CE Church - Melisza

Via Pinterest, but with a bit longer hair
and slightly less dramatic pointing
to the ears.

My church was started on Easter Sunday, so our Easter celebration is extra special. A big pot-luck lunch, then then candy hunts for all of the kids. Tons of fun.

This is my first year as "not a kid" so this is also my first year that I won't be participating in the candy hunt. Oh, well, I had a good year last year ... maybe my sibs will share something with me ...

I'm wandering the halls, trying to look like I'm doing ... something, when I spot her. At first I think she's merely our pastor's daughter, the one who usually goes to another church, but doesn't live out of state.

But then I realize that her hair is much too long, she's much too tall, and young ... and her ears ... are pointed?

I don't mean to be caught staring, but she turns at that very moment and sees me. I start to pull my shy act and back away, but she smiles encouragingly. "Oh, Tiyay!" She has a strange accent.

I blink and force a smile. "Uhh ... Tiyay?"

"I mean hello." She smiles self-consciously. "English. It's just so hard to speak. I speak it better than most elves, though."

"You're an elf?" Of course. She has pointed ears. I frown slightly. Could she be one of my characters? I have several books with elves in them ... many of them with long, pale blond hair.

She nods. "Of course. My name is Melisza, Dizalay of the Lilnas."

Yep. Definitely one of my characters. "Oh, my name is Kendra ... um, what are you doing here?"

"I spent my childhood in the human world, which is why I speak English so well. I wanted to see here again, but it's changed so much. The orphanage where I lived, it's now a great house, and Mrs. Arden's great-great grandchildren live there," Melisza explains.

I nod. "Oh, yes. I know about them. I'm ... well, I know about the Ardens."

"Yes, that is why I was sent to see you, Kendra. They said that you are a great Makatay." 

"Makatay?"

"Story writer. You write stories."

"Oh, yes, I do. Lots of stories. In fact, I think I'm already writing yours." I quickly pull my black bag of notebooks off my shoulder and unzip it. Yes! I do have that notebook with me today! What luck. I've been excluding it sometimes of late, since I've been writing it on the computer. I pull it out and hand it to her, turned to the page where the story begins.

She squints at the paper, and I wince, remembering that, though Melisza is as smart as any Lilna - which is pretty smart, by the way - she still has trouble reading English.

"I seem to be having trouble reading this word," she says at last. "I guess that it is supposed to be Arden, but it looks like Ardnek to me."

"Oh! Um, actually it is Ardnek. I had some facts confused when I wrote that. I've corrected it later on." I take the notebook from her and flip to the summery that I wrote for my illustrator, who wanted to know what happened after the beginning I had written.

"This is the summery," I explain to Melisza. "But it isn't complete. You see, I don't know how it ends."

Melisza sighs, then hands the notebook back to me. "I don't know, either. Everything looks so dark and grim right now. But there is hope. Someday, the Lilnia will see that Elonodi does love the Harshia, and all will accept the truth that Salv brought."

I draw in a deep breath as I slide the notebook back into my bag. "It's been two thousand years, and we still seek that day in our own world. Everything just keeps getting worse though."

"But there is hope."

"Yes, there is."

"It was good talking to you, Kendra," said Melisza. "I hope we meet again someday."

"Someday," I agree. She opens the door nearest us, and I gasp to see that it's not the classroom that's usually  behind it, but a forest - full of two trunked trees with black bark and red leaves. Indeed, the door frame itself appears to be one of the trees on the other side. She steps through the door, and it closes behind her. When I open the door again, it's just a classroom.

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