Snicket Starts, I Finish by Kelly McGinnis

It was February, and five children, all of whom were more or less healthy, were sitting on the ground in a lazy circle. It was quite dark, and the children had to squint to see one another's frowning faces.

  "I wish we were ice skating," said Robin.

  "I wish we were eating Mexican food," said Apu.

  "I wish we were wearing boots," said Alistair.

  "I wish we were playing percussion instruments," said Lillian.

  Miranda sighed. She was the youngest of the five children, but nevertheless she was often the leader of the group. She tried not to be bossy about it, but it is difficult not to be bossy from time to time. "We can't do any of those things," she said. "We're not at a skating rink, and we don't have any skates. We're not in Mexico, and there's no enchilada in sight. We're not wearing boots, and there's no department stores for miles around. And we're not playing percussion instruments, because it wouldn't be wise to make so much noise. After all, we're in a puzzling and possibly dangerous situation. I know it's difficult to believe, but we may have to face that the fact that we're on our own."

  "But how can that be?" Robin asked. "Just a few moments ago we were on a picnic with Madame Blatavsky, when all of a sudden...well everything got really bright, like a flash, and now it's just...dark. And quiet. That's all I remember, but; but that doesn't mean that we're, ALOONNEEEE!" Robin shook Miranda's shoulders and playfully tried to intimidate her. 'Older siblings are so annoying,' Miranda thought, 'just because we're younger they assume we're idiots.' She stood and slapped Robin across the face, hard- not being able to completely recognize the distance between her palm and Robin's glasses in the darkness. They flew off of her face, and, to everyone's surprise, failed to make a single noise with their landing. Silence.

  "...Where'd they go?" Lilian asked. It made sense for her to be the first to question this strange phenomenon, being that she was completely obsessed with loud noises. And with the exception of each others voices, there were no noises here at all. This fact was secretly driving her mad, though she felt it redundant to say anything about that in a time like this.

  "I'll find them!" Alistair said. "Just leave it to me! I promise, I promise I'll find them! I have all 121 of my boy scout badges!" And with that, he jumped from his seat and was gone, ran off into the darkness never to be seen again.

  "He'll find your glasses for sure, Robin, don't worry." Apu reassured her.

 Miranda collected her thoughts and immediately took control over the situation before Robin could even find the courage to stammer. "You know you needed that." She said. "Now, can we all think logically here? We need to figure out where we could possibly be."

  "I can, see..." Robin said. Astonished, her hands trembled as they explored her lens-independent face for the first time in eleven years. During her childhood, she found it was efficient to get whatever she desired simply by banging her head against the floor. Madame Blatavsky, constantly worried about what other people thought of her- an emotional eater, would instantly give Robin whatever she desired in hopes that no one would over hear or over see these occurrences and accuse her of being a bad care taker. One evening after supper, a fight about who would receive the last piece of dessert sent Robin enraged to the center of the tiled kitchen floor, where she began slamming her head down so hard that not only did she crack the tiles in the floor, but also caused severe damage to herself. Partially blinded, she has worn thick, goggle-like glasses up until now. "It's a miracle! I can see, I can-"

  "What?" Miranda asked. "You can see? We are in darkness, are you sure?"

  "I've never been able to see so clearly in my life, I'm very-"

  "Well, that's wonderful!" Apu cheered.

  "You guys..." Miranda began.

  Lillian jumped up and began to mouth the word "Yay!" which she intended on shouting when Miranda pushed her back down, sensing a commotion. Lillian was always causing commotion.

  "Miranda you're only six, you really need to stop pushing people-"

  "No, you guys- listen to me." Robin was cut off by Miranda. "This is serious. We're stuck in this place where there is no light, no sound, no boundaries, and no handicaps. The last thing we all seem to remember is a bright flash, and that's it. I couldn't feel my hand when I slapped you, Robin. Did you feel when I did that?"

  "No, not at all. I was going to say so before-"

  "That's it!" Miranda interceded. With a large gulp, she gathered the courage to tell her siblings, "Guys...I think we're in, Purgatory."

  "What is purgatory..." Lillian asked.

  "It's the place you go to after you die, where you wait for God and the angels to decide if you go to Heaven or Hell. I read about it on Wikipedia." Apu cheered as he nodded his unusually small head. Despite his young age of seven, Apu was a mastermind of trivia. He spent nearly all of his time researching this and that on the internet- Google, YouTube, Wikipedia. He craved to know knowledge, which coincidentally usually never came in handy, though he decided he wouldn't let that bring his bright and enthusiastic spirit down.

  "So that means that we're all...dead, then." Robin realized the gravity of her statement as she said it. Her index finger reached up to re-adjust her glasses but fell back to her lap when she remembered she no longer needed them. She missed them. She twiddled her thumbs.

  "Brilliant deduction, Robin." Miranda said.

 Robin choked up, "Well...what should we do about it?"

  "I think the better question would be IS there anything we can do about it." She ran her fingers through her long, dark hair. "I don't see a way out of this." A long silence ran over the children as they sat and reflected upon their short, un-lived lives. Apu tried to remember the best he could what it felt like to die, Robin fantasized about what she looked like without glasses, Lillian debated speaking aloud, Miranda put all emotions aside and tried her hardest to find a way out of their current strife; but eventually all the children drifted to think about what they would do if they were still alive.

  "I really wish were ice skating," said Robin.

  "I really wish we were eating Mexican food," said Apu.

  "I really wish we were playing percussion instruments," said Lillian.

  Just as Miranda was about to comfort her siblings, she noticed something strange happening. It appeared to her that she was spinning in circles, slowly at first, but gaining momentum till images of Apu, Robin, and Lillian sitting next to her sped past her, blurred from right to left. And once again, everything became brighter, but this time more slowly. Suddenly she found herself in an abyss of white, standing beside her three older siblings and to her brief surprise, Madame Blatavsky. She looked up by instinct, and saw above them a beaming light, brighter than the white that was engulfing them, though it wasn't blinding. 'This must be God.' Miranda thought, but as if she spoke her thoughts aloud she heard her them echo around her. Apu couldn't breathe, but didn't feel the need to. Lillian no longer felt the need to hear anything at all, and enjoyed the blissful sensation of silence. Robin was the first to ascend in to the light, and one by one each of them followed.