Wonder Nene

"I'm Wonder Nene!" The little girl whispered to herself while sketching a superhero from imagination. She gazed before her colorful artwork and imagined it flying out of the paper. "I'll save the world using my magic pencil!"

Nene was the only child. She was always left inside the four corners of the house. Her parents were always busy teaching other children at school while her yaya was always busy doing household chores. That's when Nene learned how to draw. Her only playtime was drawing...drawing...drawing...

At her very young age, Nene understood why her parents go to work. It's for her future. One night, she planned to give a Valentines card for her parents to thank them for their hardwork.

Using the papers, she spent half of the night. Drawing...drawing...drawing....

After finishing her work, she immediately slept on the cold floor, leaving the papers scattered.

The next morning, she found herself on bed and saw the room twinkling clean. She looked at the spot where she left the Valentine's card. It's missing!

"Yaya, have you seen my precious artworks in my room?" Nene asked politely.

Yaya tried to recall. "I already disposed the litters from your room."

Nene hurried outside the house where the garbage can was. It's empty! The garbage truck was already six blocks away from home. Poor Nene blamed herself because she didn't clean her mess after working.

"I know!" Nene's face lighted up. She went to her parents' bedroom, carrying her pencil.

Later, Nene's parents went home very tired from work. Their headache worsened when they caught Nene vandalizing the wall.

"What are you doing here? Why are you writing on the wall?" Papa angered.

Mother switched on the warm lights to reveal the vandals on the wall. Emotions burst upon seeing an image of a happy family:

Mama, Papa and Nene.

Hugging.

"Did you really draw all these?" Papa apologized.

"I...just wanted to say I love you, Mama and Papa!" Nene blushed. Tears fell from her mother's eyes.

"We love you too!" Her parents gave her a long warm hug, just like how Nene illustrated the scene on the wall using her pencil.

Years went by. Nene became Nena.

As a teenager, Nena experienced emotional problems. At that stage, she learned to express her feelings through drawing. Bad drawings.

Until the walls of her room has no more space to draw, she began to experiment another media.

At school, she expressed admiration through armchairs, hatred through tables and complains through walls.

One day, Principal caught Nena in the act, doodling on the school walls. She felt her neck being pulled by the lace around her neck.

"Nena," Principal mentioned her name through her I.D. "Vandalism is a crime!"

He reprimanded Nena in front of her classmates to serve as an example. She felt ashamed as her classmates laughed and humiliated her. From that very moment, she swore.

"I'll never go to school again."

Nena's parents were summoned before the principal's office. They, also, won't tolerate Nena's behavior. They scolded her when they reached home.

Nena was left lying on the bed inside her dark room.

Awake. Tired. Silent. Thinking.

"No one loved me."

She tried to hurt herself using pencil. But she can't.

The chilly wind blew from the open sliding window. She stood up from bed and was about to close the window when the wind whispered something to her ears. Calling...calling...

She glanced at her reflection through the glass and gazed the world outside. Thinking...thinking...

The wind blew again and Nena was gone.

Delicious aroma of Nena's favorite food filled the house. It's their family tradition to dine together during "Fa-meal-ly Day." But the chair where Nena always sat remained empty. Nena's not in her room!

The storm came. Still, they didn't give up searching for Nena. They even asked help from the authority.

They searched here and there but found only traces of Nena. Their feet kept walking on its own, following the trails of vandalism.

The angry storm frightened Nena. She found a nearby cave and stayed for a while. Deep inside the dark, she could hear echoes of rainfall. Laughing...laughing...

The lightning, accompanied by thunder, temporarily lighted the dark interior of the empty cave. In a flash, Nena released her feelings like thunder.

Using her pencil, she drew random faces of people she knew. Some with pair of horns, curly hair and sharp teeth. Others, with moles, scars and pimples.

She can't control her emotions. Every stroke of her hand is anger from her heart. The lines became thicker and the line weight became heavier as she drew spiral lines, creating an unknown creature.

The lightning hit the cave and shook the ground. Behold, the creature went to life.

"Grrrr!" The creature spitted black fire at Nena. She just closed her eyes and accepted the flame.

But her parents embraced her to shield her. She opened her eyes and saw their faces...covered with vandals. Horns, fangs, moles, scars and pimples.

"Are you alright, Nena?" Father worried.

The creature raged out of the cave, destroying everything in its path, spitting dark fire. Soon, the whole city was covered with vandals. Unclean, untidy.

"What have I done?" Nena realized her mistakes by staring at the vandals on the cave. The lightning kept flashing as she noticed other drawings. Ancient drawings.

"Those are heroes from the past." Mother explained.

In an instant, Nena understood the stories depicted on the wall. It inspired her as she bravely faced her opponent.

The creature spitted fire! Many times!

Nena dodged every attack. She jumped as high as she can, withdrew her pencil and erased the creature from this world.

In one blow, the creature turned into dust and then washed away into the drainage.

It was an historical day! All her classmates, friends and family were very proud of her.

All the vandals magically disappeared.

Except one vandal in the cave,

Depicting Wonder Nene, who saved the world using her magic pencil.