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Shook Chapter Six: Maya's Family
Dyan's been invited to stay with Maya and her family! Only thing is... the house is filled with seven kids, two parents and a dog!
Maya tapped Dyan’s shoulder. “C’mon!” She began to run to the house towards the open door. Dyan didn’t hesitate to run after her.
“Maya, get your room ready for a guest!” Mrs. Blue yelled after her.
Dyan ran down a long hall that led to a two-part living room, the first half having a tv and low ceiling, and the second half’s ceiling rose to be as high as the second story, a chandelier with two tiers hanging from it. Dyan ran past piles of toys and other blue-haired children as she made sure to follow Maya, no matter how many zig-zags and turns she took.
The two ran up a slope of steps and down the hall all the way to the room at the very end.
Maya opened the door to reveal a room where the walls were painted a buttery yellow. On the left side of the room, a huge window showed the front yard, and beside the window was a desk that doubled as a vanity, a circle mirror hanging above the desk. Across from the window was an open closet, but what surprised Dyan most was what laid directly across from her line of vision at the back of the room. Four bunk beds were lined against the wall, connected by a row of stairs in between them which served as a way to get to the top bunks. A tiny window sat above the steps that showed the side of the neighbors house. All the beds had toys, silk-covered pillows, or something on them that proved they had been slept in- all but for one that sat in the top right corner.
“This is my room.” Maya explained. “Well, it’s also called ‘the girls room’ since I share this room with my sisters True and Royal. You can have the bunk over my bed, since it’s free. It’s supposed to be my baby sister's bed when she gets older.”
Dyan slowly walked across the room, taking in its beauty. She had never been in such a nice furnished room. All the rooms Dyan had slept in had metal wiggly bunk beds with worn and ripped covers, crayon writing on the walls, or all of that combined.
She threw her bookbag on the bunk Maya had pointed out, and turned to her. “You never mentioned you had a million siblings.”
“Only six. I should probably introduce you to them, though. Well then, let me give you a family tour!” Maya put her hands up and wiggled her fingers.
“Okay!” Dyan followed Maya out of the beautiful room and back down the stairs.
By now everyone had come back inside. The house was quite loud, with the sound of video-game shooting noises, talking, and the bubbling coming from the kitchen.
A sweet, bakery-like scent flowed from the kitchen, luring both girls there. Dyan saw Mrs. Blue hovering over steaming pots on the stove while one of her daughters talked to her. It was the skinny girl from earlier who was the only girl taller than Maya who wasn’t Mrs. Blue. She had a dark yet vibrant shade of blue hair, and was wearing a yellow apron with a bunch of rabbit designs on it.
Maya pointed to Mrs. Blue “This is my Mom. She is the best listener and cook!”
“Hey!” The taller girl glared at Maya.
“Make that one of the best cooks. This is Royal. She’s my one older sister and an aspiring pastry chef.”
Royal nodded and lifted up a tray of cookies. “Want one?”
This is when Dyan’s stomach reminded her of how hungry she was. “Oh yes! Thanks!” Dyan said before picking up a cookie. It was covered with chocolate chips as well as light peachy bumps within its brown dough. The edges were crunchy, but the cookie itself was sweet and chewy.
“What do you think?” Royal asked her.
“I think it’s really good! Why?” Dyan said, covering her mouth as to not spit food everywhere.
“I think I should have added more chocolate chips to these cookies. I can only really taste the butterscotch pieces,” Royal explained.
“Oh, well, it’s good regardless,” Dyan told her. She already wanted another one.
"Royal and Navy went home early because they had a field trip today." Maya said, stuffing the last of her cookie in her mouth.
Dyan's face wrinkled. "Who's Navy?"
Maya then pulled Dyan over to the living room where a lamp was on and a boy was next to it, reading.
He had some dark blue waves on his head that reminded Dyan of the color of the ocean or the sky at night.
“This is Navy, Royal’s twin. He likes nonfiction books, and is a human dictionary, I kid you not. He says all those big words no one uses."
It was then when Navy quickly looked up and said “Did you know that orca whales use echolocation, just like bats?”
“Now I do,” Maya smiled. She leaned to Dyan and whispered. “He’s the one who lent me the trucking book.” Dyan didn’t think Navy even noticed this, as he was already back absorbed in his book.
Maya pointed to the other side of the couch where a boy with ear buds connected to a gaming-console controller in his hands was sitting.
“This is Wild Yonder. You may not ever see him because he never leaves the gaming console. Which reminds me, don’t challenge him to any video games.”
“‘Sup.” This was the only word Wild Yonder said, his eyes staring into the TV screen, which illuminated him.
Maya then walked over to the carpet that laid under the chandelier, where a baby with one poofy head of light-greenish blue hair sat. Maya leaned down to her level.
“This is Teal. She’s just a tiny baby. Isn’t that right Teal?” Maya offered her finger out to Teal, and she wrapped her fat fist around it. Teal began to smile and let out a raspy coo.
Dyan turned to go towards the small girl at the fireplace and accidentally stepped on something soft and squishy. She lifted her foot to reveal a small plastic doll with fuzzy hair and a now wide, squished face.
“You stepped on Barbra! I’m telling Mom!” yelled the small girl with the afro puffs. She crawled over to Dyan and pushed her leg until Dyan voluntarily moved back so that the girl could retrieve her doll.
Maya’s happy face turned into a face with a straight mouth and lowered eyelids. “This is True, my other little sister. She’s a major tattle-tail so stay out of her line of sight.”
“Don’t tell her that! You’re making me look bad! Well, maybe do tell her that, if she’s going to just carelessly step on Barbra like that.”
Maya rolled her eyes and pulled Dyan away once more. Normally Dyan would hate being dragged around like a toy wagon, but she was having fun with this. Each of Maya’s family members were interesting and cool, and each had their own personal shade of blue hair that matched their name. It was as if Spirit and the alien family had come to life, and the characters were telling Dyan how they acted, rather than her writing it out. Everything felt new and exciting, for once.
She couldn't wait to find out who she'd meet next!
Find out what happens next in the next part!
New to Shook? You can find the chapter archive in this post.
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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