Chapter One - Only the Beginning

  Far away, beneath the sparkling stars, under the ominous clouds, it was told that there was a small village home to a forest, which was unfortunately rumored to be haunted.  And in the midst of all the sweeping trees and flowing streams, was a cottage, residing peacefully above the homeless fields of grass.  And in that cottage, was two girls named Hallie and Mallory, accompanied by their mother…        

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  Hallie Wang shook as she observed the summer night sky.  The sky was darker than she had ever seen.  The moon had beamed bright as the stars, only specks of purple now glowed proudly as the sun was beginning to rise.

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  Slowly, Hallie sighed, trembling with sleep, she rose out of bed.  Hallie slept and she had watched many stars pass, moving across the full-mooned sky.  But there was one star she was confused by, a shiny blue object shooting across the sky.  She wondered deeply, buried in her dreams…  Hallie started toward her bathroom.

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  Oh-my-gosh!   Hallie thought, she froze, a cone-of-silence stopped her dead in her tracks.  She studied the mirror, making sure not to miss a single detail.  There were; nasty markings of guinea pig paw-prints, hay chips stuck between strands of her silky black hair, and worst of all; two colossal chicken-bones glued to her puffy pink cheeks! 

  That dumb guinea pig!  I’m going to get you MoonFire!   You fat, clumsy, over-grown hamster! Hallie thought.  And with that, she regained to full strength and menacingly yelled, “MoonFire!  What did you do?”  Hallie sobbed…

  “She only ate some desert, Hallie!” Mallory retorted, as she continued, her voice softened quite a bit that she sounded as if she was squeaking, “I was just helping MoonFire to seconds of what we ate for dinner last night…”

  Hallie moaned with great depression, if I were an only child, it’d be better, why have an identical twin sister?  Especially when both of you own a guinea pig that are sisters too!  MoonFire was ugly-but lovable-and extremely chubby.  Unlike MoonFire, IceFire-my guinea pig-, was always groomed neatly, IceFire was also tidy, generous, and cute.  Why was Mallory so untidy?  She practically never cleans out her room and takes a shower only five times a week!  Tough luck!  Only if Mallory was a clone of me!!  Hallie tried to imagine what Mallory would look if her messy sister was neat, she failed however because Mallory was known to be a disordered video game obsessed little girl. 

  Suddenly, the door of the bathroom flung open…  ‘What on earth happened to you, Hallie?”  It was Mom.  In a split second, Mother ran downstairs and returned in a flash with a large pair of starry blue scissors.

   “Mom! MoonFire ate without permission; she snacked by allowing Mallory to sneak some chicken-soup from last night’s dinner!  Look at the chicken-bones on my cheeks!”  A mock sigh of jealousy disturbed their conversation.

“Wow, those decorations of yours surely camouflages with you,” Mallory snickered, “I wonder who made it!  Was it the trash picker-”

  “Mallory, young lady!  One more peep from you and your stuck with piano practice and lessons for 6 entire months!” mom demanded, “Enough from both of you!  I need to concentrate.”

  When Hallie thought it was a good time to report about MoonFire’s naughty mistake, she caught her breath and started reciting an endless list of what Mallory had snuck for MoonFire in the past.  Hallie was quite relieved when she saw her mom trimming her hair steadily.  Just the finishing touch wasn’t so nice.  Finally, something going in the right direction!  Hallie was too relieved.

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  Hallie stood frozen at the edge of MoonFire’s cage as helpless MoonFire scurried from hay chip to hay chip.  Hallie hesitated to follow her plan, she twitched her fingers and stared at her feet…  Finally, she sprang into action.  Hallie gave MoonFire a gentle push and scooted MoonFire into her fingers.  But unfortunately, Mallory’s bedroom door suddenly tipped ajar.  Then, it opened abruptly, with the wind launching gently at her face.  “What are you doing, Hallie?  You’re supposed to be practicing piano!” both mom and Mallory scolded in unison.  Hallie noticed that she had been holding MoonFire in her hands, she felt her face burn like a frying slice of meat on a barbeque.

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  That following night, no one slept. Hallie wondered why she had been so foolish and stole MoonFire for the occasion.  While mom was being bugged by the reason why Hallie had been half-murdering Mallory’s guinea pig.  Why didn’t she leave Mallory’s guinea pig alone?  Furthermore, she already has IceFire!  Mallory kept thinking what Hallie wanted to do.  And what was wrong with chicken-bones dangling in your cheeks anyway?  She didn’t need to harm my guinea pig did she?  The more everybody thought of these things, the more puzzling they became.  Hallie couldn’t resist anymore…

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  When Hallie wanted to think of something good, she thought of Hannah-their teenaged sister on vacation for the summer months-if SHE was home, she’d go crazy and act like a wild chicken trying to fly with it’s most uninformed and inexperienced animal-impression!  Lucky that Hannah wasn’t Mallory for the least!  Hannah’s a shopping obsessed bookworm, she walks as if she was a dancing skeleton and acts most bossy.  Hallie felt grateful.  She-Hannah-was staying with Aunt Madison for 2 complete summer months…  I bet Aunt Madison’s praying for Hannah to leave this instant!  Hallie laughed.

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  As if on cue, both twins unlocked their doors and tiptoed into the hallway, they noticed their guinea pig disappeared…  And that’s when the real story begins…