Aceline's Paracosm by Tal Lingenua (classic books for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

"I don't want to." I say and my tongue juts out of my mouth. The King frowns. He thinks I have done so intentionally.

"You won't defy our will, Aceline." The King says pounding his golden staff against the red grass of Tamale-Netam Square.

My face twitches and I grab it until it stops, "I don't want to." I repeat.

The King nods his head at the two goons who are standing on either side of me. They raise their spears and prod me in the sides of my stomach.

I cringe at the pain and look up at the King. "I..." My brain sort of switches off. I can't form new words nor can I recall what I was going to say.

"You don't have to kill your parents Aceline." The King says, "Just make sure they never give you Thorazine again."

"Okay King, I will do your thing. But don't expect me to sing." I slip through time and space. I am now staring up at the ceiling of my living room. My half-brother and half-sister are sitting on the couch watching television. They don't seem to have noticed that I had left.

I crawl over to my older half-siblings and sit in the seat between them. They both move closer to the armrests.

This makes me a little sad. Erik and Sky had always thought I was interesting and loved hearing tales of Tamale-Netam from me. But ever since I was diagnosed pediatric schizophrenia last year, they've sort of avoided me.

A KHL game is coming on the television. They are watching this because Lev Poprad is expected to move to the Czech Republic, the country where both my mother and half-brother were born.

What I don't understand is how they can say the KHL is real but not many other television shows. They say people are just actors, but if these actors are real than why aren't their shows?

They have just finished singing the national anthem and have gone to commercial break. I feel my face twitching then my fingers close part way. They lock in that position for 30 seconds.

"What's wrong with your face?" Sky asks me.

"I don't know." I say, "It keeps doing things without me."

Erik looks at me, "When did this start?"

"I don't know. Two days ago."

"Hmm." Erik scratched his forehead, "It sounds like tardive dyskinesia."

The mere fact the I cannot pronounce the word scares me half to death. "What's that?"

"Well, it's a movement disorder usually brought upon by the use of antipsychotics. The first thing you should do is stop taking Thorazine."

I light up and I'm sure Erik said a lot more things about this tardy disconnectivity thing, but I was so happy that I was going to stop taking Thorazine and nobody had to be hurt or killed.

"Ace?" Erik says and I look at him, "you have to tell our mom. Never mind, that's a bad idea. I will tell her."

Erik went upstairs and I notice that Sky has gotten angry. I want to ask her about this but my mind doesn't let me and I become flustered.

But she starts talking anyway, "I hate how he does that."

I want to ask something here, but I can't find the right words.

She rants a little about Erik and I stare at her my brain unable to form words.

Erik comes back after a while and sits next to me. Right next to me. I smile a little and the three of us watch the KHL game until bed time.


I wake up in the morning and I feel more energized than I've ever been before. I roll out of bed and land on my back with a thump.

I climb to my feet and leap onto the cot sides of the top bunk. I pull myself over and bounce on my knees over to Sky. Her long blonde hair is splayed all over her face.

I grab a clump of it and lift it up. Through all this she has managed to stay asleep. I don't know how, I would wake up at the drop of a pin. That is, If I had managed to get to sleep at all.

I peel open Sky's eyelids and her blue eyes are rolled up near the top of her head. I lean closer and blow air into them. Sky starts blinking rapidly and swatting randomly in the air. She sits up and snorts. She looks like a rag doll and it's hilarious.

"Hi Sky." I say bouncing up and down, "What were you still doing asleep?"

Sky's eyes drift lazily towards the alarm clock in our room. "Ace! It's 7:17 in the morning!"

"Yeah, I can't believe I slept for so long." I crawl over to the ladder but decide not to use it. I jump to the floor and stick my landing like I was a cat. A Cat! I rush to my dresser and swipe everything off of it.

I realize that this didn't accomplish anything and I can tell from the way Sky is looking at me that she agrees.

"Whoops." I say and dig through the junk. There are dolls, stuffed animals and jewelery. But most importantly are my hairbands. They are incredibly adorable hairbands with animal prints and the ears of the animal attached to the top.

But the coolest part about them is the magic they possess. Whenever I put one on I become like the animal. These hairbands are the only thing from Tamale-Netam that are also on Earth.

I put on the tiger hairband, my absolute favorite. Instantly, my senses triple in power. I drop onto all fours and run over to the bed and jump to the top with a single leap. Sky darts up and she seems to be confused.

I open my mouth to talk but all that comes out is a growl. I always forget I can't speak when I have my hairbands on.

"I think you woke up too early in the morning." Sky says. She sounds upset so I crawl over to her and lick her face. She tries to push my head away, but the muscles in the neck of the Tamale-Netam tiger far exceed all the muscles in Sky's skinny little body.

I crawl on top of Sky and rub my head against her chest.

"Stop it you're not an animal." She's still pushing on me though I'm trying to make her feel better. I want to ask her why she sounds upset, but I also want to be a tiger.

I let out a deep purring noise, but this seems to annoy Sky even more. Now I wish I were a bunny or any cuter animal than a tiger. Tigers are my favorite animals, but cute is probably the second word you'd use to describe them. Dangerous is the first. Which, for some reason, most people have a hard time looking past.

I reluctantly take off my ears and am immediately overpowered by Sky and sent over the cot sides. I barely have time to scream before I'm plastered into the ground. Falling from the top of the bunk bed is not as bad as one would think.

"Ace! I'm sorry! You just got so weak, and... and..." Sky is clearly flustered and can't form words.

I climb slowly to my feet, more surprised than hurt by the fall. Sky had climbed down the ladder and was next to me.

"Are you okay?" She asks me and I nod. Mom, dad and Erik arrive at the doorway of our room.

"What was that noise?" Dad asks.

"I-" Sky starts.

"I fell from..." I say. This time I am intentionally imitating the speaking patterns of my schizophrenia.

"Where did you fall from?" My dad asks.

I look up towards the ceiling, as if that answered anything.

My dad waits a little bit; but I keep my gaze on the ceiling and he eventually gives up. "As long as no one's hurt." Dad says, "Watch your sister while I start breakfast."

My parents leave, but Erik comes in and sits on my bed. I smile at Sky, and she smiles back at me.

"That was awesome Ace." Sky says, "thanks."

Erik looks at the junk I've knocked off the dresser, "What have you two been up to?"

"I was a tiger." I say and I start to put on my hairband when Sky picks me up. This is something she hasn't done since I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It annoys me that she stopped me from wearing my ears, but it makes me happy that my half-sister is holding me.

Erik looks at me and he looks almost sad. Maybe he wants to hold me too. So I tell him he can and to my surprise, he does. He even kisses me on the forehead.

"Hey Ace, tell us what's been happening in Tamale-Netam." Sky says.

Now I'm thoroughly excited. I talk about Tamale-Netam since last year. I tell them about all the new zoo animals, I tell them about how they've been wanting to come out recently. But I don't mention anything about them wanting me off Thorazine.

For one thing, I didn't get any last night. And plus, I don't want them to think I might have to be violent to protect Tamale-Netam. I don't want them to think they're less important than Tamale-Netam, they aren't, it's just that the Kings goons are very scary.

I have them all caught up by the time it's breakfast. Breakfast is waffles, eggs and bacon. There are even fresh strawberries and whipped cream for the waffles! My favorite breakfast in the entire world. After every bite I do cartwheels around the table. This has nothing to do with my high-energy, I'd feel compelled to do this anyway.

After breakfast is over I have to get ready to leave. It's just my Dad and I, so it's probably to the psychiatric hospital. This is very distressing news. After a fantastic morning I'm going to the psychiatric hospital. Which is probably why everyone was being so nice...

All of my enthusiasm from today has taken an ugly turn into sorrow. I feel Earth sliding out of focus and I find myself under the purple sky of Tamale-Netam. I am at the zoo, one of my favorite places in all of Tamale-Netam.

The animals here are just like the ones on Earth, except they are bigger, stronger and they can talk.

I rush over to the tigers' cage. It's a family of three. Karom is the father, Kakka is the mother and Kason is their son, and my best friend. Right now they are all sleeping, but that can be fixed.

I crawl halfway through the cage bars, but my waist gets stuck. Either I've gotten fatter or the bars gotten thinner. I try to pull myself in but I just scrape myself against the red metal.

"Kason!" I call, "Kason! Wake up!" But he doesn't seem to hear me. I pound my hands against the floor and the tigers stir but none of them awaken. I call Kason once more but he doesn't get up and my position between the bars is getting uncomfortable.

I try to go backward out of the cage but I'm