The Visitor by Monica S. (Grade 6)

“ABIGAIL MAY BAILEY!! GET IN HERE!” yelled mom. I sighed. Oh boy. Here we go again. I dragged my feet as I walked back to the house. She had just gotten back from work, standing with her hands on her hips, soaking wet.

“Do you know anything about this?!” she asked pointing at a big puddle of water on the floor. There was a bucket hanging from ropes that were attached to the ceiling. She had clearly recognized it as one of my inventions.

“Heh heh heh. April fools?” I said sheepishly. She glared at me like she was ready to kill.

“You’re 12 years old Abigail! You know better!” I looked down at my shoes.

“Upstairs right now,” she growled.

I love to build things out of almost anything. In our garage (that we never use,) I have my own little workshop where I make everything. I especially like working with fire. I make my tools with a small forge. I had made a simple contraption where when you turned on a light, it would pull a string and trigger a catapult to shoot a ball and knock a bucket of water down on someone. I like to play sneaky tricks on people, but my mom isn’t the best person to do that to.

My mom and I live alone in a small two-story house in San Francisco. She works at a bookstore in the city, a job she has had for 15 years. The owner was on the brink of closing the store when he hired my mom. She begged him to give her a chance at the job, and now she practically runs the place. When I was born, my dad left us. Mom won’t tell me anything about him. It’s been pretty hard for her without my dad. She spends most of her time in her bedroom.

As I walked into my room, I felt a weird sensation rush up and down my body. Something wasn’t right. I ran to my door but somehow became locked.

“Ha ha ha,” I laughed sarcastically. “Nice one mom. Happy April Fools Day to you-” I stopped. A huge gust of wind filled my room.

“Hello Abigail,” someone said in a deep voice. I slowly turn around to see a big, strong man sitting on my bed. He had a big, scraggly beard, enormous hands and wore a mechanic's uniform. I’ve got to say, his face was kind of ugly.

I was speechless and as still as a statue.

“I saw what you did to your mom,” he said with a chuckle. “I thought that contraption of yours was pretty cool.” I finally got the courage to speak.

“Um...thanks,” I said slowly. “How exactly did you get into my bedroom? And who exactly are you?” His presence was vaguely familiar.

“My name’s Hephaestus. The Greek god of fire, mechanics, metalworking, things like that,” he said. “And believe or not, I’m your dad. Oh, and I got in through the window.” So many questions were running around in my head trying to find an escape.

“Really?” I said in awe. “Well, it makes sense that you’re my father because I love to work with all the things you just described. “

“Exactly,” Hephaestus said.

“Why did you come here anyway?” I asked curiously.

“That’s what I am going to tell you -”

“Ouch! Hot hot hot!!” I said while yanking a necklace off my neck. I dropped it on the floor. It was glowing red as if it had just gotten pulled out of a hot forge. It had a small key attached to it.

His eyes grew wide in amazement.

“Um, do you need that?” I asked. He kept staring at it. All of a sudden, the necklace started to glow white and I floated up into the air. Hephaestus put his hand out and grabbed it. A huge smile spread across his face.

“Abigail! This is exactly what I need! I was afraid you mom had gotten rid of it when I left!” he exclaimed as he gave me an enormous bear hug. If he had hugged me any tighter, he would’ve broken all the bones in my body. After he let go I asked,” Is that important to you?” He explained that the key unlocks a safe containing items he needs to build a powerful weapon. It will help protect Mount Olympus from any major attacks. He gave the necklace to me when I was born and have worn it ever since.

“All the gods and goddesses will be super proud of me,” Hephaestus said to himself as he stared at the key. All of the sudden, mom knocked on the door.

“Honey? Are you alright?” Hephaestus and I shared a worried look. I thought fast.

“Yes, I’m fine mom,” I said quickly. “Please don’t come in! I’m..uh…working on something secret.”

“Okay sweetheart,” she replied. We waited until we couldn’t hear her footsteps.

“That was a close one!” we said with a sigh of relief. We smiled at each other. Then a question came to me that I hadn’t thought about before.

“Do you love my mom?” I asked. He was surprised by the question.

“Yes. I love her so much. She is the most beautiful mortal woman I have ever met.”

“If you do, why did you leave her to take care of me all by herself?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“A couple days after you were born, the other gods told me to come back to Mount Olympus to work for them. If I refused, they threatened to not count me as a god.”

“That’s pretty harsh,” I said. Hephaestus nodded.

“Well,” he said changing the subject. “It is so nice to see you all grown up. Please keep this a secret from your mom for now. I promise I’ll back and visit both of you.”

“It’s nice meeting my dad for the first time in 12 years,” I said. We embraced.

“Bye Abigail,” he said. I waved. Then he and the necklace disappeared into thin air.