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"Margot?" It was the voice of the only person who remembered Margot was in the closet. A small girl with bouncy red hair stepped up solemnly. "I'm sorry."
Margot looked down. Tears formed in her blue-turned-gray eyes, sparkled like glass, then shattered to the floor.
"Margot?"
She looked up. The redheaded girl was still standing next to her.
"Please forgive us."
Margot hesitated. These children had taken away her last hope, the hope of seeing the sun.
The girl held her breath.
"Margot?"
For the first time, their eyes met. Warm, brown eyes meeting pale, unwanted, forgotten eyes.
"You were right. The sun was as beautiful as you said."
Even though Margot didn't feel like forgiving these children, she felt a small puff of joy when she heard the girl say this.
"Margot?"
Margot looked away again.
"Please say yes."
Margo paused. What would happen if she forgave them? Surely nothing bad.
"Margot?"
"Yes."
"You will?"
"Yes."
"Will you be my friend?"
"Yes."
"Margot?"
"Yes?"
"My name is Grace."
* * *
The next week was fairly pleasant for Margot. No one dared to bother her out of sheer embarrassment. Only Grace stayed with Margot and played with her. They colored pictures of the sun together instead of running around in the dark chambers of the underground system. The teacher hung up every picture on the wall. Soon it was bursting with vivid gold, shining ochre, and bright yellow, each one swirling into the next into the radiant shape of the sun.
William never bullied Margot that wonderful, fateful week. He seemed to be afraid of Grace. Margot did not understand. Grace was the smallest student in their class, and William was the largest. He's probably stronger than Teacher, Margot thought. But still, every time William was cynical to Margot, Grace popped up to defend her like a meerkat yelling at a buzzard to stay away from its family. It was a wonderful friendship.
"I never wanted to lock you in the closet," mentioned Grace one day. "I was going to tell Teacher on them, but I forgot when the sun came out."
Margot frowned. She had forgiven Grace and the others, but she had to see the sun. She just had to!
* * *
"Class," said the teacher the next Monday. "I have very exciting news." The children leaned closer. "A Rocket Man and his wife are arriving in a shuttle tomorrow. They have a nine-year-old daughter who will join our class."
A murmur rippled over the children. "Another girl from Earth!" whispered Margot to Grace. "A girl who will understand all I've gone through!" She smiled, but then a thought hit her: the new girl would be as depressed and lonely as she first was. Oh well, Margot thought. I'll be her friend.
The next day, everyone crowded at the window again. A deafening noise other than thunder rang in their ears. Gray smoke blew down from the clouds. Lightning flashed. They saw, in that brief moment, a red and silver capsule land on the spongy ground. Thunder boomed right as a slim girl with long black hair bust through the door and tumbled into the puddles. The rain did not faze her. She somersaulted and danced, kicking her feet in the air, hair slick and wet, enjoying the rain. The children could not believe their eyes.
Lightning and thunder cracked and roared, lighting up the girl's show and sounding like banging music. Her dark hair and indigo skirt made her look like a raindrop. Twirling with delight, she cartwheeled into the path of a falling tree. She leaped onto the lowest tentacle-like branch, and then jumped through the pouring sheet of wet. She was rain; she was water; she was a cloud. She was the strangest sight they ever saw.
A burst of bright blue lightning lit up the field, and she fell, no longer a graceful feather but a very limp child, onto the wet ground, arms in front of her body leading her into a puddle. The children gasped. "Had the lightning struck her?" Grace whispered to Margot.
Suddenly, she popped back up, delighted and gasping for breath. She skipped into the underground room, not caring she was sopping wet. "I'm so sorry if I scared you!" the strange girl laughed. "When I saw that puddle, I just had to dive!" She squeezed the water out of her hair and stuck out her hand to Teacher. "My name is Amanda," she stated proudly. None of the students knew what to think.
* * *
Afterwards, everyone was timid about Amanda. She was different, more than Margot was when she arrived. Amanda wasn't afraid of the different world, she enjoyed the ever-pounding rain, and, most of all, she didn't act like she was scared to meet them. Even Margot, who thought Amanda would be just like her, was confused.
Finally, at playtime, William and his tough friends and hanger-ons surrounded Amanda like a wall of stone. "Why do you love the rain?" William spat.
Amanda stayed calm. She grinned. "Because! I haven't seen rain in seven years!"
The stone wall, which was once angry and strong, gasped in wonder and crumbled out of curiosity.
"You never saw rain?"
"Never ever?"
"Not since you were two?"
Amanda beamed. "Nope! I lived in a place called Arizona where it was sunny and hot almost every day!"
William chuckled a mean laugh. "You're screwy! The sun exists, but not a place like that!"
"It's true!" Amanda's eyes became misty.
"You're a liar!"
"I'm not!"
"You're a crazy liar who doesn't know anything but making up stories and dancing like a fool in the rain!" His hand curled into a fist.
"That's not true!" Amanda was on the verge of tears.
"Hey!"
A new voice echoed, and all heads turned.
Grace marched up to William, reached as high as she could, and tugged his ear. She turned to the students. "When Margo said the sun was a fire, a penny, a warm touch, did she tell the truth?"
"Yes!" shouted the class.
"When Margot said she remembered the sun from when she was four, did she tell the truth?"
"Yes!"
"So why can't a place like what Amanda described exist? I believe her! Do you?"
"Yes!" the children shouted, laughing and smiling, trying to picture the sunny place.
William had been tugging against Grace's grip, and when she let go, he fell, startled, like a sack of potatoes.
"Well! What are you waiting for?" asked a boy with shaggy blond hair and clothes that were too big. "Go on!"
Amanda brightened. "Anyways," she restarted as if nothing had happened.
She told about a drought that dried up all the water. No rain fell for seven years. Finally, her parents spent all their extra money on a ship to go to Venus, so they wouldn't experience the dryness again. It was very hot, and many people had heatstrokes and became ill. Her parents had both studied astronomy in college, so they thought: why not go to Venus? She told them how excited she was to see cool, clear rain.
"You don't miss the sun at all?"
"Well, I miss it a little bit," she said. "But I'll see it after this storm clears up!"
"Hah!" laughed William, eyeing Grace the whole time. "This storm will clear up in seven years. Then you can see the sun."
"What?"
"No one told you about the weather here, did they?" Margot said quietly.
Amanda silently shook her head. A determined smile spread across her face. 'Well, we'll have to do something about it!"
Everyone stared. The only noise was the rythmatic rain pounding the windows. "What?" one kid finally asked.
"You know! Get rid of some of this water! Other places besides Arizona on Earth need it. We could find a way to transport the water there!"
Margot thought about this plan. It didn't sound possible. "How would that help?" Her thin voice was heard. "How can getting rid of raindrops stop the rest of the rain?"
"Simple," Amanda stated. "Less water on the planet means less evaporation means less clouds means less rain!" She was speaking very quickly. "There is too much water on Venus. If we get rid of half of it, the sun would probably shine every other day!"
The children gaped with open mouths. This would be great! Margot thought.
Grace piped up. "But the people on Earth aren't prepared for this much rain. We can't just send it to them!"
Amanda puzzled over this. She snapped her fingers. "I got it! We'll dump a small amount over a desert on Earth, and put the rest on Mercury!"
"One problem," William sneered. "How will we get the extra money for this?"
The children sat and pondered over this. A mission this big would cost thousands of dollars: a few hundred for supplies, and a lot more for transportation to the two neighboring planets. Rain pattered and trickled, sprinkled and dropped.
Grace clapped her hands, startling the class. "Margot!" she cried excitedly.
"Me? What can I do?" she asked in her ghost of a voice.
"Your parents! They're saving up to go to Earth!"
Margot understood. She would have to persuade her parents to spend the money on the equipment if she wanted to see the sun soon.
* * *
"Mother?" Margot asked faintly. "Father?"
"What is it, sunshine?" they responded.
"Do we have a lot of extra money?"
"Actually," her father started, "We have just enough to travel to earth and buy a new house. How about we leave this Friday?" He knew Margot wanted to go back badly.
"Um, no thanks," she whispered quietly.
"No?" Her mother was shocked. Margot had started crying two months ago when her mother said they couldn't move soon.
"Well," she said. Suddenly, she was as shy as before she met Grace. Her voice became lower and lower, but it was heard very clear. "We need it for a...project." Margot was so nervous she began to cry. "A...plan to bring back...the...sun."
"The sun?" Her father's eyebrows arched up high. "I don't know, Margot. Can yoku handle that responsibility?"
"I can."
"Okaaay."
He pulled a little silver key out of his pocket and unlocked a brown wooden box. Inside were 200 wrinkled thousand-dollar bills. He hesitated, then handed them to Margot. "Here." He beamed.
* * *
"Did you get the money?" Amanda asked the next day.
"Yes." She thrust out a trembling white hand.
"This is perfect!" Amanda gasped. She ran out of the classroom into the intricate maze of the underground civilization.
A few hours later, at the end of the school day, she came running back frantically. "I can't move the parts!" she shouted. ""I'm not strong enough!"
Who in this school is strong enough to carry several large pieces of metal, gas, and a tank of rocket fuel? Margot thought. The only one I can think of is...
* * *
"You want me to help you?" William asked in shock. "Why?"
"Because." Grace held her ground. "You are the strongest kid in class. Come on! You want to see the sun again, don't you?"
William paused. "Okay."
The children worked away the afternoon, hammering and screwdriving, attaching every little piece of glass and metal. A huge, boat-shaped mechanism was taking shape. With a little struggle, they pushed it out the door like ants pushing crumbs ten times their size. Rain was collecting in the glass structure, and soon filled it to the top. "This should be enough for Earth," Amanda said softly. She punched in "The Sahara Desert" onto the coordinates. She lit a match, guarding the small flame with her wet fingers.
The children shivered and marveled at the light. "I snuck them from Earth," Amanda whispered. When the flame touched the fuel, it shot through the thick midnight clouds, puncturing a hole in them. A beautiful golden sunbeam fell on Margot. She gasped and squinted up. The children squealed and pushed to touch the dry, warm light. But in less than a second, it was gone.
"Wait!" cried Grace. "How do we get the rest to Mercury?"
"We'll have to pilot my parents' shuttle," Amanda said coolly.
A hush settled over the children. "But we're only nine!" a girl shouted.
"We can do it! We'll fill it with water except for the hatch. I'll fly it since I was in space last. Who will be my co-pilot?" Amanda stared at the soaked, dazed children.
"Margot!" Grace grinned. "Margot was in a spaceship when she was four!"
"I didn't know you were from Earth!" gasped Amanda. "What state?"
"Ohio," came Margot's quiet voice.
"You will open the back of the rocket to dump out the water. I'll steer." Amanda planned.
A large boom of thunder broke their concentration. "Class! Class! What are you doing in the rain? Come in this instance!" the teacher called angrily. Slipping and scrambling, they made it to the shelter of the classroom.
* * *
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"Then we have liftoff!" Amanda pushed ignition. A rumble of noise and thick black smoke surrounded the house. Children and adults ran to the windows to see what was the matter. The rocket rose into the clouds. Above the Venus atmosphere, they saw a small dark speck in front of a blazing large ball.
Water sloshed and Margot trembled. She hated getting wet. Amanda steadied the ship. The dark speck grew nearer and nearer, the sun a fiery orange sphere. It was so hot, the water had evaporated, condensed on the ceiling, and dripped onto the girls' heads. "No!" Margot screamed.
"Calm down! You'll be grateful for the water in a minute!" Amanda shouted.
She was right. Mercury was much hotter than Venus, and the frigid water was wonderful. Margot pressed a button to let out the sea of rain.
"No Margot! Not that one!"
The rocket turned. Its nose was headed toward the ground, and the water was quickly approaching Amanda and Margot. With a tremendous splash!, they became submerged. If they weren't strapped to their seats...
Holding her breath, Amanda steered a hard right. The shuttle turned right-side up, and the girls gasped for breath. Margot pressed a different button. A whirring noise filled their ears. The water, a wall of liquid, sped to the dusty ground and sizzled. The pull of a lever, and they were off again.
Moments later, the rocket was back on Venus. Amanda's parents, Margot's parents, the teacher, and Grace and William were standing there. "What is the meaning of this?" Amanda's father asked sternly.
"Oh, you'll see," Amanda grinned slyly.
* * *
Three days of repetitive, pouring rain later, what the adults called a miracle but the children knew the truth, the sun came out. Everyone screamed and ran outside, even the parents.
Only one class stayed inside.
"Did you do it?"
"You did! It worked!"
"Will the rain come out again?"
"Will it be sunny forever?"
While the children confronted Amanda, they didn't notice that three children held back. The first was Margot, no longer a ghost girl, twirling like a dandelion seed in the summer breeze. Her hair was the color of honey, her eyes as blue as the clear sky, her smile a mile wide.
The other two were William and Grace, bickering furiously in the corner.
"I won't do it! It's stupid!"
"You must, William! You owe it to Margot!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"I won't!"
"You will!"
A pause. "Okay, but only for two hours."
William rounded up all the children who pushed Margot into the closet and shoved them into a large metal cage. With a lot of complaining in the background, William and Grace calmly walked inside and locked the door.
"I feel so lame."
"This is how Margot felt."
"Can't we move the cage outside?"
"No. At least we can see the sun! Margot was left in a dark closet!"
That is exactly how Margot had felt since she was four. Shut in a dark closet. No one seeing her, knowing her, being her friend. No one understood the little white girl, pale in every way, who just wanted to go home. Now Margot was the opposite, swinging on the tentacle branches with Amanda, spinning with her arms thrust out, and smiling at the wonderful, marvelous, warm golden sun.
* * *
Epilogue:
The sun shined once a week for a whole day from then on. Margot, Grace, and Amanda always stayed friends. Grace ended up marrying William 15 years later. Margot never stopped loving the sun, ever.
THE END