Jaci Dawn

“GUYS!” Twerp didn’t shout, but his loud whisper broke them all from their frozen state like a snowball shatters frozen glass. Everyone turned to look at him.
He turned red. “I HAVE AN IDEA.”
“Make it quick,” hissed Dish, his pale eyes piercing the nervous kid’s face.
“Okay.. We become mice hiding in the crawlspace.”
“Whoa, dude!” Aric scrunched his face in disgust.
“No. Not even.” Billie just shut it down.
Downstairs, whoever had been ringing the doorbell now raised a megaphone and commanded, “OPEN THE DOOR. WE HAVE OBSERVED YOU ARE NOT IN SCHOOL> IF YOU DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR IN FIVE SECONDS< WE WILL BREAK IT IN.”
Ella hugged herself. This just wasn’t real. Nothing was right.
“No, listen, I can change us all, and -”
“NO!” Gran, Dish, and Billie hissed.
“Maybe we can escape through the window,” Gran said, as his fingers worked around the screen.
There was a crash of glass and wood in the foyer. “We’re in!” Someone shouted.

The world went dark. Ella felt herself falling backward into space. Her chest was compressed and tight; she tried to gasp, but it was like those nightmares when you think you’re awake, but you’re not, and you can’t scream. She flailed her arms, felt nothing. Dust filled her nostrils. Was this what it was like when they threw teargas canisters into a crowd? Or was it a smoke bomb?
She came to in the dark. She was on her hands and feet, and it was chilly in the room. A dripping sound came from behind her. Her hear was beating wildly and loudly, and she could hear heavy panting – breathing – around her. Someone sneezed. Overhead, there were thumps and scrapes as someone walked around. So she was in a dungeon of some sort, down below. She heard a muffled, “Clear!” followed by another one, as the steps moved further away.
“Holy crap!” Aric’s voice squeaked like a girl before his voice cracked and went deeper. “Deke!”
Billie said a most un-lady like word. Her breath tickled Ella’s ear. “Do I have paws?”
Ella blinked. Her eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark. “Where are we?” she asked, trying to make out shapes in the dim lighting/ A cell? Prison? Dungeon? Had she been hit in the head during the raid?
“By the surroundings, I would guess we are in the crawlspace of your house, El.” Gran’s mellow voice was to her right. “And, Bill, I believe we all have paws. And large ears.”
Ella raised her hand to the side of her head. She felt short, soft hair, then her her favorite earrings, She moved her hand up the edge of her ear. “EEK!” Her scream came out more like a squeak.
She looked to her right and squeaked again: she was looking into the beady eyes of a very large mouse that was sitting on its haunches, staring at her. It was wearing Gran’s red knit beanie cap, and was dressed in his baggy clothes, right down to his ratty converse. Ella covered her mouth and whirled to look at Billie on her left.
A smaller mouse was standing beside her, running its paws up the side of its head. Feeling the dangly earrings hanging there. This mouse was wearing Billie’s favorite black Kurt Cobain tee, a grey hoodie, and black leggings with little grey skulls all over them. It looks at her and said, in Billie’s voice, “El…?”
“Bill…?” Ella replied.
Someone groaned. “What happened?” It was Dish’s voice. “Did we get flash-banged back there? What is this place?”
Gran let out a heavy breath. “I think Twerp has some explaining to do.”
Beady eyes searched the darkness. Twerp, also known as Deke, or Deacon (his real name) was sitting on a empty thread spool, swinging his legs. Er, paws. Ella knew it was Twerp, because he had on his white ball cap, the red shirt, and baggy shorts he’d been in when he followed Aric into the house. His wire-rimmed glasses perched awkwardly atop his nose. He was wearing – of course, because he was Twerp – sandals. He looked smug.
“I had to act, dogs. They were already in the house, and if we’d tried to go out that window…” he shrugged. “No time, you know? And I knew I could change all of us into mice, it was just putting us somewhere safe that I was a little fuzzy on. But that worked out, didn’t it? Because they don’t know we’re here.”
“What now, Genius?” Gran stepped forward, leaning in a threatening manner.
“Mice?” The sound of dry leaves or paper sounded as Dish struggled to find his feet. “We’ve been turned into mice? And where are we, again?”
“Yes.”
“In the crawlspace under El’s house.”
“But I have my clothes on… And paws. I have paws!”
Everyone groaned. Aric spoke first, “Dude, you sound like Ella, now.” He switched to a falsetto, “’How can I be a mouse? That’s not a scientific probability.’”
“I didn’t say that,” Ella snapped.
“But you thought it,” Aric snapped back.
“Genius,” mumbled Dish. “I didn’t think you had it in you, Deke. So you can change us back when we’re safe and away from here?”

The footsteps above were coming back down the stairs. Someone – either Billie or Gran – hissed a “Be quiet!” and everyone stilled. When the footsteps were overhead, they all looked up. Dust motes fell from above every time someone stepped.
“Mrs. Hazelton was certain the kids were here when she called.” The voice was nasally.
“Well, they aren’t. We’ve looked everywhere. The open window was a ruse, I’m sure, but we’ll have someone patrol the area to search for them.” Sounded like Mr. Thompson, the truant officer.
“Garage is closed up, all the bicycles accounted for. There’s an SUV in there, locked tight.” Third voice.
“No place for them to go. Hal’s checking the attic now. The boss is gonna be pissed.” Mr. Thompson.
“Oh, come on, it’s not our fault we barked up the wrong tree. Mrs. Hazelton just wasn’t a reliable witness. You know she drinks all day.” Nasally voice.
“Ok, but I still want an unmarked patrolling the neighborhood for the next 48 hours. Let’s call the other teams and see what they’ve come up with.”
“No kids in the attic.” This was a deep voice, coming from further up.
“What’s in the attic, Hal?”
“Usual magic paraphernalia. Trunks, costumes, assortment of wands. Christmas ornaments and a fake tree, an old mirror, lots of dust.”
“We’ll have to have someone come in and clean it out, then. Soon. I’ll radio the boss.” Thompson again.
“Let’s get out of here.” The dust continued to fall as more footsteps moved overhead, then the front door slammed.

Slowly, everyone exhaled. “We need to get to the attic,” Gran said.
“They aren’t real magic wands,” Ella said. “They were props for a play my dad was in when he was a teenager. He made them himself, so he’s really proud of them.”
“El, you do realize that coming from you, that doesn’t convince any one of us in this space?”
“What? Why? I just told you the truth.”
Aric stood up. “Right, then. Three of us go up and get the wands. But they’re gonna be people sized. So who’s got a good spell to make ‘em mouse-sized?”
“How do we get into the attic?” Dish asked. He was now standing and Ella could make out the flop of black hair between his ears. His eyes looked old for a mouse, and his paw was shaky. “Why couldn’t I just be a bat?”
It was decided, after a short debate, that Twerp, Aric, and Gran would go to the attic. Dish wasn’t feeling well and Billie wanted him to stay. No one even asked Ella if she’d like to go. Aric was certain they could find a path way through the house’s old ductwork, and surely there’d be a hole in the wall or floor of the attic when they got there. It was an old house, after all. Twerp had already proven he could do a shrinking spell – of sorts. Gran was the natural leader, the oldest, and the most stable.
Billie set about moving things to make the place somewhat homier. “I don’t know how long we’re going to be here, but I don’t want to feel like I’m living like a mouse, too.”

Dish slumped next to Ella. “So, I was going to tell you about why I was having a rough time. Well, me and Gran. Then Billie had the newspaper, and insisted you read that first. And Aric came, which screwed everything up.”
“No, Aric didn’t screw it up. Those men who broke into the house did.” Ella patted her friend’s paw. “Twerp was actually kind of a genius, you know. Not like Gran said, but a real genius. Mice. In the crawl space.” She gave a nervous laugh.
“No, Aric didn’t screw it up.” Dish sat still, looking old. “He even shrunk my glasses.”
“And his.” Ella giggled. “How did he do that? Every detail. This is a pretty vivid dream.”
“I wish.“ Dish sighed, then, “Bill, just come sit down with us. You’re making me nervous.”
“So, why were you and Gran having a rough morning?”
“Oh, the raids, you know. I was sleeping over at Gran’s. My dad was in a fit and I didn’t want to go home. You know how it is? Sometime, really early in the morning, there were these flashing lights out in the street. Woke me up, so I woke Gran up. They were raiding my house. So, me and Gran, we sneaked down the stairs and out his back door, and crawled under the fence to the Cooper’s yard. We watched it all come down from behind the garbage cans. They pushed my old man out, all handcuffed like a criminal. Shoved him into the squad car the way you’d stuff a cat into a cat carrier.”
Billie came over and sat down, placing a protective paw on Dish’s knee.
“Wow, Ella said. “Horrid.”
“It got worse. They turned their spots on Gran’s house. Whole bunch of them – all these dudes in white suits, with the police, came running over and surrounded the whole house. We were right there, other side of the fence. They banged on the door, and Gran’s mum answered. Threw her down on the grass and handcuffed her right there. She was yelling that they had no right and where were their search warrants and they were yelling at her to shut up and waving papers around, saying this was the edict, here was her search warrant, and then Toby came around the corner and…” he choked back a sob.
Ella waited while Dish collected himself, her paw squeezing his.
“They shot Toby,” he whispered. “Just a cat.” Dish began to cry softly. “My cat, not even Gran’s.” Dish leaned into Ella. “They shot my cat.”

Tomorrow: trip to the attic.

total word count: 3,691