LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH’S HOUSE
Capítulo 2: The cat came out of the bag
A black spider, as black as night and with long legs resembling claws, ran its web, which was built on the surface of one of the small tall windows on the first floor of Viola's house.
The strong wind of the storm made the dirty glass vibrate, but the spider did not change its mind, it seemed to be laughing at the black storm and its dark and vain intentions to break the glass.
Far below the web bathed in the yellow light of the spotlight, two girls and a boy were sitting at a large, but somewhat rough, wooden table. From the spider's perspective, the three children appear to be trapped flies ready to be wrapped and then devoured.
“Thanks for the tea, Viola" Lydia thanked the blonde girl.
“From what Percy told me, you're Gothic. I thought you preferred coffee.”
“No, tea is my favorite.”
“Black tea," said Percy, who was drinking hot milk at the time and making Viola laugh.
Lydia lowered the blood-red tea and gracefully raised her eyebrows and looked up at Percy for a second before smiling gently at the cat boy's words.
“Hey Percy," said Viola, a little worried, "are you sure the milk isn't too hot?”
“Yes, and I love it," said Percy happily, "before I couldn't drink hot milk, it had to be lukewarm and it had to be reduced with water.”
“Eh, why?”
“As Lydia would say, it's complicated.”
“You might say so," said the Gothic girl.
Seeing that her two guests preferred to keep quiet about certain things, Viola preferred not to insist on the matter.
“I'm sorry, Viola," said Lydia, "you told us earlier that you had a friend who lived in the woods.”
“A witch friend!” Suddenly Percy said, who raised his arm and put on a happy face.
“Yes, but I think I exaggerated that about her being a witch. The other children say that she is a witch because she lives in the forest in an old house and it is very scary... like your house Lydia.”
“I see..." said Lydia and an awkward silence fell over the three young kids.”
"Viola mistrusts," thought Lydia. "She realized that Percy and I kept secrets. I don't want to keep secrets from Viola, but I don't know how she'll take the matter of Percy actually being an anime/manga catboy and me being a witch."
“And you live alone in this house?” Lydia asked her a bit suspicious about the personal question.
“No, my dad lives with me, my mom died giving birth to me.”
“I'm so sorry, Viola.”
“Don't worry, what about you?... There are crazy rumors going around about your family, are they really coming from New York?”
“Yes, I used to live on Prince Street. Because of my father's nervous breakdown we decided to move to Winter River.”
“It must be very boring in Winter River, if you compare it to New York.”
“Actually, I'd rather be here, I like to live in my own house than in a rented one.”
“But the house and the garden were very big," said Percy, who seemed to want to lick his empty cup of milk and hold the cup tight with his long, delicate fingers, "oh, how good my hands feel, they're already warm... hot, hot, hot!”
“How big is it?”
“About 65,000 square feet," Lydia said calmly, holding Percy's hands with her fingers that were nothing to envy the cat boy's. “Are you all right, Percy?”
Viola opened the mouth because of the shock.
“That's amazing! You're rich, no wonder you're enrolled in Miss Shannon!” Viola said impressed, making Lydia smile uncomfortably.
“But you don't look like the girls who study at Miss Shannon's... I don't mean being Gothic!” she hastened to say, "is that Miss Shannon's girls are all arrogant.”
“They are," said Percy, loose from his body.
“I think every school has its challenges," said Lydia with a sad smile.
“I can't wait to go to New York. A year ago the town held a raffle to raise funds to send the best students from the public school to New York City. Mrs. Jane organized the event.”
“The real estate lady? She sold us the house after the Maitlands died.”
“She herself, too bad my grades were terrible. So you like living here.”
“That's right, I always wanted to live in my own house no matter how small.”
“But the house is huge," said Percy, who now matched Lydia's attentions and stroked his girlfriend's fingers.
“Yes, it's a bonus that the house is Victorian style.”
“I thought it was Gothic," said Viola, "what's the difference?”
“No wonder you're confused. See," Lydia explained, "is the term used to describe huge buildings such as Renaissance churches and public buildings such as the Westminster palace, which, of course, is neo-Gothic in style and dates back to the end of the 19th century.”
“And the Victorian houses?” asked Viola.
“The architecture of the houses of the late 19th century is called Victorian. If it's something bigger like churches or the English parliament, it's called Gothic. Of course, today Victorian style houses are called Gothic.”
“Lydia, your house is on the top of a very narrow, high hill, it looks like something out of a horror movie.”
“That's right, I love it.”
“How do you get all the way up that hill?”
“Lydia is very athletic, she was even asked to be part of the school cheerleading squad once," Percy said, "she always rides her bike home. As for me as a cat boy, I'm not tired either.”
“...Huh?”
Viola was confused by what Percy said, and the fact that Lydia and her friend's faces showed surprise made the matter more mysterious.
The wind gave way to the glass and it fell to the ground, spider web and all.
CRASH
Poor Percy couldn't take it anymore and pulled out his ears and cat's tail. Making viola open the mouth.
“...Re... You're a witch! Unbelievable!”
“I'm so sorry, Lydia!”
“Oh, Percy...”
Lydia had to tell Viola everything about Percy and confess that she was a witch.
Viola was open-mouthed after Lydia's brief explanation, there were a lot of things she wanted to ask her but there would be time for that, now she had to come clean with her two friends and tell her all about Ellen.
“She lives alone in a house?” Percy asked.
“Yes, it's the only house inside the forest.”
“And her parents?” Lydia asked.
“Ellen told me they died a year ago.”
“That's strange," said Lydia, "you friend tells me she's seven, so she is an orphan since six. How did she manage to survive a whole year on her own, and what about the authorities, shouldn't they take care of Ellen?”
“Please don't! Ellen doesn't want to be taken to an orphanage! She has no family and I plan to have her live with me and my father.”
“But it is not convenient for such a little girl to live alone," insisted Lydia.
“I visit Ellen every day and make sure she's okay, and I'm about to convince her to move in with me. After all, you're right, she's so sick she can't go on living alone.”
“And what's wrong with that little girl?” Percy said.
“I think it's anemia from the symptoms, she can't get out of the house for long.”
“But that's terrible! We have to get her to a hospital," Lydia said worried.
Ellen told me she would go, but first she wants me to help her with a magic trick.
“And what kind of trick does she want to do?” wanted to know Percy.
“She told me she wants to trade bodies for a day, to know what it feels like to be healthy. She's been sick all her life.”
“That's a very complex spell," said Lydia.
“That's not a problem for Ellen because she's very smart, she read the whole library in her house, the one with the big books.”
Nothing Viola said fit to Lydia, how could such a little girl read a library? In addition, Winter River was not a very large city, but rather a large town that enclosed a community for wealthy people like those who lived in Peaceful Pines, surely the authorities should have heard about Ellen and her parents even though they lived inside the surrounding forest, however, until now they had not intervened.
“I think the sooner you convince her to come to your house and stay, the better it will be for her," Lydia said, "she may be afraid to go to a doctor, but you have to convince her to come to your house.”
“But Ellen told me that she wanted to talk about the body swap first.”
“You mustn't let her do that. A spell like that requires a lot of stamina and concentration. If your friend is so sick, it would be a huge risk to her life to try to make the exchange of bodies, especially with how small she is.”
“I understand, Lydia, I'll try to convince her first thing in the morning. I'm so worried about Ellen because of the storm, I hope nothing happened to her.”
At that moment the door of the house was opened at the same time as the last thunderstorm hit the open field. A large, strong figure entered the house and carried a hunting rifle.
The man saw his daughter and two companions. The first seemed to be a girl of the same age as Viola, because the school uniform appeared to be not from her daughter's public school, but rather from Miss Shannon's school for girls; the second was a boy in casual clothes with a cat's tail and ears.
The man must have seen badly because of the storm water running down his face and began to rub his eyes. As he looked again he saw that there was nothing wrong with the young man who was inside his house at the time with the girl from the private school.
“Dad, I'm so glad you're here! Lydia, Percy, meet my father, he's a hunter and his name is Travis.”
CONTINUARÁ...
The content of this chapter is based on the original script by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson of June 1, 1985, and not on the subsequent script of February 3, 1987 on which the film was based. I emphasize again that this work is not intended to be for profit and does not wish to violate any rights of Mr. McDowell and Mr. Wilson.
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