enjoy their independence – but one of our history teachers is from there, he’s, like, super old and makes jokes that no one gets, but he’s so funny when he laughs (at his own jokes) that we like him anyway.

So, anyway. About Spring.

Everybody at school knows the Seasons siblings: Winter has all straight As and is about to graduate, he’s very serious, even intimidating; Autumn is in 10^th grade, he’s a bit on the “chaotic good” side, you can never tell if he is joking or not, but he is kind and smiling and so everyone likes him in the end; Summer is in 9th grade, when she laughs you can hear her in every corner of the school, she loves dancing and she’s been leading the School Dance Committee since she got at BS@ED.

When I arrived here last year, I soon learned that the most expected event for the following school year would be the Seasons' youngest sister Spring coming to BS@ED.

Speculations were wild: she would show up dancing to the notes of Vivaldi’s Spring, she would wear a flower crown, she would smell of magnolia and cherry blossom, her hair would be as shiny as a squirrel’s tail, and her eyes would be like two rays of sunshine. She would be the gentlest creature in the worlds, her voice would resemble the sound of a mountain brook. Dragonflies would hover above her head and she would have ladybirds crawling on her desk. Et cetera, you get the gist.

This is to say that in fact nobody, absolutely nobody expected Spring to be a crossover between a unicorn lover and Emily the Strange. If you can imagine such a creature.

She was everything and the opposite of everything. She would look at you with piercing dark eyes that seemed to bore into your soul, all grave and frowning, and then she would break into a smile that felt like a rainbow. She was everywhere, she didn’t want to miss a thing, she was tireless, always surprising, always something else than you expected - the only thing you could really expect from her was that she was unpredictable. You might think that such a person is exhausting to be around, and in a way she is, but she is never boring, so there’s that. She is as wild as a storm, but at the same time as gracious as a bud, and everyone befriended her.

There is this guy who has a terrible crush on her. He is from her world; he is older and always has a melancholic air about him. I think his name is Hades or something like that. He only seems to be happy when he is around Spring, but she is too busy not missing a single experience, she can’t stay in the same place or with the same person for too long.

I’m sure I heard Hades concocting something together with an older friend, something to stop Spring, to keep her in one place for a while. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear enough of that conversation, and there and then I didn’t even pay too much attention to it, thinking it was just any conversation.

However, when Spring disappeared, I remembered what I had heard and told my closest friends about it. I am convinced that Hades is behind Spring’s disappearance. I know that a pomegranate is involved, and I am determined to find it so I can figure it out. And I will find our friend. We all miss Spring, we miss the days when she was gloomy and moody as much as those when she was cheerful and smiling.

Over spring break, my best friends and I will stay at school and investigate. What better time?

 

***

The Spot Writers—Our Members:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/