The Land of Sick Kids

Chapter Two

Am I sick? I don't fee sick. I feel fine. But I'm in The Land of Sick Kids. How healthy will I have to be to leave? 

I've been sticking around Agnes and Solomon. I feel safe with them because they're the first people I met here. Solomon has another needy friend. His name is Rodrick Glumly junior. He is the weirdest looking person I've ever met. I don't know if he looks more like a weasel or more like a crane. He's taller than average, but he looks small because of the way he stands. He can't sleep without a lullaby from Solomon.

Even though all the kids here like being near each other, we also like our privacy. There isn't much stuff here to make walls though. THat's difficult. There's no water either. We don't need food, water and shelter in The Land of Sick Kids because we are all safe as long as our real self, or Real One is safe.

Agnes asked me if I wanted to come with her, to look for dust and string in the fair edges of The Land of Sick Kids. I agreed and on the way, while we were walking away from the camp — where all the other kids were gathered —- I asked her if we can catch sickness from each other here.

She laughed and told me "No, the only thing here that translates to real life is the knowledge you gain, the connections you make and if you get eaten by a dust mite."

"Say, what?"

"A dust mite."

"— "

She interrupted me with a fit of coughing.

"I'll show you dust mites." she said, when she was done. "We'll probably see some when we find our dust. Don't worry though. You'll be totally safe with me. I deal with them all the time."

Agnes grabbed at the air. She looked at the encouragingly. "Take a few grabs!"

I grabbed at the air the way she did. She kept grabbing. I kept grabbing.

"See look." she said, showing me her hands. They were covered in dust. Mine also has a little dust on them.

"That's pretty impressive. But what can we do with this stuff?"

"Not much with just a little," Agnes informed me, "but with lots and lots of this stuff we can make fabric and string."

I looked down at my hands again. It wasn't all dust. Some of it was hair, and a few other things. "I don't think I like dust." I said.

We'd collected a decent ball of dust, when Agnes excitedly pointed at something behind me. I turned around and there, closer than I expected, was a giant, ugly, small, beautiful dust mite that didn't look quite right. It was galloping towards our piles of dust.

I screamed and dropped my dust. Agnes laughed. "It's okay," she said. All you have to do is tie its hairs in a bow." And then she was off. Before I had a chance to tell her I don't know how to tie a bow.

I watched her fight the dust mite, too afraid to help, too afraid to run away. But then it was over. The dust mite died, with a bow in its hair. Agnes pushed her hair out of her face and smiled at me.

"See?" she said, "easy."

We lost our dust, but our spirits were intact. This is the only good reason I can think of for learning to tie a bow.

I asked Agnes, "How sick do you have to be to come to The Land of Sick Kids?"

She shrugged and asked me why.

"I know you cough a lot and something's up with Solomon and Little Big Glumly junior, but I don't feel sick at all."

She had a think and then said, "Sometimes when people stop being sick, they don't leave immediately. Pretty soon, you'll probably find a tunnel, like the one you came through, that will take you back to your real life."

I nodded, and looked around.

"Either that or you're getting much much worse."