The Tellams – Part 1

Imagine yourself a pea. Now imagine being thrown in the garbage because you have not been eaten with the rest of the dinner you were part of.

The garbage can would be rather dark, wouldn’t you say? You would be very, very depressed in there.

This is how Arianna and Coral Tellam felt while they paced the length of their prison of ice.

“Isabella, a traitor,” Arianna thought aloud. “I can’t believe it. All these years we trusted her, and now she–” Arianna stopped when she heard a sickening crunch and a cry of pain, mixed with the fury that blasted out from Coral.

Arianna sighed. “Don’t punch the wall. You’ll only hurt yourself,” she advised her older sister.

“Oh, be quiet, Smarty,” Coral spat, then added, “And don’t talk about Issy.”

Poor Coral, thought Arianna, Isabella’s transformation affects her the most. She decided to leave her sister alone for a while, and stared out at Coral’s ex-best friend’s new home.

Everything was white and silver. The palace seemed like nobody had lived in it for a long time. The place was so lifeless. Ice sculptures dominated the room, icicles placed around them to prevent contact. Arianna cringed as her eyes passed her least-favourite statue.

It was a woman, tall and brave with long hair and confident eyes. Her mouth was twisted up in a victorious smile.

Arianna liked the woman, but it always sent chills down her spine when she looked at the rest of the sculpture.

Behind the woman, a horrible creature was advancing toward her, it’s mouth full on razor sharp fangs, saliva dripping from them…and it’s eyes! Although they were no more than ice, carved in a savage way, the eyes appeared to be red in the light of the dawn. The beast was about twice as tall as the woman, if not more, and it was hunched over her, as if at any moment a bit of drool would fall on the woman’s head and she would look into the jaws of her doom. No matter how strong she was, she could never defeat something that terrible.

Isabella had turned the sculpture so it faced directly into the ice cube prison, and Arianna, for a frightening second met the hungry gaze of the beast, then looked away, horrified.

“How long?” Coral asked, pouting.

Her sister looked to the great ice clock that hung on the wall of the ice palace. “It’s 7:15. Forty-five minutes till breakfast,” Arianna answered.

Reader, you must imagine the garbage can again, and your pea self. Now imagine being poured into a trough and fed to pigs, while being squashed up with various pieces of mush. You would not be happy.

The thought of breakfast might’ve been a good thing, except that the food the Tellams were given was about the quality of pig slop leftovers.

“I’m gonna try to sleep,” Coral announced, “Wake me up when it’s time for breakfast.” She lay on the cold floor in a corner and closed her eyes, holding her damaged hand to her chest.

Arianna sighed and sat down, looking out the clear wall of the ice cube, and out the wall of the ice palace facing West, where she knew she would someday return.

***

Exactly forty minutes later, Arianna crossed the cage to her sister and lightly shook her shoulder, saying, “Wake up or you’ll be swimming in your food.”

Coral groaned, but rose. “Time?”

“7:55.”

Coral sighed half-annoyed. “He’s late.”

“No! Not late. I’m here, have no fear, bringing food into your sphere!” sang a too-familiar voice from the corridor, and David stepped in, holding a set of keys.

“We live in a cube,” Coral grumbled, then muttered something about not knowing the difference between geometric shapes.

“And you thought that I wouldn’t show up. Ha!” He danced to the cage, whistling, and selected a key. “Line up, little birdies!” he sang, and Arianna and Coral trudged in front of the door, the only exit.

David unlocked the door, and they walked out slowly. He blew a whistle and shut the door just in time, as yesterday’s leftovers poured in through a gap in the ceiling of the ice cube.

Once the flow of scraps stopped, David opened the door carefully, and watched with glee as Arianna and Coral waded in through the waste and began to eat the disgusting meal.

Just before he closed the door, he called, “You know, Arianna, it’s never too late to join Queen Isabella.”

“Never,” she spat, and David shrugged and danced away, whistling.

Coral turned to Arianna and said sadly, “We have to get out of here.”

The Tellams – Part 2 coming soon.