Gnome Chronicles I

A continuación un trabajo para mi clase de escritura creativa.
Lamento que este en ingles. Enjoy. ha.

Gnome Chronicles I

“Today I am about to jump. Those mysterious waters seem deep but friendly. I do not care, I will jump anyways. I will not miss the boat when it is gone or the people in it.
I hope I make new friends down there… up there…”
Those were the last lines I wrote of my story before I was interrupted by Chabela, my imaginary friend.

“It’s a ghost!” she said, ever so convinced.

Yes, I admit it. For the past week, I have been nesting the slight suspicion that someone or something had been lurking in my apartment, stealing or hiding things. First, my prescription medication disappeared. I thought I had misplaced those yummy pills, but that thought vanished when my garlic salt evaporated.

“Shut-up! It cannot possibly be a ghost. You know ghosts do not behave that way. You should know better”, I replied, a little mad at her for her previous suggestion.

I knew it was not a ghost because a ghost’s main purpose is to scare the hell out of people and they live in your house without paying rent or utilities. This situation was different.

-“It’s a gnome,” I said in my most confident tone.

Why did I know it is a gnome? Well, for starters, Mr. Gnome does not show indications of living in my apartment and he does not scare the hell out of Chabela or me. He just hides or steals things, which is of course highly unappreciated.

“Maybe you just forgot where you put the pills and the garlic salt”, Chabela said.

I could see in her eyes that she knew I was not going to like that comment. I did not even respond. In a way, I was insulted. How could she think I could be that dumb? I lose things like…. well I do not lose things. There is no reason why I would misplace my garlic salt condiment extraordinaire or my prescription medication.
I hate Mr. Gnome. In addition, I am still incapable of understanding why he hides things like pills and condiments. If he is going to steal something, it should be the stove, or the radio or the T.V. Well I don’t have a radio or a T.V., but garlic salt? Unpredictable.
If Mr. Gnome was so unpredictable, then I should have unpredictable measures to stop this annoying creature from playing his little game.

“! Let’s hide his hat!” Chabela screamed at me her absurd suggestion.

That was definitely not an option. I did not even know where to look for this creature. I would never find his hat. Moreover, if we decided to look for him, it would definitely be a hard task to manage. Mr. Gnome made a clear point on not letting himself being seen.

“Well I’m invisible too”, Chabela pointed out.

She had a promising idea. Why hadn’t I thought of that? That is genius! If Chabela stayed home instead of coming with me to my everyday activities, the probabilities of catching Mr. Gnome were tremendous.
Wait. Why is Chabela so interested in finding this character? That was quite suspicious.
I decided that, the next time I left the house, Chabela would stay. In addition, without her knowing, I would leave my video camera on, pointing at the kitchen, and focused of course on where the new garlic salt I bought was placed.
Next day, I left the house. Chabela was prepared and ready to catch Mr.Gnome. The video camera was rolling. Everything was perfect. Just as planned.

“I’m so smart”, I said to my self.

“You are not, you just think you are”, Chabela commented.

“Shut up!, you are supposed to be home!”, I answered furiously.

“I am, but since I’m technically imaginary, I can be at several places at once”

“Just be on the lookout for Mr. Gnome ok? Oh, one more thing, leave me alone! You know my dear Chabela, imaginary friends are supposed to vanish from children’s minds at age 8. Maximum!”

My day continued as any other day would continue. I could not wait to get home and look at the tape my video camera was filming. I wondered what a gnome really looked like. Do they really wear high reddish hats? I think they might, it would be a good place to hide all the things they steal.
Finally, the time arrived. I was on my way home. I inserted the key, opened the door.
Chabela was nowhere around. The same thing applied for the garlic salt. This was perfect! I finally caught Mr. Gnome on tape stealing my salt!. I headed to take a look at my video camera. There was no video camera. It had been stolen! Wait a minute, how could a video camera fit in a gnome’s hat? How big are those things?

“Chabela!” ,I yelled with my most furious voice.

“I am right here, you don’t have to yell at me remember?”, she replied with a sarcastic tone.

“Where is my video camera?”

“Well I don’t know, I was just keeping an eye on the garlic salt”

“And… where is the garlic salt?”

“Well, since you left the camera on, I assumed you really didn’t need me to keep an eye on the garlic salt”

“Funny Chabela. Very funny. It seems you find some kind of amusement in all of this. Now tell me the truth. Are you the one that has been hiding things from me?”

Time was passing by and I was not getting a reply from Chabela.

“Chabela! Answer the question, or I will vanish you from my brain!”

I never got an answer from Chabela.
No, she did not vanish from my brain. She just decided to become what she calls a “hermit of the spoken thought”.
The next day my video camera appeared in its place, just where I left it. However, the tape was gone. Did I really put a tape in it? I am sure I did, but I will never really know. That is until Chabela decides to “socialize” with me again.