Lilianna

Chapter 1

“I
can’t –– I don’t have the imagination to. I
can’t do it anymore. It can’t really be from me.”

“It’s
not my world! It’s ours! You can do it, too. I know you can;
I’ve seen it.”

“But
that was before –– before I turned seventeen. I don’t
know how to anymore.”

“Yes,
you can! It doesn’t matter whether you’re seventeen…I
know you can.”

“I
could, I know –– I could do it, but it wouldn’t
really be me. It wouldn’t be part of me. Not like Lilianna…”

“Then
let Lilianna grow! Build on her.”

“No.
I can’t. You don’t understand. I know I can’t. It
wouldn’t be real.”

“Real?
It never was real. Its just a make-believe, imaginary, fantasy world.
But you still have that –– that –– that
ability, that youth, that imagination…”

“No,
Archie. I don’t have it any more. I just don’t.”

“Then
–– then maybe He’ll give it to you. Just ask.
Please, Gwen. Even if just…for me.”

“Okay…I’ll
try…” The girl’s ruby lips moved silently along
with the voice in her heart, which cried out to Him. But after her
lips had ceased their movement and she paused for a moment, Gwen
sobbed again. “No. I don’t know what it is. He won’t
let me have it. It’s –– it’s something about
being mature. I’m not allowed to anymore, Archie. I’m
sorry. I can’t tap into it.”

Archie’s
blue eyes fell. “All right…I’m sorry I yelled at
you…I guess I’ll have to make it myself. Can I keep
Lilianna?”

“Yes.
And her unicorn. And her sword. And –– and all of her
that you know. And I think she does love him ––
what’s-his-face; Delwyn, I mean.” Gwen’s eyes
looked up and lit up just as Archie’s had when he mentioned
Lilianna. “Are you going to keep his name? I like it.”

“No,
I don’t think so. I’m going to find something more
German, or Saxon, or something –– he’s not an
Idrinthirian, after all.”

“But
you could have it as his Idrinthirian name,” suggested Gwen.

Smiling
weakly, Archie nodded. “Yeah…I guess. See ya. I gotta
go. And I’m sorry…for everything.”

“All
right. Bye.”

Archie
turned and left. They had been talking just inside the doorway of a
white, green-trimmed house on a neighborhood street. A truck growled
up the street and past Archie as he made his way down the sidewalk to
his own house.