Dream of Pea
All she can see is bright green. It was the type of green that would make anyone else feel warm and at peace, but all Nala felt was broken, angry, and trapped. The green leaves of a pea plant are in her face and its stabbing her cheek. She can’t believe that for her birthday her dad decided to get her a pea plant. She instantly hated it.
She hated the smell, but most of all she hated the color green. Green was the color of puke and green was the color of every food she didn’t like, sea pickles, asparagus, and even green apples. The worst part about the color green is that it was the color of the dress her mom wore before she died.
The next thing she knew her dad said, “I am so proud of you and all of your accomplishments so I’m giving you the most precious thing I have. Happy Birthday Nala!”
Trying not to look fake, Nala smiled and said, “Thank you Dad. I love it.” Nala took the cold brown pot and held it tight.
Nala looked around to see all her friends and family smiling at her. The palace was decorated with so many white and purple flowers and she could tell that the chandelier had been meticulously cleaned for this event. Presents colorfully wrapped peppered the floor and there were so many people around, it was almost suffocating.
After an hour of entertaining all of her guests with corny jokes Nala found on the internet, a cake that matched the decorations in the palace was brought to Nala’s side. Her dad, King Dominique Coy of Kalpisia, and her older sister, Princess Abriella Coy, started to sing Nala a very slow happy birthday song. She could feel time ageing her as they sang. She smiled, trying not to look so fake, but that is how Nala always felt. Fake.
Her life has been fake and she kind of blamed Abriella. She was in line for the throne, but she gave it up to be with a guy named Anthony, so Nala was forced to take Abriella’s place and in three days her dad will retire and Nala will be the new queen of Kalpisia. Nala didn’t know whether she wanted to be queen or not, only that she didn’t have a choice. “I wouldn’t be much good at it anyway,” she thought.
The candles were lit on top of the cake. “Make a wish Nala,” Abriella said after squeezing Nala’s shoulder. Nala really only wanted one thing and that was relief. All she wanted was for something that she has been holding in to be released. All she really wanted was to know what she wanted. Nala closed her eyes and with one blow she blew out all eighteen of her candles.
As soon as Nala got the chance to get away from all the servants, her family, and her friends she left. Nala tried to be careful not to bump into somebody and at that very moment she was a ghost to everyone. No one noticed her and that was just how she liked it. “As slick as a ninja,” she thought.
Nala ran for the one place she knew she’d be safe and free. Nala ran to a beach near her house that’s view was blocked by some rocks. She ran there not realizing that she had the pea plant still in her hands until she sat in the sand. Nala stood up, placed it down on the sand and hung her foot over it. Anger started to build up in Nala as she started to realize something about the plant. There was only one place you can find a plant like that.
You could only find it in her mother’s garden. Her mother, Queen Randa, loved keeping traditions, animals, and plants from the past alive. “It was her way of connecting with the past,” Nala guessed. A time before the polar ice caps melted and almost everyone on earth left to live on another planet. Since then there has only been a little of land in the Kingdom of Kalpisia, everyone’s hair is blue, and people are able stay underwater for thirty minutes. Humans wouldn’t have survived all these years if it wasn’t for their new adaptations.
Nala looked at the plant from behind her foot and decided to put her foot down. “This is the last thing I have left of my mom. It wouldn’t be smart to destroy it,” she thought.
The princess looked at the pea plant again, and the memory of the last time Nala saw her mom squeezed into her brain. It was blurred, but she could remember some stuff. Her mom’s long blue hair was braided into one big braid that sat on her chest. Queen Randa’s green dress had long sleeves and it was lined with a golden thread. It was a long silk dress that Nala could remember leaning on. Queen Randa was really pretty and she resembled Abriella. They both had the same hair color, hazelnut eyes, and long face. Nala could also remember her mom saying that day, “One day I’ll be able to save the past Nala. Back then there were so many beautiful animals, but then mankind destroyed this world. I promise you will get to see the world before it was swallowed up by water. I might even be able to bring back the dead.”  That was Nala’s last and only memory of her mom. Every time she thinks of her mom her head throbbed.
Nala’s mother died that night. Nala was four and she still can’t forget her. Her thoughts swirled. “I don’t know whether she actually died or not though. My dad said that she died, but I’m not sure. Nobody knows how she died and there was no body, so it’s hard to think that she’s really gone. How could there be no body? I really think she just left us or maybe that’s just what I’m hoping. Maybe I’m still in denial, but I don’t care anymore,” she thought.
Nala put her hand on her forehead and realized it was hot and she felt pressure on it. The best way to cool down was to take a swim. Nala took off her T-shirt to reveal her blue undershirt. It matched her blue hair and striped blue kakis. With one breath and no hesitation she jumped into the warm water, slicing through the waves so she could make it to the drop off.
Nala swam to where she knew she could catch a current to take her to her special place. Nala’s happy place. The one place she could be alone. The current was full of people who waved with enthusiasm at their soon to be queen. Not looking back or even acknowledging them she kept going until she was out of sight from any other human. Nala didn’t want to talk to anyone.
After a twenty minute swim, a few feet in front of Nala was a cliff that shot up right out of the sea. She arrived at her destination. The cliff was as tall as a sky scrapper and it was connected to the south side of the beach. Nala took a deep breath and dove under water. She opened her eyes open under water, so she could faintly see a tunnel carved deep into the cliff.
Nala came here to do the one thing she would never be able to do after she became queen. She wanted to see what was at the end of the tunnel. She had always been drawn to the tunnel even as a kid. Nala first found the tunnel one day when she ran away from home. She tried to swim to the end of the tunnel but she turned around when she used up half of her air. 
Nala’s whole life, she has been trying to get up the courage to swim all the way through but she has never done it. The fear of there not being an end to the tunnel or the fear of the tunnel ending and there being no air to save her, kept her from going all in.
Nala swam back up slowly as if she was trying to make an entrance, but she was just thinking. Thinking about whether it is worth it. When she first tried to make it to the other side she didn’t make it, she went back with her tail between her legs, but she came back with an adrenaline. Nala had sense of accomplishment in doing something so dangerous, though it was pointless. It was the only thing that made her feel free and in control.
The sun was going down and there was only a little bit light showing on top of the sea. Sunset was approaching. Nala could only see the tunnel faintly. She already had made up her mind that she had nothing to lose so there was a spark of determination burning in her head.
Nala took a deep breath and swam slowly into the dark hole. Her strategy was to swim slowly so she could save her breath. Swimming into the darkness was very unsettling and the water became cold as soon as Nala swam into the darkness.
Five minutes after swimming into the hole she felt a hand grab her. She instantly connected to her animal instincts and started swimming for her life. Her imagination went wild. It could be a giant squid, a sea snake, or even a sea monkey. If it was a sea monkey she wouldn’t have much time to live. Sea monkeys are the fastest things under the sea and they are extremely strong. There were stories of them ripping peoples’ limbs out of there socket. Nala swam faster at the thought.
Next thing Nala knew it had been nearly thirty minutes since she had been swimming. Her lungs were gasping for air, so she swam faster and faster with her eyes closed until she felt the world open up. She opened her eyes under the freezing cold water to a faint misty glow. Her body rushed upward out of the water like a floaty, without Nala having to make command. The air above was extremely warm. She gasped for air and laid back in the water letting it hold her like a baby. Nala was exhausted, so she stayed in the water until she decided to open her eyes. She could see the moon through a hole in the cave ceiling.
It took her a while to process her surroundings. She was in a cave and in the middle of the cave was a tiny island. It was almost pitch dark but Nala could almost sense all of her surroundings. She swam to an island that was in the middle of the cave, dragged herself onto the soft sand, and collapsed falling into a deep ten minute sleep.
Nala woke up to the sound of something popping out of the water and coughing. Fear slapped her legs with a paralyzing potion and she realized that her legs were way too tired to carry her far. She decided to play dead and then make a strategic withdraw. That was Nala’s way of saying she was going to run.
The sound of water moving came closer. There was a dragging of a body onto the sand and then a small thud. Curiosity soon started groping Nala and she slowly crawled toward the thing, making sure to stay low to the ground. A feeling of her gut getting stabbed got more and more intense as she got closer to the dark figure. The shape was too small to be anything dangerous, so Nala decided to take a chance. She stood up, yet her legs were still sore. She grabbed a stick. She took a deep breath and poked the thing as hard as she could.
“Ow,” yelled the figure in a very familiar girly voice. “What the heck Nala. Gosh, put that thing down before you hurt someone,” she wined. There was only one person who wines that much. It was my older sister Abriella. Nala’s fear quickly turned into shame.
“What are you doing here? Wait you were the thing that grabbed me weren’t you.” Nala scowled at her.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think you would freak out. I just wanted to know what you were doing.” She paused to look around. “You know you can’t just leave in the middle of your own birthday party and expect no one to notice you’re gone. I’m guessing this is where you always go when you’re not at home. This an interesting hideout”
“Actually this is my first time here.”
Abriella frowned. “Wait. You just swam into a tunnel without even knowing what’s on the other side. Do you have a death wish or are you just that stupid?” Abriella scolded.
“All of the above,” Nala grinned. Abriella on the other hand looked like she was trying to make Nala burst into flames. “I’m alive aren’t I?”
“Yeah, but you could’ve been killed. In three days you’ll be queen of Kalpisia so, you better get your act together.” That sentence lit a fire in Nala’s chest. “Now let’s get home and pick out your coronation dress. I have this really good idea for your big entrance.”
Nala looked around for maybe an excuse on why they should stay there, but all she could say was, “I don’t wanna go.”
Abriella’s gaze hardened. “Why not?”
Nala tried to find a lie to say, but all there was the truth, “I don’t want to be queen.”
Abriella look saddened then it brightened a bit. “You’re just getting cold feet is all. Now come on I bet you’re hungry”
“No I’m not going,” Nala yelled.
“What is your problem?”
“I don’t know that I want to be queen.”
“Ok. Why don’t you want to be queen.”
“Because I don’t have a choice.” Hearing the words out loud made Nala feel stupid.
“Well if you had a choice would you be queen.”
That was an odd question for Nala. “Maybe,” was all she could say. “I’m staying here and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Abriella sighed then sat on the ground with her legs crossed. “Fine than”
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to come to your senses.”
“Really? You are going to stay here with me?”
“Yeah. I understand you are under a lot of pressure and you want to have some time to think, so I’m just going to stay here to keep an eye on you.” Abriella said it in a tone that made Nala feel like child.
Nala sat in the sand in front of Abriella and just stared at her. After thirty minutes of that Nala was tired, but she still wasn’t going let Abriella take her back yet. Nala’s stomach pleaded to her. Nala realized that she hadn’t eaten in three hours. She looked up at Abriella. She was asleep. Nala’s stomach screamed and Abriella jumped awake.
“You’re hungry aren’t you.” Abriella grinned at her. “You ready to go home yet Nala?”
“No,” Nala wined.
“Are you really going to starve yourself just so you don’t have to go home?”
“Who says I’m going to starve? I’m pretty sure I can find something to eat on this island.”
Nala sifted through the small bushes and found a really curly vine. Nala gasped at the sight of the familiar plant. It was a pea plant almost identical to hers. Abriella heard the gasp and peered from behind Nala’s shoulder.
“Is that a pea plant?” asked Abriella.
“Yeah, but I don’t understand. You can only find them in mom’s garden.”
“I guess they were able to survive all these years.”
After five minutes of staring at the plant, Nala started to bring a pea close to her face and she slowly opened her mouth. Abriella slapped it out of her hand.
“What are you doing? You know that it is against the law to eat ancient plants because it could lead to new diseases.” Abriella screamed this.
Nala laughed, happy she struck a nerve. “I’m hungry and unless you want to go home and get me food I’m eating this. Wait, are you scared to eat it?”
Abriella did something Nala never thought she would do. Abriella took a pea from the curly plant and said, “if you eat it, I’ll eat it.” Nala was shocked, but she didn’t want Abriella to think she was a wimp so Nala held up a pea too.
“On the count of three,” I said. “One, two, three”
They both popped it into their mouth. It tasted really sweet in their mouths and it tingled in their mouths. Almost like a numbing sensation. They both chewed and swallowed at the same time. Nala felt triumphant.
Abriella was the first to speak. “That was actually pretty good. I think I’ll have….”
Abriella started swaying back and forth as if she was dizzy and then she passed out on the ground. Nala watched as she too was swaying back and forth. Nala fell to the ground and passed out, but not before she saw Abriella’s hair turn brown starting from the roots and working its way to the ends of her hair. Everything for both of them went dark.
They woke up at the same time like an alarm clock went off in her head. It was mourning and that one hole in the ceiling provided a lot of sunlight.  They didn’t dare look at each other until they both realized what happened last night. Once their brains caught up they both jumped up, took a look at each other and screamed at the top of their lungs.   
Abriella woke up with dark brown curly hair instead of her sky blue straight hair. Nala woke up with pitch black hair instead of dark ocean blue hair. Abriella was hyperventilating and Nala was sitting on the ground thinking.
Nala had remembered looking at one of her mom’s old history books. People back then didn’t have blue hair. Their hair were brown, black, and, orange. It was like they went back in the evolutionary chain. Nala knew this theory had to be tested. Nala decided wait for Abriella to stop having a heart attack or wait until Abriella got tired and passed out.
“Can you time how long I can stay underwater?”
“Shouldn’t we go home so we can fix this mess?”
“Trust me this is important.”
Abriella nodded so Nala went underwater. Nala had trouble staying under. Her body kept floating to the surface. Finally when she needed air she swam up.
“How long was that?”
“Were you really trying? You only stayed under for three minutes.”
Everything hit Nala at once. In a panic Nala said, “We went back of the evolutionary chain. We’re stuck here with no food and no water and we’re probably going to die. It’s over. We’re done for.” Tears rushed down Nala’s face.
Abriella’s eyes widened. “What do you mean we’re trapped.”
“We are human now.”
“What do you mean, we’ve always been human?”
“I mean we are like the humans from the old days. We can’t stay underwater for more than three minutes so there is no way to leave the cave.”
Abriella jumped in the water as fast as she could and started to swim as fast as she could. It wasn’t long that she came back up huffing and puffing for air. Abriella dragged herself on land looking defeated. “No food, no water, and no way out. I don’t understand why this has happened. This can’t be the first time someone has eaten a pea. This doesn’t make sense,” Nala thought.
“What are we going to do?” This was the question Abriella asked. Nala realized that for once her big sister didn’t have a solution to their problems. Nala felt some fight stir up in her. This was not how she wanted to go down. Nala didn’t have a good plan, but she had a plan.
“Survive til someone finds us.”
“Good plan,” Abriella said sarcastically.
“We are trapped here with no food and no water. We need to find some food and water.”
“Maybe a fish will come,” Abriella said with hope. They looked around, but the ocean was so quiet. All you could see were white shells that decorated the cave.
“There is no fish in sight, but there was a lot of shellfish around. Ok what about water? It’s the dry season so we’ll be lucky if we get any rain.” Nala paused for a moment. It seemed like the rays of the sun was more concentrated in cave. “Maybe if we dig we’ll some fresh water”
As Abriella started to scrape the shellfish from their rock, Nala started digging for water. As soon as she stuck her hands in the dirt Nala felt something hard. Assuming it was a rock Nala worked to dig it out. Moving dirt out of the way she caught a glimpse of a green fabric.
Nala moved up and started to dig. She dug out a bony human head. Nala screamed. It was so heart piercing that Abriella jumped at the sound. “What happened?”
“Head….. Dead body,” Nala said as if she was out of breath. Abriella went over to the head and started digging the whole thing out. Nala was surprised that Abriella was not scared at all. Abriella started to dig it out. Nala sat out of sight of skeleton until Abriella said, “Come over here.”
Nala crept over to the remains and tried to keep from throwing up. The skeleton was wearing a green familiar dress and it had brown hair. The dress was unmistakable though. “Mom,” Nala whispered. Tears started to spill over and run down her cheek.
Abriella looked calmly at the remains and smiled slightly. “So that’s what happened to you,” Abreilla said in the coldest way Nala had ever heard.
Nala started picture in her head exactly what happened. “You swam here and found this place. You ate a pea and went back on the evolutionary chain. You got stuck here. You starved and got dehydrated. You died here. This could be how we die too,” Nala thoughts started to focus on what Abriella said, then remembered how she said it.
“Is that really all you have to say?” Nala asked. Abriella’s smile went away. “You are looking at your dead mother and that is what you say.” Tears poured out of Nala’s eyes.
“Why are you so upset? You knew she was probably dead anyway.”
“Well there was at least a chance she was still alive. I believed she might have just left us.”
“You would rather have her leave us than be dead. Ok I get it. I still don’t understand why you are so upset though.”
“What do you mean you don’t understand why I’m upset? I’m looking at my dead mother.” Nala screamed this. At this point they were both screaming.
“You don’t even know her though.”
“Yes I do she’s my mother.”
“Do you have any memories of her?”
“I have one from the day she left”
“Exactly, you only remember the thought of mom. You didn’t really know her. I was eight when she left. I remember every Mother’s Day, every birthday, and every kissed boo boo. I’m the only one who remembers her.”
“Than why aren’t you upset. Didn’t you love her?”
“How dare you? Of course I loved her. I just would rather believe she is dead than believe she left us…. Cause that would hurt worse.” Tears came down Abriella’s face they both stopped talking and just started crying.
The light that showed in the cave started to dim and all the emotions they were feeling made them tired.  They both prepared for another night in the cave when they heard a deep manly voice from above. They both looked up to see a boy with blue hair look down on them. “Do you need some help?” asked the boy
They had finally been found and all the emotions of relief and happiness rose in there chest and they were speechless for almost a minute. Finally those emotions came out at once and they both screamed at the same time. “Yes!” in a high pitched squeal.
The boy left for five minutes and came back with a dirty rope that smelled of Greece, he threw it down, and they climbed up the rope and through the hole at the top of the cave. They both had to squeeze through the very tight hole that seemed to scratch skin off them as they moved through it. Once they got out of the cave their hearts calmed. “Do you want me to walk you home princesses?” asked the boy.
The boy was actually really cute and he was about Nala’s age. Nala blushed when he helped her up off the ground. “No we’re good,” Abriella said finally. They started walking home in silence. After five minutes Nala spoke.
“What are we going to tell dad when we get home?”
“Let’s not tell him what happened”
“Why not?”
“It’ll bring up bad memories of mom’s funeral. We can’t make him live through that again.” Nala definitely agreed with that, for it was their father who took mom’s death the hardest.
“What do we say when he asks about our hair?”
“The truth. There will be no harm in telling him what happens when you eat a pea.”
“When he asks where we’ve been what do we say?”
“Camping would be a simple lie.” There was a small pause. “What are you going to do about your coronation?”
Nala paused and started to think. “I now know what mom meant by we can save the past. What if I could change the kingdom using the pea plant? If I’m queen I can conduct research on the plant. Maybe I can even bring my mom back from the dead. I really want to know why mom did what she did that night. I have so much hope,” Nala thought.
Nala finally knew what she wanted, “I know I didn’t want to be queen before, but I’m ready now.”
“That’s my girl” Nala looked over to see Abriella smiling. “I find a lot of peace in knowing that mom gets to have such a beautiful place to rest in.”
“Me too.” Nala knew exactly what she meant.
In thirty minutes they made it to the beach where Nala’s pea plant was left. Nala picked it up and brought it home. She was so ready to go home.
The
End