The Power of Appreciation    By Abby Tang
 

“Matilda, how come you come here every day? “Asked the librarian. “The books are all almost borrowed by you.” “Well, I don’t have any books at my home, so I can’t read, but I do love reading. “Replied Matilda. Matilda was a girl with blue eyes, brown hair and always wore a spotty dress. She was as curious as a magnet, and she learnt as fast as the speed of light. When she was a newborn, she learnt phonics; when she was three, she knew how to take care of herself; when she was four, she had the sense of fashion; while she is 8 now, she is reading books college students read. She lives in a nice house, but her family weren’t that nice. Matilda’s parents didn’t let her go to school; they left Matilda all alone. Every morning Matilda cooked breakfast for herself and went to the library. Library was her heaven and her real home. However, when her family came back at night, her nightmare started. Laughter filled the room, but not the good kind.  Everyone was laughing except Matilda. They were laughing at some inappropriate things, and no one talked to each other. Matilda didn’t think this was funny, she thought this was horrible (which it is). In a thunderstorm night when Matilda was reading, her dad yelled at Matilda, “You idiot! Are you a member of our family! If you are, just put down that stupid book and watch TV now, if you aren’t, just go out to the street and read alone!” Matilda was so furious that her anger exploded like a volcano, and she broke the television with her mind power by accident. That was when she discovered she was different. She stomped to her room. Rain falling from the sky like teardrops, she just couldn’t take it! She untied the necklace which she wore since she was born and threw it on the ground. The necklace broke, Matilda’s covered her mouth after she had seen what was inside, it was a letter!

Dear Matilda,

My lovely daughter, you are the star of our family. If you read this letter, it means you have unlocked your mind power. Your dad and I were captured by Scarlet Queen. Only you can rescue us. Hints are in the map.

Love,

Your Mom and Dad

Matilda pulled out the map and tried to figure out where she needed to go to rescue her born parents. “Hmmmmm……it seems to say that I need to go to the Savanna, the black hole, and the haunted village. “Said Matilda. “I will need to go now!” Matilda packed and left without any hesitation.

First, she went out of her city, walked for 3 days, and swam through the sea. By the time she got to the Savanna, she was so exhausted that she leaned on the grass. Suddenly, horror shook Matilda, a lion was running towards her. Matilda recalled catnip could mystify the lion, so Matilda picked one from her backpack and stuffed it in the lion’s mouth. The catnip was magical! It behaved itself and knew how to talk. It agreed with Matilda that it would join her and let her ride on its back. Matilda found the lion courageous, high spirited, bold, determined, and obedient from its hazel eyes.

As they walked in the middle of Savanna, they saw a black hole ahead.  Matilda noticed a sign with the warning: “Legend has it, if you can’t escape the black hole in one minute, you will be torn into a million pieces”. They nervously crept into the black hole, hoping to find the white hole. As they swam, their bodies got longer and longer. Then they spotted a green light ahead, it was an alien! The alien said, “Help! I was hurt and trapped in the space stone; can anyone help?”30 seconds left!  Without a second of doubt, Matilda swam towards the alien and pulled him out from the space stone.  “Thank you so much little girl, let me get you through the white hole, we have to get out here in 10 seconds!” They had rushed through the white hole just a second before they were being torn into pieces. Looking into the golden eyes of the alien, Matilda learnt that he was generous, strong-willed, loyal, diligent and he had a hidden superpower, so Matilda asked him to join her team.

Getting out from the white hole, they immediately saw the scary entrance of the evil village. Just as they walked into the village, a group of pumpkins with demonic red eyes surrounded them. Fortunately, the brave lion killed all of them. After that, Matilda spotted that a rabbit was trapped in a net. By the time when Matilda had rescued it, they already found themselves surrounding by the zombies! The lion tried to slay them, but it didn’t work. Matilda tried to use her brain power to make them fall, but they stood still. The alien erupted his anger, he screamed, fire made a circle around him. His superpower had unlocked! He could now teleport anyone to anywhere he wanted. The zombies tried to get him, but he kept teleporting which made the zombies dizzy, and killed the zombies at their back.

They saved the rabbit. The rabbit told Matilda that she was once the pet of her mother. She was being trapped in Evil Village after her mother was captured by Evil Scarlet. “Follow me, I will lead you to your parents, they are being kept in Scarlet’s haunted house.” Matilda followed the rabbit’s lead. As they got closer, they felt more like something horrifying would happen. At last, they arrived the haunted house, it was so dark, so dangerous, so deadly. Matilda heard a mysterious howling. Cobwebs and dust were everywhere, wind rustling through a broken window gap. Nasty smell came from rotten the wood mixed with rusty metal coated her nose. Blood dripped from the roof.  They carefully tip-toed inside the haunted house. A group of zombies came, the lion slayed them all in the speed as fast as light. They trembled through the house, and suddenly, they spotted Scarlet alongside with Matilda’s parents! “Mwuahahahaha! I knew you would come in one day!” bellowed Scarlet. “You can’t beat me, or these monsters!” teased Scarlet as she released three gigantic monsters with green eyes as tall as Mount Everest. The alien and the lion tried to use the same method as how they defeated the Zombies, but it didn’t work. The rabbit tried to distract it by tickling it using its feathers, the monsters giggled. The alien caught the chance and set a fire to kill the monsters!

“You still can’t beat me!” insisted Scarlet. They tried to beat Scarlet with their fists, but it didn’t work! They had never been so painful that their tears flowed freely like a river! “Your mother was always the winner when we were at school, but now, I will let her feel as a loser!” Shouted Scarlet. Scarlet’s words were as sharp as a knife. When all hope seemed lost, the star of hope suddenly appeared! Matilda immediately grabbed the star and gave Scarlet a mighty punch! Scarlet fainted, Matilda rushed to her born parents and they hugged together as if they found the most cherished treasure in the world.  Cheers like thunderstorms, Matilda, her parents, and her friends were all so exhilarated that their laughter filled the village like bells. Matilda said, “Thank you everyone. Evil Scarlet really has been bitten by the green-eyed monster. Jealousy is like a cancer in your eyes, it will harm you, fool you, destroy you and make you blind. The only medicine to cure the deadly diseases is the power of appreciation.” Matilda, her friend, and family lived blissfully ever after.