In her wildest fantasies, no one could stop the strength and ferocity that was the professional known as Cheerilee. She jogged down Congress Avenue towards the Capitol building, though her mind was elsewhere. Every step she took propelled her further into a fantasy of her creation, chasing down spies, evading assassins or running to the scene of a bomb only she knew how to disarm.
Cheerilee was not just a teacher for the Austin Independent School District. She was a woman whose mind never stopped serving stories for her to immerse herself within. Her imagination worked overtime to fill her daily life with hidden joy that only she could see. Every trip to the grocery store became a supply run for her secret base. Every package delivered at school was a covert parcel entrusted to her by government agencies begging for her to join their ranks.
In her daydreams, she was the star. The most powerful, the most intelligent, the most beautiful and the most amazing spy the world would never know. She was…
She was late for work!
Cheerilee gasped when she spotted the time on her phone. She had forget to set her alarm. She turned around and headed back to her car. There’d be time to visit the Capitol building later that day during the school field trip.
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“Miss Cheerilee! Miss Cheerilee!”
“Yes, Apple Bloom?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
Cheerilee sighed at the third child to request a bathroom break since they arrived at the Austin Capitol Building only fifteen minutes before. She told the bus driver to stay with the rest of the class as she escorted Apple Bloom.
“Are ya havin’ fun, ma’am?” Apple Bloom asked. The child’s giant red hairbow dwarfed her tiny face and bobbed up and down with each step she took through the atrium. Cheerilee wished all the students had some easily identifiable item on them like the bow. She would have lost Apple Bloom in a crowd if she hadn’t been so visible because of it.
“Definitely!” Cheerilee lied. This is the most boring building I’ve ever been to. “Now go to the restroom but hurry up. We don’t want to be late.”
The interior of the Capitol building atrium was massive and flanked by circular balcony areas higher up above. The word “Texas” was written in a small circle at the very top base of the building skylight. Two students, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, were lying down in the center of the floor with their phone cameras held up towards the center ceiling window.
“Got it!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m sending this pic to Rarity so she can be sooo jealous of us!”
“I don’t think she cares about this government building as much as you do,” Scootaloo said. “But it beats school!”
Cheerilee saw the kids and yelled out to them. “Get off the floor, girls! Someone might step on you.” She sighed and wished the two would go back to the main group where the bus driver was waiting outside, but these two students were hard to separate from Apple Bloom. It’ll be impressive if they don’t set something on fire today, Cheerilee thought. I really don’t want to end up on the news again thanks to those three.
The bus driver brought the rest of the students to Cheerilee in the center of the atrium. “Ma’am, I’m sorry but I got to go check on the bus. I just can’t keep up with these kids like I used to.”
“It’s okay,” Cheerilee said. “Hey, did you receive any word from the school about my assistant?”
“No ma’am,” the driver said. “She hasn’t phoned the school. I don’t know if she’s coming today. Sorry.”
Cheerilee felt her heart drop. She was worried, but she couldn’t show it. She didn’t want the bus driver to be gossiping to the school staff that she wasn’t capable of handling a single class of students on a field trip. “I’ll manage. Thank you.”
Cheerilee led the class of chattering children through the various halls of the Capitol. Long white hallways and older architecture greeted them at every turn. Most students chatted amongst themselves and Cheerilee noticed some were on their phones, completely ignoring the tour signs.
“Snips, put that away or I’m taking it away,” Cheerilee said.
“Ma’am, I’m letting my friends know about the trip. Honest!” he said. Cheerilee could never tell if they were telling the truth.
“You can let them know later. Put it away.” Snips groaned but did as he was told and kept up with the group. He seemed more annoyed than anything.
Featherweight, the class photographer, eagerly snapped shots of almost every poster, sculpture and location they came across. He smiled with every photo and Cheerilee managed a slight grin at his enthusiasm. Ah, to be young and easily amused, she said. I wish I cared about this tour just as much as he did.
“Miss Cheerilee!” Featherweight said as he turned to her. “Stand over there by the railing so I can take your picture!”
“Oh I’m not….not photogenic, sweetheart.” Cheerilee shrank back a little. She loved being the center of her own mental world, but pictures always made her nervous.
“Come on! It’s for the school paper. Don’t be shy! You look great!”
I do? Cheerilee thought. She stood over by the railing and give a genuine smile, although it was slightly suppressed out of nervousness. Featherweight took the photo and showed it to his teacher on the digital screen. Her immediate reaction was joy, but the super-critical part of her mind took over, worried that her hair was too messy, or her pose was too dorky or her smile was not perfect.
“Perfect!” Featherweight said. Cheerilee instantly felt better. Her insecurities quelled, she took time to examine the photo more closely. Her eyes stopped on something far behind her in the image.
“Can you blow that up?” she asked, pointed to a point on the screen. Featherweight did so and he and Cheerilee saw a man in dark clothing standing at the far opposite side of the railing on the circular viewing area. They both looked up at once, but spotted no one across the way. He…looks suspicious… Cheerilee thought. But tons of people are visiting and taking photos. It’s coincidence. Has to be. She peered around the room but saw no one who looked like the man in the image.
“Stay close, okay?” Cheerilee told the kids. She counted their number again. “We’re missing someone…where’s Scootaloo?” She looked out at the circular balcony area. “Scootaloo!”
“Over here!” came a shout from down below. Scootaloo was standing by herself in the center of the bottom floor.
“How did you get down there? Get back up here this instant!”
“I was just taking a pic of everyone. It looks really good!”
“SCOOTALOO GET BACK UP HERE THIS INSTANT!” Cheerilee yelled. She looked around at the other students. A few were shocked, but the rest, who had been speaking to one another, were silent.
When Scootaloo regrouped with one another, Cheerilee was fuming. The students spoke in more hushed tones and their teacher said almost nothing. I can’t let anything happen! Not today! Geez, where is my assistant? She said she’d be here!
As if an answer to her thoughts, her cellphone buzzed. Cheerilee took it out of her pocket and read the text message. “Upstairs? Right now?” She sighed. As she stared at her phone, she felt something a strange sensation on the back of her neck. Her heart rate increased and she peered upward. She counted the students. They were all there talking with one another. Why this uneasy feeling? She turned around.
It was only a split second, but she saw…something. There was a flash of movement around a corner far down the hall. It wasn’t just someone walking away to continue their tour. This person had been facing directly at Cheerilee when her back was turned. She had almost seen their eyes. But she felt the stare. It was unmistakable.
She glanced around. A security officer was standing a few feet away. “Officer,” Cheerilee said. The man walked over and waited. “Could you check over there for me? I could’ve sworn I saw this man…staring at us.”
“Staring, ma’am?” The officer asked. He looked down at the children and then back up at the teacher. “Did you get a clear look at the individual?”
“Um…sorry no…”
“I’ll check it out,” he started walking in the direction of the man, turned the corner and was gone.
“Heyyyy!” a voice cried out from the top of the circular viewing area. The massive outdoor atrium ceiling was open to the street level above, giving several viewers up top a perfect look down below. Cheerilee scanned the crowd of unknown men and women as her eyes looked for any potential threat. Her mind was starting to move into full paranoia mode. Up top, a young woman with red and yellow hair waved at the group below.
“It’s Miss Sunny!” Sweetie Belle said. “Heyyyyyy!” she yelled back.
“I can’t get inside from up here. Bring the students out the street level exit and we can regroup!” Sunset Shimmer shouted.
Cheerilee tried to hide her initial anger, but was thankful her assistant was finally there. “Okay but…where is that exit?”
Sunset Shimmer pointed to the opposite end. “Okay, children,” Cheerilee said with some minor enthusiasm. “We need to meet Miss Sunny, so we’re going to the exit. Is everyone here?”
“Yesssss,” a chorus of tiny voices responded. Cheerilee counted again. All were present.
“Come on,” she said. They moved to a clearly labeled stairwell and started to ascend. When they saw the glass exit doors, Sunset Shimmer walked up to them. A security guard stopped her.
“Ma’am, you can’t go in through there. You have to walk around and go through the security line at the front entrance,” the guard told Sunset.
“Oh come on,” Sunset Shimmer said.
Cheerilee looked at her group and realized that if they exited through this area, they’d have to go all the way around to restart the tour. Maybe we can leave early and go somewhere else, she thought. “Okay class. I need you guys to exit through here and we’ll go back around to the front with Sunset.” Cheerilee turned, counted, nodded at the complete number of kids and then turned back. “Let’s go. I’m staying till everyone is through, cause you can’t come back inside.”
The students started to walk out, eyes stuck to their phones. Cheerilee shook her head. They’d walk right past an explosion and never notice… she thought. An uneasy feeling started to build in her mind. She turned around, looking for the source of the problem. She peered down the stairwell they had just climbed. There was no one. She turned back to the exit doors and saw the students standing next to Sunset, giving her high-fives and eagerly talking with her about their trip on the bus. Cheerilee looked around. Something is wrong. What’s wrong? I feel it. The officer outside was staring at Cheerilee. He waved to her and she stood at the exit door, but did not step outside.
“Are you missing one of your party, ma’am?” the officer asked. His eyes looked tired, almost bothered.
“Sunset!” Cheerilee shouted. “We should have twenty! How many are out there?”
Cheerilee watched Sunset count all the kids and then tell them to line up in a straight line. She counted again. “Twenty, Miss Cheerilee.”
Cheerilee let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”
Apple Bloom raised her hand again. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
“Wonderful,” Cheerilee said in annoyance. “Apple Bloom, you already went at the start of this tour. It’s been an hour!”
“And I have to go again,” she said. “I’m sorry, Miss Cheerilee.”
“You can go,” the security guard said. “Your teacher is still there. Go with her.”
Cheerilee’s phone vibrated again. She picked it up and read the message:
Secretary Cadance here. You have to leave. We just got word that Apple Bloom’s grandmother is in the hospital. Very serious condition. Bring the students back to the school ASAP.
“Oh no,” Cheerilee said. She looked at Apple Bloom. Should I tell her? Or should I wait till we get back to the school? She stared at the children and saw them playing happily with one another. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle talked with one another while Apple Bloom patiently waited at the door. Featherweight eagerly looked through his photos of the trip as other students crowded around him.
Cheerilee tapped her phone and sent the message to Sunset, who picked up her own and read it. “Oh no,” she mouthed quietly.
The security guard saw their silent signals. He quietly approached Cheerilee. “Ma’am, if you need to talk with Sunset, you can step out for a second. But she can’t come back in with you.”
“Okay,” Cheerilee said. She walked up to Sunset as she Featherweight stare with a strange expression at the photograph on his screen.
“What do we do, ma’am?” Sunset asked. Something in the back of Cheerilee’s mind went off. She couldn’t see it, but there was a gnawing feeling in her gut that something was horribly wrong. Featherweight stepped up to her and showed her the image she had seen earlier. It was Cheerilee posing on the balcony. “Oh that’s a cute pic of you, Miss Cheerilee!” Sunset said.
Cheerilee blushed. “Thanks,” she said. Featherweight looked incredibly worried and blew up the image to show the man in the back.
“Who’s that?” Sunset said as she peered at the image.
Cheerilee’s mind froze. She suddenly looked up. “Sunset…how did the guard know your name?”
“I…” Sunset looked past Cheerilee. “Where’s the guard?”
Cheerilee glanced at the door. It was sealed shut. Apple Bloom and the guard were nowhere to be found.
“That’s the guard!” Featherweight said as he looked at the image. “That’s him!”
Cheerilee ran over to the door and yanked on the handle. It didn’t budge.
“It’s locked! I can’t open it!” Cheerilee stood back and slammed on the glass with her foot. It rebounded,
“HEY!” A shout came over from across the outdoor area. Another security guard ran up to the scene. “Step away from the door!”
“THEY TOOK HER!” Cheerilee screamed. “THEY TOOK APPLE BLOOM!”
The guard stopped. Sunset took Featherweight’s camera and ran over to the guard. “There was a man. Like this. He looked like a guard. He took Apple Bloom!”
The security guard stared at the image. “He’s not on staff.” He grasped his radio. “Central, come in.” Central responded and the security officer continued. “We have a potential child abduction by a suspect posing as a security guard…”
Cheerilee’s instincts told her to look down the open-air circular balcony area below. She saw Apple Bloom’s red hair bow on the ground in the center. “She’s down there!”
The security guard ran to the door, pulled out his security card and ran it across the scanner. The door unlocked and he opened it.
Cheerilee flew past the security guard and ran down the stairs. “HEY!” he yelled after her, but she was already down and out the stairwell. Out onto the balcony below. She raced around the side to the corridor where several people saw her coming and moved to the side. A security guard, unlike the one she saw with Apple Bloom, raised his hands. “STOP!”
Cheerilee had been running for years, testing her limits and imagining that every run was a chase or a race to the finish. She had always pushed herself and was stronger and faster than anyone ever gave her credit for. There was no man who could stop her now. She ran around a pillar, bypassing the guard as he grabbed for her and missed wide. She turned the corner and bolted down the staircase leading past the room where the legislature was in-session. Two security guards stood talking with one another in frantic tones. They turned and spotted Cheerilee. Both saw a frantic person running and immediately thought this was someone who needed to be stopped. They moved to intercept her.
It was at this moment Cheerilee noticed the floor beneath them looked awfully slick. She slid between them as their arms missed. It took her a mere second to upright herself and keep running. The guards were dumbfounded long enough to lose sight of her in a crowd.
Cheerilee saw him. He was moving past the front door, in plain sight, with his hand on Apple Bloom’s neck. His security guard jacket and hat were gone. Why wasn’t she screaming? Cheerilee thought.
Three security guards and a metal detector stood between her and the man. She shouted as she ran “HE KIDNAPPED APPLE BLOOM!”
All three guards turned where she was pointing and stared in the direction of the man who was leaving with the child. It was the opening Cheerilee needed. She leapt through the metal detector as the phone in her pocket set off the alarm. People screamed in surprise as she bolted by. She didn’t realize it at first, but her phone had started to ring. She did not stop to answer it.
She raced out of the front of the Capitol building and down the steps as she saw the man racing down the green with Apple Bloom hanging limp over his shoulder. He was clearing a lot of ground quickly despite carrying an 80-pound child over his shoulder.
Cheerilee leapt off the few steps leading up to the front and hit the ground running. She saw a black van pull up to the front of the Capitol building beyond the perimeter. The man turned over his shoulder, saw Cheerilee running towards him and stopped. He put down Apple Bloom on the ground only thirty feet away from the van and turned around. He raised his hands.
Cheerilee thrust her leg out, seeking to land a kick on his chest. He grabbed her by the leg in mid-air and tossed her against the grass. She toppled end-over-end and cried out in pain. She gathered herself and saw the man bend down, pick up Apple Bloom’s body effortlessly and start heading towards the open door of the van.
Cheerilee pushed herself up and lunged at the man. He saw her out of the corner of his eye and did not flinch when she impacted, sending he and the kid falling to the ground. He stood up almost instantly and raised his hands in a fighting pose.
Cheerilee wanted to scream, but she was paralyzed by the sight of this man. She stood in front and saw several hooded people exit the vehicle and pick up Apple Bloom’s body as they pulled her towards the van.
“NO!” Cheerilee said as the fake guard stepped forward lightning fast. He slammed a fist at her chest, bruising her sternum and sending her flying back and onto the ground.
“DON’T MOVE!” She heard several guards say. The man turned around and leapt into the open van as it sped off into traffic and disappear downtown. Her vision started to blur as she felt her chest throb in agony. She looked at the sky above and saw the clouds slow down until her mind failed and entered the dark.
--
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---BGB Productions Presents---
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---Miss Cheerilee---
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---Sunset Shimmer---
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---Apple Bloom---
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[Play the following video, and read the following custom lyrics for Cheerilee in-sync with the lyrics Sam Smith says. It only takes about 2 minutes.]
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I've always run away
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But now I'm here to stay
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I spent so much life running
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Trying hard to get away
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But now the world has caught me
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And I've got a debt to pay
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I never expected this
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My ignorance was bliss
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I spent so much time lying
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thinking I could save the day
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Until I started trying
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and the lies began to fade
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I will break them all
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Even if I fall
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How can I cry?
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How can I grieve?
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When they've gone
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And taken from me?
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I don't want love
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I don't want peace
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Is this what it means to be the real me?
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For her
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I'm going to face them all
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Cause you can't fly
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without
a fall.
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Author's Note
Extra Story Details
Writing Time: Approx 2 hr 40 min
Draft Number: 1 Draft
Story Settings: Modern Day, Texas, Austin, Capitol Building
Story Themes:
Note: This is an "A" story. It took a while to get started, but then became more and more complex as time went on.
Story Background:I've always wanted to see Cheerilee in some fantastic scenario. I know what it's like to work in education. To think that you can do more with your life and not know how to get there, so you make up stories in your head to help get through daily life, looking for a goal that you haven't seen yet.
Cheerilee exemplifies that and also what happens when you're suddenly thrust into a new type of life that calls for a different set of solutions than the one you had before.
